Leafshine: Lust for Flower

Oh, Bother.

6 hours...? Blimey.

If only I had a fully installed, ready-to-play full version of a pre-Beta game. Oh, wait...

;-)

…Hurrah!

…lavagreen?…

Is that like lava, except with more recycling and a lower carbon footprint?

…de dum…

Dum…

So, How's The Cataclysm Beta Going, Leafy?

New client, new download.

Nobody warned me there was so much downloading involved in Beta testing…

Did Anyone Order Some Ultimate Triage?

Now the Loremaster grind is done and dusted, I'm amusing myself with grabbing some of the simpler Achievements. For example, our ICC run was going bad this evening. We were running with two healers, and the other one kept disconnecting. People were dying, and I got brutalised by a Blood Beast, leaving me at sub-1% health. What choice did I have?

And a quick post-raid glance at potential Achievments showed that I was on 399/400 for my unarmed skill. Easy:

I takes the pre-Cataclysmic fun where I can.

Oh, and talking of Cataclysm, I answered the burning question I had about the expansion: Can you fly down from Darnassus to the sea?

Yes. Yes, you can. WIN.

How's the Cataclysm Going? (Minor Spoilers)

So, I expect there's a question on your minds: "How are you enjoying the Cataclysm Beta Leafy?"

The answer is: an awful lot...

The Goblin starter zone is just great. There's a strong driving narrative throughout, with usually no more than three or four quests before the environment phases and you move on to the next step of the story. To give you some idea of the density of ideas and fun, all the vehicles above appear before you hit level 10.

The characters are surprisingly rich, and I found myself actively looking forward to catching up with them through each new phase. There are a few minor quibbles - some of the NPC positioning is still a bit buggy, and there are some early quests that just involve you right clicking on some mobs to activate the quest ability - but that isn't made clear anywhere, so I found myself puzzled for a while, which isn't great on a level 1 quest…

On the other hand, the amount of information you're given at each Level Up is great, especially the great big announcements when you "unlock" new game features like Talents and Battlegrounds at level 10. It doesn't quite feel like WoW 2.0 - but it's certainly a solid WoW 1.8, and provides a much better starting experience for a new player than ever before. 

I'm really looking forward to exploring more.

(And yes, I reported those bugs/issues I mentioned above. I iz a gud beta testifier...)