Cataclysm: What’s Been Removed…

Cataclysm: What’s Been Removed…

Talk about shock…

When I checked all the sources out there for Cataclysm content, snippets of news, or even rumors -  I was beyond shocked at what Blizzard had to say about a few changes they are making to the Cataclysm release. (please be prepared for a lot of NightSkye personal opinions – you have been warned! hehe).

• Path of the Titans – GONE!  Yes you read right, instead we’ll be having Medium Glyphs, which are described as ‘Fun Factors’.  I don’t want ‘fun factors’ I seriously wanted Path of the Titans.  I get so tired of being a cookie cutter Hunter, especially if you’re a raiding Hunter, that Path of  the Titans was a welcome change to being ‘something different’.
• Guild Talents and Guild Currency -  GONE!  Instead now your guild will get bonuses depending on their guild level and once that level is achieved the ‘cool stuff’ will be unlocked for guild members to purchase with gold.  Things that can be purchased include but not limited to : “Once a reward is unlocked, members will be able to purchase it with gold. Some of the rewards include guild tabards, mounts, heirlooms, and it looks like you will finally be able to have a guild tabard on your mount. (Just like the Argent Tournament banners)” - Blizzard.    Some of that is cool but I was excited about the idea of guilds being completely different as well.  How so?  Guilds right now fit into 5 categories : Raiding, PvP/Arena, Role Play, Social, and the ‘be in my guild because you’re my friend’. Not that there is anything wrong with those types of guilds, they HAVE to be there, but they are all cookie cutters.  Can you tell I’m not a huge fan of ‘being like everyone else’?
• Archaeology – NOT as important.  Why?  Archaeology was a co-skill originally to be used with Path of the Titans but now that Path of the Titans is gone it will become like every other secondary skill we have.  It won’t need to be leveled unless you want it maxed out.  At this point there will be two types of artifacts found, Common and Rare.  Common will be used to find out Lore and in a sense – a collection game (as in if you have to collect each one) where as Rare will be actual usable items – mostly vanity but on the rare occasion truly usable.  How boring is that?  Blizzard commented that Archaeology will be like Fishing…. *shudders*
• Heroic Deadmines/Shadowfang Keep – MIGHT not be ready for Cataclysm release.  Firstly, WHEN is Cataclysm being release?  Secondly, I don’t mind it being pushed back for so many reasons which I’ll get into a bit later.

I must say I am really disappointed about what Cataclysm is turning into.  Why?  Did these things not work out right in Beta?  Is there not going to be enough time to perfect these awesome ideas before Cataclysm release?  Will they be available in future to us, like a patch or update?  *shakes her head*  Don’t get me wrong I am happy about the new quests, the new races, the class changes, and the land changes Blizzard is giving us but everything that was going to make World of Warcraft deeper and ‘more complex’ was just shot out the window.  I’m not complaining that NOTHING new is coming, believe me – I need new content in some manner, it’s just sad that what was going to make this expansion awesome is gone.  How do I mean that?  Sure if you’re a new player picking up the game there is nothing wrong, if you’re a veteran player playing a new race there is nothing wrong, but if you are a veteran player continuing on the path of leveling your level 80 characters – it feels like it’s STILL going to be a level grind.  True the game will always be about the level grinding because you can’t have the ‘best things in game’ without being the top level to gain access to those items but with everything they’ve taken out, it would have lessened the grind and it feels like the rewards for the hard work done…..well….like I said, just a grind.

Those are my thoughts and sad sad feelings – what are yours?

For those who wish to see actual Blue Posts (as well as from other major sites) on this, feel free to look here (Blue), (MMO)  here and (Wowhead) here.

Happy Hunting!

Guild Beta Testing For Cataclysm?

While browsing the general forums during the downtime, I came across this little tidbit by blue poster Zarhym:

If you think you and your guildmates have what it takes to make invaluable beta testers, take a stab at our Cataclysm Beta — Guild Contest. All you need to do is tell us in a short essay why you and nine of your guildmates should be in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test. We’ll be picking 100 winning submissions each week for five weeks, for a total of 5,000 beta keys at stake!

Read that again.  Go ahead.  I’ll wait.

