The Cataclysm Has Happened

[chaos5061]

Ok. This thread will continue the Official News related to Cataclysm thread. Most of the same things will be posted here. Blue Posts and Articles to help you in the Cataclysm I will post the last Dungeon article from WowInsider when it's available.

[chaos5061]

Rep rewards.

From WowInsider:
Along with new zones, new dungeons, new raids, and new levels, Cataclysm is bringing us eight new reputations (four of which are Alliance- or Horde-only). Each of these new groups offer different rewards at different reputation levels, and of course, we have new arcanum helm enchants and new shoulder enchants.

Most of these new reputations also offer tabards at friendly rep that you can use to gain reputation while running heroics. Join us after the cut for a rundown of all the new reputations available in Cataclysm, what zones you'll need to go to to gain rep with them, where to find their quartermasters, and what rewards they have to offer.

Guardians of Hyjal

Zone Hyjal
Tabard Yes
Quartermaster Provisioner Whitecloud
Rep rewards View full list
Notable rewards

* Arcanum of Hyjal
* Belt of the Ferocious Wolf
* Cord of the Raven Queen
* Treads of Malorne
* Wrap of the Great Turtle

Located in one of the two new Cataclysm starting zones, the Guardians of Hyjal are made up primarily of druids who serve the Ancients of Hyjal. You will quickly gain a lot of rep with them by questing in the new Hyjal zone, and in fact, you can get to friendly with them in only 20 minutes or less of questing.

The Guardians of Hyjal provide the spellcaster helm enchant, and they offer a tabard at friendly reputation to help you gain rep through dungeon runs.

Earthen Ring

Zone Vashj'ir
Tabard Yes
Quartermaster Provisioner Arok
Rep rewards View full list
Notable rewards

* Arcanum of the Earthen Ring
* Earthmender's Boots
* Flamebloom Gloves
* Signet of the Elder Council
* World Keeper's Gauntlets

Located primarily in the other of the two starting zones in Cataclysm, the Earthen Ring are a group of shaman dedicated to preserving the the balance of the elemental forces in the the world. In the wake of Deathwing's rise, Thrall joined the Earthen Ring to help try to stabilize the Maelstrom.

Earthen Ring reputation is primarily gained through questing in the new underwater Vashj'ir zone, and this reputation provides the tanking helm enchant.

Ramkahen
Zone Uldum
Tabard Yes
Quartermaster Blacksmith Abasi
Rep rewards View full list
Notable rewards

* Arcanum of the Ramkahen
* Reins of the Brown Riding Camel
* Reins of the Tan Riding Camel
* Desert Walker Sandals
* Gift of Nadun
* Sandguard Bracers
* Sun King's Girdle

The Ramkahen are the cat people of Uldum and descend from the Tol'vir. Reputation with the Ramkahen is gained through questing in Uldum and can be bolstered by wearing their tabard. The Ramkahen provide the physical DPS head enchant as well as two new camel mounts.

Therazane
Zone Deepholm
Tabard Yes
Quartermaster D'lom the Collector
Rep rewards View full list
Notable rewards

* Greater Inscription of the Charged Lodestone
* Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone
* Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal
* Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz

Therazane is a quest giver in Deepholm, and you will start with hated reputation. After finishing the Therazane quest line, you will end at honored reputation; you'll have to grind the rest out through dailies or by wearing the Therazane tabard in dungeon runs.

Therazane provides the shoulder enchants for all roles, much like the Wrath Sons of Hodir. At honored, you will get the lesser version of the enchant, with the full version following at exalted.

Dragonmaw Clan (Horde)
Zone Twilight Highlands
Tabard Yes
Quartermaster Grot Deathblow
Rep rewards View full list
Notable rewards

* Arcanum of the Dragonmaw
* Boots of Sullen Rock
* Liar's Handwraps
* Withered Dream Belt
* Yellow Smoke Pendant

Once servants of Illidan in The Burning Crusade, the Dragonmaw Clan of orcs have rejoined the Horde in Cataclysm and are in a heated battle with the Wildhammer in the Twilight Highlands and the new Twin Peaks battleground. They provide the strength DPS helm enchant for the Horde side.

