[quote name='Ernest_360']Questing is streamlined and very, very fun if you roll a new toon (I rolled Goblin Mage). It's all story driven, makes sense, and is very enjoyable. You go to a quest hub, complete 5-6 quests, get transported to the next hub, do the next few quests, move on. At the end of a zone, you are treated to an in-game cutscene. You feel important, like your actions make a difference, and it all really comes together lore-wise. All the fetch and escort quests have been tuned down. Some quests can even be completed without returning to the quest giver. Never been more fun to try a new class.
I haven't done any of the end-game PvP content, so no comment there.
I can say, however, that they really have turned up the difficulty on PvE Heroics. Healers have to actually prioritize their spells, and not spam from an endless mana pool. Mana runs out fast, so healers need to pay attention again. Tanks have to take and hold aggro and actually watch threat management, while DPS has to actually manage crowd control and watch their damage output or the group will wipe. Heroics also drop blues, leaving purple for the raids. It's a return to Vanilla (in a sense), where you actually have to know your class and not just have a gear score and spam three buttons all day. It is much more intricate again (very challenging), and in my opinion, fun. PUGs suck again, even with dungeon finder. This is where a guild comes in handy, because you can trust your friends to know the fights and work together. This comes from a player who picked up WoW right at the start of BC and who played through WotLK. Cata is like a breath of fresh air and I am loving it right now.[/QUOTE]
Your assessment of Cata is pretty spot on. I got started midway through WotLK and I was surprised how "easy" it was to get geared and some purples on my back. Now the 5man dungeons are pretty tough, DPS does need to make sure they're not screwing up and standing in fail etc to give the healers an easier time. Great fun!! I liked the casualness of Wrath as it allowed me to get in on the fun after being 4-5 years behind but now I'm used to how the game mechanics are, Cata is great for it's difficulty.
. Yeah.