That’s right.  A multiple-winner contest for guild beta testing.

The potential is, in my humble opinion, huge.

If a progression-driven raiding guild can get many of its top-tier players into the beta at once, they’d be able to get a leg up on the competition.  They’d be able to test out new abilities, work on new specs and rotations, and see what sort of fight the new mobs will put up.  Talk about an advantage.  Preparation is key, as any raider knows, and getting to see even incomplete versions of non-elite mobs could be considered one major study guide.

I let this mull in my head a bit, then went over to the Official Warcraft site to see what the stipulations would be.  It’s very straightforward.  Write a short essay between 50 and 250 words, submit it, and cross your fingers.  The powers that be will choose 100 winners a week between June 7 (that’s this past Monday) and July 12.  That’s five weeks.

If we do a little bit of mathematics (bear with me, I majored in English):

100 winners a week x 5 weeks = 500 winners

Each winner can choose nine guild members to beta test with them, so

1000 winners (winner + nine friends) x 5 weeks = 5000 winners.

That’s a whole bunch of beta slots.

A few important notes:

• The entry must be submitted by the GM.  Doesn’t matter if you’re the second-in-command, the publicity officer, or are the best writer this side of Shakespeare.  If you’re not Guild Master, you don’t get to enter.

• You have to live in the United States.  Sorry, rest of the world, that’s just the way it is.  Also, residents of Connecticut, Maryland, North Dakota and Vermont aren’t eligible.  Take it up with your state legislature if you don’t like it; Blizzard isn’t picking on you directly.  I swear.

• You have to have a battle.net account (but we all have one now) and you have to have both BC and WotLK upgrades.  If you’re a GM who’s wanting to get into the Beta, I’m pretty sure you meet this requirement.

If you decide to enter, best of luck!  I’m off to talk my GM into handing over the reins for a few days…

24 Hour Downtime and Ruby Sanctum Update

So the standard weekly maintenance is happening again this Tuesday, with an additional bonus: 72 different servers will be down for 24 hours.  According to the box on the loading screen, this is to “prepare for the upcoming expansion”.  How they’re preparing, they don’t say.  All realms not listed are going down for their regular maintenance time.

Since my main server – and two of my alternate servers – are on the 24-hour blackout list, I’m really wondering what all they do during these extended maintenance periods.   Not wonder in the “QQ I CAN’T FARM WHAT ARE THEY DOING” way, but really earnestly wonder what sort of fancy things they’ll be implementing in this all-day blackout.

By now, everyone knows about the Shakers found in Stormwind.  Will this maintenance be putting them in more cities and towns across Azeroth?  Will it be setting up invasions of some sort, like they did for the BC and WotLK kickoff?  When I log in on Wednesday, will I be able to mount up and fly over the walls of Stormwind or through the sewers of Undercity,  like has been promised for Cataclysm?  Maybe there will be posters advertising the Gnomeregan reclamation effort around Ironforge, urging your characters to take up arms to take the city back.

Perhaps new NPCs will show up in Dalaran; ragged goblins and peculiarly-dressed humans to go with the High Elf mage and Tauren paladin-to-be already there from a previous patch, giving you a seemingly pointless quest that sets up lore for quests to come once Cataclysm drops.

Maybe there won’t be anything visible, and we’ll be left to wonder what sort of tantalizing tidbits have been left behind in the code for us to discover at a later date.

Speculation is fun!

Until the expansion is actually in my hands, I’ll be wondering what they’re doing back there behind the scenes.

In other news:

Ruby Sanctum was originally to be released with patch 3.3.5, but it looks like there’s going to be a bit of a delay.  So sayeth Zarhym the Blue:

Due to the fact that we will be delaying the release of patch 3.3.5 in Europe, Korea and Taiwan in order to ensure the patch process in all regions is as smooth as possible, the Ruby Sanctum will not immediately be available on North American realms upon the release of the patch. Once patch 3.3.5 has been released in North America and we are confident about a time when we can open up Ruby Sanctum, we will provide an update here on the forums.

In other words, no one will be seeing Ruby Sanctum until everyone gets to see Ruby Sanctum.  Sounds fair to me; a world-first kill wouldn’t seem the same if half the world didn’t even get a shot at it.