Cataclysm Details Leaked
Posted by 
Amatera on Friday, August 14, 2009 - 105 Comments Tags: Hyjal, Lore, azeroth, azshara, barrens, cataclysm, deathwing, gilneas, goblin, kezan, level 85, ragnaros, revamp, spoilers, thrall, uldum, undermine, worgen
Amatera on Friday, August 14, 2009 - 105 Comments Tags: Hyjal, Lore, azeroth, azshara, barrens, cataclysm, deathwing, gilneas, goblin, kezan, level 85, ragnaros, revamp, spoilers, thrall, uldum, undermine, worgen
The info just keeps on rolling in today. A week out from the rockstar event that is Blizzcon and we might have our first major leaks. Heartbourne has already clued us in on potential new class combinations, but our friends over at MMO-Champion seem to have found a whole lot more. Boubouille absolutely insists that none of this is speculation, and while I remain skeptical about his sources, his track record is proven. This is as close to gospel as we're going to get until we hear something officially official. So keep on reading to find out what we know (or think we know) so far. Be warned, though, spoilers are abound if you want to keep your sense of surprise.
SPOILER WARNING
Herein is a rough list of major content changes that we can expect to see in the next expansion:
That's a lot to digest and I'm honestly eager to see how everything fits together. There are some controversial ideas in there, as well as changes that players have been clamoring for year after year. In fact, a lot of it sounds like the kind of stuff that Blizzard employees have wanted to implement themselves, but have repeatedly insisted they haven't been working on. Phasing, as I previously proposed, will play a large role in the recreation of mainland Azeroth (self high-five!).
By treading this path, however, I'm afraid there is also the chance of alienating a certain portion of the player base who see this as merely reusing old content. That may or may not be the case, and we may have to wait another week to find out. I think it really depends on how fresh the revamped content ends up feeling. Will the graphics of many areas be significantly improved or changed? Will the new quest lines make it worth adventuring through old zones? Is this the vanilla WoW that we always wanted? Or will the new Azeroth be a whole lot like the old Azeroth?
A yet-to-be-confirmed post on the Something Awful forums indicated huge, sweeping changes for the landscape, though. Thousand Needles flooded, many zones in absolute ruins, Orgrimmar sundered in two (with the introduction of a new Orc main city). The forums are private, but the summary has be re-posted on MMO-Champion.
I'm sure you all have a lot to say about these revelations, so feel free to strike up a conversation in our comments section. I know I'll be watching it closely!
SPOILER WARNING
Herein is a rough list of major content changes that we can expect to see in the next expansion:
- New Class Combinations - No new classes will be added to the game. Instead, existing races will be given access to classes that they never had before. It is currently unknown what classes will be available to the new races, however.
- New Level Cap - Surprisingly, it's only 85. This may fit in with a new philosophy of improving characters through gear instead of pure XP. Likewise, if the end-goal for WoW is 100, it leaves a little more space for successive expansions to grow.
-
Azshara, Queen of the Naga
The Cataclysm - This titular event, set in motion by Deathwing and Queen Azshara, will bring many changes to the existing content in the game, as well as open up several new ones. Their motivations for unleashing such destruction upon the world may be in part due to those pesky insanity-inducing Old Gods. - New Horde Race: Goblins - The Goblins have found their island home virtually destroyed by the events of the Cataclysm. Washing up on the shores of The Barrens, a quest line involving Thrall's capture (and subsequent rescue by the Goblin race) will explain how they ended up as the new consorts of the Horde. With their homeland gone, it's unclear whether or not we will get to visit Kezan, the island where the Goblin capital of Undermine exists.
- New Alliance Race: Worgen - The Greymane Wall, which separates Gilneas from Silverpine Forest, has been shattered by the Cataclysm. Bewildered from their self-imposed exile, the Worgen venture forth and find friends in the Alliance. It is unclear what the Goblin starting area may entail, but the Worgen will be receiving the Death Knight treatment. Gilneas will be a heavily-phased zone that will shuttle your character through the nation's history before unleashing them on the rest of Azeroth. Did I mention that Worgen do get to transform? That's right, you'll be able to shift from Human to Worgen at the click of a button, though we don't know if it will afford you any special abilities to do so.
