World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

News Bot Posts : 5 Join date : 2009-11-04

Direct from: MMO-Champion

None of the information below has been officialy announced by Blizzard,
this is only a compilation of information gathered from reliable
sources. Just keep in mind that it takes a LOT to make me post
something on the front page and I'm definitely not speculating here.

Other sites started it, I'll try to finish it. Think twice before you read this post, we have a lot of spoilers here.

Most
of this stuff will be announced at the Blizzcon anyway, if you didn't
take the time to order the live stream you might want to consider doing
it. We will probably see a lot of interesting things here.
Quote from: Blizzard (Source)
This
year, for the first time, you'll have the opportunity to enjoy a live
Internet stream of BlizzCon coverage from the comfort of your own home.
The stream includes the same content as the DIRECTV pay-per-view event,
but you do not have to be a DIRECTV subscriber to purchase it. It
consists of over 16 hours of video, including interviews and
commentary, main stage presentations, and tournament coverage. It’s now
available to order for $39.95, and purchasers will also receive the
BlizzCon 2009-exclusive in-game pet, Grunty the Murloc Marine (not
available in all regions). Head over to the BlizzCon 2009 Live Stream
website to get more information, to test video playback on your system,
or to place an order.

http://blizzcon.rayv.com/

Forums - The WoW Cataclysm General Discussions forum is now available.

Update
- Another update from the Something Awful forums has been confirmed and
is now integrated to the post. (The original quote was removed by the
author's request on SA)

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

World of Warcraft:
Cataclysm is the next expansion for World of Warcraft. Dark and
forgotten threats that have long stayed out of sight have finally
arrived on our shores, unleashing a cataclysmic event upon Azeroth and
now preparing more nefarius plans to take it back.

Level Cap
The level cap in the next expansion will be slightly lower than expected this time around; 85.

This
suggests Blizzard wants more room for expansions before hitting the
level 100 cap. With less leveling to do (along with the revamped
leveling listed below likely to increase the speed and ease of
leveling), leveling a new race remains appealing for new and existing
players alike.

Leveling from 80-85 should be a much bigger deal,
the idea is to make sure that gaining a level really means something
and doesn't make you feel like you just have 4 more levels to go.

New Classes
Cataclysm
doesn't introduce any new classes to the game. Instead, Blizzard have
offered more race and classes combinations to players. The Some of
these have alreadly been datamined from the 3.2.2 Test Realms. The An Injured Colleague
quest and it's new Night Elf counter-part help to introduce the lore
for these new race and class combinations, so we can probably expect to
see more of these for some of the less traditional ones.

New Races
The
events of the cataclysm has caused two new races to seek new allies.
The Goblins for the Horde and the Worgen for the Alliance.

Goblins
Deathwing
once again sought the services of the goblins, as slaves. Unable to
refuse such an offer, the goblins were enslaved by him. A large group
have resisted however. With their previous homes devastated by the
cataclysm, they escaping to an island off the coast of The Barrens. As
they strive to recover, they come across an Orc captured on an Alliance
ship and rescue him. The Orc turns out to be none other than Thrall
himself, and in return offers the Goblins a place within the Horde.
These events are carried out in a quest line, allowing players to
experience first-hand the reasons behind the Goblins' shift from
neutrality.

Worgen
The
cataclysm has cracked open the Greymane Wall, finally revealing what
has happened to the kingdom of Gilneas and its citizens. With the
Worgen curse taken hold, they have found a partial cure, allowing thme
to retain their Human minds even when transformed. Venturing forth from
Gilneas and seeking help from the Alliance, they have decided to join
them, to combat the new threats of Cataclysm.

Gilneas will make
extensive use of the phasing system (much like the Death Knight
starting area), to show what happened while the kingdom was cut off
from the rest of the world and lead up to present day.

Worgens will have two forms, a Worgen form and a Human form. Players will be able to customise the look of both forms.

New Content
Cataclysm will be the first expansion not to introduce a new continent, instead making use of previously unreleased zones and revamping existing ones.

