The Game that won't die continues not dying (WoW)

[Oskuro]

Found this post on the Escapist:

Evidence is piling up that Blizzard's mysterious Cataclysm is the next expansion for World of Warcraft and that it will include, apparently, two new playable races.

In early July, it was reported that PC titan Blizzard had filed a mysterious trademark for something called Cataclysm. All wild speculation that Cataclysm would be a heavy metal MMOG starring Ozzy Osbourne aside, the pieces seem to be falling into place, and it's looking more and more likely that Cataclysm will be the next expansion pack to the MMOG scene's proverbial 800-lb gorilla, World of Warcraft.

Later in July, some enterprising dataminers found some very interesting information in the latest patch files - brand-new Halloween masks for not just male and female Goblins, but also male and female Worgen (for those of you not familiar with Warcraft lore, Worgen are essentially werewolves). Incidentally, this would be the first-ever appearance of female Worgen in the four-and-a-half-years since WoW went live.



Now, WoW.com reports that "multiple sources close to the situation" have confirmed the two new playable races. The Goblins of Undermine will be throwing that pesky neutrality to the wind (well, some of them, anyway) and signing up with the Horde, while the feral Worgen will join the Alliance.

The latter of which isn't quite as strange as it seems - it's long been hinted that the populace of the isolated city-state of Gilneas has been afflicted with the Worgen curse, and these details would fit in nicely with an official tease that Gilneas' Greymane Wall would be opening up sooner than we think: "The consequences could be disastrous! We'd be absolutely out of our minds to ever do such a thing......"

Again, this is all just rumor and speculation, but it's looking increasingly likely that Blizzard will have something up their sleeve next weekend at BlizzCon '09 - and we'll be right there to report on it!

And, the predictable whining about Alliance getting furries starts in 5... 4... 3...

If this turns out to be accurate... We get She-Wolves and not PANDAREN?!
And damm, why does that heavy metal MMOG starring Ozzy Osbourne sound so compelling?

[Slacker]

God, if the Alliance gets furries, I got out of the game just in frigging time.

[Archaic`]

We won't ever get Pandaren as a playable race, and probably never actually in the game as anything but a reference either. Pandaren piss off the Chinese censors too much, and they have way too many players over there.

[ArmorPierce]

Oh gawd, Horde gnomes...

[phred]

Honestly, I would sort of like to see neutral players. Goblins would fit in that niche very nicely. And eventually you could pick which side you went to... could make BGs very interesting as well

[SAMAS]

God, if the Alliance gets furries, I got out of the game just in frigging time.

Dude.

It's fucking werewolves. Ain't nothin' wrong with that.

[Duckie]

Why would a werewolf wear mascara?

[ArmorPierce]

Why would a werewolf wear mascara?

Same reason why the Dranei female looks nothing like the male Dranei. Also the same reason why they completely changed the look of what a dranei is supposed to look like to fit it into the Alliance side.

Because even werewolf females have to be hawt on the alliance side, you didn't know?

[Stark]

Shhh, you'll blow the mind of poorly-informed nerds who don't get how the MMO market works!

[Starglider]

Why would a werewolf wear mascara?

It was the only applicable tertiary sexual characteristic.

Besides, if they are going to be a player race, then presumably they're not all insane, in which case why not?

[Steve]

Well, it would finally give the Alliance a non "prettied up" race. And I must sadly agree that the Pandaren are unlikely because to avoid offending the Chinese they'd have to be especially careful and probably consider it not worth the effort.

This leaves two questions.

A) While it can be logical that Arugal's curse spread to Gilneas, why do the Gilneans suddenly cast off their extreme isolationism?

B) What Hero Classes could be expected? Will it just be one or will we see maybe the return of faction-specific ones (Blademaster for Horde, something like Archmage for Alliance?)? I doubt we'll see Archdruid or anything like that as that seems pretty tailor-made for an expansion with the Emerald Dream.

[Seggybop]

It's long been hinted that Gilneas was afflicted with the worgen curse? Since when? I don't recall any suggestion of Gilneas having anything to do with werewolves.

If this really is the case, I'll be somewhat disappointed. I was looking forward to Gilneas being opened as a seafaring/pirate-style zone.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Gilneas' proximity to shadowfang keep, combined with the fact that nobody has SEEN a Gilnean since the archdruid took up residence, has led to worgen speculation.

