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)
God i hope this release during summer :( i hate schoool.....
There was nothing said about "no new classes" being added to the game in the "leak." It's still quite possible that we will see them. Also, nothing, i repeat, NOTHING has been announced by Blizzard regarding anything to do with the expansion, so this is all just speculation. It's very accurate and smart speculation, but still. Also, I think if these new race/class combos are true, it's to better facilitate faction changes.
Just my 2 copper :D
It would be awesome to see massive changes to the world, a world constantly changing is much better than a static world.
ok, to all of you trying to make sense of why the Worgen are going to the allaince... the gilneans from the original alliance cut themselves from the alliance b/c they "supposedly" were wasting money on the orcs being put in internment camps, so they put up the greymane wall to seal themselves off. btw, the greymane wall is the southern border of silverpine forest. it was said that no one knew what happened to them, but there was speculation that the rest of silverpine was infest with werewolves that they would be worgen also, i guess they were right. and to all of you who dont like the ideas of revamping azeroth, u have to consider that Blizz wsants us too use all of their availiblee content, including vanilla azeroth. (thats prolly why there is no auction house in outland or NR :P ) and i think that a undead hunter is a waste of time, i think a undead pally makes more sense, they could be pallys in life and take it to their grave :P (and for some lore on why tauren will be pally's, or SUN knights, is there is a quest that talks about NE druids worshipping the moon, while the sun, or HOLY LIGHT, is a nother part of TAUREN religion, so that is a little bit of lore and explanations, PST with your questions on this, ill try to help :)
-righteuossdk-Lightning's blade - (alliance)
I hope Alliance does get Worgen, i always wanted to play a monster looking class... horde don't excite me... and im bored of Draenei... and gnomes are small. Though i will role a Dwarf Shammy, i hope their totems look cool. But Worgen will be awesome... not the Gilneas i was hoping for but it will probably rock
other than the new races this expansion is pale in comparison to how excited i was for wrath or BC i don't want old zones that are new i want to go into the maelstrom kill some bosses and go back to old Azeroth and level alts in the zones i always have. im all for Hyjal being accessible though
for those complaining about the class changes (human hunter etc) if u think, it makes sense in a way with the new faction change coming up, that way you can pick a diff race for a shammy for example, instead of orc S, change to a dwarf shammy ? it could be legit
oi have to admit azeroth being worped in to new azeroth garsoh taking leader ship of the horde sounds awsome nothing wrong with a change of scenery redesing old instances (raids not included) for level 80-85 epic fail who needs it if i want a bosss i can one shot to kick my ass ill get a group go to TOC hope for the female paladin boss and then let the mammeroy of an old boss kick my ass but i do not want that who wants to do something they did literly 1000 of times done in harder mode i actauly expected gilneas to be a raid or a 5 man instance but a new alliance city will work just as well i wonder if mages will be port thier ill definetly be making both goblins and worgens for the lore i hope blizz sticks to remaking old raids i hope the new races will come with new class or 2 the new class/race combination could work if taking the right approach i expected the tomb of sargeras to be a raid in this XPEC guess i am jsut going to have to wait
i like most of these ideas but, i would like to see a new hero class made, it is still early and blizz may intro one but i hope it is some kind of healing class instead of the tank/dps of the death knight
BLIZZARD RULES!
SOUNDS COMPLETELY AWESOME!
BRING ON THE MIDNIGHT RELEASE!
Quoted from Bigwang (Zand):
"Blizzard...you have WON"
That is soooo unfair why do the Horde have to get stuck with Goblins and Alliance get the worgen who are totally awesome?
I think they should make both races neutral parties.
Well. Personally, Im completely excited by all the stuff said. Ever since TBC I've wanted a Belf Warrior, now with upcoming faction change, I may be finally able to :D
Personally, I do agree that EK and Kal needed something to bring people back, and if Azeroth is indeed being reworked, this would be it.
