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[blizzCon 09] Cataclysm Panel

Our Cataclysm panel came hot off the heels of the announcement of World of Warcraft’s third expansion. In this panel we laid out many of the features players can expect to see in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

An ancient evil lies dormant within Deepholm, the domain of earth in the Elemental Plane. Hidden away in a secluded sanctuary, the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing has waited, recovering from the wounds of his last battle against Azeroth and biding his time until he can reforge the world in molten fire.

Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents. As the Horde and Alliance race to the epicenter of the cataclysm, the kingdoms of Azeroth will witness seismic shifts in power, the kindling of a war of the elements, and the emergence of unlikely heroes who will rise up to protect their scarred and broken world from utter devastation.

Blizzard Entertainment's third expansion to World of Warcraft forever alters the face of Azeroth, as the destruction left in Deathwing's wake reshapes the land and reveals secrets long sealed away. Players will be able to re-experience familiar zones across Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, areas rewrought by the cataclysm and filled with new opportunities for adventure.

In an effort to survive the world-shattering cataclysm, two new playable races--worgen and goblins--will join the struggle between Alliance and Horde. As players journey to the new level cap of 85, they'll explore newly revealed zones, acquire new levels of power, and come face to face with Deathwing in a battle to determine the fate of the world. No matter what the outcome, Azeroth will never be the same.

Two New Playable Races: Goblins and Worgen

From the chaos arise new heroes. The mysteries which lie beyond the gates of Gilneas are finally revealed, as are its cursed worgen inhabitants, a new playable Alliance race. Meanwhile, escaping from a crumbling Isle of Kezan, the resourceful goblins find themselves under the protection and safety of the Horde as its new playable race.

Level to 85 in Azeroth’s Most Ancient Territories

Unlock new levels, earn new abilities, and tap into new talents by exploring five breathtaking, dangerous new zones. Perhaps you’ll want to venture into the ocean depths to the forever-sunken city of Vashj’ir, resting in ruin by the Abyssal Maw Vortex. More experienced heroes will ultimately find themselves far below the stretches of daylight, immersed within the Elemental Plane of Earth, Deepholm, before risking life and limb to explore the ancient mysteries long locked away in Uldum.

The Classic World Made New

Due to the cataclysm, the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor as we have come to know and love them are forever changed -- from devastated Darkshore to the broken Barrens, sundered in two -- bringing a very new feel to the classic world. Zones are transformed, featuring all-new quests, art, items, major updates to existing quests, improved zone-to-zone questing flow, phased terrain, and much more during the level 1-60 experience.

New Starting Zones

The Lost Isles, a level 1-15 zone, will be the starting zone for the Horde goblins, while Gilneas, also a level 1-15 zone, will be the starting zone for the Alliance worgen. Venture through a starting quest experience like never before with our zone phasing technology, allowing you to affect the environment around you.

Guild Advancement Feature

Many new features are coming for guilds, including a guild leveling system where guild experience and talent points can be accumulated. This experience, which will grant passage to guild-wide talents, can be earned in a variety of ways -- including guild members leveling up, reputation ranks attained, bosses killed, rated Battleground or Arena victories, daily quests completed, achievements earned, and profession ranks obtained -- and will provide a new form of guild currency that allows access to profession plans and reagents, vanity items, guild heirloom items, and more.

New Race and Class Combinations

Honing skills like never before in Azeroth, existing Alliance and Horde races will have new access to existing classes, including gnome priests, dwarf mages, tauren paladins, troll and worgen druids, and much more.

New Secondary Profession: Archaeology

Unlock the powers behind World of Warcraft’s newest secondary profession, archaeology. Through this profession, all players will be able to find ancient and valuable artifacts sometimes providing them with unique rewards. Those who master the profession will be able to explore our new Path of the Titans system, which allows for greater character customization.

Mastery System

We plan to explore and re-examine the talent system for every class in order to provide players with more fun and flavorful choices without wasting points on all of the “must have” abilities. To do this we’re introducing the Mastery system, through which players will gain unique passive abilities and stat increases based on the talent choices made.

Azeroth: Flying the Unfriendly Skies

With the world of Azeroth undergoing so many changes, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will now allow players who have learned the ability to fly to explore the skies of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms on their own flying mounts. Go where you want when you want!

More Dungeon and Raid Content than Ever Before

Players will gain access to dungeons where new challenges await, including The Firelands, Blackwing Descent, Abyssal Maw, Blackrock Caverns, Grim Batol, and Skywall. What’s more, we’ll give you the chance to journey through familiar places in a re-imagined way, beginning with Heroic versions of the Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep. You’ll find yourself confronting old foes like Archmage Arugal and Edwin VanCleef in very new ways.

Rated Battlegrounds and New PvP Feats

Test your skills in new Arenas, a new Battleground (the Battle for Gilneas), and our latest PvP zone, Tol Barad. Also included in the next expansion is our highly-anticipated rated Battleground system. Only the most seasoned champions of the Horde and Alliance will have access to top-end items by claiming victory in our Battlegrounds, old and new.

