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Gifted
08-15-2009, 09:17 AM
I'd like to bring up a few points before I reveal this link.

- WoW has a completely DIFFERENT development team than SC2. The development of this information is NOT detrementing the battle.net team or the SC2 progress.
- The following link contains confirmed spoilers (as they say) about the new WoW expansion. By unhiding the link you can not blame me for spoiling it for you.
- I am sharing this information to allow people who play wow to have fun with what I've found if they haven't seen it yet.
- The origin of this information comes from a website (http://www.mmo-champion.com/) that produces very credible information. They claim that this is a leak from a credible source close to the project. The claims they've provided in the past (such as WOTLK) have also been confirmed true after they provided leaked information.
- I hope we're all adult enough to keep the "THIS IZ Y SC2 IZ DELAID!" crap out of this thread :) That is incorrect if you feel that way.

THIS IS A MASSIVE SET OF SPOILERS AND TO BE RELEASED AT BLIZZCON. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I hate caps lock :P

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?

Source: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=92919.0

ChaosSmurf
08-15-2009, 09:28 AM
Actually got me kinda excited. I never play WoW for long due to either being unable to afford it or just burning out. I'd be up for rolling a Worgen though. Death Knight Werewolves.

Gifted
08-15-2009, 09:42 AM
I agree, the fact they incorporated shape shifting with a race is kinda nice. Overall, the revamp of the old world is going to be great for new players as well.

When you play the newest expansion, the world changes around you, the stories are visually shown in front of you, and when you destroy a castle in a quest, you see it actually destroyed and eventually modified in the future. The world is "alive" and "interactive".

When you try leveling in Azeroth afterwards... you see storylines as walls of text, describing thoughts... Changing that to their new mentality would be fantastic. If this is true, then I would greatly advise the game to try out then. In fact, I might rejoin with you and level up with you guys.

Maul
08-15-2009, 10:26 AM
It's still a massive time sink, and only rewards those who put in hours and hours. No skill required. Though I might give it a try.

Gifted
08-15-2009, 11:00 AM
While I can agree that WoW can be a large time sink, any fun activity can be classified as such. The ability for it to be a time sink or not relies on the person who plays the game, and not the game itself. While I can see people with 3 max level characters, I also see people in SC that have 7000 game records on battle.net.

I will say that I feel the game gives excellent experience as a social environment (if you find people likeminded in the instances) and in terms of enjoyable content. It's also become INSANELY casual friendly recently. (Recent patch moved mounts down to lvl 20 for example)

I own a lvl 80 myself, but ultimately, I probably play the game 1-2 hours a week now when I play with my wife. I spend more time on this forum *chuckles*

Norfindel
08-15-2009, 11:05 AM
Shouldn't people discover stuff like that when playing the game, instead of the developers telling the players what's going to happend?

Gifted
08-15-2009, 11:10 AM
That's why this is a leak and not an announcement. Also note the spoiler tag in the beginning and my use of the hide functionality for those who wish not to be spoiled. It will be an announcement next week at blizzcon :)

Eligor
08-15-2009, 01:47 PM
All sounds very cool, even with my mild dislike for WoW I appreciate that they truly try to push it forward with each expansion and make the storytelling work as much as possible (which is no easy task).

Hammy
08-15-2009, 01:51 PM
Troll druids... how awesome :p
Tauren was great for the +5% hp when tanking, but all the hardcore boomkins are going to be rerolling as troll.

Norfindel
08-15-2009, 02:07 PM
That's why this is a leak and not an announcement. Also note the spoiler tag in the beginning and my use of the hide functionality for those who wish not to be spoiled. It will be an announcement next week at blizzcon :)
But they're going to announce the details anyways, right?

Gifted
08-15-2009, 02:14 PM
But they're going to announce the details anyways, right?Hrm, I would believe so :) If they aren't "revealed" I'm sure they'll sneak out the info in the Q/A sessions or presentations. The question is "how much" is too much really.

An example is that while they release all that information at Blizzcon, does it truly show the next level for the Raiding, Arena, battlegrounds or instancing? If we go ahead and assume all this information is to be released at blizzcon, we can also look at it that each item is highlighting important points, or points that could be released at the beginning of the game.

With WoW in particular, things are typically revealed as a patch by patch basis. So if there are four big storyline instances in the game, the details of them are revealed 1 at a time, months apart, and the details about the story are revealed by people as they rip through the content.

While some people might want to learn it themselves... ultimately, I still hold that the decision is theirs. Either they read about it, or try their best ot learn it themselves... because information is rampantly available doesn't mean it should be rampantly accessed.

/HappyArrogantMomentOn
... Wow, I think that last line sounds interesting, I wonder if it would be ever quoted. /ArrogantMomentOff

Maul
08-15-2009, 02:31 PM
While I can agree that WoW can be a large time sink, any fun activity can be classified as such. The ability for it to be a time sink or not relies on the person who plays the game, and not the game itself. While I can see people with 3 max level characters, I also see people in SC that have 7000 game records on battle.net.

