World of Warcraft: Legends of Azeroth uitbreiding details uitgelekt?

Een speler op de World of Warcraft-Europe fora claimt dat hij de details van de uitbreiding voor World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: Legends of Azeroth, in handen heeft. De expansion voor World of Warcraft zal officieel aangekondigd worden op BlizzCon, een tweedaags gamesfestival van Blizzard op 28 en 29 oktober, in California, Verenigde Staten. Dit schijnt volgens de Tauren het persbericht te zijn dat Blizzard naar verschillende gamesites en magazines heeft gestuurd, maar veel mensen denken dat het één grote hoax is (de Horde is over het algemeen niet zo slim :)).

World of Warcraft Expansion: Legends of Azeroth

New Realms will be opened for Expansion users only, there the expansion changes are effected.

Character transfer to expansion realms from all realms will be permitted for all existing realms.

Expansion Realms Type.
PvP Conquest
PvP Normal
RP-PvP Conquest
Rp-PvP Normal
Normal
Rp

Experience Azeorth in a whole new light. Experience whole new adventures, expanded areas, you’d hardly recognise it. Larger, more dangerous, more mysterious, the never-ending struggles of Azeroth take the next level to titanic porpotions.

The Level Cap has now been extended to 100. This will take place in two phases. First to 75, then later to 100

The Expansion also comes with an Audio-enabled program that allows players to speak to one another – you will need a microphone to communicate.

GAME EFFECTS:
Full newly implemented Weather System.

Rain, fog, mist, thunder storms, snow storm, sand storms, dust storms, wild fires, haze from heat all visible and dynamic with sound effects.

Random effects of winds. 7 degrees of winds from very light to very strong. Tree branches sway, in strong winds character movement can be slowed by as much 20%

Distinct climates worldwide from Constant winter, to temperate and Tropical

Player animation has changed accordingly:

Visible differences between wet and dry hair. Wind movements and strength affect hair.

Also clothes correspond to weather, cloth gets wet and looks drenched in rain whiles mail has a glossy sheen. Capes if visible, flap

Perspiration and sweat is visible on faces and clothes and takes shorter time to appear in Hot climates and days, a longer time at cooler periods and hardly ever in snowy climes..

Weather affects blow air rides like Gryphons off course, freak storms can materialise anywhere sending Ships off course.

Over 100 new player animations and visuals including 5 variations of each. in particular new /sing , /scream emotes.

VISUAL AND AUDIO EFFECTS
An audio visual pack has been added on 2 special CDs that contain the additions. Options exist to turn some of these on or off.

No less than 75 cut-scenes for quests and battle grounds. [Cut-scenes cannot be viewed if collecting or delivering a quest while still in a party]

Animations for over 500 quests

Speech implementation for ALL quests given from NpCs

World topography has been refined to be clearer, mountains are for more varied, less rounded, the thousand needles peaks for example look razor sharp and more versatile vegetation has been added.

You can sink in snow or sand

Running in water, snow, sand or dusty regions creates visible splashes and dust/sand/snow clouds.

Movement speed responds accordingly to analogue controls, and vibrations can be physically felt on appropriate controllers.

The music library has been severely expanded, no two areas will sound the same, instances have new exciting theme tunes characteristic of the instance. Even taverns have different music depending on what racial capital you are in, with audible laughter, ordering, shouts, fights taking place.

NpCs can be heard advertising there wares, children rushing from learning houses during the day, market places come alive and work places thrive. New sounds for throne-rooms of all racial leaders.

DAY & NIGHT

Day and Night are no longer uniform worldwide, night in Kalimdor is day on Azeroth: It is mid afternoon in westfall whiles late-afternoon – dusk in Quel’Thalas

Distinctly different luminosities for dawn, early morning, afternoon, late-afternoon, dusk, twilight , night.

Night luminosity varies from very dark requiring a light to see anything to starlight/moonlight night, or settlement light.

Luminosity also varies according to cloud cover, skies can vary from territory to territory sometimes.

