Project Lore

Look up. See those guys in little boxes? Playing World of Warcraft? I know you miss them. We all do. But when site founder Alex Albrecht and his buddy Jeff Cannata aren't busy filming Project Lore, they spend their time on a little program called the Totally Rad Show (or is it the other way around?). Well, if you've been itching for your fix of these two handsome and very talented men, then you're in luck! The latest episode of Totally Rad features segments filmed live from this past weekend's BlizzCon (on a side note, does anyone ever actually call it Blizzard Convention? That just sounds weird...), which means you get to hear your Project Lore favorites rap about Cataclysm for the very first time, as well as a few of those other games shown at the event. If you don't recognize these guys, then you haven't been on Project Lore enough! They talk about the pre-show leak, several of the new features, and the surprising changes made to Azeroth. Jeff goes so far as to call it World of Warcraft 2, a sentiment I have to admit that I agree with. Well, maybe more like WoW 1.5 now that we know not every zone is going to get such a massive face lift, but the fact remains that Cataclysm represents a major overhaul of the game in more ways than one. Overall, it seems like the guys are really excited for the expansion, going so far as to say it rekindled a somewhat waning desire to play through recent raid content. Alex seems pretty enthralled with the ability to play as Worgen or go back into Deadmines at 85 (in fact, the crew's first time through the dungeon is currently replaying on Project Lore if you haven't caught it yet). Even Totally Rad's third pillar, Dan Trachtenberg, seemed intrigued with the prospect of getting back into the game. If you want to hear their thoughts on WoW, skip ahead to the 29-minute mark, but there're plenty of other cool (dare I say, rad) things in the episode. They include a review of Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Ponyo, the newest entry in the Wolfenstein series, and a segment on Epic Games' wonderful Metroidvania-inspired Shadow Complex (just finished it over the weekend, myself, and I can confirm the awesome). You've already heard so much of what we on the blogging side think of Cataclysm, but share with us your reactions to Alex and Jeff's, err... reactions to BlizzCon in the comments section!

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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.

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Zarhym just dropped the bombshell that, in honor of the 5-year anniversary of World of Warcraft that's coming up in November, Onyxia's Lair will be getting an update. That's right, Patch 3.2.2 will bring a new, level 80, 10- and 25-man version of Onyxia for players to take on. Not only that, but there is a new 310% mount in her loot table, along with "updated" loot modeled after tier 2 but with updated stats. Further details will be coming soon, and the full announcement is here on the official forums. I hope this news means that, if the upgrade goes smoothly, other old school raids and instances will get an update. Like, say, Deadmines? Is this news exciting for you guys, or are you thinking it might be another Naxx that was dumbed down and made a little too easy?

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As we've said before, we are on a bit of a hiatus from making videos. So, to help hold you over we wanted to remind you of all of our past episodes that we have, including some of our favorites. This week we'll bring back the Deadmines episodes that were not only a blast, but also spawned the infamous "Tigers can't use bridges" saying that so many people loved. If you just can't get enough of Project Lore be sure to check out our huge archive of previous episodes and follow our Twitter for the latest updates!

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