Joystiq

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - This is how the world ends

Ryan Greene — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST

With today's launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm looming over us like, well, "a giant dragon" is probably a bit redundant ... Nevertheless, we turned to Massively's Ryan Greene to explain why you might be interested, either if you're new to the game or simply looking for an excuse to return to Azeroth.

Have you noticed a new excitement in the air? Have you felt the rumblings from the deep places of the world and tasted dread on the wind? Have you wondered why all your nerdiest friends planned months in advance to contract fake illnesses on the same day?

Cataclysm has arrived, and World of Warcraft will never be the same ... which is the same cheesy line you've been hearing for weeks, if not months. WoW's third expansion is huge news for dedicated players, but what does it mean for everyone else? For anyone who has never tried WoW or who gave it up many moons ago, the changes Deathwing hath wrought (with Blizzard's help) mean there has never been a better time to jump into the game. Seriously.

Continue reading World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - This is how the world ends

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - This is how the world ends originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

	EA licenses Dungeon Keeper MMO, for China Electronic Arts has licensed out the Dungeon Keeper property as an MMO to Chinese-based developer NetDragon Websoft with the intent to eventually bring it overseas.
	Warhammer Online 1.0.6 patch adds new classes, tidal wave of updates Today, Mythic brings us Black Guards and Knights of the Blazing Sun! For those who didn't finish the full Heavy Metal event, don't worry, the classes will become available to everyone next week.
	DC Universe probably coming early 2010/late 2009, says comics writer Most intriguing was his up-front information on the game's launch window. According to Johns, the developers are aiming to release the game in "early 2010, it could be late 2009." Read on into the brief interview for the goods.
	Richard Bartle responds to "torture quest" issue A few days ago we ran a report on Richard Bartle's take on a torture quest in World of Warcraft, the Art of Persuasion. Since then, the discussion has exploded and some have taken Bartle's quotes out of context. Because of this, Bartle has created a follow-up post to clarify some of the points that may have been misinterpreted.
	NCsoft clarifies its rationale for closing Tabula Rasa Last week we spoke very briefly with NCsoft's Director of Public Relations David Swofford about the company's decision to close Tabula Rasa. He reiterated the basic statement we heard from several sources surrounding the call: this was all about the bottom line.

	Massively's exclusive pre-launch Moria interview with Jeffrey Steefel Massively chats with Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer for Lord of the Rings Online the night before the release of LotRO's first expansion. Mines of Moria is now live, and from the sounds of things the servers and players are having a great time of it.
	Massively's ArenaNet interview: The past, present and future of Guild Wars PvP Massively catches up with ArenaNet Game Designer Isaiah "Izzy" Cartwright for a brief interview regarding the past, present and future state of PvP in Guild Wars. Follow along after the cut for the full interview and some exclusive PvP screenshots supplied to us by ArenaNet.
	Massively checks in on The Agency with Lead Designer Hal Milton Massively talks over the current state of The Agency's development with the animated and always-interesting lead designer Hal Milton. Hal shares with us a bit of insight into what they're currently working on, give us a few fun facts to chew on, and makes us actually look forward to next year's summer con season.

	Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria launches! The official patch notes are up on the forums, and the servers went live at midnight with all the new content! We've collected up all of our best pieces of news and information on Turbine's latest ... check it out!
	EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey Launches! Massively has been following the expansion's lifecycle since it was announced at this year's SOE Fan Faire, and today we've put together the best of all our content touching on this brand-new chapter in the EQ2 saga. Read on for all the details!
	And the first World of Warcraft player to reach level 80 is... Nymh, Human Warlock of the EU server Drek'thar (and the real-world country of France) became the first World of Warcraft player to reach level 80.
	Further details emerge on the canceled Halo MMO Shacknews had the chance to speak with Ensemble director of technology Dave Pottinger, who had quite a bit to say about the Halo MMO. The biggest surprise revealed was that the game had gotten a green light and was in development for a good length of time before leadership changed at Microsoft, and the title was canceled.
	Cryptic may be porting Champions / Star Trek Online to the PS3 Cryptic Studios has shown their superhero game playing quite well on Microsoft's console at events all through the summer con season. Now it seems as though they're looking to bring those games to the PlayStation 3 as well.

