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Ghostcrawler on Cataclysm's talent tree philosophy, abilities, and Ragnaros
Ghostcrawler posted a bit this evening on the philosophical direction Blizzard is taking in Cataclysm in three important areas: Talent trees New spells and abilities Recycled raid content The discussion originated from a mild QQ post about what the poster felt were the flaws in Cataclysm, and Ghostcrawler took that opportunity to clarify a few things that the community has been talking about since the initial announcement at BlizzCon 2009. Chief amongst those is that they are specifically designing talent trees now with an intention for there to be 5 to 10 talent points that can be spent where the player wants -- and that talent guides like you find in WoW.com's class columns will only go so far in the selection of the idea talent tree; the rest of the talent selection will be left up to the individual user. Of course, this information isn't exactly new per se, but it's interesting to hear some of the refinements of it all as Cataclysm's development progresses. Ghostcrawler's full statement after the break.
Incentives for appropriate gear types coming in Cataclysm
One thing that has been frustrating cloth, leather, and mail wearers for quite some time is the ability for players with a higher type of armor cherry picking through their armor. In some cases, this is due to poor itemization in the intended gear range while others are abusing gear scaling and the ability to sometimes double-dip into stats. However, this will likely stop in Cataclysm for several different reasons. Bornakk revealed on the forums that gear will start having incentives to make you wear the appropriate type of armor. This means that holy paladins who are currently rolling on cloth and mail items will have incentives to stick to plate. What are these incentives? We don't know. It could be as simple as something like the current gem socket bonus system or a little more complex like a percentage increase in a particular stat. This could even be a generic spec based set bonus that gave you something if completely geared in class appropriate armor. We won't really know until more details are released.
Ghostcrawler on hunter ammo replacement
As you may recall, Blizzard announced their intent to get rid of consumable ammo in Patch 3.1, only to withdraw the change a short time later, with the promise of reimplementing it at a nebulous later date. Now, it's been more or less assumed that said later date is Cataclysm itself, or at least Patch 4.0. In a general forum post created to discuss ammo replacements, Ghostcrawler piped in to remind us that the only change announced for Cataclysm was the removal of ammo, with nothing else yet decided (or, more accurately, announced). While he did acknowledge the possibility of adding in new situational ammo, he did observe that the hassle of collecting and swapping different ammo types might grow old pretty quickly, especially for a class like the hunter that already needs to push a lot of buttons to play at peak potential, in addition to already having a pet to manage.
Paul Sams: "We will not pull the rug out from under them"
In a fascinating post over at Gamesindustry.biz, Blizzard COO Paul Sams takes great pains to emphasize that Blizzard will ship no game before its time (to rip off an old wine slogan): "We will not pull the rug out from under them and ship it before it's done, so people feel that when they out their heart and soul into a game, they'll be able to deliver the game they envisioned." This is interesting to me on a couple of levels: the first is the long time between the original idea that World of Warcraft would get an expansion a year and the actual time (more than two) that it took for The Burning Crusade to ship. It seems that over time they must feel they've gotten more proficient at the development process since Wrath of the Lich King and now Cataclysm seem to be getting ready to ship even faster. You can read the excerpt from Sams at gamesindustry.biz (which requires creating a new account) as well as a full interview with Sams and executive producer Rob Pardo.
Possible changes to tabards, backpacks, and banks
In the recent Blizzard developer chat there were several questions pertaining to player storage. They spoke about the issue with storing tabards from all of your various factions, the default backpack falling behind other bags, and being able to access the bank slots of your alts without the need to use the mail. All three of these are long standing issues that have usually been avoided when direct questions came up, usually invoking the safe and often used "we'll see" remark. I would love to be able to replace my backpack with a Glacial Bag and gain six storage slots or clear out the bank space I'm using to store specialty tabards. Let's take a look at their responses after the break.
Warlocks to get a new pet in Cataclysm?
