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The design evolution of home life in the starting zones
The starting zones form a player's formative thoughts about how the denizens of Azeroth actually live their lives. These first glimpses of life-as-our-characters-know-it are key to defining what it would be like to "really" live as our characters do. When you're in a starting area, you get to see the "common dwarf" in his natural habitat. (Or human, orc, troll, and sundry other races.) Of course, there have certainly been technical limitations over the years that restrict the number of widgets and sprites available to designers. But it's interesting to see how the home life of Azeroth natives have been improved over the existence of WoW. The above picture is from Elwynn Forest. It's the home of Donni Anthania, the Crazy Cat Lady. The domicile of Ms. Anthania includes a chair, table, a couple chests, and a wardrobe. It also has a small herd of cats wandering around the floor. Interestingly, Donni is wielding a cleaver. It's unlikely that the cleaver was intended to mean Donna is hostile; instead, it's probably because she's supposed to be cooking or something. But the Crazy Cat Lady has been in the game since before there were any expansions. Technical design was a little more limited then. Let's compare this to how the blood elves lived come Burning Crusade.
The Queue: Loot
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. Some dudes are just born lucky. Pere asked: Any idea when the flight form models will be implemented for worgen and trolls? I'm not sure why they're not in now, but you can bet on their being implemented in the next patch.
Alex Afrasiabi and Tom Chilton on Cataclysm
"I think people are blown away. I'm blown away, and I'm so jaded at this point." If you're looking for the big quote from this interview G4's Feedback did with Alex Afrasiabi (WoW's lead world designer) and Tom Chilton (its lead designer), then look no further, my friends. Discussion topics include whether Blizzard is going to take over Harmonix (all signs seem to point to no), the attempt at parity between goblin and worgen starting zones, how it feels to step into these new zones as a player once you've taken off your designer hat, and the battle between design intent and scheduling. If you're interested in hearing from the horse's mouth what Blizzard was thinking when it implemented Kezan or redesigned your favorite zone, here's your chance. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, 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.
New hints of Old Gods in Vashj'ir
Note: This post contains spoilers. If you read this post, you may be mildly spoiled. The Old Gods are legendary parts of WoW. You've got C'Thun hanging out in southern Azeroth, whose unblinking eye stares balefully across the world. Those of us who were part of the Northrend expedition certainly encountered Yogg-Saron. Heck, many of us got so familiar with Yogg-Saron that we made armor out of his blood and danced around Icecrown Citadel in our favorite made-from-death-god prom outfits. The Old Gods are a defining part of the World of Warcraft experience. They are unmistakeably influenced by the Lovecraft mythos, wherein ancient gods from the stars balefully disregard the lives of humans. (Remind you of a certain heavenly-bodied heroic boss fight?) An equally important part of the mythos, however, is the unknowable, abyssal fathoms of the ocean's deeps. This is a world where humans can not tread, where light does not shine, and where we can not know what exists.
Blizzard developers lead visual tour of Cataclysm zones
I recently spoke to a friend in game about the new zones developed for Cataclysm. Some of them are so packed with visual highlights (like Vashj'ir or Deepholm) that I found myself spending more time ooohing and aahing over new sights and sounds than actually playing. The combination of new and alien vistas, gorgeous new effects, and stunning creatures (seriously, whoever designed the new sea life in Vashj'ir is a bloody genius) has kept me more or less dazed the whole time I've been mucking about down there. If you're a gawker like me in Azeroth's hottest tourist spots, the folks at G4 have these video tours of the new zones for your perusal, hosted not by David Attenborough (although that would be cool) but instead by Blizzard's Alex Afrasiabi, the lead world designer. This is sort of like having a tour of the Labyrinth hosted by Daedalus. The zones in question, Vashj'ir, Uldum, and the redesigned Stormwind, are some of my favorites (although I am bummed out there's no tour of Deepholm, possibly my favorite new zone), and I really enjoyed listening to how Blizzard designed Stormwind from the ground up for Cataclysm. So go check those out. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, 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 hotfixes for Dec. 8
Late last night, another round of Cataclysm hotfixes was deployed and posted to the official World of Warcraft blog. The list of hotfixes is massive; here are some highlights: The trade skill nodes were too dense in Deepholm and Twilight Highlands for mining and herbalism. Several have been removed. Players are no longer able to retain the 450 percent swim speed increase from the Abyssal Seahorse through devious, devious means. Players of the opposite faction can no longer kill the lures for the Seahorses. It's just mean and wrong. And mean. Follow through the break for the full list of hotfixes.
