Blizzcon 2009 is here and we hope to bring you all the information we can in one big post.
Using the read more function this will take you to a full page of info as and when we can get it. The introduction text will detail updates to the main post.
Updates:
21/08/09 @ 12:19pm | Post Added
22/08/09 @ 09:46m | Cataclsym Details Updated
With BlizzCon 2009 we expect to here news about the new WOw expansion and what that means to us. Also remember though that Starcraft and Diablo III should also have some news about them.
Keep tuned as we add to this section.
- World of Warcraft
- Diablo III
- Starcraft II
- General
Faction Character Transfer confirmed.
5 Year Anniversary of WoW celebrated with new Onyxia Encounter.
Sam Rami to direct the Warcraft Movie with Dark Knight producers.
Cataclysm Expansion Details
- Cataclysm confirmed as the new expansion pack.
- It will introduce 7 new zones, 5 for leveling and 2 as starting zones for the two new races being introduced. For the Horde it is the Goblins, specifically a new faction that thanks to the event that set the new world up for Cataclysm are forced to join the Horde to survive. The Alliance gain the Worgen. There will be many classes available for both.
- In fact the class system is being overhauled and new classes will become available to the existing races. Confirmed so far are, Human Hunter, Troll Druid, Dwarf Shaman, Gnome Priest and Tauren Paladin.
- To go with changes to new class choices are new leveling experiences. Almost every classic zone is being overhaulled, altered and generally made better so that the leveling process is a more rounded experience. Hundreds of new quests will be added for both new levelers and of course the returning heroes from Northrend.
- A new level cap is being introduced and set at 85. This change from the normal 10 levels per expansion pack is because Blizzard want to concentrate on providing more content and content improvements across the board for those starting out in WoW and those that have been with the game for some time.
- The biggest announcement here was that they say that Cataclysm will have more end game content than any expansion pack before.
- This will include new heroic versions of Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep. Ragnaros has returned and is attacking the World Tree in Mount Hyjal and will be a raid encounter. There will also be new leveling dungeons in the new map zones and maybe one or two old ones. Deathwing will ultimately be your final goal.
- The map is going to change and zones themselves are going to be altered dramatically too. Desolace, The Barrens, Stranglethorn Vale, Thousand Needles, Stonetalon Mountains and Ashenvale will change the most though there will be other changes to sub-zones across most of Azeroth. The Alliance have also lost Southshore.
- You will be able to fly anywhere in Azeroth and in the new underwater zones there will also be new underwater mounts.
- There are going to be 3 new PVP zones. One of these will be Tol Barad, an island off of the coast of Eastern Kingdoms and home to a great prison. This zone will be similar in nature to Wintergarde Keep and if controlled by your faction will grant access to new daily quests and dungeon locations. Another PVP zone will be the Battle for the City of Gilneas and will feature close quarter city street level fighting.
- Another new feature for the PVP system will be the ability to join in Rated Battlegrounds. This will function much the same as the Arena Rating System and will make sure that only players of similar rating are joining the same Battleground. It will also allow PVP'ers access to the Arena PVP loot without having to take part in Arenas if they do not like the Arena style PVP. There will also be new maps for the Arena PVP'ers.
Guild Levelling System
One of the biggest announcements was that of the Guild Leveling System. It will be a 20 level system and as your guild progresses it will unlock the ability for the guild to use talent points on a guild talent tree. This talent tree will include items like reduced durability loss when wiping, reduced repair costs, no reagent cost for all buff spells, increased cash drop from anything that would normally reward XP or honour, raid summon and a mass ressurection.
Archaeology Profession
There is a new secondary profession of Archaeology. This will allow players to discover information from nodes at ruins or other similar locations that will enable to players to progress along a new form of character advancement called The Path of the Titans. It will give players the chance to add new abilities and passive abilities to the existing skill set.
Character Master
Keeping with the character advancement theme comes Mastery. The Mastery System allows your to add passive abilities based solely on the talent points you pick and the talent tree you major in. Although no specific details were mentioned, nor with the Path of the Titans, there is another specialist panel tomorrow and maybe we can get more details then.
There were loads of new announcements and additional details in the Class Q&A session later in the day. Here is a brief overview of the best.
Goblin Racials.
Rocket Jump - Leap forward, every 2 min
Rocket Barrage - Fire rockets from your belt at an enemy withing 30 yards, every 2 min
Both of these use the same cool down so you get to pick one or the other.
Hunter
Mage
Priest
Rogue
Shaman
Warlock
Warrior
Worgen Racials.
Out of combat you get to choose between Human and Worgen
In combat - Worgen and the transform is instant.
Druid
Hunter
Mage
Priest
Rogue
Warlock
Warrior
New Race Classes.
