[Guide]Guide to Cataclysm

[stoneblade]

First of all THIS IS NOT FINISHED.

Guide to Cataclysm

Pre-Cata Events

Gnomes will work to reclaim Gnomeregan and alliance players should do thier best to aid them as it will get them out of Ironforge once and for all. Trolls will also be working to reclaim thier homeland, Echo Isles. Helping with either of these will result in a pre-cataclysm feat of strength. The Twilight cult will also appear in Stormwind and Orgrimmar proclaiming the end of azeroth. For a quest chain you must run around your factions capital, infiltrate the cult, assist them and then betray them, somehow the king/warchief takes no notice in the matter so you must then warn them. A few effects keep on being noticed on the ptr and live(?) such as steam rising from the Barrens and minor earthquakes. Also a quest for both factions already ingame where as an Alliance you must speak to an elf about the return of mages and as a Horde to a Tauren about sunwalkers/tauren paladins/holy cows/bubble from the butcher etc.

World

New zones include Gilneas the starting zone for Worgen, it is level 1-15, it will phase similar to the deathknight starting zone and appears to have a victorian setting. This was previously unaccesable due to the construction of the greymane wall.
Kezan is the starting zone for Goblins, it is level 1-5 and features an underground city called Undermine, It also includes an active volcano and phases. It has a Jungle setting.
The Lost Isles is the next Goblin zone, unlike Worgen they have two zones to go through, it is level 6-15, you arrive here upon leaving your home due to the volcano erruption and the area becoming potentially unsafe. There is both an alliance and horde camp here and the map makes it look like something from a battleground.
Hyjal is level 78-82, it will contain numerous outposts for both Horde and Alliance, In Hyjal Ragnaros is trying to destroy the world tree as last time we apparently didnt kill him but banish him, hopefully this time we will go for more than just his hand. Hyjal will also have a new outdoor raid dungeon named The Firelands.
The Sunken City of Vashj'ir is the alternative of hyjal and level 78-82, this is the first fully underwater zone in world of warcraft and you will walk on the oceans floor however you can still swim by jumping. It will include a raid and a 5man dungeon in the abysall maw.
Deathwing Scar will be a small zone located north of Stormwind, it will include the enterance to Deepholm and is also where Deathwing broke free, expect alot of action here from the explorers league.
Deepholm is acessable through Deathwing Scar, this is a mountainous and rocky region filled with many cliffs and caves, it is populated by Elementals, Troggs and members of the Twilight Hammer Clan. It will have two large airships as quest hubs and be the center zone similar to Crystalsong forest. Expect either a raid, dungeon or main quest chain in this zone based around its ruler Therazane the Stonemother. It is level 82-84.
Uldum the land of the titans, forget about that place from the level 40ish quests? Is going to be opened. It will feature two leveling dungeons named The Halls of Origination and the lost city of Tol'Vir. It also includes a new race named the Tol'Vir and possibly a new faction to do with this new race, the Tol'Vir are cat people shaped similar to Anubis. It is heavily influenced by Egypt and has Pyramids, there could also be a Spynx but it is not yet confirmed. This zone is level 83-84.
The Twilight Highlands is the final zone of Cataclysm, it is level 84-85, and is reachable by following the path into Grim Batol which is now a new raid instance. This zone is mainly populated by the Twilight Hammer cult and a large number of dragons from the Black, Red and Twilight dragonflight. It includes two ship routes going to the Eastern Plaguelands and the Hinterlands.

Some zones are also being dramatically changed, these zones are Orgrimmar which will have a warsong hold likeness as it is rebuilt and all non-horde npcs are removed from the center of the city due to the new Warchief Garrosh Hellscream. Undercity will now have a roof and some of the old spires will be rebuilt so you cant fall through the ceeling any more, hopefully they will fix the elevators but nothing has been confirmed yet. Gnomes will be leaving Ironforge. The Darkspear will have a new city on the Echo Isles. Stormwind will be redesigned to support flying mounts and a new Worgen District will appear, it could also be damaged due to Deathwing's return.
In the Eastern Kingdoms; Blasted Lands is being changed, the ocean will now be reachable, the level range of the zone is being changed and the Tainted Scar is going to become a new Worgen area. In Hillsbrad Foothils Southshore is going to be crumbled by waves thus making this zone Horde dominated. In Silverpine you can now enter Gilneas as the Greymane wall is destroyed. The level of the Western Plaguelands is being lowered, it could possibly be renamed and is going to have more life than before. You should also expect alot of environmental changes in Wetlands and Badlands due to thier close proximity to Deathwings Scar.
In Kalimdor; Ashenvale has been mostly deforested and the citizens of Astranaar have fallen back due to the hordes constant air raids, the Zoram'gor outpost is also larger and more fortified than before. Azshara is being fully reshaped as the Goblins wish to show how much they admire the Horde and reformed Azshara into a Horde symbol, this zone is also going to become level 20, farm your blue dragons before the nerf people! In Darkshore Auberdine has been devastated by a barrage of tidal waves and the Alliance have made thier base further north, whilst Garrosh spreads the Horde's territory and has made another settlement at the south of Darkshore. There are also large weather disturbances in this zone such as a whirlpool and tornadoes. The mountains of Desolace are being destroyed making water able to reach more of the land adding extra life to this zone, expect another namechange here. In Stonetalon mountains there is now more fire in the charred vale and more lava, more brimstone too, Goblins have also finished mining a tunnel here with more apocalyptic landscapes, the lake in the windshear crag might also be increasing in size. In Tanaris a new Caverns of Time instance will be arriving and the gates of uldum are being unlocked meaning this zone could possibly become crowded before the expansion hits. Now for the moment you have all been waiting for The Barrens is being destroyed... no more Barrens chat you might think? Well its being split across the middle into northern and southern Barrens... double the Barrens chat. Both these zones being divided by a huge crack in Azeroth with lava included. The Alliance dominating the south still barren Barrens destroying the Horde settlement there as the gate to mulgore becomes far more fortified. Whilst the north is more Horde populated and it becoming far more lush and green than before. And finally the Thousand Needles is being flooded, the shimmering flats will be a huge lake, its possible the Goblins and Gnomes will be using water mounts here but it has yet to be confirmed.

