World of Warcraft panel sees Cataclysmic changes

BlizzCon 2009: Blizzard devs discuss the class, item, and profession updates that will be implemented in the new expansion pack.

Who Was There: Lead game designer Greg Street, item designer Travis Day, and profession designer Jon Lecraft

What Did They Talk About: The trio ran through an overview of the various changes in store for World of Warcraft when the Cataclysm expansion hits. The news was met with cheers and with some cries of dismay. The panel kicked off with a run through the racial traits of the two new races being introduced: goblins and Worgen. The new alliance race, the Worgen, will have four: aberration, flayer, dark flight, and viciousness. Aberration will reduce the duration of curses and diseases on Worgen by 15 percent. Flayer increases skinning by 15 percent and allows Worgen to skin faster without needing a knife. Dark flight is an instant-cast 70 percent boost in movement for 10 seconds with a 3-minute cooldown. Finally, viciousness increases all damage by 1 percent.

It was noted that Worgen form would essentially be cosmetic and offer no bonuses. Players will automatically shift to Worgen form only during combat and will have the freedom to decide if they appear as human or Worgen out of combat. In terms of classes, Worgen can be all but paladins and shamans.

The new goblin horde race will have five traits: vpack hobgoblin, personal servant, best deals anywhere, rocket barrage, rocket jump, and better living through chemistry. The pack hobgoblin trait will let you call in a personal servant who will give you bank access for one minute. Best deals anywhere lets goblins receive the best gold discount regardless of faction. Rocket barrage fires a goblin’s belt rockets at an enemy to deal fire damage. Rocket jump uses the rocket belt to jump forward. Finally better living through chemistry increases your alchemy skill by 15. Goblins can be any class except paladins and druids.

Besides the introduction of the new playable races and the classes they can be, new class and character combinations were revealed. Horde players can look forward to orc mages, Tauren priests and paladins, troll druids, undead hunters, and blood elf warriors. Alliance players can anticipate dwarf shamans and mages, gnome priests, night elf mages, and human hunters.

The panel then shifted to warlocks, which kicked off the start of the highs and lows for attendees who responded with cheers, boos, and a mix of both as they absorbed the information. The unique casting class is being revamped so that soul shards, which are crystals needed for a good chunk of their spells and summoning, will work totally differently. The shards will now be used only in combat and, most importantly, will not take up precious space in your bags.