OMG! That is going to be SO AWESOME!
Let me see if I can hit the highlights:
- Big Bad Boss of Cataclysm: Deathwing
- Theme is elemental chaos. Deathwing emerges from the Elemental Plane of Earth to return to Azeroth, ripping the land asunder while all the heroes are battling Arthas in Northrend.
- Azeroth is getting a major overhaul. Old unused zones are being repurposed (Azshara is now a lowbie zone), painful zones are getting changed (Darkshore is being flooded, Barrens has been ripped in two), and flight will be possible.
- The leveling flow is being changed, and quests and quest items are getting a major overhaul. They’re focusing on making 1-60 interesting and fun again.
- High-end content: Elemental Planes, Sunken City of Vashj’ir
- Level cap raised to 85, not 90, to allow them to focus on 1-60 more
- No new talents, but a separate character progression called Path of the Titans will be introduced. This is class-independent.
- New races, Worgen for Alliance and Goblin for Horde.
- New race/class combos, spoilered to keep this post’s length short:[spoiler] * Human Hunter
- Orc Mage
- Night Elf Mage
- Blood Elf Warrior
- Dwarf Shaman
- Dwarf Mage
- Undead Hunter
- Tauren Paladin
- Tauren Priest
- Gnome Priest
- Troll Druid[/spoiler]
- Uldum, Hyjal, and Grim Batol are being added
- New secondary profession Archaeology added
That’s honestly a very short and vague list. There is just a metric ton of stuff planned.
Oh yes, and Ragnaros is making a comeback. 
Ooh! Neat!
Oh, I’d completely forgotten to rant about this when the new race/class combo news dropped, but:
NIGHT ELF MAGES? Are you fucking KIDDING me?! I don’t care how hard you try to wank it about “they’ve seen the other races using magic and having it not blow up in their faces”–it just DOESN’T WORK. It would be like an alcoholic suddenly being cured and okay to start drinking again because he spent enough time watching his buddies drink. ARRRRGH.
Psst, SFG.[spoiler]Druids use Arcane spells already. 
Personally, I think Night Elves are just big ol’ stuck-up hypocrites.[/spoiler]
Nice! I’m so glad that Horde pallies won’t have to be BElf, and I might make a Druid if I can be troll!
It’ll be like a new game.
This was actually my first reaction, too. “Epic Lore Fail!”
But then, I eventually swallowed Draenei, so I imagine this will fade as well.
There’s a new very short quest on the 3.2.2 PTR, that has the return of the Highborne from the Shen’dralar to Darnassus. They are not trusted by the other night elves, but are determined to return and make contact with the other night elves again. So Night Elves in general are still opposed to magic and suspicious of the highborne mages, but the playable mages will likely be considered to be highborne.
So basically, Night Elf Mages = Human Warlocks.
I have two level 80 Horde characters on Turalyon (Mage, Rogue) but I’m currently levelling up a Druid/Hunter/Warrior/Mage (can’t decide which to focus on) on Steamweedle Cartel to join the PC Gamer guild.
I’m trying to follow this thread but it moves a bit too fast for me to keep track of.
As an aside, it’s a lot easier to be a newbie now-a-days! I made ~100g in a few days just from fishing, probably the same again from mining, herbalism.
There are still Highborne though (see Dire Maul, Shen’dralar), and that’s what I thought the new “night elf” mages were being billed as. Also:
From WoW Wiki. Personally, I still have a tougher time with squid-goat paladins crash-landing their spaceships on Azeroth than with the idea of some Night Elves turning back to arcane magic (especially considering the warped nature of Teldrassil and Arch-Druid Staghelm’s attitude).
On preview: I took too long again, I see sohvan has already mentioned the Shen’dralar, heh.
EEEEE.
And WTF.
And EEEEE.
so essited. I will totes be rolling new alts just to check out the new zones. Although I am with SFG on the WTF of certain race/class choices since I really want to see what new lore handwaving they will try on for those. :dubious:
Here’s a piece WoW Insider did a few days ago doing just that.
Hey Kids
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Where is Felalas from Steamwheedle Port? My Q-Helper isn’t showing it - is it toward (in) The Barrens?
-
If a guy has a yellow ? over his head, isn’t he wanting me to turn in a quest?
(Steamwheedle Port again: The Screecher Quest) My quest log doesn’t show it as “complete”, and I am not sure of me and avunqar or Amberale (as far as I know, he’s not an SDMB member, but his name gets bolded anyway 'cause he’s my bud - just like y’all are! :)) DID that one, but why the discrep?
Oh shit! Did I *sell *it??? I KNOW I didn’t bank it or send it to Wollkie to auction, and I remember not to sell anything that says “quest item”, 'cause my bags are FULL of them, but I better look, huh? :smack:
- I went to Cairne and yelled for Burning Dog Legion, but no one from the guild was there.
I get kinda tardy about checking here for answers (I do EVENTUALLY get to it), so if somebody wrote, “Q, be there at such and such a time”, it’s possible I haven’t seen it, so please send me a PM if you’d like me to join you ugly critters! ;))
Thanks
Q
If it’s a yellow ?, you can complete the quest right then and there. If it’s a grey ?, you haven’t completed all the objectives the quest wants.
Don’t use /yell. Yell only communicates with people in your nearby area. Even if there were members of Burning Dog Legion on, the odds of them being in the same area as you are slim.
What you want to do is press the O key. This will bring up your Friends list. At the bottom of the Friends window is a tab that says Who. Click that and type Burning Dog Legion into the little rectangular box just above the Refresh button. Hit Enter, and it will tell you who in the BDL is logged in at that time.
See? This is exactly what I’m talking about!
Bosstone answered the question, didn’t call me a name or criticize my stats, and NOT just because I am a Senōr Citizen, but just to be helpful to me.
You won’t find that on the WoW forums!
Thanks, Bossy!
Q
Sorry! Me and Q are in Cairne, and found 4 toons, but no one’s responding. I added them ALL to my FRIENDS list.
Go naked.
Seriously - when you get to the part of the trip where you know you’re going to die, or are likely to die, run naked. You will die faster, yes, but your gear will take no damage. This will save you repair bills. You will also cause much amusement to any Alliance players as you dash through Alliance towns in your little red speedo/bikini, and isn’t making people laugh a good thing?
Yes, and the bad results of THAT can be the expansion after Cataclysm…