WoW: Cataclysm - SPOILERS WITHIN

Can anyone possibly link the post on the forums with a disclaimer? Or White on White? I can not check it at work and would really like to read it!

muttonchop wrote:

If Blizzard really does release these races, it's definitely because players have been asking for them for years.

This is actually one of the reasons I don't believe most of the post. The thing really just reads like a verbatim wishlist compiled from the forums.

And if I had any idea how to spoiler code text on this forum I'd post it, but the formatting options page doesn't have it or I'm too blind to see it.

spoilers, or "Bloo Driver can't find the color=white button wrote:

[color=white]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.

Human Hunter
Orc Mage
Night Elf Mage
Dwarf Mage
Blood Elf Warrior
Dwarf Shaman
Undead Hunter
Tauren Paladin
Tauren Priest
Gnome Priest
Troll Druid

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?
[/color]

[ quote ] [ color=white ]

Spoiler!

[ /color ][ /quote ]

The whole thread is marked with spoiler warnings, so spoil away.

While I agree this is a fanboy wishlist, let's stop and think about this for a second: In what other business would you have your rabid customer base tell you exactly what they want, and you ignore them? This isn't like the auto industry, where maybe what people want is a Lambo for Mustang money. It's a video game. Blizzard can do *anything*. What kind of sh*tty businessmen would NOT want to give the people what they want, thereby securing the most sales and subscriptions?

With the paid customizations and upcoming faction changes, I think it's clear that someone there has realized that there is a lot of money to be had by giving people what they want, for a price.

Now, that doesn't mean all this is true; it's just my perspective on the fanboy wishlist. Blizzcon is very close, and will reveal all.

I double-post for Worgen.

FEd's got a point. Unless you think Blizzard can wrangle even more market share out of a market that is 90% them, it's the time for them to shift to full fledged retention mode, and that likely means a hefty portion of fan service with just enough original ideas to keep people guessing.

I'm actually pretty stoked. If these changes are official I'll be able to happily cancel WoW and start up Fallout 3 finally.

Enix wrote:

Yes, Blizzard has a track record of dumping old content -- the Onyxia quest line is dead and buried, for instance. It's not a long track record, but such a move in Cataclysm wouldn't be unprecedented.

Its the fact that this 'track record' is so short which makes it seem so unlikely. Blizz has stated over and over they dont like to remove content.

Worgen Paladin...
I'm just saying, that would quite possibly make me retire Krindle to roll one. I'm not as enthused about the Horde changes, but they seem a little meh to what Alliance gets. The goblin storyline seems choppy where worgen seems to flow very well.

Of course, remember that there is storyline in Icecrown that "has not yet come to pass". I'm pretty sure that's where we'll see what really happens to Thrall. That alone makes me believe the part about him stepping down.

The way they are explaining Cataclysm, I'd expect a level 1 start, and after completion of certain quests in a zone, the phasing would start. That way people don't get the shaft on things like Loremaster or Dungeon completions. It does seem like it would otherwise be extremely complex. I mean, what if I wanted to hit old Wailing Caverns? It could very well be that they'd use that normal and 'heroic' modes to split them that way, as they could with other dungeons they plan to revamp.

A whole lot of speculation is really all we have, but from a reliable source. I'm prett split on the whole issue.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

The whole thread is marked with spoiler warnings, so spoil away.

While I agree this is a fanboy wishlist, let's stop and think about this for a second: In what other business would you have your rabid customer base tell you exactly what they want, and you ignore them? This isn't like the auto industry, where maybe what people want is a Lambo for Mustang money. It's a video game. Blizzard can do *anything*. What kind of sh*tty businessmen would NOT want to give the people what they want, thereby securing the most sales and subscriptions?

I see the logic, I just don't agree with it for the simple fact that the speculation isn't similar, it's just damn near identical. If "give the people what they want" was, by itself, an effective business model, few businesses would ever go under. There's usually a reason (manpower, technical capability, effort to reward ratio, and so on) that you can't simply check off the wishlists. There's a difference between "giving the fans what they want" and "somehow mysteriously every popular request seems to be balled together". Especially on the heels of a CM posting several weeks back that they wouldn't want to spend the time revamping Azeroth. You might be right, but the stark similarity just bothers me.

Seth wrote:

I'm actually pretty stoked. If these changes are official I'll be able to happily cancel WoW and start up Fallout 3 finally.

