WoW: Cataclysm Beta opens new zones & dungeons for testing

The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic Beta has been underway for a while now but, aside from broadstroke changes to Azeroth, a lot of content has been missing. Now, Blizzard has added significant content and raised the level cap to the new peak of 85.

In a Blue Post on the official Blizzard Forums, the Classic team confirmed a number of huge additions to the Beta. The first is that the Level cap has been raised to 85, allowing those who have previously reached the WotLK cap to start gaining experience again.

To facilitate this they have unlocked the 80-85 leveling zones, namely Vash’jir (80-82), Mount Hyjal (80-82), Deepholm (82-83), Uldum (83-84) & Twilight Highlands (84-85). The appropriate leveling dungeons have also been added to give players more options on the way to 85.

The last major change is the arrival of Archaeology, with players able to pursue the new profession immediately.

Even with all of that, there are still some features that are yet to be included in the Cataclysm Beta. Reforging, Transmogrification, Guild system updates, the Dungeon Journal, LFD and Tol Barad remain unavailable for now.

As with any Beta, Cataclysm currently has several issues that the developers are aware of and actively working to address. The full list is as follows:

Questing

• The cinematic doesn’t play properly during “The Eye of the Storm”, causing the player to be stuck for ~4 minutes without being able to interact with the questgiver.
• The quest “Be Raptor” is not completable.
• Some cinematics don’t play properly, requiring players to Esc out of them.

Cataclysm Classes & Combat:

• Players can still learn some weapon skills.
• Resistances aren’t calculating properly.
• Druid – The Euphoria proc rate when casting Starfire and Wrat is significantly lower than it should be.
• Druid – Mangle (cat & bear) are unlearned on logout.
• Druid – Rejuvenation is doing significantly lower healing than it should.
• Death Knight – Raise Dead doesn’t raise a ghoul
• Death Knight – Rune Tap does not activate a rune immediately.
• Goblin – Rocket Barrage doesn’t scale with attack power
• Paladin & Warrior – Block only block 1 damage.
• Warlock – Blood Pact gives strength instead of stamina

Misc:

• Some Orc and Gnome NPCs are displaying untextured pink facial hair (questionable fashion choice)

The Cataclysm Classic Beta continues apace, with the full game set to arrive in the first half of this year.