Cataclysm Announced - WoW's Third Expansion

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Only months have passed since the release of Wrath of the Lich King, and WoW addicts are still waiting for access to the Icecrown Citadel to defeat Arthas and steal his epic loot, but that hasn't stopped Blizzard from announcing the next expansion in the ever-growing game/lifestyle World of Warcraft.

Fans will be both joyeous and shocked to learn of the new races to join the Horde and Alliance factions, Goblins and Worgen respectively. Not only are new races being added, but already existing races will be allowed to pick new class types, such as a Troll Druid, an Orc Mage, or a Human Hunter.

The level cap has been raised to 85, and Blizzard is planning a massive overhaul of the two main continents of Azeroth, Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.

Kalimdor will see the effects of global warming with flooding throughout Feralas, Thousand Needles and Tanaris, while The Barrens will be split in two. Azshara shall become a much lower leveling area so questers in Ashenvale will now be able to head east to level instead of south west, but they may want to head south west as Desolace will now look more like Stranglethorn Vale, with the global effects causing a jungle to grow in what was once a desolate desert. Mount Hyjal will also finally open, and Uldum at the south of Tanaris will also open up a whole new experience to gamers.

Eastern Kingdoms will have equally jaw-dropping changes, including the opening of Grim Batol, the fortress in the hills of Wetlands, and fans of the new Alliance race Worgen will also be pleased to learn that Gilneas, the area previously blocked by a huge gate south of Silverpine Forest will now be the new starting area and city of the ancient bipedal wolf race. The previously unaccessible zone Twilight Highlands east of Wetlands will also open, and a huge area named Deepholm will be carved under the Stormwind/Ironforge area.

Cities will also be changed forever. Thrall has chosen to depart from the Orcs due to Grom Hellscream's foolish ways, and this leads to an all-out war between the Alliance and Horde once again. Orgrimmar will lay in partial ruins, Thunderbluff's leader shall fall and his son will reign supreme, Undercity will be lost, and the Alliance cities will also be changed forever. The Gnomes will reclaim Gnomeregan, which could be a hint for the future of Ironforge given their close proximity.

Two new zones in between the two massive continents are also being created, one has always been on the map, the Lost Isles. The lore Blizzard has created explains that the Goblins got caught up in a huge ocean battle between the Alliance and the Horde, and their boats got washed up on the Lost Isles, where they have been busy working to create a new civilisation. They have aligned themselves with old friends, the Horde, and will be planning evil deeds to get back at the Alliance.

The other new zone is the huge Sunken City of Vashj'ir, a leveling zone for players going from 80 to 85. This zone also contains the entrance to a future zone or instance The Abyssal Maw. This ancient frostland of the Abyssal Maw extends almost to the ocean floor, and is one of the four domains of the Elemental Plane, where the titans imprisoned the elementals millions of years ago.

Other changes include a new profession, Archaeology, which like Mining will allow you to dig up precious rocks from the earth to use for various enchants and schematics. Flying mounts are back in force, allowing players to finally fly around Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. This of course means that the entire continents must change dramatically, as there is a lot of dead space lying around that will look very bad if left as-is.

If that's not enough, classes are receiving huge changes too. Hunters will no longer rely on Mana but will instead use Focus, which works almost exactly the same as Energy, and will be fully charged at 100. Ammo will now be a permanent item, and no longer will classes that can use ranged weapons need to carry a full quiver or pouch in order to sustain a lengthy raid or PVP session.

Blizzard is also planning new battlegrounds, arenas, and possibly a new zone similar to Wintergrasp so fans of PVP should not be disappointed with Cataclysm.

As you can see, there is no shortage of content in this upcoming expansion, and the changes may lure both new and old fans of the game to try out the new races and new zones. The only thing missing from Cataclysm is a new Hero class, but Blizzard have said they will not be creating one in every expansion as adding new classes changes the game dramatically (but probably not as dramatic as the dozens of patch updates they make between each expansion). Does this mean they may already be working on the fourth expansion with a Hero class?

For more information, check out the official site here.

Reader Comments:

Posted by G-Train 24/08/2009 2:23pm

Fail, fail, fail!

Blizzard *must* have a team from Menza holed up somewhere coming up with new ideas on how to break this game! I'm not going to get into another rant of how this feature is lame, and that one's not - but for crying out loud Bliz, we're coming up on 5 years now. Stop wasting time milking a dying game and get back to Diablo III and the new MMO we all know you're working on (Star *wink wink nudge nudge* Craft). /slap

ps: Worgen on alliance? Get off the crackpipe!

Posted by karaoke 24/08/2009 3:15pm

So when are they going to announce the 4th expansion  ?  j/k

Can't really say that I'm as excited about this one though as much as I was when WotLK was announced,however,I still tend to think that it is starting to somewhat get to the point now where they're just trying to milk it for all it's worth; guess that that they still have to try & rake in the $$$$'s somehow though. lol

Did enjoy reading the article though .

Posted by 400 Turtles 24/08/2009 4:16pm

Blizzard *must* have a team from Menza holed up somewhere coming up with new ideas on how to break this game!
[/quote]
It's not really breaking the game so much as it's ruining the lore and making it a lot easier.

but for crying out loud Bliz, we're coming up on 5 years now. Stop wasting time milking a dying game
[/quote]
I don't think you know what dying means.

[quote]
and get back to Diablo III

Right, since the same team that works on WoW would work on Diablo III and StarCraft 2. Anyway, they announced a lot of new information (including a new class) at BlizzCon for Diablo III. Did you miss that? I think so!

[quote]and the new MMO we all know you're working on (Star *wink wink nudge nudge* Craft). /slap

No.

I really wish you knew what you were talking about.

Posted by Master Chief 24/08/2009 4:43pm

It's correct in saying that Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 are being made by two completely seperate teams unassociated with WoW, and Diablo 3 is coming out in 2011.

They are also working on a 'next-gen' MMO, but yeah I doubt it will be World of Starcraft. More likely going to be WoW 2 or a new franchise altogether.

Posted by moodycj 24/08/2009 8:10pm

Fu[size=10pt]c[/size]k it gets worse every time I look at the new lore they introduce.

Posted by zen 24/08/2009 9:37pm

FuCk THIS! I WANT MY D3 BITCHES! >

Posted by G-Train 25/08/2009 12:58am

At the end of the day Batman, Bliz doesn't have unlimited resources and if they put less into WoW and more into D3, it'd be completed earlier.

As for the new MMO, Bliz have expressed disinterest in making WoW2 on numerous occasions, and while it's rumor, World of Starcraft is alot more likely IMO.

Posted by moodycj 25/08/2009 10:45am

At the end of the day Batman, Bliz doesn't have unlimited resources and if they put less into WoW and more into D3, it'd be completed earlier.

As for the new MMO, Bliz have expressed disinterest in making WoW2 on numerous occasions, and while it's rumor, World of Starcraft is alot more likely IMO.

I hope that they don't because they already ruined one of their franchises with this MMO sh[size=10pt]i[/size]t. I wish they had just invented a new world.