•    Official Cataclysm Forums Open - The official WoW forums had another section added to them last week, one dedicated to the upcoming expansion. There are already a lot of great discussions going on in this new section, but not a lot of additional firm details from anyone at Blizzard just yet. This will, however, we will likely see bits of information leaked and hinted at over the course of the coming months. You should go on over and check it out.

•    Paid Faction Changes Now Live - Well, this past weeks we’ve seen some pretty significant WoW-related news, but none quite as significant as this piece! The faction change service for WoW is now available! Yep, that’s right, players will now be able to switch their characters from Horde to Alliance or vice versa. In addition to this it seems you can change other things about your character in the process including name and gender, so you get more bang for your 30 bucks. So, if you’re interested in this new paid service you can visit your account management page and take advantage of it, but please be sure to read the FAQ first as there are some mount and reputation restrictions you will want to be aware of before making the big switch!

•    Race Changes Confirmed – The possibility of changing your character’s race within it’s existing faction was eluded to during BlizzCon and seemed to be a definite per their own FAQ about paid faction changes. Now, it has been confirmed by Blizzard poster, Neth in an official forum thread that the ability to change your character’s race will be arriving soon. With the talk of racial abilities being re-vamped for the new expansion most race changes will likely happen to get better racials for your character’s class from a different race. We will see how this one goes, but with paid faction changes already in place this one doesn’t surprise me at all. Can anyone say mo money?

•    For the Horde Gets a World First - The heroic versions of Trial of the Crusader went live some weeks ago and it took no time at all for some top guilds to venture into the more challenging versions of the raid encounter. Very soon after these encounters went live European guild For the Horde claimed the world first A Tribute to Insanity-10 which is a no wipe full clear of the instance on 10 man mode. According to their website they weren’t even trying for the achievement until they had made it all the way to Anub’arak with no wipes and then decided to go for it. Congrats to For the Horde!

•    ToC Jousting to be Fixed - Right now we all know that the post-jousting aggro tables are a real pain in the butt in the 5 man ToC encounter. Most groups know that the easiest way around this turning into a party wipe is for the entire group to step outside for a minute to allow the encounter to reset. Well it seems the dev team has noticed this issue too and Valnoth made a post in the forums stating that running out to reset will no longer be necessary once patch 3.2.2 is released. He doesn’t state exactly how this will happen, but a simple aggro wipe on the jousters would be enough to fix the problem.

•    Share WoW Achievements on Facebook – There is a pretty cool Facebook app out there called Achieved that will take your achievements and insert them into your Facebook feeds however you like. If you choose to go all the way and have your wall plastered with a story whenever you get an achievement, you can do that but if you want to be a bit less intrusive while still sharing the info with your friends, you can set the app to show as a small box on your profile page. The app also allows you to leave your character name out of it if for some reason you don’t want to share that info with ALL your Facebook friends. Achieved also has two versions, the free version requires you to log into Facebook for updates to happen but for a mere $.99 Canadian the app will update straight from the armory without any help from you!

•    Premonition Gets Mad Skills – US guild, Premonition has grabbed themselves another pretty significant raid achievement. This week they completed the 10-man Tribute to Mad Skill achievement which means they defeated the 10-man Coliseum raid on hard mode including the final boss, Anub’arak, with less than 5 party wipes throughout the entire instance! Premonition has established itself among the top US guilds earning other US firsts such as Alone in the Darkness and it seems they are poised to continue their streak now that all bosses in the Coliseum are unlocked. Congrats to them and good luck in the future!
•    BlizzCon Contest Winners – Every year at BlizzCon there are contests, some start weeks beforehand and some take place right there on the convention center stage. Regardless, they all take a great deal of time and talent to win, so we wanted to recognize this year’s winners. They are all truly talented and creative people! To see their amazing works of art check out the BlizzCon Contest Page.

•    New Commendation Badge for Dungeon Daily in 3.2.2 – One of the most recent builds to hit the PTR revealed something quite interesting: The dungeon daily now gives you the option to choose a Sons of Hodir Commendation Badge in addition to the ones which have been there all along. I have already completed the Hodir rep grind on my main, so this won’t really help me out there, but I will love it on my alts!

