The main mob type of Cataclysm

[Scionni]

Burning Crusade had demons. Wrath of the Lich King had undead. The fact both expansions had a clear and definitive theme with their mobs was extremely convenient for alot of classes and builds. Paladins, at least, had a myriad of mechanics especially effective against demons, and I'm almost sure there was some time of demonslaying dps enchantment that was actually viable in TBC, because of how great your odds were of having to fight demons. Wrath was even more one-sided, as almost EVERY freaking raid and zone was undead centered. Again, paladins shined in this expansion, and I know for sure there was a scourgeslaying enchantment that was very relevent to dpers' interests.

TL;DR: The last two expansions featured a definitive NPC type extremely convenient to certain classes and builds. Do you think Cataclysm will follow this pattern? If so, with what NPC type? If not, why?

[Demonnica]

Dragons or elementals.. bit of both..

[Cluck]

Dragonkin seems an obvious choice, but I'm expecting a healthy mix of them along with humanoids and elementals. Those three together fit the themes of this expansion.

[schnel]

Well, since there are varying themes across Azeroths new leveling zones, I think no. Hyjal has Elementals, Twilight Highlands has Cultists (?), Vash'jir has Naga, and Uldum has Tol'vir. As you can see, there is no one definite creature type for the entire expansion, as there was with the other two expansions. At least thats what I thought each zone has, I could be wrong.

[Deleted]

Lol Humans.

98, 98% from Twilight Cult are humans.so they.
and elementals.
and raging ally fanbois.

[Chronicle]

elementals dragons and humanoids.

beastslayer imo, it has a red glow.

[Scarlet Elf]

So far it seems to be centered on mostly elementals, then dragonkin and humanoids, but well, humanoids are everywhere, so that's no indication.

[Higgi]

Obviously elementals!

Proof: http://www.wowhead.com/item=11165/fo...emental-slayer

[Samin]

Dragons, Humanoids, Elementals. Few Beasts, Few Demons. Very few undead.

[Deleted]

elements and dragons (mostly dragonkin and humanoid)

[Divada]

It's mostly humanoids. And within that it's mostly humans.

[Forblaze]

Thrall's balls.... everywhere!!!

[tanked]

others have said it, but seriously, you have to be a bit slow to not realize it will be elementals or dragonkin, with some naga in there.

[Deleted]

Chins! lots and lots of Chins

[Cocobutters]

Twilight cultists/dragons and elementals i think.

[Izenhart]

Humanoids from the TC, and a minor number of Elementals

[Falrinn]

Elementals, Dragons, and Naga seem to be the most common enemies.

There is the Twilight Cult of course, but every expansion has had it's group of bad humanoids. BC had the Shadow Council and Sunfury, while WotLK had the Cult of the Dammed.

[Midgardian]

Yes, the mobs will mostly be dragons and elementals.

But, how do you figure that definitive schemes are "extremely convenient for alot of classes and builds"? The only example you give, twice, are paladins. And then the odd item enhancement. Those aren't enough to make significant leaps in DPS or any other game mechanic to make anything "extremely convenient." And you also claim that the vast majority of WotLK raids involved Undead, which isn't true, either. It's always rather mixed. Naxx was, admittedly, predominately undead. Obsidian Sanctum/Ruby Sanctum are dragonkin. Ulduar was a scattering, but no undead. ToC was also a scattering, but not very many undead. And Icecrown is of course, the Scourge capital, so plenty of undead.

However, at least half of the raids did not feature undead, and I like that. It keeps things from becoming very monotonous and similar. As far as Cataclysm raids, though the focus will be Elementals and Dragonkin, there will also be this same scattering.

Edit: I'd even contest the fact that WotLK zones were very undead centered. Some were, yes. But a lost also centered around the vrykul, like Howling Fjord. Some centered around other humanoids, like the Worgen in Grizzly Hills. Some focused on Titans, and that area of lore, such as parts of Grizzly Hills, all of Storm Peaks, and Shalozar. Borean Tundra was a scattering, but did have a lot of Undead activity (along with snobold and magnataur). Dragonblight had dragons, some undead, some magnataur. So, when thinking predominately Undead, you pretty much only have Zul'Drak and Icecrown. If anything, there was more of a Titan scheme.

[Badgers]

The main mob types relate to Deathwing and the Twilight Cult. Combined, that's: Black Dragonflight, Twilight cultists and elementals.

However, elementals rule over Twilight members. So the main ones are the Black dragonflight and elementals.

[takolin]

Burning Crusade had demons. Wrath of the Lich King had undead. The fact both expansions had a clear and definitive theme with their mobs was extremely convenient for alot of classes and builds. Paladins, at least, had a myriad of mechanics especially effective against demons, and I'm almost sure there was some time of demonslaying dps enchantment that was actually viable in TBC, because of how great your odds were of having to fight demons. Wrath was even more one-sided, as almost EVERY freaking raid and zone was undead centered. Again, paladins shined in this expansion, and I know for sure there was a scourgeslaying enchantment that was very relevent to dpers' interests.

TL;DR: The last two expansions featured a definitive NPC type extremely convenient to certain classes and builds. Do you think Cataclysm will follow this pattern? If so, with what NPC type? If not, why?

OS: dragons
Maly: dragon
Ulduar: mostly humanoids with some others like elementals and mechanical mobs
ToC: a nice mix of beasts, demons, humanoids and undead
Halion: more dragons

So only 2 raids had undeath as their main theme which were Naxx and ICC.