cataclysm-game
Latest
Blizzard giving 7 days of free play to lapsed accounts
Cataclysm is fast approaching, and Blizzard is offering seven days of free play to lapsed subscriptions in preparation for the upcoming expansion. Players who have quit the game are being offered this seven-day promotion via email, and although it hasn't been mentioned on the official site, the email and the promotion are both completely legit. The full text of the email is as follows: Claim your 7 free days of game time! The earth-shattering rage of Deathwing will soon be released upon the lands of Azeroth. Return to the battlefields with 7 days of FREE game time! Simply click below to claim your time and prepare for Cataclysm ... but act fast, as this offer will expire on Dec 1st, 2010. Prepare for Cataclysm™, the next expansion to World of Warcraft®, whose features include: Two New Playable Races – Adventure as one of two new races: the feral worgen with the Alliance or the resourceful goblins with the Horde. Classic Zones Remade – Familiar zones across the original continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms have been altered forever and updated with new content, from the devastated Badlands to the broken Barrens. Flying Mounts in Azeroth – Explore Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms like never before! Level Cap Increased to 85 – Experience new quests and dungeons as you seize ever greater abilities and tap into new talents! New High-Level Zones – Explore newly opened parts of the world, including Uldum, Grim Batol, and the great Sunken City of Vashj'ir beneath the sea. Guild Advancement – Progress as a guild to earn guild levels and guild achievements. Archaeology – Master a new secondary profession to unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards. New PvP Zone & Rated Battlegrounds – Take on PvP objectives and daily quests on Tol Barad Island, a new Wintergrasp-like zone, and wage war in all-new rated Battlegrounds. And much more... We look forward to seeing you back in Azeroth. - The World of Warcraft Team This game time is only valid for inactive accounts, rather than accounts that are set up with a paid subscription, according to blue poster Harlsoco. As with any email claiming to be official, though, it is recommended that players log into their Battle.net accounts and check their Account Management page to verify the promotion rather than clicking any email links, just to avoid any possible hacking attempts. If you've taken a break from Azeroth, check your email -- you may have a free week to get back into the swing of things before Cataclysm's launch. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Cataclysm: Part 4 of the elemental invasion is live
Cities are under attack. Elementals are invading the capital cities of Orgrimmar and Thunderbluff for the horde and Stormwind and Ironforge for the alliance. It's madness in the streets and it is awesome. Defend the cities by closing rifts and freeing trapped and scared citizens. We do not know if the bosses are up yet, and it looks like it is not live on all servers yet. More as it develops. %Gallery-107474% Update: New dungeon finder bosses are active after you stop the invasions. Update 2: Random dungeon finder bosses are dropping 251 loot, and securing each city opens up two bosses. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The Queue: Turtles, horses and name origins
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Today is another one of those days where I just can't think of something interesting to say as an introduction. So ... how about that Q&A, huh? Croe asked: Are the sea turtles you fish up in Northrend going to be useful for getting around in Cataclysm in the initial stages?
Cataclysm playable at midnight PST Dec. 7, no matter how you buy it
Here's a bit of sad news for all WoW players not lucky enough to live on the west coast: Blizzard CM Bashiok has announced that the official Cataclysm start time for all North American servers will be Dec. 7 at midnight PST. This will include servers on other time zones. So, sorry eastern time people. You may be able to pick up your copies of the game at midnight EST, but you'll have to wait a few hours for the west coast to catch up before you play. The full announcement is as follows: Bashiok Wondering exactly what time you'll be able to begin playing your goblin or worgen or making your way to level 85? On all North American realms, World of Warcraft players who upgrade to Cataclysm will be able to begin experiencing the new content at 12 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) on December 7, whether they purchase the digital download through Battle.net or buy a physical retail boxed version in stores. Players will not be able to access Cataclysm expansion content prior to 12 a.m. PST, regardless of how they upgrade or what time zone they're located in. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The Queue: Alexander Q. Ziebart, I owe you
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. What, he gets to use my full name but I can't use his? Thanks for covering for me yesterday, Alex. Red-eye flights suck. Raful asked: I don't know if this have been answered before, but will the honor and justice points that we get at level 80 be reset when we're at 85? They won't reset, though the cap of 4,000 may be lifted when Cataclysm launches, since that's only like ... an item and a half, with badge gear prices at 85 in mind.