Time zones introduced around the world

NEW CLASSES

Dread knight [Horde or Neutral only]: Hybrid /Tank/nuker

Necromancer [Horde or Neutral]: Magical nuker/ summoner

Ranger [Alliance or Neutral]: Hybrid magical & Physical Ranged/Melee dps dealer

Spellbreaker[Alliance or Neutral]: Hybrid (DoT, buffer/de-buffer)

Mechanik [Any]: Magical & Mechanical utility/dealer

Amazon [Any]: Melee combatant Hybrid

Paladin [Alliance or Netural Only]
Shaman [Horde or Neutral Only]
The rest may belong to any faction

New classes have been added complete with a fully array of skills, abilities, and the customary three talent trees.
(Special Druid alteration: Tauren and Night ELf driuds are penalised for fighting each other.)

Because of the Faction system change, certain classes you select will make you unable to join certain factions. i.e All classes can be neutral in faction, but if at start up you choose a class that is only affliated with one faction, you may never join the other.

Certain racial types can never get along. e.g Human and undead while may share a faction, may never take quests from racial settlements.

You can ally yourself with many neutral factions, and joining either the Horde or Alliance will not affect your reputation with neutral factions.

Horde and Alliance are still in a state of flux, not exactly at war, but certainly not loved or at peace, this sometimes spills out into open conflict in battlegrounds and conquest campaigns. Naturally, joining one of the two factions will lock the others reputation in hated.

Hero Classes
Four Categories of Hero Classes.

Tank Heroes

Healing Heroes

Magical Nuking Heroes

Melee Dps Hereoes

They are based on the four major roles each class can adopt.

Each class has been given Epic Spells and Abilities that are class specific once they become a Hero.

And they may learn some basic skills in the Hero Category they choose. For e.g. a Warrior in the Healing Hero classes does not just learn ways to recover through spirit enhancements only, but learns some healing ability to an extent he can even take on that role in part.

There are four special sects of Hero Classes for each category you can diversify in. Examples include Sniper and Monk.

The Level Cap has now been extended to 100.

NEW RACES
High Elf – Classes: Ranger, Spellbreaker, Amazon, Hunter, Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Warlock
Naga – Necromancer, Warrior, rogue, hunter, mage, priest, warlock.
Goblin: Mechanik, Amazon, Warrior, rogue, Mage, Hunter.
Dryad: Amazon, Ranger, Warrior, Priest, Druid, Hunter.

In Addition to what they have now.
Orc: Dread Knight, Necromancer, Amazon [Warrior, Shaman, Hunter, Rogue, Warlock]
Undead: Necromancer, Dread Knight [Warrior, Mage, Warlock, Rogue, Priest]
Human: Spellbreaker, Mechanik [Warrior, Rogue, Paladin, Priest, Mage, Warlock]
Night Elf: Ranger, Amazon [Warrior, Druid, Hunter, Priest, Rogue]
Troll: Necromancer, Amazon [Warrior, Hunter, Shaman, Rogue, Mage, Priest]
Tauren: Amazon [Druid, Shaman, Warrior, Hunter]
Dwarves: Mechanik [Paladin, Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest]
Gnomes: Mechanik, Spellbreaker [Mage, Warlock, Warrior, Rogue]

Racial abilities receive 4 upgrades now, 1 at level 25, at 50, at 75 and at Level 100.

CHARACTER CUSTOMISATION

New Emotes

Added over 30 new facial types and variations for each race.

Added body type selection from gaunt thin to very fat (not available to all races and some classes)

Long periods of rested state or inactivity will cause a physical broadening of features, which will decrease incrimentally to your original body gait selection as you work through your rest state.

Default faction or neutral now selectable as choice.

Up to two new skills can be selected at start, some races can’t learn scertain skills, e.g. Tauren can’t climb trees.

NEW SKILLS

You can now learn to climb trees and mountains

Ride mounts

Fight with mounts

Swimming

Sprinting
Note some classes automatically have these skills from start. E.g. Night & High Elves have the climb tree ability, Dwarves the climb mountain, Undead Swimming.