Tauren Priest
Undead Hunter
Blood Elf Warrior
Tauren Paladin
Orc Mage
Troll Druid
Dwarf Shaman
Dwarf Mage
Gnome Priest
Human Hunter
Night Elf Mage
Old Races will get new racials to "catch them up to the new races level of cool."
Class Changes (Just 2 of them)
Soul Shards, not stored in your bag any longer. UI only never in your inventory. Used in cooldowns for abilities only and only in combat. Not used to summon demons any longer. A max of 3 shards per fight. They regen quickly out of combat. It will be possible to get more during longer fights.
Soul Burn +
Searing Pain = Next Searing Pains crit
Summon Demon = Instant Summon
Soulfire = Instant cast (Pom Pyro for Warlocks)
Fear = Instant cast
Death Coil = Longer Horror / more healing received
Mana - GONE!
Focus replaces it so you no longer care about Intellect or mana regen.
Focus regenerates continuously.
Steady Shot increases Focus regeneration.
Works like Energy, 100 Focus pool and regens at 6 focus per tick.
Fewer cooldowns on abilities.
No Aspect of the Viper.
Ammo becomes and item, not a consumable.
General Information
Ranks will disappear for all abilities. Once you learn a spell for the first time it will continute to level up in power as you level up in game. Similar to how the BOA Heirloom items work.
All classes are being revisited to address issues with talent trees that force you down a certin spec for leveling, another for raiding and another for PVP.
All healers will likely get a new ability to dispell the majority of debuffs.
Dwarf racial Treasure finding will be made more worthwhile.
Stat Streamlining -
Mana per 5 - GONE! Replaced with Spirit.
Spirit - Is mana regen.
Intellect will provide Mana & Spell Power. Other stats will do the same for other combat styles.
Stamina - No more plate HP envy
Hit through talents will possibly be removed.
New Legendary from Icecrown - Shadowmorne. Two Handed Axe.
Casters will get new Legendary.
Archaeology
Secondary Profession. Everyone can get it.
Collect Artifacts throughout the world. Unlocking Paths of the Titan. Will also give Unique Rewards like new pets, teleportation, unique recipies for other professions.
Node tracking for this will not interfere with node tracking for other gathering professions.
Customise your gear.
Skill given to Blacksmiths, Leatherworkers, Tailors, Jewelcrafters and Engineers.
Reduce one stat for another but some restrictions apply.
An item can be reforged mutliple times though.
Professions General
Day Two and the Dungeon and Raid Panel Q&A was the highlight for WoW fans. We got our first look at some of the new content in cataclysm but maybe more importantly details and a sneak peak inside Icecrown and the fight against the Lich King.
Starting with Cataclysm though. Blizzard were true to their word from the previous day when they stated Cataclysm will have more end of game content at launch than any previous expansion. There will be 8 new dungeon encounters for you to level through including the largest dungeon, Halls of Origination, that will be home to 7 bosses. Of course each will have a heroic mode as we have become used to but in addition to these two older instances will be brought up to date with heroic versions as well. These will be Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep. The big news was that there will be 4 end game raids at launch including the new Ragnaros raid at the world tree and of course the first steps along the road towards facing Deathwing himself.
We got a chance to see concept art and short sneak preview movies of what some of the new dungeons will look like and you will be able to find screen shots below.
Patch 3.3.0 will bring Icecrown and the chance to take on the Lich King himself. Before then however you will need to fight your way through 4 floors and 12 bosses including the mighty Sindragosa, The Lich Kings Frost Wyrn. As with Ulduar the waypointing system that enabled players to teleport to the right encounter to reduce wipe recovery time will be used again within Icecrown. Though there were very few details given about the various boss encounters within this raid one section was explained in some detail. Once you have made it to the end of the second floor you will have to board an air ship to get to the third floor. The Alliance/Horde (depending on your faction) will also be doing the same as you both race to the top of the citadel. As you fly up you will be required to man the guns and fire on the opossing ship, repell jet pack wearing boarding parties and to board the enemy ship using your own jet pack assault. This could be every bit as much fun as downing Arthus himself. One last thing that was confirmed was that when you defeat Arthus you will get more than just a death animation and a few lines of text. Arthus is one of Warcrafts most iconic villians and as such befits a character of his importance the CGI team has made a cinematic that will, to quote the panel "not leave you dissappointed". We were given a sneak preview movie of what Icecrown will look like and you will find screen shots below.
Icecrown will be more than just a raid though, it will have its own 5 man dungeon. In fact it has 3. Each one unlocks after you complete the previous but once you have completed all 3 you will be able to enter them in any order you wish. There will be 8 bosses acorss these 3 dungeons, there will be an epic quest line to follow as you unlock the second and third dungeon and you will be fighting alongside some of the bigger names of the Alliance and Horde heroes. Again there are some screenshots below.