As for seafaring/pirates, we've still got Kul Tiras to look at. One of the founding members of the alliance, and you can't even get there.

P.S. Any idea what the 'cataclysm' itself is?

[Steve]

Well, if this is a Great Seas expansion as I suspect (and it fits with an old leaked Blizz document that laid out the WoW Xpacs as being in the order of Outland, Northrend, Great Sea, Emerald Dream, and Twisting Nether), it'll probably be something involving the Old Gods, the Naga, and quite possibly the Shade of Sargeras or some such.

[SAMAS]

Why would a werewolf wear mascara?

You try telling one she can't.

[Minischoles]

Gilneas' proximity to shadowfang keep, combined with the fact that nobody has SEEN a Gilnean since the archdruid took up residence, has led to worgen speculation.

As for seafaring/pirates, we've still got Kul Tiras to look at. One of the founding members of the alliance, and you can't even get there.

P.S. Any idea what the 'cataclysm' itself is?

Rumours are that its to do with the Sundering, the event back in the War of the Ancients that caused the 2 continents in WoW to be created and also created that giant Maelstrom in the centre.
Expect Aszhara (former highborne elf twisted by the well of eternities magic, whose been sat at the bottom of the sea for 10,000 years), Naga (highborne elfs who went down with her when the Well of Eternity was blown up). Possibly even Sargeras (big bad of the demons) and the Burning Legion invading again. Also rumours and dialogue in game point towards something to do with druids, so perhaps there might even be some Emerald Dream in there.

[loomer]

See, if it is actually the Maelstrom (which seems likely) I don't think we'll be getting Worgen as a playable race, of all things. For christ's sake, people, they're universally portrayed as savage, barely sentient beasts when they're all Worgen-y (for those made by Arugal) or slowly corrupting evil (those summoned by the Scythe of Elune)! The Forsaken might be bad guys, but at least they're sentient!

Goblins make marginally more sense, thanks to the city-state of Undermine being somewhat closer to the Maelstrom than the other continents, and not being mindless destroyers (except when they are. See: Stranglethorn, Stonetalon, anywhere else Goblins are digging things up...)

[Spanky The Dolphin]

And damm, why does that heavy metal MMOG starring Ozzy Osbourne sound so compelling?

You talking about Brütal Legend? Because that's actually an action-adventure game.

[SAMAS]

No, Brütal Legend stars Jack Black. I don't know anything about an Ozzy game.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

It does star Black, but Brütal Legend also has Ozzy in a voice role, among other heavy metal musicians.

[CaptainChewbacca]

See, if it is actually the Maelstrom (which seems likely) I don't think we'll be getting Worgen as a playable race, of all things. For christ's sake, people, they're universally portrayed as savage, barely sentient beasts when they're all Worgen-y (for those made by Arugal) or slowly corrupting evil (those summoned by the Scythe of Elune)! The Forsaken might be bad guys, but at least they're sentient!

Goblins make marginally more sense, thanks to the city-state of Undermine being somewhat closer to the Maelstrom than the other continents, and not being mindless destroyers (except when they are. See: Stranglethorn, Stonetalon, anywhere else Goblins are digging things up...)

The thing is, there's a LOT of questions about Gilneas and it's possible worgen-curse. There's too much for them to ignore. Since they can't make goblins a neutral-playable faction, they've got to give one race to the horde and one to the alliance, and there's really no other race they COULD give to the alliance since Pandaren are off the table.

[Crossroads Inc.]

You know what I'd like to see? Goblins as "BOTH" of the new races. They have been "neutral" for so long, why not have some sort of civil war? Why not have goblins that choose to go to the Horde and others that goto the alliances? That way both have the same thing! No Complaining!

[Civil War Man]

I still like my idea for making murlocs a playable race.

They'd get a bonus to fishing, and a stacking aura buff for every friendly murloc within a certain distance.

However, at random intervals (maybe every 1-3 hours), every murloc in the server gets flagged for open world PvP (Arena-type PvP, the one that allows Alliance to attack Alliance and Horde to attack Horde) for 20 seconds.

[loomer]

They're letting you swap factions soon anyway, so factional race restrictions are pretty much unimportant now - you could even only give the Horde goblins and they'd still end up Alliance, with that change coming.

[Steve]

They're WHAT?!