World of Warcraft Preview
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The way swimming presently works in WoW, you have a breath meter when under water and once that runs out, you die. Simple enough, but when you're in very deep water for a length of time (under water or not), a fatigue meter appears and when that runs out, you also die. The ocean in WoW is remarkably realistic and gigantic. From the rolling ambiently-lit hills under water and plankton-like murkyness, to the sheer drops to Mariana Trench-like depths, you'll definitely want to explore what the ocean has to offer at some point. (Some classes have breath underwater spells, and I hear Engineers get to craft an underwater breathing apparatus). At one point, I kept swimming lower and lower until my fatigue meter came up, and thanks to a glitch, did not die... but came up for air regardless because it was literally spooky that deep. And very lonely too, but I still want to see what's down there when the game goes gold.All Races Opened
Phase 2 re-opened the Horde races (Tauren, Orc, Troll and Undead) and made the Druid class playable too, making every race now selectable, and only the Hunter class remaining absent. Another part of WoW fun is trying a brand new race and discovering just how different their starting areas are from one another in both quests and terrain. When you begin the game as Orc or Troll, you begin in the New Mexico-like red desert of Durotar with wind-eroded cliffs all around and littered with scorpions and caves. With the Night Elf, you'll begin in the lush night serenity of Teldrassil, a purplish forest with unimaginably tall trees, a glint of open sky above and beautiful organic structures. As a Human, you begin in a niche of the giant Elwynn Forest, full of thick mighty trees, lakes, rolling hills, farms and townships. As either Dwarf or Gnome, you begin in a small town in the icy tranquility of Dun Morogh, a forested mountainous zone with snow-covered trees, frozen lakes, mines, crevasses, and tundra. Its capital Ironforge is one of the most impressively realized cities in any game I've played, built deeply within a high mountain cliff complete with a snow-covered path up the giant mountain side to its gates. As a Tauren, you'll begin in the wide open lush-green valleys of Mulgore, filled with rising mountains all around, rivers and lakes, and wide open rolling grass hills gently building up to sheer cliffs. Finally, with the Undead, you'll start in Tirisfal Glades, a haunted dimly lit zone with creepy forests, dilapidated towns and farmsteads, and many undead creatures roaming around. Thankfully, as a Horde race, you can kill humans for your quests, which makes for a nice change of pace.
The Beauty of WoW
Perhaps the best thing this game has to offer for an explorer-type like myself is how diverse the landscapes are. The terrain diversity and sense of realism, even while being cartoony, is remarkable. From the Dun Morogh ice forests and towering dwarven mountain city of Ironforge, to the wide-open gently rising savannah of "The Barrens".... giraffes and gazelles grazing and running past... every area and niche screams of interest. Jungles, swamps, deserts, tropic waterfalls, frozen tundra, pirate-laden coastal areas with sunken ships and coral--every type of terrain we currently have on earth is bound to make an appearance, and of course those that aren't here are in abundance too. The orc and troll metropolis of Orgrimmar is home to circular battle houses and towers with spikes coming out, just like in Warcraft III. The city is a giant maze of natural-looking brightly-painted towers, shacks and tents, and wooden rope bridges spanning high areas. The Tauren city of Thunder Bluff rests high on a cliff, like an eagle's nest, and to get there requires stepping on a huge mechanical wooden elevator (similar to the wood-elf village in EverQuest). The other cities were also crafted with care and are similarly diverse. It's almost a pilgrimage just making it to one, as you'll always start the game in one of the smaller townships far away, and will eventually learn of it through quests and/or exploration.
