Cataclysm
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Blizzard files trademark for "Cataclysm"
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Blizzard_files_trademark_for_Cataclysm'; Is "Cataclysm" the name of Blizzard's next-gen MMO? This Tumblr blogger has uncovered trademark applications filed by Blizzard in the fields of computer games, paper-based products, and online entertainment services. Those trademarks are on the USPTO's website, and we can confirm that Rod A. Rigole has been employed by Blizzard as legal counsel previously, so these trademark applications, all filed late last week on June 26th, are all real.Of course, that doesn't confirm that we're actually talking about the next-gen MMO, or that Blizzard is planning on releasing a game called "Cataclysm" at all (StarCraft: Ghost was also trademarked, and we all know what came out of that). It could be another WoW expansion (though you'd think that WoW would be in there somewhere if that was the case), or it could be a completely separate game. Not that we know of one, but Blizzard certainly is working on all kinds of projects that we haven't yet heard about officially.So. "Cataclysm." Trademark Blizzard Entertainment. Keep an eye out for it at BlizzCon this year.Thanks, Ryan!Update: We noticed the domain wowcataclysm.com expired on June 26th, 2009. The domain was previously held and parked out in Australia. June 26th is the same day the trademark was filed with the US Patent & Trademark Office. The domain is also now held by GoDaddy, who we know handles Blizzard domains. That's just a little too much coincidence for us to stay quiet about. It's entirely possible Blizzard just acquired the domain name.
Blood Pact: Destruction in Wrath Beta
And then there's Destruction. I'll be honest and admit I was never a huge fan of Destruction. Spamming Shadow Bolts and -- this was what made it oddest for me -- having no pet out didn't feel right at all. I believe that Warlocks are a pet class, and sacrificing our pet for more DPS throughout entire encounters was off, even if it was the infernal thing to do RP-wise. The classic 0/21/40 raiding build essentially made our demons a 6 second cast buff.Things are going to be somewhat different in Wrath of the Lich King, although Destruction is still pretty much the tree for blowing up things into oblivion. A lot of the talents incentivize mixing up spells and steer away from chain casting Shadow Bolt. A talent deep in the tree also rewards keeping a pet out. The tree is essentially a crit tree, the tree to make things go boom, although Blizzard clearly wants Destruction Warlocks to throw other things into the mix.
Warlock changes in Beta build 8926
The nerf bat swung low and hard. Did it hit Warlocks? Well... yes and no. This is the stage in Beta where things are tuned downwards -- notoriously labeled the nerf patch -- and Warlocks are big, fat nerf targets. On the other hand, some spells got buffs and others were reworked. This is just Beta, so don't panic. Classes are buffed and nerfed throughout the testing process until everything is finely tuned.Without further ado: they nerfed Death's Embrace to grant 9% crit to all Shadow Spells when an opponent is at 20% or below health, down from 15% crit. Eradication can no longer be a permanent buff now as it now notes that, "This effect cannot occur more often than once every 30 sec". On the other hand, Death's Embrace and Eradication got cool new icons. Dark Pact, which I raved about when I talked about the Felhunter, has been nerfed back to its current form of granting 100% of the mana drained from pet (down from 200% in previous builds). Curse of Exhaustion was nerfed to a 30% movement speed reduction, down from 50%. It's now back to the live realm's value but without the benefit of Amplify Curse, which was reworked in Beta. Fel Armor's mana regeneration was removed and replaced with a health regeneration rate of 2% per 5 seconds. I'm not too sure how to feel about that, but since Warlocks treat health as mana, anyway, it's not such a substantial nerf but merely a mechanical change. More nerfs and a few pleasant surprises after the jump.
US battlegroups Cataclysm and Frenzy to merge
Drysc has announced that Blzzard is planning on merging the smallest of the US battlegroups. At present, Cataclysm contains 5 realms and Frenzy contains 7 -- while the next smallest battlegroup contains 12 realms and the rest of the battlegroups contain 15 to 20 realms. All in all this is probably good news for PvPers on the realms Shattered Halls, Azuremyst, The Underbog, Auchindoun, Coilfang, Blood Furnace, Terokkar, Exodar, Blade's Edge, Velen, Area 52, Zangarmarsh (hey, that's us!), and The Scryers, who should look forward to shorter battleground queues. However, one thing this does tell me is that Blizzard isn't planning on adding new realms in the future -- or at least not a lot of them. These smaller battlegroups were obviously designed to give Blizzard room to grow, but the move to merge them suggests that Blizzard isn't planning on needing that room. As it was, to bring them to the size of the smallest existing battlegroup (the 12-realm Emberstorm), Cataclysm would need 7 more realms and Frenzy would need 5, for a total of 12 new realms. And to bring them up to size of the largest battlegroup, Cataclysm would need 15 additional realms and Frenzy would need 13, which would mean a total of 28 new realms. As it is, the merged Cataclysm/Frenzy battlegroup will contain 12 realms -- based on the size of the largest existing battlegroups, there's still room to grow, but it seems that Blizzard isn't planning on massive growth in the future.
