World of Warcraft Cataclysm Revealed

The big news at BlizzCon 2009 for World of Warcraft fans was the announcement of Blizzard's latest expansion - Cataclysm. And listening to Blizzard developers and content creators, a cataclysm it will certainly be.

Deep within the bowls of Azeroth a terrible force is stirring. Driven mad by the whispering of the old gods, the black dragon aspect known as Deathwing has finally awakened.

And he is pissed!

This is the backdrop to Cataclysm. Deathwing's breaking through the elemental plan into Azeroth has caused a massive destructive force to be unleashed across land with tidal waves and earthquakes forever changing Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdom.

And what a Cataclysm it is!

Blizzard have taken the opportunity to completely re-work the basic levels from 1-60 with much of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdom landscape completely changed:

• The Barrens have been torn asunder and split in two
• The Thousand Needles has flooded
• The Darkshore has been changed forever
• Auberdine has been destroyed and the Elves decamped further North
• Desolace has been greened

And this is just for starters.

Zones like Azshara have changed to a low leveling zone and many zones have been reworked to make them much shorter and better connected.

What this means is that the basic gathering nodes (Mining and Herbalism) will have changed along with all quests for the zones. The method of leveling will remain the same but leveling strategies will now be very different.

Another big change is that flying mounts are now enabled for all zones in Azeroth. I can imagine the skies of Azeroth dark with miners stripping the land of ore! Think how fast you'll be able to gather basic ores and herbs.

There is also a number of new zones:

• DeepHolm - Located in the elemental plan; Deathwing's domain
  
• The Sunken City of Vashj'ir - underwater combat and new underwater mounts
  
• Uldum - modeled on an Egyptian them
• Mount Hyjal
• Twilight Highland - Grim Batol remade.
  

As with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, there are new Races:

• Goblins - Horde
• Worgen - Alliance

Each race will come with their own unique skills and talents.

This is just a flavor of the vast changes that will appear in Cataclysm. Probably Blizzard's biggest, most radical expansion to their World of Warcraft.

Marcus Ty