BlizzCon 2009: The short version
by Allison Robert 
Aug 24th 2009 at 11:00AM
- THE END OF WRATH: Developers gave some pretty revealing information on what we can expect to see in patch 3.2.2 (the revamped Onyxia raid) and in patch 3.3, where we'll finally stare down Arthas himself.
- THE NEXT EXPANSION: Blizzard's own loremaster Chris Metzen debuted the first trailer for the next expansion, titled World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and that sound you hear is millions of players who can't believe Blizzard would ever pull a stunt this big. Cataclysm's basic storyline features the return of Deathwing and the re-sundering of the world in his wake, forever altering Azeroth's classic landscape and sending players to previously unseen parts of the world like the Lost Isles, Hyjal, Gilneas, Uldum, and Grim Batol.
- FEATURES OF CATACLYSM: The most important features of the next expansion include two new races (Goblins for the Horde and Worgen for the Alliance), new class possibilities for existing races, a new secondary skill, character stat simplification, cross-server instances, the ability to level and "talent" your guild, new means of character advancement through the Path of the Titans, Mastery, and the revamping of the talent system, and rated battlegrounds.
- LIVEBLOGS: We blogged and liveblogged the convention from start to finish: the Opening Ceremony, the WoW Preview panel, the WoW Art panel, The Guild's panel, the first and second WoW Class, Items, and Professions Panels, the general WoW Q&A, the Breaking Into the Industry panel, the Game Systems panel, and the Raids and Dungeons panel.
- FUN AND GAMES: Even in the middle of all the craziness, we still found time for our third annual Reader Meetup (we expected maybe 300 people and got 1200+) with the cast of The Guild present, Premonition's live raid, the Costume contest, and the Dance and Soundalike contests.
Filed under: Cataclysm, BlizzCon, Patches, Worgen, Features, Expansions, News items, Blizzard, WoW Social Conventions, Fan stuff, Events, Goblin
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
benrussell7 Aug 24th 2009 11:12AM
So, like, do we have to talk about all our thoughts again in this post? Bur, like, the short version?
My Thoughs: Amazing! But Leaked. Deathwing cool. $85$?
Spoonshark Aug 24th 2009 12:28PM
Here's the short version: Lame
I saw hundreds of people who stay through L80ETC stand up and walk out after Ozzy's first song. It was disgraceful. Wasn't it bad enough I had to smell you all weekend? Couldn't you at least show some respect for a real rocker like Ozzy?
Sarakin Aug 24th 2009 2:01PM
seriously spoonshark? that's pretty sad. I'm not really a big fan of Ozzy but to stay for the other guys and just leave is kinda pathetic
miork Aug 24th 2009 3:56PM
The big problem with the start of the Ozzie show, and probably the reason why so many people left, was for the first 2 songs he didn't use the screens for live video and nobody could see him. That hall was huge and when they put the video feed back it got A LOT better.
I'm a fan, but by then my feet were killing me and standing in the back bc I got there a little late and watching some canned flame footage didn't sound fun. I stuck it out and found a better place to stand though, and really enjoyed the set after they started to play the video.
benrussell7 Aug 25th 2009 6:26AM
Im confused as to why I was downvoted, and why you all are talking about Ozzy Osbourne >:(
STHedgeHog Aug 24th 2009 11:24AM
The Onyxia Raid news had me reglued to wow again after it started to get a little thin waiting for Arthas. Now Cataclysm is offical im happier then ever. Once again WoW will have my attention solely.
Dreckers Aug 24th 2009 11:27AM
I've not been playing for a while but I reckon I may make an appearance again with this coming :)
Ben F Aug 24th 2009 11:36AM
Question. Perhaps this has been covered, but I missed it.
How are they handling the continuity of sending everyone to Outland and Northren AFTER the Cataclysm hits? I mean, the official story is this happens after Arthas is defeated. But many people will be starting new toons (or perhaps are new players altogether) from level 1 and at level 60 will need to follow the story of the Burning Legion and then the Lich King, but this makes little sense to me after the world has been destroyed in such a manner.
Thoughts?
Clarick Aug 24th 2009 11:48AM
Thoughts?
Its a game and I for one never really put thought into that....because its just a game. One thing I can see is that you won't need to do the northrend endgame content because of the new lvl 80 zones at hyjal and whatnot.
Ben F Aug 24th 2009 11:51AM
@Clarick
Of course it's just a game and it would be ridiculous to lose sleep over it. But WoW has tried to have continuity in the past (other times just ignoring it). Most of the people who read WoW.com enjoy the lore to some extent and are fans of the fiction related to the game. So just as when reading a book or watching a movie it would be appropriate to look at the lore and these issues, I think it's interesting here. People who are uninterested need not apply, but I imagine I'm not the only person here who enjoys this type of discussion.
nyctef Aug 24th 2009 12:02PM
The Cataclysm is meant to happen WHILE we're in Northrend - we just weren't paying attention. So it doesn't mess up the continuity that badly.
