[WoW] 4.0 - Cataclysm

[Zeste]

Originally Posted by Bixxby

Dragonlance mmo out of nowhere

Hah, so I'm not the only one who thought this upon reading "Cataclysm".

[Troll]

After seeing Neltharion in WotLK, I'm betting he'll be a prominent figure in the next expansion, whether or not Cataclysm is its name.

[Tolanin]

Originally Posted by Itzena

Jesus, do you even engage your brain before putting finger to keyboard?
"Yes, let's make our game barren and desolate and not fun! What could possibly go wrong?"

well you have to be really careful if you want to make anything that even approaches the fallout 3 feel but still has alot of mobs... it would feel realest with a model more like EVE where its pretty open ended with fast travel but huge spaces between things cause then you can spread your players out more...

even wow had a ton of zones that just got stupid with how they had no atmosphere cause the entire zone was going from one camp that was supposedly threatened but never felt or looked threatened to the next, prime example being like silithus or shadowmoon valley.. best thing about fallout was it really felt like the settlements you visited were half a step away from not existing and I would be sad if an mmo based on the same type of concept failed to capture that.

If it is a wow expansion its to bad its not til the one after it that we get a new race it looks like... but atleast the lore will be cool for this one.. fourth xpac being the dream is gonna be a dud tho.

[Froofy-D]

Originally Posted by Slotor

Is what I was thinking.

Kender as a playable race? Yes pls!

Nice. And hopefully their Hoopak ammo won't cost 30g a stack and they won't go OOM in 30 seconds by shooting it.

That, plus the new hero class: a non-mana-based Caster-Healer that can both DPS and heal with all 3 specs at the same, and will go unbalanced in PVP so long that "World of Rangecraft" will be the new PVP forum catch phrase.

[Pyros]

Well wow could definitely use a non gay healer class. And a full rework of the existing ones while they're at it. WotLK healing has been terrible in my opinion, and while healers are much more self sustaining with all their new tools, they're also much more boring/frustrating(depending on if your tank is a protadin or a DK).

[Azrayne]

Imo, next class should be the runemaster class from the TT game. Make it an unarmed melee/healer hybrid, EQ's monk meets the Blood Mage from Vanguard.

[Pyros]

Originally Posted by Azrayne

Imo, next class should be the runemaster class from the TT game. Make it an unarmed melee/healer hybrid, EQ's monk meets the Blood Mage from Vanguard.

You know there's a monk type healing class in Vanguard that's called Disciple and that's in my opinion better than the Blood Mage, and was also performing better because it wasn't subject to resists. The biggest issue with it and wow is Disciple(and Bloodmages and WAR Warriorpriest/Disciple) used a dual targetting system, so you could melee a mob but still have another target to choose who the heals would go to from those melee attacks. Could easily add it since they do have the focus system, but they'd need to rework some of the base UI. Could lead to great changes if they did though, since they could change the current healers to use it too.

The concept however isn't new, and VG's Disciple is fucking awesome.

[Goofy]

Wouldn't they trademark like "Cataclysm of Maelstrom" or something similar instead of just "Cataclysm"?

Someone mentioned that they trademarked "Wrath of the Lich King" previously and not just "Wrath".

Also having a 1 word title just doesnt' seem to fall in line with their expac naming convention so far.

[Azrayne]

Originally Posted by Pyros

You know there's a monk type healing class in Vanguard that's called Disciple and that's in my opinion better than the Blood Mage, and was also performing better because it wasn't subject to resists. The biggest issue with it and wow is Disciple(and Bloodmages and WAR Warriorpriest/Disciple) used a dual targetting system, so you could melee a mob but still have another target to choose who the heals would go to from those melee attacks. Could easily add it since they do have the focus system, but they'd need to rework some of the base UI. Could lead to great changes if they did though, since they could change the current healers to use it too.

The concept however isn't new, and VG's Disciple is fucking awesome.

Ah ok, I only played VG up to level 20 or so, forgot they had a melee equivelant. Anyway the point stands, and they could easily rework the UI to have a defensive targetting system, would path the way for some interesting mechanics for current healers as well, or at least make things a little easier for them.