	Free Realms site relaunches with beta registration, videos, and more! Free Realms throws together a AAA-quality teen-aimed fantasy MMO experience together with free-to-play and microtransactional economics. An ambitious and unique undertaking, to be sure, from a fairly traditional company.
	Ask Massively: Wrath vs All Comers Dear Massively, I am SO SICK of all of the coverage of Wrath of the Lich King! I demand that someone at Massively write about something that isn't World of Warcraft related this week. Non-WoW players aren't interested in an expansion for a game that they don't even play. Someone throw me a freakin' bone here!
	Three Rings officially launches Whirled project Whirled, an ambitious web/virtual world hybrid from Three Rings, launched into Beta early this year. We were incredibly impressed with the project even back then, bouncing pieces of tofu or not.
	Lich King begins assault on Azeroth, starting with Orgrimmar World of Warcraft players are experiencing a world event leading up to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. No, it's not another invasion of flesh-craving zombies -- but it's just as cool.
	Warhammer Online 1.0.5 patch notes live, Public Test server opened Over on the official site for Warhammer Online, patch notes are now available for the latest big update. Patch 1.0.5 is not only be a nice big refresh for the game, but will also be the first which players can extensively test on a Beta realm with copied characters beforehand.

	World of Warcraft cranks it up to 11 (million) Just two weeks before Wrath of the Lich King descends upon the denizens of Azeroth the world over, Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft has reached the 11 million subscriber mark. That's yet another milestone for the oft-celebrated MMO from the house that built Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo.
	The Digital Continuum: Let's talk about the Fallout MMO What's always been in the back-burner of my mind is whether or not the Fallout license would be necessary for a post-apocalyptic to flourish. While endlessly exploring our own personal post-apocalypticia is incredible fun, do we want a massive one?
	Please make George Lucas stop Dear Massively, What exactly are "they" smoking over at the Skywalker Ranch, or wherever it is that LucasArts has set up shop these days? "Star Wars: The Old Republic will be bigger than World of Warcraft" ?!?!?! Is Jar Jar Binks working in their PR department?
	The Best of Massively: Our five all-time greatest hits Three of these are top five articles, so we're three-fifths of the way to making a top five top fives list, it would seem. The numbers don't lie, though, so enjoy!
	Tabula Rasa finally gets an FPS camera view Have you ever wondered why a game like Tabula Rasa never utilized that classic first-person view, considering the fact that it's billed as an FPS-style MMO? The over-the-shoulder view never really did it for most players who were looking for more of a shooter aspect in their game. Rest easy in knowing that the FPS view is finally coming to this NCsoft sci-fi MMO, according to the latest Feedback Friday.

	The Old Republic Unveiled: Overview, space combat, and Star Wars Galaxies We have a high level overview to kick us off. Join us below the cut to get some insider information on why BioWare is making the game, the four pillars of BioWare storytelling, what little they can tell us about space combat and vehicles, and .. perhaps most interesting ... an affirmation of LucasArts' commitment to Star Wars Galaxies.
	The Old Republic Unveiled: Combat, PvP, and Heroics BioWare might have what it takes, though, and we have the details about what they're hoping to do. Join us as we learn about the meaning of heroic, why being outnumbered is actually a good thing, and watch as we get told we can't know anything about PvP yet.
	The Old Republic Unveiled: Classes, Jedi, and Crafting While obviously we're no where near knowing what SWTOR's classes will be, we do have a few thoughts from the BioWare Austin heads about class-related issues. Join us as we find out some information on Jedis vs. non-Jedis, the fun of being a rogue, and the all important issue of crafting in the game.
	A WoW burnout's guide to Wrath of the Lich King Does Wrath of the Lich King, the second World of Warcraft expansion, have enough new, interesting and worthwhile content to give longtime burnout players a reason to come back again? What about players who've recently hung up their Azerothian hat? In this feature, we're taking a burnout player's perspective and looking into all of the interesting things about the soon-to-see-release title expansion.
	The Best of Massively: Five stories that scandalized you This week we're listing five stories we wrote that caused a lot of people to get very angry -- sometimes at us, sometimes at game developers or other industry figures, and sometimes at all of the above!