Wildhammer (Alliance)
Zone Twilight Highlands
Tabard Yes
Quartermaster Craw MacGraw
Rep rewards View full list
Notable rewards

* Arcanum of the Wildhammer
* Belt of the Untamed
* Gryphon Rider's Boots
* Lightning Flash Pendant
* Stormbolt Gloves

The Wildhammer clan of dwarves are in a heated battle with the Dragonmaw Clan of orcs in the Twilight Highlands and the new Twin Peaks battleground. They provide the strength DPS helm enchant for the Alliance side.

Baradin's Wardens (Alliance) and Hellscream's Reach (Horde)
Zone Tol Barad
Tabard No
Quartermaster Alliance/Horde Outpost
Rep rewards View full list
Notable rewards

* Reins of the Drake of the West Wind
* Reins of the Spectral Steed
* Impatience of Youth
* Mandala of Stirring Patterns
* Mirror of Broken Images
* Stump of Time
* Unsolvable Riddle

Baradin's Wardens and Hellscream's Reach are the two factions associated with the new Tol Barad contested PvP area. Much like Wintergrasp in Wrath, Tol Barad battles start at regularly scheduled times, and the winning faction then holds the area until the next battle. Baradin's Wardens and Hellscream's Reach both offer identical reputation rewards.

In addition to gaining rep for participating in the battle, Tol Barad offers daily quests to increase reputation. The reputation rewards include many items excellent for PvP or PvE, as well as two mounts. Baradin's Wardens and Hellscream's Reach are the only new Cataclysm reputations that do not offer a tabard as a way to gain rep.

[chaos5061]

For EU (hopefully not for US):
Unfortunately, due to an error, some guilds have been able to gain more experience in the first few hours of Cataclysm than was initially intended. Your guild is one of those affected and as a result, has had the guild rank moved back to level 1. This has been done to all guilds that had this issue.

The reason for this is that guild experience has been intentionally capped at a certain amount a day. Tomorrow you will once again be able to gain experience as normal.

We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused you and your guild. The issue should now be fixed so this will not be a recurring issue.

[chaos5061]

There has been a first level 85 Paladin on the EU servers. Name: Forscience
Link to pic: http://img340.imageshack.us/f/wowscr...710071445.jpg/
Armory not updated for 85 yet check in a hour: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/search?q=Forscience

[dudedafool]

There has been a first level 85 Paladin on the EU servers. Name: Forscience
Link to pic: http://img340.imageshack.us/f/wowscr...710071445.jpg/

To anyone wondering, the person who got world first 85 appears to be "Athene" from youtube. He was first to 80 in wotlk but Blizzard reset him and banned his account.

If i were to guess, it would seem he had a ton of people who mob tagged with him. Lets see what gets posted on MMO-champion.

[chaos5061]

1 Hour left till live and good night.

[chaos5061]

PVP Changes

From WowInsider:
There are quite a few changes to PvP in Cataclysm. Let's have a look at how the changes in the past few patches will affect the other aspect of World of Warcraft gameplay ...

Resilience is different

Resilience no longer reduces critical strike chance but instead only reduces damage across the board. As resilience is the premier PvP stat, this impacts gameplay in a major way. First, critical strikes are back on the table. This means that talents contributing to crit are valuable in PvP again. Burst damage from crits will happen more often, and players can opt to stack crit for PvP without it being devalued ... much.

More health, more fun

On the other hand, stamina comes cheap in Cataclysm, which means everyone will have tons of health. So crit is great, but it won't win you the day. It'll be all about outlasting your opponent in a grind. It won't be like the tail end of Wrath or 4.0.1, where burst still catches people with their pants down.

The higher stamina in Cataclysm gear should translate to longer, more exciting fights. This means fights will be slower than what you're accustomed to, and it also means you'll get to play with more spells and play more strategically.

At any rate, we've come a long way from the 5-second fights of Season 5.

Fewer surprises

The new specialization rule means there will no longer be any min-maxing or double-dipping in talent trees to create unlikely and unexpected PvP monsters such as the unkillable paladin tank healer. Players and their specs will be easy to spot, and you'll have an easy time figuring out what talents they have. This makes the environment easier to predict -- something the developers are counting on to better maintain game balance. They don't want to have to nerf certain abilities midway through a PvP season just because some clever players found a loophole and combined talents that weren't designed to be OP. With tightly controlled specs, the developers have basically put the community on a rail ... there's little variation. PvP comes down to the basics, and skill will always win out.

