Deathwing’s Voice

So if you want to check out the current 31 point trees get your booty over to wowtal.com

Edit: The link is not broken MMO-Champion are the designers of this site, and they have been mass bombarded with viewers which has caused their site to crash a few times especially after the announcement that Curse bought MMO Champion.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/cataclysm-friends-family-alpha-198562/ and check it out! Note: The page he has info on will be edited frequently.

We’re continuing to refine the raid progression paths in Cataclysm, and we’d like to share some of those changes with you today. Please enjoy!

The first of the refinements being made is that we’re combining all raid sizes and difficulties into a single lockout. Unlike today, 10- and 25-player modes of a single raid will share the same lockout. You can defeat each raid boss once per week per character. In other words, if you wanted to do both a 10- and 25-person raid in a single week, you’d need to do so on two different characters. Normal versus Heroic mode will be chosen on a per-boss basis in Cataclysm raids, the same way it works in Icecrown Citadel. Obviously the raid lockout change doesn’t apply in pure Icecrown terms though, as this change goes hand-in-hand with a few other changes to raid progression in Cataclysm.

We’re designing and balancing raids so that the difficulty between 10- and 25-player versions of each difficulty will be as close as possible to each other as we can achieve. That closeness in difficulty also means that we’ll have bosses dropping the same items in 10- and 25-player raids of each difficulty. They’ll have the same name and same stats; they are in fact the exact same items. Choosing Heroic mode will drop a scaled-up version of those items. Our hope is that players will be able to associate bosses with their loot tables and even associate specific artwork with specific item names to a far greater extent than today.

Dungeon Difficulty and Rewards

• 10 and 25-player (Normal difficulty) — Very similar to one another in difficulty; drop the exact same items as each other.
• 10 and 25-player (Heroic difficulty) — Very similar to one another in difficulty; drop more powerful versions of the normal-difficulty items.

We of course recognize the logistical realities of organizing larger groups of people, so while the loot quality will not change, 25-player versions will drop a higher quantity of loot per player (items, but also badges, and even gold), making it a more efficient route if you’re able to gather the people. The raid designers are designing encounters with these changes in mind, and the class designers are making class changes to help make 10-person groups easier to build. Running 25-player raids will be a bit more lucrative, as should be expected, but if for a week or two you need to do 10s because half the guild is away on vacation, you can do that and not suffer a dramatic loss to your ability to get the items you want.

We recognize that very long raids can be a barrier for some players, but we also want to provide enough encounters for the experience to feel epic. For the first few raid tiers, our plan is to provide multiple smaller raids. Instead of one raid with eleven bosses, you might have a five-boss raid as well as a six-boss raid. All of these bosses would drop the same item level gear, but the dungeons themselves being different environments will provide some variety in location and visual style, as well as separate raid lockouts. Think of how you could raid Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep separately, but you might still want to hit both every week.

We do like how gating bosses over time allows the community to focus on individual encounters instead of just racing to the end boss, so we’re likely to keep that design moving forward. We don’t plan to impose attempt limitations again though, except maybe in cases of rare optional bosses (like Algalon). Heroic mode may not be open from day one, but will become available after defeating normal mode perhaps as little as once or twice.

In terms of tuning, we want groups to be able to jump into the first raids pretty quickly, but we also don’t want them to overshadow the Heroic 5-player dungeons and more powerful quest rewards. We’ll be designing the first few raid zones assuming that players have accumulated some blue gear from dungeons, crafted equipment, or quest rewards. In general, we want you and your guild members to participate in and enjoy the level up experience.

We design our raids to be accessible to a broad spectrum of players, so we want groups to be able to make the decision about whether to attempt the normal or Heroic versions of raids pretty quickly. The goal with all of these changes is to make it as much of a choice or effect of circumstance whether you raid as a group of 10 or as a group of 25 as possible. Whether you’re a big guild or a small guild the choice won’t be dependent on what items drop, but instead on what you enjoy the most.

