Yesterday I heard from Fenix that Blizzard had registered a new trademark. At the time I figured it was a new game. And I thought to myself, pfft — with Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2 delayed this long, any new game has to be at least 10 years out.
Fenix(2500402) 15:03:15 BLIZZARD just registered a new trademark called Cataclysm 鼠標炸彈 15:14:57 When did that news come out? 鼠標炸彈 15:15:01 So there’s a new game? 鼠標炸彈 15:15:10 Coming out in 2019… Fenix(2500402) 15:15:27 Oh yeah
Didn’t expect to see the news today: turns out “Cataclysm” is the name of the new World of Warcraft expansion.
At 9 a.m. North American time on the 21st (early morning of the 22nd Beijing time), BlizzCon opened. Blizzard officially announced the new World of Warcraft expansion: Cataclysm. (World of Warcraft - Cataclysm)
Updating with a Simplified Chinese version of the video:
Below is the official introduction to the new expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm:
After witnessing the downfall of Yogg-Saron, the other Old Gods also decided to descend upon Azeroth. And Deathwing, swayed by the Old Gods, is involved — this great cataclysm that has befallen Azeroth was brought about by Deathwing and the Old Gods together. While players were still fighting in Northrend, Deathwing had already summoned an army of elementals to scour Azeroth clean.
General
The level cap will be 85, because the designers wanted to focus on doing the right things well: redoing Azeroth and providing more high-end game content.
The new advanced guild system will let players learn guild perks and level their guild up to a maximum of 20, and also spend points in a talent tree. You’ll gain things like cheaper repair costs, less durability loss on wipes, and even mass resurrection.
Phasing technology can now add and remove terrain as you progress through the game — for example, a coastline will push inland as you advance along your quest line.
Path of the Titans
The talent trees won’t be expanded; there will only be 5 more talent points.
The Path of the Titans system will let players build their character along specific paths. This is a new talent system that will offer new abilities and passive skills.
A specialization system has been added, and a large number of talents will be redone. The point here is to move away from masses of talent skills, so you’re no longer dumping every single talent point into something just because a talent gives more damage or higher crit.
Archaeology
Archaeology is the new secondary profession. Details aren’t clear yet, but there should be more in the interview section below.
Deathwing
Deathwing, leader of the black dragonflight, will be the main villain of this expansion.
After the Burning Legion’s invasion, Deathwing heard the whispers of the Old Gods, and he became immensely powerful yet utterly insane.
His plan is to make the Alliance and the Horde let their guard down about things like drawing out the Elemental Planes.
The Elemental Planes are worlds the Titans created for elemental creatures, but those creatures weren’t happy about it — guys like Ragnaros are very angry, and the consequences are severe.
New Race — Worgen
A few other races were once on the shortlist for the Alliance, but the designers felt the Alliance needed a feral race, and the Horde needed some wacky, cute flavor.
Genn Greymane sealed off the Greymane Wall to block the Scourge invasion. Gilneas was on edge as the Scourge swept south in force.
Arugal was once a good man and a patriot. He summoned the worgen hoping they would fight for Gilneas, but he was horrified by just how dangerous these creatures are.
The worgen come from somewhere else… even from another time we don’t know about. They have a wolf inside, and for a long time they’ve been trying to come to terms with the beast spirit within them.
Racial — Viciousness: increases damage dealt by 1%.
Racial — Darkflight: increases movement speed by 70% for 10 seconds.
Racial — Aberration: reduces the duration of curses and diseases affecting you by 15%.
Racial — Flayer: increases Skinning skill by 15.
New Race — Goblin
Goblins are a high-tech race from Kezan, and their society is made up of various cartels, each led by a trade prince. They’re a new faction, not the ones you see in the game right now.
The Cataclysm hit Kezan hard, and it may well have destroyed it. The goblins are now refugees stranded on the Lost Isles.
As a goblin you’ll start out neutral and join the Horde through a quest line.
Racial — Best Deals Anywhere: always get the best discount regardless of faction.
Racial — Pack Hobgoblin: summons your servant, who provides bank access, lasts 1 minute, 30 second cooldown.
Racial — Better Living Through Chemistry: increases Alchemy skill by 15.
Racial — Rocket Barrage: fire a rocket from your belt at an enemy, dealing fire damage. 2 minute cooldown.
Racial — Rocket Jump: activate your rocket belt to leap forward. 2 minute cooldown.
