Cataclysm BETA: The Goblin’s of Kezan, A first impression.
One of the biggest differences I noticed with the goblins, is that their ‘Character Background’ is, well… Pretty. You find your character standing amidst jungle foliage and there is a beach in the background. Having read into the goblin areas prior to actually playing them, I assumed this was a snapshot from Kezan.
I have always enjoyed the way blizzard developers their ‘jungle’ zones — Stranglethorn Vale, and Un’Goro Crater spring to mind. — and I quickly found myself hoping that Kezan was no exception.
Whilst the zone was loading; I found myself fantasizing about a flyover movie which encircles a lush jungle island, ending to rest behind your character… An idea obviously not shared at blizzard, there was a severe lack of introduction move, and a severe lack of lush jungle island…
Blizzard certainly isn’t one to be restrained by the medieval genre generally associated with the warcraft series, — Robots, Tanks, Helicopters and Rocket Launchers… — but by no stretch was I expecting what I found:
In a desperate attempt to figure out where my jungle island had disappeared to I took to reading the NPC dialouge and the quest texts… I was soon informed that this goblin metropolis was Kezan, and that I was an executive of the local ‘Kaja-Cola’ business, and gunning for the title of ‘Trade Prince’.
Alright, I suppose a little explanation is warranted here: A goblin trade prince is essentially the ruler of his ‘country’, where the goblin nation is a group of countries. (Which aren’t necessarily allied with each other.)
We were soon directed to the mine foreman, Mr. Dampwick; who was in need of some help. Apparently our troll ‘workers’ weren’t working hard enough… I was handed a taser and directed to ‘make them work harder’.
While undertaking this quest I came across a nice change to game play, do you remember those quests where you have to repeatedly use the same item on different mobs? — There is one in the orc starting area, that involves waking sleeping peons with a blackjack, if memory servers me — Well instead of having to ‘use’ the item, I could simply right-click the trolls.
Blizzard have always had an interesting sense of humor, and I certainly got a laugh out of the troll’s responses to being tased.
“What I doin’ wrong? Don’t I get a lunch and two breaks a day, mon?”
“I report you to HR!”
I don’t want to spoil the entire area for everyone, so I’m going to skip ahead a bit! A bit later one, I was given a quest to head into town and pick up some supplies for a party I was apparently throwing… “What?!, More running…” I grunted as I read the quest description… but to my surprise they were nice enough to supply us with… of all things… a car:
After zipping around town and collecting a few friends, and the party supplies I was given the difficult task of keeping the partygoers happy, which involved supplying them with more booze, nibbles, fireworks and the occasional bucket!
There were a few problems with the swimming pool in this area, but hey, its BETA.
After my party was well, and truly over the volcano in the center of the island decided it was a good time to blow its top… Faced with the task of escaping my demise I was quick to act and sadly didn’t take as many screenshots as I would’ve liked…
Needless to say acquiring the money to ‘purchase’ my way off the island involved a little… plundering… and some insurance fraud! Thats right, Insurance fraud:
“We’re close, but we still don’t have enough macaroons. Lucky for you boss, I suspected this might be the case, and I’ve got a plan. We’re going to collect on the headquarters’ insurance policy!
I took the liberty of filling the place with the leftover fireworks from your party, all you have to do is go in there are sabotage things a bit.
May I suggest the faulty generator, the leaky stove, and the flammable bed?…”
The following screenshot was taken from the boat, looking back over Kezan as the was bombarded with volcanic material!
After our boat headed off, and Kezan shrunk into the distance, we *apparently* encountered a battle between the alliance and the horde. Needless to say our ship was wrecked, and we were left to wash up on the shore… but on the plus side I figured out where that lush jungle island was hiding!
