World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

There was plenty of speculation and rumors about Blizzard’s upcoming expansion pack to World of Warcraft. There were many things that had people talking as they slowly appeared: goblin and worgen Halloween masks, hints from the comics, “announcements” by MMO Champion of supposedly leaked information, but all of the arguing about what will be and will not be was put to rest yesterday as details of the expansion exploded on the first day of BlizzCon.

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/recaps/cataclysm-panel.xml

Two New Playable Races

Adventure as one of two new races–the cursed worgen with the Alliance or the resourceful goblins with the Horde.

Level Cap Increased to 85

Earn new abilities, tap into new talents, and progress through the path system, a new way for players to improve characters.

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, which has been sundered in two.

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.

More Raid Content than Ever Before

Enjoy more high-level raid content than previous expansions, with optional more challenging versions of all encounters.

New Race and Class Combinations

Explore Azeroth as a gnome priest, blood elf warrior, or one of the other never-before-available race and class combinations.

Guild Advancement

Progress as a guild to earn guild levels and guild achievements.

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.

Archaeology

Master a new secondary profession to unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards.

Flying Mounts in Azeroth

Explore Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms like never before.

And much, much more…

Slightly more specific information about some of the new features can be found here:
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/recaps/systems-panel.xml

Information about class, item, and profession changes:
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/recaps/class_items_prof-panel.xml

Some more information about new dungeons and raids:
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/recaps/raid_dungeon-panel.xml

Don’t forget to stop by the site and check out the trailer! http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/

Not Everyone

My guild over on Spirestone is currently running a contest to come up with the best reasons why there is no E in Heros (the full name being Heros of the Horde). Although I came up with this slogan last year, I didn’t make anything out of it until now. Here’s what happens when I get bored.

Check Out BlizzCast Episode 8

BlizzCast Episode 8

Check out the latest BlizzCast! (Link above)

In this BlizzCast episode, Diablo Community Manager, Bashiok, sits down with Diablo 3 Lead Technical Artist, Julian Love, and Senior Artist on UI design, Mike Nicholson, to explore the special effects that create the visually impressive world of Sanctuary, as well as the latest changes to the UI.

Also in this episode, Bornakk, from the World of Warcraft Community Team, will once again sit down with the developers to ask questions that listeners have sent in. This Q&A session features World of Warcraft’s Tom Chilton, Diablo III’s Jay Wilson, and StarCraft 2’s Dustin Browder.

Ahhh…

It’s always good to get back around to your day off for the work week. Now I could be accomplishing something with my day off, but my generally lazy self has and will probably continue to decide to play WoW instead. I know. Shame on me.

First Impressions: Death Knight

Needless to say, after having played World of Warcraft for 4 years, I was eager to play Death Knight for the first time. I must say that the DK starting area has some of the best quests I’ve seen in recent years. While many of them are same old, same old, a few stand out as memorable. Two of which are hijacking a cannon on one of the Scarlet Crusade ships to use it against them and flying around on a dragon lich roasting them and eating them.

You start out at level 55 in greens with no talent points, but as you do the starter quests, you get your talent points and a great set of blue gear. You’ll reach level 58 by the time the starter area is complete; and it goes out with a bang with a scripted event involving the Lich King, Tirion Fordring, and the Ashbringer. Well, there is one more quest after that where you have to kill Patchwerk (who is “on loan” from Naxxramas).

The most exciting thing about Death Knights so far is there new Rune System. Every skill that a DK has either takes a Rune (or Runes) or uses Runic Power. There are three rune types: Blood, Frost, and Unholy (technically four if you count Death Runes, which count as all three). You have two of each rune available for use. When a skill is used, the appropriate rune(s) is placed on cooldown (which appears to be 10 seconds).

Example: Heart Strike uses 1 Blood Rune. You still have 1 Blood, 2 Frost, and 2 Unholy available after use.
Some skills use multiple runes, such as Death Strike, which uses 1 Frost and 1 Unholy.

Skills that use Runes generate Runic Power upon use. Runic Power is similar to a warrior’s rage in that it goes to 100 (130 with the unholy talent) and slowly decreases when out of combat. Runic Power is used to cast spells such as Death Coil and Horn of Winter.

I am very impressed with Death Knight so far. At first, I was going to level one of my already 70 toons through Northrend first, but after having played DK, I’m going to level it to 80 I do others.

Wrath of the Lich King Released!

Today was the release of World of Warcraft’s new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. If you’ve been eagerly awaiting this day for the last few months, you were probably sitting out in the cold last night waiting for a midnight opening or staring out your front door this morning waiting for a delivery. Either way, I know you can’t wait to play.

WotLK Street Date Announced!

Blizzard has officially announced the release date for Wrath of the Lich King, and I must say, my estimation was pretty close. It is going to be released November 13th in the US and the 14th in Australia. It will be available in both regular and collector’s editions. I myself have already reserved the collector’s edition.

WoW 3.0.1 BGD

The majority of the next major content patch for World of Warcraft is now on the Background Downloader. Given all the patches up to this point, that means that this patch will more than likely go gold on either the 23rd or the 30th. Also, based on the duration of the 2.0.1 patch to release of TBC, this probably means that Blizzard is aiming for a late November, early December release of Wrath of the Lich King, similar to that of the original release.

The Drakkensryd

Here’s a short video clip of a quest in Storm Peaks in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft. It is quite impressive and leaves you wanting more. The music is Zelda 2: Battle of the Hylian Hero OC ReMix by Random Hero.

http://www.gamevee.com/public/gameveeplayerh264_480330.swf?video_id=740706&embed=on&vidview=on

Full HotH Banner

Here’s another banner I threw together for the HotH banner contest. It doesn’t fit the desired dimensions, but it’s still pretty cool. It’s based off a banner I did for Clan BlackBlade on Uther a few months back.