Battlegrounds are the new hotness

Actually, battlegrounds are the old hotness but will take center stage once again while arenas take a back seat. Players will need to look at their talent trees and abilities in a different way, because spells that don't work very well in arenas just might excel in the battlegrounds. I'm willing to wager that rated battlegrounds will prove to be more popular than arenas ever were, mostly because -- and I mean this as inoffensively as possible -- they demand a lower skill threshold to be successful. Of course, the difference is performing as a team, and at some point, competition will become truly intense. Rated battlegrounds will continue to coexist with normal battlegrounds, which confer a different set of rewards.

Cataclysm will also ship with two new battlegrounds, the Battle for Gilneas and Twin Peaks, which are basically Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch with different maps, respectively. The developers also promised to deliver more battlegrounds throughout the expansion -- likely, new maps for old mechanics -- but then again, we're still waiting for that dance studio, so I wouldn't hold my breath. Rated battlegrounds will grant access to the same rewards as arenas, which include weapons.

Honor and conquest

There are two new currencies for PvP gear: honor and conquest points. Think of honor points as the way honor used to work -- something you could accumulate easily with casual PvP. Conquest points are basically how arena points used to work, except that now you'll be able to gain them from rated battlegrounds, too. Honor points buy last season's gear or other, less powerful items, while conquest points get you the latest and greatest gear. Honor points only come from world PvP objectives and the battlegrounds, while conquest points are obtained through rated arena and battleground matches.

Old PvP titles are back

Old-school PvP titles will be returning with rated battlegrounds, so players can look forward to making High Warlord or Grand Marshal again. Just as arenas gave players titles based on their performance throughout the season, so too will battlegrounds grant titles based on the old PvP titles. For everyone's reference, the battleground PvP titles based on how well you perform are as follows:

Alliance

* Private
* Corporal
* Sergeant
* Master Sergeant
* Sergeant Major
* Knight
* Knight-Lieutenant
* Knight-Captain
* Knight-Champion
* Lieutenant Commander
* Commander
* Marshal
* Field Marshal
* Grand Marshal

Horde

* Scout
* Grunt
* Sergeant
* Senior Sergeant
* First Sergeant
* Stone Guard
* Blood Guard
* Legionnaire
* Centurion
* Champion
* Lieutenant General
* General
* Warlord
* High Warlord

Tol Barad

Tol Barad is the new Wintergrasp, and it's designed not to lag out players or break the world ... The objectives are spaced far apart, and the developers have decided that Tenacity wasn't the way to address imbalances, so world PvP battlegrounds will balance opponents on a 1:1 basis (as much as possible).

Tol Barad is also the daily quest hub for Cataclysm, similar to the Isle of Quel'danas back in The Burning Crusade. It is a PvP no-fly zone when battles are in progress. Players will be automatically flagged for PvP on Tol Barad when a battle is in progress on PvE realms.

You can PvP all day, every day

With all the changes that have taken place in the past few years and now with 4.0.3 or Cataclysm, it's entirely possible to go through the expansion or leveling process entirely through PvP. Because battlegrounds now grant experience and item rewards now include weapons, it's entirely possible -- though silly -- to spend your entire Cataclysm career in the battlegrounds. While you're probably missing out on the best parts of the expansion when you do that, this only indicates that PvP with Cataclysm has come into its own as the other aspect of the game.

World of Warcraft has a truly rich PvP experience that can be enjoyed through all levels of play. The new random battlegrounds are very similar to the random dungeons, and for the first time in a long time, PvP no longer feels "tacked on" the way it used to. Arenas created an entirely different subculture of PvP players -- they're still around and will actually bring their snootiness to rated battlegrounds -- but for the most part, arenas never felt as integrated into the game world as they should have. Rated battlegrounds changed all that. Not only do battlegrounds integrate tightly with the game world (they also have a strong story component), but they also grant rewards equal to arena play. In fact, PvP rewards match PvE rewards every step of the way in the expansion -- truly exciting.

[chaos5061]

Hotfixes Pt. 1

From Blizzard:
December 7


* General


o It is no longer possible for an ill-mannered person of the opposing faction to one-shot a flight trainer in Stormwind or Orgrimmar, which in turn made the 500 players standing on top of the flight trainer with their mammoths really sad.

o Fallen Hero's Spirits in Icecrown can no longer have their pockets picked.

o Ray'ma and Brew Vendor Brew of the Month Club vendors are now spawning properly.

o The achievement “Stood in the fire” is granted when standing in a zone boundary different than Deathwing's spawn location. In addition, players can now get this achievement by walking into the wake of Deathwing's fire after he has passed.

o If faction mounts do not translate to a mount of the opposite faction when performing a paid faction change, they will now be removed.

o Players are no longer able to endlessly kite the outdoor Battlemasters.

o Several combat issues involving mind control mechanics have been fixed.




