Top Five Cataclysm Features We're Excited About

Tags : cataclysm features, cataclysm pre order, World of Warcraft expansion

When Blizzard confirmed the rumors at BlizzCon 2009 that Cataclysm will be the next World of Warcraft expansion, the audience erupted into cheers, with an overwhelming show of approval. From an observer’s point-of-view, it would have been difficult to imagine that there were quite a few WoW fans who didn’t like the idea of Cataclysm when the rumors first broke. Back then, we didn’t have all the facts; a new expansion that didn’t include a new hero class, only raised the level cap to 85 and revisited Old World content didn’t seem nearly as fulfilling as what we had become accustomed to, according to some players.

After the BlizzCon announcement, the developers put most fans’ minds at ease when they revealed their true plans for Cataclysm, which included quite a bit more than just adding the Goblin and Worgen playable races and "sprucing up" old content. In ZAM’s live coverage of the Cataclysm preview panel discussion, we learned that the expansion will introduce seven new zones and feature a wealth of new abilities and gameplay mechanics. Blizzard is also breaking new ground by offering more horizontal expansion than ever before; Deathwing's emergence in Cataclysm will influence almost every aspect of Azeroth, from its shape and terrain to its quests and story arcs. Now that the final chapter of the Lich King saga has come to an end, we thought this would be as good a time as any to look forward and highlight the top five things about Cataclysm that we're the most excited about.

NEW ZONES AND DUNGEONS

The underlying story in Cataclysm will pick up where Wrath of the Lich King ended; while the world's attention was turned to Arthas in Northrend, Deathwing—the leader of the Black Dragonflight—was preparing his comeback. For years, Deathwing laid in wait, regaining his strength, according to the lore. Blizzard announced that Deathwing will erupt from Deepholm, one of the seven new zones introduced in Cataclysm, devastating the Old World in the process.

Five of the seven new zones will be tuned for high-level players to progress from level 80 to 85; including Deepholm, these new zones are "present-day" Mount Hyjal, Uldum, the Sunken City of Vashj'ir and the Twilight Highlands (see links for early map illustrations). The remaining two zones will be the Goblin and Worgen starting areas; The Lost Isles and Gilneas, respectively.

Uniquely, Cataclysm's new zones aren't clustered in an unexplored continent or off-world, as was the case in WoW's previous expansions. Some of these new zones will appear to "expand" from the existing content, but others like Gilneas are areas of Azeroth that players have always been aware of, but unable to explore. This will be the moment that many fans have waited years for; to finally have the chance to set foot in undeveloped areas like present-day Mount Hyjal and Uldum.

At least five new dungeons have also been confirmed; The Firelands, Uldum, Blackrock Caverns, Grim Batol and Skywall—all tuned for players between levels 78 and 85. Blizzard will also be offering new "Heroic" versions of the classic Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines dungeons, geared for max-level players. For more information about all these dungeons, visit Wowhead's Cataclysm PvE guide.

PATH OF THE TITANS/ARCHEOLOGY

Unfortunately, we don't know a whole lot about these two new features yet, except for the basics—and the fact that they will tie into each other, somehow. Path of the Titans was revealed at BlizzCon to be a new gameplay mechanic that will give players an additional layer of talent/ability customization, similar to the "alternate advancement system" in EverQuest.

Cataclysm won't introduce new talents within the skill trees, although players will still receive five additional talent points by the time they reach level 85. Path of the Titans is supposed to fill that void by offering new ways to refine and customize your existing talents, rather than forcing players to spend points maxing out the same cookie-cutter builds (however, we're still a bit reluctant to assume that players will be able to avoid similar "optimal paths" with this new system).

Path of the Titans will also work in synergy with a new-and-overhauled talent system that Blizzard said is supposed to simplify the process of specializing your characters. We don't have details or concrete examples of how the Path of the Titans system will affect your talents, beyond the assumption that it will add passive buffs or modifiers to specific talents.

