Cataclysm Gameplay and Troubles

[Renown0]

For those of you who are not aware, Blizzard has come out with the first gameplay trailer of the expansion to be known as, yes,

CATACLYSM {Also known as Hemorrhoids.}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmcHwEn0m7U (Embed is being retarded.)
I know that we are NOT taking into account the newest "Lore" brought about by Cataclysm, or at least not yet. Especially due to all the oddities that you may or may not see in the trailer.

My question here is how we should start to deal with it when it does come out, using what we have.

With the Cataclysm expansion, the entire face of Azeroth is getting a painful-looking makeover. This can give Lore hemorrhoids in an instant, and we may not want to take it into account. The question is: Will we or not?

What kind of Lore changes would we be dealing with?
(I will leave most of this blank so people can speculate in this thread about what impact the changes will cause.)

Races: We know there will be Goblins on the Horde side and Worgen on the Alliance.

Worgen information from Blizzcon: Since the time of WC3, the Scourge was overrunning Lordaeron. Greymane enclosed Gilneas in a wall so his people would not contract the plague. But as Lordaeron fell and the Scourge marched ever southward, the people of Gilneas got pretty edgy, because they thought it was just a matter of time before the Scourge started getting them. A Dalaran wizard by the name of Arugal, a patriot of Gilneas, decided to pull out a spell and summon creatures that would be able to fight the Scourge for Gilneas. What he summoned surprised him quite a bit. It turned out to be perhaps every bit as dangerous as the Scourge itself. To make the story short, the Worgen curse made its way into Gilneas. The level 1-15 quests for the Worgen area will reveal exactly how the curse ran its way through Gilneas society. We do know that the Worgen themselves are still trying to figure out where this ancient curse came from. We also know that it had something to do with the Scythe of Elune, which is why the Kaldorei are the ones to actually recruit the Worgen to the Alliance. Are the Worgen from someplace else, or just for kicks, someWHEN else?

Also according to the Blizzard panel, Wolverine is to X-Men as the Worgen are to the Alliance. It's a nice tone to have in that racial line-up.

Apparently, they also believe that the Worgen starting area tops the DK starting area by miles.

Goblin information from Blizzcon: As you all know, since about WC2, the Goblins were part of the Horde with all their zeppelins and bombers and such. In general, Goblin society is broken up into separate factions, or cartels. There's a number of different trade princes who command essentially private armies, and they wheel and deal all over the world. The Goblins that we use neutrally in World of Warcraft like in Ratchet, Gadgetzan, Booty Bay are a generally neutral group. The Goblins that you'll play are a specific group from the Isle of Kazhan. Kazhan got hit by the Cataclysm very hard. These Goblins, through the storyline, were driven out and shipwrecked upon the Lost Isles which is in a geographical area close to the kinder races of the Horde, which puts them in a good place to befriend and become Horde, themselves. What you'll notice from levels 1-15 is that you begin neutrally and gradually become a part of the Horde as you do the quests. (Which reset for each individual player so that it doesn't seem horribly odd.)

Another "excuse" for giving the Goblins to the Horde is comic relief! Yes, comic relief. Apparently, people took the joke known as "Blood Elves" too seriously.

Race/Class Combos: Of an absolute surety, we know there will be:
Troll Druids: Shadowhunters? More in-tune with the Loa?
Human Hunters: Opinions?
Gnome Priests: Gnomes possibly accepting the Light at a gradual rate, since they've been living with the Dwarves as long as they have.
Tauren Paladins: Not necessarily "Paladins". They're most likely going to be Shamans/Druids specific to their sun god An'She.
Dwarf Mages: Opinions?
Night Elf Mages: "Highborne"
Orc Mages: Orcs distrust Arcana in general, not just the Fel. Unsure on why Orc Mages would appear. More opinions?
Dwarf Shamans: Wildhammers.
Blood Elf Warriors: Opinions?
Undead Hunters: Give that bone back, Fido!
Tauren Priests: Opinions? (Holy cow.)
Worgen can be anything but Paladins and Shamans: Opinions?
Goblins can be anything but Paladins and Druids: Opinions?

All those wonderful lava cracks: Quite possibly every zone on Azeroth will be covered in craters/canyons full of lava! It would seem that many cities, villages, and towns will also be affected by this destruction.