•   Pandaren Monk Video – Now, we let you know a couple of weeks ago that the Pandaren Monk will be one of the new companion pets players can obtain once Patch 3.2.2 is released to live servers. Now there is a video of this adorable little guy! I would imagine since he’s THAT cool he will not be easily obtained, but that remains to be seen since the drop location has not yet been confirmed.

•    Your Pre-Cataclysm “To Do” List - So, sometime in the next 12-15 months our favorite game will see revisions like it has never seen before. Cataclysm promises to bring huge changes to Azeroth and there’s a good chance a lot of the old quests and reputation grinds with which we are very familiar will be gone forever or, at the very least, changed so much they will be barely recognizable. With all this in mind, many achievements and titles are taking on a sense of urgency players have never felt before.

•    WoW TCG Scourgewar Loot Available for Trial - On September 11th the folks over at Upper Deck (maker of the WoW Trading Card Game) released more information about the next expansion, Scourgewar, slated for release on November 24th. The new loot cards that will be available are Tiny (super-common loot card), this will give you a game code redeemable for 50 summons of a mini-mount which will carry you around as fast as his little legs can take him, which is no faster than your character runs, but it’s the cool that counts! Next is the Tuskarr Kite (uncommon loot card), this item will allow you to have your very own decorative kite like the ones in the Tuskarr Village which will function like the Onyxia Kite from a previous TCG expansion. This kite will also count toward your companion pet achievement…sweet! Lastly there is the Spectral Kitten (extremely rare loot card), this will be the quintessential loot card for all you collectors out there. This cutie comes with tiny little armor to match his size and lets out a haunting meow when you click on him, this is one little kitty plenty of fans will be wanting to get their hands on! You can take these sweet lootz for a test drive on the PTR by visiting Landro Longshot and using the following codes: Tiny: 3333, Kite: 2222, Kitty: 1111…have fun!

•    Cranius Music Available on Amazon.com - Cranius has established himself as one of the top WoW fan songwriters with credits such as Big Blue Dress and Darrowshire going to him, nearly everyone familiar with fan created music has heard of him. In the past year, Cranius has also teamed up with an excellent machinima partner, Legs and together they won top honors in the machinima contest at BlizzCon last month with Don’t Make Me Get My Main. All this background makes it awesome to point out that Cranius has released his music through Amazon.com on an album title Big Blue Dress, the album retails for less than $5 and includes downloads of several of Cranius’ original WoW-themed songs. For so little it’s nice to throw some support in the direction of such a talented artist! Head on over to Amazon.com and check it out!

•   Argent Tournament Gains NOT Transferable - Just as a heads up for all you faction transferers (is that even a word?) out there. Many faction reputations will transfer just fine, but that will not be the case for any Argent Tournament progress you have made. All Argent Tournament Reps will be wiped clean and you will have to start all over again after your transfer. Blizzard poster Kisirani stated that Blizz couldn’t think of a way to make this rep transfer on the technical end (understandable) so anyone who changes factions will have to make their way back through the ranks to the Champion level. Other rep grinds which will be wiped include Silver Covenant and Sunreavers, this isn’t a huge loss but an annoyance none the less.

•    New WoW Model Viewer Available - The WoW Model Viewer which is a tool used by producers of machinima as well as other graphics enthusiasts has released a new version which is compatible with patch 3.2. This version of the popular graphics program includes forms for the new Worgen race which will be arriving with the Cataclysm expansion and it also addressed many of the issues the program had previously. I have used this program for many years and I love it! I am looking forward to messing around a bit with the new Worgen forms and will be really excited when I can put armor on them!