I will say that I feel the game gives excellent experience as a social environment (if you find people likeminded in the instances) and in terms of enjoyable content. It's also become INSANELY casual friendly recently. (Recent patch moved mounts down to lvl 20 for example)

I own a lvl 80 myself, but ultimately, I probably play the game 1-2 hours a week now when I play with my wife. I spend more time on this forum *chuckles*

The difference between SC and WoW though is that SC you can jump into a game and play with no advantage, the results depend on your skill.

WoW you need to spend hours upon hours upon hours to earn new gear to remain competitive, with 10% being skill, 45% being RNG and 45% being gear.

Yes, any game can be considered a time sink, but I will never feel a need to continue playing SC, or schedule a raid etc, just to advance in the game.

Aldrius
08-15-2009, 02:49 PM
Actually got me kinda excited. I never play WoW for long due to either being unable to afford it or just burning out. I'd be up for rolling a Worgen though. Death Knight Werewolves.

Yeah, same here.. but...


50% of this 'news' is crap. I almost guarantee it. Especially the story stuff and the old world changing that drastically.

Pandonetho
08-15-2009, 03:08 PM
The difference between SC and WoW though is that SC you can jump into a game and play with no advantage, the results depend on your skill.

WoW you need to spend hours upon hours upon hours to earn new gear to remain competitive, with 10% being skill, 45% being RNG and 45% being gear.


First of all, what's your point?

Second of all, to become good at SC you have to spend hours upon hours playing it.

Have you tried jumping into a C- game in iCCup without feeling at a "disadvantage?"
Oh wait, no, you can't even PLAY C- players unless you're an equal level.

In SC you need to spend hours upon hours playing the game in order to be competitive, so I don't see the difference.



Yes, any game can be considered a time sink, but I will never feel a need to continue playing SC, or schedule a raid etc, just to advance in the game.

And thus, we arrive at the conclusion that it's a different game entirely. Not only that, is this supposed to be a bad thing or something?

Maul
08-15-2009, 03:16 PM
First of all, what's your point?

Learn to read a thread and you'll see why

Pandonetho
08-15-2009, 03:30 PM
I have read the thread and I don't see your point.

That it's a time sink? Is that all? Like any other game? That it requires hours of play just to stay competitive? Like any other game?

Please enlighten me with whatever point you were trying to get across instead of telling me to read the thread.

Maul
08-15-2009, 03:35 PM
I was expressing my opinion and then elaborating my thoughts to Gifted. I wasn't attempting to make any points, DUCY?

sandwich_bird
08-15-2009, 04:01 PM
I'm 99% sure that this is crap. I really can't see the goblins being a new race. How lame and cheap would that be... Werewolf is cool though. Well honestly if this is all true, this will be the worst expansion ever made by Blizzard.

DemolitionSquid
08-15-2009, 04:16 PM
I always thought the best choice would be to un-neutralize the Pandarens and Naga.

Aldrius
08-15-2009, 06:11 PM
I'm 99% sure that this is crap. I really can't see the goblins being a new race. How lame and cheap would that be... Werewolf is cool though. Well honestly if this is all true, this will be the worst expansion ever made by Blizzard.

I actually think the idea of just updating the whole world a whole lot is pretty cool. Give us a proper Theramore and Lordaeron City...!

But I'm pretty the race stuff is true. Goblins fit in pretty well with the Horde. I can see one clan/tribe/whatever allying themselves with the Horde... for the right price!

Now the storyline stuff... uh yeah, no way.


I always thought the best choice would be to un-neutralize the Pandarens and Naga.

I agree, but Pandaren cause trouble with the chinese, and Naga are problematic when it comes to designing the armor to match the er... tail. (How would pants and boots work?)

DemolitionSquid
08-15-2009, 06:29 PM
I agree, but Pandaren cause trouble with the chinese, and Naga are problematic when it comes to designing the armor to match the er... tail. (How would pants and boots work?)

The Chinese need to pull the sticks out of their asses, pandarens =/= pandas. And really, whats better to help the preservation of Panda's then making them literally "kick ass?"

As for the Naga, I see no reason they can just not wear armor on their lower halves, and compensate for it with a racial trait for extra armor.

Gifted
08-15-2009, 06:31 PM
@Maul, I understood your thoughts were pretty open-minded. My counter-thoughts are that you point out examples specifically for competitiveness. I know people who enjoy the game fully by just leveling alts with friends or even roleplaying. There are many ways to enjoy the game without gear. If you expand your views into that, it helps at least show that your perspective could be percieved as limited.

No matter the case, I think that we may be on different arguments. I do understand your argument of the differences that makes up "skill" between the two games... I don't think that's fully relative to the way both games can sink your time. If you want to use the example of raiding, a person still makes a choice to raid and therefore makes a choice to spend their time to be good or poor raiders in terms of gear quality/dedication to achieve so.

I hope you see I don't mean to disrespect your opinion, I merely think that it may be presented at the wrong discussion ^_^.

