Blizzcon 2009: The convention opens with a keynote announcing a new WoW expansion full of changes.
After weeks of speculation following a 'leak' Blizzard has officially announced Cataclysm - the next World of Warcraft expansion.
Cory Stockton, lead level designer for the game, discussed some of the features of the next release, which had distinct similarities to the revelations which first appeared as a leak on Wow.com a couple of weeks ago.
Cataclysm, which will be the third expansion for World of Warcraft, will feature a massive re-design to the original world thanks to the return of a newly re-empowered Deathwing aided by the Twilight's Hammer cultists. Players should get ready for a shockingly altered original world as well as new playable races and race-class combinations.
New featuresBoth Alliance and Horde factions will have new playable races join the team; Horde players will be able to welcome a particular group of Goblins into the fold while the Alliance welcome the newly revealed inhabitants of Gilneas, all suffering from a lycanthropic curse and are Worgen.
Cataclysm will also see the introduction of some controversial new race and class combinations such as Dwarven shaman, Gnome priests and yes, the Holy Cow; Tauren paladins. While there was no word on other combinations that featured in the Wow.com leak, such as Human hunters, it's possible those class/race groups could be revealed at a later date.
Players will be able to use flying mounts in Azeroth, and the developers are removing existing flight restrictions such as the exclusion zone over Lake Wintergrasp in Northrend.
Guild members will be able to contribute to a guild 'levelling' system which will bring achievement-like rewards including; exclusive and lucrative daily quests, talent tree options to offer cheaper guild repairs for raiding, lower durability losses after wipes or mass resurrection.
The level cap is increasing to level 85, but developers warn that players will still be looking at an investment of time to reach that new cap. That said, we won't see a re-vamp of the talent trees as such. Players will get 5 more points to spend but there won't be any further Tiers added to the trees beyond the Level 51 talent point.
However, the new skill Archaeology will allow players to customise their characters to a certain extent using the Paths of the Titans, which utilises Titan relics scattered across the world.
Restructuring AzerothSo, what makes this expansion warrant the descriptor cataclysm? Deathwing's return, occurring while many Azerothian heroes fight the Lich King in the frozen north will essentially shatter the world as he bursts forth from imprisonment in the Elemental plan of Earth. There's some involvement of the Elder Gods in this development, especially since Yogg- Saron has had run of Ulduar for some time in the Wrath of the Lich King. Their involvement means that Deathwing has returned more powerful than ever.
The Barrens and Desolace are partly destroyed and in other areas now green and reinvigorated, Darkshore and Auberdine are ruined with the Night Elves moving further north while Garrosh establishes a Horde base in the Zoram Strand. And to follow on from this reshaping old areas such as Stormwind and Undercity are rebuilt to a certain extent. "Tidal waves, tsunamis, terrific unending storms. There's a lot of new stress between the Alliance and the Horde," Chris Metzen said of the impact the upheaval would have on the factions in the game. "We saw this as an opportunity to put the war back in 'Warcraft'.
New GameplayIn keeping with the remaking of the old world players will also see a massive overhaul of the levelling system, partly to accommodate players who reroll and those new players who come to the game after the expansion's release. So, instead of a particular old world zone being for characters of level 45 or so, it may soon be for levels 25-30 for example. Stockton described wanting to smooth out the level flow from zone to zone, to minimise travel while levelling. The starting zones for each race will be shifted to levels 1-15 rather than 1-10ish.
Seven new zones will be incorporated into the world map; Mount Hyjal, Lost Isles (home of the playable Goblin faction), Gilneas (home of the Worgen, obviously), The Sunken City of Vashy'jr which sits on the bottom of the sea under the Maelstrom, Uldum, the Twilight Highlands and Deathwing's base of operations Deepholm.
We will also see new heroic versions of some classic instances including Heroic Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep, which will be appropriately upscaled versions of each instance suitable for the new level cap of 85.
PvPFans of PvP can look forward to a new PvP zone called Tol Barad, which will be similar to Lake Wintergrasp in Northrend. Here the Alliance and the Horde will be fighting for control of the now limited resources available and for control of a prison which is situated on the island. Control of Tol Barad will make very lucrative dailies available to the faction.
Stay tuned for more news from the show floor, from your intrepid Atomican on the ground!
Issue: 107 | December, 2009