World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Zone Previews

Earlier this week, both IGN and Ten Ton Hammer put together previews of two of the new zones being introduced in Blizzard’s World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion pack. IGN looks at Hyjal:

The quests in Hyjal mostly involve locating and reviving/protecting these spirits and their shrines, but the nature of these quests is varied, and some people won’t help you with your task until you’ve helped them. There are, of course, the standard fetch-quests, and the “Kill This Rat/These Rats” quests, but often they have an interesting spin put on them, or are tied to an interesting story. Take, for example, an early quest in which players must collect and construct an ancient staff. After all the pieces are collected and the staff has been reconstructed, I was tasked with subduing a raging elemental in the center of the famous crater. The elemental’s name? None other than Molten Core’s Baron Geddon. The Baron retained a couple of his Molten Core abilities, including Inferno, which would do an increasing amount of damage to anyone in range, which meant that I had to time my attempts to subdue him so that I wouldn’t get fried. After that was done, I was hit with his second retained ability — Living Bomb. It’s a cool little nod to content that has since fallen by the wayside.

While TTH looks at The Throne of Tides:

Ozumat is the final boss in the instance and is a scripted encounter. When you enter the room you can speak to Neptulon in the centre of the room to start the event. Your job is to defend Neptulon through the encounter.

The fight starts when Ozumat sends in several waves of creatures to attack Neptulon. Each of the creatures needs to be grabbed and held by the tank, or an off tank until they have been dispatched. They spawn all around the room and therefore the group needs to ensure they pick them all up or they will either kill Neptulon or attack your healer.