Iratio Aug 24th 2009 12:06PM
This is the first I've read about the talent tree changes. I have always enjoyed making decisions on spec and being rewarded or "educated" based on my choices. Now it'll just be "my new epic gives me a lot of int, so I'll transfer x points over to the tree that emphasizes spirit" and the like.
Bottom line: No more creative styles for your class/role that were not thought up by Blizz.
Example: Holy Pallys are "supposed" to stack crit and wear plate, well, I know a holy pally who out heals resto-druid, resto-shammy, holy-priest, and of course every other holy pally *by far* who stacks haste and wears a lot of non-plate. His style is supported by an unusual spec. Although not as drastic a divergence from the norm, as a holy priest I have 3 points in mental agility and do most of my effective healing via renew (normal ticks + empowered direct).
I'm positively excited about the next expansion, but it looks like talent trees' are headed for the no-brainer min-max bin.
Cyrus Aug 24th 2009 12:18PM
This problem existed in every expansion, really. Why does your DK have to go to Outland? If your main killed C'Thun way back in vanilla WoW, then why will those druids in Silithus ask my alt for help when I level him through that zone in a couple weeks?
That being said, though, if you go to the new content as soon as you can (Outland at 58, Northrend at 68), any individual character shouldn't encounter too many conflicts. Quagmirran is a complete nobody in the lore, so maybe he's been killed and a new giant moved into his bog. Exarch Maladaar is a ghost, so maybe he was beaten by adventurers when BC was new and now he's back from the dead... again. The really storyline-dependent stuff in each expansion so far has been stuff that you can and probably will skip as you advance, like the Netherstorm quest chain where your character is surprised to learn that the blood elves are in league with the Burning Legion. Well, for characters created after 2.4 and WotLK, Kael'Thas and elves loyal to him have always been evil, but that quest chain is long and has parts that require a group so they'll probably skip it anyway, so where's the conflict?
For superheroes, crimefighting is a neverending battle, there's always a new villain getting paroled from prison or a new crime boss consolidating power; for RPG players, dungeon crawls are.
peon47 Aug 24th 2009 1:14PM
@Cyrus
That's the point, isn't it? From the point of view of your character, everything happens chronologically. When you're low level, it's "soon after the 3rd war" and then the events happen in order, the same for everyone.
When you arrive in Outland, the dark portal has just opened, and the quests and NPC conversations all support that. Right through establishing a base, meeting the Aldor and the Scryers, defeating Illidan, and the two factions putting aside their differences, and the Isle of Quel'Danas. The same happens in Northrend (although phasing changes the mechanic somewhat)
Now, you're going to hear about Deathwing breaking loose, see the devastation of the New Sundering, on you way to 60, reach 60, step through the Dark Portal, and the NPCs will be talking about how it just opened.
Agerath Aug 24th 2009 1:53PM
Iratio:
1. Holy paladins do not stack crit. We stack intellect because we are broken and have no real passive regen capabilities any more. Solution? Massive mana pool.
2. Because of the way our heals work, too much haste is actually bad for us.
3. Most paladins out-heal other classes on nukeable content--thank beacon for that.
There is no magic stat. We must have balance in order to be effective healers.
Falcom Aug 24th 2009 2:57PM
I was at blizzconn and asked a blizzard rep this exact question, he was rather dumbfounded and didn't have an answer at the time, but admit it is a valic concern lorewise, and will likely be the case.
Wipeman Aug 24th 2009 4:15PM
@Ben F
My dear friend(fail opening)
The problem is that you have got the whole thing of continuinity wrong. When you make a new character you don't in fact where was the story and the storyline when the game had first begun but the storyline of your new character starts where the storyline is now. Whichs means: When you make now an alt the dark portal is open already and people have alreeady taken the fight to Lich King. When the cataclysm is released the storyline reason why you first decide to outland then northred then deal with deathwing is a matter of personal choic of your character. You first decided to deal with the smaller problems first then th bigger ones. And in fact cataclysm isn't what happens after artha's defeat. It's what happens a couple of years after people decide to seriously take the fight to lich king but for you they have all failed to kill him. So when cataclysm is released arthas will be still alive(it isn't mentioned otherwise anyway) and you will have to kill him. Don't forget that all the victories in all instances and raids have not happened for you before you clear them, the only things that have happened are the opening of the dark portal, taking the fight to arthas and the world suffering deathwing's devastation. But before you complete any instances or raids yourself no victory has happened for you. Arthas, Kil' Jaeden, Illidan and Deathwing are still there.
I hope this answers your question.
Oneiroi Aug 24th 2009 11:48AM
As a casual (although I've let my subscription lapse), I'm most excited about the stat simplification. I was annoyed at how they kept adding random new stats while seemingly to change their mind all the time on what would be useful and what wasn't (ie spirit). It made end game equipment a bit annoying for me. I was never sure which stat I should stack and kept feeling like I was ignoring other stats in preference of others.
I feel like, why have spell power if you have int? Why have regen if you have spirit?
Yay for simplification!
Agath Aug 24th 2009 12:03PM
they still havent announced what the for tauren pallys are gonna be? holy kodos?
jfofla Aug 24th 2009 4:34PM
Holy Cow!