* Battlegrounds


o NPCs and vehicles now have the correct Cataclysm values for health and damage in the 80-84 and 85 Strand of the Ancients, Isle of Conquest, and Alterac Valley level brackets.

o Some players were unable to enter 10- vs. 10-player Battlegrounds when the option to enter became available. This has been corrected.




* Classes


o Priests


+ Low-level priests will now properly take Shadow Word: Death backlash damage when casting Shadow Word: Death.




o Shaman


+ Lightning Shield again properly deals damage while the shaman is casting other spells.







* Dungeons & Raids


o The Mana Burn ability that is cast when Arcane Aberrations die in Dire Maul has been replaced with an Arcane Explosion ability that does not drain mana.

o Al'akir's Lightning Cloud now despawns when the encounter is defeated in Throne of the Four Winds.

o Players are no longer able to use Killing Spree on Ozumat in Throne of the Tides. The message "Invalid Target" is displayed.

o Players are no longer placed oddly when affected by Ulthok's Squeeze in Throne of the Tides.

o Temple Guardian Anhuur in Halls of Origination will now lose Shield of Light at the appropriate times. He was cheating.

o Millhouse Manastorm in The Stonecore will not stay linked to trash packs he is no longer stationed at after a group wipe.

o Razorgore and Chromaggus in Blackwing Lair will no longer cause an infinite loop of encounter mind control mechanics when pets or companions are present.




* Items


o Tattooed Eyeball should not be epic quality and is now superior.

o Wailing Weeds no longer give experience, have any drops, or are able to be gathered in Mount Hyjal.

o Items which have refund options available no longer have their expiration cooldown recorded incorrectly when more than one is purchased within a short amount of time.

o An issue which prevented players from rolling Need on certain relics found in dungeons has been corrected.

o Helm of the Thousand Needles now has 12 Strength and 17 Stamina in addition to the 12 Hit Rating it had before.

o Spider's Silk now drops from most all spiders in the level range of 16-25.

o Stag Flanks now drop from level-appropriate stags.

o Big Mouth Clams and the Black Pearls they sometimes contain again drop off of many creatures.

o Corpse Dust and Infernal Stones are no longer available from vendors.

o The stats for the one-handed mace Shatterscale Mightfish have been corrected.

o Rogues are now able to equip and use Morningstar of the Order. However, the tooltip for the item still shows Main Hand in red, and right clicking on the item when it is equipped returns the message "You do not have the required proficiency for that item." This display issue will be corrected in a future patch.

o Passengers are now force ejected from multi-passenger mounts that have been converted into a Reindeer or Brewfest Kodo. This works for both NPCs and PCs.




* Professions


o There is no longer a School of Fish in Elwynn Forest that like to think of themselves as in "testing," nor do they yield Peacebloom when fished. This School of Fish is no longer a part of the counterculture and will no longer give you flowers when fished.

o Recipe: Feathered Lure is no longer on the vendor list for the Cooking reward vendors, as it's returning an error "The Spell is not available to you" when players attempt to learn it.

o Electrostatic Condenser no longer provides inconsistent loot chances for each gathering profession.

o Training in Archaeology should now properly generate dig sites around the world according to the player's skill level.

o Archaeology daily quests are now properly flagged as dailies.

o A Fossil Archaeology Find at the Un'Goro Terror Run dig site spawned beyond the range of the dig site area and has been removed.

o There was an inconsistency in Cooking skill-ups between Lavascale Minestrone and Lavascale Fillet which has been addressed.

o Some Leatherworking recipes which require a skill of 525 were missing from the vendor Misty Merriweather and have been returned.




* Quests


o Cataclysm Level 80-85 Zones


+ Mobs that spawn infinitely during the Temple of Earth finale within Deepholm do not grant experience.

+ Players are no longer ported out of the Maelstrom if they have "The Eye of the Storm" in their quest log when they go through the portal to the Maelstrom.

+ Twilight Proveditors for the quest "End of the Supply Line" in Mount Hyjal should respawn at a more consistent rate.

