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With Cataclysm, the world of Warcraft has been forever changed. The third expansion will feature two new races joining the fight, and an old villain reshaping the face of Azeroth itself.
Four of the biggest minds behind World of Warcraft - loremaster Chris Metzen, lead designer Tom Chilton, and world designers Alex Afrasiabi and Cory Stockton - took the stage at Blizzcon 2009 to give a deeper look at WoW: Cataclysm, the recently-unveiled third expansion pack for the world's biggest MMORPG.
Now It's Personal: With Wrath of the Lich King, said Metzen, the team learned that it was important to focus on a primary villain. Burning Crusade's Illidan was a "kickass badguy," but he wasn't in your path and came out of nowhere for his Black Temple. In contrast, the Lich King was omnipresent, and in characters' faces since Level 70. They wanted to give players a personal reason to kick his ass, and they're carrying that philosophy into Cataclysm - with classic Warcraft nemesis Deathwing.
Deathwing, who debuted in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, was an ancient dragon and guardian of the Earth, who was driven mad by the whispers of the Old God chained beneath Azeroth. His power began to rip him apart, with his blood running with lava, and his agents were forced to brand iron plates onto his hide to hold him together. Though Deathwing was sleeping beneath the earth in Deepholm, the elemental plane of earth, he awakens - and his explosive eruption back onto the plane of Azeroth is the Cataclysm. With tsunamis, storms, and volcanoes, no part of Azeroth is left untouched - "Well, maybe Westfall," joked Metzen. Deathwing is, in fact, the Worldbreaker.
New Alliance Race - Worgen: The people of Gilneas barred themselves up beyond the Greymane Wall to protect themselves from the Scourge and the plague in Warcraft III. However, Archmage Arugal (known to players from Shadowfang Keep) brought the curse of the Worgen to the land, and it made its way past the wall. In the early Worgen levels, it will be "back in time" to the era of WC3, seeing how the curse affected their society - and then it will jump to the present day, with a fully-transformed nation of Gilneas. Metzen posed the question: "Are the Worgen from somewhere else, or they from somewhen else?"