* Next WoW Expansion Officially Announced – As we all know by now, Blizzard announced that the next expansion pack for WoW, to be named Cataclysm and it’s scheduled to be released sometime in 2010! Not only did they officially confirm it’s arrival but they also confirmed much of the speculation and rumors that were floating around in cyberspace a week or so ago. We will see the Goblins align with the Horde and the Worgen with the Alliance, we will see new race/class combos, the level cap will increase to 85 and will be reached in large part by following the Path of the Titans, Classic Azeroth will see a near complete re-vamp breathing new life into the leveling process (even from 1-60) and allowing flight in these areas will also streamline things quite a bit, they will be re-vamping some of the classic dungeons (Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep are on the list) and adding new ones with heroic modes and awesome loot, we will also see the addition of a new guild leveling and achievement system, rated battlegrounds and a new profession (Archeology) with some pretty awesome character benefits. I know it’s so much to take in! If you still haven’t seen the trailer I suggest you take a look at our earlier cataclysm news post.

* The BlizzCon ’09 Goody Bag - The lucky attendees at the annual Blizzard Convention always receive a cool swag bag packed with some pretty fabulous goodies. Although this year’s bag seemed a little lighter than last year’s there were still some great things included: A special edition Blizzard authenticator, a two for one admission pass to the WoW Emergent Media Phenomenon at the Laguna Art Museum, a coupon to pick up an official BlizzCon ’09 program at the convention, a coupon for up to 40% off the WoW Stein Collection, an exclusive Raynor collectible from the all new nOObz collection Blizzard has started, hand sanitizer (because gamers are dirty people), and of course everyone’s favorite little Murloc…Grunty the Murloc Marine was hiding out in the bag too. Well actually it was just the card with the code on it…I think if a Murloc actually crawled out of the bag there would have been a bit more than the usual BlizzCon mayhem!

* Cataclysm’s New Starter Zones – With new races must come new starting zones. While there was not a ton of information available on these zones we do have some for you. The Goblins will start on the island of Kezan and will phase in and out a lot while the Cataclysm is ripping the island apart, they will then board ships and face some hostile fire between Horde and Alliance before landing off the coast of the Lost Isles. The Worgen will start in Gilneas and will initially be chained up until they drink a potion to turn them “human” again, then they will embark on a quest chain which like the goblin starting questline will take them through about level 15 before it is time to move on.

* Racials for New Playable Races - All races have them, the things that set your race apart from others, racial passive skills. For the Worgen there will be a bonus of +15 to skinning with the ability to skin kills faster than other races, Dark Flight which will increase run speed by up to 70% for 10 seconds, Viciousness which increases damage done by 1% and Worgen will also see a reduction in the duration of curses and diseases of 15%. As for the Goblins, well they will be getting great prices all around Azeroth, they will have a personal servant that they can summon for 1 minute of bank access, greater aptitude in Alchemy with a +15 racial bonus, belt rockets which can be launched at enemies to cause damage or can also be used to disengage, and my favorite the “Time is Money” racial buff which gives Goblins a 1% increased attack or cast speed.

* New Dungeons and Raids - With the release of Cataclysm we will see the re-vamping of some classic WoW dungeons and also the addition of some all new content. The Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep will return with all new level 85 heroic versions, There will also be new dungeons added to the elemental plains of fire and air with at least one of them being a “level up” dungeon, the Lost City of Tol’vir and the Halls of Origination (a Titan city) will be offerings in the Uldum area, Blackrock Caverns will be an all new level-up dungeon located within Blackrock Spire.

* Guild Leveling System – This system will be added with the release of Cataclysm in an effort to encourage guild participation and increase the benefits of being in a guild and playing well together and separately. Guild experience can be earned through players leveling, killing bosses, leveling professions, PvP victories and reputation grinds. Each guild level rewards you with one talent point, these talents affect the whole guild and some of them will allow you to remove reagent costs from spells, summon your entire raid, rez your entire raid after a wipe or automatically transfer a certain percentage of the raid’s gold drops to the guild bank. Guild talents can be reset at any time. Once a guild reaches level 20 (the max) then the guild experience will become currency which will allow for the purchase of mounts, professions plans, rare reagents and guild talent respecs. Anyone in the guild can learn a guild profession recipe, but if you leave the guild after learning it you will lose the recipe and it will appear back in the guild bank. There will also be guild heirlooms which are bound to the guild and will work in the same way as the recipes.

