The Next World of Warcraft Thread

[Mack Kilimaro]

Cataclysm is for real. Check it out on your WOW fansite of choice.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that people are still in fact logging in to play Wrath of the Lich King. Please advise.

[Myshkin]

I've never posted in one of these threads, but I thought I should let you all know that I finally reached 80. I give you my permission to cheer.

[Grim Shady]

I'm waiting for the "Garrosh kills Cairne and Thrall is no more Warchief but Guardian of Tirisfal" stuff. As well as the "Thousand Needles got totally flooded" - which doesn't exactly seems to be the case. It's more of a massive eruption / lava flow than a massive tidal wave, so far ;)

But all the stuff related to the gameplay was spot on.

Actually there's nothing saying Thousand Needles doesn't get flooded. It probably won't unless they break the mountain range near the flats and do something to keep the water from flowing into Tanaris as well, but it's still a little early to say that info was incorrect. The zones are going to be changed drastically, it's not just a massive eruption somewhere. The phasing technology will now include terrain changes over time. Places like Darkshore have been partially flooded and as you play through them they will become increasingly more damaged. Garrosh is expanding and from the screenshots so far it looks like he's taken all of Ashenvale (there are shots of Astranaar on fire with wyverns attacking from above and a shot of new horde structures built around a Nelf building) and a report from the con panel says he's got a new base set up in the south of Darkshore.

And MMOC had already stated that some of those story points were part of the SA/Goon Squad post which GS later claimed was a hoax. So any characters getting killed off and things like that were suspect.

Not sure about that. Don't forget that SC2 means just the first solo campaign, and there are 2 expansions after that - SC2 being released February/March 2010 probably. They won't wait 15 months before releasing them, more something like 6 months each, in my opinion - unless they just don't give a damn anymore about SC story. I would rather suppose they release SC and the expansions, then release D3. And Cataclysm looked far more advanaced than BC or WOTLK were when they were announced. I think it's clear it'll be released before 2010 is over, a Summer 2010 release is actually possible.

I mean, they said they wanted to release one expansion each year, it took them more than 2 years to make BC, nearly 2 years to make WOTLK, they can't justify waiting more than 2 years, or even 2 years and half, before releasing the 3rd one. Particularly when the content will be obviously lesser than for BC or WOTLK.

I think they mean two big releases, not SC2 expansions. And I think they gave up on the expansion a year after failing to do so on any of them. It's just unrealistic. And I don't see how reworking two continents, adding more instances and raids than any previous expansion, redoing the quests so we don't have the silly agility/spirit quest rewards, adding two new races and seven new zones as being obviously lesser than BC or Wrath. It's not some small patch's worth of data that people seem to be predicting. It's pretty hefty.

Indeed. They just never undestood that the Heroic Deadmines was a joke... We want new instances that are as cool, not the same stuff with a few new mobs and boss abilities. This is a friggin new expansion, not a celebratory "Onyxia lvl80" free patch.

As I mentioned just before, I have the bad feeling that many devs are already on their new MMO and that WOW is now being done on the cheap, with fewer resources.

I mean, the last patch is fine, but it's basically a joke, content-wise. Nice, a couple of new roomes with a few bosses few trash mobs, requiring barely any design work - compared to something like Naxxramas, AQ 20/40, Quel'Danas or Black Temple? And a good deal of the expansion will just be Azeroth revamped so you can fly, with stuff trashed here and there. It's all fine, but they could've done most of this as secondary work and side-stuff of a true expansion that would add real new zones with massive questing and exploring involved.

Again, they've said they are adding more raids and instances in Cataclysm than in the two previous expansions. Heroic DM and SFK are fun little gifts. They're not all that's coming. Four of the instance/raid hubs will deal with the elemental planes themselves.

[Mack Kilimaro]

I've never posted in one of these threads, but I thought I should let you all know that I finally reached 80. I give you my permission to cheer.

You should have posted in here sooner! Nobody bites. Well, there's Stego, but you know.

Cataclysm news:

Spellpower is being removed from gear. Instead you'll scale off intellect.

Defense will be gone. Instead you'll talent to remove crit the same way druids too.

Armor pen will be gone.

[Rexor]

I wouldn't be surprised if the release coincides with the feature film...

[Myshkin]

You should have posted in here sooner! Nobody bites. Well, there's Stego, but you know.

Well, I'm still pretty much a noob when it comes to wow. Anyone here on baelgun?

[The Winged Shadow]

I've never posted in one of these threads, but I thought I should let you all know that I finally reached 80. I give you my permission to cheer.