You can now train running, swimming, riding and climbing skills to different degrees allowing faster movement, or able to climb more difficult areas, or swim faster and breathe under water longer.

AREAS & TERRITORIES
New Areas
Dalaran [city & expanded Region]
Quel’Thalas [city & area on map]
Mount Hyjal [forest city & area]
Northrend [ Continental zone]
Southrend [continetal zone]
The Maelstrom
The Lairs of the Aspects
The Emerald Dream [The World in a totally new light-with some additional areas not available in the waking world]

Expanded Old Areas
World areas and Lost Areas.

Lost Areas

Random maze-like instances outdoors are generated every time you are declared as lost. You lose your marker spot on the map and your minimap goes blank. However instead of combating mobs, you must use intuition and find clues to help you out of them.

No two lost areas are ever the same, and no two puzzles to exit are ever same. There are slight variations every time.

Every territory has a “lost” zone which is an external instance that resembles the area but which you cannot exit by simply walking to a fixed spot. There is no sense of direction here, and you must find and use certain clues that will help you out.

You don’t choose when to enter a “lost” area, you have a very high chance of being transported to the territories “lost” area by random exploration through that territory in particular areas you haven’t “discovered” yet. Your chances of getting lost in an area are almost non-existent once you discover the area.

However discovery of an area now requires you to have been through over half it’s area. The experience has been raised drastically as well.

You are also deposited in a random lost area if the victim of a freak storm while on gryphon/wyvern/hippogrriff back or travelling by Ship or Zepphlin. You woudn’t be transported to an area half way across the world, however sometimes you can be blown well off course.

To exit the “lost” zone you must complete certain tasks.

Existing Areas

Many outdoors areas have been expanded, some doubling in size, new settlements, dungeons and structures have been added.

Some new areas within old ones two have been added to accommodate new starting areas.

Specific detail has been given to houses, workplaces, taverns, shops. Visible tools and equipment can now be seen where appropriate. Workmen working. Shop items can now be seen displayed on walls and shelves but can still be selected via right clicking on the shopkeeper NPC.

Other World Area Changes

In addition to all areas being expanded to one degree or another – Major towns such as Southshore, Auberdine, Kharanos, Cross Roads, Ratchett, Bloodhoof Village, Razor Hill and more have been redsigned and expanded to look like towns rather than villages.

Stromgarde, Aeries Peak & Hinterlands, Stahnbrad in Alterac, Tauren Settlements in the Thousand Needles and Feralas as well as those zones have all been particularly extensively expanded. The Charred vale for example is partially Forested again, and partially burnt

A lot of attention to detail was given to Horde and Goblin areas with the trebling in size of Gadgetzan and Everlook, the addition of 2 new goblin towns of smaller size. Additional Orc settlements in the Barrens, with Night Elf and Tauren expanstions on Stone Talon Mountain.

Some neutral factions like the Argent Dawn and the Emerald Circle and others have been given settlement camps in their main areas of operation, and HQs in all major cities

A neutral Ogre town has been opened up in the expanded Tanaris. and the Theramore Isle human settlement has doubled in size and now stretches a greater distance into the marsh.

A rebel Silithid Hive in the Un’Goro crater, neutral, has been opened, with quests to do and repuatation to earn. The Crater’s mountainous region has been expanded and a small neutral village has opened up in the north section.

Some Areas’ level requirements of have been altered to accomodate the starting areas of Trolls & High Elves. Stone Talon Mountain has expanded to an Upper & Lower section, the Upper section accomdates the starting area for the Dryads.

The world has almost trebled in size with the many new additions and zones to facilitate moving around, it is now possible to purchase a mount from as early as level 5
At Level 40 you may acquire a battlemount, trainable in 8 differnet types of warfare.
What was considered an epic mount before the expansion is no longer
New Seahorse (can move on both land and sea) mount has been added for Naga. Treant Mounts for Dryads (The Dryad can assume a two legged shape for mounting, they look like nightelves but with leaves and twigs as hair and thorny claws for fingers), Mechanical Tin Shredders for Goblins.

