Cataclysm!

Spoiler alert.

It’s starting. I’m kind of disappointed that this info was leaked before BlizzCon, but such is life. The next WoW expansion is Cataclysm, it will contain goblins and worgen, and it will have new race/class combinations. Or rather, these things might be happening. But I’m of the feeling that these things are pretty much for sure. Only my opinion though.

There’s only one part of all this that was expected: the level cap will be raised. By how much though, that’s a different matter. According to MMO Champion’s source, the cap will only be raised by five levels, to level 85. This is obviously without precedent, but not impossible. The most likely reason I see is that there won’t be as much leveling content in this next expansion. It has been stated that much of the old world will be redone, even to the extent of allowing flying mounts in some areas. However, I think this revamp will take place, at first, in the areas most relevant to the expansion. Unless Blizzard is doing away completely with the first 58 levels of the game, most of the old world will have to stay the same. It says that Azshara is going to be converted into a “low-level starting zone”. I’m not sure if this means low as in level 1, or low as in level 81. It would make sense for Azshara to be the place players go to start off questing and learning about the new lore, and I can’t see why Azshara would be a starting zone for the goblins or worgen, so I’m leaning toward the 81 option.

One of the stranger parts of information was that there will possibly be new race/class combos. I really don’t understand why they saw this as necessary. We’ve gone five years with much the same race/class combos, and everyone has been mostly happy. We the players understood that there was logic behind which races could be which classes, and took what we got. Most MMO players are less concerned about their race than their class. Now Blizzard goes and does something like this. Most of them don’t really make that much sense. Orc mage? A big, burly, hairy orc in a dress slinging fireballs? Night elf I can kind of see, but orc? Or dwarves? I’m already annoyed by short Alliance fire-slingers, aka gnomes. And Blood Elf Warriors? That’s just kind of weird. Though no less weird, I admit, than gnome warriors. Gnomes are just weird in general. I guess I just don’t see the reasoning behind this change.

Finally, the namesake of the forthcoming expansion: the Cataclysm. Supposedly, Deathwing and Azshara are the main architects of our demise. Firstly, a cataclysm is defined as a huge, destructive event; in this case, probably some kind of massive magic-induced natural disaster. I’m inclined to think it will have to do with the Maelstrom. Secondly, Azshara and Deathwing. Azshara was a night elf queen who played a part in the Sundering of Azeroth. Basically, a whole bunch of stuff happened and she became the queen of the naga. She is presumed to reside in the Great Sea between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Deathwing is the leader of the Black Dragonflight, known to currently reside deep in Grim Batol. Both Azshara and Deathwing have been speculated as being part of the lore of the new expansion, but their being associated with each other is rather curious. I’m not sure if their relationship will be collaborative or by chance; either way, it’s interesting that they’ll both have something to do with the upcoming Cataclysm.

It’s strange. We’re entering a new sort of Azeroth. Up until now, we’ve been exploring new lands, new worlds even. Outland’s design was flamboyant; the developers could do whatever they liked because it was an alien planet. Northrend is more subdued, but Wrath itself has had a very purposeful feel. We’re going to finish off Arthas, this plot line that has been with the Warcraft games for a long, long time. It’s strange that we should go on after that, but it seems we are. And we’re going back to the very roots of Azeroth. I’m really excited to see what the new old Azeroth will be like. Finally, Blizzard won’t be bribing us with holiday achievements to get us to go back to old world. Honestly, the part I’m most excited about is the sundering of… the Barrens. Why that monster of a zone wasn’t two parts in the first place, we may never know.