Southern Barrens

My oh my how the Barrens have changed. That was immediately apparent as I took "The High Road" from Malaka'jin to Southern Barrens. I found myself on a narrow road with a cliff to my left overlooking the Alliance base.

You do a few quests here on the road to sabotage the Alliance efforts in Southern Barrens before heading into an oasis area called the Overgrowth. From what I have been able to see from alot of creatures so far in Cataclysm, many of them are capable of closing distances quickly by charging or pouncing. However, in Southern Barrens I got introduced to a few other new interesting tricks. When you kill one enemy, it sprouts tentacles every second all around it. These tentacles are kill-able and non-aggressive but make sure you beware of them when looting or you might right click one. Another was a flower that has a channeled ability where it whips back and forth quickly diminishing a caster's health.

After finishing up in the Overgrowth I made my way to Vendetta Point which is a small outpost at the Southern Barrens - Mulgore border. You will notice a large stone wall has been built on this border now, called the Great Gate. Taurajo has been overrun and destroyed.

From here I moved further South to Desolation Hold. Here the Alliance and Horde fighting gets stronger and you do some quests to fight off the Alliance.

I figured I was almost done here in the Barrens and for the most part I was correct. I was however refreshed to accept a quest where you finally destroy Bael Modan after doing some quests in there. You also continue the story of Manrik's wife here which I will not spoil for you. The Razorfen have encroached further into this area as the Southern Barrens - Thousand Needles border is heavily forested with brambles. You can no longer enter Thousand Needles this way unless you plan on taking a long, scary and dangerous dive into the water accompanied by a very, very long swim.

Southern Barrens lasted me until roughly level 33 before I moved on to

Dustwallow.