Arcane Brilliance: Frost mage Cataclysm talent analysis
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we're discussing the ins and outs of the frost tree, the mage tree wherein you learn to conjure delightful snow cones from the air around you, and then how to hurl those icy treats into your opponent's face at 1,000 feet per second. It's like a winter miracle that kills you. Whenever I do these kinds of things, where we explore each of the three mage trees on consecutive weeks, it seems like the frost tree always goes last kind of by default. In the English-speaking world, we read left to right, we tend to organize things on a page in left-to-right fashion, and until Simon's Quest came along and screwed everything up as awesomely as possible, we played our video games from left to right. Frost's the tree on the right, so it always ends up last, while arcane somehow always gets to go first. It isn't fair, so what we're doing here is giving the usual way of things a big middle finger. Last week, we hit the fire tree, and this week we're going frost. Arcane will have to wait until next week. Take that, conformity! I feel like we've really done something here. Society will be better because of this column. I really believe that. After the jump, we'll look at each and every talent in the frost tree in turn, picking them apart for nutrients, then squeezing the rest into a fine paste to use as a crude adhesive. Yes, once we're done with the frost tree, we should have the raw materials to feed our family and also to build a small hut.
The Queue: Michael Sacco Jr., you owe me
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. As I write this, it's 3:15 a.m. here in Wisconsin. About 30 minutes ago, I was comfortably in bed, drifting off to sleep. Then I heard a familiar sound coming from my iPhone -- someone was sending me instant messages over AIM! You see, I keep AIM logged in on my phone just in case the staff needs me in a hurry, especially on weekends. So I rolled over and groped blindly for my phone. What happened? Did WoW Insider burn down while I wasn't looking? Did we get news of another domain change? Did someone put a hilarious .GIF in our virtual war room? It was Michael Sacco. "Hey Alex, can you write The Queue for me tomorrow?" "I'm in bed, Mike. I am literally in bed. Right now. Sleeping." "Yeah. OK. Can you write it?" So here I am. Writing The Queue. Because that's what friends do. bubbap51 asked: What will be the best way to grind worgen/goblin rep?
Elemental invasion phase three is active
Our tip line has just exploded with readers writing in with news that the next phase of the Cataclysm precursor events has just gone live this evening. The world isn't ending yet, but things are certainly heating up. This phase of the event introduces a few new quests for both the Horde and the Alliance. The gates of Stormwind and Orgrimmar are being heavily regulated. The city guards (along with players) are searching every Alliance and Horde citizen coming and going through the gates for Cultist paraphernalia. Both factions are also dealing with some hefty infiltration -- there are (poorly) stealthed cultists all over both cities. Horde players will also notice that Thrall is missing from his throne room. He has officially left Garrosh Hellscream in charge and has departed for Nagrand.
Cataclysm: Gamon, legendary villain of Orgrimmar, made even more elite
I am Foxlight, legendary hero of the masses. This is Orgrimmar. My city. I must be out there in the night, staying vigilant. Wherever the darkness stirs, I will be there. Wherever an inn is threatened, I will be there. Wherever a rogue needs to finish a quest, I will be there. Lurking. Watching. For at any moment, I know the foul villain Gamon may return to threaten my people. Years ago, Gamon posed no threat -- a simple two-bit crook; a level 12 drunkard. Gamon bided his time in the Valley of Strength's inn (specifically, dead on the inn's floor). Many ignored him. But those of us, those of us with a sixth sense ... we knew that he needed to be stopped before it was too late. They laughed at me. Called me a fool. Stopped me from doing what must be done. And so, sinister Gamon obtained the legendary Tazan's Key. And before they could stop him, dark, foul Gamon unlocked the secrets of Tazan's Satchel, accessing the dark magicks inside. The once quiet Gamon is now ... a level 85 elite. And despite his quiet manner, he threatens the very safety of not just low-level rogues trying to finish a quest, but the entire world. A cunning villain, he still resists the urge to attack unless he is attacked first. But even so, his kill count is rising. He must be stopped. I don't eat. I don't sleep. I keep watch over the Valley of Strength's inn, making sure Gamon stays dead on the inn's floor. The needs of the world outweigh the needs of the level 10 rogue trying to complete a quest. I am Foxlight. And Gamon ... I will destroy you. Over and over again, every five minutes, until you stop respawning. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: How will mastery affect warriors?
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. Right now, I expect to take the ramp-up from 80 to 85 and raiding more slowly than I did in Wrath. For one thing, I've decided to try and level two warriors to 85 at the same time on the same server so that I have two 85 warriors ready to start raiding at the same time for purposes of having the same option available for separate meta-lockouts. (I've coined that term for the way the new lockout system works per boss, since once you do a heroic boss, things change significantly.) Another reason is that I'm starting over on a new server with a new guild, and that's always scary. My old guild was awesome, but they wanted to change servers and factions; while I'm OK with a server jump, I don't want to change my main warrior so drastically. However, another reason I expect to take things a little slower is to give myself time to really play with the new mechanics of the class. One of those new mechanics, besides rage normalization, new talents and abilities, and a revamped leveling approach, is the introduction to the mastery stat on gear. So far, in order to get mastery on live, you have to reforge gear to it. But Cataclysm itself will bring mastery into a full implementation with the stat available via gems, enchants and gear. So I'm going to take a look at the stats each spec will be looking for, how mastery fits into them, and how the stat changes the playing field (or does not).