The Queue: Late is better than never
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. This extremely late edition of The Queue is brought to you by Road Runner High Speed Online, because my connection went down for many an hour while I was attempting to write this yesterday. Phoenix asked: What's a welk!? They're all over Vashj'ir. Is it just a snail with a fancy name? Basically ... yes. A welk (or whelk) is a sea snail. In some regions of the world, the term is a little more broad and includes other types of mollusk, and in other regions of the world, the term is a lot more narrow and only covers specific types of sea snail. The most basic answer, however, is that whelks are sea snails.
Blizzard debuts the World of Warcraft Game Guide
The new World of Warcraft community site has, in my opinion, been a marvelous success for Blizzard. It's gorgeous, informative, and updated regularly. We've always wanted this type of outreach from Blizzard, and we got it in spades. And now, Blizzard has expanded the site with the new World of Warcraft Game Guide. The Game Guide features four illustrated chapters detailing what World of Warcraft is, getting started with the game, basic game mechanics, very detailed visual representations of game and chat etiquette, and an entire section explaining the late PvP and raid game. It is truly a sight to behold, and the people in charge of visualizing and explaining some nebulous concepts have gotten it right in a simple and aesthetically pleasing way. It's really awesome. But the game guide doesn't stop with describing the game alone. The new race and class pages up the ante on player race information, detailing the story of each race, capital and starting cities, faction leaders, and the story so far. Each race's page is lovingly crafted with gorgeous artwork and awesome story bits. The class pages are just as robust, with lore on the various classes, role descriptions, and more. Blizzard had a lot of fun making these pages, and it shows.
Encrypted Text: A Cataclysm 101 guide for rogues
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any Cataclysm questions you have! There was once a time where rogues were one of the worst soloing classes in the game. We have never had any tanking or healing abilities like the hybrid, and our fellow pure DPS classes have the advantage of ranged attacks. Rogues were simply wrecked by their enemies. While we had decent levels of dodge, our survivability depended entirely stunlocks to control our opponents. Against anything immune to stuns, we were pretty much worthless. Times have changed. Rogues have reached levels of survivability that were previously fantasy. We remain the single best DPS class for toe-to-toe damage, and now we can actually last long enough to get the job done. Each of the three rogue specs has a purpose and a direction, and the title for top DPS spec is still up for grabs at level 85. Blizzard has already tweaked the mastery system for rogues several times to ensure that no spec is left behind. I'm looking forward to our bright future in Cataclysm.
Know Your Lore: A history of Gilneas
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Ironically, for a nation we will only get to see with the arrival of the Cataclysm expansion, Gilneas has a long and storied history both within the Warcraft setting and in the games that have comprised it. Colonized during the first flowering of the Arathor after the Troll Wars, Gilneas grew alongside the other colonized regions of the Arathi Empire even as the heart of that empire faltered. As proud Strom entered a period of decline, Gilneas joined other human settlements like Lordaeron and Stormwind in becoming fully independent, and a strong but insular culture developed here. How then, did Gilneas go from one of the strongest of humanity's kingdoms to what it will be when you come to it as a player? It's said that pride goes before the fall, but for Gilneas, it could be said that pride both precipitated and delayed its fall, and that what kept it secure for decades is what ultimately brought about its current fate.
New Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftains song: Warriors of Azeroth
As a BlizzCon 2010 attendee, I was a little disappointed that the Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftains weren't there with a new song. That has now been remedied, as Wowhead has exclusive footage of their newest song, Warriors of Azeroth. This was shot at the Cataclysm launch event. Sung by the metalhead and art lead Samwise Didier, this rocking new tune is an ode to all those who would don their armor for the greater good -- the warrior. Horde or Alliance, it doesn't matter -- those who grab their axes, hammers and swords, and rush headlong into battle, this song is for you. So say thanks to your tanks, give your arms warrior a hug, and grab a drink for your favorite fury. Kick back and enjoy!
