Jahger - The End of a Worgen's Journey

So I finally reached level 85 (Cataclysm level cap) on Jahger, my Worgen Hunter. The new high level Cataclysm zones are really good with significant use of World of Warcraft's phasing method to present a world that develops as a result of your successful questing. There are also a lot of ongoing battles presented with actively fighting combatants on both side - unfortunately those areas really clog up my internet tubes, which means some areas were played at latencies of 5000 ms+ :(

Ding!

Although I can't give a proper review of the expansion, I'll offer some thoughts on the aspects added by the expansion that I have experienced:

• Low-level questing (1-60): Revamped and greatly streamlined. The style has changed to a more linear progression through each zone. I enjoyed it sufficiently that I've been inspired to write leveling guides for some of the zones. Not all of the zones have received the same amount of attention - Sithilus is just as crap as it always was.
• High-level questing (80-85): As mention already, I've enjoyed the zones I've played through so far, Mount Hyjal, Deepholm and Twilight Highlands. They are an evolutionary step forward from the level 70-80 zones in Wrath of the Lich King, mostly in terms of being able to sustain a clear narrative through each zone from beginning to end. Unfortunately the new undersea zone, Vashj'ir, was bugged for me upon arrival, so I haven't been able to experience what is likely the most unique zone in Azeroth at the moment.
• New races: The Worgen starting area is excellent and I hear the Goblin starting area is similarly top notch. After that, your race is largely cosmetic with racial abilities only having a minor affect on gameplay. The Worgen racials, improved critical hit chance and short-term speed boosts are nice to have. Not having a racial mount is disappointing.
• Revamped dungeons (1-60): Most low-level dungeons have been modified for better suitability with the new dungeon finder tool. Having the dungeon finder made it a breeze to do dungeons while leveling. As a DPS only class, wait times were typically over half-an-hour, but I'd just get into the queue and carry on questing until a group was ready. The changes are few and some dungeons, like Blackrock Depths, are still too sprawling to be suitable for random groups from the dungeon finder.
• New dungeons (80-85): Seven new 5-man dungeons have been added and I've played through 3 of the early ones - Blackrock Caverns, Throne of the Tides and Stonecore. Not all the groups I joined were successful since, unlike most older dungeons, boss abilities are actually significant, even if it just requires you to worry about extra spawned enemies or moving out of the fire. I look forward to trying the other dungeons and seeing the kind of challenges these dungeons might pose in heroic mode.
• New raids (10 man & 25 man): Three new raids (12 new raid bosses) have been added but you need to get better gear even after reaching level 85 before you should consider entering them. With an overseas holiday coming up, I'm not likely to see the inside of a raid for quite some time.
• New battlegrounds: There are two new PvP battlegrounds and one PvP "battleground" zone. Although I did a bit of PvP while leveling for variety, I haven't ended up in any of the new battlegrounds yet.
• Archaeology profession: Everyone can pick up the new profession of archaeology as it's a secondary profession. I put it in the same category as fishing - brain-dead and boring.

Deepholm, the Elemental Plane of Earth

So Cataclysm has greatly benefited World of Warcraft with a few bugs (the Vashj'ir zone for me) and disappointments (archaeology) keeping it from perfection. But WoW players of all types should find some part of the expansion to keep them entertained for many hours.