- Azeroth Remade - Goblins and Worgen aren't the only ones who have felt the impact of this catastrophic event. Existing zones will be remade or phased in order to accommodate the current state of the world. The examples given include remaking Azshara into a 10-20 level area and splitting the Barrens into two distinct zones for players of different levels.
- New Areas - There will be no new continents introduced in the expansion, but instead, unreleased content in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms will finally be filled in. In addition to the aforementioned opening of Gilneas, you can also expect to see modern-day Hyjal and Uldum. These are only examples and do not represent the entire breadth of fresh content that will no doubt be introduced.
- Mainland Flight - Restructuring the two core continents has allowed Blizzard to add flight to those zones that never had it. Now you can ride all the way from the Plaguelands to Booty Bay on you very own flying mount. Presumably, you will still need to take a boat or zeppelin to go from one continent to the other.
- Dungeons Remade - Onyxia was only the beginning. This does not preclude the addition of new 5-man dungeons or raid content, but many of the old instances will be retrofitted for players progressing from Level 80-85. Reportedly, we'll also be seeing Ragnaros again. It is not known how extensive the changes will end up being (new bosses/new graphics or merely upgraded stats on mobs and items).
That's a lot to digest and I'm honestly eager to see how everything fits together. There are some controversial ideas in there, as well as changes that players have been clamoring for year after year. In fact, a lot of it sounds like the kind of stuff that Blizzard employees have wanted to implement themselves, but have repeatedly insisted they haven't been working on. Phasing, as I previously proposed, will play a large role in the recreation of mainland Azeroth (self high-five!).
By treading this path, however, I'm afraid there is also the chance of alienating a certain portion of the player base who see this as merely reusing old content. That may or may not be the case, and we may have to wait another week to find out. I think it really depends on how fresh the revamped content ends up feeling. Will the graphics of many areas be significantly improved or changed? Will the new quest lines make it worth adventuring through old zones? Is this the vanilla WoW that we always wanted? Or will the new Azeroth be a whole lot like the old Azeroth?
A yet-to-be-confirmed post on the Something Awful forums indicated huge, sweeping changes for the landscape, though. Thousand Needles flooded, many zones in absolute ruins, Orgrimmar sundered in two (with the introduction of a new Orc main city). The forums are private, but the summary has be re-posted on MMO-Champion.
I'm sure you all have a lot to say about these revelations, so feel free to strike up a conversation in our comments section. I know I'll be watching it closely!
Reader Comments (105)
WOW thats some new stuff!!
Hope some of it gets in!
I am definitely going to change my night elf hunter to a worgen hunter bwahaha... and even maybe level up a worgen other class to see the new zones (like aszhara now being 10-20) ..
Look forward to the expansion!! I hope its not too far off, I hate big announcements like this, as I get all excited, then realize oh wait, I still got a good year.
I was skeptical about the addition of the GOblins as a playable race, but if this info is correct, I might consider rolling one.
And the info about changes to the landscape has me conflicted. I really like the idea of the world changing and evolving with the game's story, but if those changes aren't phased like the deathknights' area (and the Worgens', apparently), new players could be missing out on the story so far.
I have been reading up on this topic a ton and this news really does excite me... yet at the same time I am disappointed. NO WORGEN FOR HORDE!!! I love them... I guess I can finally have my super small rogue class though. Take that gnomes!!! I am really glad vanilla wow is getting the much deserved face lift and some dungeons are getting retouched for high level play. I just wish they would put in a heroic mode for all dungeons and all they dropped were tokens. Like heroic RFC wouldn't be fun.
i would love to see an update of old content. there are many things that are relics due for it. (can't we finally retake Gnomer on behalf of the gnomes? those guys are lvl 30s for crying out loud)
i also read that gnomer would be taken back by the gnomes and it would be a city or newer instance.
man this XPEC is going to suck big time no new continent instead reworking what they have already talk about lame thats patch meterial not XPEC metterial and whats with the that 85 level cap are you trying to drive players away from teh game? i mean whear are we even going to go to level to that hyjal sumit? the capabbility of using your fluong mounds in the classic azeroth will completly remove the need of mmounts once you get a flying mount revamping looks promissing but how that effect leveling 1-58 or are we even going to have to go though outlands anymore i can see it now busting your ass though 2 freaking continents only to have to return to a place whear you started (EK, kalimdor) were they on crack when they thought of this
that right their is a perfect eample of blizzard just being lazy
Best. Expansion. Eva!