Next was the special 5th Anniversary content being given to us in celebration. Onyxia is back! The encounter will be tuned for 10/25 man raids, the loot has been updated and the loot table increased and we have benn warned that she may Deep Breath with even greater randomisation that before. That was not all though, there is a new mount. It has long been something wished for by players that began their raiding days back in classic that they could tame Onyxia as a mount. Well now you can, a Brood of Onyxia epic flying mount can drop (expect very rare drop) and of course with the new changes to Azeroth you can use it to fly all over the old world. For everyone that logs into WoW during the 5th Anniversary though there will be a new Onyxia Whelp pet. It is very cute and we are told it has some great animation effects that include trying to deep breath, failing and then coughing up smoke rings. Of coruse there are screen shots below.
One of the biggest annoucements (other than a fix for "No additional instance slots are available" messages is being rolled out as we speak) was that the Looking For Group mechanics are going to change. It will be now possible to LFG/LFM across servers. At the minute they say that the system can handle anything up to raiding content but to begin with it will be rolled out just supporting 5 man dungoen content. Obviously designed with PUGs in mind this should help though that play at unusual hours because of their working life or those in guilds that are not as active as others. There will also be a reward system in place to give something to those that lead groups of players from across multiple servers through instances. This could be one of the biggest changes to WoW and it will surely revolutionise the way the game is played and the experience of those leveling. The chance to play 5 mans with people from others servers is also something that should help pull the WoW communities together.
New Guild Community Features coming soon
· Guild Talent Tree based on Guild Level
· Guild Experience becomes Guild Currancy
· Currancy can be used for
· Standards,
· Mounts with Tabards on
· Guild Professions Plans for Guild Heirlooms
· Guild Reagents to replace items like Frost Lotus etc
· Guild Heirlooms bought for the guild will show up in the profession trainers skill window for everyone with that profession in your guild to learn immediately.
· If anyone leaves the guild they lose access to the pattern.
· If anyone leaves the guild wearing a guild heirloom they will lose the heirloom and it will return to the guild vault.
· The plan is for every profession and as many slots as possible.
· Other profession plans will be for consumables and similar items that will also be bound to the guild.
· Looking for guild will be overhauled.
· It will allow players and guild leaders to search for guilds and new members based on a filterable set of requirements such as play style (hardcore/casual), raiding nights, level etc
· Guild achievements will be completed when your guild does anything in a group or raid where more than 75% of that group is made of your guild.
· These achievements will cover the full scope of the game from levelling, professions and naturally raiding.
· Guild news feed, RSS to armoury. Guild pane will display all the events.
· The news feed will also show loot gained, levels gained, achievements, boss kills, guild levels and more.
· There will be a new section giving access to guild profession info. Sort by skill level and if they are online you will be able to see directly into their profession books and the patterns they have.
· Guild bonus where a % of cash from boss kills will be added as a bonus to the boss loot and deposited directly into the guild vault.
· A new function that will allow a guild to invite another guild to a raid or an event through the in game calendar using an invite system.
A possible guild server transfer feature could be introduced.
Mastery - Path of the Titans
· Talent trees are getting to big and complicated.
· A lot of the passive talents will be go away.
· You get more fun / utility talents.
· All passive bonuses will do one of the follow. Increase damage/healing/tanking or Stat like increase or something unique for your spec.
· Talent UI will show all 3 panes with no scrolling and also show the new passive bonuses you get from putting points into a tree.
· Mastery Stat is a new stat (crit vs haste vs mastery). It will always improve the unique passive talent from the tree with the most points. ie most poison damange from assination rogues.
· Path of the Titans will reward progression at max level.
· It will unlock a third type of glyph - ancient glyph. Themed for the titans, not part of the inscription profession and they are not class specific.
· Titan Cults have sprung up. Chose a cult to align with, progress down a path and gain new ancient glyph sockets and new ancient glyphs to put in them. The glyphs are earn't through Archaeology.
· Each path has 2-3 choices of ancient glyph.
· There are 10 ancient glyph sockets possible. They are only available at 85. They will unlock over time. Maybe a max progress over a week. Progress will be gated and not grinded.
· Path choices can be respecced.
With that the 2 day of WoW Q&A panels closed.
The Monk Unveiled.
New class unveiled - the Monk. Think Kung-Fu master meets a WoW Priest. Lots of close quarter and defensive spells with a healthy dose of Bruce Lee. The monk uses speed and agility to counter their inherent fragility.
To ship next year and a full Battle.net upgrade with it.
Single Player campaign playable at Blizzcon.
Big Announcement was that Tricia Helfer will be one of the voice actors!
Ozzy Osbourne Officially announced by Blizzard to perform on stage.
Who is the real Prince of Darkness?
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, will headline the closing concert at this year’s BlizzCon®, which will take place August 21-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center. While tickets to the convention sold out in minutes, a live Pay Per View event will be available on DIRECTV and via Internet stream.
