Anaheim, CA – Following weeks and weeks of speculation, Blizzard has finally announced the third expansion to their blockbuster MMORPG World of Warcraft. The title of this expansion will be Cataclysm, and will supposedly continue the battle against the Lich King that was started in the most recent expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.
Two new playable races were confirmed. The Alliance ranks will be bolstered by the “Worgen”, while the Horde will see the “Goblins” join their cause. The addition of these two races does not come as a surprise, as persistent rumours regarding these surfaced several weeks ago and items related to these races were found to have been added to the game.
Level caps will be raised to level 85, and the world of Azeroth will be completely revamped to allow for flying mounts to be taken to largest part of the World of Warcraft-world. The expansion will obviously feature plenty of new dungeons and high-end content.
Blizzard stated that the company only has two games scheduled for a 2010 release, namely Cataclysm and the first instalment in the Starcraft II trilogy. Questions were raised immediately regarding the fate of Diablo III, but rumours are now surfacing that Blizzard is intending to release this title in the current year.
Blizzard Entertainment’s annual two-day event started today. We can expect more information regarding all three of Blizzard’s upcoming major titles to surface over the weekend.
The trailer is pretty sweet, but the narrator wasn’t really doing it for me. I’ve often considered returning to WoW since I quit 3 years ago and this is raising the question yet again.
Last week I considered returning to WoW as well, but quickly corrected myself by realising that it would never be as fun as it was when I played it pre-TBC. Too many things have changed to make it more accessible (which is a good thing), but the challenges people faced during the early stages of the game are no longer there. I’m not saying that the game isn’t fun, but for those who used to play a long time ago and quit, probably won’t be returning to the same game they left.