It's already in the lore and everything: Runemaster - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

Runemasters are monk-like arcane spellcaster and melee fighters who empower themselves with magical energies by inscribing runes onto their bodies. The runemaster is a free spirit, more at home in the wild than in the city.M&M 33-34 The runemaster is a mystic who sees the power of ley lines. Moreover, those who study runes understand that these are not simply symbols of power - they are the power. The runemaster seeks to become one with the land, but not in the fashion of druids. Rather, the runemaster desires to become a microcosm of the land, seeking to overlay his body with runes in the same fashion that the land itself is overlaid with patterns of ley lines.MM&M 10

Runemasters fill many roles. They are adept melee combatants. They possess runes to enhance themselves and their allies, as well as to ward certain areas and otherwise make life difficult for their opponents.DF 31

[Palum]

A healer without mana, please. If you go by Blizzard's gear homogenization plan a new ranged weapon class might be due though. Perhaps the Mekgineer will finally make his debut once Gnomeragan is reclaimed and the new submarine base to travel to the maelstrom is built.

[Flesseck]

Another 10 levels...fuck. It's not too bad, but talents and balancing will come into play again, and I always feel that brings up new issues and new problems between classes.

[Azrayne]

Honestly I'd prefer that they made it 5 levels and used the rest of the content for outdoor endgame stuff/world PvP. But maybe that's just me, I'm sick of doing 'escort the npc/collect 10 bear asses/use the tank to kill 20 mobs' over and over for 6 hours x 10 levels just to get right back to where I was 2 years ago.

[Flesseck]

Originally Posted by Azrayne

Honestly I'd prefer that they made it 5 levels and used the rest of the content for outdoor endgame stuff/world PvP. But maybe that's just me, I'm sick of doing 'escort the npc/collect 10 bear asses/use the tank to kill 20 mobs' over and over for 6 hours x 10 levels just to get right back to where I was 2 years ago.

Yeah, exactly. It just seems unnecessary to keep adding levels to the game which therefore wastes a lot of time/resources so that players can achieve those extra levels when instead they can be concerned with endgame PvE and PvP, and polish those facets of WoW even more.

Oh, and by the way, it is reasonable to assume that the Legion Set and therefore, Sargeras be the end of WoW? So we're looking at 3 more expansions, and roughly 6 more years before WoW expires?

[Azrayne]

I imagine they'll put the game on life support after that, much akin to EQ etc. these days. keep the servers up, merge them, and put a team of newbie developers/guys who got shunted off other projects onto occasionally throwing out new content or patches for whoever isn't playing the new blizzard MMO, or Everquest 5, or whichever project Mcquaid suckers some idiot into funding.

Thing about levelling is the ratio for time spent developing/playtime provided is very low. Sure, any one levelling zone in Northrend was great once for the 7 or 8 hours I spent there, and maybe slightly less fun for the next 7 or 8 hours on an alt, but then you hit endgame and you're left with nothing to do for months on end while they rush to release the latest and greatest raid zone. I'd prefer they cut a few of those levelling zones and instead focus on having a fully fleshed out endgame so that when we hit level cap ( in 5 or 6 days instead of 7 or 8) we've got enough content to get us through the next 6 months until they release the first big patch.

It's been 5 years and levelling has really kind of lost it's charm. I'm not saying eliminate it entirely, but maybe slightly shift the focus to where we spend 90% of our time, the endgame.

[Glaive]

While I agree with popular speculation (and the leaked expansion list thingy posted before) that the Maelstrom is likely the next expansion, it certainly does seem odd to trademark "Cataclysm." If Maelstrom is the expansion, you'd expect to see a trademark for "Into the Maelstrom" or something like that, or perhaps "The Second Cataclysm" or whatever.

Cataclysm by itself sounds like the name of a new game. I'm not saying that's what it is, just that it sounds better as the name of a new game than it does as an expansion.

Also, is there any particular reason why they couldn't announce the new WoW expansion AND the name of the new unnamed MMO at this year's Blizzcon? Hell, Brad had said for the longest time nothing more than that he was working on a "fantasy-themed MMO" and we were all excited to sit around and speculate all over the Interweb Tubes. I don't see why they couldn't say something like "The new game's called Cataclysm and it's a next-gen sci-fi MMO," and then just show us a logo and maybe a couple of pieces of concept art.