* Classic WoW Re-Vamp - With the release of Cataclysm old world Azeroth will be getting a complete overhaul. Some areas will see more change than others, but will change just the same. Areas such as Desolace that were formerly completely sand covered barren deserts will be covered in lush green plants, wildlife and new villagescapes. Other areas like the Barrens will not fare so well. It will be torn in pieces with rivers of lava flowing through it like something out of a medieval themed horror movie complete with dragons and epic questlines. Not only will the landscapes change, but many of the cities will also have to adapt to the new lay of the land. Undercity will be completely rebuilt to accommodate the ability of players to fly, it will be much more visually substantial from the outside and more lush and beautiful on the inside which seems a bit strange to me but I’m sure Blizz will make it work. Stormwind will also be getting an epic overhaul with beautiful new castles and new commons areas. Orgrimmar will also see some changes as the Cataclysm will largely destroy this wonderful Horde city. The outer walls will require rebuilding and reinforcing which means steel plates which will make it look much like the Garrosh Strongholds.

* Path of the Titans – All the details for this new form of leveling progression are not yet available, but what we do know is that there will be multiple paths which you can take your character down and the path you choose will determine much about your character’s strengths and weaknesses. By traveling down a given path you will be able to learn passive bonuses and new abilities not otherwise available to your character. You will also earn new glyph slots for your character to place the non-inscription based glyphs into. These new glyphs will be earned as a result of your progress down your chosen path by engaging in things like PvP, raiding, questing or learning tradeskills. Players can also respec and choose a different path at any time. This will allow for players of the same race and class to differentiate themselves to a higher degree.

* All New Underwater Zone - The Sunken City of Vashj’ir will be an underwater zone. This was the home city of Lady Vashj before the original sundering and will act as a gateway to the Abyssal Maw. Going through the Abyssal Maw will take you to the Elemental Plane of Water. Although the zone will be completely underwater you will be walking on the sea floor here, new underwater mounts will be available and should have the same speed as normal flying mounts.

* Icecrown Citadel - Blizzard developers have earlier said that Icecrown will be “huge”…well they weren’t kidding! Icecrown Citadel will consist of four floors and will be a 10/25 man raid containing 12 bosses including Arthas himself. Due to the dungeon’s massive size the use of waypoints and teleporters will be implemented here as they were in Ulduar. A new experience is coming our way as well, once the second floor is complete your raid group will have to board an airship with your faction leader and race against the opposing faction to reach the third floor. Players will be able to board their ship with rocket packs and catapults to fight them (cool!). The ultimate victory will be making it to the fourth floor and defeating Arthas!

* All New PvP Content – The announcement was made at BlizzCon that not only will we be getting an all new PvP Battleground and a new PvP Zone with the arrival of the next expansion, but we will also see the return of old PvP titles and the arrival of the Battleground Rating System! This will allow players to earn rating and arena points by participating in the “Battleground of the Week” and winning. This is great news for many PvPers who dislike arenas as now they will have another option to get points, titles and gear. Players will also have the opportunity to earn guild levels by participating in the rated battlegrounds with their guildmates. In addition to these changes there will be additional, highly profitable daily quests for the faction in control of Tol’barad (the new PvP zone), new battleground objectives and arena maps!

* Cross-Server LFG - Another announcement that came this week that I found to be quite interesting was that soon players will be able to PUG 5-man instances by searching for players on multiple servers. Players will be able to look for group members across all servers in their battlegroup and the group leader will be rewarded for doing so after a successful run. This is being done to eliminate the annoying ” no more instances can be launched at this time” message we are all too familiar with. The best part…we won’t have to wait for the expansion for this feature! It “should” be ready to go with patch 3.3.

* Paid Race Changes - That’s right, folks pretty soon there won’t be anything you can’t change about your character. Blizzard announced that shortly after they implement the paid faction changes they will also be making it possible to change your character’s race through a paid service as well. So once this goes into effect it will certainly take some of the guesswork out of carefully choosing little things like race, faction, hair color, gender, etc. when creating a new character.