The water is being updated So now it wont look as solid and will look more liquidish(?). We will also be seeing new phasing technology that will allow ground to be removed instead of just adding and removind doodads.

Races

There are two new races being introduced, these are Worgen for Alliance and Goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel for Horde. Worgen can become death knights, hunters, druids, mages, priests, rogues warlocks and warriors. Goblins can become death knights, hunters, mages, priests, rogues, shamans and warriors.
For the Alliance; Dwarves can become mages and shamans, Gnomes can become priests, Humans can become hunters and Night elves can become mages. For the Horde; Blood elves can become warriors, Undead can become hunters, Orcs can become mages, Tauren can become paladins and priests and Trolls can become druids. There are no changes for Draenei

Dungeons and Raids

Your favourite low level dungeons Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep are going to have a level 85 heroic mode available.

Pvp

In pvp a new feature will be released called rated battlegrounds, with this you will gain arena points as you win games. There will be a limit on the amount of points a player can earn a week however, this limit will be based off your arena rating, the higher rated you are the higher the limit, the highest rating you reached will calculate your maximum amount of points you can earn. Upon winning a rated battleground you will earn rating and arena points, upon losing you will not lose anything. The maximum amount of people you can have in your group when doing an Alterac Valley group signup is 25 down from 40. Instead of weekend battlegrounds there will be weekly battlegrounds to concentrate the ques to stop 10 man isle of conquest etc. There will be new Honor Titles and Epic Ground Mounts. From the rated battlegrounds you will also be able to earn Guild achievements and Guild Experience.

Tol Barad a new pvp zone will also be introduced, this zone is going to be south of hillsbrad and a mix of Wintergrasp and Isle of Quel'Danas making this a key point for both factions as it will be a daily quest hub. To win Tol Barad your faction will have to capture control points, once you capture all of them you win and if the other faction capture them all you lose. The daily quests from Tol Barad will be given to both the winner and the loser however the winner will have some special daily quests and a raid instance like Vault of Archavon will also be available. Winning and losing will entitle you to Tol Barad Marks of Honor, you will also be able to earn Guild Achievements and Experience here.

Class Changes

Warrior - Rage is going to be normalised, you will gain a set amount of rage on auto attack and double on a crit, off hand weapons will generate 50% of the rage your mainhand weapon generates. Rage from damage taken will be based off of your health instead of the creatures level, dodging, blocking or parrying will give you the same amount of rage as being hit. Heroic strike is also going to be an instant ability and cost 10-30 rage, taking the largest possible number, the more rage spent the higher damage an ability deals in the same way execute works now. Battleshout will generate rage but be on a short cooldown.

Changes to Overall Gameplay

The changes to gameplay are as follows, you will be seeing a new proffesion Archaeology this is a secondary skill where you will travel Azeroth and Outland looking for rare components in ruins of old civallisations to combine into powerful objects. Artifacts will go in a journal instead of in your inventory so you wont have thousands of items in your bags. Upon placing an artifact in your journal it can be studied to find out secrets about it and use them to unlock new rewards some being vanity pets. It will be used in the new path of the titans system, where you must gather some of the artifacts and give them to the cult you have chosen to join. Artifacts also have a black market value so it is speculated that they will be sellable.

Path of the Titans is a system where you pledge yourself to a certain Titan. The titans you can choose are Aggramar, the Avenger - Aman'Thul, the High Father - Eonar, the Lifebinder - Khaz'Goroth, the Shaper - Golganneth, the Thunderer and Norgannon, the Dreamweaver. Path of the Titans becomes available at level 85 and is tied in heavily with Archaeology, it will allow players ancient glyphs ranging from ranks 1 to 10, these glyphs will go in slots labeled with roman numerals, each rank will allow players to choose from one of three glyphs allowing them to have ten in total. It is speculated that each rank will unlock a tank, healing and dps glyph however it has yet to be confirmed.