Because dwarves can become mages or because you can't run the Blackrock instances for the 10th time?

Some of the changes seem pretty silly (does the world really need Tauren paladins and Human hunters?) but some of them are pretty darn intriguing. I especially like the prospect that Azeroth might change substantially.

What lends the MMO-Champion post the most credibility, imo, is that such a very high-profile write-up has been online for several days from a site with growing credibility, and Blizzard hasn't done any work to quell it as just unsubstantiated rumors.

Now, granted, Blizzard isn't going to bother squashing every rumor that comes along. However, this is turning into a major news headline across all sorts of gaming-related sites on the internet that if it's false, it's in Blizzard's interest to issue an official statement if it's entirely off-base.

Farscry wrote:

Now, granted, Blizzard isn't going to bother squashing every rumor that comes along. However, this is turning into a major news headline across all sorts of gaming-related sites on the internet that if it's false, it's in Blizzard's interest to issue an official statement if it's entirely off-base.

Blizzard has squashed true rumors in the past, too. I would take their silence as simply that - silence. They probably don't care one way or another since, as many people point out, Blizzcon is coming up soon.

I'd enjoy seeing Azeroth progress, simply because having such a static world after all this time feels a little phony. I don't like most of the new class/race combinations, though. They just seem lazy and really water down the flavor of the game. Tauren Paladins make a slight iota of sense, but Tauren priests do not. Undead hunters? Seriously? And Night Elf mages? Hope you're taking a good running jump, Blizzard, that shark seems hungry.

Farscry wrote:

Now, granted, Blizzard isn't going to bother squashing every rumor that comes along. However, this is turning into a major news headline across all sorts of gaming-related sites on the internet that if it's false, it's in Blizzard's interest to issue an official statement if it's entirely off-base.

It's also entirely possible that Blizzard leaked the whole thing purposely to give some advance buzz to Blizzcon. Remember that they're selling a live stream to Blizzcon this year.

I think its safe to assume some of this is spot on (remember, some of it is datamined, some is speculation from various sources, not just SA), so it can easily be the partial truth.

E.g. Ill bet Worgen and Goblins are spot on, which also makes the return to the old world obvious (but not the total remake).
The Cataclysm name certainly also leads one to believe something big has indeed happened. Whether thats a restructured Azeroth, or simply the Maelstrom spewing up new islands remains to be seen.

In any case, its a pretty safe bet that at least some of this 'speculation' will turn out to be true, imo.

how was any of this datamined? Does this information already exist in the game files / PTR?

Bloo Driver wrote:

I don't like most of the new class/race combinations, though. They just seem lazy and really water down the flavor of the game. Tauren Paladins make a slight iota of sense, but Tauren priests do not. Undead hunters? Seriously? And Night Elf mages? Hope you're taking a good running jump, Blizzard, that shark seems hungry.

I agree. A lot of the race/class combos really don't make sense. Taurens don't do the priest thing; shamans and druids fulfill that role in their society. Undead Hunters make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Nor do dwarven mages (sorry, magery just isn't dwarven!) or Night Elf mages.

The Horde does need another race capable of serving as a paladin, and I'd say either taurens or orcs make the most sense out of the selection they've got.

Seth wrote:

how was any of this datamined? Does this information already exist in the game files / PTR?

The new class/race combo stuff is partially based on data-mined information, I believe. The 3.2.2 PTR contained new but unused NPCs called each of the new combos ("tauren paladin," "human hunter," etc).

I'm okay with Tauren Paladins because they're a very martial society, and as the extremely forced and awkward quest conversation puts out there for "no reason at all (clever chuckle!)", they might just see the Holy Light as an extension of the Sun. Priests, though... yeah. I have an issue with Troll druids, too, since in the context of Troll culture, it just means shamans and druids are effectively the exact same thing, depending on if you want to hit it with your hands or if you want to be a wolf rather than summon them.

Any implications for the goblins being mined from the game files should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt; if that's what folks are basing things on, might as well announce ogres; any time in the game you have to act/appear as another race, it needs a set of racial animations for the player; goblins have them, moonbears have them, and ogres have them, to name but three ... all in part due to their need to be able to be 'playable' in the existing game; in the case of the ogres I think the old Dire Maul ogre suit/king quest was the first outing for the tech.

