I quit BC after getting all my heroic gear, before the raiding scene really opened up, and narrowly dodged the Lich King's wrath, but then came Cataclysm. I could resist new high end features, but a total remake of all my favorite zones? No way.

The perfect storm:

• time off work to study for exams
• No classes (to allow for exam studying time)
• Only 2 real exams, both of which are easy, and require no study
• Friends and family out of town

The result:

• Leveled from 0-60
• Herbalism to 375
• Inscription to 300
• Epic land + regular flying mount
• 500 gold left over

Time elapsed:

5 days real-time. >_<

I know, I know, temporary insanity I guess. Anyway, some impressions. Firstly, the game is easy-mode now (I haven't played since BC, so maybe it's been that way for a while). From 0-60, I didn't come across a single quest I couldn't solo by myself, and I only found one elite that could kill me (some giant guy hanging out in Eastern Plaguelands). In some ways, I like the difficulty change. I prefer to solo when leveling, and used to HATE coming across quests that I couldn't do by myself, because by the time I found a group to do it with, I'd already leveled past it.

On the other hand, I miss the feeling of danger. I miss the panic I felt when killing a spider on the side of the road, and hearing Stitches lumber up unexpectedly, and then the relief as I popped every potion and ability I had to get away. That sort of thing. Speaking of Stitches, he's not the only elite that got nerfed: there really ARE no elites anymore. Sad. On the other hand, there are lots of new giant monsters in the leveling zones, which is cool. I just wish some of them couldn't be killed with autoattack in gray armor. /sigh

I guess the only other thing to talk about is the new quests, which are, simply put, awesome. I mean, I punched Deathwing in the face. I defended Booty Bay from an all out pirate attack, complete with rope swinging, bat rider boat bombing, and more. Blizzard added some truly amazing quest chains, and, true to their word, every zone feels new. I don't know as if there are any quests that were actually left intact. I saw a lot of the old quests rolled into new ones (with varying degrees of change) but everything has been retooled.

I think probably the coolest thing about the re-done quests is how they're all meaningful now. There are very few disjointed quests. "Kill some murlocs for me, ok thanks, that's it! Bye." It's all part of some larger chain. Everyone will tell you to report to someone else when they're done with you, and the someone else will escalate the situation, incorporating what you've already done into a grander whole. You might have been collecting supplies for an attack on the Blackrock Orc basecamp, instead of picking up stuff just because. Each zone feels like a separate adventure/plot in and of itself, now. Time was, I used to tell myself "I'll just finish this level and then quit." Now I wanted to finish each zone, so I could see how its story finished. Speaking of which, the zones seem to update as you progress, now. There might be a battle going on in Andorhal, and then you help, and then the battle is over. I'm not sure how that works. Do other players see that, or is it mini-instanced somehow, or? I'm confused. The Booty Bay thing especially seems odd to show everyone, because it messed up the city pretty bad for a while.

Anyway, enough rambling. Cata is out, it's very cool, and it tried to kill me. Thoughts anyone? Impressions? Feel like talking WoW for a bit?