Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for the third expansion to World of Warcraft, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).
Unveiled at the company’s fourth BlizzCon gaming festival, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will bring sweeping changes to the world of Azeroth. Players will be able to adventure as two new playable races, achieve new levels of power, take on challenging quests and dungeons in all-new zones, and experience dramatic changes to familiar aspects of the game in the wake of a world-shattering disaster.
“In addition to revitalizing some of the most familiar and iconic areas of the game world, this third World of Warcraft expansion will add new features and a large amount of new content for players to explore,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, in the press release. “We’re excited to be offering a first glimpse of Cataclysm for attendees of BlizzCon, and we look forward to sharing more information with everyone as development progresses.”
In Cataclysm, players will witness the face of Azeroth being altered forever, as the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing awakens from his subterranean slumber and erupts onto the surface, leaving ruin and destruction in his wake. 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.
Building on the foundation established in World of Warcraft and its first two expansions, Cataclysm will add a variety of new content and offer players the opportunity to rediscover Azeroth and experience the game from a whole new perspective
New features coming with the game’s third expansion include:
• Two New Playable Races: Adventure as the cursed worgen with the Alliance or the resourceful goblins with the Horde.
• Increased Level Cap: Advance to level 85 and earn new abilities, tap into new talents, and progress through the path system, a new way for players to customize characters.
• Classic Zones Remade: Quest to level 60 as you never have before. Familiar zones across the original continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms have been reforged by the cataclysm and updated with new quests and content.
• Flying Mounts in Azeroth: Explore Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms from a whole new perspective.
• Guild Advancement: Progress as a guild to earn guild levels and guild achievements.
• New High-Level Content: Explore newly opened parts of the world, including Uldum, Grim Batol, and the great sunken city of Vashj’ir beneath the sea, and enjoy even more high-level raid content than in previous expansions.
• New PvP Zone & Rated Battlegrounds: Take on PvP objectives and daily quests on Tol Barad Island, a new Wintergrasp-like zone, and wage war in all-new rated Battlegrounds.
• Archaeology: Master a new secondary profession to unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards.
• New Race and Class Combinations: Explore Azeroth as a gnome priest, blood elf warrior, or one of the other never-before-available race and class combinations.
Since launching in November 2004, World of Warcraft has become the world’s most popular MMORPG. The game’s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sold more than 2.8 million copies within its first 24 hours of availability and more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting both records for PC game sales. World of Warcraft is available in eight different languages and is played in North America, Europe, Chile, Argentina, Russia, mainland China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
For more information on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, visit Blizzard Entertainment’s official website at www.WorldofWarcraft.com.
World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.
Blizzard will announce the exact system requirements closer to the expansion’s release.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Flying mounts in Azeroth = awesome
Finally get to see what Uldum and Grom Batol looks like
The big question is will we be able to play on our new Apple iTab?
Well it’s a good thing Snow Leopard is gonna free up 6GB, looks like I’m gonna need it.
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Thank the Lord I finally got that animated nerd crack monkey off my back.
Stop tempting me Blizzard! I kicked the WoW habit 6 months ago, and now you’re just taunting me!
OK … this is news about one of the best – if not THE best – games available for a Mac, but does that qualify it as “Mac News”? Ah, what the heck. I’m with Dukester on this … gonna need that extra GB.
Been playing WoW since retail beta 5 years ago and the new expansion looks good.
The ingame graphics are looking very dated though now compared to the new batch of MMOs coming out.
WoW needs a major graphic update… or Blizz needs to release it’s next gen MMO quite soon.
PLEASE NO MORE WOW, I CAN’T TAKE IT!!! It’s a bunch of shut in nerds living in their mom’s basement with wookie dolls shoved up their anus’ pretending to be and praying their someone or something other than what they really are. Go to youtube and look up vintrilo harassment, it’ll make you laugh at the wow nerds.
WoW nerd? > I’m a married guy, 2 gorgeous kids, wife, mortgage and run my own design business…
Dont think I qualify to WoW nerd status just yet!
@Sir Gill Bates
Ditto, lost 20lbs (and I was`nt even a hardcore player) since i kicked, got back into bike riding too.
@ ExWower,
Hang in there. It’s going on two years for me, and I still have instances where my mind drifts back into Azeroth. I don’t think you ever really get over it.
@ Fabled Poet,
The proverbial ‘nerd in the basement’ doesn’t always apply to WoW. I’ve known everything from elementary school kids to married couples and grandmothers to play. It’s a varied and diverse lot. All deranged of course.
