Displaying the world in varying states depending on your quest flags (which Blizzard calls Phasing) is a somewhat subtle new feature in WoLK. The largest example is the final quest zone, Icecrown. You battle through the zone following directives from major plot NPCs, opening up new quest hubs as you conquer enemy areas and your allies pour in to build new bases. You only see players in the same phase as you within that area. It sounds simple, but it added much more depth and fun to the experience than I would have guessed.
Phasing isn't completely new to MMOs, or even WoW. Blizzard had at least components of the tech all the way back at release, seen in Scholomance as a city of ghosts you could only see when wearing a special item. Along with the world-changing story in Icecrown, they use the tech to send you to flashback scenes with Arthas (and sometimes even as Arthas!) or other major story events. Some quests even pop you into a pocket dimension and litter the area with ample targets for one of the new vehicles.
Vehicles are another new tech addition in WotLK. Tanks, planes, and creatures are given to you to control. Vehicles replace your abilities with their own (i.e. breathe fire, shoot cannon). Some of the time, they feel like a gimmick. Other times, brilliance shines through and you will be amazed by an epic battle. The vehicles are a fun way to give you a new game to play briefly. One quest resembles Shadow of the Colossus in its strategy. Another forces you to burrow underground as a worm when your prey charges up his attack. The encounter with the raid boss Malygos ends in a great aerial showdown where you and your friends must master a tricky battle on the backs of the Red Dragonflight. This fight is pretty complicated, so they even made a quest to practice it.
Achievements, now generally understood to be a fun addition to any game, make their splash in this expansion. Points are given out for old-world achievements, but the true fun lies in the newer content. Group and raid content seems to be balanced a bit easier in WotLK, but new level of challenge appears in a huge variety of difficult feats to be performed. Found that boss to be too easy? Next time try letting him impale your whole group before taking him down. Think you've got content on farm and it's time to take a break? You still haven't beaten this boss in under 3 minutes. Is your guild too amazing to find a challenge in this raid dungeon? We'll reward you if you can do it without anyone dying once!
All these achievements add to a point score, and some of the toughest give other rewards. I personally have my sights set on an amazing undead dragon mount that's only given for mastering ALL of the 10 man raid achievements. It could take some time before we manage that! In the meantime, tons of easy to accomplish tasks are laid out in front of me, potentially keeping me busy for months to come. I'm not obsessive enough to go for them all, but I have a few friends who are.
The raid content in WotLK is fun, if a bit of a cop-out. The major cornerstone at the launch of the expansion is Naxxramas, a revamped dungeon from level 60. Few players had ever seen it, so it is effectively new content. The other existing raid encounters are simple dragon lairs. Challenging fights, but not ample eye candy for the explorers like myself.
Classes underwent a few major changes in the big 3.0 patch. All damage-dealing specs are theoretically equalized (with the pure DPS classes still given a small advantage over hybrids). Buffs have been homogenized and balanced some to prevent stacking of shamans and other oddities. Tanking has been made easier and more fun, with a big threat jump for all tanks, gearing for crushing blows made unnecessary, and more damage dealing potential in general. Healing seems to be a bit more balanced, with some weaker specs from before being given a place at the raiding table. Healers still do very little damage, so levelling a healing build is still torture.
I chose to abandon my previous character, a mage, and now play a paladin. One of the few hybrids able to tank, deal damage, and heal, I greatly enjoy collecting gear for all three tasks and stepping into whichever role is needed. The paladin underwent major changes in 3.0 to make their damage dealing spec viable, and I found it fun levelling him from 60 to 70 while he was very overpowered for a bit, before they were balanced.
Blizzard also added their first expansion class, the Death Knight. Available to play starting at level 55, you can quickly get a feel for the class by playing through their amazing intro quest line. I found it a bit annoying to manage, too many resources and states to juggle at once. Not a hard class, though. They generally smoke through solo content. They seem to be a bit nuts in PvP.
My opinion on PvP in WoW is that it still sucks. Damage is too high, survivability too low, and there's too much crowd control. Casters tend to get mowed down by my paladin in DPS mode, with rogues, druids, and death knights also overpowering most other players. Playing a healer particularly can feel very futile when any spell with a cast time is worthless against skilled players. WoW should take tips from Warhammer, and work on slowing combat down. Frontline soak and snares provided by Warhammer tanks give its PvP a 'press' that WoW lacks. The slower pace and fewer CCs give players a chance to press a few buttons (usually) before they get brought down.
Despite the abundance of achievements, great quests, dungeons, and new loot, the WoLK expansion is already running out of entertainment for the hard-core. Players more aggressive than me and my friends are already chomping for the next raid zone addition, and we will be soon. Blizzard, despite their resources, does not seem to be able to keep ahead of its voracious players any better than less powerful MMO companies.
WotLK is a good expansion with some fun new features. But hopefully Blizzard is still scrambling to add more.
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