Seth wrote:

how was any of this datamined? Does this information already exist in the game files / PTR?

None of it except the goblin and worgen were data-mined before hand. What MMO-Champion posted over the weekend seems to confirm it.

The reason I suspect what MMO-Champion posted is legit is (a) It reads exactly like the patch notes that all of us here have been reading for the past several years, and (b) It smells like an official leak from Blizzard's marketing/PR department.

If I were Blizzard and wanted advanced publicity for my expansion, MMO-Champion would be on the very short list of places I'd leak it. And if I were MMO-Champion, hell yes I'd protect my source on this one.

Shadout wrote:
Enix wrote:

Yes, Blizzard has a track record of dumping old content -- the Onyxia quest line is dead and buried, for instance. It's not a long track record, but such a move in Cataclysm wouldn't be unprecedented.

Its the fact that this 'track record' is so short which makes it seem so unlikely. Blizz has stated over and over they dont like to remove content.

Not only that, but what would happen to the achievements like loremaster or explorer? Make them feats of strength? I don't know. I don't buy it.

The ONLY way I could see this happening if a new caverns of time portal was opened up that allowed us to go back to the world pre-cataclysm. Anyway, I'll probably do a blog post on this tomorrow.

robkid wrote:
Farscry wrote:

Undead Hunters make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Not sure about this. You could make a fair argument for anything undead, since they're raised people from other race, unless you wanted to make undead raised humans only, but then what about Sylvanas herself?

There are two classes that just don't work for me for undead: druids and hunters. Druids for obvious reasons. Hunters because of the bond they forge with living pets. That just really doesn't mesh with the Forsaken.

Now, if undead hunters were to "tame" pets by killing them and raising the corpses as undead pets, that would sit just fine with me. I'd even say that's both pretty damn cool along with fitting in with the Forsaken plotline.

robkid wrote:
Farscry wrote:

Undead Hunters make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Not sure about this. You could make a fair argument for anything undead, since they're raised people from other race, unless you wanted to make undead raised humans only, but then what about Sylvanas herself?

Yeah, aren't they sort of lead by an undead hunter? I mean, the horde hunter T9 gear is named after her, you know?

Forsaken need to be paladins. IMAGE(http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif)

zeroKFE wrote:
robkid wrote:
Farscry wrote:

Undead Hunters make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Not sure about this. You could make a fair argument for anything undead, since they're raised people from other race, unless you wanted to make undead raised humans only, but then what about Sylvanas herself?

Yeah, aren't they sort of lead by an undead hunter?

Yeah, but she's Survival spec and doesn't bother with a pet.

They'd have to give Forsaken Hunters the same treatment they gave Belf Paladins initially - just call them "Shadow Hunters" or something edgy. And then just throw the word "dark" on all of their abilities. Dark Shot. Dark Scorpid Sting. Dark Frost Trap. Dark Feed Pet. This should work very well, I think.

Farscry wrote:

Undead Hunters make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Not sure about this. You could make a fair argument for anything undead, since they're raised people from other races, unless you wanted to make undead raised humans only, but then what about Sylvanas herself?

I would love to see a revamping the old-world content. A while back I started soloing the old dungeons for the achievements and they're really showing their age now. Between the old art styles (simply less detail, fewer polys), mountains of trash mobs and, for appropriately leveled groups, the huge time sink to complete, they just don't hold up nicely. I'd be curious to see the numbers of how many groups actually complete Uldaman, RFK/RFD, Dire Maul, or Mara without being twinked through. Those ones I remember as being very time consuming and a general pain.

Mordiceius wrote:

Not only that, but what would happen to the achievements like loremaster or explorer? Make them feats of strength? I don't know. I don't buy it.

Who cares? They can modify either achievement or put it out of reach for those who haven't already done it.

Blizzard has already retired some titles (www.wowwiki.com/Title and scroll down to "Unobtainable titles") and removed some mounts. (I'm looking at you, Amani War Bear.)

I'm not sure why folks seem so convinced that the old world won't change. Again, I think people really, really like Azeroth, and Blizzard is taking the chance to fix some things that are broken (*waves at Azshara*) and move the story forward.

Pirate Bob wrote:

I'd be curious to see the numbers of how many groups actually complete Uldaman, RFK/RFD, Dire Maul, or Mara without being twinked through.

The over/under on that is 1. I'd take the under.