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[borghe]

Cataclysm water effects as they are now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXV-MSYJvEs

Still looks kind of 'meh' to me. But I don't know if these are the water effects at Ultra settings, so we'll see.

eh, like half a step above meh. They're definitely an improvement... to the extent that now they are only 4-5 years old instead of 6-8 years old.

Now's the time to come back to the Green Side. Especially now that there's an entirely new shade to play as :lol.

yeah... I was stuck for about a year as alliance.. hated every day of it.. then pretty much everyone left so I'm on my own now and I rerolled horde. I wouldn't mind bringing my Alliance Warrior over ($30 though.. ouch).. I also have some Horde on other servers, but all told it would probably cost me $75 or so to consolidate those... $105 to get all of my shit in order... uggh... end result though would be:

Orc Warlock
Undead Rogue
Troll Warrior (from Human warrior)
Tauren Shaman
Blood Elf Mage

 

[mclem]

Better shot of Andorhal, you can clearly see the Alliance and Forsaken are vying for control of the city.

Could this possibly be the all-new Southshore/Tarren Mill?

 

[Retro]

Could this possibly be the all-new Southshore/Tarren Mill?

Actually, from a lot of screenshots, it looks like World PVP is back on the menu in a big way. Check this one out from South Barrens:

That's Desolation Hold and Fort Triumph, practically face-to-face with only a little chasm and a WSG-sized plot of land separating them. Here's how they look on the world map;

And there are similar cases showing up in other places too, like Swamp of Sorrows (Alliance gets a base north of Sunken Temple) and Blasted Lands (Horde has a town called Rockard west of Nethergarde Keep).

In other words... Horde and Alliance are going to be bumping into each other a lot more, hopefully.

Any word about Gnomeregan?

The guy providing most of the screenshots I'm posting says "No changes to Gnomeregon currently that I could see." Also, no changes to Duskwood.

Obviously a lot of stuff isn't done yet, so these aren't definitive answers yet.''

New UI Updates:

 

[Rapstah]

Since when is Archelolology a secondary profession?

 

[Retro]

Since when is Archelolology a secondary profession?

Always has been, otherwise how would people use the Path of the Titans advancement system? There's no new primary professions for Cataclysm.

Nessingway's Camp

(Apparently he's back from Northrend with a new list of animals to drive into extinction)

 

[sykoex]

Was really hoping we'd see a monument to Bolvar in the new Stormwind instead of Varian.

 

[Entropia]

:lol :lol at the fishing description

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Not only are there Troll Warlocks...

But there's also Dwarf Warlocks!

 

[Retro]

Removed the images of Deepholm above, since they're far less impressive than the ones MMO-champion is now officially hosting;

Here's some highlights for you folks at work. We'll see if MMO Champ swats down the direct linkage, if so, I'll just kick them over to Tinypic.

Edit: You know what? I got nothing else going on, gonna re-host them just because I hate being one of those bandwidth-stealing whores.

(Yikes, I see blue, green, red, gold dragons up there... that's all of 'em but black, folks.

 

[traveler]

Well, I gotta say, while the breadth of changes is incredibly impressive and I think the world as a whole looks much better, I haven't seen a single environment that impresses me the way Wrath's did. Grizzly Hills, Sholazar, Icecrown, Dragonblight- pretty much every zone aside from Wintergrasp looked better than ANY zone before did and I can't say the same for these. Still, it's alpha; maybe further refinements will take the artistry beyond vanilla quality.

 

[UnblessedSoul]

So where is the nessingways new camp based at then?

 

[Retro]

Well, I gotta say, while the breadth of changes is incredibly impressive and I think the world as a whole looks much better, I haven't seen a single environment that impresses me the way Wrath's did. Grizzly Hills, Sholazar, Icecrown, Dragonblight- pretty much every zone aside from Wintergrasp looked better than ANY zone before did and I can't say the same for these. Still, it's alpha; maybe further refinements will take the artistry beyond vanilla quality.

