by Zach Yonzon 
Aug 15th 2010 at 2:00PM
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From goblins and worgen to mastery and guild changes, it's all here for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Love Is In the Air | 2/2 - 2/15 |
| Blackrock Foundry Normal and Heroic open | 2/3 |
| Darkmoon Faire | 2/8 - 2/15 |
| Blackrock Foundry Mythic opens | 2/10 |
| Lunar Festival | 2/16 - 3/2 |
| Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 1 opens | 2/17 |
| Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 2 opens | 2/24 |
| Darkmoon Faire | 3/1 - 3/8 |
| Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 3 opens | 3/10 |
| Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 4 opens | 3/24 |
© 2015 AOL Inc. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Trademarks | AOL A-Z HELP | About Our Ads | Advertise With Us
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Camaris Aug 15th 2010 2:12PM
Hmm. I'm not a big fan of those kinds of dark gloomy zones where it always rains. I get an Arkham Asylum kind of vibe from it, which is okay.
From what I've heard, currently the zone is only available through the PvP queuing system. Which basically makes it sound like a battleground with a PvE quest area or something, because it sounds like it's instanced. I'm hoping that's just a temporary thing and Tol Barad will actually exist in the world.
Qot Aug 15th 2010 3:20PM
I'm hoping the number of people in the area remains throttled.
I play on a server where the Horde win Wintergrasp 19% of the time (I've been watching the book in VoA) and where any Horde flying around or fishing during off-battle moments will get jumped by 2 or 3 Alliance. If Tol Barad is "open air" during off-battle hours, we will just have to write off those dailies even if we win the battle.
I'm hoping that these dailies are meaningless (just for gold or PvP-faction rep) and not the new Sons of Hodir, since I loathe PvP, especially random world PvP.
Hob Aug 15th 2010 4:20PM
From a recent Wow.com post about Tol Barad, it sounds like only the actual hourly combat will be instanced - if you're not in the queue, (I assume) you'll be teleported out. However, when the battle for the zone is not in progress, people can just show up and fly around, etc.
Source: http://www.wow.com/2010/04/30/upcoming-changes-to-wintergrasp-tol-badard-details-revealed/
Competition Aug 15th 2010 2:26PM
A queuing system is the only way places like Wintergrasp are even close to fair. Otherwise, high horde or alliance populations would just dominate. This morning Horde had WG for a better part of 6 hours (kept checking in to cash in stone keepers shards on my Alliance alt), which never happened before they instanced it. It was always alliance 24/7.
Not that the problem has been fixed completely, but it's still better than the open world, lag-fest (that even made raid instances lag out) that it was 2 years ago.
SamLowry Aug 15th 2010 11:32PM
So is this "instancing" something that happened just this weekend? Because if not, then WG is still incredibly unfair on unbalanced servers.
Sergel Aug 15th 2010 2:30PM
reminds me of Gilneas a little. Looks cool
tarvis2 Aug 15th 2010 2:39PM
yay! better design than winter grasp so the raid is spread out and lag is down lower
tarvis2 Aug 15th 2010 2:40PM
to clarify i love wintergrtasp but i think that the patchwork bandaid fixes to make the southern towers viable sucked
Fletcher Aug 15th 2010 3:01PM
Hoooooly Light that's a pretty zone. The Slagworks indoors ... I can't wait to light that place up with arcane missiles. Even if the daily quests and the PVP suck I will still hang out there just for the ambiance.
I'm a little concerned about how well it will fit into the gulf, though. Is there *room* for a zone the size of Wintergrasp there?
Andrew Aug 15th 2010 3:13PM
Meh a weak attempt at world pvp again. Blizzard doesn't understand the world part. I know instances style balance is the only way for this but if pvp was through out multiple zones and constantly active there is no way one faction could rule all.
Qot Aug 15th 2010 3:22PM
"there is no way one faction could rule all"
Actually, it's very possible. Likely, even, on servers with a population imbalance.
Andrew Aug 15th 2010 3:50PM
I still disagree. A faction that has more people of course will have an easier time, but not everyone is world pvping. Some are pveing , ah, arenas, bgs raids etc. If the battle was constant and wide spread throughout the world you wouldn't have too many issues. It would simply be impossible for a faction to control everything unless it was a realm like cho gall which should be fixed for the sake of he realms life.
Dril Aug 15th 2010 4:02PM
Your argument is flawed because you assume the dilution of the playerbase is different. For example, let's say there are 10,000 level 85s online, 3,000 are Horde and 7,000 are Alliance. Assuming 50% of people are doing something PvE gear related, 30% are doing instanced PvP, 10% are doing other things and 10% are world PvPing it still means the Alliance can field an equal strength team in any zone the Horde is in, and more often than not outnumber them, whilst still having garrisons in different zones. I.e. if the Horde sent out all their world PvPers to Zone X the Alliance could easily match and beat that whole Hordeside team whilst still holding and reaping the benefits of Zones Y, Z and W.
Shassar Aug 16th 2010 3:02AM
You guys are forgetting something important also: yes, maybe 10% of players on the bigger faction is PvPing, but the proportions are likely to be the same on the smaller side as well, ie. only 10% of the smaller faction will be PvPing.
SamLowry Aug 16th 2010 4:29AM
...which once again leads to an imbalance.
Namus Aug 15th 2010 3:14PM
This really reminds me of the first Quake *gets nailgun.
Andrew Aug 15th 2010 4:15PM
I'm thinking bigger more zones. Territory can easily be captured by 2-3 people. With 100s of zones small groups can go out and take what they want. If the faction with the bigger force focuses on a certain area this leaves other areas open.
Fletcher Aug 15th 2010 4:56PM
I'd be interested in hearing from beta testers as to what the objectives and gameplay in Tol Barad are like. Six towers, of the same faction that controls the fortress? No gates (apparently) on the fortress? I presume the tank workshops are the three little arch-and-tower icons on the map? What's going on here??
Ty Aug 15th 2010 5:42PM
my thoughts exactly.. Maybe you have to capture the Blacksmith (i think) south east of Baradin Hold along with the towers North and Southwest of Baradin Hold. I've been trying to figure this out since Aplha screenshots were released. If so, I don't see the need for vehicles.. Anti-Infantry maybe?
Fletcher Aug 15th 2010 9:13PM
The best anti-infantry is other infantry ... that we've seen so far, at least. In Wintergrasp a single DPSer can take down a catapult easily, and demos and siege tanks are even more sitting ducks unless they're escorted by foot support.
I'd been thinking that you'd have to use the sieges to take down all the towers to open up the fortress' titan orb equivalent. More towers than Wintergrasp, but then there seems to be much less in the way of walls around the fortress.
The blacksmith at the southeast is a puzzler, though. At a guess I'd say that it enables whoever holds the fortress to build vehicles of their own, perhaps.