World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

[OrcishIncubus]

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/media/?autoplay=true#video

Flying mounts in Azeroth, fuck yes!

also new race/class combinations.

Worgen and goblins should be interesting to play as well...

edit: no need for a double post:


http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/recaps/class_items_prof-panel.xml

they revamping a bunch of stuff...

The soul shard system is receiving a massive revamp, and will now become a core feature of the warlock class. Soul shards will no longer act as an inventory item, but rather exist as a resource, and appear below the warlock's health and mana bar.

A new spell, Soul Burn, will be the only warlock ability to cost a soul shard, and will empower most of your other spells to behave differently.

For instance, when combined with Fear it causes the spell to become instant. Other examples include: guaranteeing your Searing Pain spell three critical hits, increased horror effect and additional healing from Death Coil, and instant summoning from your summon demon spell. Soul shards will regenerate quickly upon leaving combat, and you may also be able to use drain soul as a "soul shard evocation."

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, there are plans to streamline the statistics found on items. We want to remove all unnecessary stats, make all existing stats understandable, and make all "core" stats more appealing. Here are some examples of such plans.

•   MP5: This will be removed from items and replaced with Spirit. All healers will be given a meditation-like ability.

•   Spell Power: Spell Power is being removed from items as well. Don't panic, we'll be improving Intellect so that it provides mana and Spell Power.

•   Attack Power: We're removing Attack Power from items as well. Instead, we're allowing Agility to provide the necessary Attack Power for leather and mail wearers. Strength will provide the appropriate amount of Attack Power for plate wearers. This means leather and mail items will no longer be desirable for plate wearers.

•   Defense: The Defense statistic is also being removed from items so that players no longer have to worry about juggling around "the cap." Tanks will receive the necessary anti-crit from talents, like Survival of the Fittest.

•   Armor Penetration: This ability is too confusing and "mathy." It is being replaced with Mastery, a stat that makes you better at what you do. More on that later!

•   Haste: Will also increase the rate at which you gain energy, runes, and focus. Retribution paladins and Enhancement shaman will have a talent that allows them to take advantage of this benefit.

•   Stamina: Players will notice more Stamina on gear as Defense, Spell Power, Attack Power and Armor Penetration are removed.

Archaeology is the new secondary profession that will be joining the ranks of cooking, fishing, and first aid in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Archaeology allows the player to unlock new abilities and rewards by discovering ancient treasures throughout the world.

Each archaeologist uses the profession to uncover clues hidden in the world around them, such as troll relics or map fragments, and decipher their meaning, enabling the clever archaeologist to manipulate pieces of the past, learning the location of a treasure cache or valuable artifact. Such artifacts are highly sought after by the Archaeology Society, and they pay in gold and items for their return.

Those who have mastered archaeology can find Titan artifacts, earning special currency used to unlock character paths and allowing the player to further customize their character.

Reforging affords tailors, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, engineers, and jewelcrafters the opportunity to customize any player's gear, including their own. Specifically, they can reduce a single statistic on applicable items and convert the lost points into another stat not already on the item.

those are the ones that caught my interest.  They also went on to explain the goblin and worgen racials and other technical things about them, but I'm looking forward to the stat changes, no longer will I have to resort to math homework to figure out how to maximize my potential in DPS or healing, I can just look at gear and say "that has more agility than my current gear" or "that has more intellect" and roll for it...  granted it'll make the game simpler and it'll lose a little bit of the robust nature, but I hated the idea of having to look at spreadsheets or simulators to figure out which gear piece is an upgrade.  It's a game, it's sposed to be fun, not feel like algebra homework.

[Cheff]

I like the incoming expansion and especially the Goblin's joining the Horde... And wonder why all my friends are soo hiped... We all knew another expansion was on the way, it the races were leaked also... It looks good so far but I got pissed how all people just spam and hipe about the new expansion and on blizzcon most of the questions about Diablo and SC2 on the panels we "Will It have __________ like WoW does?"
And all my friends that we rolled Horde toons are hyped about Worgen and I don't want to go back the stinking Alliance, Wrynn is meanie and Goblins are way cooler and will have hot rods for mounts  

[nikita]

I noticed that the Class discussion panel was mainly focused on Hunters and Warlocks.  Not that those classes didn't have issues, but it still is pretty true.

