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• Talent trees
• New spells and abilities
• Recycled raid content

Of course, this information isn’t exactly new per se, but it’s interesting to hear some of the refinements of it all as Cataclysm’s development progresses.

Ghostcrawler’s full statement after the break.

The talent tree comment Ghostcrawler is referring to:

No new talent points. But wait didn’t GC say they were going to go back and redo the trees? That is a misconception. All that means is that they are going to tweak stats and abilities to match cataclysm’s new stats and maybe new ones for underperforming PvP specs like subtly and moonkins. I know it’s not always good to add new abilities on top of a already fragile PvP system. However for me new abilities was something to look forward too. You could be really excited about it. Also it put a creative side to blizzard, wondering how much further the team could think ahead of us.

Ghostcrawler’s entire statement is as follows:

I was going to bump this to the General forum, but I think the talent tree comment is worth addressing in the role forums, since it applies to class design.

1) We are changing talent trees, in some cases substantially. The major focus is pruning out boring but valuable talents that passively increase say damage or healing.

2) A secondary focus is to fix the clunky areas (e.g. warlocks having two conflicting range increasing talents). We’re not going to remove old favorites or radically change the focus of the trees. You will definitely have to rethink your builds however.

3) Because you earn passive bonuses just for spending points in the tree, those fun, niche or utility talents won’t seem as expensive as they do today. We want to create a lot more choices where you are choosing utility vs. utility. We want to see far more “cookie cutter” build guides that say “Spend the last 5-10 points where you want.”

Davelea asked …

“Will the goblin and worgen mounts be available to the other classes at Exalted, and if so should I stock up on Runecloth?”

We have no idea, but it’s very likely given how racial mounts have worked in the game up until now.

Cetha asked…

“So I just completed Battle for the Undercity for the 7th time and was shocked and pleased to discover that there are now voiceovers for everyone. Thrall, Jaina, Sylvanas, etc. Is this new? When did this happen?”

I’m fairly sure that’s new as of patch 3.2. It might have happened as early as patch 3.1, but I think it was much more recent. It wasn’t a documented change, so most of us were surprised by it the first time we heard it.

From what we’ve seen, WoW: Cataclysm is pretty far along in development. Blizzard had a lot to say — and show — of the game’s third expansion at BlizzCon, and every new bit of info we’ve been able to wrangle since then tells us that the game is chugging towards the fabled Friends & Family Alpha, full steam ahead. We don’t have a solid date, and likely won’t until it happens, but it’s coming.

Now, when the Alpha starts, Blizzard tends to keep a tight lid on information coming out of it — even the testing period’s very existence — by judicious use of NDAs and cease-and-desist orders. It’s possible that we won’t even be able to give you information that comes out of the alpha. But all of that goes away when the closed beta starts and everybody can’t talk about it enough.

So, what happens if you happen to come upon an alpha or beta invite? Well, there’s a few things you should know. The first — is that you’re a lucky duck. The rest — we’ve assembled in this handy guide, readable in its entirety after the jump.

How the heck did I get an alpha invite?

There are only two ways you’ll get an alpha invite. Either you know someone from Blizzard, or you know someone who knows someone from Blizzard. No public keys are given out for the F&F Alpha.

How the heck did I get a beta invite?

Either the above, or you opted in to the beta lottery on your Account Management page or won it via a giveaway.

What is being in the alpha/beta like?

The alpha is a fairly small community, with a dedicated forum hidden to any player not in the testing phase. You’ll have direct contact with the developers via the forums. In return for being given access to the expansion so early, you’re expected to pull your weight by reporting bugs and testing all facets of the available content.

You should have no issues finding groups or questing partners. The alpha population tends to be very knowledgeable and friendly due to their Blizzard connections. And beyond that, there’s a zero-tolerance policy for asshattery — you might even have the privilege of being banned by Tom Chilton!

What’s usually available when the Alpha starts?

In the case of Cataclysm it’s likely to be the starting zones for the two new races and an assortment of finished Azeroth zones. This will be expanded over the course of the testing period until almost all content is available, at Blizzard’s discretion.

How often is new content added?

All the time. Patches are quick and content is added in chunks. Talents, spells, quests, and other content is changed sometimes in direct reaction to player feedback on the forums.

What’s the uptime like?

Equivalent to PTR uptime. Days of activity followed by a quick patch, usually.

Who can I talk about the alpha/beta with?

If you’re in the alpha, then you can talk to other people in the alpha about it. Don’t talk about it in the live game or publicly online. Entering into the alpha puts you under an NDA which has legal ramifications if broken.

If you’re in the beta, everybody!

Do I have to start over on the alpha/beta, or do I get to copy characters?

Generally, you have the option of starting a character at level one and/or copying one or more of your live characters over onto the alpha/beta server. You do have a limited number of copies per testing period — usually a few for the alpha and then a few more for the beta.

What can I do to prepare my character for the alpha/beta?

The first thing you should do before copying your main is to load him or her up with a ton of gold. Ask some friends to borrow all the gold they have for half an hour while your copy goes through, ensuring that you have all the capital you need to pay for whatever gold sink Blizzard has in store. And training, of course.

And don’t forget that you can transfer the same character more than once to multiply your fortune.

As for the comment spammers, such is the price we pay for being a pretty large site with an open comment system. We deal with them as quickly as we see them, and yes, reporting the posts does help. We ban who we can, we block what we can, but determined individuals will keep knocking their heads at it. If you see a spam post that’s been sitting around for a particularly long time, let us know via our tipline and we’ll deal with it ASAP.

For Cataclysm, there’s so much fantastic backstory behind Deathwing and the Cataclysm itself that it’d be a true shame to have a huge driving force behind it stuck in comic book land. Let’s hope that Blizzard feels the same way.