+ Zin'jatar Raiders respawn more quickly for the "Buy Us Some Time" quest in Kelp'thar Forest, Vashj'ir.




o Eastern Kingdoms


+ Completing the quest "Never Surrender, Sometimes Retreat" is now updating Gilneas properly.

+ Forsaken Sailors were dealing too much damage to those questing in Gilneas. Their damage output has been reduced.

+ If a player completes the objectives of "Bad Medicine" outside of Northern Stranglethorn, then the quest "Just Hatched" will not auto-launch, but Corporal Sethman will have the quest available when the player turns in the quest "Bad Medicine" to Brother Nimetz. If the player completes "Bad Medicine" within Northern Stranglethorn, then "Just Hatched" is auto-launched.

+ Quest givers in The Exodar, Teldrassil and Dun Morogh are all now offering the level 50 mage quest "Meet with Maginor Dumas" leading players to Stormwind.

+ The deprecated quests "Foreboding Plans" and "Encrypted Letter" are no longer being offered to players by the Syndicate Documents in Hillsbrad Foothills.

+ The deprecated quests "Looking Further" and "Morganth" are no longer being offered by the Old Lion Statue in Redridge Mountains.

+ The cutscene for "Lordaeron" in Silverpine Forest will now properly play if the player is mounted when starting the quest.

+ High Priest Venoxis should spawn properly during the "High Priest Venoxis" quest event in The Cape of Stranglethorn.

+ The quest "The Holy Water of Clarity" will be offered regardless of the order in which the player completes the prerequisite quests in The Cape of Stranglethorn.

+ The NPCs of Bloodgulch no longer disappear when players skip the cutscene during the quest "Eye Spy" in Twilight Highlands.




o Kalimdor


+ 60 completed quests in Winterspring are now required in order to earn the Winterspring Quests achievement.

+ Players should no longer experience issues completing the quest "The Reason Why" when attempting to interact with the various Moonstones in Ashenvale.

+ Players are no longer able to attack other players while in Diemetradon form during the quest "Ever Watching From Above" in Un'Goro Crater.

+ It is no longer possible to pick up the deprecated quest "The Gordunni Scroll" in Feralas.

+ The deprecated quest "Hunting in Stranglethorn" is no longer being offered by Roon Wildmane in Desolace.

+ Questgiver Melizza Brimbuzzle in Desolace now respawns at a much more reasonable rate after dying.

+ Jinky Twizzlefixxit now provides players with a replacement River Boat quest reward via her gossip text if a player deletes it while in Thousand Needles.

+ Antechamber Guardian now spawns correctly for "What Lies Within" in Tanaris.

+ The quest "Sandscraper's Treasure" is no longer being offered to Alliance players via the Sandscraper's Chest in Tanaris.

[chaos5061]

Hotfixes Pt. 2

+ The Antediluvean Chest is now correctly spawning inside the Antechamber of Uldum within Tanaris and there is no longer an issue with it spawning outside of the chamber.

[chaos5061]

From Blizzard:
We have decided to remove the added bonus of gaining Guild Experience from Guild Achievements earned. This change will realign Guild Achievements with our philosophy held for normal Achievements, which are intended to be predominantly their own reward (barring the rare exception of special achievements that grant an additional reward.) Previously, the experience reward had been seen as an additional side bonus and not something that should have been significantly skewing the advancement of guilds. During the beta, we greatly increased leveling speed across the board and since most characters were copied from templates, guild experience from Achievements didn't seem imbalanced. It has become clear that an imbalance does exist and should be addressed to ensure that guilds progress at the rates expected within the daily Guild Experience limits.

For guilds that are currently above the normally possible experience limit, we will be readjusting it back to the expected limit once more. This will not affect Guild Reputation gains at this point in time.

[chaos5061]

From Blizzard:
We will be performing rolling restarts on Wednesday, December 8th, beginning at 5:00 AM PST. Downtime for each realm is expected to be minimal, and the overall process should conclude at approximately 6:00 AM PST.



Oceanic realms will have rolling restarts beginning at 12:00 PM PST and should conclude at approximately 1:00 PM PST.



Thank you for your patience

[runebladez]

Ok, now I think you have written more text than everyone on this forum combined...................................

And I thought I was an addicted WoW gamer.... =)

[chaos5061]

I'm not even close to cabby's post count yet

[cabby]

Yeah, and he's not typing everything like I do 99% of the time. He's just doing a simple copy/paste.

[chaos5061]

Yep fastest way to get info here