A new mastery system will remove some of the passive talents and add in new more exciting talents such as spells, abilities, procs and additional spell/ability effects. You will gain masteries by placing more points into a specific tree. Masteries are only gained from the tree you have the most points in. For classes with several talent trees that perform the same function each one will be given a tanking/healing/damage buff, a desirable stat and something that makes that talent tree unique. Mastery bonuses will also be inplace on some gear.

Guild leveling is another new feature allowing guilds to gain talent points to recieve bonuses such as reduced repair costs, increased gold drops from mobs and bosses, a mass ressurection, a mass summon, no reagents needed on raidwide buffs, a percentage of boss gold to go into the guild bank, increased benefits from guild potions. The XP guilds earn will be convertable into a currency to buy heirloom gear, rare reagents such as the new Frost Lotus or Dragons eye (Deathwings Chin perhaps?), proffesion plans that will be lost upon leaving guild, guild talent respecs, extra guildbank tabs, vanity items and guild battle standards. Guilds gain XP through achievements from killing bosses with 75% of the raid from the same guild, clearing a raid instance, having a grand master in every proffesion and gaining a legendary item. Some achievements that you already own could be converted to guild achievements come Cataclysm. The maximum level for guilds will be level 20 and the minimum level 1. Guild talents will not improve healing, dps or tanking but instead reduce downtime and raidcost. A looking for guild system is also to be implimented where you state your play style, how many days you can be online/raid/pvp and a few things about yourself and it will give you a list of guilds you are eligible to enter. The Armory's guild section will be getting a complete revamp to account for the changes

Several stats are being removed or changed. The only stats you will now see on gear are Stamina (With Str, Agi and int being changed non plate weares will get an increase in stamina.), Spirit (this will now only be found on healer gear with the exception of elemental shamans and balance druids. Mages, warlocks and other casters will nolonger see this on thier gear.), Intellect (This will now provide spell power and will give a lower amount of mana to what you are used to.), Haste (Becoming more attractive to melee users. (Will post details when i find them.)), Block rating (Blocked attacks now reduce damage taken by 30% and block rating will improve the chance of blocking, block chance is going to be lower than what we are used to.), Parry (Nolonger resets swing timer, now reduces damage from the hit by 50% and the next attack by 50%.), we will now be seeing the new mastery stat on gear, overall amounts of armor are going to be reduced so plate wearers wont have as high mitigation compared to clothies and finally resilience (Will only affect damage done to players, it will nolonger affect crit chance, manadrains or any other effects.)

The stats being removed from items are Attack power (Only obtainable from Strength and Agility at a 2ap:1stat ratio.), Spell power (Now recieved from intellect, will still be seen on caster weapons.), Armor penetration (Now from talents and mastery.), shield block (Now from stance/seal and talents.)
The stats going away completely, never to be seen again in the far away land of the void are MP5 (Mana regen will be from Spirit.), Defence (Now uncrittable in Defensive Stance/Bear or Dire Bear Form/ Blood Presence and Righteous Fury.), Weapon skill (You nolonger need to train or learn weapons in order to use them (I dont know if this means warriors can now use wands and such or if restrictions still apply.).), Spell ranks are being removed and will instead scale in effectiveness with your level.

Some gems will be changing colors, armor will be reforgeable allowing you to change one stat for another (Yay my warrior can finally sacrifice that stam for int.) with some restrictions and combat ratings, the rating caps will grow in each tier of content, for example tier 11 could need 1000 hit and crit to be capped and tier 12 could need 1200 (The numbers probably wont be that high but you get the idea.).

Humorus notes and other things that have been written in this thread (i feel it is imortant to add them as this is the first Cataclysm thread ) This will also be updated every time i update the guide.
Abhorsenjay's New raiding guild for gnomes (still needing a name i think),
_SkHiEnEgP_'s comic at the bottom of this page with a twist on tauren paladins.

[abhorsenjay]

Don't forget new race-class combos. Gnome priests, seriously! I have an all-gnome raiding guild ready for Cataclysm <Vertically Retarded>

[LiquidShizzles]

Don't forget new race-class combos. Gnome priests, seriously! I have an all-gnome raiding guild ready for Cataclysm <Vertically Retarded>

Love it.

/filllaaaa

[Tranquility [X]]

Vertically Retarded, rofl.

This is a nice guide, I will +Rep when it's finished.

[stoneblade]

Haha, almost forgot about the race-class combos, cheers! More hogger raids anyone? And back to writing... its taking a while to get information.

[Killalots]

Cheers for the contribution. Without them, there would be no forum.

Keep it up!

[d3rrial]

Thanks for this guide! It's useful

[Royst0]

This is great I've been looking for one of these.

[abhorsenjay]

So Taurens can become Paladins now? Holy... cow!


YYYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH

[Minilano aka pro]

Niiice guide , i haven't readed so much about cataclysm. But thanks to you i know pretty mutch :P

[d3rrial]

For the lulz ->