The StarCraft II expansions will take longer than expected, developers citing the year between WarCraft 3 and its Frozen Throne expansion pack and commenting that this might take longer, as the team is adding in new art, mechanics and a detailed story line…
Currency earned from battle can be used to purchase upgrades in Blizzard DOTA.
Developers mentioned they were discussing a possible custom map store in the StarCraft II expansions.
Starjeweled mixes a Bejeweled-type battle into StarCraft II.
Final release dates were unavailable for Blizzard’s DotA, Aiur Chef, Left 2 Die, and Starjeweled custom games.
Where the Cataclysm expansion pack is concerned, the changes caused by Cataclysm will be universal and seen across the board to the entire player base. Additional perks such as creating a Goblin or Worgen character, advancing to level 85 and being able to fly across the entirety of the game world will be limited to players with the expansion pack.
When the Cataclysm changeover (aka “the Shattering”) actually occurs, players’ characters will be placed in safe holding locations on the map. The developers are trying to shift this over as smoothly as possible over a couple of weeks.
Worgin vs. Goblin, the struggle of our time.
The starting zones have been redone across the board, players being able to take on new initial missions and experiences as they enter the game and begin building their characters.
Mounts will now be available at level 20.
Certain classes will be able to receive movement speed bonuses at level 12. Blizzard representatives also cited a focus in having quests require less travel and more convenient to complete (certain quests can now be turned in remotely from the field).
The Abyysal Seahorse mount in Vashj'ir.
Players will see a noticeable bump in Cataclysm’s graphics and audio. In one case, developers worked on a new water shader, allowing water to reflect everything as well as feature ripples and splashes. Polygon counts for models have also increased, boosting detail where they felt it was needed.
A new guild leveling system allows guilds to progress up to level 25, each level returning a perk. Bonuses are also awarded for speed, unlocking achievements as a guild (such as completing quests, killing bosses, winning Battlegrounds, etc.) An XP cap will also be installed limiting how much a guild can advance in a day, thereby ensuring that a larger guild doesn’t overpower a smaller guild.
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