@ chew,
You’re lucky. I’ve gained 25 pounds. When I Wow’d I never ate – just drank coffee. I tend to watch the boob tube more now, and that means munchies. Dagnabit!
It`s been a couple of months for me. I played WOW for 6 months and to be honest It just got soooooo boring, do lvl 80`s REALLY have to go kill even more spiders and boars? got really long in the tooth. I also really got sick of kiddies mouthing off (even though my warlock would ignite them at will) and this addiction to “l33t gear”. If there`s any MMO that has a hope in hell with me it`s The Old Republic after all who does`nt love Star Wars?
P.S. I just gotta be a Sith Lord so unless they really flub it, I`m sold already
@ chew,
A lot of the appeal of WoW is the social aspect. It can be fun if you are in a guild with people you like. Setting up events to perform together can really bring people together.
But, it can also become stifling when you are expected to show up even when you don’t really want to. It seems like once I became a guild officer it was more of a job than a hobby.
As an aside, I know of two instance where women have hooked up with other guys in WoW and dumped their husbands. Social indeed.
@Gill
I`ll give you the social aspect, I did meet some real nice folks and yes to be expected to show up for scheduled events can suck. The problem I also had is as follows: I work in IT, it`s not the most physically demanding job as I`m sure anyone in the field can attest. I was basically going form my seat at work to my seat at home, something had to go. Besides personally speaking I took at look at myself and just laughed one day (I was growing Uniroyal), so that was it, quit WOW got back into shape, started hooking up with friends I hav`nt seen for months, never looked back. I will confess that on occasion I check wowarmory just to see how friend`s toons are doing.
It is a great game, but became too demanding on many levels.
Almost forgot, even though I was smoker for a while, during WOW sessions I`d smoke a pack a day (easily) have now quit that too. BTW riding my bike along the Lakeshore (Toronto) in summer there are an awful lot of hot women around…
Sorry Gill WOW can`t compete with that! I know those female Nightelves look hot but who knows what`s sitting on the other end, (maybe Jabba the Hut)
cheers
@ chew,
My big problem was that I was ignoring my wife. I tried to get her to play but it’s of no interest to her. She didn’t nag me but I knew it was bugging her. A happy marriage takes priority.
I’m sure those Toronto chicks are even sexier that my Undead Warlock’s succubus. Ah, the crack of her whip!
We should create a MacDailyNews guild!
@ theloniousMac,
Yeah, and call it the ‘Bitch Brigade’ since that’s all we ever seem to do here.
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LOL, Warlock was THE class for me too (played Alli and Horde enhancement Shaman), destruction spec, say hello to my chaos bolt!
I switched to Demonology in order to get my Felguard. I loved that big ape.
Crap, I gotta get off this subject – I’m getting that craving. Really bad!
How`s this guild name: PWN different
I agree I quit for reason, anyhow I`m off folks, get out and enjoy that day!
Man. I have 3 accounts. Got lvl 80 rsto shammy, BE lock, 2 undead DKs. Working on BE Mage.
“The ingame graphics are looking very dated though now compared to the new batch of MMOs coming out.”
The in game graphics are not what makes the game so awesome, it’s the breadth and the depth of the game. Plenty of better looking MMOs have come and gone, people play them for a few months then get bored with them.
WoW’s magic is in how much there is to the game, and after 5 years, they keep expanding and updating it, it truly is huge and deep and wide.
Sure it could use some improved graphics, but other MMO’s can’t hope to come close to a fraction of the depth of WoW, and fancy graphics don’t get you 12+ million subscribers.
One of the most interesting things to come out of the convention, came from a very boring presentation on Battlenet. They are looking at turning all their gaming properties into a giant social portal a la Facebook and MySpace allowing people to communicate across servers and eventually across different games, via some form of Battlenet chat. This could be really big, if they do it right, and potentially make Blizzard one of the biggest social networking portals online.
New Race and Class Combinations? Does that mean that they are opening up the possibility for the rest of us to be Knight Elf Mohawks?
Umm … no. Night Elf “Mohawks” are an adornment option, not a skill set option. But, not that long back they opened a number of Barber Shops so that – for an appropriate sum – you can change the look of your toon fairly significantly!
Some of the new combos make sense – Human Hunters, for example – while others boggle the imagination – Undead Hunters, for example. It never made much sense to me that you couldn’t be a Gnome Priest … praying to Loki, perhaps?