In Cataclysm, during the quests in Silverpine Forest, Horde players learn that human refugees from Hillsbrad have fled to Fenris Keep, and our glorious Banshee Queen Sylvanas sends us with a loyal val’kyr to kill and raise the poor humans as Forsaken, to bolster their forces in Silverpine. Using the new on-the-go questing feature, Sylvanas informs players to find and convert the human leaders inside their keep.

This is when things get a little hairy, as the keep is guarded by elite worgen guards. Battling through, the players find themselves arriving at the middle of a meeting between the big names of Southshore and Lord Darius Crowley.

Darius makes an offer to the humans: They can fight the Forsaken as humans and when they die, they will be reborn as their enemy — or they can drink his blood and turn into a worgen, who are immune to val’kyr necromancy, and serve him.

The humans aren’t excited to be either of the two, but they decide fur is better than rot. Right before players’ eyes, we see them drink a shot of Darius’ blood and transform into worgen. Through quest text, we are led to believe that every human in Lordaeron was given the same offer, and the vast majority, if not all, accepted.

This is a pretty big deal, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen more talk on it. The worgen have a stable way to produce more worgen, other than normal procreation (if that works). If this works for all worgen, could we see some extremist/fringe worgen groups akin to the Forsaken, who want to see all humans cursed like they are? A few vials in a few kegs next Brewfest could cause immense havoc. Mage water suddenly looks delicious for your run-of-the-mill human.

What do you, dear readers, think of this? Will it work with all worgen? Or will this ability be misused by the worgen? Next patch, will we see a red “plague” canister model in Gilneas, complete with a Royal Blood Society (to use against the Horde, of course)?

Blizzard has released another information for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm today. They’ve revealed the new abilities and changes coming to five player classes.

You can find the full previews for the Mage, Druid, Hunter, Rogue, and Death Knight on the official WoW forums. The new class abilities include a Heroism-like spell called “Time Warp” for Mages and a “Smoke Bomb” for Rogues that shields against ranged attacks. At level 85, hunters get “Camouflage” which is essentially an in-combat stealth mode.

Death Knights’ tanking is undergoing a major revision, and Blizzard felt the need to write up another forum post specifically addressing that issue. Instead of spreading tanking talents throughout different talent trees, they’re going to be moved to the “Blood” tree to make that the tanking spec.

Over the past two days, Blizzard also released previews for the Shaman, Warrior, Priest, and Warlock classes. Paladins are said to be “deep in development” and as such, information on their Cataclysm capabilities won’t be available until next week.

The movie is fairly straightforward; it’s a stylized run through Icecrown Citadel. And while the material might be old hat for some people, movies like these are important to players who might never see the raid content. (For all that it’s casual friend, if you don’t have time to raid, you’ll never see it except for movies like this.) I like seeings these videos from time to time because it shares the raiding experience.

You can see the second part at this location.

* Fourth Wall: How to Make Gold.
* Tales From the Crossroads: Ooo… shiny!
* Slash AFK: Slurpee > LFG. Also: Mur-lock-ME and RL Pet, Please.
* Travels with Tenthunders: Does Anyone Speak Dwarf?
* Coffin Comics Minis: Nothing Happened.
* World of Warcraft, eh? (WoW, eh?): Time After Time. Yay, it’s back!
* Coffin Comics: Caverns of Time… Machine.
* Dark Legacy Comics (DLC): Woes of a Raid Leader.
* Beyond the Tree: Exit Stage Theft. Also: Cloaking Devious and Blinding Wit.
* LFG: #381 and #382.
* Teh Gladiators: Runnn, You Mothers!! Don’t forget to click next!
* The Warcraft Hero in: The House of Sorrows.
* Penny-Arcade: The Sixth Slave. This applies to MMO’s in general, but I know you guys can relate! You might also want to read the follow-up comic, Breaking it Down. Judging by the response that the comic got, some might consider it NSFW.
* Away From Reality (AFR): Unintended Consequences.
* Byron, the Tauren Rogue.
* Guilded Age.
* By Way of Booty Bay: Mrs. Arugal (kinda NSFW). Also: Tinkerbottom (slightly less NSFW).

And now, for some super fun bonus material! Enjoy:

* Bonus! NPC: Three-Eyelid Alien Scum. Click next twice to see the other two! They’re not WoW-related this week, but we love them all the same.
* Double Bonus! Daily Quests puts out lore posts pretty often, and you should check them out!
* Additional Bonus! GU Comics: That’s All He Needed. This is technically in reference to Starcraft II, but it so totally works.

There’s a new joke every few seconds in this video, and the lyrics do more than just parody LL Cool J’s original verse. Nananea took the time to drop some unexpected humor into the words, and even performs some subtle critiques of the PVP game. For all that one might wish for a more skillful lyricist (or “flow,” I have been told the hip, new kids call it), I think this performance nailed a wonderful line of parody and criticism.

Also, this video has forced me to realize the original Mama Said Knock You Out is 20 years old. My god.

Yesterday,Blizzard have give the talk on Twitter Dev Chat,there give many informations about recently changes.

The Next is the WOW Cataclysm mount changes:

During the Twitter Dev Chat, we learned that in Cataclysm, 310% speed flying mounts will be handled differently.

Bashiok – #BlizzChat Developer Chat on Twitter 4/16

Q: Do you intend to have all 280% flying mounts scale to 310% when a 310% mount is earned, or will only purchased mounts do so?

A: Our current plan, is that in Cataclysm, you can learn a new rank of flying that lets all flying mounts move at 310% (even current 280% mounts). That will probably be as fast as mounts will ever get. We don’t like it that when you get a 310% mount that you stop using your old ones.

Q: If 310% speed is becoming trainable, does that mean we’ll be able to fly in Azeroth from the get-go?

A: We have considered the concept of “Old Weather Flying.” Just kidding. More than likely, you’ll just be able to fly from the beginning.

No word yet on if players with current 310% speed mounts will still have to learn this new rank of flying skill or not. Previously, 310% speed mounts were seen as status symbols and prizes to be gained via achievements, PvP, rare drops or so on. Personally, I’m hoping people with 310% speed mounts are at least grandfathered in as it would be annoying otherwise to not even be able to ride your mount once the change went live.

On the up side, at least we’ll be able to fly in Azeroth right away instead of having to train yet another rank of flying.

I hope that WoW would be more changes but exciting to the players.