It is now possible to train riding skills in any races racial mount, however, battlemounts have specific advantages for their native race, allowing them to boost racial abilities.

Special Gnome and Goblin transports are available in most cities towns and villages that assist direct transportation to nearby territories or areas within territories.

Many Additional Ships and Zepphlins have been added connecting new cross and inter-continental ports. E.g. Ships from Booty bay to Southshore.

Transportation balloons and ships have several new designs too. All have NPC crews and interactive acitivities are availble on journeys. When surprise shipwrecks or crashes occour, NpC crews join players to overcome the challenges of escaping. Where mobs are spawned for challenge here, the numbers are directly related to the number PCs stranded.

Corresponding harbours and landing pads towns and Cities have had many additional landing pads, docks and piers added.

All cities and flight paths have been given multitude stables and hatcheries to emphasize the volume of transport available. Depending on server population and day times, varying numbers of flyers and mounts are spawned in the hatchery and stables

General Structural Customisation
Gates and Doors are closed at night time for most towns and cities except for night elven settlements where the opposite occurs, closing at day time. You may still go into shops at night, but after a certain time, you will have to knock on the closed door, and the shopkeeper may charge you extra, the opposite true for night elves.

CITIES
All cities have been expanded both internally and externally, many given underbellies and dungeons. NpC and shops have been detailed, the amount of NpCs increased tremendously. Cities now have themed activities, fairs and markets. Each City has a disntict activity Ranging From Gladiator Arena fighting to racing and Fishing where you may compete against members of your own faction and neutrals.

Also guards and engines have been increased and are all elite in every city. Beasts and racial related creatures having a bigger presence in the Cities.

Darnassus
Darnassus and the night elven kingdoms have been expanded. During the night, Darnassus, Auberdine, Astranaar and several new night elven towns come alive at night. Moonwells scattered all over glow, and new night elven specific activities can be found all over.
Darnassus has double in size, 4 new quarters added, new tree and marble homes.

Ogrimmar: New Stone structures have been added, and the cities size increased. All areas around expanded. Orcs have additional settlements and villages in Durotar and the Barrens

Thunderbluff now has an encampment at the base of the hill. And Mulgore has been expanded considerably, additional Tauren villages with quests, and renegade Bristleboar settlements too.

Ironforge: Iron forge has many new layers opened up beneath and above the entrance level areas. The Great forge has undergone a design upgrade, and though the greatest, is not the only one in the city.

Undercity: Has several entirely new sections, some in the ruined Lordaeron above. Others accessible only through tunnelled sewers that stretch north into Lordaeron

A second Night Elven city has been opened up in Mount Hyjal, it is also home to Furblogs and refugee blood elves. Details to follow as it is a high end-game level area.

Gnomeragan:
The Gnome capital city has been opened up and is now the starting area for Gnomes. It’s been fully fitted out, with new structures visible from outside, a main train station port, and looks once more like a city with homes, trading areas, Throne castle/lab for the tinker. A dungeon area etc.

The Zul’Farrak Dungeon has been redsigned as a City and is now the opening area for Trolls. The cities boundaries have been re-placed, now having part lie within the desert of tanaris, part in the Thousand Needles and another part in the lush mountains of the Un’Goro Crater. A starting area zone has been created in the expanded thousand needles area that almost triples in size leading directly into Mulgore.

High Elves now share a starting area with the Dalaran Humans. The region surrounding Dalaran has been greatly expanded to accommodate the new starting area and the expansion of South Shore and Alterac.

Goblins start in a new low level Island South of Booty Bay. Bootbay has been expanded and serves as the Principal Goblin city of the Goblin quartet.

Naga homecity is a partially submerged city just off an Island halfway between the Maelstrom and Kalimdor.

