WOW Cataclysm expansion unveiled

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 August, 2009

Goblins, Worgen, level cap at 85, more.

The rumours were true! Blizzard's next World of Warcraft expansion is called Cataclysm, although there's no word yet on a release date.

Cataclysm will be "nothing less than earth-shattering", Blizzard's Chris Metzen told his disciples during the ongoing BlizzCon 2009 conference. It will "very literally change the face of Azeroth as you know it".

Cataclysm introduces two new races - the Worgen join the Alliance while the Goblins join the Horde. There are also new class/race combinations - the Troll Druid and Tauren Paladin are the ones we spotted in the trailer - and a new profession, Archeology. There will be more new class/race combinations on top of that, too, and the level cap's going up to 85.

A fast-moving trailer introduced new character progression called Path of the Titans, guild levelling and achievements, and something about ranked play in Battlegrounds that we'll clear up once the conference finishes and Eurogamer MMO can check my dimwitted interpretation of the ongoing live report.

Look out for more on Cataclysm, not to mention all the other stuff at BlizzCon, as we report from the panels and gameplay sessions.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • outy #1 3 years ago

    Unlike WOTLK this expansion has piqued my interest...

  • UberFrog #2 3 years ago

    When to expect it, 6 or 18 months from now?

  • PlushGraffiti #3 3 years ago

    Blizzard's world builders are the best in the business. Cannot wait to see what they have done to Azeroth. Videos/photos as soon as possible EG!

  • Wyrm #4 3 years ago

    Looks great, I had hoped for something of this magnitude when we were told of the 'razing' of Org in the Wrath buildup. Seeing old areas wrecked will have impact on those of us who see them as a 2nd home. It'll also make playing an Alt properly a much easier thing to see through.

    Very interested in what the new 'Path of the Titans' thing is though... progression that isn't gear or level based?

  • Wyrm #5 3 years ago

    WoW Insider has a load of info.

    'Azeroth will be changed whether you buy the expansion or not' = sweet.

  • curtlikesmeat #6 3 years ago

    Eurogamer still hard at work on a Friday night?

    This looks kind of meh to me, will probably do the usual expansion routine... get it, play through as a single player game and then unsubscribe till the next one.

  • Wyrm #7 3 years ago

    Sounds like you don't understand mmo games. Play with other people and they are 100 times more interesting.

  • stevetuck #8 3 years ago

    TerryWorgen standing by!

  • Sharzam #9 3 years ago

    Its alot, but they say that starter areas playable. correct me if iam wrong but wrath of lich king was only released in november.

    Seams blizzard might be getting there dream of 1 expansion a year, that they planned. Shame really when still so much potential left in northrend althourgh do like the idea of revamp to rest azeroth.

  • swills #10 3 years ago

    Pretty sure they caught one of the Blizzard guys mentioning a Q1 or Q2 2010 release date which sounds about right to me (they'd like 12 month expansions, but 18 seems reasonable given how long most of their stuff takes to come out).

  • Tyranix #11 3 years ago

    Simply awful, even more glad Aion is an awesome game now.

    The only thing that I like about this expansion is them re doing the old content, which is fantastic and a nice change from the normal 'ohh another continent, ohh another 10 levels, ohh another gear grind *groan*'. But the simplification of stats (as if the game isn't piss easy enough as it is), goblins being a terrible choice to counterbalance Worgen (everyone and their mother will re roll alliance), a -forced- deletion of all the old content i'm still yet to explore fully and a rather dull storyline just make it not very appealing to me.

    However, it's a long way off and they may pull off a miracle with it ^^ We shall see.

  • wickedcharm #12 3 years ago

    Well, if Blizzard hasn't completedly fucked up the best video game ever. World of Warcraft used to look cool and interesting and now...they've completely fucked it.

    Goblins, the most annoying creature they've ever created are part of the cool people's faction: that's right...the Horde. The alliance get werewolves! What the fuck? They get something cool? And supposedly Cairne Bloodhoof--yes , the cool druid guy is deemed a traitor and killed. Also, supposedly Thrall doesn't run the Horde and a bunch of fucked up shit is going to happen completely ruining the goodness of the game. What the hell?

    Blizzard needs to have more drug tests for its writers. Who could fuck something up that badly? And even better: The Lich King still doesn't die. Nope. They're dragging on the cataclysm which they totally ripped off from the Lord of the Rings trillogy with our greed and other sins brought the creature out from the earth where it was dormant and now the elements are battling for supremecy. Yeah, real nice.

    So the Horde gets screwed, all of the zones are getting redone so you can't even be useful to lower leveled players. Oh and remember how your race decided your class and your weapons? IT DOESN'T MATTER ANY LONGER! So things that aren't spirtual like humans can be Shaman! And things that don't even know what God is like Orcs can be Paladins! That's what the trailor at Blizzcon said.

    And the level cap is 85. This game is not worth the time of day. And most would think that they can simply not get the expansion to keep things the way they were...but you're wrong. Blizzard is using patches to fuck up the game play for everybody. Congrats Blizz. You got too greedy for money and any self-respectin g player would either not play anymore or burn down the Blizzard building in California so they'd have to rethink fucking up the only good MMORPG in existence.

    And I wish I had an active account because I would spam this on the website.