	Star Wars MMO announced as The Old Republic We've waited for it for a long time, we knew it was coming: BioWare has announced the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic-inspired MMO at last: the title is Star Wars: The Old Republic! Commence rejoicing with Ewoks and Gungans in the streets!
	WAR has only just begun to compete with WoW, declares Mark Jacobs If you've been following this particular exchange you'll know the score, but let's recap: Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan just like turned around and said some stuff about Warhammer Online, about how he wasn't even in the Beta and stuff, and Mark Jacobs was like whoa, and he totally turned around and said some stuff about World of Warcraft, and now Mark Jacobs is all, like, dude, bring it, and everybody's like, ohmygawd, it is so on.
	Blizzard: Next MMO won't be WoW 2 Go ahead a strike the possibility of a World of Warcraft 2 off your list of possible next-gen Blizzard MMOs because it's officially not happening. In an interview with Wired, Blizzard's recently talkative Mike Morhaime flat out said that their next MMO project isn't a sequel to their first. Of course, he wouldn't divulge exactly what it was either or this would be an entirely different sort of news post.
	Massively in Metropolis: Making friends with Superman If you blow off Superman by ignoring his pleas for help, he'll be cranky at you. Meanwhile, Batman will be spending his time just waiting for you to turn on him and his family ... poised to take you down. Some discussion of quests with personality, plus exploration of the DCUO faction system called 'causes' below the cut!
	State of the Game reveals Blazing Sun Knights, Black Guards coming to WAR It's been a full month since the launch of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, and general manager for Mythic Entertainment Mark Jacobs has now offered up the 'first annual' State of the Game address to players.

	Warhammer Online's party hits 750,000 players It seems like the forces of Order and Destruction have been busy recruiting, because Gamasutra is reporting that Warhammer Online is now partying hard at 750,000 subscribers strong.
	Champions Online announces Closed Beta signups Cryptic Studios has just announced that players can now sign up for a chance to participate in the first Closed Beta of their forthcoming superhero MMO, Champions Online, with the Beta beginning in mid-November 2008. Applications can be made at the official website. The Beta is for PC only.
	Mines of Moria gets a November 18th release date Mines of Moria, the first expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, has been given a release date of November 18th for both the NA and EU today. That means we're only about a month away from ten new levels, two new classes, legendary weapons, angry Balrogs and the under-mountain Dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dum.
	Massively in Metropolis: DC Universe Online goes beyond questing The folks at SOE Austin are looking to change the playing field fairly substantially with their superhero MMO title. In fact, in a number of ways they're looking to re-examine a lot of the basic elements we think of as part and parcel with the MMO package. One great example is the concept of questing.

	The Digital Continuum: Rock Band, the MMO I've actually entertained the idea for a long time now, only to shove it aside as a crazy notion. But the thing kept popping back into the forefront of my mind so often that I couldn't discount it as happenstance. I've become enamored with the idea, because let's face it; a Rock Band MMO has the potential to ooze- no, to gush pure liquid awesome.
	Massively's exclusive Mines of Moria dev tour Earlier last month, Massively was invited to get a hands-on look at Mines of Moria, the first-ever expansion for Lord of the Rings Online with Turbine's Adam Mersky and Moria Producer Mike Jablonn. During this special dev tour, we were treated to many of the features of the new environments, new creatures, certain landmarks and the Legendary Item system.
	Is LotRO coming to the console? According to a job posting on Turbine's website, they're looking to hire a Senior User Interface Engineer who "may be refactoring existing user interfaces or implementing completely new user interfaces for systems such as combat, skills, inventory, treasure, and social systems." Does this mean LotRO?

Joystiq

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - This is how the world ends

This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Monster Hunter Tri developer's voice

iPhone It In: Crush the Castle

PS3 Slim: Unboxing in pictures

Joystiq hands-on: No Gravity

Massively week in review

Massively week in review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Massively week in Review

Joystiq interview: Dragon Age storytelling

X3F Presents... Season Update: Madden NFL 09

Massively.com's exhaustive coverage of Warhammer Online

X3F TV -- Points>Life: Racing is Puzzling

A History of Violence: Ninja Gaiden Retrospective

Halo 3 outtakes: Full Metal Jacket & ranting lesbian space marine

GDC08: BioWare's last Neverwinter Nights patch, live team explained

GDC08: The eight best stories in gaming

GDC08: Early, pre-Little Sisters BioShock footage

GDC08: Audio of BioWare founders talking EA, Mass Effect PC

Zero Punctuation's BioShock Opening