Stone Talon Peak Has been considerably expanded and serves as starting area for the Dryads. Dryads have a Capital Forest of the Mystic Vale in the area formerly none as the Charred Vale. Stone Talon mountain has been split into 2 halves, upper and lower, Upper Stone Talon mountain holds the Peak and the Vale, whiles lower Stone-Talon Mountain is a questing area ranging from level 10-20. Ventrue Co. quests in the area have dropped by 10 levels, and new additional quests added in the expanded area.

The Timbermaw Hold near Moonglade has been extensively expanded as a home for the Furbolgs..

Naga, Dryad, Night Elf and High Elf settlements have also been added to Azshara and Winterspring. Dryad forest plains added to Ashenvale and Teldrassil

Further Tauren & Orc settlements added to Feralas (with an additional nightelven one on the coast), Dustswallow Marsh. And Troll settlements in Tanaris and the Shimmering Flats

Other racial settlements and zones have been extended such as Centaur oasis in the Barrens and the Maraudine area. Also secret Satyr settlements have been added through out Northern Kalimdor from Desolace to Azhara, Bristle boar and Silithid hives in southern Kalimdor.

Transportation

All trains, ships and Zepphlins have fully manned NpC crews.

Alliance trams now start off in Gnomeragan.
Zepplins and Ships are now subject to be blown off course by freak storms stranding inhabitants on random islands where they can face challenges.

The Number of NpCs in towns and cities, settled areas has been greatly increased. Trade centres are visible for what they are, litter is evident in the human, Ogre, Troll and dwarven cities, with
cleanning crews seen tidying up at a fixed time each day after market closes.

PROFESSIONS

All professions have many new item additions to lower and post level 60

Maximum Skill extended to 500

Master & Legend ranks available all through special quests.

Mini Professions – Jobs In need of money? Need a paid job? Many taverns, shopkeepers, librarians, farmers are now hiring where you can select anything from a 30mins – 24hr shift of doing a job quest. For e.g. in taverns, you have to serve drinks or take food from the cook to tables [cities have been expanded considerably and details made to match], throughout your shift, you have to quell random disturbances and fights. Listen to tall tales – or a farmer’s hand where you have a challenge to plough the field one shift, plant seeds another, weed a third, douse a fire or even repair his broken machine, if you’re not an engineer, you’ll need to find one quick or miss out on your payment.

4 new primary professions added and 1 Secondary

Several design changes to existing professions, on some gear, potions and devices you may customise what ability statistic or effect is applied by a slight variation of ingredients, for e.g. your chest piece may have Spirit instead of stamina by using green opals instead of red ones, +4 of 1 and +5 of the other instead of5/4 or 4/4 by having 4 green opals and 1 red.

Certain items can also have certain special abilities added to previously made or bought items if you are a Master or Legend, but you need to discover what does what, and sometimes bad combination can ruin a piece. A master alchemist can add an ingredient to an existing potion to add the effect of a size increase or turn into a skeleton. Or the Master Engineer add a red crystal to the bomb construction to give it a slow effect in addition

All manufacturing professions require the use of key tools, and animations have been added to each. For e.g. going to the forge to make leg piece will now animate the action of putting the ingredient on the anvil and raising the hammer to refine it, sparks may even fly on weapons where you visibly sing in oil/water tanks to cool after visibly heating in forge. The more complex the item, the more specialised a forge you may need. A tailor would need a sewing machine and items to make certain pieces and will be animated taking a seat and making the item in the time period. Items that can be tailored without can be made anywhere but will be animated as the PC will sit, take out a needle and cloth, and a sewing action ensue. Similar, some Alchemy or Engineering potions and devices require to go to a full lab in cities and stand at desks with equipment to make whiles others that don’t require, will have the animation simulated, you will see a vial being held the herb being crushed and ground, you pour some water into it the vial and swirl to make a potion. Some may require heat of a fire in which case you’d need to at least learn cooking enough to make one.