We realize that with any changes to progression pathways there are going to be questions. We’re eagerly awaiting any that we may have left unanswered. To the comments!

Here are some clarifications to a few common questions we’re seeing.

Regarding how the raid dungeons will share the same lockout. This means that you cannot do separate instances in the same week. If you defeat an encounter in 10 player normal mode then you are locked to the 10 player mode of that dungeon for that week and can flip between 10 player normal and 10 player heroic on a per boss basis (assuming heroic is available). In this scenario you cannot do the 25 player version. Is this correct?

Correct. There should be no circumstances under which you kill a boss more than once per week on the same character. However, in the same way that you can decide on a per-boss basis whether to try normal vs. hard mode, we might allow you to change between 10 and 25 on a per-encounter basis for additional flexibility. If you started a raid in 25-player mode and then found that you couldn’t get everyone together later in the week, you might be able to downsize the next few bosses to 10-player.

Will legendary items be available through 10 player dungeons? How about special mounts like Invincible?

In some of these specific cases, the answer is that we just don’t know yet. We’re going to have to walk a fine line between dropping the same items in both 10- and 25-player modes, versus still offering something extra for the 25s. If we over-reward the 25s, then players who like 10-player raiding will still feel compelled to find more warm bodies. If we don’t provide any extra incentive for 25s, then some players may stop playing with their friends in order to avoid the extra organization required for a large raid.

Overall, our goal is that you make the decision between whether to raid with 10 players or 25 players based on what you find fun and not because of the reward structure.

For perspective, it might help to look back at how we changed lockouts and hard modes on every single raid tier of Wrath of the Lich King to see what felt right and try to fix problems that arose from previous tiers. After seeing the first tier of Cataclysm raiding, we may decide to adjust our design for the next tier.

How many pieces of loot will drop for 10 and 25 player modes respectively?

When we say “25 should drop more loot,” we’re just sharing a philosophy. You shouldn’t assume that this means that 10-player modes will drop 1 item or that 25-player modes will drop 6 items, or whatever. We haven’t finalized how much loot will drop, but our general goal is that 25s should drop more to help make up for some of the logistical cost.

Will achievements be broken down by 10/25 modes? Will realm first achievements/titles be only for 25s? Will meta-achievement mounts be available for both versions still?

There will just be raid achievements, not 10- vs. 25-player versions in most cases. The achievement won’t care if you complete it in 10s or 25s. If we do meta-achievement mounts, it’s possible we’d still have different colors of mounts, or maybe even different mounts; but for some players that might mean that 25s feels mandatory again, which would be a potential problem. This is the kind of thing we’re going to have to consider carefully, and again, we might try a few different implementations before sticking with something we like.

We’re also not sure about realm first achievements or titles. We don’t want to encourage, say, 25-player focused guilds to run a 10-player raid instead because they think that will get them the ream first title faster. One potential solution is you can earn a realm first title in 10 or 25, but not both. These types of achievements also serve as great content for guild achievements.

We will be holding our next developer chat on Twitter this Friday, April 16, at 5:00 p.m. PDT with two members of World of Warcraft’s class design team. This chat session will focus on the recently released Cataclysm class previews that you can see here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=24038460683&sid=1

Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account and follow @Warcraft ( http://www.twitter.com/warcraft) in order to participate!

To submit a question for the developer chat, please tweet using the #BlizzChat hashtag between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. PST on April 16. Due to the character limitation on responses within Twitter, all answers will be posted on the World of Warcraft forums in a dedicated thread.

Link to the last developer chat: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23425524394&sid=1

In the past recent few, Blizzard updated there World of Warcraft Site with a juicy update the information on Mount Hyjal the new zone in World of Warcraft Cataclysm. Below is posted straight from the site.