In other news, apparently they feel we need Rogues to use more daggers.  I am 100 percent in favor of this.

[Keizuki]

...
Flying mounts in Azeroth, fuck yes!
...

I second that. Fuck yeah!!

Also the other stuff looked pretty good too. ; )

Tbh, I am pretty hyped about this expac. looks like we're gonna get a lot of new things to see and do - more than Northrend maybe?

I'm especially liking HC Deadmines, new Ony, new extra character progression, guild lvling + progression (this looks really interesting) and of course the new races and class / race combos. And more achievements for me to get. ^^

I may actually try and play this on the PTR, which, would be a first.

[OrcishIncubus]

...
Flying mounts in Azeroth, fuck yes!
...

I second that. Fuck yeah!!

Also the other stuff looked pretty good too. ; )

Tbh, I am pretty hyped about this expac. looks like we're gonna get a lot of new things to see and do - more than Northrend maybe?

I'm especially liking HC Deadmines, new Ony, new extra character progression, guild lvling + progression (this looks really interesting) and of course the new races and class / race combos. And more achievements for me to get. ^^

I may actually try and play this on the PTR, which, would be a first.

Unless it's different for you in EU, I don't think you'll be able to play this on the PTR ... I don't think they'll be releasing it to the PTR.  You'll need a beta key.

[Keizuki]

I can dream...

If they do a beta in Europe, you can bet I'll be trying anything to get into it. ^^,

[OrcishIncubus]

I can dream...

If they do a beta in Europe, you can bet I'll be trying anything to get into it. ^^,

I'm with you...

[Darkshine]

I personally think that Blizzard needs to take a break from WoW and FUCKING FINISH STARCRAFT 2! Wasn't there just an expansion a few months ago? Or like a year ago? It's been 10 years for SC..c'mon now

[OrcishIncubus]

I personally think that Blizzard needs to take a break from WoW and FUCKING FINISH STARCRAFT 2! Wasn't there just an expansion a few months ago? Or like a year ago? It's been 10 years for SC..c'mon now

They have separate teams working on the different games.

You (generally) won't see a WoW developer working on Starcraft 2.  (they've stated this in the past)

Also, if you've been with Blizzard for any sort of time, you should know their time schedule for when they release games, it's any time they god damn well please, assuming it meets up to their expectation of quality.  Lastly, shove it.  I was close to giving up when I was waiting for the next sequel to Warcraft after playing through Warcraft II a bazillion times.  Warcraft II: Platinum (which actually became B.net Edition), Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, and then finally Warcraft III was announced and it took them fucking two or three years for it to be "finished"... also they announced WoW in 2000, it wasn't released until 2004.

[Cheff]

Only guy working on everything is Metzen cause he directs half the lore in all the franchaises... Also as stated on Blizzcon Starcraft was posponed cause they haven't pimped Battle.net yet and they take the time to polish the campaign and balance... I believe we should have summer Starcraft and christmas Cataclysm.

[nikita]

I personally think that Blizzard needs to take a break from WoW and FUCKING FINISH STARCRAFT 2! Wasn't there just an expansion a few months ago? Or like a year ago? It's been 10 years for SC..c'mon now

They have separate teams working on the different games.

You (generally) won't see a WoW developer working on Starcraft 2.  (they've stated this in the past)

Also, if you've been with Blizzard for any sort of time, you should know their time schedule for when they release games, it's any time they god damn well please, assuming it meets up to their expectation of quality.  Lastly, shove it.  I was close to giving up when I was waiting for the next sequel to Warcraft after playing through Warcraft II a bazillion times.  Warcraft II: Platinum (which actually became B.net Edition), Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, and then finally Warcraft III was announced and it took them fucking two or three years for it to be "finished"... also they announced WoW in 2000, it wasn't released until 2004.

Yeah, but honestly, announcing Cataclysm this early reeks of "too soon" to me.  Hell, by the time they announced Wrath during Burning Crusade, the expansion had been out roughly a year already.  Granted they may not release this expansion for another year (though with the complete lack of lore to back up anything but going into Icecrown and kicking Arthas' sorry behind, as well as them announcing what Icecrown Citadel will be like as a raid instance during Blizzcon), it's looking more like it'll be published sooner rather than later.  Seems like it's "WAY TOO SOON," but that's just me.