Making Purple and rarer items now earns Experience Points

GAME DYNAMICS

New Faction: Neutral – whiles not a faction as such it simply means unaffiliated with Horde or Alliance. The Steamwheedle Cartell and the Argent Dawn are neutral factions for example. Whiles Stormwind, Darnassus and Ironforge are Alliance Factions, the Hyjal Elves are Neutral, Thunderbluff, Ogrimmar and Zul’Farrak are Horde Factions, despite the fact that Taurens may start off neutral. Gnomeragan & Undercity are Alliance & Horde leaning factions.

You can now change faction affiliation. Only Human and Dwarves start off default as Alliance, and Orcs & Trolls defaulted as Horde and Goblins the Neutral Steamwheedle Cartell. The rest must choose between Neutral and Horde or Alliance. [Elves (night & High), Gnomes, are neutral and are free to join a faction after doing some basic quests in the major settlements of the faction.]. Whiles Humans are defaulted to Alliance, they can choose Neutral to start with, however becoming horde is as hard as it is for an Orc to become Alliance.

You may also be part of certain smaller factions such as the Argent Dawn, the Cenerarion & Emerald Circles, the Bloodsail Buccaneers and more.

The Horde and the Alliance are the two Main Factions the PvP Honour system and the Conquest system are based around. Neutral .

Rival factions that are at war with yours will be flagged as hostile in all territories you encounter them except in their territory where in the PvP game, you have the option of disabling PvP whiles in your factions territory or zone.

Quests

Added over 1500 additional quests and epic quests.

Many new race specific quests, and class specific quests.

Some quests can now only be taken and completed at certain times.

We have introduced a more dynamic system that spawns necessary numbers of mobs for quests that involve killing x number of mobs. Meaning that certain mobs you will only see one or two of if casually passing by (unless there are quests involving those types of mobs that demand otherwise). However if you have a quest that pertains to the mob in the area, an appropriate number are spawned as you approach the area, growing if you are accompanied. We found this did the following



a) created the surprise factor for wandering adventurous who weren’t on that quest,

b) gave a sense of completion to those who had finished a quest, afterall, if you are thinning the population of Gnolls in region x, you’d like to notice that you’ve had an effect, rather than see the whole lot respawned every time you pass.

c) This saved computer resources considerably and allowed appropriate numbers to be generated based on the number of people taking the quest who were in the specific are it spawned.

New 120-man titanic quests and battles have been introduced, this often have a racial leader and sometimes an army accompanying you. 120-man activities can link up to 3 full 40 man raids.

Miscellaneous quests and activities: Added to many cities and areas are activities you can partake in, such as Racing on tracks, or Tournaments in Arenas where spectators will gather to watch competitors, you will duel both PCs and NPCs and will have to progress to the last round to win. Each Capital city has a unique activity associated with it.

Some quests done in the original game have been replaced with new ones, for e.g. The Charred Vale being partially restored no longer has the old quests there, but new ones.

Battlegrounds
An additional 10 battlegrounds, the bulk forming part of the expansion the remainder released over time.

Instances.
30 new instances added. Including level 75+ Instance for Uldan and Uldranan. Instances added at Northrend, Southrend, Hyjal, The Maelstrom, Quel’Thalas, Ferelas, Un-Goro, Dustswallow Marsh, Thousand Needles, under each capital city, Dalaran, Stranglthorn Vale, Duskwood, Badlands, Dun Morogh, Loch Modan, Arathi, Lordamere, Da’arsalan, Nagarathis. Spread through out the levels, a few original instances were closed such as Gnomeragan and Zul’Farrak.

Many Old Instances updated with new quests and new troubles

New type Realm : Conquest
Expanded Honour and Reptuation System!

EXCLUISVE CONQUEST REALM SYSTEM

Conquest realms has a worldwide theme available. The aim is to gain control of 2/3 of all territories for your faction.

It’s a side game that is intended to be done gradually and designed so that normal questing and game play can continue despite it. You must win over a territories to the faction you have allied yourself with.

The aim is to pvp in groups or raids. Go to a Capital City of a race allied to your faction. There you can speak to a battlemaster to begin the conquest. Note this must be done otherwise any fighting in settlements will not be regarded as official victories.

