BlizzCon 2009: How Did MMO-Champion Do, You Ask?
Posted by 
iTZKooPA on Saturday, August 22, 2009 - 15 Comments Tags: Lore, archaeology, azshara, cataclysm, cataclysm details, deadmines, deathwing, goblins, live blogging, mastery, mount hyjal, ragnaros, shadowfang keep, southshore, starcraft II, twitter, uldum, worgen
iTZKooPA on Saturday, August 22, 2009 - 15 Comments Tags: Lore, archaeology, azshara, cataclysm, cataclysm details, deadmines, deathwing, goblins, live blogging, mastery, mount hyjal, ragnaros, shadowfang keep, southshore, starcraft II, twitter, uldum, worgen 
Incoming!The short answer is that Boubouille scored. The data mining machine, who used some other resources for his recent discoveries, received almost a perfect score during yesterday's opening ceremony. Nearly every World of Warcraft detail that had been disclosed by MMO-Champion.com came true. Nearly ever one.
There's absolutely no way I can take away from the sleuthing that went on to find out Cataclysm's particulars. Sure, I didn't believe them all at first, but Blizzard confirmed that the company is simply crazy. Crazy enough to reinvent what MMO gamers, not just World of Warcraft players, will expect in future expansions.
Here's what MMO-Champion had spot on:
- Worgen & Goblins - WoW.com independently "confirmed" this before the event ever happened, but it was Boubouille and his mask discovery that sparked the rumors. The new races' racials definitely sound OP as announced. However it was later confirmed that all the other races will have their racials revamped.
- Level cap raised to 85 - Seems an arbitrary choice, but Blizzard wants players to focus a bit more on the content leading up to level 85. Not just the idea of getting there. Of course that won't stop many people from being level capped week 1.
- Azeroth revamp - The lands as we know them will indeed change drastically. Barrens is split in two (double the Barrens Chat?!), Grim Batol is now Twilight Highlands and various other lands, coastlines and jungles will radically change.
- Flying everywhere - Yes folks, we will be able to fly everywhere in Cataclysm. This even includes Wintergrasp.
- Class combinations - Data mining discovered the new possibilities and they've all come true, even Night Elf Mages. Solving the 2:1 Horde to Alliance druid question is the Worgen's ability to offer a self-standing holy trinity.
- Unfinished original content done - Uldum and Mount Hyjal will both be arriving as part of Cataclysm. Blizzard stated that Hyjal was never completed because it was impossible to do what they wanted previously.
There's really only one thing I can say Boubouille missed the mark on, and that's the main protagonist of the third expansion. Deathwing is, without a shadow of a doubt, the bad guy in Cataclysm. He's the force that lays waste to the lands as we know them. Not an erupting Maelstrom as so many speculated. QueenAzshara and her Naga buddies are definitely around, they have a new island to themselves just south of the Maelstrom, but they'll be a distraction compared to The Earth Warderer.
"That is their (Goblin) mount"We've also got some additional details that no one guessed.
- New Secondary Profession - Archaeology (a word that will be often misspelled) will be added to WoW. It'll be the first secondary profession that plays like a gathering profession. No, fishing doesn't count. After collecting from nodes of ruins and such, players will be able to discover rewards. The mechanic to discovery hasn't been disclosed, but the possibility of a mini-game (Bejewled?!) was mentioned. We will be able to track ruin nodes, and other gathering nodes at the same time.
- Mastery system - A new mode of progression. The Mastery system is going to work alongside Talents to offer additional character customization, and it won't be class restricted. This means a Priest can pick up the same Mastery skills (or whatever they are to be called) as a Rogue. We are going to find out more details during the WoW Game Systems panel at 10:30 PST. I'll be covering it via Twitter, and I expect it to be live blogged here as well.
- Heroic Deadmines & Shadowfang Keep - We heard dungeon revamps were coming, and now it's official. These particular dungeons will use the same art and models. To spice things up these assets will be mixed with new encounters and fights. We'll hear more at today's Raids & Dungeons panel, which I'll be covering as well.
- Ragnaros - He's indeed back, "bigger and more pissed." How much bigger can the developers possibly make the Lord of the Fire Elementals?
- So much more - Changes to fishing, Blackrock Spire is back, new PvP zone, rated BGs and the Alliance loses Southshore!
Consider me excited. What do you think? Good, bad, lore buster? Anything that truly shocked you?
For the StarCraft II players out there; I'll be sitting down for a StarCraft II interview later today. @iTZKooPA with your questions. I'll select the best ones and work them into my own queries.
Reader Comments (15)
FIRST
Alliance gains Worgen and all we lose is Southshore? Pfft. We scored Worgen on that deal. And I laugh at all those naysayers about MMOchampion. Sure some stuff caught me a lil skeptical, but MMO is rarely wrong about datamining.
Yep, Boubouille hit the spot with almost everything, *tips hat* i'm so excited about everything coming up it's like christmas :D Cant wait to find out more.
You say the racials of the new races are everpowered but only for the goblins I think. they get 20% discount on everything, 1% haste, a portable bank with a 30 min cooldown, a batman style utility belt and potions are more effective.
Worgens get a skinning knife built into their hands and a sprint.... doesn't seem fair to me
I think they are giving the goblins extra stuff to make them appealing compared to the worgen which look epic cool. I was going to roll a worgen but the goblins are looking cooler and cooler.
Remember me as the Hand of Boubouille.
All those who question and defy him shall meet a cataclysmic end (no, not really)
what aboy flight paths? if we loose southshore how the fudge we gonna get over to that area?
the mount looks badass. is thier going to be a sub spec for the NE mage or do you just authometicly become a highborne when you go mage on NE
Worgen also get +1% damage, which is nothing to sneeze at. And the goblin discount isn't exactly 20%, since it replaces the faction discount. But I agree that the goblin racials seem quite a bit better than the worgen ones.
oh noes....fears now instant......SPAM INSTANT FEAR....spell power and MP5 are gone...midget shrek and lycans......i have a bad feeling about this..
@Nef
Goblin racials may be overpowered, but some of them are merely novelty skills. Fun to have, but they don't really imbalance the core gameplay aspects. Even the rocket belts I don't see as being some crazy offensive utility beyond the first few levels or so.
i will call this the end of wow. every one wonder what will kill wow and make room for a new mmorpg. well lets just say blizz killed wow. look how people were upset with old new naxx everyone said it was too easy. why was it easy cause it was something people did before. and rthe whole new race class combos why will this make people want to raise more ttons as alts. i think it would be better to have the worgin as a new class instead of a race.
@ fuzzy
Southshore is now Horde controlled, why would you want to go over there? lol
I am stoked about the changes, and cant wait to make my tauren pally and goblin shammy. and yes people will want to reroll for the new combinations, Making the cap 85 instead of 90 will make it much more attainable also. Also, with possible race switching coming after the expansion, I think I will just wait to convert one or two of my current toons.
Damn, that goblin mount is looking HOT!
What's a warderer? ;)
J/k! Excellent post!