It's still in Alpha. Apparently a lot of the untextured areas players aren't meant to ever see are still in game, the skyboxes are unchanged (not sure if they will be) and the water looks off in quite a few places. On top of that, a lot of these pictures have buildings or areas that are obviously untextured.

It's Alpha. At least wait until Beta tests begin before we start nitpicking on the visual quality.

So where is the nessingways new camp based at then?

Same place it is now, in STV.

 

[hyduK]

Convenient how the month I'd probably let my subscription die....this happens. Hyped.

 

[Interfectum]

After closing out the Lich King / Arthas story I can't believe Blizzard has managed to top themselves again with this. I'm probably anticipating this more than Wrath (which is insane). How are they going to top Cataclysm?

 

[Blackface]

Well, I gotta say, while the breadth of changes is incredibly impressive and I think the world as a whole looks much better, I haven't seen a single environment that impresses me the way Wrath's did. Grizzly Hills, Sholazar, Icecrown, Dragonblight- pretty much every zone aside from Wintergrasp looked better than ANY zone before did and I can't say the same for these. Still, it's alpha; maybe further refinements will take the artistry beyond vanilla quality.

My suggestion would be wait until beta. A lot changes in WoW Alpha's. They are not even finished female Worgan yet. When you go to them on the character screen they have no hair and justy a blank white texture around the neck. The face also looks very male atm.

 

[Fularu]

Nessingway's camp is probably just one of his sons anyway, I'm expecting to see him in one of the new zones (he can always get a third son for Northrend!)

 

[Evlar]

Dwarves still have Treasure Finding... (the text in the character selection screen is probably not finalized, of course).

 

[Freyjadour]

Noticed a LOT of decks in that Icons image. MORE CARD FARMING.

 

[Flib]

One thing I really like about everything we are seeing so far is the general feeling of threat/danger/ominousness. I know the Lich King was a huge existential threat to Azeroth, but he never felt like a huge encroaching danger...in fact, aside from the wrathgate event, he spent the entire on the defense, relegated to a distant continent.

I like the fact that Cataclysm starts with Deathwing really fucking winning.

 

[Retro]

After closing out the Lich King / Arthas story I can't believe Blizzard has managed to top themselves again with this. I'm probably anticipating this more than Wrath (which is insane). How are they going to top Cataclysm?

I wrote a short story once, waaaaay before World of Warcraft, where the characters traveled up through a hurricane's eye (there was a castle built into the eyewall, spiraling upwards). When they reached the top, the hurricane was actually a huge, round waterfall, like a giant hole in the ocean. The idea was, the waterfall/eye of the storm was a gateway connecting the rest of the world with a sealed off 'prison continent'.

Reading the descriptions and seeing the screenshots of Skywall kind of kills me a little, since it's close to what I imagined the castles would look like. Shit, they even stole my 'cool dome shrines' idea...

And I did that in college, almost 10 years ago... :lol

Bastards. Anyways, that's where the next expansion could go; some hidden world connected to Azeroth by the Maelstrom.

 

[FLEABttn]

It's still in Alpha. Apparently a lot of the untextured areas players aren't meant to ever see are still in game, the skyboxes are unchanged (not sure if they will be) and the water looks off in quite a few places. On top of that, a lot of these pictures have buildings or areas that are obviously untextured.

It's Alpha. At least wait until Beta tests begin before we start nitpicking on the visual quality.

Pretty much this. I didn't dive into WotLK's alpha world too much but the original alpha client to TBC was incredibly unfinished with each new patch bringing something else to the world. The world and everything in it is not done until closed beta.

 

[Freyjadour]

One thing I really like about everything we are seeing so far is the general feeling of threat/danger/ominousness. I know the Lich King was a huge existential threat to Azeroth, but he never felt like a huge encroaching danger...in fact, aside from the wrathgate event, he spent the entire on the defense, relegated to a distant continent.

