t's expansion time. EVE Online releases the first phase of the winter expansion, Incursion, on November 30th, while World of Warcraft releases its third expansion, Cataclysm, on December 7th I will admit to some fondness for the WoW release date, as most of my semester's homework will be due December 6th.
One interesting feature with Incursion is the how developer CCP has decided to release it in three phases, with the first involving both new missions and some fixes and rebalancing, the second bringing some yet-to-be-announced improvements, and the third including the Sansha incursions and the highly appealing Incarna character creator. While I find Sansha quite interesting, especially given some of the in-game news releases regarding how the brigandine Sansha has affected the world, I am uncertain about how my current level of competence will fare against the new AI. The new character creator is a feature I find quite appealing, especially given the level of detail and control it seems to give.
Another new consideration for EVE is the Commissioned Officer Edition, which allows faster learning for new players, as detailed in this developer blog. I'll admit to being impressed by some of the detail shared in some of the devblogs, though this one is not particularly technical.
For Cataclysm, I'm most interested in both how the new raid lockout system — introduced with 4.0.1 — and some of the changes to the overall world will affect the game. I have left a couple of character slots free to allow for experiencing the new starting areas, though I doubt that much time will be allocated to such at first. Sadly, it seems that my raid gear will not last nearly as long as my Burning Crusade gear did in Wrath of the Lich King, as some of my Tier 4 lasted until my rogue was halfway to Level 80. I also foresee spending some effort to obtain the new alchemy mount, as I have found myself with an somewhat irrational excitement over such. And the forthcoming moonkin store pet, as I've always liked the look of balance druids.
Until the release of these expansions, I'll enjoy myself with some EVE scanning, running around Azeroth experiencing the pre-Cataclysm events, and hopefully find some time to play with Update 7 for Dungeons and Dragons Online. And perhaps try Lord of the Rings Online, now that it is free to play. . . . And perhaps play League of Legends with my boyfriend — right after I've built a time machine so I can do everything. Maybe I'll just start with EVE and WoW.
Keep in mind, Megan, that The Shattering — which introduces not only the new Old World zones and quests but original-race class combinations, too — is all but certain to go live this Tuesday. That way, only your worgen's exposition will be interrupted by Murphy's Law.
I've been somewhat ridiculously excited for Cataclysm. My favorite part of WoW is the leveling so I'm eager to get started on the 80-85 grind. Sadly, my apartment complex just sent out notices that they will be testing the fire alarm system all day on 12/7, so that has brought my excitement level down a bit.