Tag Archives: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Blizzard has announced a limited-release Collector’s Edition of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

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Lead world designer on World of Warcraft Cory Stockton has told VG247 that upcoming expansion Cataclysm will keep WoW players interested even if they’ve been playing for the last five years.

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Like many of Blizzard’s senior development team, lead World of Warcraft world designer Cory Stockton – the guy in charge of rebuilding the game for the incoming Cataclysm expansion – has been working on the IP so long he talks about the virtual world and its denizens as indistinguishable from the real one. The matter-of-fact tone in which he discusses the game’s protagonists and locales is exactly how you’d discuss the latest football result. It’s not the same as the rehearsed patter of producers pressed into media duties, but rather indicative of the time he and others have invested into this game over the past half-decade plus.

Not that Stockton has trouble differentiating reality from gaming. As the lead content designer in an expansion that focuses on ripping up parts of a game world populated by over 10 million subscribers, it’s going to be pretty hard to avoid all manner of “grounding” feedback in the coming months.

We sat down for a chat with Stockton to see where Blizzard’s content team is at with Cataclysm, and what it’s hoping to accomplish – and the one design trait Stockton attributes to the MMO’s ongoing success.

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Blizzard has just confirmed that plans to implement Real ID on its forums won’t go ahead, following a community backlash to the scheme.

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Blizzard’s told Gama that it is “definitely listening to player feedback” over the announcement earlier this week it’s to implement a Real ID service on its forums.

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Blizzard EVP of product development Frank Pearce has told VG247 that World of Warcraft will return to growth this year, moving beyond the 11.5 million subs it’s been stuck at since 2008.

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Screenshots from some of the zones and information on the Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft have leaked like a sieve out of the exclusive Alpha testing phase.

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Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said last night that only 30 percent of new World of Warcraft players continuing to play after reaching level 10, with 70 percent dropping out.

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According to a report from WoW.com (via GI), World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will be going Alpha as of this week.

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Some screens from World of Warcraft: Cataclysm popped up today.

The shots show the the oceanic realm of Abyssal Maw, which is ruled by Neptulon the Tidehunter.

Shack has ‘em, go have a look.

When asked about the possibility of a new hero class during today’s WoW Q&A panel at BlizzCon, the developer was fairly blunt. Odds are, the panelists said, Cataclysm won’t add another member to what’s currently a Death Knight-only club.

Blizzard’s reasoning was thus: WoW isn’t racing to include “40 or 50 classes,” and would rather focus on fine-tuning a small number of unique, versatile classes. So for now, Death Knight remains the newest kid on the block.

Granted, the panelists’ statement wasn’t quite definitive, but with how often the word “probably” was tossed about, we’re certainly not getting our hopes up for a new hero class any time soon.

We just finished up at the BlizzCon WoW: Cataclysm panel and our news nets are full to bursting with wriggling tidbits. And you know what that means: info-dump, go!

• The expansion’s adding multiple new advancement systems. First up, the Guild Advancement System allows guilds to level all the way to 20 by doing normal activities like daily quests and raids. Corresponding guild talent trees lead to cheaper repairs, mass raid resurrections, and things of the like.
• There are seven new zones in Cataclysm. They are Mount Hyjal, The Lost Isles, Gilneas, Uldum, the Sunken City of Vashj’ir, Twighlight Highlands, and Deepholm.
• Both classes have racial abilities that are sure to send seasoned WoW-players into nerdrage-fueled tizzies. The Worgen have darkflight, a sprinting ability, while Goblins get a rocket belt that can propel them forward or fire rockets at their foes.
• New race/class combos are coming. We saw a Tauren Paladin (“Holy cow!”), a gnome priest, and a dwarf shaman.
• Unlike previous expansions, Cataclysm won’t feature new talent trees. However, you will be able to advance along the Path of the Titans, which splits into many separate branches — all of which can be accessed by any class. So, in theory, a priest and, say, a rogue could end up with some of the same skills. The Path of the Titans is heavily tied to the game’s new secondary profession: archaeology.
• Ragnaros is back, and he’s pissed. This time, the colossal flame elemental is attempting to exact his vengeance through deforestation, which — unless you’re Captain Planet or an RP-ing Tauren — probably won’t get you too hot under the collar. However, ol’ Raggy’s aiming for the World Tree, which is kind of a big deal in WoW lore. You’ll be able to douse the fiery ne’er do well for the (1000 and) second time in a Cataclysm dungeon called Firelands.

Check out more of our Cataclysm coverage here.

The new World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm, was revealed today as you are well aware.

Good thing because the new zones for the expansion have been revealed and detailed as well.

There will be several, apparently, and starting zones Gilneas (Worgen-Alliance) and The Lost Isles (Goblins-Horde) will be level 1-15.

Also, every zone in Azeroth has changes made to it in some form. Some cosmetic, some with monster level changes, and flying mount support all around and even some underwater mounts.

Looks like the Horde has also taken Southshore, ending the battle with the Alliance tucking their tails between their legs.

FOR THE HORDE!

Loads more over on Shack, with pictures of the new zones.

Blizzard’s put live the debut trailer of the new World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm.

You can find it through here. That’s if the site isn’t getting battered to death anyways.

It was just announced tonight. The first screens are here.

So, Cataclysm was finally announced tonight, don’t you know.

And already the first screens are out.

Get them after the jump.

More info as it comes.

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