A Closer Look at New Zones in Cataclysm

I want to take a look at a few more detailed aspects of the new expansion, focusing most intently on the new zones being added to the game. We still don’t know all that much about the starting areas, except that they are being modeled in the same way after the progression instance style that Blizzard used in Wrath to such great effect.

So, we’ll skip over those for now (I’ll come back later, I promise – we are getting lots of good info out of the magazines right now on those very zones) and focus on the five new leveling zones being added to the game in Cataclysm. These five zones include a collection of very well known locations and new additions to the game that are promising to be huge and loaded with both leveling and end‐game content for the players already at Level 80 and not planning on rerolling, so they are going to be very central to the revamp. Here’s a look:

Deepholm

Deepholm is the last of the five new leveling zones in Azeroth and will be located beneath the Skywall. It is already being touted as one of the largest zones in the game and will feature a wide array of elementals as well as Trogg and Earthen mobs.

The zone is very underground in nature – with lots of tunnels and caves and multiple underground style enemies. The elemental plane will also be located here with multiple levels and numerous elementals (probably a top farming locale when we get there).

Deepholm will be where Deathwing breaks back through into Azeroth and will also be the home of the Temple of the Earth. It looks like, right now, that there will be a pair of airships in the area, similar to how they were in Icecrown.

Uldum


Uldum is the location that everyone has been wondering about behind those giant closed gates at the southern end of Tanaris. Finally being opened up, we find that the gates were blocking off an ancient Titan homeland where the “Ultimate Weapon” was being hidden. This land is said to be a desert much like tanaris and will be home to a very ancient Egypt style feel.

The main question everyone has is, how did they manage to hide Uldum all this time at the tip of the continent. The lore fix for that question is that the Titans used a cloaking device to hide it. We’ll see how well it plays out when we get there. We also know right now that there will be two new dungeons here when we get started.

Mount Hyjal
Mount Hyjal has already been hinted at through the Caverns of Time instance and throughout Warcraft III, so this is another zone we are well aware of, but have not yet gotten to see completely. So, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

In Cataclysm, Mount Hyjal is going to be where Ragnaros returns and lays siege on the World Tree. It is also where Malfurion Stormrage will make his first appearance, returning from the Emerald Dream to command the Cenarius armies against this big bad boss. Zones nearby include Ashenvale, Felwood, and Winterspring, and the content will include a raid called Firelands to face off against Ragnaros.

The Sunken City of Vash’jir


The most controversial new zone in Cataclysm has to be the Sunken City, largely because everyone is leery of how underwater fighting will work out. If you’ve ever dived for clams, you know how much of a pain this can be so it will be interesting to see how Blizzard handles the effect.

This particular zone will be located just south of the Maelstrom and will the former home of Lady Vash’jir, before the Sundering occurred. The physics are said to be relatively normal in which players on the ground and not swimming will fight like normal and will then have to handle the fight more actively when they start swimming. There will also be special underwater mounts for this zone. The instance content here will take place in the Abyssal Maw.

Twilight Highlands


The Twilight Highlands are another new addition to the game and will be home to Grim Batol, as well as the new location for the Twilight Cult and the location for the final fight against Deathwing.

There will be boats here for both Horde and Alliance players as well as the Red Dragonflight to go along with the heavy Black Dragonflight presence and the Twilight Dragonflight. Grim Batol will be both a 5 man instance and a raid here.

New Dungeons
In all, there will be 8 new 5 man instances added to the game in Cataclysm along with two revamps of old 5 man instances in the form of Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep. The raid content has not all be announced yet, beyond what you just read above, but we’re working on digging up where they’ll be.

• Grim Batol: Level 85.


• Skywall: Level 80‐82.


• Abyssal Maw: Two Instances – Level 80‐83 and Level 82‐84.


• Deepholm: Level 80‐83.


• Uldum: Two Instances – Level 83‐84 and Level 85


• Blackrock Caverns


• Shadowfang Keep


• The Deadmines

As you can see, some of the content is being added to existing dungeons with Blackrock Caverns being a new wing in the old instance and the last two being 80 man versions of the same content from early in the game.