I don’t normally post on the weekends, or at 3am, but this cannot wait!
MMO Champion has released a bunch of information about the next expansion, Cataclysm. Apparently a lot of this was data-mined from the patch 3.2.2 PTR build. You can read all the details Here.
Standard caveats here: this information is not official, but apparently from very “reliable sources” and, of course, MMO Champion has a pretty good track record – they don’t post just every wild rumor.
Some highlights include:
- Level cap raised to only 85
- No new classes
- New combinations of race/class — such as human hunter and undead hunter
- New races: goblin and worgen (and my goblin engineer is a bit sad that Goblins will be a horde race)
- No new continent, instead something much better…
- Classic Azeroth totally revamped. Many zones changed radically, new zones added to blank areas of the map, some zones (thousand needles) flooded and gone.
- Levelling in Azeroth apparently made much easier, more storytelling, faster levelling
- Flying in Azeroth
- Classic dungons revamped — not just Onyxia, but many others allowing you to use the dungeons to level from 80 – 85
I have to say I’m very, very excited about this info and hope that it all pans out to be true. I love the idea of going back to Azeroth and revamping the content for the modern age – adding phasing and dailies and all the new quest types.
Flying. OMFG, flying.
I also love that the dungeons will continue to be revamped so that they’re meaningful again. Like they did with Naxx, and announced with Onyxia. It always seemed such a waste that some of those truly massive and lore-important places are all but pointless now – just get an 80 to smoke it in fifteen minutes and move on. So, so sad.
I also love that they are updating the world. The zones are changing, the quests in those zones are changing. We can feel like the world is changing as a result of our fighting and raiding, and go back to those places and see what’s happened.
Ah, me. Very excited to see the offical word from Blizzard at Blizzcon!
I understand your enthusiasm… my friend woke me up this morning by calling my cell to tell me.
This new updating the old dungeons thing is GENIUS, you’re totally right about old lore dungeons being so overlooked now. I hope they do it to others along with Onyxia.
This questing and revamping of the maps though… didn’t hear of this.. and I am VERY excited about this. It’s 3am and I’m tempted to call my bud right now hehe
Thanks for the update man
The Horde in other words has been nearly destroyed and has become nearly the old Horde again, while the alliance is getting stronger. I only hope that the same is not true for Hunters…
I wonder how the races are going to work. I can’t see Worgens doing much, imagine a worgen pally, or lock or priest.
Also I wonder if there’s only going to be like 2 more zones for 80-85 in Azeroth, since there will still be people leveling and stuff.
Also, zomfg flying in Azeroth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If even half of this is true 3.2.2 promises to be FANTASTIC!
Only things im not to keen on is the new races, Worgen dont offer much that I can see and whats going to happen with all the existing Goblin NPCs now that they are Horde?
The real bother for me is Night Elf Mages, for a race that has sworn of magic because of the Ancients War and what happened to the Blood Elves, it just goes against the grain for me XD
the most amazing thing is going back to the old continents. i hope they don’t change the old areas for the worse though. areas like feralas and tanaris are so beautiful in their original iteration. flying, gnomergarn, uldum, grim batol this sounds friggin awesome.
not too bothered about night elf mages. after all they are one of the races most adept at magic, there’s always some who don’t follow the rules and try arcane magic. what i don’t like is tauren paladins and priests, seriously wtf?
just because goblins can be part of the horde it doesn’t mean all goblins immediately bow to the horde. goblins i can see as warriors, warlocks, rogues, and hunters. worgen i can only think of warriors , druids and rogues.
Please, please, please let them finish that stupid Inn in Westfall.
I’m going to have to go with dd on this one. There are plenty of examples where members of a race are not all aligned towards the same faction.
There are orcs and trolls that are not part of the Horde. There are humans and dwarves that are not part of the Alliance. Is it really hard to believe that some goblins won’t be part of the new alliance with the Horde?
One question I do have however is, if it is true that Garrosh murders Cairne, why would the Tauren stay with the Horde?
@Tag
I would guess that the Tauren don’t know that it was Garrosh who did it.
Great news….I hope there is a heroic version of Ulduman and they do something with Grim Batol
forgot to say…….the ONE thing I’m not looking forward to is levelling again
gnomish engineering goblin hunter ftw.
woo hooo:) i love the flying in the old world:)
I am a happy dwarf, which is damned rare for me. (The happy part, you goofballs.)
i love some of the changes, such as flying. and if they instance the entire world so that noobs levelling 1-60 do not see the cataclysm changes, then woot, thats neat. if they revamp levelling 1-60 then woot, thats neat.
but when i read the changes to the horde, such as hellscream taking over the horde, cairne dying, and tauren paladins, a little bit of me died inside. what may be good for balancing is absolute murder for standing lore.