Coming out of the Twitter developer chat tonight was this question and following answer, given by Ghostcrawler and J. Allen Brack: Q. With the new skins for druid forms, what is the chance that warlocks might see race/faction specific demon skins or maybe a new one? A. When you look around, there are a lot of say imp or voidwalkers we could use. It's something we talk about quite a bit. As for new demons, I hear warlocks are going to be getting some new spells for the next expansion... While it's not a direct confirmation that warlocks will be getting a new pet in Cataclysm, I think it's safe to read into this and maybe get a bit excited about this one. I doubt they'd mention warlocks getting "new spells" in relation to getting a new demon if such an addition to the warlock class wasn't planned. So, new demons for warlocks? Probably. My guess is that it'll be a pet lava monster or something related to the elemental plane. Just the perfect kind of thing to pop up into the evil hands of warlocks from the sundered land in Cataclysm. 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.
Better pet scaling promised in Cataclysm
Hunters and warlocks were given something to look forward to during the Blizzard developer chat on twitter this evening. The question was asked: "You mentioned pet scaling being added for patch 3.3 but due to time constraints, was delayed. Will this be in the next patch?" This is something that has been mentioned throughout the course of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and hasn't been implemented yet. The reason? It is a fairly complicated procedure. We'll try to do what we can. Technically it's just more challenging than you might think. For Cataclysm, we have on our list that 100% of stats scale. If they don't then certain stats just won't be as valuable for pet classes. At the very least, we can do stuff like convert your X into damage for the pet so every stat is valuable. Getting everyone to scale with every stat better is a major goal for the class team for Cataclysm. With hunters, warlocks, and unholy death knights, there are a lot of talents and glyphs that affect the scaling of stats to your pet. If you allow certain stats to scale too well, you suddenly unbalance the class. If the stat scales poorly, then the class falls in the other direction. Every talent and ability that taps into these has to be checked to make sure it doesn't throw things out of whack. Considerations on diminishing returns on certain stats scaling would also need to be checked. Overall, there is a lot of number crunching and statistical analysis involved in trying to find the right balance between all of the knobs that they need to adjust. However, the frustration of out-gearing your pet will hopefully be behind us either in an upcoming patch or (more realistically) when Cataclysm hits. 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.
Developer Twitter chat transcript for January 15th, organized by category
After the break is the complete transcript of the developer Twitter chat with Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and J. Allen Brack. They talked a lot about Cataclysm and upcoming class changes, and reflect on some of the inner workings of patch 3.3. Unlike the last twitter developer chat, this chat was much more substantial and actually provided useful information for us all. We've broken up all the answers into the following hyperlinked categories for your browsing pleasure. Table of Contents Cataclysm Patch 3.3 PvP Classes Other Look for more analysis and updates on these answers in the coming days on WoW.com.
Breakfast Topic: Should Cataclysm bring back the world boss?
Robin's post about fun with kiting yesterday immediately reminded me about the old days of 40 man raiding. Don't worry, this isn't a nostalgia trip per se... in many ways raiding is better now than it's ever been... but one of the things I enjoyed back in classic WoW were the world bosses. Bosses like Azuregos, the Emerald Dragons and Kazzak (as well as summoned bosses like Maws and Eranikus) added a feeling of competition that simply couldn't be had by being the first to clear a raid. If Blizzard wants to bring the antagonism between Alliance and Horde back to the forefront, well, even on a PvE server back in the day one could watch Horde and Alliance guilds jostle over Azuregos. Heck, we were griefed pretty hard doing the green dragons, especially Emeriss, as Horde players would come running up to die under our tank and become mushrooms. Burning Crusade had a couple of world raid bosses (a recycled Kazzak and Doomwalker) but for the most part they weren't terribly compelling: the gear they dropped was comparable with Karazhan (eventually it was made BoE to try and drive raiders towards it to harvest them for sales, which happened to some degree but is hardly what you'd call a sign of an exciting time, scavenging bosses for BoE's) and it seems like the practice has fallen out of favor since those days. While there are wandering big elites in Howling Fjord and Zul'Drak, they're either just there with no real rhyme or reason, or they're involved in quests. So I ask you: would you like to see big world bosses return in Cataclysm? Or do you think they're an artifact of an older time, and we're better off without them?