For years, Mount Hyjal and the wounded World Tree, Nordrassil, have remained cut off from the rest of Azeroth. Sealed away within a protective field of dense foliage by Malfurion Stormrage, Nordrassil has been slowly recovering from the devastation of the Third War, when Malfurion called upon the tree’s power to destroy the archdemon Archimonde and repel the forces of the Burning Legion and Scourge. Now, with the impending cataclysm, the World Tree’s well-being is threatened once more. From the Firelands within the Elemental Plane, Ragnaros and his minions prepare to burst into Hyjal and set Nordrassil ablaze — and the conflagration would endanger all life on Azeroth.

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, players will have the opportunity to explore the newly reopened Mount Hyjal as Azeroth’s heroes, with the help of Ysera, Malfurion Stormrage and Hamuul Runetotem, are called upon to push back the armies of the Firelord, banish Ragnaros to the Elemental Plane and lay waste to the twilight dragon stronghold in nearby Darkwhisper Gorge. This all-new level 78-82 zone will feature multiple quest hubs, phased terrain and quest lines, portals to micro-zones within the Firelands, an all-new raid dungeon, and much more.

The World Tree
Players will be able to enter Hyjal by way of Moonglade, to take on a series of high-stakes quests in a historic location alongside some of Azeroth’s most renowned heroes. With a longstanding rivalry among the night elf leadership threatening to undermine the campaign against Deathwing, players will quickly discover the task of defending Nordrassil is more daunting than they had anticipated. In order to succeed, they must seek out the help of extremely powerful allies: the Ancients.

The Ancients
To protect Nordrassil and heal the devastation the invading fire elementals are causing across Mount Hyjal, players must first recapture the shrine of the wolf god Goldrinn. The ogres surrounding the shrine will not leave peacefully, but seizing the shrine will allow players their first opportunity to infiltrate the Firelands and shut down a key Twilight portal, slowing the advance of the nearby Twilight’s Hammer in Hyjal.
With the first portal dismantled, players will soon be sought by the wilderness spirit Aessina to assist in cleansing and healing the nearby forest, ultimately returning the land to its former splendor. This small victory, however, isn’t enough to deter the Twilight Remnants from attempting to scorch the forest once more. As you struggle to keep these foes at bay, you’ll also need to help the Guardians of Hyjal — a new neutral faction of druids and worshippers of the Ancients — repopulate the forest with animal life. It’s even rumored that Malorne has been spotted in the wilderness. Perhaps further investigation is necessary….
Amid the chaos, the Druids of the Talon will need players’ assistance to resurrect the goddess of winged creatures. Players begin the process by helping to slay a group of black dragons and closing a second Firelands portal from within. Just when you think things might be heating up, you’ll need to fight through a burning night elf town to shut down the third and final portal with the assistance of the turtle god Tortollus.

Darkwhisper Gorge
Your successes in Hyjal will ultimately lead you to the assembly of the Ancients, who have set a plan in motion to bring a powerful ally and demigod back into this realm. Before that can happen, however, you will need to infiltrate Darkwhisper Gorge disguised as a follower of the Twilight’s Hammer, acting quickly to sow discord within the entrenched faction, weakening it for the coming struggle. Only time will tell if the Ancients’ plan is a success — but you’ll need to do your part if there’s any hope of saving Mount Hyjal from the twilight dragons, Ragnaros, and his minions of the Elemental Plane.

Firelands
More information on this all-new level-85 raid dungeon is coming soon.

Patch 3.3.3 has a lot of data in it in regards to Cataclysm’s epic prologue. If you wish to see all the quests including a Mechano Tank Tutorial then head on over to one of my favorite sites mmo-champion where they have an awesome organized post in full relation to the prologue including some smexy overcloaks.

There is also some juicy tidbits about the involvement of the Twilight Hammer and how they are part of “Dooms Day”

http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/cataclysm-prologue-gnomeregan-and-the-echo-isles/

In a not so recent confirmation Cataclysm will have submarines. One sub ran by Goblins and one sub ran by Gnomes.

