Cataclysm Credits - Concept Arts and Tier 11
The concept arts included in the Cataclysm Credits have been added to the game files and a couple of interesting concept arts have been added, including the very first preview of Tier 11 Armor. Just keep in mind that they're early concepts, but it's better than nothing!


Tier 11 Hunter

Tier 11 Warrior



Concept Arts




Sneak Peek: Troll & Worgen Druid Forms
It looks like the models I posted a few months ago were the final version. See below the blue post.
Originally Posted by Nethaera (Blue Tracker)
We've applied some finishing touches to the new cat and bear forms available to troll and worgen druids in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. We’re excited to share them with you today. Have a look here. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...id-forms.shtml


The Fight for Gnomeregan & Echo Isles Q&A
Originally Posted by Lylirra (Blue Tracker)
It's great to see that so many of you are excited about these events! The battles for Gnomeregan and Echo Isles are important turning points for both the Gnomeregan Exiles and Darkspear trolls, and we're glad that players across all races and realms have answered the call to arms issued by your esteemed faction leaders, Geblin Mekkatorque and Vol'jin.

Now, onto your questions:

Q. What are the minimum level requirements for the Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall quest lines?
A. Your character will need to be at least level 75 to participate in the final battle. All previous quests in each faction's chain, though, should be open to character's level 5 and up.

Q. What would happen if a player were to complete one faction's quest line (say, Operation: Gnomeregan) on a character, receive the Feat of Strength, and then purchase a faction change? Would that character be able to complete the other faction's quest line and receive double the rewards?
A. Yes and no. To continue with the example provided above, if a character were to complete all the quests associated with Operation: Gnomeregan on an Alliance character, receive the corresponding quest reward and Feat of Strength, and then purchase a faction change, the quest reward and Feat of Strength would translate to their Horde equivalents, but the quests would not. This means that the character would have the opportunity to play through all the quests associated with Zalazane's Fall, if he or she wishes, but would not receive an additional Feat of Strength or be able to own both faction’s costume quest rewards * for doing so.

Faction changes affect characters in multiple ways, though, so be sure to review the full FAQ before getting started: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/28825

* Due to the fact that the costume quest reward will translate during a faction change, it’s currently possible for a player to earn two of them. They’d both be same version of the item, though, and would share the same cooldown.

Q. Will these events be available forever?
A. Like other holiday events, Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall will only be available for a limited time, so it's best to complete the quest lines as soon as possible!

Q. Players are standing on top of key quest NPCs and I'm unable to reach them. What can I do?
A. If you're finding it difficult to click on a specific NPC, the best course of action is to enable name plates by pressing Ctrl-V or zoom in your character's camera all the way. This will give you a different in-game perspective and should allow you to click on the NPC's name plate or its model without other characters or their mounts completely blocking access: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/24589

If you feel that any players are intentionally attempting to detract from the experience of others, then you may wish to contact in-game support.

Q. Why are these events so short in duration?
A. Both Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall are intended to be fun in-game events that allow players to experience the continuation of the Gnomeregan Exile and Darkspear troll storylines, and we think each quest line achieves just that. As several gnomes would argue, just because something is "short" doesn't mean it's not worthwhile!

[...] Alright, I've got a few more answers to your questions:

Q. Are Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall the only events that lead into the Cataclysm?
A. Not at all. It's only a taste of what's to come.

Q. I've encountered a few issues when completing these events. Are they being looked into?
A. Definitely. Our Quality Assurance department is aware of the reported issues and looking into them currently. In the meantime, our in-game support staff has created a post in the Customer Service forum about the matter (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...25724862&sid=1) and will be providing updates on the @BlizzardCS Twitter page.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Racial changes in Cataclysm
We're not going to overhaul the racials to the degree that we overhauled the talent trees. We are going to make a pass at them, so if you have specific concerns for Cataclysm now is a fine time to bring them up. In this case, specific feedback is more useful than "I think the way racials should work is a totally different way" designs. (Source)

Zalazane's Fall / Operation Gnomeregan Overcloaks not implemented on live (See Cataclysm Prologue Preview)
It is true that the cloak rewards had overcloak functionality when these events were up on the public test realms some months back. In the end we decided that implementing the cloaks in such a way that players could aesthetically change the cloak they're wearing could set a bad precedent. We like customization and flavor items, but we don't want to start implementing aesthetic items in the game which allow players to look however they want while keeping all the stats they want. We felt the overcloaks were breaking that barrier a little too much.