You win a territory over by conquering the opposing faction’s settlements/towns or bases.

You conquer a settlement/town or base by first having selected it with the battlemaster, then proceeding with your party or raid to the town and eliminating all NPCs and players.

The battle is declared as started once your party attacks any NPC guard or opposing faction PC in the area. After starting, you have a certain period of time called the joining period to call re-enforcements to your group from fellow faction members in the area or abroad. After joining period is over any new member arriving in the area will not be able to engage in pvp battle in that area till the battle is over.

The battle is over when you’ve killed all NPC guards and all opposing faction PC members that were part of the fight.

To prevent endless fights, once battle has commenced for settlement, you are given up to 5 times to die. After five deaths within that battle, you are flagged off for pvp in that area entirely for the duration of the battle unable to attack/heal or be attacked. IF your faction loses the battle, you are flagged off for pvp in that area for 120mins, however the controlling faction can initiate a conflict with you.

Once you win a settlement, all opposing faction NPC guards are replaced with the your faction NPC guard. The race of the guards depends on what racial capital city you selected the conquest for. And your faction and racial flags are raised.

In conquered settlements, the beaten faction PCs may still enter freely to hand in quests and purchase goods with the non-guard npcs who still remain unchanged. However the victorious faction can now buy items from the conquered factions NPCs. The conquering faction PCs are not allowed to attack the conquered factions PCs and vice versa unless the battle to reclaim the town has commenced. This is ensured by the NPC guards attacking any PC who starts attacking an opposing member. That way, ganking should be prevented for the conquered faction PCs who need to enter the settlement to hand in quests and trade.

Your faction can win back a settlement by contacting the battle-master in the racial capital the conquered settlement belonged to. Then proceeding with you raid group and initiating the battle by right clicking on any NPC guard. This then starts up the battle timer once more.

Each settlement, town or base now has an NPC guard leader depending on it’s size and strategic importance. A settlement cannot be claimed without eliminating this boss.

Only contested territories are controllable in this way. Your faction, must seize control of all enemy settlements before the territory is declared as belonging to your faction.

Once you control 2/3 of the world, the server server records a win and the faction scores will be displayed on a special page of the website. Also special items and money will be granted to all participants.

Anyone may participate in conquest at any time, how much reward and reputation you receive once the game has been won depends on how many conquests you participated in.

At a later date, we will expand this to include capital cities, the aim will extend to, once having conquered 2/3, you must then proceed to win a battle for a capital city. Each capital city would have a surrounding territory that isn’t contested. You must win just one surrounding territory and then the battle for the capital city commence. You only need one capital city to win the game.

Reputation & Honour System Changes.

Reputation’s importance has been increased for all factions and racial alliances. Each racial faction has a settlement and territory you can now gain reputation for.

You gain reputation by completing quests largely, once you are gain a pvp rank, and the “Honoured” reputation with the town or area, you can choose to become an enlisted defender of the settlement. You do this by speaking with the settlements NPC leader or magister, or if an area, a designated NPC in a neighbouring town or city. Some such NPCs you must actually look for. Some settlements like major towns or capital cities require a minimum PvP rank to become a defender.

Being a defender means you get visual and audible recognition from the townspeople whenever you interact, and as you move to “Revered & Exalted” that increases.

There is a PvP element to a defender, whenever the settlement or area you have chosen to defend is undergoing a Conquest battle, you are alerted wherever you are on Azeroth and given the option to immediately teleport to an area near the settlement or zone being fought for, and you must join the battle before it closes off.

Defending your settlement successfully raises your reputation most with the settlement, and also with the settlements’ racial capital. You are also rewarded for fending off the invasion with money. The extent your reputation rises depends on how many successful kills you made, and how many of your five lives you did not spend.

Failure to answer the summons to defend will decrease your reputation and losing the battle will lower rep for all defenders.

