Until the character generator enables the worgen option again, my main occupation in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta is flying. Specifically, flying over Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, the vanilla WoW realms.

Back when The Burning Crusade hit and we we were told flying mounts would be confined to Outland, that seemed pretty reasonable. Blizzard said they would have to rebuild Azeroth from the ground up to make it compatible with flying mounts. Areas designed to be seen only from afar and below would have to be redone for the benfit of nosy wyvern riders. Not to mention all the curse words spelt out in mountain ranges. You'd think.

Outland was made for flying, though. Later, so was Northrend. And now here comes Cataclysm, along with flying anywhere you please, more or less. Credit to Blizz for reworking the homelands; no doubt there's a million flying-related exploits being ironed out even now.

What with the apocalypse, the land you levelled up in has changed forever. It is torn asunder, as they say. But still, flying high over places you knew so well (see Booty Bay, right) is diverting. Empowering, in fact. It's like returning to the town of your childhood, only now you can drive, and you do, and you drive past your old infant school. ON AN ARMOURED GRIFFIN.