This was confirmed during the last Twitter Development Chat for World of Warcraft.

I cant wait to ride one!

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.

What You’ll See on Gear

Stamina – Because of the way we will be assigning Strength, Agility, and Intellect, non-plate wearers will end up with more Stamina than before. Health pools will be much closer between plate-wearers and other classes.

Spirit – Come Cataclysm, this stat should only be found on healing gear. Non-healing casters will have other systems in place to regenerate mana, and we are designing special solutions for Elemental shaman and Balance druids who often share gear with healers (more on this below). Raid buffs that currently boost Spirit (such as Blessing of Kings) will only boost the primary stats of Stamina, Strength, Agility, and Intellect. We are also likely changing the five-second rule and other quirks of the current regen system.

Intellect – Intellect will now grant Spell Power (more on this below). Intellect will also provide less mana than it currently does.

Haste – Haste will become more attractive for melee classes by allowing them to recover resources such as energy and runes more quickly. Our intention is for Haste to let you “do stuff” more often.

Block Rating – Block is being redesigned to scale better. Blocked attacks will simply hit for 30% less damage. Block rating will improve your chance to block, though overall block chances will be lower than they are today.

Parry – Parry no longer provides 100% avoidance and no longer speeds up attacks. Instead, when you parry an attack, it and the next attack will each hit for 50% damage (assuming they hit at all). In other words, Dodge is a chance to avoid 100% of the damage from one attack, Parry is a chance to avoid 50% of the damage from two attacks, and Block is a chance to avoid 30% of the damage from one attack.

Mastery – This is a new stat that will allow players to become better at whatever makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. It’s directly tied to talents, so what you gain from improving this stat is entirely dependent upon your class and the talent specialization you choose. We’ll talk more about specific Mastery benefits in the future.

Armor – The way Armor mitigates damage is not changing, but the Armor stat has been rebalanced to mirror changes to the armor curve in Cataclysm. As a result, bonus Armor will go down slightly overall. We are also changing the mitigation difference among armor types so that plate doesn’t offer so much more protection than mail, leather, and cloth.

Resilience – This will only affect damage done by players and critical damage done by players. It will not impact crit chance, mana drains, or other such effects.

Strength, Agility, Hit Rating, Expertise, and Critical Strike Rating – These will all still appear on gear as well. Aside from situations mentioned elsewhere in this list, in general these will function similarly to how they do now, though the details — such as how much Hit Rating you might need to effectively combat high-level creatures (more on this below) — are likely to change.

Being Removed from Items

Attack Power – This stat will no longer be present on most items as a flat value, though it will still show up on some process. Strength and Agility, which will be present on items, will grant the appropriate amount of Attack Power (generally 2 Attack Power per point of Strength or Agility) depending upon which stat a particular class favors. Agility may provide less Crit than it currently does.

Spell Power – Spell Power is another stat that you’ll no longer see present on most items. Instead, as mentioned above, Intellect will grant Spell Power. One exception is that caster weapons will still have Spell Power. This allows us to make weapons proportionately more powerful for casters in the same way they are for melee classes.

Armor Penetration – This stat will no longer be present on items. Armor Penetration will still exist in talents and abilities.

Shield Block Value - This stat will no longer be present on items, since the amount blocked is always proportional to the amount of damage done. Talents and other effects might still modify the damage-reduction percentage from 30%, however.

Going Away Completely

MP5 – This stat will be removed from the game completely. Holy paladins and Restoration shaman will be redesigned to benefit from Spirit.

Defense – Defense is being removed from the game entirely. Tanking classes should expect to become uncrittable versus creatures just by shifting into Defensive Stance, Frost Presence, Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.

Spell Ranks – Spell ranks will cease to exist. All spells will have one rank and will scale appropriately with level. The levels at which you can learn certain spells are being changed in order to fill in some of the gaps, and we will be introducing some new spells to learn along the way as well.