No sanctuary cities in Cataclysm
We heard about this last year at BlizzCon but Zarhym has reaffirmed that Cataclysm will not feature any new capital cities that are considered a sanctuary. There will not be a new Shattrath or Dalaran. I personally believe its safe to assume that the present faction capital cities will see a few facelifts. Maybe a small cave in or something at Ironforge? Perhaps a toppled tower in Stormwind? I'll be happier for not having to share city space with Horde players. Actually, now that I think about it, no more "Lagaran!" Perhaps I won't disconnect every once in a while when I fly in to the city during peak hours. For me, I'll be running circles around the Stormwind bank steps. But since Dalaran has portals to all the major cities, it wouldn't surprise me if it continues to be the major transportation hub of choice for players looking to travel around the world. 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.
You are not invited to the Cataclysm alpha
In the wake of yesterday's rumor that the Cataclysm Friends and Family alpha will be starting this Tuesday, January 12, we should expect an increase in scammers trying to get your account details by offering phony alpha invites. We saw a lot of these for both Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King as well, and some of them were very well crafted. At this phase of Cataclysm's development, though, it will be comparatively easy to keep yourself safe. Since this is a friends and family alpha, if you don't have friends or family that work at Blizzard, you will not get an invite. Therefore, anyone offering you one is trying to pull a scam. Basically, everyone who's going to be getting legitimate access to the alpha should know who they are already. Everyone else, sit tight and stay tuned to WoW.com for the latest on WoW's next chapter. 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.
Cataclysm Friends and Family Alpha to begin Tuesday [Updated]
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_Cataclysm_Friends_and_Family_Alpha_to_begin_Tuesday'; Earlier this afternoon, we received a tip stating the following: The Cataclysm alpha will be starting Tuesday, January 12th. The alpha will not be distributed digitally, but burned to disc. This information has recently appeared on the Twitter account wowleak, along with the image of what appears to be a Cataclysm DVD. We reached out to our sources on the topic, and while they were not able to confirm whether or not the DVD is the real deal, they were able to confirm the alpha phase's tentative starting date. Barring any unexpected hurdles appearing in the next few days, the Friends and Family Alpha Phase will begin on the 12th of January. Update: Various parties have come forth to confirm the suspicions that the disc in the original image is faked. However, our sources stand by the alpha starting within the next week. It is very possible that whoever faked the disc stumbled upon a convenient coincidence. If we hear any more, we will keep you updated. 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.
Breakfast Topic: Who do you want to kill?
Let's just cut to the chase: we've had old gods, dragons, fallen semi-demonic elves, troll heroes, and soon the former prince of Lordaeron. Then comes the Cataclysm and we'll be looking to burn down the cthonian Deathwing himself, master of the deep places of the earth. A host of other luminaries will undoubtedly get in our way. Who would you like to see there? Who do you want to kill? For myself, I'm looking forward to breaking off a piece of Ragnaros on the slopes of Mount Hyjal, but who I really want to kill more than just about anyone is Gul'dan. Yeah, I know he's dead: so what? Do a Caverns of Time: Sargeras' Tomb and show us that Gul'dan actually almost made it out of the tomb, bloodied but unbroken and with the Eye of Sargeras in his possession, and it's up to us future Horde or Alliance players to cut the guy down before he figures out how to use it to become godlike. Because as bad as the Lich King might be, can you imagine Gul'dan with godlike power? The guy stuck his apprentices' souls into jeweled truncheons and created the first DK's just as a means to an end! Gul'dan's conscience is so non existent it makes that whole "I pulled out my own heart so I would have no weaknesses" deal sound like a cringing emo move. Gul'dan never had a heart in the first place to pull out! This was a guy who deliberately sold his entire people into demonic bloodlust because it would make them less likely to ask him questions. So yeah, I want to kill Gul'dan. Make it happen, Chromie. Send me back. I have all sorts of pointy things I'd like to introduce him to. How about you? Who do you want to kill?
