IgroMir 2009: More Cataclysm guild leveling details
IgroMir is Russia's largest gaming convention -- sort of an Eastern European Electronic Entertainment Expo (E5?) -- and Blizzard made an appearance there this week, showing off World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and Starcraft II. Besides the demo booths, visitors could look forward to panels with J. Allen Brack (the current WoW head honcho) and Chris Sigaty (SC2 grand poobah), trivia contests with the Russian Blizzard CMs, and goblin/worgen leveling contests.
But, of course, here at WoW.com we're mostly interested in Cataclysm news, so let's get right to it, shall we?
In his Cataclysm panel, Brack touched on two subjects -- Tol Barad, the new outdoor PVP zone/quest hub, and the new guild leveling system. The Tol Barad talk was apparently nothing new, but the guild leveling talk had some good information in it. Not everything discussed here is new, but some of it is, so I'll just reiterate what he said.
After the jump, of course.
Your guild will get experience for players earning rep, killing bosses, doing dailies, getting achievements, Arena and BG wins, crafting, leveling up, and more. The top 20 earners in the guild each week will have their contributions turned into XP. Previous contributions won't factor into a particular week's XP, so every member of the guild has the chance to be a top earner each week.
Guild experience, once accrued at the end of each week, will be converted into guild currency, which can be used to buy a myriad of items, including reagents, tabards, pets, profession recipes, heirlooms, and Guild Talent points.
Guild Talents will be things like a Mass Resurrection spell on a 30-minute cooldown, removal of reagents for buff spells, and increased gold drops in the world and instances. Guild leaders can respec guild talents, though the method and cost (if any) is currently unknown.
As your guild levels up, the amount of ingredients necessary for your guild recipes will get cheaper. An example would be lowering the number of Frozen Orbs (or the equivalent) necessary to craft a weapon by your guild blacksmith. The guild interface will also allow you to browse through any and all recipes available in your guild.
Guild-crafted heirlooms will cover every gear slot, according to Brack, and, like any guild-crafted item, will remain bound to the guild. If you leave the guild, your Guild-Bound items will automatically deposit themselves back into the guild bank.
Guild achievements are also in the works, such as an achievement for crafting a legendary, or for getting a certain number of players to the maximum profession level. A guild can also get an achievement automatically if a certain percentage of players in the guild have it too. It's unknown if guild achievements will provide XP or currency.
Brack also noted new Armory improvements for Cataclysm, like RSS feeds for guild news and lists of all available guild recipes.
Lastly, it'll be possible to set up a guild tax so that an adjustable portion of all looted gold goes straight to the guild bank for every member. Further details on the feature are unknown.
Getting a solid recap of the panel has proven difficult, so if any new info's come out that we've missed, we'll be sure to let you know. Blizzard EU should also have an official recap on their IgoMir 2009 page shortly.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
