ANAHEIM, California — A new expansion pack called Cataclysm will shake up the venerable World of Warcraft world, Blizzard Entertainment said Friday.
"I'm confident it will be nothing less than earth-shattering," Chris Metzen, Blizzard's vice president of development, said as he unveiled the Cataclysm trailer Friday at BlizzCon, the company's annual fan convention held at the Anaheim Convention Center. "It will very literally change the world of Azeroth as you know it."
Based on Warcraft lore, the new expansion shows the game world transformed by a geological rift and strife between the game's factions.
"There can be no peace when the world itself is devoured by rage," the trailer proclaimed. "The world will never be the same."
The trailer, which comes after much speculation following Blizzard's trademarking of the Cataclysm name, also depicted the churning Maelstrom between the two continents, the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, while various zones in the game were shown being destroyed and covered in lava. Classic zones are permanently changed.
The expansion includes two new races, which were leaked prior to the event: Goblins for the Horde faction and the wolf-like Worgen for the Alliance faction.
There will also be flying mounts added to main game world of Azeroth, and the level cap will be raised from 80 to 85.
Other features include new race-class combinations, monsters, dungeons, raids and achievements; the new secondary skill of Archaeology; heroic settings added to the classic dungeons Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep; a new guild leveling system; a Path of the Titans character progression; and the return of a classic end-boss named Deathwing.
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