@cocopuff:
You're bashing Blizzard for being lazy? Take a good look at your spelling and tell me who's being lazy.
On another note, I think this will be an awesome expansion!
I, honestly, believe about 5% of this. Dwarf Shaman?? Really? Where in the Dwarf lore does Shamanism come into play? More Retcon Blizz? Really?
The only drawback I can see to phasing the existing Azeroth to accomodate high level players is that it'll essentially make helping out lower players impossible! I myself rely sometimes on higher level friends when working on my alts and I have several friends for who I do the same...If I'm phased into an 'altered' Elwynn forest, how can I stomp those awfully annoying Kobolds that don't want me stealing their candles????
One word....AMAZING! if even half of this becomes true it will transform WoW into a whole new game...in a great way. I like the way they are changing up the classes too. Finally the gnomes get souls and help others as priests.
@Highwayman:
I used to hate the thought of what this is, until you cleared up how the entire world would be phased out.
Of course, I'm not going to like the idea of it, but it would probably give some of the older feel back to WoW, with the lower-levelled players having to help eachother.
Now this is sounding kind of fun. Can't wait.
I think all of this will be pretty epic...however I'm having a hard time believing the flying in Azeroth part. Blue posters have always said this wont happen. Maybe it will. We shall see.
I too, am somewhat skeptical about the "flight in azeroth" part. How will that affect capital city raids? Will flight not be allowed within them, or perhaps flying guards created? (see Outland) Guess we'll have to wait and see.
By the sound of things, catacylsm is gunna put LK in the dust!
Theyre shortening the lvl cap... but will most likely double again the xp needed for each lvl.
Cheap way to make money IMO.
I think I'm more exciting about being able to fly in the old world than anything else.
I'd probably consider believing everythng BUT... the class/race combinations and flying in azeroth. <--=no. I wouldn't mind making the lowbies level themselves either... keeps people from being lazy. :)
To address some of your concerns (new details have come to light, which come from the Something Awful post I referenced).
The reason why you can fly now in Azeroth is because it is, literally, not the same Azeroth. It sounds to me like many of the zones are being given heavy facelifts, which gives them a convenient excuse to go in and fill in all of the missing bits before.
It seems as though all as-of-yet released content in mainland Azeroth will be accesible now, so they're going to have to make things cohesive.
Also, from what I've been reading, there may not be an "old" Azeroth in the game anymore. People who join the game may not be able to experience things as they once were (aside from Outland and Northrend content, which seems to remain untouched at this point). Is this a bad thing, if true? Only for nostalgic reasons.
One of Blizzard's big regrets was not having a cohesive story after the first few levels for any give race. You had these mini-arcs and then, from 20-60, nearly nothing unified besides a few vague threats thrown together for raid content. Now, from 1-80 (or 85, I guess), they have a chance to create something "whole." Something that every player feels like they're a part of. And that likely includes redefining questlines, adding new ones, and removing some altogether.
Players who experience that content now are probably in for a much more interesting ride than any of us were when we leveled our first character. And as for the rest of us, things may be different, but they're also still kind of the same. I don't think we'll be running short on nostalgia when we get our first crack at the expansion content.
Top Ones
- Flying in the old world
- New Races (This is always exciting stuff for me altough i rpefered new classes)
- The phasing in azeroth
- The rework of many old dungeons to high levels...nice
Bad ones
- New classes for races like Dwarf Shaman?Undead Hunter?Orc Druid? Is it just me or this doesnt make any sense???
- No new continents? In a expansion pack? Come on...
I guess we better just wait...
come on orgimmar is then almost distroyed that is not cool bliz
but asyhara in azorth nice
and flying in the old wold is gonaa cool but notfo the low lvls
and 1 last thing are u al forgetting 1 thing
HELLO THE LICH IS STIL HERE AND U ARE TALKING ABOUT THE NEXT THING WE NEED TO SLAY THE LICH KING FIRST !!!!!
this is gunna take a little while to take in...