* No More Mana For Hunters! – This strange change to come were announced at BlizzCon! Hunters will soon no longer rely on mana for their spells and abilities, they will instead need focus. With this change there will no longer be a need for Intellect or Mana Regen. on a Hunter’s gear and Aspect of the Viper in it’s current form becomes useless, so maybe we will see a re-working of this ability or maybe a whole new one in it’s place or maybe Hunters will no longer have aspects of any kind..at all!? Hunters will be able to have a maximum of 100 focus and the idea is to have it regenerate much like a Rogues energy, only a bit slower when using auto shot, but faster when steady shot is used. I think this change it pretty exciting but not as exciting as the mentioned possibility of Hunters being able to tame their own mounts!

* Profession Changes and Additions – Ok, let’s talk about the new profession first. In Cataclysm we will see the arrival of Archaeology as a secondary available profession. As an archaeologist you would hunt through the ruins left behind by the cataclysmic events and find and collect artifacts which will open different paths in the Path of the Titans, vanity pets, titles, etc. The new profession’s UI will be in a very journal-esque format with a checklist of things you’ve done and a showing of things still to do. The professions panel at BlizzCon also talked about reforging as being part of the expansion. This would be where a trained professional (blacksmith, leatherworker, tailor, jewelcrafter or engineer) could reforge an item made by their profession and trade one set of stats for another, the new stat must be one which is not already on the item. Players will also see “multi-gains” when the expansion goes live. This means that if you’re a leatherworker you can create 5 pairs of green bracers or one blue chestplate giving one skill-up from each of the greens or an instant 5 skill-up points from the one blue. They also indicated that there will be some “big changes” to fishing to make it more fun…ugh, good luck with that!

* Pet Changes – These changes will be arriving pre-expansion with patch 3.3 (yay!). As of that time pets will scale off of their master’s stats and raid buffs will apply to them across the board. Pets will also not be effected by AOE damage from bosses in raids and instances, however AOE damage will still apply as normal during PvP combat. Pet classes will also likely see the arrival of some kind of “move to this location” spell which will have a very long cooldown but would allow the pet to teleport to the player to get out of trouble. This would be nice since it is pretty impossible for devs. to make the pet AI as smart as (most) players.

At BlizzCon 09 Blizzard reviealed a new fancy trailer detailing the new playable races; Goblin for the horde and Worgen for Alliance. The levelcap will only raise by 5 this time making place for new L85 endgame content taking place in a revamped Azeroth As the data miners discovered some time ago it will certainly we’ll be able to play new race/class combinations like night elf mage, human hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Tauren Paladin and Troll Druid.

Watch the fantastic trailer:

Here’s a snippet from the Official Blizzar FAQ for your convinience:

“OFFICIAL BLIZZARD “World of WarCraft: Cataclysm” FAQ
What is the story of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm?

While the attention of the Horde and Alliance remained fixed upon Northrend, an ancient evil has been lying 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, nursing his hatred for the inferior creatures that infest the surface realm…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.

The face of Azeroth is altered forever as the destruction left in Deathwing’s wake reshapes the land and reveals secrets long sealed away. Players will be able to re-experience familiar zones across Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, rewrought by the cataclysm and filled with new opportunities for adventure.

What are the features of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm?

Some of the new features of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm include:

* Two New Playable Races: Adventure as one of two new races–the cursed worgen with the Alliance or the resourceful goblins with the Horde.

* Level Cap Increased to 85: Earn new abilities, tap into new talents, and progress through the path system, a new way for players to improve characters.

* Classic Zones Remade: Familiar zones across the original continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms have been altered forever and updated with new content, from the devastated Badlands to the broken Barrens, which has been sundered in two.

* New High-Level Zones: Explore newly opened parts of the world, including Uldum, Grim Batol, and the great Sunken City of Vashj’ir beneath the sea.

* More Raid Content than Ever Before: Enjoy more high-level raid content than previous expansions, with optional more challenging versions of all encounters.