Can I ask why not? People have been clamoring for this sort of thing for ages, and many thought that this was the first step to allowing that. Now you're telling us it was a first step that you don't want to take?
We've been tossing around some other ideas with regard to gear customization, but we still want to make sure there are appropriate limitations on a system like this. The limited buff timer on the overcloak just wasn't enough considering it would mask any cloak of any level. We'll continue to explore ideas for fun aesthetic gear customization, but we didn't feel this was the proper introduction of this kind of system. (Source)

Dungeons too easy in WotLK
This is fairly accurate. Spell costs were more expensive when LK was in beta but we later backed off of it. That isn't the entire reason that the heroic dungeons and raids ended up a little easier than we intended. It was a combination of a lot of things: we got better at designing talents (fewer wasted points), glyphs offered a lot of additional player power, little things like the gathering skill buffs, most raid buffs going raid wide, every spec had access to mana-efficient AE, more survivability tools, specs that historically didn't raid much suddenly out there contributing their unique abilities, etc. etc. (Source)

Avoidance penalty in Icecrown
We added an avoidance penalty to Icecrown so that we could lower boss spike damage. It was still quite spikey. Now imagine would it would have been without those avoidance penalties. Bosses would have had to hit that much harder in order to compensate for missing so often. I even said at the time that a better long-term solution would be to boost health pools across the board (even for PvP), but that was such a big change that we worried it would take too many patches to get right. (Source)

Blizzcon Soundalike contest
The Soundalike Contest will not be held this year, and potentially in no future years. We have some things planned for the stage show that take up some additional time, and just due to the lukewarm reception of this particular contest, it was removed from this year's lineup. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Lack of AE Healing in WotLK
On the paladin issue, our LK model was that healers were still pretty specialized. You want a paladin for tank healing and you want a Holy priest or Resto druid for AE healing. We thought that paladins had enough tools to heal when they were the only healer (i.e. in 5 player dungeons), and that was generally true, though paladin players did have trouble with heroic Loken early on. Since paladins didn't need to solo heal raids and since we didn't want to encourage raids to bring 2 paladins for their 2 healers, we thought that was sufficient. In Cataclysm we are backing off of that even more and trying to make all the healers more well rounded. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Cataclysm Concept Arts and Tier 11, Druid Forms, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 174 Comments
  1. Shivah's Avatar
    I don't know if it's been said or not, but it sucks how the druid forms, especially for the trolls, mimic the males. A get that games are mostly male-dominated, but more and more women are getting into WoW, and I've heard that a lot of women play druids (hunters and priests also). It's not that big of a deal to me or anything, I'll still be making my Worgen druid, but I just wish the forms were more ambiguous (think that's the right word) gender-wise.
  1. mrwingtipshoes's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jairulnait View Post
    I don't understand the argument about not being able to see the "real gear" while in PvP. It's not like there aren't already a bunch of items in the game that let you change your whole appearance (including the Gnomer event reward, ironically). Plus you can't know sh** about a druid's gear while shapeshifted anyway, so why would it be game-breaking for the rest of the classes?
    I completely agree. I saw a funny post on the forums today

    "Personally I think when pvpers see druids they curl up in a ball, suck their thumb and cry"

    Because clearly it is gamebreaking for some PVP whiners that they MUST see their opponents gear. A better way to judge your opponents gear level is by checking out their class and Health. If I'm farming in WG and i see a warlock that has 25k health I'm probably going to keep flying, if i see a warlock with 13k health, I'm probably going to drop down and attack him. I'm not going to fly down, say "stand still and don't attack!" and stare at him to try and figure out what gear hes wearing....
  1. Riboflavin's Avatar
    Troll females can have tusks and mo hawks, in fact mine does. It's just that 90% of the people who make a troll female prefer the deadpan "pretty" face and nubbin tusks that look like lip piercings.
  1. mmoc2e490b8349's Avatar
    If you think it is bad that the druid forms look maleish, think for a moment poor demonology warlocks... Even females turn into shadowy Illidan.
  1. Charo's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Violent View Post
    EW EW EW @ Troll druid forms HOW UGLY.. And look at the colors FUGLY to the max! I mean come on a fluorescent blue bear with a yellow mo-hawk? Really? I call laziness absolute laziness... That is all.
    Have you SEEN trolls before? Player trolls are all some crazy shades of green or blue with wild colored hair and face paint, nothing about trolls is "normal" as far as color goes, their druid forms are exactly what you would expect from a troll druid. Shut the fuck up and stop bitching about EVERY LITTLE THING, fuck man... we're all sick of it already.
  1. cogzwell's Avatar
    Also as a hunter, if they make the second and third concept arts into creature. They BETTER be tameable or ELSE. Even if they were exotic that would be fine. In fact the second would most likely have to be.
  1. mmocef71e99c15's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ItachiZaku View Post
    So most other MMO's allow for customization, but Wow doesn't, which has always been one of my main issues with it and why I've always gone out and played other games. Now they finally get into letting us customize and then turn around and say no? Why offer race changes or haircuts? Way to be hypocritical, assholes.
    Over-reacting much? I'd suggest some mild sedative, or maybe just go out for a brisk walk.