Racial — Time is Money: increases attack and casting speed by 1%.
The World
Azeroth can now be flown in. Many zones will change to some degree — places like Elwynn Forest won’t change noticeably, but zones like the Barrens will be torn apart by Deathwing.
The Wailing Caverns is now a lush area overgrown with tropical plants.
The Barrens has more water, and the screenshots show a lot of vegetation.
The Horde has finally conquered Southshore.
Auberdine has been destroyed, and the night elves have built a new camp north of it. Garrosh wants to expand the Horde’s territory here, and has built a fortress in the south.
Stonetalon Mountains has been cleared out by the goblins, and Azshara will be the new goblin zone — they’ll use Azshara’s quarries to build their city.
We left only a tiny mark of ourselves on Northrend, while the old world will grow darker, and heroism and brotherhood will both become more indispensable than ever, just as the Warcraft series has always championed.
Every zone will be redone with new quests, items, and art design. The old world will be a whole new experience, and you won’t be crying over quest rewards with agility plus spirit anymore.
7 new zones: Twilight Highlands, Mount Hyjal, Deepholm, Uldum, Gilneas, the Lost Isles, and the sunken city of Vashj’ir.
The worgen and goblin starting zones will cover levels 1-15.
The sunken city of Vashj’ir will be an underwater zone. Before the great cataclysm of the War of the Ancients, it was originally the capital city of Vashj. There will be a portal here leading to the Abyssal Maw, and through the Abyssal Maw you’ll reach the Elemental Plane of Water. Even though it’s underwater, you’ll be able to walk along the sea floor. There will be new underwater mounts, just as fast as regular flying mounts.
Deepholm will be the hub of the expansion — from here you’ll be able to teleport to places like Mount Hyjal or Uldum.
The Twilight’s Hammer now serves Deathwing, and summoned him back at full health and full power to the Temple of Earth at the center of the map.
Uldum will have at least 2 dungeons and plenty of Egyptian-style scenery. The sea west of Tanaris is merely an illusion created by the Titans; Uldum is actually a brand-new zone. It’s said that some kind of ultimate weapon is hidden here. Uldum is also home to the Tol’vir, a race of stone cat-like beings created by the Titans.
Ragnaros took advantage of the Cataclysm to return from the Elemental Plane of Fire, and he now wants to burn down the World Tree at Mount Hyjal.
Malfurion has returned from the Emerald Dream. The entire Mount Hyjal zone will make heavy use of phasing technology.
Twilight Highlands will be Grim Batol. When Deathwing returned from beneath the earth, he tore apart the seals of Grim Batol. This will be the Twilight’s Hammer’s base in Azeroth, and both the Alliance and the Horde will have port outposts here. The red dragonflight is still here, but has been pushed back to the western side of the zone, near the Wetlands.
Orgrimmar has been rebuilt and reinforced with a lot of steel, and looks more like Garrosh’s fortress.
The Undercity has been redesigned so you can fly there, and it looks way cooler from the outside.
Deepholm isn’t directly connected to Azeroth — it’s just where Deathwing is bound to the earth.
Dungeons and Raids
The new raid is the Firelands. You’ll enter the Elemental Plane of Fire and visit the heart of Sulfuron, calling on a very angry, very serious Ragnaros.
Uldum will have 2 new dungeons: the Lost City of the Tol’vir and the Halls of Origination (a Titan city).
Skywall (the Elemental Plane of Air) will have a level-up dungeon and a raid.
Grim Batol will have a level-up dungeon and a raid.
The Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep will return as level-85 heroic dungeons.
The new level-up dungeon Blackrock Caverns, located in Blackrock Spire. This will be a completely new dungeon — new art, new monsters, everything new.
PvP
New battleground: the Battle for Gilneas, where the goal is to control the city by capturing as many districts as possible.
New PvP zone: Tol Barad. Like Wintergrasp, a battle starts every few hours, and the winning side takes control of Tol Barad Prison and can complete lots of richly rewarding daily quests.
A rated battleground system has been added, offering the same tier of rewards as the arena.
New arena maps.
Blizzard, you are my faith, you are my light… When I see the state of the world shift with the story’s development, I feel both excited and thoroughly satisfied — this game, forever imitated yet never surpassed, has moved me once again. World of Warcraft, you have a soul. You lead countless players in witnessing the story unfold and the world change. Ice Cool!
Looking forward to the new novel Arthas… looking forward to the movie…