World of Warcraft Pre-Cataclysm Guide: The Shattering

On November 24th Blizzard introduced a patch to make way for the new World of Warcraft expansion - Cataclysm. This article will overview the most major changes introduced. 

The latest patch introduced by Blizzard in preparation for Cataclysm is known as The Shattering and has made some major changes to the game.

Cities and Zones

The first most noticeable change to players is the major cities of each faction. Stormwind and Orgrimmar have been altered radically by the arrival of Deathwing. For example Stormwind City has had the Park completely destroyed and a lake has now formed around the Dwarven District. Orgrimmar is almost unrecognisable to some players because of the attack by Deathwing. The other major cities have also changed but not on the same scale as Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Other zones around Azeroth have also changed in some way, the arrival of Deathwing is evident in almost every zone. There are now daily fishing and cooking quests available in Storwmind and Orgrimmar, which will be useful to low level players looking to skill up these professions as cooking points and fishing points are rewarded if the quests are complete. 

Dalaran and Shattrath have been changed: the portals to Alliance and Horde cities have been removed and class trainers have been put in the place of the portals. 

New Race and Class Combinations

Although players can not create a Goblin or Worgen character until the actual release of Cataclysm, some new race and class combinations have been introduced. This now means that:

• Humans can now be Hunters 
• Dwarves can now be Shamans, Mages and Warlocks
• Night Elves can now be Mages
• Gnomes can now be Priests  
• Orcs can now be Mages
• Undead can now be Hunters
• Taurens can now be Paladins and Priests
• Trolls can now be Druids
• Blood Elves can now be Warriors