Cataclysm Zones Update, ilvl 359 Weapons, Raid Loot, Wallpaper, Blue Posts

[Boubouille]

Cataclysm Zones Update - Badlands, Western Plaguelands, Tirisfal Glades
I'm finally updating all the old pages from the Cataclysm menu! Starting slowly today with an update on 3 of the old zones: Badlands, Tirisfal Glades, and the Western Plaguelands. Expect a lot more in the next days!

I will probably add a few more things to zone pages before the end of the week. (Even if giving public deadlines is always a terrible, terrible idea!)

Cataclysm Beta - ilvl 359 Weapons List
It's a little too early for a full list of raid loot but we definitely have enough content for a short preview of the first tier of PvE weapons available in the expansion!

• Screenshots have been added! Just click the links!
• New items have been added, such as the wonderful Reclaimed Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood
• I added basic drop locations.

ilvl	Type	Spec	Slot	Item	Source
359	Axe	Melee	Two-Hand	Shalug'doom, the Axe of Unmaking	Raid
359	Axe	Physical DPS	Off-Hand	Maimgor's Bite	Raid
359	Axe	Physical DPS	One-Hand	Crul'korak, the Lightning's Arc	Raid
359	Bow	Physical DPS	Ranged	Themios the Darkbringer	Raid
359	Crossbow	Physical DPS	Ranged	Dragonheart Piercer	Raid
359	Dagger	Physical DPS	One-Hand	The Twilight Blade	Pick Pocket
359	Dagger	Physical DPS	One-Hand	Organic Lifeform Inverter	Raid
359	Dagger	Physical DPS	One-Hand	Uhn'agh Fash, the Darkest Betrayal	Raid
359	Dagger	Spell DPS	Main Hand	Incineratus	Raid
359	Dagger	Spell DPS	Main Hand	Blade of the Witching Hour	Raid
359	Fist Weap.	Melee	Off-Hand	Claws of Agony	Raid
359	Fist Weap.	Physical DPS	Main Hand	Claws of Torment	Raid
359	Gun	Tank	Ranged	Crossfire Carbine	?
359	Mace	Melee	Two-Hand	Akirus the Worm-Breaker	Raid
359	Mace	Spell Spirit	Main Hand	Andoros, Fist of the Dragon King	Raid
359	Mace	Tank	One-Hand	Mace of Acrid Death	Raid
359	Shield	Spell Spirit	Off Hand	Elementium Stormshield	Blacksmithing
359	Shield	Spell Spirit	Off Hand	Kingdom's Heart	Raid
359	Shield	Tank	Off Hand	Elementium Earthguard	Blacksmithing
359	Shield	Tank	Off Hand	Akmin-kurai, Dominion's Shield	Raid
359	Staff	Physical DPS	Two-Hand	Malevolence	Raid
359	Staff	Spell DPS	Two-Hand	Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan	Archaeology
359	Staff	Spell Spirit	Two-Hand	Dark Mender's Staff	Raid
359	Staff	Spell Spirit	Two-Hand	Staff of Ammunae	Archaeology
359	Sword	Melee	One-Hand	Lava Spine	Raid
359	Sword	Melee	One-Hand	Soul Blade	Raid
359	Sword	Melee	One-Hand	Scimitar of the Sirocco	Archaeology
359	Sword	Melee	Two-Hand	Reclaimed Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood	Raid
359	Sword	Melee	Two-Hand	Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds	Archaeology
359	Sword	Physical DPS	One-Hand	Fang of Twilight	Raid
359	Sword	Physical DPS	One-Hand	Krol Decapitator	Pick Pocket
359	Sword	Spell DPS	Main Hand	Maldo's Sword Cane	Raid
359	Thrown	Physical DPS	Thrown	Spinerender	Pick Pocket
359	Wand	Spell DPS	Ranged	Theresa's Booklight	Raid
359	Wand	Spell Spirit	Ranged	Finkle's Mixer Upper	Raid

Cataclysm Beta - Raid Loot and Random Items Update
Now that most of the bosses are available for testing, a couple of extra items have been discovered on test realms.

