Blizzard just made millions of World of Warcraft players happy with the announcement of the third expansion for the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will "change the face of Azeroth" as Chris Metzen, Blizzard vice president of creative development, described it.
In the reveal trailer, the narrator explains how the landscape of the world has changed due to some kind of cataclysmic event. There are scenes of volcanoes erupting and huge lava fields. Resources are rarer, causing the factions to battle over them. Meanwhile, refugee species fleeing the upheaval have flooded the existing lands.
The expansion will have two new playable factions: The goblins for the Horde, and the Worgen, who were formerly human but have been transformed into humanoid creatures. The expansion will have new race combinations, new monsters, new dungeons and raids, flying mounts, hundreds of new quests, a new archeology skill, new battlegrounds, and a level cap increase to 85.
During the WoW Cataclysm panel, Chris Metzen revealed additional details about the expansion pack, starting with the inclusion of Deathwing into the game. He started out by stating that while Illidan was a great threat during Burning Crusade, many people didn't know who he was if they were new to the WarCraft universe. As a result, they intentionally tried to make the Lich King seem like an everpresent threat. Deathwing will be even more of a threat to the world. The leader of the black dragonflight, Deathwing (who made his debut in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal) was the earth warder of Azeroth, which allowed he and his followers to wield fire and magma. Unfortunately, Deathwing was susceptible to the whispers of the Old Gods, and was driven mad. His body was ripped apart and iron plates fused to his body. As time went on, his desire to crush the humanoid races and subjugate the other dragonflights became much more more immediate.
When Deathwing breaches the physical realm, the cataclysm begins, with tidal waves, earthquakes and incredibly destructive changes to the face of the world. Not only is Deathwing everpresent, but his actions affect everyone be it Horde or Alliance. For instance, the elemental planes designed to keep the four elements of the world in check have been brought to the lands of Azeroth as well, meaning that players will find elemental threats as well as new monsters roaming the lands.
The panel went on to talk about the two new races. The first they talked about was the Worgen, who will be brought to the alliance. While they covered the history of the race, including the kingdom of Gilneas trying to come up with a way to prevent the incursion of the Scourge into their lands. As a result, the Gilnean people received the lycanthropic curse, and players will be able to discover the cause of the curse, what they're fighting for, and whether they can contain the beast within. Metzen likened the class to the "Wolverine of the Alliance."
Goblin society, by contrast, is based on cartels or factions initially, (many players might know them as transporters with the zepplin services). However, playable characters will come from the lands of Khazam, and are forced to leave these lands. They are also forced into the Horde instead of choosing to join, and players will discover the reasons behind this. Goblins will come with some creative elements, such as rocket belts to move through areas, as well as a battlewagon which will be the goblin mounts. Everyone was told that the goblins are definitely going to be comic relief for the Horde, and the Horde will need that.
The panel intentionally tried to stress the upheaval of the world of Azeroth, mentioning that thanks to the destruction of the world, and newly phased terrain, players will discover radical changes to the world. For example, the Barrens have been sundered into two distinct areas, and the area around Desolace has been shattered, allowing water to pour in. It also revealed new land to be revealed. Not all of the changes will be attached to Deathwing. The goblins will have changed the face of the world as well, turning the mountain of Azshara into a quarry and the cave to Ashenvale into a full valley.
There will be large new zones to explore: Mount Hyjal, Uldum, the Lost Isles and Gilneas (for the new playable races), The Isle of Kazan, the Sunken City of Vashj'ir, Twilight Highlands and Deepholm. Along with the new areas are radical changes to every zone as well on multiple different scales; while some may be environmental tweaks, others will be MOB adjustments. Players will now find that zones that were originally for level 20 characters are now set up for level 40 characters. There will also be two new starting zones for characters that are between level 1-15, and five adventure zones for characters between level 78-85.
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