Northrend is SAFE from this. Must be the weather. The BC zones are also safe, since they aren't part of Azeroth.

It turns out that not only will there be lava everywhere, but many areas will also be regrown! For example, the northern halves of the Barrens and Darkshore will be destroyed, but the southern halves will be covered in new life! The cracks cause devastation, but they also allow water into previously desolate places. What's that? You thought I said Desolace? Well, Desolace won't be desolate anymore! They received a gigantic makeover when the waterways were restored.

New Areas: What's this?! Gnomeregan might be remade into a player-based community the same way as the other main cities? What are the Darkspear going to do?

Then there will be the Goblin and Worgen cities, along with various wonderful areas in the middle of and around the Maelstrom. Will they be opened for RP interaction? Will we have even reached Icecrown and the Storm Peaks by that time?! (Probably)

Anything else you guys want to add for consideration:

[Nostra]

Northrend will not be affected, Metzen himself said so in an interview.

[Renown0]

Northrend will not be affected, Metzen himself said so in an interview.

And the above has been edited accordingly.

[Mikain]

BC zones are untouched as well. The only things changing there will be quest text.

[MoonlightBlossom]

I think it's a bit premature to begin formulating opinions for an expansion that we know very little about; adding to the fact that it's well over a year away. I'm all about being hypothetical, but seeing a Cataclysm-related thread popping up every other day bores me to tears.

I'm largely indifferent about the expansion overall; as the premises of the expansions post-BC just haven't enthused me much, at all. It's nice that they're going to revamp the old world, and make it a bit more exciting; but I do think if they're going to expand class options to more races, they should've done that from the get-go. Goblins are awesome, but they're five years too late to the party, and should've been considered long before the utterance of "Blood Elf", let alone the consideration thereof. Worgen are a joke.
The only premise that intrigues me, is a Blood Elf warrior; as this is something I dearly wanted to play when BC was released; but had to settle for a rogue instead. I also see nothing about Draenei, and what they'll be allowed to play - if every other race gets a contradictory addition, then there's nothing stopping Draenei from being warlocks, aside from the lore - but that has been less than sacrosanct for years.

[Anski]

Don't Care:
Troll Druids
Gnome Priests
Tauren Paladins
Night Elf Mages (How does this work I don't even)
Blood Elf Warriors
Undead Hunters
Worgen can be anything but Paladins and Shamans

Cool Beans:
Dwarf Mages
Orc Mages
Tauren Priests

AWESOMESAUCE:
Human Hunters
Dwarf Shamans
Goblins In General

Gnomeregan might be remade into a player-based community the same way as the other main cities?

Spoiler:

[Harmonic]

Like Moon, while I'm all for people sharing their opinions about things on the forums, it's getting very tedious to see that every other day there is a topic about Cataclysm, and mostly what it is is the same formula that I see.

"What don't you like about it?"

Honestly, we know -nothing- about what they are going to do with the x-pack. Up until Wrath came out, we all had these assumptions of what DK's were, how ghouls worked, and so on and so forth.

[Renown0]

I think it's a bit premature to begin formulating opinions for an expansion that we know very little about; adding to the fact that it's well over a year away. I'm all about being hypothetical, but seeing a Cataclysm-related thread popping up every other day bores me to tears.

Listening to the latest podcast, it would seem Mikain is on my side. >:3

The expansion, for the sake of being an expansion, is not what I mean to debate here. I removed the section about flying mounts because that really makes sense, and really doesn't affect Lore.

I meant for this thread to be a place to discuss Lore, and as Mikain said in the CotHcast (I paraphrase): If we start planning what we will do now, and start implementing the minor things, it won't be a wtfshock when the world is suddenly covered in lava.

If you watch the trailer, you'll notice the world is different... a lot. It's not a situation like with WotLK where we can open areas after it comes out, because Northrend isn't attached to places with already-implemented Lore.

My brain feels very scattered and sleep deprived, so I'm not going to expound on that anymore. *Falls asleep on keybijiujhnlmjmiujm--

[Mikain]

I'm iffy. I check multiple sources each day for developments and blue posts from the official forums, but I haven't jumped on any opinions or speculation yet. Until something is ground in, I won't even consider it for implementation. So you may discuss it sure, but don't expect any conclusions made to be used here.

