Cataclysm Overview Pt. 2

Continuing on from my last blog post, I'm going to hopefully fit the rest of the Cataclysm changes in on this post. I'll be going back and making some 1.5 posts to go over the dungeons/raids, and there will be some 2.5 posts as well, for the battlegrounds, since some people care about these things. I don't think there will be a Part 3 unless I can't cram all of this into one blog, but like I said.. I'm going to try.

• Major Cities: Should have had these in on the first part of this blog, but I missed them. Stormwind got a major overhaul with the destruction of the old park, the addition of a new park-like section, the Dwarven District received it's own bank and auction house, and the Keep was slightly altered. Ogrimmar, under new management, received an overhaul as well. The old tribe-like setup was cast out and the Northrend-style of Orc construction was brought in. Dark iron buildings with plenty of spikes included loom over the smaller lodgings of the Orc capital city. Trolls and Goblins were cast out into the "slums" of the city, while Tauren and Orc make up the defensive force of the inner-section of the city. Ironforge, Darnassus, Exodar, Undercity, Thunder Bluff, and Silvermoon City received some cosmetic updates and a few minor changes.
• Starting Areas: With the pre-Cataclysm events of Zalazane's Fall and Operation: Gnomeregan, both the Troll and Gnome starting areas were changed with the release of Cataclysm, instead of starting in the Valley of Trials with the Orcs and Anvilmar with the Dwarves, respectively. Trolls now begin on the Echo Isles and the Gnomes begin in Tinker Town, just outside of the tunnel down into Gnomeregan.
• New Zones: With the release of Cataclysm and the restructuring of the continents, new zones are added into the game for exploration and questing.
• Vashj'ir: A completely new zone based underwater. The first few quests give you a "passive" buff known as 'Sea Legs', that makes it so you can run on the bottom of the ocean and you never run out of breath. It's very long-winded. While I liked the zone itself, and the naga battle-maiden questline, it was just too.. over-extended.
• Mount Hyjal: The giant block of "unvisitable" space in Kalimdor is finally open. And it swallowed part of Winterspring with it; the Darkwhisper Gorge. Lorewise, one of the most expansive locations added in with Cataclysm. Malfurion Stormrage leads many of the questlines here, as well as working with some of the Ancients. If you've read the War of the Ancients trilogy, most of these guys will be familiar to you. There's a questline involving Fandral Staghelm that did not initially understand, but after reading Stormrage, I understood what he was doing there.
• Deepholm: Located beneath the Maelstrom between the three continents, Deepholm is the Elemental Plane of Earth. Deathwing recuperated here after his defeat at Grim Batol and the destruction of the Demon Soul. This is also where he broke through into Azeroth, splitting the world and shattering the World Pillar in Deepholm, name being literal. The questlines here are to repair to World Pillar, make Therazane see reason, and help the Earthen defend their lands from the troggs.
• Uldum: What was once nothing more than a door is revealed to be a sizable chunk of land invisible to the mortal eye. Located between Tanaris, Silithus, and Un'Goro Crater, the Cataclysm damaging the Titan-made cloaking device keeping it hidden away. Populated by the cat-like people known as the Tol'vir. Brann Bronzebeard and Harrison Jones rush to make discoveries for the Explorers' League, Belloc Brightblade for the Horde's Reliquary. Access to the Elemental Plane of Air, the Skywall, exists here. You can even take the fight to Al'Akir, the Elemental Lord of Air in the Throne of the Four Winds raid.
• Twilight Highlands: Once a part of the Wetlands known as Grim Batol, and an unlabeled section of the world map, Twilight Highlands takes Grim Batol away from the Wetlands and makes it part of its own new map as well as turning it into an instance. Twilight Highlands is mostly a Horde-Alliance struggle, while fending off the Twilight's Hammer and black dragonflights. The Bastion of Twilight, the raid where you take the fight to the leader of the Twilight's Hammer rests in this zone.
• Revamped 15-60 Dungeons: Most of the Vanilla dungeons have been revamped, some even with complete makeovers. Certain dungeons received cosmetic changes and minor changes, while others were split into separate sections, had sections removed, or had the level difficulty changed. Leveling a new toon is even more like a completely new experience with this added changes to the game.
• Battleground Additions: Along with the original battlegrounds from Vanilla; Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley, as well as the new one from The Burning Crusade; Eye of the Storm, and the continuing of the trend with Wrath of the Lich King; Strand of the Ancients, Isle of Conquest, as well as Wintergrasp, Cataclysm brings with it it's own set of new battlegrounds.
