World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

These two level 78-82 areas lead to the "Dragonblight of this expansion", Deepholm. A vast subterranean cavern located in the elemental plane of Earth, this is Deathwing's domain, overrun with his Twilight's Hammer cultists and delivering much of his story. After Deepholm, you've two options to take you to level 85. Uldum, an Egyptian-style delta that had been hidden from view by the Titans until the cataclysm destroyed one of their cloaking machines, is rumoured to hold a super-weapon and is home to a new race of stone cat-people, the Tol'vir. The Twilight Highlands, east of the Wetlands, is a mountainous area that features port links for both Horde and Alliance, and Grim Batol, the great city which Deathwing has seized for his own.

Grim Batol will house one each of the four raids and eight dungeons planned for Cataclysm. Alongside new locations like Uldum, the Abyssal Maw and the mysterious Skywall, there's a nostalgic theme: Blackrock Caverns, a new five-man dungeon, is located in the old instance hub Blackrock Spire, and the Firelands, a raid on the elemental plane of fire, sees players take their second pop at Ragnaros. Nostalgia will reach overload, though, in the new level 85 Heroic versions of two much-loved low-level instances; the spooky ghost-train of Shadowfang Keep and uproarious romp through the Deadmines will return, with all-new fights and creatures.

There's no change to the philosophy of how Blizzard makes instances though, Chilton declaring himself happy with the status quo of normal and Heroic five-player runs, and raids for groups of 10 or 25. "We also have our Hard Mode philosophy better developed now, and we plan to have that right out of the gates with the Cataclysm content so that... we don't have the problem we had with Lich King where a lot of people just found Naxxramas too easy," he says.

On the player-versus-player side, Cataclysm promises three new Battlegrounds at launch, as well as Tol Barad, an open PvP zone much like Lich King's Wintergrasp, with timed control-point battles for access to a prison containing a raid boss. When the battle's not up, Tol Barad will serve as a major daily quest hub for both factions. More important than any of this new content, though, is a new system: rated Battlegrounds, which will bring Arena-style ranked competition, old-school Honor titles and top-tier rewards to what is currently the more casual end of WOW's PvP.

Race relations

A reboot of the entire old world of Azeroth is probably reason enough to consider trying WOW if you haven't before, or re-rolling a new character, but Blizzard's seen fit to sweeten the pot further with Cataclysm. You get new combinations of race and class to try out that weren't possible previously: Troll Druid, Human and Undead Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Blood Elf Warrior, Gnome Priest, the ridiculous Tauren Paladin (or "holy cow" as Chilton puts it) and more. And you get two new races - Goblins for the Horde, and Worgen for the Alliance.

New races are a chance for Blizzard to stir new flavours into the melting pot for each side. The idea is that the Goblins, diminutive tinkerers like the Gnomes, will bring some comic relief to the warlike Horde, while the Worgen werewolves will give the whitebread Alliance something edgy and monstrous and conflicted, with a Wolverine vibe. They're also a chance to tell new stories with the newfound narrative muscle of post-Lich King WOW, and necessarily so, because Blizzard has some explaining to do in both cases. Most Goblins NPCs are faction-neutral (and will remain so), preferring profit to war, so the reasons for the specific cartel of the player Goblins joining the Horde need to be laid out - while the Worgen are traditionally evil.

The level six-to-eight sections of the starting areas we get to play at BlizzCon provide some answers, but not all. After the Cataclysm, the Bilgewater Goblins find themselves shipwrecked alongside an unhappy crew of Orcs on the Lost Isle - a land that time forgot, with dinosaurs, pygmies, mischievous monkeys and man-eating plants all presented in the rich, saturated colours of a Mario Sunshine. Helping the Orcs out - riding panthers one minute, scything through forests of plants with a whirling chain of death the next - you discover Alliance spies on the island, and in a shock twist find that they've taken the Orc chief Thrall captive, and liberate him.

A level-six Worgen wakes up in stocks and on the point of execution. The human land of Gilneas has succumbed to the Worgen curse, but for some reason the transformed creatures remain humane, and you end up helping your captors and former neighbours repel an invasion of Forsaken Undead. Once again, there are plenty of set-pieces and varied, comical quests as you blow up Abominations by planting barrels of explosives on their heads and do chores for an old lady, while the Cataclysm hits midway through, changing the coastline of the zone. WOW's cheerful relationship with anachronism has allowed Blizzard to go full-on Victorian Gothic with Gilneas - it's all stove-pipe hats, cutlasses and gaslight. Both episodes follow the Death Knight experience formula to a tee, albeit with a lighter touch; they're jolly, fast-paced and the quests are studded with variety and surprisingly light on straight combat.

Goblins will be familiar to any WOW player, and they've got plenty of charisma, but it's their eye-popping racial abilities that will attract - a rocket belt that jumps you forward and shoots missiles, the ability to access the bank remotely every 30 minutes, and always getting the best cash discount from vendors. Oh, and a mount that's basically a hot rod. The Worgen have a dash skill, can change into human form at will (but only out of combat), and have a bonus to skinning. They're loping creatures with exaggerated animation, and look fantastically menacing in high-level armour.