Remains to be seen how much of whats been said will actually be implemented. Alot of it sounds quite an extreme adjustment and alot of work. As blizzard have said alot of Azeroth wasn’t intended for flying.
Sounds hawt. It doesn’t drop for like a year though, right? 3.2.2 makes it sound….impending and stuff. Still too much to do in Northrend.
Safrienaer: I guess that makes sense. They could make it look as if members of the Alliance were the ones who killed Cairne, thus giving reason for Garrosh to declare war.
Quivering: How do the changes being rumored kill standing lore? To me it just means the story is moving forward. Except maybe the Tauren Paladins.. I’m not sure how that fits into lore.
I’m willing to be the first to be a stick in the mud.
Azeroth revamp? Fatastic. Theres to much missing for them to keep working on new ideas. An update is sorely needed. Lets forget the fact that Blizzard has said several times that working on Azeroth would (more or less) be a waste of time, as it would keep them from working on new content. We’ll just hope this one pans out.
The other things though, I just cant get into. One of the main reasons I like this mmo is its extensive history and lore setting, and most of these ideas just trash alot of those concepts. As always, Blizzard would be waiting with a wonderful reason to explain away our concerns, but where do we draw the line? Eventually, this game is going to be all class/race combinations, new “traitor” races that let horde defect to the alliance and vice-versa, and Murloc paladins. I try to ignore walrus people and evil Blood Elves harnessing the universal power of good and righteousness, but this one might be the last straw for me.
Dot get me wrong, I’m diggin the love for old world lore, but I would prefer it in a way that dosent wreck the lore. I’ll personally be hoping for a much edited version by Blizzcon.
Yume: I guess I don’t see any problem with what you are describing. You mention the example of Blood Elves becoming Paladins, but the concept of an “evil” (if that’s what you want to call Blood Elves in the first place) isn’t anything new.
Besides, it’s not like Blizzard actually sticks to anything resembling what a real Paladin would be. Tirion is hosting a gladiatorial event where people fight to the death. I don’t think the “Light” would approve of that. Blizzard isn’t doing anything they haven’t done since the beginning of the game.
The Lore should be a guideline. Not an end all be all of the way the game should be developed. That’s my own personal opinion anyway.
Azeroth revisited in the meaning of adding, or perhaps better stated fixing, the missing zones and allowing flying is realy great. Removing things like thousand needles? Good idea if they back it up with good lore. Probably they do, as the flooding probably is a new event. I love lore, so I’m eager to see the new content …
New lvl’s wouldn’t have to be included for me, but if they do it I’d consider it good anyway. Especially as it will probably include new talents.
The changes and additions of new characters and classes? Only if they are backed up by good lore, because as stated goblins aren’t horde sofar and worgen have been put there as pure evil. There is a nice lore quest for Night Elves (google: Scythe of Elune) and it continues partly in WotlK suggesting that the Scythe of Elune has been found and given to the them (by you in the quest). Now perhaps they are free?
I kinda likes the different races having not all the classes. Also because it had thought in wich classes are available for what races. I mean, for instance, Night Elve Mages are against their core believes. I also don’t see reason to add it, as there are plenty of choices for every class. I would have recommend Blizzard to spend effort elsewehere. But of course that is just my opinion.
Anyway, overal it looks great!
Can it possibly be true? I finally get to play a horde hunter! Ive been hoping for a goblin hunter with a hyena pet ince BC. Man, I cant wait!!
That’s fine that they’re planning all of this. But what I want to see is more instance servers before they do anything else.
Amen Koonazz. My friend and I can’t tank/heal for eachother on our lowbies because, as the blue post stated, northrend instances come first. It’s nearly impossible to get into a BC or old world instance on my server…
Tag: I more was referrering to their forced Inprisonment of a Naaru. Evil may not be the right word; perhaps “morally ambiguous’?
Lore is supposed to be a guideline, but its also the games history. Making up some flimsy excuse to change the status quo just because they cant come up with any better ideas for new content is lame to me.
Armin: I do agree with you that the new class/race combinations should be backed up with strong lore. Since Night Elf’s using arcane magic is so much against what they’ve stood for over the past 10,000 years, I’ll be very interested in seeing what happens that causes them to make such a dramatic decision.