• Tol Barad: Tol Barad is the Wintergrasp of Cataclysm. It's a timed World-PvP event with an attached raid for "free" loot. I mentioned Baradin Hold in Pt. 1, and with a simple explanation, it really is a free loot raid. Tol Barad is set up as a seven location area. There are three towers, that if downed, increase the time limit for the event. There are three bases; Warden's Vigil, the Slagworks, and Ironclad Garrison. The attacking faction has to capture all three bases to be victorious, while the defending faction only has to hold one to win. It's flawed, but hopefully the scheduled changes will make the change of hands happen more often.
• The Battle for Gilneas: This is , for all intents and purposes, Arathi Basin v2.0. It's a resource race, where the most locations owned and held, the more resources you gather and the quicker you gather them. It's a 5v5 battleground, so it seems to carry more of a strategical element to it than the original Arathi Basin, since there are less people to go around, so placement is key. I have yet to participate in this battleground, but after looking over the information and videos for it, I might take a stab at it and see how it plays out.
• Twin Peaks: Like Battle for Gilneas being Arathi Basin v2.0, Twin Peaks would be Warsong Gulch v2.0. It is a 10v10 capture-the-flag style match-up. Two graveyards per team, a bridge choke-point mid-field, as well as enchantments in outposts on either side of the middle. It is pretty much setup just like Warsong Gulch is. Three captures win the match, or the most captures before time runs out. Each base is up off the ground, so a proper defense/offense can take the opposing side by surprise and use the edges to their advantage. Also like the Battle for Gilneas, I have not participated in this one yet either. I will get some game-time in, so I can give you a real in-depth explanation on it. Though what I have here will probably give you a good idea.
• Rated Battlegrounds: Much like Arenas, you put together a "pre-made" group for the battleground, queue as a team, and you go in together. Also like Arenas, this is the only other option to acquiring Conquest points, which is the higher-level of PvP-related currency. This feature is for level 85s only, much like most of the other added in features that came with Cataclysm. There is also related news that rated battlegrounds will be bringing back the old school PvP titles that were removed after Vanilla, but I cannot find any information that supports them currently being available in-game at the current time.
• Archaeology; New Secondary Profession: Archaeology is the new "time-wasting" profession. Even more so than ever was Fishing. You travel from randomly located dig sites around the continent you are currently on and use the Survey tool to find your fragments. Three fragment finds per dig site. up to skill 300, you are stuck to Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms collecting Dwarf, Fossil, Night Elf, and Troll. At 300, you get access to Outlands with Draenei and Orc sites. At 375, we move along to Northrend to start discovering Nerubian and Vrykul sites. At 450, you get a new dig site type on Kalimdor located only in Uldum, the Tol'vir. There are 26 rare artifacts that are cosmetic items or bind-to-account gear, 1 common item that could contain an Alchemy recipe mount, and all other items are nothing but vendor trash. With the recent patch changes, Archaeology can bring in some serious cash flow if you're lucky with your commons.
• Glyph Overhaul: While they removed the Path of the Titans glyph system between Cataclysm's announcement at Blizzcon and it's release, they used what they learned to overhaul the glyph system itself. There are now three separate types of glyphs; Prime, Major, and Minor. Prime glyphs effect actual combat, increasing either the healing or damage of a particular ability. Major glyphs feature spell changes that come with trade-offs, an example being an increase in damage but a decrease in spell range. Minor glyphs are convenience or cosmetic improvements. Glyphs, until used, are not bound and can be traded. Once learned, they are permanently added to your Glyph list and can be used at any time. [Vanishing Powder], levels 25-80, and [Dust of Disappearance], levels 81-85, are required to remove Glyphs to add new ones.
• New Races: Like with The Burning Crusade, the Cataclysm brings with it two new playable races. While most people were expecting a new Hero class, like Wrath of the Lich King's Death Knight, Blizzard said they wanted to hold off on adding another Hero class due to how much balancing went into creating a new class.
• Goblins are now available for the Horde. Don't worry, these Goblins are not part of everyone's favorite Steamwheedle Cartel, they belong to the Bilgewater Cartel run by Trade Prince Gallywix. The Lost Isles destroyed during the Cataclysm when the volcano destroyed their homeland and they shipped out to try and save themselves.
• Worgen are now available for the Alliance. Once the proud and arrogant population of Humans behind the Greymane Wall, they are now infected by the very curse that Arugal once released to protect the populace. The Curse of the Worgen has turned Gilneas against itself. The arrogant King Genn Greymane fought to protect his people, but eventually had no choice but to establish help with the Alliance for assistance.
• New Class Combinations: 
• Humans: Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior.