Also, IIRC, a lot of the art team that originally worked (or still does work) on WoW was moved over to Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, of course, I could just be misinformed X_x.  I know for sure that a lot of the original art team behind vanilla left Blizzard and went on to start their own company....with albeit mixed results.

[OrcishIncubus]

I personally think that Blizzard needs to take a break from WoW and FUCKING FINISH STARCRAFT 2! Wasn't there just an expansion a few months ago? Or like a year ago? It's been 10 years for SC..c'mon now

They have separate teams working on the different games.

You (generally) won't see a WoW developer working on Starcraft 2.  (they've stated this in the past)

Also, if you've been with Blizzard for any sort of time, you should know their time schedule for when they release games, it's any time they god damn well please, assuming it meets up to their expectation of quality.  Lastly, shove it.  I was close to giving up when I was waiting for the next sequel to Warcraft after playing through Warcraft II a bazillion times.  Warcraft II: Platinum (which actually became B.net Edition), Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, and then finally Warcraft III was announced and it took them fucking two or three years for it to be "finished"... also they announced WoW in 2000, it wasn't released until 2004.

Yeah, but honestly, announcing Cataclysm this early reeks of "too soon" to me.  Hell, by the time they announced Wrath during Burning Crusade, the expansion had been out roughly a year already.  Granted they may not release this expansion for another year (though with the complete lack of lore to back up anything but going into Icecrown and kicking Arthas' sorry behind, as well as them announcing what Icecrown Citadel will be like as a raid instance during Blizzcon), it's looking more like it'll be published sooner rather than later.  Seems like it's "WAY TOO SOON," but that's just me.

Also, IIRC, a lot of the art team that originally worked (or still does work) on WoW was moved over to Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, of course, I could just be misinformed X_x.  I know for sure that a lot of the original art team behind vanilla left Blizzard and went on to start their own company....with albeit mixed results.

Art team is different than dev, but yeah, I've noticed artist signatures from Warcraft to Starcraft to Diablo and so forth, and they are damn good artists, Samwise Didier and Chris Metzen notably, however probly won't see too much of Metzen's work anymore since he's the creative director...

A guildie said that BC was just half an expansion to keep people playing until they were ready to release Wrath, which was why Wrath was so closely released after BC.  Better to release something to keep paying customers than lose paying customers because of lack of new content.

But, I'm thinking they'll probly release it end of next year, maybe in Q1-Q2 of '11 if quality and bugs hold them up.

[nikita]

I personally think that Blizzard needs to take a break from WoW and FUCKING FINISH STARCRAFT 2! Wasn't there just an expansion a few months ago? Or like a year ago? It's been 10 years for SC..c'mon now

They have separate teams working on the different games.

You (generally) won't see a WoW developer working on Starcraft 2.  (they've stated this in the past)

Also, if you've been with Blizzard for any sort of time, you should know their time schedule for when they release games, it's any time they god damn well please, assuming it meets up to their expectation of quality.  Lastly, shove it.  I was close to giving up when I was waiting for the next sequel to Warcraft after playing through Warcraft II a bazillion times.  Warcraft II: Platinum (which actually became B.net Edition), Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, and then finally Warcraft III was announced and it took them fucking two or three years for it to be "finished"... also they announced WoW in 2000, it wasn't released until 2004.

Yeah, but honestly, announcing Cataclysm this early reeks of "too soon" to me.  Hell, by the time they announced Wrath during Burning Crusade, the expansion had been out roughly a year already.  Granted they may not release this expansion for another year (though with the complete lack of lore to back up anything but going into Icecrown and kicking Arthas' sorry behind, as well as them announcing what Icecrown Citadel will be like as a raid instance during Blizzcon), it's looking more like it'll be published sooner rather than later.  Seems like it's "WAY TOO SOON," but that's just me.

Also, IIRC, a lot of the art team that originally worked (or still does work) on WoW was moved over to Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, of course, I could just be misinformed X_x.  I know for sure that a lot of the original art team behind vanilla left Blizzard and went on to start their own company....with albeit mixed results.

Art team is different than dev, but yeah, I've noticed artist signatures from Warcraft to Starcraft to Diablo and so forth, and they are damn good artists, Samwise Didier and Chris Metzen notably, however probly won't see too much of Metzen's work anymore since he's the creative director...

