World Makeover; Azeroth Edition

New BarrensYesterday at Blizzcon the new expansion for world of Warcraft was confirmed, the reports are everywhere. The confirmation arrives with a plethora of information about old zone changes, class changes and new races. Here are some of the features that will change Azeroth for ever;

Two new races Worgen and Goblins have been confirmed. The will each have their own starting zones that level from 1-15. Here are the racials that they have been given;

 

Sup, we're new here.Goblins
• Rocket Jump – Activate your rocket belt to jump up to 20 yards, every 2 min
• Rocket Barrage – Fire your belt rockets at an enemy within 30 yards, every 2 min. (Shared cool down with Rocket Jump)
• Time is money – Cash in on a 1% increase to attack and casting speed.
• Best Deals Anywhere – Best possible gold discount, regardless of reputation.
• Pack Hobgoblin – Calls in your personal servant, allowing you bank access every 30 min.
• Better Living Through Chemistry – Alchemy skill +15, Your potions give more health / mana
• Goblins can be all classes except Paladin or Druids

Does this Robe make me look fat?Worgen
• Darkflight – Activate your true form, increasing movement speed by 70% for 6 sec, every 3 min.
• Viciousness – Increase damage by 1%.
• Aberration – Reduced duration on Curses and Diseases used against you by 15%.
• Flayer – Skinning skill +15, you skin creature fast, and you don’t even need a knife.
• Worgen can be all classes except Paladins or Shamans

It has been mentioned that the old world has been changed, but it has been drastically and completely changed. Here is the story behind the change;

 
While the attention of the Horde and Alliance remained fixed upon Northrend, an ancient evil has been lying dormant within Deephome, 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 Deephome 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.

 
Everyone has been tired of vanilla wow for quite some time. Blizzard always a step ahead of the competition has remade the old world. Here are some of the new features;
• The old world will be much darker than it was to make heroism and brotherhood more meaningful like Warcraft should be.
• Every zone will be revamped with new quests, items, and art. The old world will be a brand new experience and you won’t have to deal with the annoying agility/spirit quest rewards anymore.
• Azeroth is now flyable. Pretty much all the zones will be changed to some extent, some of them like Elwynn Forest won’t change too much but others like The Barrens will be sundered in two by Deathwing.
• The Wailing Caverns are now a lush and verdant Area.
• Desolace now has a lot more waters and a lot of plants can be seen in the screenshots.
• The Horde finally conquered Southshore.
• Auberdine was destroyed and the night elves have set up a new camp north of it. Garrosh wants to expand the horde and has built a fortified camp at the south of the zone.
• Stonetalon has been cleaned by the Goblins, Azshara will be the new Goblin zone, and are using quarries in the mountains of Azshara to build their town.
• Apparently Orgrimmar will be rebuilt and reinforced with steel; it now looks a lot like Garrosh strongholds…
• Undercity has been redesigned to be flyable; it now looks much more impressive from the outside.

Seven new zones have been added to the game here is a brief description on those zones;

Starting Areas
• The Worgen and Goblins starting zone level goes from 1 to 15. The Worgen will start in Gilneas and the Goblins on the Lost Isles.

Vasj’ir
• Sunken City of Vashj’ir will be an underwater zone and was the home city of Lady Vashj before the original sundering; this is a gateway to the Abyssal Maw. Going through the Abyssal Maw will take you to the Elemental Plane of Water, even if the zone will be 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.

Deepholm
• Deepholm will be the new hub of the expansion, you will have portals here to let you teleport to Hyjal, Uldum, etc … The Twilight’s Hammer now serves Deathwing and have brought him back to full health in the Temple of Earth at the center of the map.
• Deepholm isn’t really connected to Azeroth; the connection is where Deathwing emerged from the ground.

Uldum
• Uldum will have at least two dungeons and is heavily inspired from Egypt. The sea at the west of Tanaris was just an illusion created by the Titan and Uldum is actually a brand new zone. It is rumored to hold a super weapon. Uldum is also the home of the Tolvir, a race of stone-like cats created by the titans.

Plane of Fire
• Ragnaros used the cataclysm to come back from the Plane of Fire where we sent him and is now sieging the World Tree in Mount Hyjal to burn it down. Malfurion is back from the Emerald Dream. The whole zone (Hyjal) will make extensive use of phasing.

Twilight Highlands
• The Twilight Highlands will feature Grim Batol; Deathwing literally broke open Grim Batol as he emerged from the ground. This is the new Twilight’s Hammer base in Azeroth and both Horde and Alliance will have a new port town with boats here. The Red Dragonflight is still here but has been pushed back to the west of the zone near the Wetlands.

These changes are definably drastic but also definitely needed. This expansion will change our virtual world forever, but also give other MMO companies something to think about. I am looking forward to this expansion. Leveling alts in a brand new, darker Azeroth will be incredible.

3 Comments

  1. With the awesome racials of the new races, the old vanilla WoW races are in dire need of new racials. Hope they get some love too.

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