Updates From Cataclysm

• Level cap increased to 85.
• Zones are drastically affected by the Cataclysm in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. The Barrens has been split into two, and is full of canyons of lava. Wetlands is destroyed, Ashenvale hit as well. The Maelstrom churns. The changes will be made available to all players regardless of expansion purchase.
• New race for the Alliance: Worgen
  • Classes: death knight, druid, hunter, mage, priest, rogue, warlock and warrior.
• New race for the Horde: Goblins
  • Classes: death knight, hunter, mage, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock and warrior.
• New Race / Class combinations. See the chart below. (These will be available only to those who have purchased the expansion)
• New monsters, quests, and zones
• Several new dungeons and raids
• 3 new battlegrounds ("Battle for Gilneas City"), "Twin Peaks, and one unrevealed)
• A new Wintergrasp-like PvP zone, Tol Barad.
• Ability to fly anywhere due to the Azeroth revamp. The blood elf and draenei starting zones will still be instanced.
• Guild advancement system, which includes guild leveling, talents, achievements, and accessories.
• Revamped character progression via the Paths of the Titans, Archaeology (the new secondary profession), and Ancient glyphs.
• Rated battlegrounds, an alternative way to earn arena points
• Profession level cap raised to 525 and will be named Illustrious .
• New ability for Jewelcrafters, Engineers, Blacksmiths, Leatherworkers and Tailors called "Reforging"
• Stat changes:
  • Armor penetration is being removed from gear. However, some physical damage specs may still be able to gain armor penetration through talents and / or mastery bonuses.
  • Attack power is being removed from gear. Death knights, paladins and warriors will still gain 2 attack power per point of strength, and all druids, hunters, shamans and rogues will get 2 attack power per point of agility and no attack power from strength, with the exception of druids in bear form / dire bear form, who may get attack power from strength in order to allow them to share tanking cloaks, necklaces and rings with death knights, paladins and warriors.
  • Block value is being removed from the game, blocking will provide percentile damage reduction, which can be increased through talent trees and mastery bonuses.
  • Defense is being removed from the game, including both defense rating and the defense skill. All tanking specs will get anti-critical hit talents similar to Survival of the Fittest
  • Haste for melee and physical ranged DPS classes will affect the rate at which energy, rage, focus and runes are gained. Enhancement shamans and retribution paladins will gain talents which allow them to gain similar benefits from haste. It will continue to provide weapon speed increases for these classes. Haste for casters is unchanged.
  • Parry no longer provides 100% mitigation from a single melee attack or increases attack speed. Instead, when an attack is parried, it and the next attack's damage will be reduced by 50%.
  • Mastery is being added. Mastery will provide a bonus based on the talent tree which has the most points in it, such as armor penetration or cooldown reduction.
  • MP5, spirit and hit rating: MP5 is being removed, all healing specs will rely on spirit for mana regeneration. Holy paladins and restoration shamans may get mana regeneration talents like Intensity and Meditation, or the 5 second rule may be removed. Spell DPS classes will no longer rely on spirit for mana regeneration, and spirit will no longer be on cloth spell DPS gear. Balance druids and elemental shamans will get talents to gain hit rating from spirit to allow them to share gear with healers and leather and mail caster gear will no longer have hit rating.
  • Spell power is being removed from items. Characters will gain spell power from intellect much like how they currently gain attack power from agility and strength.
• Many passive talents with generic bonuses, such as increased critical strike chance, damage reduction or increased healing, and specifically those that provide bonuses to buffs and perhaps debuffs, are being removed, and each talent tree will provide passive bonuses based on the number of points invested in it.
• New water rendering engine.
  • The 10 and 25 man Raids will share an ID in Cataclysm
  • 10 and 25 man Raids in Cataclysm will give the same Loot, the 25er will give more Loot per Character
  • There will only be 4 different "badges" in Cataclysm; 2 PvE and 2 PvP badges - though they will be called points. All Points will have a max Cap - both per week and in total.