When nearby towns are being fought for, defenders from surrounding areas who do not have a high enough pvp rank to be listed as a town defender, may also be called, they are not penalised for not answering the call however, they gain higher reputation with the town they help and with the settlement or area they are defenders off.

Conversely, higher ranked pvp-honoured members able to be called defenderse of the larger settlements, are not informed when lower settlements are under attack, however they can lose reputation if they are high enough in rank to become Territorial Defenders and they failed to assist. (however the amount lost is smaller)

Having an exalted reputation with an area or settlement allows you to ride the settlements mount type and for certain quests and tasks you may have an npc defender from that area accompany you. He follows you passively but can defend you, or in a manner similar to pets, you can direct him to attack hostile targets. However that is the extent of your control. He mounts up when you do on a mount of his own, or should you not have one, he works. The number of guards you can enlist from your town depends on your reputation.

Dishonourable kills now significantly reduce honour and reputation and may lead to Outlaw state. A rebel bar has been added to the honour tab, that rises with each dishonourable kill. Outlaws are denied services and activities from ALL factions except the Goblin cartel and cannot participate in settlement defense

Sometimes, killing a quest giver NpC or trader can result in you being imprisoned in the town, you are held in the cell for up to 30mins and deducted a tenth of tenth of your money. All towns, villages and dungeons now have prison cells

Higher reputation now also opens up access to new quests and plots.

GUILD MANAGEMENT CHANGES
Guilds play a much larger role now. There are better customisation menus, allowing you to better structure your guild, add notes, plan events with the scheduler.

Due to the expansion of Capital cities and some towns, guilds are now permitted to buy a headquarter within a capital city or a town. However it does not come cheaply. Your guild flag of similar design to your tabard will be displayed over the building.

All guilds can now have a trading house accessible via an NpC in your guild house, or if you do not have one, the auction house in a capital city. You can access wares sold by all guilds via the auction house, where you can search items by guild, or by item type where the name of the guild selling will be displayed. Guild members can be afforded a discount by the guild that is set by the guild master or a guild officer he can designate as treasurer. Discount rates can be set per rank as well.

Guilds can gain special reputation with factions when they exclusively partake in conquest campaigns as a guild.

Build YOur Guild House.
The world structures change from time to time, certain areas in or near capital cities or HQ of the faction your guild is associated, can have a guild house build. Guilds can either rent empty properties in towns or cities, or alternatively pay for ones to be build in the surrounding area.

After paying a high price, you can select several designs of accomodationi for your guild, each area can only have designs similar to those of the town/city they make their chapter house. The larger the dwelling the more expensive.

Once done, thhe request submitted to the GM HQ in the area, a structure would be &#&$%ed in after the weekly maintenance scheduled. Certain areas can reach a limit of new buildings, however there are many areas worldwide near towns and villages and faction HQs that we have provided sufficient land area for guild structures. Should an area be full near one town or city, then try another. [there are enough areas to cater for the maximum population of a realm players to each have a house – while this is not possible on an individual basis, we may seek to implement it later]

You recover rest state in your guild house and can have your hearthstone set to it.

New Item Types:
Ring slot has been expanded to five.
Items now have a weight factor that you cannot exceed even if you haven’t used up all your slots.
Strength ability now directly increases that.

In de expansion zou dus de level cap naar 100 moeten worden verhoogd, worden nieuwe rassen en klassen geïntroduceerd en kun je een Hero Class krijgen. Ook komen er heel veel nieuwe gebieden, instances en natuurlijk items, monsters en quests. Ook zou er een dynamisch weer- en dag en nacht-systeem in de game geïmplementeerd moeten worden. Ook zullen de mogelijkheden voor guilds uitgebreid moeten worden.

Of dit allemaal waar is of slechts een hoax is te betwijfelen, er zitten namelijk nogal wat spelfouten en vreemde termen in het persbericht, zoals “Purple” in plaats van “Epic”. We zullen het allemaal zien als een Blizzard GameMaster met een reactie komt of wanneer de BlizzCon bezig is.