Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdom are about to be forcefully remixed into a new, darker state, after years of hanging in a state of unchanging stasis, in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The Dragon Aspect Deathwing appears to be the primary culprit behind the transformation of the land that 11 million people call home. If you aren’t familiar with the lore, and haven’t checked out any of the books, Deathwing is one of the most compelling antagonists Blizzard could have pulled out of their bag of tricks. In addition to this new villain, and familiar lands decimated are two new races, new class/race combinations, more levels, better graphics, and new areas.

Hit the jump for trailers, screenshots, and more information on the new World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Now that the suspicions of the last few months have been confirmed and we know that Blizzard copyrighting Cataclysm really did turn out to be an expansion pack, what’s the deal? First and foremost, there are two new races coming to the World of Warcraft, in addition to the eight that already exist. Siding with the Alliance are the cursed residents of Gilneas, the population of which is a category of the werewolf Worgen. What makes them unique in comparison to the other Worgen filling up WoW, is that they aren’t under the thumb of Arugal, explaining their ability to not eat everyone’s face.

The Worgen-cursed residents of Gilneas should be at home in a starting zone all their own. To any long time player of WoW, this can be something that makes creating a new character tolerable, even fun. Gilneas and surrounding area looks to take on a very fairy tale style rainy environment, something you’d imagine a population cursed with a plague that converted them to a lupine beast on occasion living in. Gilneas should add some interesting strands to the relationship dynamic within the Alliance, as the leader of the people of Gilneas, Greymane, has made no secrets of his disdain for pretty much everyone on either side of the fight.

To counter this dark and dreary world of Gilneas, the new race coming to the Horde side of the fight resides on a chain of tropical isles, more specifically, the Lost Isles, and even more specifically, the isle of Kezan, which they formerly inhabited as slaves to the Trolls. Kezan has grown into something of a trade center for the greedy green skinned Goblins, which they used to their advantage dealing with both the Alliance and the Horde, without having previously chosen favorite. Blizzard has wisely used business relations turning sour with the Alliance as the grounds for this normally neutral faction taking up cause with the Horde; it’s about the only thing that would make sense in the context of the lore.

One of the more significant changes coming to the game with the launch of Cataclysm is opening up classes to certain races who couldn’t take advantage of them previously. Altogether there’s 27 possible new combinations, allowing you to make the Tauren Paladin you’ve always wanted, or the Dwarf Shaman. This count includes all of the options available to the two new races joining the roster, the Goblin players can look forward to playing as Death Knights, Hunters, Mages, Priests, Rogues, Shaman, Warlocks, or Warriors. The plagued Worgen will be able to play as Death Knights, Druids, Hunters, Mages, Priests, Rogues, Warlocks, and Warriors, allowing quite a bit of choice between the two newcomers.

The ever expanding level cap is taking a hike up from the cap of 80 that accompanied Wrath of the Lich King, to 85, which will presumably bring back the feeling of levels seeming much farther away than they have with either of the two previous expansions. In addition to player levels being expanding upward, guilds themselves are now going to have the capacity for leveling, such as in games like Warhammer Online. Guild achievements will be tied in with guild level, unlocking a whole new set of obsessions for completionists.

Azeroth as known to the players is going to be getting a facelift, or just punched in the face, depending on how you look at it. The Barrens are going to be torn into two halves, presumably condensing Chuck Norris jokes onto one side, and dick jokes to the other. The nose-bleed heights of One Thousand Needles will be flooded, Desolace will be a lush landscape, as opposed to the poisoned, beyond dead area of the world that it was before. Flying mounts will now be standard fare in the old world, which previously forced you to remain bound tightly to your land mount when visiting, something plyers have been requestingr for quite some time.

A few more scant details are available, such as the new profession of Archaeology, the promise of more raid content than has previously been seen in an expansion, new PvP zones and the like, but nothing of substance in available on those fronts. Keep an eye on Spawn Kill for more details on the upcoming expansion as they trickle out.

[Source: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm]

Tags: Blizzard, Cataclysm, MMO, PC, World of Warcraft

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 12:21 pm and is filed under News, PC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.