A guildie said that BC was just half an expansion to keep people playing until they were ready to release Wrath, which was why Wrath was so closely released after BC.  Better to release something to keep paying customers than lose paying customers because of lack of new content.

But, I'm thinking they'll probly release it end of next year, maybe in Q1-Q2 of '11 if quality and bugs hold them up.

Good point, I got my terms confused for a second : /

Honestly, I think it's reversed; but this is my own personal opinion and not fact XD: It feels like TBC was a full expansion, and Wrath honestly feels like a half expansion.  I dunno, maybe it just feels that way because I feel like they have less room for actual addition of content for the lore surrounding Northrend.  I mean, obviously Arthas and the Scourge are bad guys. They're the SUPREME badguys, at least for this one; that makes sense.  But, I dunno, it felt like there was much more of a build up to getting into Black Temple and beating the snot out of Illidan than beating the snot out of Arthas is going to be, unless they make Icecrown Citadel EPIC.   Maybe it's how rapidly they've been releasing the content, or the current release (the Crusader's Colosseum is probably my least favorite raid instance in all of WoW, sadly) having almost very little to do with the main story line.

Matter of fact, that's honestly what's bugged me about this expansion.  First tier of content was relevant to the lore: you go in, kill a high-ranking Scourge lieutenant (Kel-Thuzad), and all his cronies.  You basically end the Nexus War, and you fight a member of the Black Dragonflight.  That sounds pretty damned epic.  Then, next tier, you're playing Indiana Jones in a prison of some Old God; epic in its own right, but overall pretty detached from the storyline outside of isolated incidents.  And now, the Argent Crusade? Wow, seriously, jousting is going to stop Arthas from destroying the Horde and Alliance? There's lots of other stuff happening in Northrend; obviously the question of whether or not players have actually KILLED Yogg-Saron or just "banished him."  Did Kel-Thuzad actually die? What the hell's going on with the trolls in Zul'Drak, or were the quests in the zone pretty much it?

Most of it stops me from willingness to suspend disbelief, which in a fantasy game is very very bad.  Not to say I think they're doing a terrible job, but these are just things I've been noticing as content as been released.  I hope you're right about the release time Orcish, because honestly, that's pushing it as it is; there's some issues that need ironing out, and I don't think rehasing Onyxia is going to fix them x_x;

[haunted_i]

The problem is having player-participating lore in the first place. It's different than a game built around a replayable single-player campaign. The required suspension of disbelief is greater than other types of games, due to the MMO's persistent world. For example, how many times will WoW players kill a storyline boss before Blizzard decides he's dead for reals and updates the story?

For me, the dissonance started after realizing that no matter how many different players went on a particular quest, it was never solved, especially for fetch quests. Turning in a specific NPC's severed head loses its impact when four other people do it at the same time.

That was a big contributor to me and my partner quitting before reaching level 50. Of course, if we had our way, each group would have the entire world run as an instance (except cities), so we aren't affected by other players' actions, or sitting around waiting for a single lucrative enemy to respawn.

[Mastamune]

Only guy working on everything is Metzen cause he directs half the lore in all the franchaises... Also as stated on Blizzcon Starcraft was posponed cause they haven't pimped Battle.net yet and they take the time to polish the campaign and balance... I believe we should have summer Starcraft and christmas Cataclysm.

Cataclysm will be out before the next Blizzcon.

One of the Devs said something to the effect of "people will be complainin about goblin rogues/worgen druids next Blizzcon"

Also on the jousting/Coliseum lore. Battle after battle has only further proven that throwing numbers at the scourge leads to bolstering their own ranks. Tirion has come to the solution that finding a small group of elite soldiers and giving them the best of gear, and sending them to infiltrate Icecrown Citadel and dismantle the Lolich Kings operation. 

Back on topic,

I think the new expansion is just what wow needs. The game is starting to show its age, since Northrend looks 9001 times better. Azeroth needs an overhaul, and 1-58 needs an overhaul as well.

Endgame needs to be looked at hard as well. Dailies are becoming tedious and the Battleground system is getting old. Juggling 6 BG marks for honor isn't cool. Arena's gotten lame, and Most classes need a complete overhaul (Shaman, Warrior, Hunter, Warlocks, Paladins).

And to end my post.

TAAAAAAAAUUUUUURRRRREEEEEENNNNNN PPPPPPPAAAAALLLLAAAAAADDDDDIIIINNNNNS!