The world had to end to make me want to return to it.

I stride through the red sands of Durotar, dual daggers at my sides, my crimson Troll hair matching the  palate of the landscape. And as I arrive at the great gates of the Horde capital, Orgrimmar, I realize that I will need every ounce of the strength I have gained. Because the city is not as I remember.

Scaffolds buttress the once-mighty outer walls. Watchtowers have sprung up where none existed before. And in the center of the Valley of Strength lies a forbidding structure -- a tower of entirely Orcish design.

I don't think I'm at home here any more.

I haven't played World of Warcraft in over a year, and I wasn't sure I wanted to come back for the latest expansion, Cataclysm. A lot of folks I know are wondering if it's worth the return. But after reading all the previews about how different the game would be, especially in the early zones, I had to see for myself.

Tuesday night, despite Bitmob community writer Rick Knight's excellent reasons to the contrary, I jumped back in with a new character, just to see what it's like. So this isn't for the converted. (They're already playing it right now anyway.) But if you're on the fence about returning to Azeroth, here's my experience.

Full disclosure: WoW never grabbed me the way it did others. I had a handful of characters and built them each up to about level 30 before losing interest. I never even bought the previous expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. I figured I'd never touch the late-game content it offered. But you don't need to purchase Cataclysm to experience the new landscapes and other improvements. (Although you can't play as the new Goblin or Worgen races without it.)

I noticed the first improvement right away -- WoW's launcher/installer program is drastically different from what I remember. It now streams patch installation, allowing you to actually start playing before you have all the content on your computer. True, it can make the game laggy and slow (and I eventually decided to just wait it out), but it's still a huge upgrade. Patches are also separated into "setup," "available," and "playable" categories, giving you more of an indication of how far along you are in the process.

Once I had everything downloaded, I set about creating a new character. I only own the base game and the Burning Crusade expansion, so my choices were somewhat limited. But I chose a Troll rogue, as the Trolls have a completely revamped starting area in Cataclysm (located at the southern tip of Durotar).

I know a great many WoW players don't give a hoot about the game's story or setting. But I appreciated the opening cutscene depicting the dragon Deathwing's eruption from the earth and the destruction he wreaks on Azeroth. It made me hopeful that Warcraft had new surprises in store for me.

Leveling has never been easier. Tutorial windows pop up at intervals to help noobs along (it's been so long for me, I needed them at times), and the default quest tracker has been improved to give more clear directions (though still not as clear as the available third-party add-ons like QuestHelper). My rogue sped up to level 10 in a little over two hours, and I felt like I wasn't in any big hurry. My quests also led me nicely from the Echo Isles to Razor Hill to the gates of Orgrimmar, so I got to see what the capital looked like almost immediately.

In the post-Cataclysm world, the Horde is a fractured force -- and not just because a giant dragon is flying around blowing stuff up. Orgrimmar is a changed city with a new Orc leader, one who doesn't exactly make nice with his Troll, Tauren, Blood Elf, and Undead allies. Elevators lead to a whole new upper level, and I had to relearn the locations of critical buildings like the bank, the auction house, and the flight master. It'll take me a while to get comfortable there again.

I was a bit under-leveled, but I just had to see the Barrens again, that vast savannah-like wasteland of wild beasts and wilder players. A giant rift now runs through the landscape, separating the zone into Northern and Southern Barrens. Everything has a darker, more reddish tone, and many of the locations are different. I can't wait to explore it again.

I realize I might be pretty unique in my circumstances as a Warcraft player. If you've got multiple level 80 characters and all the epic gear you can handle, then I have no idea if the return will be worth it for you. But for me, the changes I've experienced so far have definitely been enough to make me want to keep playing.

There's never been a better time to start over in World of Warcraft. After all, the end of one world just leads to the beginning of a new one.