The Queue: Hotlanta
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Honestly, I have no idea if it's hot or not. I'm writing this Queue from the Atlanta airport at 6:30 in the morning after a red-eye from California, and I still have another flight to go. Pancakes asked: What's to become of draenei paladin chargers (or at least, what happened on beta)? I know we're getting elekks when 4.0.3 rolls around, but do we get to keep our horsies? No, your horses turn into elekks. If you're concerned, don't be -- the Great Exarch's Elekk looks really cool.
Razzashi Hatchling to remain as an in-game drop in Cataclysm
For obsessive pet collectors, the final days of Wrath of the Lich King constitute a nervous race against time. Few people are sure which pets are staying and which pets are disappearing forever. For a long time, the Razzashi Hatchling remained a major question mark -- currently, it's only available in the soon-to-be-disappearing Zul'Gurub raid. Well, for those lamenting the low drop rate, Community Manager Lylirra brings some good news: Is the Razzashi Hatchling item to be removed? If you currently have the Razzashi Hatchling item in your inventory, you'll still be able to learn the pet spell at a later point in time. It's not like the pet is disappearing completely; it's just no longer dropping from its usual home in Zul'Gurub. In fact, I can confirm that the Razzashi Hatchling, being a clever and resilient little reptile, has already found a new home, and will be migrating there shortly after the shattering. ;) source Note that the comment above applies only to the adorably collectible Razzashi pet and not the savagely awesome Razzashi mount. As far as we all know, the Swift Razzashi Raptor will still be going extinct with the impending Cataclysm.
Recruit-a-Friend benefits will apply to goblins and worgen
Yet another frabjous day for those of you who are planning to get your goblin or worgen to level 85 as fast as a bullet train with a rocket strapped to the back and a wormhole generator up front. "That's very fast," you might be saying. Well, so will your goblin or worgen, once he gets hold of all that sweet, sweet Recruit-A-Friend candy. Calloo and callay both, man. Lylirra - Will RAF work with worgen/goblins? New goblin and worgen characters will indeed be eligible for Recruit-A-Friend benefits including increased experience gain and grantable levels. As we've no current plans to modify the Recruit-A-Friend program at this time or increase the level range for which the benefits apply, goblin and worgen characters (as with all other characters) will only be able to receive the in-game bonuses up to level 60. source This excites me because I'm trying to lure back a few old friends for Cataclysm, and I'm pretty sure some RAF action could smooth that process along. Lylirra points out that this is all contingent on said goblins or worgen qualifying for the process, that there's no plan to advance the benefits past level 60, and that there will be no realm-first goblin or worgen (or indeed any race) to 85 achievements any longer. So level your worgen friends with alacrity, as fast as Running Wild after a sugar rush. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Ghostcrawler: Vengeance not a fun toy for PvP
A lot of people seem somewhat terrified of the new Vengeance mechanic and how it might play in PvP. People are always leery of tanking specs in PvP, due to the general tendency of people playing in arenas and BGs to want to, you know, kill the other guys. Tanks are generally designed to be harder to kill, which tends to make people nervous, especially when tanking specs saw increased damage output in Wrath of the Lich King and went from "Hey, guys, look, it's a free kill!" to "Wait, you mean trying to burn down the dude specced and geared to not die is a bad idea?" The forums seem to be rampant with terror that Vengeance will rule them all. I personally don't see the concern. Vengeance doesn't stack up terribly fast and it falls off fairly quickly; you'd need to focus fire a tank for significant levels of damage while he was being focus healed (and you'd need to completely ignore his or her healers) in order for Vengeance to really be a concern. But don't take my word for it -- just ask Ghostcrawler. Not only do the developers not think Vengeance will be an issue in PvP, if it turns out to be, they'll just turn it off. Ghostcrawler - Re: So Vengeance... am I doing this wrong? Q u o t e: In group PvP, there is an answer to vengeance. Don't attack the tank. Vengeance is a really good idea imo. If you are sitting on a tank and stacking that buff up, why shouldn't they do comparable damage? And from my experience, even with a max stacked vengeance, the coils between blood and unholy are relatively the same. Also, there is more to DPS between the two specs than Deathcoil. Even if someone is sitting on my blood DK I can assuredly say Unholy and Frost do more overall DPS, in pvp. If a couple of people are beating on a tank, Vengeance isn't likely to stack very high. You need to take damage that is a big chunk of your whole health pool, which typically only bosses are available to provide. Now if you have several folks beating on a tank flag carrier, then Vengeance may stack up, but once you have several people, you almost certainly have a way to dispel the Vengeance or just CC the tank. If Vengeance ever gets to be a problem in PvP, we'll just remove it, plain and simple. The mechanic is only there to help with raid gear scaling, not to give tanks a fun toy for PvP. source
Cataclysm's best leveling improvement: no more clown suits
One of the many nice things that Cataclysm is doing for the low-level quester is finally getting rid of the level 1 to 60 "clown suit." Every 10-level range has its own specific set of matching quest rewards, giving you a unique look every handful of zones. And they don't look half bad! In fact, some of the sets look pretty darn cool. Speaking from experience, leveling from 1 to 60 in the beta was a lot more exciting, not just due to the new quests and mechanics, but also because I couldn't wait to see what my new gear would look like when I hit a new leveling milestone. Check out the full picture with all of Cataclysm's low-level armor sets, courtesy of reader Frez, after the break.
