The phasing mechanic first used in WotLK is used to great effect in Cataclysm. It figures strongly in the two new race zones but also is used to great effect elsewhere. The best example is in the Horde zone of Silverpine Forest which has the same sort of phasing used as narrative as the Goblin and Worgen zones. The story it tells is epic and is reason enough to roll an Undead, this story continues into Hillsbrad Foothills and suggests that the Undead have been given some serious love by the developers. Hillsbrad is now a Horde only zone as the developers strive to give players the levels 1-25 to learn about their characters without competition from the opposing faction.

The player is made to feel at the center of events rather than just a peripheral figure in these stories which also marks a change in the thrust of low level quests. It does jar slightly at times when you drop back into some more menial quests in the following zones. There are still a few balancing issues with some of the quests but hopefully these will be rectified by the time Cataclysm hits the shelves.
The Alliance also get a taste of the phased content but it seems less dynamic same for a few quest chains. Redridge for example allows the player to make a lasting impression on the zone and is a lot of fun if you are a fan of the Rambo movies. One problem with phasing is that players will be required to complete quest chains to progress which is a problem if you are unable to complete a quest. I have run into this a few times and in one case had to abandon the zone completely. Sadly not all zones have such clever use of phasing and with good reason, the phasing has caused a number of bugs with characters being trapped in a world devoid of all life.

Archaeology – It’s like fishing but with better rewards.
The new secondary skill of archaeology has been unveiled in the Beta. It has been covered quite well on MMO Champion and also in a blue post on the Beta forums. So I won’t go into the details here except to say it is a big time sink and yet strangely compelling. I think most people will feel they need to level this just to get the cool stuff. The rewards will appeal to all players because they cover so much ground, from mounts and epic BoA items to pets and achievements (even a couple of titles). It is such a shame the Path of the Ancients was dropped. I have already spent a few hours on archaeology and I don’t feel cheated even though I only have a few vendor trash items to show for it and have only just nudged past the 100 skill level. I was rewarded with a ‘special’ project though which gives a pet reward and as long as enough of these surprises are scattered along the way I will be happy to keep at it.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/1968-Archaeology-Rewards-and-Previews-Blue-Posts

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=26726035891&sid=2000

I’m going to look at some of the changes to the game mechanics as they effect the low level levelling experience (1-40+) this time. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a few things in here that won’t be of interest to high level characters though
Find (minimap)
This has been enhanced so now you can use the find function in the minimap to look for multiple categories, for example Ore and Herbs. This is big because before the default UI didn’t allow you to easily level two gathering professions. To me this will make me want to level Mining & Herbalism on a Druid (because of Flightform). I can see druids being the optimal gatherers in Cataclysm.

Lifeblood
This has been changed so that it grants haste and minor healing rather than the big heal it currently gives.
So rank 1 was 300 health healed over 5 secs, it is now instantly heal minor wounds and grant 5 haste for 20 secs. The instant heal is a lot less than the 300 previously. Players will need to adjust their play style if they relied on these heals, on a positive note you get rank 1 as soon as you take the skill and get rank 2 at skill 75 etc.
Talent Trees etc.
There is a lot to cover here so I’ll just be mentioning the main things here;
Talent trees now only require 31 points to reach the end talent, to balance this you will get a talent point every other level from level 10 onwards. At level 10 you pick a talent tree and you can only spend points in this tree until you have spent 31 points (i.e. level 70?) at this point all trees are unlocked. There are some issues with where talents are at the moment with Warlock Demonology give talents that you won’t benefit from at the level you spend the points for example. As a result players will have much less choice as to what to pick, I’m surprised that Blizzard didn’t go the whole way and just say pick a tree and then you get predetermined talents as you level.
a lot of the passive talents have been eliminated, which should be built into the basic character stats. The trees are far from finalised however one of the benefits is that you will get extra spell(s) just for putting points into a branch of the tree. For example Mortal Strike for Arms warriors.

There is a blue post about these changes, of particular note is;

The Way of the Worgen

Having levelled a Goblin through the starting zones it was time to give the new Alliance race a go. Worgen seem less impressive at first glance, they seem to get less cool/useful racials the main attraction being the ability to transform into a Human/Worgen. Even that is hardly much of an ability (you transform into a Worgen whenever you are in combat and cannot change back until out of combat).

The start zone is in stark contrast to the Goblin zone, from the very start the city of Gilneas is under attack from Worgen who seem to be everywhere. In a sense this actually set the tone for Cataclysm in a much better way than the Goblin zones did, for the world of Cataclysm is one where war is never far away. For fans of the original Warcraft I & II this is finally the world that Cataclysm delivers. That is not to say there is forced PvP, but rather that many times your quest will involve fighting mobs from the opposing faction.

I decided to level a Priest as I had recently been levelling one on Aerie Peak and it didn’t seem impossible in the quests that were given. If the Goblin zone(s) were about humour and gimmicks, then the Worgen zone is about atmosphere and storytelling. It gives some early hints that the focus is now about you the levelling character and the whole levelling process (up to level 60 at least) allows you to develop a strong sense of having shaped events. How this will work on role playing realms will be interesting. As the story unfolds through questing you learn about the people of Gilneas, they have a strange version of Hollywood English accents which some may like but for others will likely grate. One of the oft repeated expressions is ‘Get gabbing or get going!’ There is a nice mix of quest types including some which give you unique mechanics so it doesn’t feel like too much of a grind. Indeed the plot has a number of twists and turns before you reach level 12 and get transported to the old world (in this case Darnassus).

The Worgen zone(s) also showed how much work needed to be done before the expansion can be released. Some days people would get disconnected every 5-10 minutes making questing almost impossible, especially in zone that made extensive use of phasing. Questing is now a bit like reading chapters in a book, in so much as once a certain quest (or group of quests) have been completed the zone changes. This caught some people out as if they hearthed back to the start area they found themselves trapped. There are also a number of scripted events one of which resulted in my Priest being trapped in a zone entirely devoid of life. I was out of phase and in the end deleted the character, I later discovered you could get back in phase by dying. I have played through the Worgen start zones twice now (not counting the Priest) and while it mostly works there are still some issues. Unfortunately when some things are fixed other have a tendency to break, even as I write this Goblins have been unavailable (including existing characters) for a couple of weeks.