Photo Tour of Teldrassil

I hopped a boat on over to Teldrassil to check out the "damage" over that direction.  There are only really 2 main changes to Teldrassil.

Rut'heran village has been separated and half sunk by the events in Azeroth recently.  It's still pretty, but the layout is very different now.

The Night Elves have taken responsibility for the Worgen situation and they have offered them sanctuary in Darnassus with this very intriguing looking tree.  It is located between the craftsman's terrace and the Cenarion enclave area.

These are shots from the one large room area underneath the Worgen tree.  As you can see, it's still very Night Elven in design and feel, but there are gathering groups of Worgen learning from the various Elves available.

Photo Tour of Westfall

Westfall has traditionally been a pretty yellow and bleakish area of farms and grasslands - fairly uncomplicated really.  But there have been a few changes to the landscape that I thought I would share.

It would seem there is a murder mystery afoot - human as well as poor old Blanchy that we used to gather oats for.  I would like you to notice the redheaded investigator in the photo - remind anyone of CSI-Miami?

Going further up the road we now see how much progress these steadily working farmers have made on their little town surrounding Sentinal Hill.  The wall construction is still going on, but it's made massive progress recently.

And perhaps the strangest change... I am not sure what you'd call it, but it would appear that one of the Defias caves has literally been blown to pieces and some energy vortex still swirls there throwing trees and debris around and around.

Downloading... still Downloading...

It's been downloading for the better part of two days now.  I got to the point where I could login and experience some things in the game, but I'm not sure what portions are just missing due to beta and what portions are actually still downloading.  I can see the female Worgen creation screen but can't actually "make" one.  However, I have to say I hope they give us more hair colors for Human form than just black.  They probably will.

I also created a Goblin even though I don't intend to play one.  I just want to test drive a few things and see how it goes.  Isn't beta about doing exactly that?  I've never done a beta so hopefully this will be interesting and maybe I'll have some useful information to give.  I do feel a little out of practice at the game.

I'm still not certain how you copy over a character you already have.  I might have to ask someone about that.  I would like to do that because I'd like to see the various zones and I'd need to play a higher level character than a  brand new one to achieve that.

In Non-Cata/beta news, I've worked on the RP for one of my favorite characters so that she doesn't end up getting deserted just because my guild seems to be a sinking ship.  As much as I wanted it to survive, I don't think there's enough dedication to it to keep it going.  It seems if I ever have RL rear it's ugly head, everything collapses.  So be it.  I'm kind of ready for a change of pace and would rather be a member now than a guild leader really.  I'd like to get back to enjoying the game more and running things less.

However - the change in RP now makes my character a redhead - which will be interesting.

Beginning a Fiery Journey

I woke up to an email like several others I had seen.  This email said I was accepted to the Cataclysm Beta.  Nothing to get excited over.. another Phishing attempt right?  Well maybe not so much.  The further I read, the more intrigued I became.  I didn't see any non-valid links or strange addresses in the header.  I figured the true test would be to just go directly to battle.net myself and see if there was a client there to download.  A little hopeful, and trying not to get my hopes up, I logged in and punched in the authentication code.  Clicked manage accounts.... and my jaw dropped.  IT WAS REAL!!  I am now installing the Cataclysm Beta client.  I have never before participated in a Blizzard beta so this is going to be a very unique journey indeed.  Wish me luck!