• Dwarves: Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior.
• Night Elves: Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warrior.
• Gnomes: Death Knight, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior.
• Orcs: Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior.
• Tauren: Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warrior.
• Trolls: Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior.
• Blood Elves: Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior.
• Undead: Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior.
• Class Mechanic Changes: Hunters (and warriors and rogues) no longer need ammo, all bows, crossbows, and guns will create their own ammo. Warlocks no longer need to collect Soul Shards, they are more like Death Knight Runes now. Consolidation of totems and buffs. Paladins gain a new resource of Holy Power to work into their multiple rotations. Balance Druids gain an Eclipse mechanic to make their rotations less proc-based. Rage for Warriors and Feral (Bear) Druids has been normalized to give a set amount on white damage instead of giving more rage for harder hits. The Rune system for Death Knights was been reworked for less downtime. Hunters no longer use Mana and now use Focus, which works more like a Rogue's energy. Most Racial bonuses were reworked. Hunters and Warlocks now start off with a pet/minion at level 1 instead of needing to do a quest.
• Stat System Revamp: MP5 (Mana pre 5 seconds), Armor Penetration, and Defense Rating have all been removed from gear and reworked into the new talent trees or mastery stat.
• Mastery: Cataclysm brings with it a new stat called Mastery. The basic idea of Mastery is that it's a stat that makes what your class/spec combination does, do it better. It positively enhances certain abilities, both active and passive, depending on what class and talent specialization you pick.
• Overhauled Talent Trees: It was announced that Blizzard was only going to be adding five more levels to the game, so most online talent calculators added in five new points for people to play with. After sometime, Blizzard announced that their talent trees were going to be completely redone and new. They then showed us what they had in mind. At level 85 with a total of 41 points. They trimmed out most of the "mandatory" talents, making them more of passive bonuses for the class/specs, in almost all of the trees and made it so players had more of a choice between certain talents and others. So it made the game more customizable for the player. They also made it so you only gained a talent point every other level until you hit 80, then 81-85 would all give you a point to spend in your trees. They also made it so once you picked a tree, you had to spent at least 31 points in that tree to be able to spend points in either other tree. Once selected, you gained a major active skill as well as 2-3 passive skills to go along side of it. This also supported Blizzard's intent to make it feel like you were actually specializing in the spec you selected.
• Vengeance: Something I didn't mention was that all tanks gained a new passive skill called Vengeance. What this passive skill does is, as the tank gets hit, it stacks a damage buff on the tank. This was Blizzard's way of trying to fix the threat issue that tanks were having as the damage dealing classes were gaining higher stats aimed toward dishing out damage and the tanks were gaining higher stats aimed toward surviving, and less toward threat procurement. With a stacking buff that was passive to increase a tank's damage, threat would be less of an issue, but something still needing to be paid attention to.
• New PvE Currency: During Wrath of the Lich King, multiple currency systems were used for gear. We had the normal boss-drop token system used from The Burning Crusade, but there was also an Emblem system. You could purchase current, and old, tier gear with a certain amount of Emblems procured through dungeons and raids. Heroism, Valor, Conquest, Triumph, and Frost. With each new tier of raid content, a new set of Emblems was released. New gear would be purchased with the new emblems and all old tier would cost the deprecated emblems. With Cataclysm, all old emblems were converted into the new currency system known as Justice and Valor points. The way this new system will work is that old tier gear will be purchasable using Justice Points and current tier will be purchasable using Valor Points. If I understand correctly, when the next tier content comes out, all Valor points are converted into Justice Points (which has a 4k cap) and you start with a fresh set of no Valor, so you can't start off with a few pieces of the new gear from your Valor Points.
• New PvP Currency: Just like with the PvE currency, PvP also got a currency change. Before, you had your Marks of Honor from battlegrounds, which would be turned in for Honor Points. Doing Arenas earned you Arena Points and Arena Rating. With Cataclysm, all Honor points and battleground related items were converted into Honor Points, with a 4k cap. The new "arena points" are now called Conquest Points can only be earned through Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds. They'll work the exact same way the PvE currency works. Where all the old tier can be purchased with Honor Points, and all new tier will be purchased with Conquest, which will rollover into Honor when a new tier is released.

Alright, there we go. I got it all booked up into two blog posts. Now, remember. I will be going back and making some .5 posts over things I mentioned in part 1 and things mentioned in part 2. Plus, since it took me so long to get these overviews out, I also have to do a write up for the Lunar Festival in-game event as well as the Love is in the Air in-game event. I'll probably put those two together since the actual events overlap in-game.