Insane in the Membrane no longer requires Shen'dralar reputation in Cataclysm
Are you one of the true crazies trying to complete Insane in the Membrane before Cataclysm? Things just might have gotten a little easier for you, as Blizzard has officially clarified issues surrounding the achievement. According to this post on the new community site, Insane in the Membrane will still be in Cataclysm, as will the Bloodsail Buccaneer faction. The Shen'dralar, however, are disappearing once Deathwing returns, and as such, their faction has been removed as part of the feat of strength. Read the whole post after the break.
Troll druids get unique bat flight form
Troll druids just went from best druids to the best druids, as their unique flight form has been revealed -- a bat with tiki shoulders wearing an awesome mojo necklace. Check out a high-res picture over at MMO Champion. The video is after the jump.
Race changes to worgen and goblins will be available on launch night
Short and sweet here, folks: Blizzard has announced that race changes to goblins and worgen will be available immediately upon Cataclysm launch. That's 12:01 a.m. PST Dec. 7. Additionally, there will no longer be any achievements for being the first of your race to hit level 85; the achievements are now class-only. Great news for people who want to switch from their terrible male night elf druid into a dashing (literally) male worgen druid, or basically anyone who's tired of playing a troll of either gender.
Ghostcrawler on the evolution of rotation complexity
Yet again, a forum discussion of a singular topic (blood DK tanks and their diseaseless rotation, as discussed by our own Daniel Whitcomb last week) has led to some really fascinating perspectives on how the game is designed, how "intended" rotations were and will be discovered, and how much room there is to allow or discourage variant builds and rotations. Poster Deathsaint opened the discussion with the subject of relearning rotations, something we discussed last week in terms of DPS spec design. Things got interesting fast. Ghostcrawler - Re: GC: Blood Tanking Instructions? You are missing the point of that quote. It is not "players shouldn't have choices," as many of you are inferring. It's that "there should be more thought on the part of the designers for how various abilities are supposed to be used and those roles should be more apparent to players." There has never really been a time in the game when you could just do whatever you wanted with your class and be equally effective. Then, as now, smart players doing a lot of homework would figure out the most optimized way to play. You can choose to follow their recommendations, try to find an even more optimized way to play, or just do your own thing because that's more enjoyable for you, knowing that you may pay the price of being less optimized. source What's interesting here is the change in emphasis.
Why survivability matters in Cataclysm class design
Blizzard has told us again and again that survivability is going to matter more in Cataclysm, and it sounds like we may have to unlearn a lot of the bad habits from Wrath. I think this point was really driven home by developer Ion Hazzikostas in the class Q&A at BlizzCon 2010. A player was complaining about being forced to take utility talents to reach the bottom of her tree, and she gave as an example a talent that reduced the magic damage taken. She pointed out that the only time you'd take damage was if you stood in fire, which should never happen anyway. Ion could have pointed out the many, many boss encounters in which the room just pulses unavoidable AoE damage throughout the fight, but instead, he went in what I think was a very insightful route when he responded: In an ideal world, none of these things would be needed, right? In an ideal world, something like combat rez wouldn't be a useful ability because no one should ever die. In reality, people die. This is pretty much spot on. We've had a lot of discussion recently about combat rez changes -- but just like no one should ever get hit by a void zone, so too should no one ever die if everyone is doing his or her job. But they do, and combat rez is a great ability. With healers at risk of running OOM in Cataclysm, anything that reduces your damage taken or increases your self-healing is going to help your raid. After all, dead DPS do no damage, and wiped raids kill no bosses. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.