Gifted
08-15-2009, 06:37 PM
Yeah, same here.. but...


50% of this 'news' is crap. I almost guarantee it. Especially the story stuff and the old world changing that drastically.

Before you jump on the speculation, I suggest that you go to the source link, and click on each of the supporting links, they are datamining the information from the 3.2.2 patch, which is how they got the leaked info from the wotlk. The person who wrote the article is a known person in the community who has previously called every leak which was later proven true... Ironically around 1 week before each blizzcon...

I'm sure we'll find out who's right a week from now.

Aldrius
08-16-2009, 03:15 AM
Pft.

Believe me, I'm very in on this information. (We've been scrutinizing it at Scrolls of Lore over the past few days)

A member of SoL was actually the one who found the masks of the Worgen and Goblins.

And I know MMO-Champion found that list of race/class combos in the data too. Which doesn't even mean they'll be playable.

But that's it. That's the only stuff found in the data. The rest of the information is highly questionable and some of it's not even remotely possible. (The stuff with Thousand Needles being flooded is a HUUUGGGEEEE red flag about just how fake this is. Playable Tauren Paladins/Dwarf Shaman too... not at all possible.)

So that's all that's confirmed. Race/Class combos and new race masks. That's it. Thralls not going to become guardian of Azeroth, Garrosh won't kill Cairne... etc. etc.

Gifted
08-16-2009, 10:36 AM
No matter our sides, the most important point is simple... we'll find out the truth, one way or another, within a week :)

Changed "in a week" to "within a week"... it'd be interesting to see if the loregasm involved wow too...

Maul
08-16-2009, 01:07 PM
@Maul, I understood your thoughts were pretty open-minded. My counter-thoughts are that you point out examples specifically for competitiveness. I know people who enjoy the game fully by just leveling alts with friends or even roleplaying. There are many ways to enjoy the game without gear. If you expand your views into that, it helps at least show that your perspective could be percieved as limited.

No matter the case, I think that we may be on different arguments. I do understand your argument of the differences that makes up "skill" between the two games... I don't think that's fully relative to the way both games can sink your time. If you want to use the example of raiding, a person still makes a choice to raid and therefore makes a choice to spend their time to be good or poor raiders in terms of gear quality/dedication to achieve so.

I hope you see I don't mean to disrespect your opinion, I merely think that it may be presented at the wrong discussion ^_^.

I understand a lot of people who play are just casual gamers and having fun. I on the otherhand personally find it to be one big repetition. After grinding my way to 70 late and getting WotLK the first night and grinding up to 80, I stopped and realised I'm just doing the same thing over and over, and I didn't stand out at all (/timeplayed is sick).

Yes it's a fun and addictive game, but Ive never felt an overall sense of achievement knowing that the game is specifically designed to consume your time and thus keep that subscription rolling.

Also keep in mind I was a warrior and focused mainly on PvP, so I was getting raped as any warrior would know lol. There's also so many imbalances among classes that just made me feel like "what's the point?" Sure, I could of rerolled a paladin, but there goes another month doing something I've already done.

Just again, these are my personal views and don't apply to everyone, nor make WoW a bad game.

Gifted
08-16-2009, 09:05 PM
I understand a lot of people who play are just casual gamers and having fun. I on the otherhand personally find it to be one big repetition. After grinding my way to 70 late and getting WotLK the first night and grinding up to 80, I stopped and realised I'm just doing the same thing over and over, and I didn't stand out at all (/timeplayed is sick).

Yes it's a fun and addictive game, but Ive never felt an overall sense of achievement knowing that the game is specifically designed to consume your time and thus keep that subscription rolling.

Also keep in mind I was a warrior and focused mainly on PvP, so I was getting raped as any warrior would know lol. There's also so many imbalances among classes that just made me feel like "what's the point?" Sure, I could of rerolled a paladin, but there goes another month doing something I've already done.

Just again, these are my personal views and don't apply to everyone, nor make WoW a bad game.Good enough point, fyi, my main is a MT warrior for the raiding, So I hear ya.

Anywho, while I think I see your point, I also still hold that the only way that game becomes a time sink is the choice of the person, not the game itself. That's all :)

Islandsnake
08-19-2009, 10:19 AM
I'm pretty pumped for this, I don't play too much anymore ( 5 hours a month?) but it'll be nice to have some new fresh stuff to play around with.

The 2 new races are both pretty exiting!

Gifted
08-21-2009, 01:36 AM
Just a little tidbit. If you look at the map for Blizzcon floors, there is essentially some sort of "confirmation" that the new WoW expansion is coming out. Why else would there be a "World of warcraft" demonstration area?

Is this speculation? yes. But it makes sense.

Briaya
08-22-2009, 01:59 AM
I feel as though they added the Goblins, so the Horde have their own version of the Gnome. I hate Gnomes...

sandwich_bird
08-22-2009, 10:26 PM
Looks like this was all true after all. I still don't like it but we'll see what will happen... At the very least deathwing is pretty cool.