I like the fact that Cataclysm starts with Deathwing really fucking winning.

Or the fact that any significance he had was diminished when he showed up in every second or third quest you did in Northrend.

 

[Akim]

I'm surprised so much is unfinished

 

[Rapstah]

I just hit 2000 Spell Power unbuffed (not counting Inner Fire)!

 

[Interfectum]

I'm surprised so much is unfinished

Yeah but remember there are entire zones they have to remake to account for flying mounts. There is a LOT of work to do.

 

[Flib]

The alpha for WOTLK was in similar (possibly even worse) shape, so no worries.

 

[Evlar]

I wonder... Is the landscape phasing not implemented yet or do the dataminers lack the capability to play with it?

 

[sykoex]

Nice to see Uther's tomb has been reclaimed by Alliance.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Undead Onyxia in all her rotting glory!

 

[Interfectum]

It's really crazy watching this game change through the years. I love this shit. :lol

 

[sykoex]

It's really crazy watching this game change through the years. I love this shit. :lol

It's gonna be wild logging in on patch day and suddenly everything is different, especially for lowbies in the middle of leveling through vanilla.

 

[GasProblem]

Livestream going on right now: http://www.xfire.com/live_video/raistlindlleader/

Deathwing in motion

 

[Entropia]

On second though, probably shouldn't post the link.

 

[dread9]

http://twitter.com/FelFireBlog/status/13498171603

:0 ZMOG. Its a wrap now.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Nessingway's camp is probably just one of his sons anyway, I'm expecting to see him in one of the new zones (he can always get a third son for Northrend!)

The one in Outlands is just Hemet Nesingwary being in two places at once.

 

[Hixx]

Well, I gotta say, while the breadth of changes is incredibly impressive and I think the world as a whole looks much better, I haven't seen a single environment that impresses me the way Wrath's did. Grizzly Hills, Sholazar, Icecrown, Dragonblight- pretty much every zone aside from Wintergrasp looked better than ANY zone before did and I can't say the same for these. Still, it's alpha; maybe further refinements will take the artistry beyond vanilla quality.

wotlk looked like shit in alpha. I was seriously disappointed when I first logged into the f+f. These are a step above with the WotLK F+F looked like imo.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

I wonder if and how they're going to show the actual cataclysm. Because it would be strange to just log in and bam, everything is changed.

*coming out of Lion's Pride Inn*
"YAAAAAWN! Now that was a great nap. Hey, why are the gate towers torn off?"


But it would also be rather unnecessary to have a huge cinematic that shows Deathwing actually doing all this damage to places.

They could always have phased sequences as you enter new areas and see what has been done there, but that would still mean loads of transitional animations that would only be used once.

I'll bet you'll actually get to see Deathwing retrieving the heads off the Stormwind gate though.

Oh, and "friends and family"? I'm betting there's a few friendships broken and some uncomfortable family dinners coming up pretty soon...

 

[nataku]

All of this looks awesome and gets me a lot more hyped about the expansion than I was before. I really hope I get in beta.

I can't wait to play both Alliance and Horde 1-60 again just to see how the world has changed.

 

[Kweh]

I really hope Troll Warlocks isn't an error in being available...

 

[Rapstah]

I wonder if and how they're going to show the actual cataclysm. Because it would be strange to just log in and bam, everything is changed.

*coming out of Lion's Pride Inn*
"YAAAAAWN! Now that was a great nap. Hey, why are the gate towers torn off?"


But it would also be rather unnecessary to have a huge cinematic that shows Deathwing actually doing all this damage to places.

They could always have phased sequences as you enter new areas and see what has been done there, but that would still mean loads of transitional animations that would only be used once.

I'll bet you'll actually get to see Deathwing retrieving the heads off the Stormwind gate though.