Guild experience no longer earned via guild achievements
Community Manager Nethaera hit the official World of Warcraft forums this afternoon to announce a change to guild experience that has been implemented today. Until now, guilds received guild experience for achievements earned. Going forward, this will no longer be the case, and it appears the change is retroactive as well. Any experience previously gained via guild achievements is no more. Nethaera We have decided to remove the added bonus of gaining Guild Experience from Guild Achievements earned. This change will realign Guild Achievements with our philosophy held for normal Achievements, which are intended to be predominantly their own reward (barring the rare exception of special achievements that grant an additional reward.) Previously, the experience reward had been seen as an additional side bonus and not something that should have been significantly skewing the advancement of guilds. During the beta, we greatly increased leveling speed across the board and since most characters were copied from templates, guild experience from Achievements didn't seem imbalanced. It has become clear that an imbalance does exist and should be addressed to ensure that guilds progress at the rates expected within the daily Guild Experience limits. For guilds that are currently above the normally possible experience limit, we will be readjusting it back to the expected limit once more. This will not affect Guild Reputation gains at this point in time. source
Totem Talk: A Cataclysm 101 guide to restoration shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast To quote The Smashing Pumpkins, "Today is the greatest day I've ever known." Tuesday, Dec. 7 marks the release of the third World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. Over the last several months, we've been talking about all the changes leading up to this expansion. We've covered new spells, changes to old spells, and everything in between. If you remember, not too long ago, we did our series of everything you needed to know about each class. Restoration 101 was my first post here for Totem Talk. Today, we're going to round up all of the changes to restoration shaman that Cataclysm brings. The changes have already been implemented before Cataclysm was released, we have already had an opportunity to become familiar with them. We're also going to talk about what it is to be a restoration shaman and what you have to look forward to as you explore the world of Azeroth. Note that this is not a guide for the endgame content and is meant for beginners new to the game or just starting as restoration.
Cataclysm is live ... except not quite [updated]
It is after midnight on Dec. 7, 2010, and that can only mean one thing: Cataclysm is live in the United States! Except ... um, it's not. At least, not everywhere, and not on every server. There are currently widespread reports of servers not being "turned on" to Cataclysm yet (with level 80 characters still unable to earn experience, for example) and further reports of people being unable to even log in. Experiences seem to vary from server to server, so don't panic if you're not able to log in. You're not alone, and the problem's not on your end. We'll provide updates here and provide you with news as it develops. Update (12:30 a.m. PST): It appears that XP gains have now been turned on. Happy leveling! Update (12:54 a.m. PST): Blue poster Bashiok has confirmed on the official forums that XP gains are on universally, so long as you read "not" as "now." The official Blizzard customer service Twitter account says XP gains are active as well. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, 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.
Level 80+ to gain only 10% experience from Wrath mobs
If you were planning to get your first couple of levels by AoE farming some convenient packs of Wrath mobs, it's time to change your plans! Blizzard recently announced that it has changed the way XP gains work so that you'll only gain 10 percent of normal experience for kills when you're at the level cap for your expansion zone. This means that level 80 and higher characters will only get 10 percent of normal XP from Wrath of the Lich King mobs. Likewise, level 70 characters will get 10% XP from The Burning Crusade mobs, and level 60 characters will need to go to the Outland to get full XP for kills. This change likely happened in the recent hotfix, since at that time, level-capped hunters noticed the XP gains of their pets plummet. Blizzard has acknowledged the problem with pet leveling and promised a fix for that soon. Full blue post with details after the cut.
A Cataclysm 101 guide for reputation rewards
Along with new zones, new dungeons, new raids, and new levels, Cataclysm is bringing us eight new reputations (four of which are Alliance- or Horde-only). Each of these new groups offer different rewards at different reputation levels, and of course, we have new arcanum helm enchants and new shoulder enchants. Most of these new reputations also offer tabards at friendly rep that you can use to gain reputation while running heroics. Join us after the cut for a rundown of all the new reputations available in Cataclysm, what zones you'll need to go to to gain rep with them, where to find their quartermasters, and what rewards they have to offer.