:cheers: Congrats Myshkin.

On Cataclysm:

I really really hope the whole Garrosh taking over the Horde thing is false. That'd be enough to almost make me switch Factions. The guys is a fucking douche. He is Grom Hellscream without all the coolness and badass-ness :/

Worgen Rogue sounds cool, but i think if it really came down to it, i'd probably go night elf (again!) cause i really like their lore (yeah, i'm on of those people :P). But i like the Undead and their lore as well. So unless Blizz manages to screw that up somehow, i am probably gonna stick to the Horde :D

[Zadok]

No spell power? Really? There are going to be so many useless items in this expansion.

[Stego]

Garrosh Heallscream *IS* a douche, but at least he's not Varian Wrynn. :D

Grats Myshkin!

God luck raiding this weekend with everyone tabbed out reading the news. Sigh.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

I'm not liking this new(er) Horde. :thumbsdown:

[Mack Kilimaro]

If you think about it, though, blood elves kind of pussified the Horde. Maybe we kind of need Garrosh to take over with his asshole imperialist nature to bring back the badass. If that means killing some Alliance, who cares? Varian Wrynn is an asshole and so is Staghelm. Stick it to them.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

If you think about it, though, blood elves kind of pussified the Horde. Maybe we kind of need Garrosh to take over with his asshole imperialist nature to bring back the badass. If that means killing some Alliance, who cares? Varian Wrynn is an asshole and so is Staghelm. Stick it to them.

Not really. The only thing that I agree with here is that Varian Chynn is an asshole.

[Not another Stark]

It would be better if Garrosh and Varian came up and tried to terminate the Lich-King during the Icecrown raid, just to be mercilessly beaten to a pulp by Arthas. Getting rid of both these idiots is probably even more important than beating the Scourge, at this point...

[Guest thebadlady]

Made excelllent progress with the lock - levels FLY by compared to the 70s. Warrior is making progress too. Hard to be enthused about doing Boring ass Tundra for the 5th time. Used up rested on both of them so I am going to gather for a couple of days.

Ran the new instance last night. Its rather fun. Would hate to heal it - that is not an instance where you can only sort of know how to heal.

[Myshkin]

I don't know how to do anything in instances. But I'm a marks hunter, so I guess I don't need to know how to do anything but shoot stuff.

[Grim Shady]

# Cataclysm will change the ways abilities are learned. Abilities ranks are gone and ability will just scale progressively with levels instead.

# Most of the Talent Trees will be changed dramatically, a lot of the passive bonuses will be removed and talent trees should be more fun. (No more "Hurray! Level up! I just got 1% more hit!)

# Developers want shaman to be good AE healers and might buff Chain Heal even more.

# Multi-passenger flying mounts could be added in the future. They might also allow crafters to craft 310% flying mounts if they already completed an achievement rewarding one.

# Every healer class can now dispell magic, the niches will other debuffs.

Yum.

Multi-passenger flying mounts is where it's at. Screw that silly mammoth. If you're out questing with someone and you can both fly, it's sometimes a pain to follow. Be much better to have the one leading the way do the flying and to just ride along.

Re: Shaman AE healers, they mentioned that Priests and Druids taking over that role was a bit of a mistake.

The abilities scaling automatically will save on training costs of course.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

I wish they would reveal their plans for the Holy Paladin tree. That is a poorly designed tree if there ever was one.

[Grim Shady]

Here's why Garrosh taking over isn't such a bad thing:

Under Thrall's Management

Under New Management

Where Thrall sat on his ass and tried to make peace, Garrosh is making things more militaristic. We can hate the guy, but he's got some testicular fortitude now. I don't see how anyone who wants the "war" brought back to Warcraft can think Garrosh and Varian are bad ideas to get us there. The lead singer of almost every band is a dick afterall.

[Jaxtile]

I wouldn't mind Cairn dying, if it meant Thrall goes apeshit on Garrosh :P

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

Here's why Garrosh taking over isn't such a bad thing:

Under Thrall's Management

Under New Management

Where Thrall sat on his ass and tried to make peace, Garrosh is making things more militaristic. We can hate the guy, but he's got some testicular fortitude now. I don't see how anyone who wants the "war" brought back to Warcraft can think Garrosh and Varian are bad ideas to get us there. The lead singer of almost every band is a dick afterall.

We are seeing the Horde becoming more aggressive, but I am curious as to see how the Alliance responds. If the Horde is the only side developing an aggressive expansionist policy, then the Horde will look more and more like "the bad guys," but if we see Varian Chynn and the Alliance also develop a similar policy, then that should even things out a bit more.