* 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.

* Guild Advancement: Progress as a guild to earn guild levels and guild achievements.

* 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.

* Flying Mounts in Azeroth: Explore Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms like never before.

Why are you revisiting the continents of Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor?

As we developed new content and expansions, we learned a lot of techniques to provide players with a better game experience–but the majority of the new content we were creating was for high-level characters only. We felt we could apply the lessons of Outland and Northrend to improve the gameplay experience while leveling in the original two continents. Imagine revisiting a familiar zone like Darkshore only to find Auberdine destroyed by the cataclysm–and then discovering entirely new towns and quests in other parts of the zone.

Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms are central to World of Warcraft lore, and we want those areas to remain an important part of the game, not just a place to train or auction. Our goal is to make questing, leveling, and the overall story more fun for new, returning, and existing players. By redesigning areas of the original continents and introducing new content that matches or exceeds the quality of Wrath of the Lich King, we can revitalize the nostalgia and coolness of Azeroth.

How did you decide upon the two new playable races, worgen and goblin?

The community has been requesting to play as the goblins for quite some time now, and we wanted to stick with at least one race that players were very familiar with. This expansion was the perfect time to bring the goblins to the forefront and offer more insight into their past, since the catastrophic events of the expansion really hit close to home.

As for the worgen, players have been hoping to be able to learn more about them since Silverpine Forest. This is a great opportunity to explore their lore and the mysteries of the Greymane Wall. The worgen are an aggressive and beastly race, which is something you see often among the Horde races, but is unique among the Alliance races.

Will the two new races have all-new starting experiences?

Yes, we are creating all-new level 1 to 15 starting zones for both races. Players will start their adventures with the worgen in Gilneas, which was sealed off behind the Greymane Wall. Goblin players will start on the Isle of Kezan and then head to the Lost Isles in the South Seas before joining the mainland. Each starting experience will be presented in a fashion similar to the death knight starting area in Wrath of the Lich King, and these starting zones will make extensive use of our new phased-terrain technology.

Which classic zones have been overhauled? What are some examples of changes?

Nearly all of the game’s original zones are being altered to some degree, but the extent of the changes varies by zone. For example, Darkshore is flooded and has been completely redesigned with all new quest hubs. The Barrens have been split in two; one half is for low-level players and the other is for higher-level players. Azshara is now a low-level zone for Horde players and connects directly to Orgrimmar.

Is another Hero class being added to the game?

We are not planning to add a new Hero class in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. For this expansion, it was more appropriate to focus on the two new races, the goblins and worgen. We never intended to include a Hero class in every expansion. As you saw with death knights, adding a new class changes the dynamics of the game dramatically, which is not something we want to do in every expansion. We still have plans to introduce new Hero classes in the future.

Will I will be able to use my flying mount in the redesigned Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor?

Yes. While the original Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor weren’t designed for flying mounts, we’re redesigning the continents with flying mounts in mind. However, we’re still determining whether there will be any restrictions on where you will be able to fly, at what level flying will become available, or whether you’ll need to do anything to unlock it. We’ll share more details about this in the future.

Will I need the expansion to be able to experience the Cataclysm changes?

When the Cataclysm occurs, it will occur for all players, whether they have purchased the expansion or not–you will no longer be to play in the original version of Kalimdor or the Eastern Kingdoms. However, certain features such as the new zones, new races, and new level cap will only be accessible to players who purchase the expansion.

Will “phasing” be used more extensively in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm?

Yes. We’ve come up with a number of new, cool ways to using phasing since we introduced it in Wrath of the Lich King, and plan to use it more extensively to change the world as players progress. We are also now able to phase terrain, which players will see in the starting areas for the goblins and worgen. We’re also adding some UI improvements to help determine when another player is in a different “phase” from you.

Will there be any updates to the graphics and changes to the minimum system requirements?

Yes, there will be incremental tweaks and updates to the graphics engine in this expansion. For example, we’ve made improvements to the way that water is rendered. We’ll announce the exact system requirements closer to the expansion’s release.”

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