This panel began by taking a close look at the two new playable races being introduced for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The goblin race, available to the Horde, will be able to choose from all classes except paladin and druid. Goblins also have some very interesting racial abilities, including a rocket belt that allows players to activate one of two rocket abilities every two minutes.
The first ability enables the player to jump up to 20 yards, while the other shoots rockets at an enemy player within 30 yards. Additionally, every 30 minutes the goblin can summon a pack hobgoblin, which will act as a personal servant granting bank access.
Goblins also gain a bonus to their alchemy skill, and should a player decide to become an alchemist there will be an increased benefit from drinking health and mana potions.
Additional passive goblin racials include a permanent 1% increase to attack and casting speed, and because of their knack for mercantile affairs, goblins will always receive the best possible gold discount regardless of reputation.

The worgen, our new Alliance race -- has both a true form and a human form. The true form is purely cosmetic, and provides no combat bonus. A player may remain in either form when out of combat, but are automatically placed in their true form upon entering combat.
Worgens have a racial ability called Darkflight, which allows the worgen to temporarily increase their movement speed by 70%, and can be used every three minutes. This activated ability, like entering combat, will also force the worgen into its true form. Other worgen racials include a passive 1% increase to all damage, reduced duration from the effects of curses and disease, and a bonus to skinning, as well as the ability to skin faster. Worgen will have access to all classes except paladin and shaman.

We’ve also opened up additional class/race options for existing playable races. New Horde options include troll druid, undead hunter, orc mage, tauren paladin, tauren priest, and blood elf warrior. New Alliance options include human hunter, dwarf mage, night elf mage, gnome priest, and dwarf shaman.

The soul shard system is receiving a massive revamp, and will now become a core feature of the warlock class. Soul shards will no longer act as an inventory item, but rather exist as a resource, and appear below the warlock's health and mana bar.

A new spell, Soul Burn, will be the only warlock ability to cost a soul shard, and will empower most of your other spells to behave differently.

For instance, when combined with Fear it causes the spell to become instant. Other examples include: guaranteeing your Searing Pain spell three critical hits, increased horror effect and additional healing from Death Coil, and instant summoning from your summon demon spell. Soul shards will regenerate quickly upon leaving combat, and you may also be able to use drain soul as a "soul shard evocation."

Also receiving a massive overall are hunters.The hunter’s need to rely upon mana is completely gone, and instead they will use focus. This means hunters will no longer care at all about Intellect, mana regen or Aspect of the Viper.

Focus will regenerate continually, similar to how rogues or feral druids regenerate energy. For comparison, rogues regenerate approximately 10 energy per second, whereas hunters will regenerate 6 focus per second.However, Steady Shot can also be used to improve focus regen, and bring the rate at which hunters regenerate focus to 12 per second.

The hunter will have a maximum of 100 focus, and shots might cost 30 or 60 focus, with fewer cooldowns on abilities. Another exciting and long-awaited change regards the ammunition system. Ammunition will become an equipable item, and will no longer be consumable.

More details on that later!

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, there are plans to streamline the statistics found on items. We want to remove all unnecessary stats, make all existing stats understandable, and make all "core" stats more appealing. Here are some examples of such plans.

• MP5: This will be removed from items and replaced with Spirit. All healers will be given a meditation-like ability.

• Spell Power: Spell Power is being removed from items as well. Don't panic, we'll be improving Intellect so that it provides mana and Spell Power.

• Attack Power: We're removing Attack Power from items as well. Instead, we're allowing Agility to provide the necessary Attack Power for leather and mail wearers. Strength will provide the appropriate amount of Attack Power for plate wearers. This means leather and mail items will no longer be desirable for plate wearers.

• Defense: The Defense statistic is also being removed from items so that players no longer have to worry about juggling around "the cap." Tanks will receive the necessary anti-crit from talents, like Survival of the Fittest.

• Armor Penetration: This ability is too confusing and "mathy." It is being replaced with Mastery, a stat that makes you better at what you do. More on that later!

• Haste: Will also increase the rate at which you gain energy, runes, and focus. Retribution paladins and Enhancement shaman will have a talent that allows them to take advantage of this benefit.

• Stamina: Players will notice more Stamina on gear as Defense, Spell Power, Attack Power and Armor Penetration are removed.

There will be a new legendary two-handed axe available for death knights and hunters in Icecrown Citadel.

Archaeology is the new secondary profession that will be joining the ranks of cooking, fishing, and first aid in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Archaeology allows the player to unlock new abilities and rewards by discovering ancient treasures throughout the world.

Each archaeologist uses the profession to uncover clues hidden in the world around them, such as troll relics or map fragments, and decipher their meaning, enabling the clever archaeologist to manipulate pieces of the past, learning the location of a treasure cache or valuable artifact. Such artifacts are highly sought after by the Archaeology Society, and they pay in gold and items for their return.

Those who have mastered archaeology can find Titan artifacts, earning special currency used to unlock character paths and allowing the player to further customize their character.

Reforging affords tailors, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, engineers, and jewelcrafters the opportunity to customize any player's gear, including their own. Specifically, they can reduce a single statistic on applicable items and convert the lost points into another stat not already on the item.


Be sure to check out the information from our other World of Warcraft panels as BlizzCon 2009 continues. These overviews will be posted at worldofwarcraft.com