Today, as I write this, we are mere hours from the
opening ceremonies at Blizzcon. The geeks are gathering in Anaheim, while many
more gather online for the live streaming, knowing in a few weeks they will have
a murloc marine beside them in game. While the last few weeks have been full of
reports of news to come, no news was bigger than the MMO Champion leak of major
expansion details. I wanted to give you my top five on the list of the potential
expansions hottest features, and why I found them to be so amazing.
#5 - New class and race combinations
While for
some players, this is their big one, I actually have this at the bottom of my
list. Troll Druid? Tauren Paladin? Gnome Priest? Night Elf Mage? That is all
pretty earth shaking, there is no doubt about it. Trolls shape shifting can
already be done by their Shamans, but Tauren embracing the light in both Priest
and Paladins is pretty unbelievable. Gnomes moving from their tinkering nature
to follow the light is even more an outrageous idea than the Tauren, who at
least have a deity they follow.
Lastly, the Night Elf Mage is pretty fantastical.
The only Night Elf class that does any Arcane spells is Balance specced Druids.
With the history that the Night Elves have with magic, it is understandable why
this is one of the most unbelievable new race and class combinations. Unbelievable as it may be, though, screenshots from the 3.2.2 PTR show an NPC
that is labeled as Highborne in game, so this could be the founding basis for
the return of the mage to the Night Elf people.
#4 - The new Guardian of Tirisfal
The last two
guardians, Aegwyn and then her demon possessed son Medivh, led to such tumultuous times, that it could be understood if those of immense power in
Azeroth would avoid creating a new one. Aegwyn was so prideful that she thought
she could do it all on her own, even defeating the leader of the Burning Legion,
Sargeras. Her pride directly led to her son's demonic possession, and the
horrors he brought to this world. Medivh, the last Guardian, brought the orcs to
this world, fathered a son with the Half orc, half Draenei Garona Halforcen, and
filled the halls of Karazhan with more evils of the world than could be
numbered.
Needless to say, Thrall as the new Guardian is
quite a spectacular choice, and has a lot of potential to be the one uniting
force that could bring the Alliance and Horde together, if not for the person he
would be turning the Horde over to, Garrosh Hellscream, who is every ounce his
father's son. Grom, you will recall, was the first to drink of Mannoroth's
blood, and brought the Orc's into demonic servitude.
#3 - Worgen and Goblins
Goblins, long a neutral
race, were before that a race that dealt nearly exclusively with the Horde
during much of the time period that the RTS games cover. Therefore I was
completely unsurprised by the revelation of the Goblins being the token short
race for the Horde. The only story left to be told is how, and who will be
joining the Horde. The Worgen also were not overly surprising, being as their
story has been long expected to reveal that they have succumb to the curse of
the worgen that Arugal brought to Silverpine Forest.
Ever since the game launched on that long ago
November morning, the Greymane wall has closed off Gilneas from the rest of the
world. Some of you will know that Genn Greymane closed off his nation from the
rest of the world when the Scourge plague began to spread across the land of
Lordaeron. When WoW launched, and we found about the Worgen curse that Arugal
brought to the neighboring villages, we suspected, but did not know, what had
befallen the kingdom of Gilneas. This, it seems, will answer that long held
question. While some have pointed out that true Worgen were aliens Arugal
brought to the world, it seems these ones will be Humans suffering from the
curse, as they will apparently be able to shift from human to worgen forms.
#2 - Flying in Azeroth
Oh boy, is this a biggie!
Ever since the announcement of Burning Crusade brought us the idea of player
controlled flight, the player base has been asking Blizzard for the ability to
fly in the world of original WoW. Blizzard long argued that making the original
world, never intended for player controlled flight, in fact able to be flown in,
would be a mammoth, multi year task. It would seem by this leak that they have
been working long and hard at this, or this expansion is a long way from release
if they still have much of that work to do.
Unless the Cataclysm the title speaks of destroys a
lot of unused space we have now, there would be a huge number of new zones
opening up for the playerbase to explore with our newly usable birds. Hyjal, the
party trolls, and all the empty space we have now hold new fascination for the
player base if this particular part of the leak is true. I for one look forward
to having a bird under my own control to fly to all of those corners of the
world I have never gotten to see.
#1 - Cataclysm in the world
You can't really have an expansion to
the game called Cataclysm without a... well, cataclysm. The part of the leak I
deemed my number one is the alleged cataclysm in Azeroth that would lead to a
reforming of the world as we know it. Continents would be changed, and the face
of leveling 1-58 would forever be changed for all sides. Thousand needles and
Wetlands are rumored to be flooded, with the Dwarves losing Menethil to the
invading Naga forces.
Azshara would change to a low level area, possibly a starting zone for the
Goblins. Gilneas would open up, as the Worgen seek the protection of the
Alliance from the invading Naga forces. Theramore would be an island alone as
most of Dustwallow is sunken under water. To be honest, this is the kind of
change I would expect of a sequel game, a follow up to WoW, not an expansion mid
run, and the fact that Blizzard is giving us this, all while keeping up the end
game, makes this expansion, I feel, the biggest one yet.
It will change the face of the game, and make the world completely
different from the one that so many of the player base began playing in during
the early years of the game. This will be such a revolution alone, the utter
changing of the map of the world, that I believe Blizzard will have no choice
but to give us more Character slots in order to allow us all to experience this
refreshing of the leveling game in Azeroth.
Will this be a verified leak? The signs point that way. With the 30 minute
opening ceremony, Blizzard can tip their hat to those of note, and announce the
new expansion with a major teaser, and then move right in the World of Warcraft
Preview panel that follows the opening ceremony. If you can, be sure to join us
live for the All Things Azeroth coverage of Blizzcon, you can find the details
on our coverage here.
If you can't be there live, we will have the shows up for all to download
shortly after the shows are done. We look forward to seeing you in live chat,
and hearing your thoughts and theories on the events of the weekend. Also, be
sure to check out our show on Monday as we announce the winners of the Linking
Contest, which is still open for a few days, so get your entries
in!
