New Cata Mulgore screenshot

#0 - June 9, 2010, 2:24 a.m.

Um, first, why are we raising armored boars?

Second, this is a continuation of something I've been noticing about most Cata content, everything is getting depressingly worse. I understand that it a Cataclysm and things are going to get screwed up. I mean, that's implied with the name. But, screenshot after screenshot seems to be 'You know this area you've been familiar with for years? Looks how screwed up, ruined and depressing me made it. Cool, huh?"

Well, yeah, it's kinda cool. It's also where we'll all be playing for the next few years. I don't particularly want to play a game for years where everything is ruined and depressing.

WoW shipped with a lot of ruined zones where terrible battles had killed just about everything. There are ruins all over. There's a lot of sad storylines. But there were bright spots too. There were beautiful zones like Mulgore...where they now raise armored boars in stinking pits filled with blood and mud.

Everything just seems to be getting worse. Does anything ever get better?

Zarhym

#9 - June 9, 2010, 2:52 a.m.

For all of the zones that take a turn for the worse, I would say there's an equal number of zones which improve in the chaos. Our goal is not to make the leveling experience dreary, or show you how much we can decimate familiar places. We want to add some vigor back into the old world in the wake of cataclysmic change.

Zarhym

#15 - June 9, 2010, 2:58 a.m.

Just to clarify, in many cases there are different areas in each zone with different types of changes. So, maybe the Barrens has been ruptured in half and made a tumultuous place of battle between the Alliance and the Horde in the south, but there are areas of the Barrens that look more beautiful than ever before. The changes in cataclysm aren't being made to shift the scale toward ugly, unforgiving terrain. You'll find a multitude of differing environments within each zone, and within the overall world.

Q u o t e:

That's a common misconception. The area isn't named after a description, but after its first explorer, Ted Desolace.

Good chap, that Mr. Desolace.

Zarhym

#52 - June 9, 2010, 8:46 p.m.

Q u o t e:

True true. They do. But it'd be pretty lame for every zone like descolace or the blasted lands to become really pretty and alive, while all the nice zones get torn apart by the cata..

I think a littler more creativeness rather than just turning the zones 'inside-out' would be great.

We're definitely not taking a simplistic inside-out approach and flipping the feel of every zone around. Some areas will change drastically as a result of Deathwing's cataclysmic return. These areas will change for better or worse. You'll also see a lot of what we refer to as political progression. For instance, the Forsaken are determined to really come into their own as a faction now that the Lich King is gone. They intend to continue to fight for their preservation with allegiance to the Horde, which requires that they find alternate means of sustaining their forces since they cannot reproduce. Politically, they're determined to expand their territory around Lordaeron and march into Greymane. It is in the Horde's interest to have a coastal stronghold on Eastern Kingdoms in the event that an attack on Stormwind becomes imminent.

So, beyond the physical changes of the world, you'll see a lot of storyline advancement, as the setting on Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms will now be post-Lich King.

Zarhym

#56 - June 9, 2010, 9:15 p.m.

Q u o t e:

A related question. Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, story-wise, will be post-Lich King. Will there be any attempts to reconcile these events in Outland and Northrend, which take place pre-Lich King? Or are we supposed to take some sort of suspension of disbelief that here were are, levelling 1-58 with Garrosh as Horde Warchief, then we get to Outland where he's pretty much an emo kid with daddy issues, then get to Northrend where he's an ultraviolent bastard, then back to the main continents where he's Warchief once again?

Very little will change in Outland and Northrend. It would be nice to make more changes for continuity, but consider that Wrath of the Lich King shipped with roughly 1,000 new quests, and Cataclysm is scheduled to ship with upwards of 3,000 new quests.