Archeology was announced as the next "secondary profession," which means everyone will have access to it in addition to the primary professions (Cooking and Fishing are secondary professions, for example). This new profession will obviously involve a lot of exploring, but we still don't know exactly how the mechanics will work; so far, Blizzard has only announced that skill allows players to "collect and use artifacts from some of the ancient races of Azeroth," and that "Archaeology also plays a prominent role in the path system," according to the official FAQ.

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GOBLINS AND WORGEN

Most players will agree that new races aren't as much fun as a brand-new class, but the Goblins and Worgen are particularly special. The notion of Goblins being included as a playable race was often-requested by fans all the way back in "original" WoW; the green-skinned, money-grubbing little runts were seen as the perfect "mirror race" to Alliance Gnomes, and many players agreed that the Goblins would be a great addition to the Horde.

Worgen, on the other hand, weren't an obvious "first pick" as one of the next playable races. Only the most astute WoW fans and lore-buffs were even familiar with the story of Arugal and their existence beyond the Greymane Wall. Everyone else usually just remembers them as "those werewolves in Silverpine" from their early-questing days (unless you're a Warlock who was sent to the wall during the Succubus quest and spent 30 minutes trying to figure out if you could get around it, just for fun).

The fan community's reaction to Blizzard's choice of races and faction allegiance seems to have been well-received by the majority of players. Most of the Goblin-envy from Alliance players is ultimately outweighed by the fact that they finally have a monster-esque race to choose. Both races have some pretty cool inherent abilities; Goblins wear a rocket belt, have access to their banks via a personal servant, receive vendor discounts regardless of faction and more. Worgen can use an ability called "Darkflight" to sprint for a short time and get a 1 percent damage increase across the board, among a few other traits.

GUILD LEVELING SYSTEM AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Socially-driven players are looking forward to the new guild-leveling system, which will share some of the guild mechanics that have already existed in other MMOs for years now. This is another great example of horizontal expansion, and it's one of the reasons why the Cataclysm expansion also represents the culmination of many long-awaited features that players have been requesting for years.

Guild members will finally have the ability to work together for common goals other than just PvE and endgame raiding. Players will collectively help to "level" their guild from 1 to 20 by performing a variety of tasks, including member leveling, PvP, boss kills, daily quests and more. As players advance their guild's level (the top 20 earners per day will contribute to the guild's "XP pool"), special abilities will be unlocked that will benefit all guild members. At BlizzCon, some of the examples tossed around were cheaper repair bills, increased gear durability and the ability to mass-resurrect entire groups of players. Since then, three abilities have been confirmed: "Everybody's Friend" removes the need for reagents, "Cash Flow" increases the coin drop from all kills and "Penny Pincher" reduces the cost of repairs by 10 percent.

We also learned that guild "currency" will be obtained via guild experience, which can be used to purchase things like "heirloom patterns," vanity items and more. The heirloom patterns will allow crafted heirloom gear to be "guild-bound" and sharable among members.

Even though we still don't have many details, we do know that entire guild system will receive additional enhancements. Tom Chilton confirmed that Blizzard is working on the ability for a "guilds transfer" service, and the game systems panel recap at the official BlizzCon site previews guild-wide achievements, new profession mechanics and more.

FLY EVERYWHERE!

Okay, so this isn't necessarily a huge, gameplay-influencing feature—but we've spent years waiting for it, and Blizzard used to tell us it would never happen! However, the developers went back and re-modeled almost the entire playing world, so they finally had the practical opportunity they needed to retro-fit the Old World for mounted flight.

At last, players will be able to soar over the Barrens and all the other zones we've been forced to hoof it on throughout the past five years. The developers even announced that certain areas will be altered specifically to allow flight traffic; the Undercity's roof will be removed to allow easier access, for example.

The only catch is that there might be a few restrictions; "we’re still determining whether there will be any restrictions on where you will be able to fly, at what level flying will become available, or whether you’ll need to do anything to unlock it," Blizzard explains in the official Cataclysm FAQ.

Source:Zam.com