Yume: I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think the faction of Blood Elves that are holding the Naaru hostage and the Blood Elves that are playable races are the same. Aren’t the Blood Elves that are holding the Naaru hostage under the command of Kael’thas Sunstrider? The playable Blood Elves are the ones who defected from Kael’thas I believe.
As far as lore being the games history, I agree with you. But, I think it’s also important that the lore continues to progress. That means things are going to change. I don’t really have a problem with most of the ideas that are floating around. The thing that is going to be important to me is how those changes are implemented. If all of a sudden Night Elves can use arcane magic and Tauren can become Paladins with only a small cutscene at the beginning of character creation to explain it, then I will be very disappointed. However, if they take the time to make a decent story (I’m not expecting Shakespeare) out of the transition, then I’ll be happy.
I know a lot of people are upset over the fact that Cairne might end up getting killed. I personally think it’s a pretty cool idea. To me, it’s on par to when Lothar was killed in WC2.
Tag: The Blood Elves that are holding the Naaru hostage were the real Blood Elves that you play, as they were basicly magic-addicts and had to get their ‘shot’ to stay sane. So per haps indeed no su much evil, as addicted. Then when the sunisle patch was added, new lore was also added and Kael’thas Sunstrider had stole the Naruu. You see therefore now a also a conversation (which repeats itsels a few times a day or so, don’t know the timing), where the leader of the playable Blood Elves comes to ask forgiveness in Shattaran to the Naaru leader.
Also I read now actually read the MMO notes. I know, I’ve should have done that, but was too exited
There is indeed good lore behind the worgen, etc. And on the classes it states “so we can probably expect to see more ” with then a list of options. Probably! So I guess Night Elves will still remain sane and keep away from magic and stick to the power of Elune and Nature. As of course, I as a Night Elve Hunter, would insists on too 
That said, in WC3 beiung a Night Elve actually affected gameplay in the sense that your sight was greater at night and the other classes at day. Other than glowing eyes, nothing is in the game like this today, right?
Mabe there should be a new class exclusive to goblins like demolisher where the character uses explosions to fight. I dont like the fact that Garrosh kills Cairn, for one thing the Tauren would leave the Horde and for anothere that would brand Garrosh as power hungery and evil not honorable if a little…overhasty in battle (like most orcs)
Bloodelf: I think it’s possible for Garrosh to kill Cairne without making himself look like the bad guy. He could somehow assassinate him and make it look as though members of the Alliance did it. This would certainly give him justification for declaring war against the Alliance which is something he obviously wants to do.
from what it seems he does cairne is branded a traitor to the horde and his son takes over however garrosh calling all out war on the alliance hopfully thrall being a mediator between the 2 factions could do somthing thou from the ulduar trailer it looks like neither leader will listen to any 1
I’m sorry but I’m not believing this for a second. Sure some of the stuff might be true, but this has been talked about all over the interweb, by people saying what they would like the expansion to be. Really I can’t see Blizz going “Well that sounds good lets use their ideas” Most of this has been mentioned for quite some time, not as rumour but as what ‘it could be if they worked for Blizz’.
Methinks I shall wait for the real word from Blizz at Blizzcon
Shyrak: You may be right, but it’s still fun to talk about.
I second tag
They need to add phasing to Elwynn Forest so we can have a level 88 boss Hogger!
Yorigrim: Yes, I completely agree with you. A 40-man outdoor 50 foot Hogger raid.
Goblins and Worgen would be great. I’m still amused that WoW somehow manages to add new races. Well, this new expansion is very interesting for wow player like me.
if there is a lvl 88 Hogger then Gamon should be the new Boss of an Orgrimmar raid
I’m pretty sure most of this is accurate, except I dont think blizz is raising the lv cap, thats what expansion packs are for, raising the lv cap is a marketing move, not the kinda thing they would do in a free patch, new races, thats iffy but worgen and goblin sound like very good possibilities, AND OMFG FLYING IN AZEROTH THANK GOD FINALLY WOOP WOOP.
Note that Cateclysm *is* the next expansion — this is not patch stuff, it’s the expansion
The only issue is, why 3.2.2 and not 3.3 or 4.0. Theer is so much to ‘do’ before adding a new step.
I just think some of the information was in the 3.2.2 ptr – who knows how much will actually be in the patch. The expansion will surely be 4.0 (or 4.1).