WoW Reviews & Guides

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (or Cata for short) is the upcoming third expansion for World of Warcraft and was officially announced on August 21, 2009 at BlizzCon 2009. The majority of the expansion content takes place in drastically reforged Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.

It is to include the playable races of the worgen for the Alliance and the goblins for the Horde. Flying mounts will finally be usable in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. Deathwing will make his return into Azeroth from Deepholm, causing a new Sundering.

Lore

From the official site:

An ancient evil lies dormant within Deepholm, the domain of earth in the Elemental Plane.

Hidden away in a secluded sanctuary, the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing has waited, recovering from the wounds of his last battle against Azeroth and biding his time until he can reforge the world in molten fire.

Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents. As the Horde and Alliance race to the epicenter of the cataclysm, the kingdoms of Azeroth will witness seismic shifts in power, the kindling of a war of the elements, and the emergence of unlikely heroes who will rise up to protect their scarred and broken world from utter devastation.

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Pally Power is an add-on that provides an interactive and easy to use interface that allows you to control assignments of blessings for yourself and, if you are a party leader or an assistant, for other paladins in your group or raid. You don’t need to be a paladin to control raid/party blessings.

Supports Game Version: 3.3.5

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Zul’jin (aka Zuljin) is a warlord of the Amani forest trolls and has been chieftain of the Amani tribe since before the Second War. Zul’jin and the Amani tribe were allied with the orcish Horde for the duration of the Second War, but Zul’jin himself was captured near its end by the Alliance. Upon gaining his freedom he went into hiding to rebuild his army and plan an attack on the remnants of the high elves, now known as blood elves, only to find them allied with the Horde.

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Hex Lord Malacrass, a witch doctor, is the second to last boss within Zul’Aman. Looking to annihilate the existence of all elves, Malacrass had devised a similar plan to that of the blood elves, who had channeled the power of Light into their own ranks. He, instead, sealed the power of the animal gods within the bodies of the Amani’s strongest warriors. Zul’jin quickly approved the plan and lent his full support. Malacrass experimented tirelessly and succeeded in imbuing four warriors with the essence of mighty animal gods and eventually lead to the rise of Zul’Aman.

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Halazzi, the Amani lord of lynxes, is the fourth animal boss within Zul’Aman. He holds Ashli captive in a cage near his platform, awaiting her sacrifice if the raid cannot rescue her before the timer runs out. Defeating Halazzi with time remaining does not add any additional time, as this is the last encounter to the timed event. She will, in turn, reward the raid with access to a small share of gold and unlock Ashli’s Bag which will contain the Amani War Bear.

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Jan’alai, the Amani lord of dragonhawks, is the third animal boss within Zul’Aman. He holds Kraz captive in a cage near his platform, awaiting his sacrifice if the raid cannot rescue him before the timer runs out. Defeating Jan’alai with time remaining does not add any additional time but still allows the raid to free Kraz. He will, in turn, reward the raid with access to a small share of gold and unlock Kraz’s Package which will contain an epic ring.

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Nalorakk, the Amani lord of bears, is one of the first animal bosses within Zul’Aman. He holds Tanzar captive in a cage near his platform, awaiting his sacrifice if the raid cannot rescue him before the timer runs out. Defeating Nalorakk with time remaining adds an additional 15 minutes to the timer and allows the raid to free Tanzar. He will, in turn, reward the raid with access to a small share of gold and unlock Tanzar’s Trunk which will contain an epic armor if he was the first boss killed in the zone, or an epic weapon if he was killed second.

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We are going to take the opportunity in Cataclysm to try and fix some of the problems with the Rage mechanic for both warriors and druids. Some of these problems include:

• Warriors/druids in the lowest levels of gear can be Rage-starved.
• Warriors/druids in the highest levels of gear no longer have to manage their Rage when it becomes infinite.
• Warrior/druid tanks lose Rage income as they improve their gear and take less damage.
• The gameplay of warrior and druid tanks loses a lot of depth when massive boss hits means never having to manage Rage.
• Heroic Strike and Maul are effective, but tedious abilities for using up extra Rage.
• In general, warriors and druids don’t have enough control over their Rage.

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As many of you know from panels at last year’s BlizzCon and posts here on the forums since then, Cataclysm will bring about major changes to familiar character stats such as Intellect, Armor Penetration, Defense, and others, ultimately designed to make the effects of stats more easily understandable and make gear choices more interesting. As these changes will have a significant impact on how stats work and relate to one another, today we wanted to offer you a closer look at exactly what’s in store and explain some of the rationale before Cataclysm arrives.

The most obvious question these changes raise is “Why are stats being changed, and why now?” As the game has matured, we’ve run into increasingly complex issues with the current stat system. Many stats are inherently confusing, and the way they interrelate can feel convoluted. Attack Power, for example, currently translates to damage, but so does Armor Penetration. Defense provides five different statistical benefits of varying utility. Mana regeneration involves understanding multiple stats and rules and often ends up being irrelevant anyway. In addition, the difference between a “good stat” for a class and a “bad stat” can be extreme. Some casters want Haste but not Crit; hunters want Armor Penetration but not Haste. There are other overarching issues, as well, such as Intellect not being very exciting for casters despite it being a core stat — and these are just a few examples.

Our ultimate goal is make gear a more interesting (and less confusing) choice by making each stat valuable to more players. While the reasoning behind some of the following changes may be clear, we understand that you may have questions about some of the less obvious alterations, and we’ll do our best to answer any questions you may have here on the forums.
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Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test! Patch notes listed here are not comprehensive and will be changed throughout the testing process.

General

• The Alliance starting experience for worgen is available. Venture through the cursed lands of Gilneas to discover your true path! Currently the female worgen character is not available for testing.
• The Horde starting experience for goblins is available. Beginning on the Isle of Kezan in a goblin paradise, players will face a treacherous road ahead!
• The level cap for all characters is 83.
• Players may use our Character Copy feature for copying existing characters to beta realms, or may choose from high-level pre-made template characters.

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