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The Goblin

This panel began by taking a close look at the two new playable races being introduced for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The goblin race, available to the Horde, will be able to choose from all classes except paladin and druid. Goblins also have some very interesting racial abilities, including a rocket belt that allows players to activate one of two rocket abilities every two minutes. The first ability enables the player to jump up to 20 yards, while the other shoots rockets at an enemy player within 30 yards. Additionally, every 30 minutes the goblin can summon a pack hobgoblin, which will act as a personal servant granting bank access. Goblins also gain a bonus to their alchemy skill, and should a player decide to become an alchemist there will be an increased benefit from drinking health and mana potions. Additional passive goblin racials include a permanent 1% increase to attack and casting speed, and because of their knack for mercantile affairs, goblins will always receive the best possible gold discount regardless of reputation.

The Worgen

The worgen, our new Alliance race -- has both a true form and a human form. The true form is purely cosmetic, and provides no combat bonus. A player may remain in either form when out of combat, but are automatically placed in their true form upon entering combat. Worgens have a racial ability called Darkflight, which allows the worgen to temporarily increase their movement speed by 70%, and can be used every three minutes. This activated ability, like entering combat, will also force the worgen into its true form. Other worgen racials include a passive 1% increase to all damage, reduced duration from the effects of curses and disease, and a bonus to skinning, as well as the ability to skin faster. Worgen will have access to all classes except paladin and shaman.

New Class/Race Combos

We’ve also opened up additional class/race options for existing playable races. New Horde options include troll druid, undead hunter, orc mage, tauren paladin, tauren priest, and blood elf warrior. New Alliance options include human hunter, dwarf mage, night elf mage, gnome priest, and dwarf shaman.

Warlocks

The soul shard system is receiving a massive revamp, and will now become a core feature of the warlock class. Soul shards will no longer act as an inventory item, but rather exist as a resource, and appear below the warlock's health and mana bar. A new spell, Soul Burn, will be the only warlock ability to cost a soul shard, and will empower most of your other spells to behave differently. For instance, when combined with Fear it causes the spell to become instant. Other examples include: guaranteeing your Searing Pain spell three critical hits, increased horror effect and additional healing from Death Coil, and instant summoning from your summon demon spell. Soul shards will regenerate quickly upon leaving combat, and you may also be able to use drain soul as a "soul shard evocation."

Hunters

Also receiving a massive overall are hunters. The hunter’s need to rely upon mana is completely gone, and instead they will use focus. This means hunters will no longer care at all about Intellect, mana regen or Aspect of the Viper. Focus will regenerate continually, similar to how rogues or feral druids regenerate energy. For comparison, rogues regenerate approximately 10 energy per second, whereas hunters will regenerate 6 focus per second. However, Steady Shot can also be used to improve focus regen, and bring the rate at which hunters regenerate focus to 12 per second. The hunter will have a maximum of 100 focus, and shots might cost 30 or 60 focus, with fewer cooldowns on abilities. Another exciting and long-awaited change regards the ammunition system. Ammunition will become an equipable item, and will no longer be consumable. More details on that later!

Items

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, there are plans to streamline the statistics found on items. We want to remove all unnecessary stats, make all existing stats understandable, and make all "core" stats more appealing. Here are some examples of such plans.

MP5: This will be removed from items and replaced with Spirit. All healers will be given a meditation-like ability.

Spell Power: Spell Power is being removed from items as well. Don't panic, we'll be improving Intellect so that it provides mana and Spell Power.

Attack Power: We're removing Attack Power from items as well. Instead, we're allowing Agility to provide the necessary Attack Power for leather and mail wearers. Strength will provide the appropriate amount of Attack Power for plate wearers. This means leather and mail items will no longer be desirable for plate wearers.

Defense: The Defense statistic is also being removed from items so that players no longer have to worry about juggling around "the cap." Tanks will receive the necessary anti-crit from talents, like Survival of the Fittest.

Armor Penetration: This ability is too confusing and "mathy." It is being replaced with Mastery, a stat that makes you better at what you do. More on that later!

Haste: Will also increase the rate at which you gain energy, runes, and focus. Retribution paladins and Enhancement shaman will have a talent that allows them to take advantage of this benefit.

Block: Block Value is being removed. Blocking will now always mitigate a percentage of damage.

Stamina: Players will notice more Stamina on gear as Defense, Spell Power, Attack Power and Armor Penetration are removed.

New Legendary Item

There will be a new legendary two-handed axe available for death knights and hunters in Icecrown Citadel.

Archaeology

Archaeology is the new secondary profession that will be joining the ranks of cooking, fishing, and first aid in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Archaeology allows the player to unlock new abilities and rewards by discovering ancient treasures throughout the world. Each archaeologist uses the profession to uncover clues hidden in the world around them, such as troll relics or map fragments, and decipher their meaning, enabling the clever archaeologist to manipulate pieces of the past, learning the location of a treasure cache or valuable artifact. Such artifacts are highly sought after by the Archaeology Society, and they pay in gold and items for their return. Those who have mastered archaeology can find Titan artifacts, earning special currency used to unlock character paths and allowing the player to further customize their character.

Reforging

Reforging affords tailors, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, engineers, and jewelcrafters the opportunity to customize any player's gear, including their own. Specifically, they can reduce a single statistic on applicable items and convert the lost points into another stat not already on the item.

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