WoW (false) Expansion

[Soln]

Edit: ok my apologies -- this must be BS.  Was from a credible gamer friend, who got from a credible friend.  My apologies. Den away.

Not sure I believe this, if only from the mention of hair and sweat effects.  From a source, of a source, etc. 
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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

[HaemishM]

If true, it sounds like a lot of nothing that really much matters (speech on quests, wet and dry clothes) as well as things that will never make it in game. I smell bullshit.

[Soln]

If true, it sounds like a lot of nothing that really much matters (speech on quests, wet and dry clothes) as well as things that will never make it in game. I smell bullshit.

aside from the mention of sweat and expensive particle effects, the tree climbing, and the new classes ("neutral") makes me say BS as well.  Sorry for garbage.

[Pococurante]

But it would be a cool world, one I'd like to play in.  UO early on tossed around the idea of weather/character interactions.

[Evangolis]

The writing in that really sucks, IMO.

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.

No flow in that at all, awkward structure.  Pretty weak.

Some of the design ideas really suck as well:

*  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%

Because players really want slower travel when moving cross country.

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

Turn simple travel into annoying timewasters, which is another big player favorite.

*  Time zones introduced around the world

The purpose being?  Besides, I had that idea first.  Except I had a good reason for it.

(Special Druid alteration: Tauren and Night ELf driuds are penalised for
fighting each other.)

Because tricky PvP rules never result in exploits.  And what is this 'ELf' shit?  Does the author have no access to a spell checker?  Or is it just not worth the 90 seconds it would take to run a spell check on a corporate press release?

Bah, enough.  I hope this is a fake, because if it isn't, it has disaster written all over it.

[eldaec]

Kinda fun to play the 'which of these things make this obvious BS' game though, so worth a thread for that alone....

Suggestion of an entirely new graphics engine WITH HAIR GETTING WET, a whole 5 new races and 6 new classes (oi! bitches! you pay for 6 new expansions if you want that!), and all that fuss about the day/night cycle were my favourites.

[Pococurante]

Yeah I should clarify, I like the idea of weather effects/visuals and making them considerations for tactics.  I don't need seven flavors of wind unless they start with single malt and end at cheesecake.

[Yegolev]

Sure.  That is totally plausible.  Treeclimbing.

[Pococurante]

Why not?  Several games have wall climbing, DAOC for example.  In WoW I can run over a wall using a fallen tree - no collide on limbs.

My rogue would love that as a tactic.

[Signe]

I hope it's true because I am an expert at perching exploits!

[Pococurante]

It's only perching if the mobs can't path to you or otherwise slap back.

Perching is as perching does! Like him!

[Murgos]

I thought this was perching?

[Jain Zar]

I hope its a joke.  Because I didn't see Pandaren as a new race, and I want giant kung fu samurai pandas.
Its about the only reason I would resub to the game.

[Merusk]

On top of all the other reasons it's false are the mention of goblins.  While there's been a whine from certain sements that goblins should be added to the Horde, the devs and CMs both have stated each time that goblins are definatly neutral at this point.  Thus, Booty Bay, etc. profit > silly philosophical arguments.

"Hero Classes" - we won't give them names, we'll just shoot out the 4 generic MMO archtypes and hope you ignore the lack of definition from a group that while they're slow as shit are at least thourough with information releases.

[Venkman]

It sure did make an otherwise dull morning bearable though. The Gen Discussion board was hopping on this for a bit. I think it started because it got "leaked" to some uber guild forum. But between the ideas (half of which sound like stuff in other MMOs anyway) and the generally crappy spelling and grammar, I took it as a hoax after the second sentence.

[SurfD]

The one that kills me is that they mention this great new expantion, and dont actually mention any, umm, you know, expantion.  No names of new zones and what you might expect in them kind of lights up the BS flare on this one.

Mounted combat?  HAH, good luck on that one.  Unless the servers are entirely composed of epic geared 60's, that idea dies fast.

And what the hell is upping the level cap going to do?  Do I get more talent points every time I level? you realise how Totally broken most classes would become with even 5 more talent points to distribute.  How about an extra 40?

[HRose]

Those notes are obviously fake, there's not even a glimpse of doubt.

What is more interesting is that I expect the actual expansion to be even more unimpressive. Who wants to take bets?

The idea of the neutral faction could work, though. It would allow them to develop just a couple of newbie zones for the new races and then force the players to pick horde or alliance and move out. Instead of requiring them to build brand new content from level 1 to 60.