Weapon Skill – This stat will be removed from the game completely. Classes will start with all the weapon skills they need to know and will not need to improve them.

What Else You Should Know

Combat ratings – All ratings will be much harder to “cap out” at maximum gear levels. Ratings will be steeper in Cataclysm, and creatures in later tiers of content will be harder to hit or crit, similar to how level-83 mobs are harder to hit or crit than level-80 mobs.

Reforging – While these changes will go a long way to making a wider variety of stats more attractive, we understand that sometimes you simply don’t want more Hit Rating on your gear or you’d rather have more Haste than more Crit. In Cataclysm, we are going to give players a way to replace stats on gear as part of the existing profession system. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll be able to convert one stat to 50% of another stat. While some conversions (like converting Stamina to Strength) won’t be permitted, the goal is to let you customize your gear more.

Gems – We are changing the gem colors of a few stats as a result of these adjustments. For example, Hit is likely to be blue instead of yellow. We’ll have more details on this in the future.

Sure it’s a neat service that alot of people will be happy to see come to fruition but in between server-changes, name changes, physical look changes, faction changes, and the soon to be released Racial change in WoW Cataclysm…is there really anything special left for any character?

I suppose not, people can already make level 55 characters and I guess the only that’s missing now is changing your class. Now class change in WoW is something I never expect.

Let’s have a look at detailed info of the WoW Faction change feature.

WoW Faction Change FAQ

What is the WoW Faction Change?

The Wow Faction Change allows existing players to change sides from Alliance to Horde, or Horde to Alliance. In other words, you can become a traitor.

How can I change Factions in WoW?

To change factions, simply head over to the account management page, click on ‘Faction Change’ and then follow the simple instructions.

What is the Cost of Faction Change for WoW?

Changing the faction of your character and betraying your entire allied friends costs a mere 30 USD (not including taxes).

What is this Faction Change tax I have to pay ?

It’s not a tax on loyalty, just a tax that you may have to pay in some US states like New Mexico or Texas.

Can I change the Faction of all my characters at once?

No, one faction change of 30USD only gets you to change to the faction of one of your characters. You will need to pay a hefty sum to get all your characters across Azeroth to the enemy’s side.

What is the minimum character level for Faction Change in WoW?

You know that level 10 night elf hunter that you spent 3 hours playing and then decided it wasn’t for you…well you can now make him a level 10 Orc hunter if that’s what kept your lazy ass from leveling him all these years. So levels 10 and above qualify. 

Can I have both a Alliance and Horde characters on the same PvP server?

Yes, there is now no restriction to have characters of both factions in the same realm.

Will I be able to change my name and look when I change factions?

Yes, you will be able to start from scratch and erase any evidence of who you were including name and physical look.

Will I be able to choose any Race when I change factions?

You will be able to choose any of the races available to your certain class in your new faction.

Can I purchase two Faction Changes to essentially change my race in the same faction?

Yes, you will however have to pay 2 faction change costs which will cost you 60USD before taxes. However this means that you can change your look, race, and name in WoW for a total of 60 USD.

Will I be able to change to the new WoW Cataclysm Races and new Race class combinations once they become available?

Currently, there is no decision yet made on whether this will be possible. My personal guess is that upon release it wont be available, but once people reach max level on these new races and class combinations, the service will allow you to switch to that Worgen or Goblin that you so deeply crave.

How often can I do a Faction Change?

The faction change in World of Warcraft will be limited to once every 60 days. So be careful if you want to do that double faction change trick to change your current race in the current faction.

How will the WoW Faction change work?

After you made the application and the payment has been processed. You will need to be logged out for at least 30 minutes. Then you will see a new button on the left of the character’s name when you next login. You can click on this button to select the character’s new faction and race, and at the same time customize his look and choose a new name. It will be pretty much identical to the character creation process. You need to then press the button labeled “Click to change your character’s action” and confirm your selection. Be careful as once you decide you can’t make other changes. If you haven’t made a decision yet, then you can leave it there and dont change anything until you’re sure.