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: I deserved that
Every week, Matthew Rossi writes The Care and Feeding of Warriors. Every week, he claws at his feeble brain to come up with a header paragraph, which really is kind of unfair. Warriors shouldn't have to think. Do you have any idea how many blows to the head we take? So yeah, turns out I should probably have shut up and not told you guys that prot was actually good at PvP. Sorry about that. I'm not going to actually freak out until I see how they plan to balance prot so we're not good at PvP anymore, since I barely even PvP and am far more concerned with prot as a PvE spec, that is to say, tanking with it. If they make a bunch of changes and my threat stays the same and my survivability stays the same and I'm not seeing any major hits to my tanking, then whatever, I'm sure there will be enraged prot warriors still but I won't be one. If, however, I see a 2k threat loss and I'm dying like a chicken trying to tank a bloody heroic, then yeah, I'm gonna be upset. I'll probably skip 'fevered pet' and move straight into 'enraged mouth breathing' territory. I can think of all sorts of ways to tweak prot in PvP that wouldn't have much of an effect in PvE, and I know the folks at Blizzard are better at class design than I am, so waiting and seeing is the order of the day. That being said I do find it irritating when we get told over and over again that we're fine until suddenly we're not. Just saying, some consistency would be nice.
The Queue: Fantastic!
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today. So this weekend I started watching Dr. Who, the 2000's version of the series, thanks to two years of hearing about it from our Editor-in-Chief Liz Harper. There are parts of it that are really corney, and parts that are just amazingly good -- but that's the nature of most SciFi shows these days, and I can't stop watching it. Plus, I now get the reference to The Ultrasonic Screwdriver. Let's start off the first of this week's Queue with some pondering over Cataclysm itemization. Fantastic! Evaline asked... "With Cataclysm adding only five new levels, will the rating required for crit/haste/hit/etc reach epic proportions? As I understand it, the expansion should be a gear reset, and with gear so powerful right now as a result of an extra tier they didn't really plan for, they would have to really crank up the rating needed for 1% haste/crit/hit so that people don't still have 40% crit and 20% haste (or something silly) at 85 in their T10 gear."
Holiday Dessert Contest winners revealed
Behold the miracle of confection. Made by Christina Drylie of Apple Valley, California it's one of the 10 winning entries in this year's Blizzard Holiday Desert contest. Warning: may erupt from Deepholm and unleash elemental devastation. In addition to the Aspect of Earth, we have Moonkin, Murlocs, Lord Marrowgar and Icecrown Citadel in edible form. Hasten yourselves to go forth and consume their images. Unfortunately you won't be able to actually eat any of the deserts, but it's the web, we haven't worked out how to make hypertext work for creating cake. %Gallery-31459%
The Queue: Oh no, not again
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. This is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end.* dpoyesac asked... "Every time I kill his son I forget to ask High Overlord Saurfang when the doors to the next wing will be down. Soon?"
The Queue: The new standard
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today. That's a picture of my hunter above. She can use some better gear, and hopefully this weekend it'll be her turn to get decked out in tier 9. It's just so easy and fun. Plus I really like the idea of all my 80's having their tier 9 shoulders to look at on the loading screen. That's not strange, is it? Saberix asked... "Is tier 9 gear the new standard in gear? Am I going to be teased if I don't have it?"
Blizzard's comments on the in-game Cataclysm earthquakes
Blue posters in the official forums have started leaving comments about the earthquakes happening in-game, which as we reported the other day, appear to be linked to in-game mobs that are potentially ushering in the beginning of the Cataclysm world event. The comments are somewhat cryptic, but that is par for the course with Blizzard. They like to tease -- to hold the carrot in front of you and make you run for it. But the evidence we presented Monday was pretty solid, and it's gained even more traction in the community and around the net; so this is an interesting follow up to it all. The comments thus far after the break.
The Wrath you never saw
As we're heading towards the final confrontation with the Lich King and the end of this chapter of the World of Warcraft saga, we end up reminded of how much of Wrath of the Lich King was designed and never used, or used sparingly, or even resurrected later, fittingly enough. But not only do we have loads of models that either weren't used at all or were used later in places completely unrelated to where they were supposed to drop, we have entire zones that either didn't happen at all, or did but which don't seem to go anywhere.