Cataclysm hunter pet highlights
The highest highlight of all the new pets that came in with the shattering of Azeroth and the Cataclysm is, of course, tameable Chromaggus. Well, at least he's the highlight in my eyes, since he dropped the sexiest shield ever and I've always loved him. Especially when he dropped it for me. But Chromaggus is far from the only new pet you could tame in Cataclysm, if you were of a mind to. There are new skins, a new spirit beast, and whole new pet families to consider. As that maven of hunter pets Mania pointed out, this may be the best expansion ever for hunter pet collectors. New pet families Beetles Tenacity pets that like fruit and fungus, these are bugs. Just imagine Neil Patrick Harris reading your pet's mind, and you're in the ballpark. Dogs Ferocity pets with a fairly broad appetite, these will eat meat, cheese, fish, bread, fruit, and fungus, so they're easy to feed. They're dogs. I'm positive you know what a dog is. Foxes WoW Insider shadow priest columnists, they like to eat public adulation. Ferocity pets like the dog, with a hankering to snack on meat, fish and fruit. They do a little dance which is painfully adoable, like what I imagine gnome shaman's ghost wolf forms would do. Monkey Cunning pets that enjoy fungus and fruit and being fairly closely related to humans for a pet. What's next, Vrykul pets? Actually, that would be pretty cool. I'd tame King Ymiron myself. Shale Spider These seem to be an exotic Tenacity pet (which means only beast mastery hunters could tame one) that are made of stone and that eat meat, fish, raw meat, and raw fish. Why they don't eat rocks is beyond me. There's more than just new pet families, however.
Totem Talk: A Cataclysm 101 guide for enhancement shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. This week, Josh Myers joins us to review the lowdown on playing an enhancement shaman in the Cataclysm era. As an enhancement shaman, the last time I was afraid of taking on a mob solo was the third grade. With Bloodlusted wolves at my back, Windfury in my hand, and the massive power of instant Greater Healing Waves every 10 or so seconds, soloing was a breeze. Chillmaw? Soloed him daily. Attumen the Huntsman? Weekly. Gamom, level 5 elite neutral tauren? Every chance I got (until Blizzard force fed him "performance" pills). Going into the Cataclysm beta, if Blizzard wrote a post on its forums warning that solo mobs will actually start threatening my life, I would have written it off as a Public Service Announcement for those pesky mages and rogues who had to worry about things like dying in leveling content. Actually, when Blizzard did write that post on its forums, I wrote it off as a pesky PSA for pures with no self-heals. And then I died. I died quite a bit ... until I stopped trying to AoE grind. Mobs in a Deathwing-infused world hurt. Moreover, they have a lot of hit points. They're no longer just problems for squishy mages and hardy but heal-less warriors. If you pull too many mobs, don't kill fleeing mobs before they warn their friends, or attempt to play chicken with the Whale Shark, you will die. This post will attempt to help you with surviving the first two. For the third, you're on your own.
Cataclysm 101: Zone and instance progression
If you're sitting there at your keyboard right now violently coveting your upcoming Cataclysm experience and daydreaming of all the places you'll go, we here at WoW Insider would like nothing better than to aid and abet you in your wacky escapades. And since Cataclysm is launching on International Matthew Rossi's Birthday, who better to help you figure out where you intend to stream like an unstoppable torrent of locusts? Well, there may be lots of better options, but I'm doing it anyway. Cataclysm has several new zones to experience and quite a few new dungeons to crawl through. Let's take a look, shall we?
Cataclysm 101: What to do first in Cataclysm
Cataclysm has already gone live in Europe, and it's only hours away now for those of us in North America. Are you prepared for it? Do you know what you need to know to hit the ground running when Cataclysm content becomes active on live realms? If you don't, we're here to help. Below are answers to some of the most common questions that have been asked about starting the Cataclysm experience. How do I learn to fly in old Azeroth? You can get your Flight Master's License in Outland or Northrend, but the much better options are Stormwind for the Alliance and Orgrimmar for the Horde. Horde players want to talk to Maztha and Alliance players want to talk to Bralla Cloudwing. Wowhead has excellent maps for finding both of them.