What will happen to my old name when I change factions in Wow?

Your old name will be locked for a period of 90 days. It seems like Blizzard left this option for those who want to do a double faction change to change their race but remain the same faction.

What will happen to my equipment and inventory once I change Factions?

All non faction specific equipment  and items will remain unchanged. Your faction specific equipment will be change to its other faction equivalent, so sweat not.

What will happen to my achievements and character titles when I change Faction?

If it’s not faction specific then you can keep all the same titles and achievements, if it’s a faction specific achievement or title then you will receive the new faction equivalent.

What will happen to all my reputation when I change faction?

Faction neutral reputations wont be affect by a faction change. For faction specific reputations, they will be converted to the cross faction equivalent. (if it exists). The racial reputations will be transfered as follows:

Orcsof Ogrimmar and Humans of Stormwind change reputation. Taurens of Thunder Bluff and Gnomes of Gnomeregan Exiles exchange reputations. Undead of The Undercity and Night Elfs of Darnassus exchange reputations. Trolls of Sen’jin and Dwarves of Ironforge exchange reputations. Blood Elves of Silvermoon and Draenei of The Exodar exchange reputations.

What about quests, how will the be affected upon a faction change?

All quests in the character log and the associated quest items will be removed. The list of faction specific quests will be removed from your list in the new faction, but will be restored if you ever make a comeback.

What will happen to my flight paths after performing a faction change?

Your flight points will be reset and you will receive new flights points depending on your race and the level which you’re at.

What will happen will friends, ignore lists, guilds, arena teams, honor, and arena points after a WoW Faction Change?

Friends and Ignore lists will be reset! Characters will be removed from any guild or any arena team, the tabards and the arena team ratings will also all be removed and reset upon a faction change. If you’re a Guild Master, you wont be able to perform a character change until you give the power to someone else. Honor points, marks of honor, lifetime honorable kills, arena points will all be kept. But the arena points that you got from the last maintenance period could be lost.

What will happen to my mail and auctions?

You can’t have a faction change with any mail in your inbox or auctions still on the auction house. Make sure to remove these before starting the faction change process!

How much gold can I transfer as part of the Faction Change?

If you are in between levels 10 and 30 the limit is 3o gold. If you are between levels 31 and 50, the gold limit is 1000 gold. Characters between levels 51 and 69 will have a 5000 gold transfer limit. Characters between 71 and 80 can bring with them a total of 20000 gold.

Where will my character be after being Faction Changed?

In the capital city of his new race.

How will the faction change show up on the Armory profile?

The armory profile will update all the changes to your character in due time.

What services will the faction change share a cooldown with?

The faction change will share a cooldown with the race change service when it becomes available. However character transfer, character name change, or character re-customization services will not share any cooldown. So if your new ‘friends’ in your new faction dont like your new look and refuse to take you in as a new ally, you can always change your name and look and try again!

Any other Faction Change info for WoW Cataclysm I should know about?

You need to wait until previous name change/character transfer/re-customization is complete until you perform a faction change. Also be sure that you’re certain about wanting a faction change when you apply because once you are confirmed you will be immediately billed and there’s no way to reverse the faction change until the 60 day window is reset.

That’s pretty much all the details and information you need to know about the WoW Faction change service that is coming to us. As I said before, this is a great way for Blizzard to ruin the game, but I’m sure they will make a good profit from this at minimal cost to them. If you wonder why they haven’t yet released a race change service, well it will probably be available after the hardcore players do the double transfer to change their race for current class. Why offer them an easy cheap service when they can pay 60 USD and wait 2 months right…

Hopefully Blizzard will smarten up and not let players do a WoW Faction change to get a Goblin or Worgen race ever, or even a race change. Otherwise, what’s the point of leveling a Goblin or Worgen in WoW Cataclysm?