Cataclysm alpha

According to an ultra secret insider that has close connections Cataclysm alpha is launching today. But Skonged what does that mean for us? Sit right down and let me tell you the tale of Cataclysm...

Your gear your wearing now is going to be replaced with level 81 quest greens.
Level cap raised to 85
The old world will be remade
Alliance can play as wolf men and Horde can play as goblins
New second profession
Maybe some new dances this time Blizzard?

With the new LFG system and XP gained in BGs you can ding 85 without ever doing 1 quest. As of now I have 6, soon to be 7, level 80s. I do hate questing, as do 90% of the player base, so any way I can get around questing and still level fast is a welcome one. Questing does nothing but teach the player to kill mobs, find boxes, and deliver letters. If I designed quests I would make them story driven with fun objectives. The final stage of the quest line would grant you 20% of a level. As evident with the level cap only being raised 5 levels Blizzard reconizes the monotiny of questing. Reducing the amount of time to 85 is proof of that.

So when is Cataclysm coming out?
When it's ready is the lawyer answer from Blizzard, but here at ETOP we have top men on a release date. By our calculations of previous release dates, then dividing them by our 7th grade locker combination, Cataclysm should be released June 28th 2010. Honestly Blizzard's Alpha grade games are other companies beta grade and some even gold grade.

Can I get in on this Alpha?
No, not unless you work at Blizzard or are a friend/family member of someone at Blizzard.

If I can't play Alpha what about Beta?
You will get an official email from Blizzard if your so lucky.

Can't wait to make my OP Shaman Goblin.

Cataclysm - is everything

The early signs of Cataclysm are upon us. If you have not noticed there are strange earth quakes happening all over. Many mechanics have been places into 3.3 that Cataclysm will use. Hints of the next big expansion of world of warcraft are being revealed. I have a feeling more and more signs will emerge as more time passes.

The two major races, Worgen and Goblin, have been introduced. Their racials skills are pretty amazing. This leads me to believe Blizzard will revamp all races with similar stats. It looks as if stats will include damage/improved casting, escape, and a nice passive. Worgens look cool, but I like horde too much. So my next character is going to be a Goblin Shaman. I already have the leveling chest, shoulders, and working on ring. Figure it should take 1 month to hit 80 and historically Blizzard has configured the XP rate to take a months time to level to max level of current expansion.

Image credit: Paul Adam

Cataclysm - The WoW reset

If you have not turned your PC on in over 3 weeks, avoided checking any gaming and news websites, and not talked with any of your wow gaming buddies. The you have missed Blizzards announcement of it's next expansion titled Cataclysm. Take everything you know about wow and throw it out the window. None of what you know right now about professions, equipment, stats, classes, talents, guilds, ANYTHING will matter in 6-8 months. We are 2 maybe 3 patches away from facing down Aurthus himself in the final battle of Northrend and returning to Azeroth as champions. It feels like I just got to Northrend too. /sad panda

Let's go back to taking down Aurthus for a second. In previous expansions, even in the original world, end game raids were only accessible to the "hard core" raider. Blizzard has made end game more accessible by fixing our talents and making better gear more accessible. Who would want to play a game and not see the end? So a big thank you to you Blizzard for inserting more fun for the non hardcore gamer.

Cataclysm will raise the level cap to 85 and promises a slew of improvements. So now is the time to level that last alt to 80, level cap your professions, and finish any achievements you were wanting. Cataclysm is right around the corner. Are you ready?