[Roobald2]

Troll Druids: Nice!
Human Hunters: Nice!
Gnome Priests: How about Gnome Paladins, then?
Tauren Paladins: Cool new lore!
Dwarf Mages: Awesomes
Night Elf Mages: Lul, lorenoobs at blizz
Orc Mages: Wut?
Dwarf Shamans: Yay! Wildhammers!
Blood Elf Warriors: Neutral
Undead Hunters: See "Human Hunters".
Tauren Priests: See "Tauren Paladins".
Worgen can be anything but Paladins and Shamans: Warlocks and Druids within one race? Lolwut?
Goblins can be anything but Paladins and Druids: Goblin Shamans >..> Nuff said.

[Grakor456]

Races: We know there will be Goblins on the Horde side and Worgen on the Alliance.

I see this and just shake my head. Blizz always did have a record of improving things, then undoing all of their own work with horrible decisions like this.

Orc Mages: Opinions?

You know, of all the classes that I might want to play as an Orc, Mage was quite literally dead last.

Beyond that, there's not much to go on. I can honestly say I'm completely underwhelmed so far.

[Kaghuros]

To be honest, Orc Druid makes much more sense. HOWEVER it gives us a viable Orcish class to be a Runemaster and use non-Shaman powers.

I'm actually a little excited about Night Elf mages. It gives us the chance to play the second subset of greater Night Elven populations: The Highborne and the exiled. It's not something we should allow much, but it gives more depth to a race who have so much opportunity to do magic but don't because it's forbidden.

I also consider the Gilnean Worgen Curse to be an interesting new mechanic, but I can't fathom why they decided to put it in there.

[Hawk]

Troll Druids: This makes sense, because a druid could be able to shift forms much like a Shadowhunter could by the powers of the Loa.

Human Hunters: This was something DYING to be added. I like it!

Gnome Priests: It KINDA makes sense for Gnomes to be priests. Afterall, they live with the Dwarves who the majority are followers of the Light. But it'd be quite rare to see a Gnome priest imo.

Tauren Paladins: Let's just see what Blizzard comes up with... >_> Atleast Blizz made an effort and made them not follow the Light.

Dwarf Mages: This also makes sense and I have no problems with it, seeing as in lore there have indeed been Dwarven mages.

Night Elf Mages: At first I was like WTF? But then I found out they were Highbourne, so it wasn't too bad. I guess.

Orc Mages: Lolwut.

Dwarf Shamans: Wildhammers! Hooray. I personally won't be making one but I can imagine someone else doing so... *looks to Roobald*

Blood Elf Warriors: Meh, they don't really seem like the brutal warrior type, but it's not lore breaking really.

Undead Hunters: This isn't too bad. But I don't see the Undead befriending animals... The Undead hunting Humans? Maybe.

Tauren Priests: Same as the Paladins.

Worgen can be anything but Paladins and Shamans: The Worgen are too feral and wild to follow any strict codes imo. Doesn't explain priests though. Shamans, meh. I can see them being Shamans but it doesn't seem like something they'd do.

Goblins can be anything but Paladins and Druids: This makes perfect sense considering they don't give a toss about nature and the majority are way too greedy to follow any strict codes. But then again that doesn't explain the priests.

As for the massive cracks in the world, I can see a lot of potential for RP. Refugees moving around, Races struggling to get whatever supply they can (which brings in more hostility), and of course there could be a few enlightened people who'll realise the world is basically screwed and they'll need to work together whether they like it or not.

[Yukai]

We're still discussing this? Thought all of this would be over by now...


Troll Druids - not that bigger deal, not like trolls haven't worshipped something that involved shapeshifting before.

Tauren Pally - Bleh. IC'ly supposed to be a different type of Earthmother worship to the sun instead of the ground. But OOC'ly just a pally with hooves.

Other stuff - I forget. But the above two are the ones causing the most hassle with people so I answered those.

I just took part, barely, in a discussion thread. Go me for doing so for once.

[Renown0]

I believe this topic would have stopped being discussed if there wasn't a huge burst of Lore information that came out recently.

UPDATE: Information on the Goblins and Worgen straight from the Blizzard panel! Moody Alliance and comic relief for the Horde, as well as other Blizzard Lore!