General
* Level cap will be 85 because developers wanted to focus on the right things: redoing Azeroth and providing more end-game content.
* A new guild advancement system will let you earn guild perks and level a guild through 20 levels with points to spend in a talent tree. You will access abilities such as cheaper repairs, less durability loss on wipes, or mass resurection.
* Phasing can now add and remove terrain based on your progress. Coasts will be progressively more flooded depending on how far you are in a storyline for example.
* Casters will finally get a Legendary item in one of the first raids of the expansion.
* Cataclysm will change the ways abilities are learned. Abilities ranks are gone and ability will just scale progressively with levels instead.
* Most of the Talent Trees will be changed dramatically, a lot of the passive bonuses will be removed and talent trees should be more fun. (No more "Hurray! Level up! I just got 1% more hit!)
* There is no plan to allow players to
train more than 2 profession.
* There is no plan to allow more than 2 specs with the dual-spec system.
* Bags might get slightly bigger with Cataclysm.
* You will never be able to cleanse the Corrupted Ashbringer.
* Developers want shaman to be good
AE healers and might
buff Chain Heal even more.
* Multi-passenger flying mounts could be added in the future. They might also allow crafters to craft 310% flying mounts
if they already completed an achievement rewarding one.
* Every healer class can now dispell magic, the niches will other debuffs.
* Engineers might be able to craft bows in the future.
*
If you already own a 310% mount, you might be able to boost the speed of all your 280% mount to 310% just to let you use the one that you prefer.
Path of the Titans
* Talent trees won't be extended, you will just get 5 more talent points.
* The Path of the Titans will let players follow a path (not restricted to classes), this is a new talent system with new skills and passive abilities.
* A mastery system is being added as well, a lot of talents will be reworked to be more fun. The point is to get rid of a lot of the talent skills and not make you spend all your points in a talent tree just because it gives you more damage or higher crit chance.
Reforging
* Reforging is another way to customize your gear.
* It will be relatively cheap, you will need a Blacksmith / Leatherworker / Tailor / Jewelcrafter / Engineer to do it. Each profession get to reforge a type of items.
* It lets you reduce one stat for another. Some restrictions will apply, you can't put the extra stat on something that is already on the item.
Archeology
Archaeology is the new secondary profession that will be joining the ranks of cooking, fishing, and first aid in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Archaeology allows the player to unlock new abilities and rewards by discovering ancient treasures throughout the world. Each archaeologist uses the profession to uncover clues hidden in the world around them, such as troll relics or map fragments, and decipher their meaning, enabling the clever archaeologist to manipulate pieces of the past, learning the location of a treasure cache or valuable artifact. Such artifacts are highly sought after by the Archaeology Society, and they pay in gold and items for their return. Those who have mastered archaeology can find Titan artifacts, earning special currency used to unlock character paths and allowing the player to further customize their character.
Professions
* Multi-gains will be added, while you level up your trade skills, rare items will give you more points as you skill up. (Rare items will give you 5 points for example, while green bracers will only give one)
* Gathering should be a little more fun.
* Engineering is a very fun tradeskill, but it's either amazing or it sucks and everybody drops it. More convenient items like Jeeves or Wormhole Generator will be added to the profession in the future to get back to the roots of Engineering.
* Fishing will also have some big changes, no details yet but it's going to be more fun.
* Armorsmith and Weaponsmith specialization really felt like the Blacksmith was limited by his choice, that's why it was ignored in Wrath of the Lich King. Ultimately it's better
if the player can craft more stuff instead of just being able to craft 2H swords or whatever.
* Herbs and Ore Nodes will be reitemized with the revamp.
Deathwing
* Deathwing, the leader of the Black Dragonflight will be the main vilain of the expansion.
* Deathwing heard the whispers of the Old Gods after the arrival of the Burning Legion, he eventually grew very powerful and also became very very crazy.
* His plan was to catch the Alliance and Horde unaware with something so massive that it would bring up the Elemental Planes.
* The Elemental Planes were created by titans to contain the elementals, they weren't happy with this decision and some of them like Ragnaros got really angry.
New races - Worgens
* Other races were discussed for the alliance, but the developers really felt that the alliance needed a monstrous race and horde needed something fun and tiny.
* Genn Greymane closed the Greymane Wall to block the Scourge's plague. Gilneas got nervous as the Scourge progressed to the south.
* Arugal was a patriot, he called the Worgens to battle for Gilneas but eventually was surprised by how dangerous what he called down was.
* Worgens are from somewhere else ... or even someWHEN else. They have a wolverine temperament and spent a lot of time trying to contain the beast within.
* Racial - Visciousness - +1% damage.
* Racial - Dark Flight - +70% run speed for 10 seconds.
* Racial - Abberation - Duration of Curses and Diseases reduced by 15%
* Racial - Flayer - Skinning skill increased by 15.