Classic Azeroth Revamp
A
cataclysmic event caused by Deathwing and Azshara will change the face
of Azeroth as we know it. Most of the new content for Cataclysm will
take the form of a revamped Azeroth, taking advantage of newer
additions to WoW such as phasing and daily quests. Most of the quests
and mobs in the classic zones will also be redesigned to make leveling
less painful. With the revamp, a greater narritive and sense
progression will be offered to players. Some zones and dungeons will
change drastically to fit this, e.g.,

The Barrens will be split into two separate zones of two different level bands.
Azshara will become a low level (~10-20) zone.
Some of the zones like the Thousand Needles will be flooded.
Durotar is wrecked and apparently Orgrimmar could be destroyed. A new Orc city is rebuilt over the course of the expansion.
Gnomeregan
will be part of the expansion as well and gnomes might be able to
reclaim their capital. (The last part is still unconfirmed)
Wailing Caverns will be become a lush tropical area as a result of the druid's magic.
The Blackrock Spire will erupt and a new version of Blackrock Mountains will be available, apparently Ragnaros will be back too.

In
the aftermath of the cataclysm, and the new conflicts on the horizon
relief efforts can be found in many zones and new open PvP areas
similar to Lake Wintergrasp.

Flying in Azeroth
Part
of the redesign of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor is the
introduction of flying to the two continents, allowing access to many
new areas and quicker travelling across the large continents.

Classic Dungeon Revamp
Redesigning
Onyxia's Lair in Patch 3.2.2 was just the first step. As most of the
leveling will take place in revamped areas of Azeroth, so too will the
dungeons, allowing players to use them to level from 80 to 85.

Unreleased Zones & Dungeons
With
the addition of flying mounts to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms and
the redesign of many zones, most of the previously unreachable or
incomplete zones will now be made available to players. This is where
most of the new content from 80 to 85 will take place. Some of these
are,

Hyjal (present)
Gilneas - The Worgen starting Zone.
Uldum

It
is unclear if the old Goblin locations such as Kezan and Undermine will
be included in Cataclyms with the revelation of the goblins' plight,
but several new islands have also been risen from the seas by the
events of Cataclysm, some on the backs of giant sea turtles and whales,
with the addition of several underwater zones.

Characters and Events

Deathwing
Deathwing the Destroyer / Neltharion the Earth-Warder
will play a major role in Cataclysm. Having been driven mad by Old God
whisperings and turning against his own kind only to be fail in his
attempts, Deathwing has sunk into the shadows. While the Horde and the
Alliance were busy fighting back the Burning Legion only to then be
beset with the Scourge, he has been lurking and moving things into
place. After Lady Sinestra's failed attempts to create a Twilight Dragonflight,
he again retreated to Grim Batol and succeeded where she failed. With
his results seen in the Obsidian Sanctum, he has finally created the
supreme Dragonflight he sought and plans to unleash it upon the world.
But what of the Old Gods' sway over him?

Azshara
Queen Azshara
will also play a major part in Cataclysm. Unknown to many mortal races,
long forgotten by others, and believe to be dead by her own kind, she
has not been dormant in depths of the Maelstrom. Having those around
her transformed by the Old Gods into Naga after her failure in the War
of the Ancients, she has become far more powerful and a greater threat
than she once was. Not content with just Nazjatar and the depths of the
sea, Azshara seeks to reclaim power and reign once again. With the true
plan behind Lady Vashj's support of Illidan remaining a mystery we do
not know what hand Azshara has yet played. The big question remains, is
she now serving her "saviors", the Old Gods?

The Cataclysm
I'm
still not sure who is the true end boss of Cataclysm is, but the
cataclysm appears to have been caused by attempts to incantation to
summon extremely powerful beings using an ancient incantation by
Deathwing and Azshara. They're both very powerful, but the cataclysm
itself suggests something more powerful is behind it, perhaps their
shared past of Old God influence?

The Guardian of Tirisfal
Malfurion Stormrage will be returning to Azeroth to aid in the creation of the new Guardian of Tirisfal - Thrall! Med'an's role in these events is currently unknown.

The New (New) Horde
Thrall
will hand over the leadership of the Horde to Garrosh Hellscream, while
he serves as a coordinator for both the Horde and Alliance forces in
and effort to combat the new threat of the Naga and Black Dragonflight.
Without Thrall to keep Garrosh in check, he declares open war on the
Alliance. In the political upheaval Cairne Bloodhoof is implicated as a
traitor to the Horde and murdered by Garrosh. Cairne's son Baine takes
over as the new Tauren chieftan. This could explain why Baine was
removed from the game in Patch 3.2.2, you can find more information
about this in Ahmo Thunderhorn - replacement for Baine Bloodhoof?