    I see a lot of people go bananas in this topic over the no-customization-of-armor decision, basically (as always) the reaction is waaaaaay over the top and condemnations based on not actgually understanding the decision. Part of the fault is of course GC's who didn't explain it in enough depth for the rage prone masses.

    Thing is. It is not hypocritical - it seems hypocritical if you don't understand their reasoning. Blizz don't mind customization, when it doesn't undermine one of the foundations of the game: Which is - the game is to a large extent about getting gear. We can say what we want about in it for the challenge of a well designed enocunter (or arena match), or the social aspects, or the RP or a million other things. And all those are true, but the game is from the bottom down founded on the principle "What we do in WoW is go around attempting to aquire more awesome gear". Take it away and you don't have much left of WoW.

    Allowing a few overcloaks wouldn't eliminate this of course, but it would definitely mean first move away from the gear oriented principles of WoW. Blizz usually don't like it when the "slippery slope" argument is brought up in the forums, but I think in this case, THEY are thinking in the terms of "slippery slope". they don't want to undermine the importance of the gear grind, although they would never publically use the word "grind", but the truth is that "gear grinding" is what most of us spend most of our time in the game doing.

    The other end of that "slippery slope" would mean that we no longer pick up gear in raids, we just pick up stats. Bosses would basically be dropping stats. In principle you could have them drop scrolls that upgrade the stats of "My Coat of Badass Looks" that you've been having for a long time. Some people might like that, but it would remove one big incentive from the gear grind, if gear upgrades did not somehow visually change your character.

    We could argue for a totally different game that wasn't as much about grinding gear as WoW is, but it would indeed be a completely different game and I can understand them not wanting to just start walking in that direction without looooots of thought.

    It has nothing to do with it being technically difficult, much less with them being idiots who don't understand what their players (think they) want, even less what ItachiZaku says, that they are just being a-holes.
  1. Willelm's Avatar
    "we don't want to start implementing aesthetic items in the game which allow players to look however they want while keeping all the stats they want."

    This is incredibly stupid. For how much money is poured into the games, I think customers should be able to customize more than face, skin and hair. Considering that I've never actually heard someone full on praise a set of gear they've worked for.

    The answer to "why not?" was vague at best. I'm disappointed. And now stuck with a really stupid cloak.
  1. Rainec's Avatar
    am i the only one that cares they aren't doing the sound-a-like contest this year?

    also, i gotta say, i like the gorlock helm for hunter tier
  1. Crembrole's Avatar
    Everyone who doesn't like the troll forms is a boring idiot.

    EVERYONE.

    NO EXCEPTIONS.
  1. mmoc2e490b8349's Avatar


    So am I only one who is seeing this? The worgen form textures have detail, definition and depth. They look new and crisp. They have muscle definition, fur looks like fur and their faces are detailed an looking sharp. Troll texture is like some hastily re-coloured vanilla cat. It looks outdated. I do not mind the gaudy colours, they are trolls after all. But I want the quality of the textures to be up to date.
  1. Spartinz's Avatar
    T11 hunter is my favorite of the 2 sets. cant wait to see paladins.
  1. informedcitizenry's Avatar
    bregtann wins this thread.
  1. bbr's Avatar
    Blue bears.....
    This, really needs to be cut down somewhat.. Somewhat blue would be fine, but this is just crazy.
  1. deplorable's Avatar
    give me the overcloak i wanted, i thought i'd get...

    seriously changing this without informing the community until AFTER you've put it live...

    oh Blizz.. oh blizz....


    Tauren paladins were bad, forsaken hunters (how do they fake death) were awful.. but.. those troll druid forms, are you just taking the piss?


    WTB forsaken/worgen paladins instead (makes more sense than "ret bull gives you wings"). thank you.
  1. quiz's Avatar
    lol @ troll druid forms .
  1. Studioburst's Avatar
    Those bear forms are a joke .... right?
  1. Thessalor's Avatar
    Druids gonna dru... uh, I think...
  1. wingedkitten's Avatar
    Oh no, these are really the final touches for the druid forms? I guess the only slightly feminine looking cat is still just Night Elves. All my hopes for a troll cat to not have a mane have gone out the window. Hey Blizz, girls play this game too, and not all of them want to be Alliance!


  1. shadoz's Avatar
    hunter t11 looks wicked but as above, cat colors is too much!

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