ilvl	Type	Spec	Slot	Item
359	Axe	Physical DPS	One-Hand	Crul'korak, the Lightning's Arc
359	Sword	Melee	Two-Hand	Reclaimed Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood
359	Mail	Physical DPS	Waist	Coil of Ten-Thousand Screams
359	Mail	Heal	Chest	Circuit Design Breastplate
359	Trinket	Physical DPS	Trinket	Prestor's Talisman of Machination

I also found a lot of extra random items, apparently Blizzard really wants you to get random stats item to make sure you can come up with awesome combination with Reforging.

ilvl	Type	Spec	Slot	Item
359	Plate	Tank	Legs	Thunder Wall Greaves
359	Plate	Heal	Legs	Tempest Keeper Leggings
359	Plate	Melee	Waist	Sky Strider Belt
359	Plate	Tank	Waist	Thunder Wall Belt
359	Mail	Physical DPS	Legs	Star Chaser Legguards
359	Mail	Spell	Legs	Lightning Well Legguards
359	Mail	Physical DPS	Waist	Star Chaser Belt
359	Mail	Spell	Waist	Lightning Well Belt
359	Leather	Physical DPS	Legs	Wind Stalker Leggings
359	Leather	Spell	Legs	Gale Rouser Leggings
359	Cloth	Spell	Legs	Soul Breath Leggings
359	Cloth	Spell	Waist	Soul Breath Belt
359	Finger	Random	Finger	Permafrost Signet
359	Finger	Random	Finger	Planetary Band
359	Finger	Random	Finger	Cloudburst Ring

Official Wallpaper - Deathwing
A new wallpaper featuring Deathwing is now available on the Official Site

The Impending Cataclysm

With patch 4.0.1 now live and the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematic trailer released at http://YouTube.com/Warcraft, it's time for you to find out just what's in store in the weeks leading up to Cataclysm's launch on December 7.

Elemental Unrest

As earthquakes rumble and the very foundation of Azeroth becomes increasingly unstable, key members of the Horde and Alliance have begun to assemble in Orgrimmar and Stormwind to investigate the cause of these disturbances. Unconstrained elementals are terrorizing Azeroth's inhabitants, and it's become clear that a malevolent presence is threatening to tear apart the land. Suspicious strangers have taken to the Horde and Alliance capitals to offer the frightened citizens an explanation for the recent phenomena. Pro-tip: it's all doom and gloom.

The events leading up to Cataclysm are underway, and the disturbances will only become more severe as the weeks pass. Pay close attention to your faction leaders, Thrall and Varian, and be on the lookout for unfamiliar faces gathering on the city streets. This one-time-only series of events features all-new quests and multiple stages of dire happenings, so stay vigilant!

Patch 4.0.3

This patch will contain the final preparations for the Cataclysm launch, including the new login screen and official cinematic. The Shattering of Azeroth will take place sometime after patch 4.0.3.

The Shattering

Shortly before December 7, Azeroth will change forever. Deathwing will emerge from the Elemental Plane, bringing about the Shattering of the world and burning anyone and anything in his path. The events leading up to the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will reach their culmination, and Azeroth’s citizens will face the devastation they feared all along.

Blue Posts

Entering Tol barad
Portals exist in Stormwind and Orgrimmar that take players directly to Tol Barad (requires level 85). In addition, Mages learn both a teleport and a portal spell to Tol Barad at level 85. If either of these options still don't cover you, you can purchase the faction themed tabards in Tol Barad as they have a 4hr teleport to the island as an on use effect. (Source)

In-game Cinematics
It took a bit of time for me to get back to this thread, but I wanted to make sure I conferred with our Cinematics team before making the quantum leap.

We acknowledged as a company the positive reaction of the fans to the game's cinematics very early on, and since then we've always made sure to foster a world-class cinematic division to help bring more epic storytelling to our games.

With the advent of in-game cinematics, in the case of Starcraft II, we were able to over triple the amount of cinematic storytelling compared to any previous Blizzard release. As mentioned by another poster, these moments, without in-game assets, would have been character portraits plus voice-over. Instead, they were able to be brought to life with a much more vivid realization by using in-game cinematics to help tell the story.

During the Cataclysm Cinematics panel at BlizzCon, we discussed how each pre-rendered cinematic can take a year or more, with the involvement of dozens of animators, modelers, concept artists, FX artists, programmers and more working to make the picture's vision a reality.