Oh, and "friends and family"? I'm betting there's a few friendships broken and some uncomfortable family dinners coming up pretty soon...

I'm assuming you'll get a cinematic the first time you log into a character after the update. New characters could have it explained through the new character cinematics (which I'm assuming will be redone).

EDIT:

I really hope Troll Warlocks isn't an error in being available...

It makes sense for them to exist, but then again the Dwarf screenshot shows Dwarf Druid as a choice, so hey, who knows.

 

[Spire]

Looks good, although I hope to god they put in new skyboxes in the old world. Outland has a gorgeous skybox, I don't understand why they wouldn't replace the giant assy textures that Azeroth uses. I spotted some new skyboxes in the new zones, but the old world zones are still using the awful old shit. Here's hoping that gets changed before release.

 

[Interfectum]

I wonder if and how they're going to show the actual cataclysm. Because it would be strange to just log in and bam, everything is changed.

*coming out of Lion's Pride Inn*
"YAAAAAWN! Now that was a great nap. Hey, why are the gate towers torn off?"


But it would also be rather unnecessary to have a huge cinematic that shows Deathwing actually doing all this damage to places.

They could always have phased sequences as you enter new areas and see what has been done there, but that would still mean loads of transitional animations that would only be used once.

I'll bet you'll actually get to see Deathwing retrieving the heads off the Stormwind gate though.

Oh, and "friends and family"? I'm betting there's a few friendships broken and some uncomfortable family dinners coming up pretty soon...

I bet they'll have an in-game event prior to the 4.0 patch that'll be epic. Probably similar to the WotLK event (not the zombie part) where the 'invasion' started in every zone. I'd imagine you'll see things on fire and NPCs running around, a massive dragon in the sky, etc.

edit: also, prior to wotlk you saw the beginnings of the stormwind harbor being constructed, etc. i'd imagine there will be little content patches that slowly change the world as deathwing destroys it.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

EDIT:

It makes sense for them to exist, but then again the Dwarf screenshot shows Dwarf Druid as a choice, so hey, who knows.

Dwarf Druid is greyed out and unavailable.

Troll/Dwarf Warlocks are the real deal.

 

[firex]

Looks good, although I hope to god they put in new skyboxes in the old world. Outland has a gorgeous skybox, I don't understand why they wouldn't replace the giant assy textures that Azeroth uses. I spotted some new skyboxes in the new zones, but the old world zones are still using the awful old shit. Here's hoping that gets changed before release.

That's one of the more obvious changes that will happen, since they're supposed to allow flying mounts in Azeroth.

 

[Rapstah]

Dwarf Druid is greyed out and unavailable.

Troll/Dwarf Warlocks are the real deal.

I haven't created a character for a long while now, but if Dwarf Druid wasn't available at all, would it show up at all, even greyed out? Greyed out is what things are if you don't have the expansion pack for the class (like Death Knights without WOTLK).

 

[Interfectum]

here is the class/race matrix they have on their official site (new additions for cata in green)... i would KILL for a worgen shaman

 

[Flib]

I haven't created a character for a long while now, but if Dwarf Druid wasn't available at all, would it show up at all, even greyed out? Greyed out is what things are if you don't have the expansion pack for the class (like Death Knights without WOTLK).

It would show up, greyed out.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Dwarf Druid is greyed out and unavailable.

Troll/Dwarf Warlocks are the real deal.

So yeah, it's Alpha and those won't be available in the real game. It's probably just a bug. It's literally the first iteration of a public ALPHA. Not even a beta.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

I haven't created a character for a long while now, but if Dwarf Druid wasn't available at all, would it show up at all, even greyed out? Greyed out is what things are if you don't have the expansion pack for the class (like Death Knights without WOTLK).

If a certain race is greyed out for a certain class in the creation screen, then that race cannot be that class. If it's Death Knight then that's a different story.

 

[Rapstah]

It would show up, greyed out.

Oh shit, you're right, there are that few classes