Totally Warcraft

The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm announcement came to us with a few surprises. Many things will be changing with the expansion, including nearly every zone in Azeroth. I was personally surprised by this move. I thought (and a lot of people were with me on this one) that the Emerald Dream or perhaps something related to Pandaria. Even when information leaked that the expansion would indeed be Cataclysm, part of me though that some of the things that were announced were a bit ridiculous.

Night elf mages confused me, because I was under the impression that Night Elves couldn’t practice arcane magic. It was later addressed by Ghostcrawler, saying it would make sense when you play as one. Alright GC, guess we have to trust you on that one. Some people were arguing that goblin shaman don’t make sense. Looking at it from a lore standpoint, there is no reason to think otherwise. There’s no evidence in goblin lore that is definitive enough to say, “Why are goblins allowed to be shaman?” Also, certain other MMOs have had goblin shaman from the beginning, and it does seem to fit.

One of the more confusing announcements was that of path of the titans. Huh? It’s like… having an extra talent tree…. But not really, because it’s separate from levels… but it has talents in it. I’m sure I’m not alone when the famed vagueness of Blizzard really confused me on this one. They talked about making it “gated” and “less grindy.” Grindy defines World of Warcraft. Without grinding levels, reputation, gear, honor etc. you don’t have that time sink that MMOs love to create. If you’re just sitting around in Orgrimmar waiting for time to pass before you’re able to unlock gated talents.

The level cap only being 85 shows us two things: One, Blizzard wants to make more expansions before they reach level 100. Two, they’re going for (again) their “less grindy” goal. As for the zone revamp, I absolutely love it. Azeroth, after 5 years, still remains the largest area in World of Warcraft. Old world Azeroth is my favorite area to level. The downside to this change, however, will be leveling new toons. You’ll be near or in the same zones as high level characters, and on PvP servers you know that means camping. I personally will enjoy this. I’m a PvP minded person, who appreciates being able to kill whoever I feel like, whenever I feel like.

Here are a few more things that make my things that will be awesome list:

• Guild advancement. Leveling guilds? AWESOME.
• Rated battlegrounds. Arena gear from grinding premade battlegrounds? AWESOME.
• Flying mounts in Azeroth. Divebombing horde in Azeroth? AWESOME.
• Ragnaros. One of the coolest bosses from vanilla redone? AWESOME.
• Deathwing. Deathwing? MEGA-AWESOME!

Here are a few things that are on my “will probably suck” list:

• Archaeology. What is the point of this? We already have the ability to craft everything.
• Thrall the guardian of Tirisfal? Not confirmed… but that would just be a giant WTF moment.
• Cairne missing from Thunderbluff… here’s hoping he’s not dead. Seriously.

That reminds me. Deathwing… how awesome is he? Some people were confused as to why this would come after Arthas. People were really set on Arthas being the ultimate baddy. The general WoW public, however, does not pay much attention to lore. Deathwing is much, much older and much, much more powerful than Arthas will ever be. Most folks think because Arthas wields Frostmourne and is so recent, that he must be the most powerful dude out of all the dudes. He is not, however, the baddest dude. Most of us just know Deathwing as the pixilated dragon from the Warcraft RTS game. I encourage you to check out some of Deathwing’s lore and read up on how cool he really is.

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