These pre-rendered movies take time and a lot of planning, but with game development being a very dynamic process, the opportunity may arise for a story that deserves to be told cinematically. Logistically though, there may be only a small window of time to make it happen. That is when in-game assets come into play. The unfortunate alternative would be to pass on the moment altogether.

With that said, we are definitely mindful of the desires of the community for cutting edge content, and are putting a lot of effort into pushing the limits of World of Warcraft in-game cinematics to new horizons. If you've had the opportunity to play the Cataclysm beta, the new goblin cut scene should demonstrate some of our new in-game capabilities in action, and we will continue to strive to create the best in-game cinematic content that World of Warcraft has to offer.

It all comes down to pushing the story forward. The real strength of using in-game cinematics is to harness the opportunities for additional cinematic storytelling that, without the in-game option, may never be told. Our belief here is that we'd all prefer to see more stories, regardless of the medium that is chosen. (Source)

Beta Testing
Rated Battleground Queuing
We are looking for feedback from players using the Rated Battleground queuing system. We have seen numerous reports of different behavior so if you guys could summarize your experience in this thread, that would be great.

We are working as hard as we can to get rated BG's into a playable state on the beta so any input you have would be extremely helpful. (Source)

Guild XP and Reputation
We will be returning the guild xp and reputation to normal levels in the next beta update. Just wanted to give everyone the heads up. (Source)

Guild Leveling/Rewards
Guild rewards after a gquit
You keep all rewards that you earn via the new guild system. Some require a specific amount of guild rep to use, but we never take them away. (Source)

[Bobzor]

Wallpaper =0!

[turbozone]

Which kind of source is "Pick Pocket" ?

[Collected]

Blizzard should be going "gold" with Cataclysm any day now. If I'm not mistaken they sent Wrath off to production a month before release.

[Pumps]

"it took a bit of time for me to get back to this thread, "

I wish he hadn't, that was the worst load of PR crap I've read this week.

[dawkface]

Zomg its killing me, I can't wait.
I'm so bored in wrath now

[Eixel]

Nice wallpaper

[Omians]

ooo new AShKandi

[Coffer]

Not really impressed by Ashkandi. Still looks as freaking terrible as ever.

EDIT: Also, I absolutely love how Zin'rokh actually has 33 more strength than Ashkandi. Yay, it's gonna be absolutely useless. Thank you, Blizz!

[Noomz]

Not really impressed by Ashkandi. Still looks as freaking terrible as ever.

EDIT: Also, I absolutely love how Zin'rokh actually has 33 more strength than Ashkandi. Yay, it's gonna be absolutely useless. Thank you, Blizz!

What are you on about!? Asscandy is one of the most awesome swords in the game ever!

[furydeath]

If i was in the beta I might care for about 80% of blue post now a day.

[Spammeister]

I guess Blizzard employees didn't go out and vote yes on prop 19 either. Maybe they'd be a little happier!

[Coffer]

What are you on about!? Asscandy is one of the most awesome swords in the game ever!

Nostalgia has taken over your mind.

It just looks absolutely terrible. The only reason you 'like' it is because it reminds you of the 'good' parts of Vanilla...which are practically inexistant.

Also, there are quite a few weapons that are far more beautiful than Ashkandi, both from Cata, Wrath, TBC AND Vanilla. I mean, I don't see people swooning over Quel'delar as much, and it's far better looking than that damned sword.

[Fletchi]

Dare I say it? "AssCandy" is back!

EDIT: Also, I absolutely love how Zin'rokh actually has 33 more strength than Ashkandi. Yay, it's gonna be absolutely useless. Thank you, Blizz!

That is actually odd when you consider they have the exact same stats on everything else and still the same ilevel. But then it is still in beta and blizzard has adjusted items many times on live before.

[Explosion_Rex]

"it took a bit of time for me to get back to this thread, "

I wish he hadn't, that was the worst load of PR crap I've read this week.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[drukai]

OMG! Kingdom's Heart! If only it had a unique model

[mezmir]

EFF YES MOAR 1 Hand strength

and zomgzwtf a lvl 85 zinrokh! awesome!

[theniffrig]

Excellent wallpaper!

[Olderonous]

the random loot is gonna cause me headaches, i just know it
strength leather coming at ya back from vanilla baby

[shamestia]

new gear looks a hell of alot better then i thought. some old stuff, but tons of new stuff. nice job blizzard.