BE WARNED – The following descriptions and gallery may contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t completed questing in Vashj’ir.

Dizzyness aside, the depths of Vashj’ir and its sub-zones left a lasting impression on my idea of questing in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.The 3-D zone packed a punch with some great stories, fun quests and different gameplay experiences. Oh, and a new breed of murlocs. That can’t be left unsaid, either.

Though mysteries still abound regarding Queen Azshara herself, the reappearance of the Naga as central lore keepers of the zone played a huge role in keeping me involved in the story. Not only do you fight against the Naga, but you also get to experience, in several different series of quests, what it is that the Naga are and have been fighting against (other than you). And I have to admit that playing as a Naga made me appreciate some of their quirks.

Sea monsters are, of course, also a hugely fun part of this zone. From the giant tentacles that first bring down your ship and her crew; a shark that you have to harpoon down like the menace he is; to a new water mount in the form of a huge seahorse; to another shark who helps you chomp up some Naga chum while you ride on his back; to finding a way to communicate with the demigod Nespirah (who, sidenote, reminds me of Ohmu in Hayao Miyazaki’s classic manga and anime film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind); to even seeing the Elemental Lord Neptulon himself from the comfort of one of many beautifully crafted cut scenes.

Not to mention a huge boss-of-a-whale shark that awards its own achievement just for being brave enough to strike against him — and win.

Plus, nothing could go wrong from putting something called a “merciless one” on top of your head. Right? RIGHT?! (Who else had to put their character through that crazyness more than once to get the cut scene again?)

If all that wasn’t enough, the scenery is gorgeous. From the bright colors of corals and fishies to the blues that deepened as you ventured deeper, it certainly wasn’t a drab or lifeless zone, as the gallery below shows. It also wasn’t lacking in things to do — with three sub-zones within Vashj’ir, plus a fair number of quests to complete, I was able to take the time to get my fill before moving on.

Looking back, what was your favorite part of the zone?

Click through for a screenshot gallery of more blues and greens than I realized Azeroth could hold.

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One seemingly small change coming soon in Patch 4.0.6 has been stirring up a lot of debate.

The removal of the requirement that a player must discover a dungeon’s entrance before they may queue for it from the dungeon finder has a lot of people flustered.

And I can see why. Back in May when WoW developers announced that this requirement would be coming in Cataclysm, most players seemed pleased. There were a lot of positives to consider.

The requirement would encourage exploration of new zones and therefore the questing and lore that encompass the areas around them; players would be more likely to know the way from the spirit healer back to the dungeon entrance, in the case of an untimely wipe; and the dungeon finder would potentially have fewer players joining randoms for dungeons that they had never before encountered.

But along with those positives also came scheming for how the new system could be used to a player’s benefit.

All around the WoW community, as the news spread, one other potential benefit of the system became obvious — players could use the system to opt out of the dungeons that weren’t as quick or easy as they would like; that didn’t have the rewards they were looking for; or that, for whatever reason, they didn’t want to encounter. By simply not discovering those locations, a player would never have to worry about entering a less than ideal dungeon again. They could eliminate the potential of an Oculus 2.0. — or, in this case, The Stonecore.

Sure, why not? Why not optimize fun levels while playing? I’ll tell you why. Continue Reading