But, until I watch the Blizzcon live stream next week and see what Blizz announce, I wont keep my hopes up too high.
@Sean. *highfives and agrees*
Also I agree there should be another hero class. Whats the point in introducing hero classes, if your just gonna have one?
I'm sure they'll add more hero classes. In fact, I fully expect one or two to pop up over the course of the expansion. Perhaps not at launch, but in one of the content patches.
I believe Blizzard mentioned doing this in the past.
And really, it kind of fits with the lore at this point. With all the upheaval and allied races having to learn new skills from each other (hence the new class/race combos), it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that they will also develop new powers along the way (heroic-level classes).
Although I'm a bit intrigued by this, I have to say that *IF* this is true. HOW .. FREAKING... LAME.
They are basically going to rehash the same content I've done a bazillion times. No New Classes but WAIT! I can make an undead shaman! Uh, why would I want to when i already have an ally and horde one.
Seriously Blizz, you make an absurd about of money off this game. USE it to develop a truly new class. Tweak old zones sure, but ADD new and fresh content. Heck add the Fletching profession, since bows/staves/arrows are the only thing we can't craft now.
I'm so not looking forward to questing in two barrens zones....
i promise you blizzard "leaked" this on purpose. they want to keep us busy for the next week till blizzcon. i know thats what this is, i cant beleive that nobody has pointed this out yet. THIS IS NOT WHATS GOING TO BE IN THE NEXT EXPANSION!. this is somthing they threw together in a few hours. this isnt the real details, it might have somthing the do with catyclysm but its not going to be like this
Worgens for the alliance.
Really?
If anything the alliance should get Furblogs. That would be cool.
@DrowNoble
I've got to keep repeating it: a lot of the existing zones are being drastically reworked. It *is* new content. Just because the names and motifs of these zones might be familiar to you doesn't mean you're going to have the same experience twice.
I like to think of it as more "the kingdom of Gilneas" for the Alliance. That they happen to be Worgen is just a nice side effect.
We often like to think of Horde as the "bad" side and Alliance as the "good" side, but the fact of the matter is that there are elements of both in either faction. Worgen have traditionally been enemies, but that doesn't preclude Gilneans from wanting to be a part of the Alliance, as they have at times in the past (lore wise, they like to keep to themselves, but they absolutely loathe the Horde, so they'd probably never join them).
Cocopuff:
Seriously, stop calling Blizzard lazy if you can't even manage to put one period in your entire post(s). And do you not realize that we're running out of "Old Lore" at this rate? A cataclysmic event on Azeroth is exactly what's needed to provide a background for new lore. New lore means new stories, relations, factions and then new lands.
Think ahead.
New expansions don't mean "OMG new hero class and new world!" it just means exactly what it's called. An expansion of the base game itself.
Game just went stupid. Blizzard is lazy. My fresh 80 alt is already in full epics from 500 dps - 3200 dps in less than a week. I've never felt so useless
@Joe Noefail:
They introduced Trial of the Champion (where I'm assuming you geared your new 80) so new 80s and alts wouldn't have to go through the trouble of finding groups for ALL the older raid content and then farm that for weeks before they were ready for Trial of the Crusader and Ulduar. I certainly wouldn't want to farm naxx for weeks AGAIN just to get my DK ready for what he should be raiding in the first place.
@DrowNoble:
You're pretty sad if you think Blizzard is just going to leave the Old World zones as is and expect us to have fun with it. As it's been said they are DRASTICALLY reworking all of the old world zones. Barrens, Mulgore, Thousand Needles, and Durotar are all flooded. Orcs and trolls had to rebuild there capitol elsewhere. Expect to see the old world looking more like Northrend graphics-wise. You think it's lame because you're not thinking straight; of COURSE blizzard wouldn't do something like that. Also, nothing's been said about no hero class in the next xpac. All of this is just speculation. So quit your damn complaining and at least wait until Blizzcon to start the QQ.