Worgen Form
* The Worgen Form is cosmetic only
* out of combat you can pick between Human or Worgen.
* In combat you will be a worgen.
New Races - Goblins
* Goblins are a technological race from Kezan, their society is broken up into trade cartels run by trade princes. They are new factions and not the ones you can already see in game.
* The Cataclysm hit Kezan really hard and it's possibly destroyed. The goblins are now refugees on the Lost Isles.
* As a goblin you start as a neutral cartel and eventually join the horde as you progress through the questlines.
* Racial - Best Deals Anywhere - Always receive the best discount regardless of faction.
* Racial - Pack Hobgoblin - Calls your personal servant allowing you bank access for 1 minute. 30 mins cooldown.
* Racial - Better Living Through Chemistry - Alchemy skill increased by 15.
* Racial - Rocket Barrage - Launches your belt rockets an an enemy, dealing fire damage. 2 min cooldown.
* Racial - Rocket Jump - Activates your rocket belt to jump forward. 2 min cooldown.
* Racial - Time is Money - 1% increased attack and casting speed.
Old World
* We all left a little part of ourselves in Northrend and the old world will be much darker than it was to make heroism and brotherhood more meaningful like Warcraft should be.
* Every zones will be revamped with new quests, items, and art. The old world will be a brand new experience and you won't have to deal with the annoying agility/spirit quest rewards anymore.
* Azeroth is now flyable. Pretty much all the zones will be changed to some extent, some of them like Elwynn Forest won't change too much but others like The Barrens will be sundered in two by Deathwing.
* The Wailing Caverns are now a lush and verdant Area.
* Desolace now has a lot more waters and a lot of plants can be seen in the screenshots.
* The Horde finally conquered Southshore.
* Auberdine was destroyed and the night elves have set up a new camp north of it. Garrosh wants to expand the horde and has built a fortified camp at the south of the zone.
* Stonetalon has been cleaned by the Goblins, Azshara will be the new Goblin zone, and are using quarries in the mountains of Azshara to build their town.
* Apparently Orgrimmar will be rebuilt and reinforced with steel, it now looks a lot like Garrosh strongholds...
* Undercity has been redesigned to be flyable, it now looks much more impressive from the outside.
New Zones
* 7 new zones will be added : Twilight Highlands, Mount Hyjal, Deepholm, Uldum, Gilneas, The Lost Isles, Sunken City of Vash'jir.
Starting Areas
* The Worgens and Goblins starting zone level goes from 1 to 15.
Deepholm
* Deepholm will be the new hub of the expansion, you will have portals here to let you teleport to Hyjal, Uldum, etc ... The Twilight's Hammer now serves Deathwing and have brought him back to full health in the Temple of Earth at the center of the map.
* Deepholm isn't really connected to Azeroth, the connection is where Deathwing emerged from the ground.
Player vs. Player
* Battle of Gilneas will be a new battleground where the objective is to control the city by controlling as many districts as possible.
* Tol'barad will be a new
PvP zone and will also be the most important daily quest hub. Just like Wintergrasp a battle will happen every few hours and the winning side will get access to the Tol'barad Prison and extra daily quests, the really profitable ones.
* Rated battlegrounds will be added to the game and should get you the same rewards as Arenas.
* New arena maps will be added.
Guild Leveling System
* The idea behind the guild leveling system is to make people want to be in guilds and make people feel better about being in a guild. The goal is to take that feature and make it the best they can. (Guild Talent Trees, etc ...)
* You will be able to create guild heirlooms with the new guild leveling system, you can buy profession plans and anyone in your guild can wear that item, it will scale with level.
* Guild experience is earned through multiple ways, players leveling, killing bosses, leveling professions,
PvP victories, reputations.
* Each guild level rewards you with one talent point, these talents affect the whole guild. The top 20 earners of the guild will contribute to the guild experience for the day.
* Some of the guild talents will allow you to remove reagent costs from spell, get increased gold drops, summon your entire
raid, rez your entire
raid after a wipe, automatically transfer a % of gold dropped by bosses to the guild bank. Guild talents can be reset.
* Once your guild reached level 20, the guild experience becomes a currency and let you buy things like mounts, professions plans, banners, potions, rare reagents and guild talent respecs.
* Anyone can learn a guild profession recipe,
if you leave the guild after learning it you will loose the recipe and it will be transferred back to the guild bank. Guild heirlooms also work the same way and are bound to the guild.
Guild Interface
* Guilds will have their own achievements, some of the old achievements might be converted to guild achievements. Some of the achievements are building a legendary item, maxing out every profession, etc ...
* A guild news feed will be added, it will shows boss kills, items looted, it will come with different filters to let you find specific information.
* You can now check the professions of every members of your guild and check their recipes list to see
if they can create an item.
* You will also be able to invite other guilds to your guild events through the in-game calendar.
(Quelle:
mmo-champion)