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Today Blizzard flexed its might and threw its rabid massively multiplayer online game fans a bone by ending speculation about the announcement and details for the next expansion pack for its World of Warcraft franchise. Just nine months since launching its Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the new pack, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, will forgo the introduction of any new playable classes and, instead, focus on adding two of the game's most requested races--Goblins and Worgen--to the playable roster.
Chris Metzen, Blizzard Entertainment's vice president of creative development made the announcement to the thunderous applause of the convention's 20,000-strong attendees. We got our hands on a work-in-progress build of the game, which was playable at the show to coincide with the announcement, and took the two new races for a spin.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is taking a slightly different approach and will go as far as to drastically change the physical landscape of the planet. After keeping out of the limelight and presumed defeated, Deathwing, leader of the Black Dragonflight, is positioned to return and become the game's new antagonist as Azeroth is literally torn asunder. Adding a new continent is one thing, but Cataclysm is already setting the bar high on tearing Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdom realms a new one. Huge volcanic gullies have been cut into the countryside, leaving pieces of land precariously teetering and on the verge of collapsing into the lava below to turn the Barrens into the new Burning Steppes. Elsewhere in Azeroth, the earthquakes have caused huge waterfalls to appear and floods to occur, leaving even the most vibrant parts of the neighbourhood looking pretty trashed. Azshara looks to have been hit pretty hard with most of its trees felled, which leave wide open spaces where there was thick forest before. It's not all bad news, though, as zones like Desolace have somehow managed to spring to life, transforming their dustbowl environments into lush, verdant fields covered in grass and trees.
