With Deathwing's return triggering the Cataclysm and wracking the land with disaster, the denizens of Azeroth found themselves in a time of great upheaval. That, coupled with recent discoveries unearthed in Ulduar regarding the Titans, has caused a number of cults to spring up, following in the paths of the Titans in order to obtain new powers. Paths of the Titans is a system of character progression to be introduced in Cataclysm that players will be able to take once they have reached level 85. The system will be tightly related to the profession of archaeology and is currently integrated with the glyph interface. Players will be able to join cults dedicated to various titans, and by following in the path of a titan, will be able to unlock a new type of glyph known as an ancient glyph, which will be completely unrelated to the inscription profession.
Players can earn progress down any of these paths by doing things such as questing, raiding, PvP, trade skills, etc., with a possible weekly cap for maximum progress. Over time, characters will be able to unlock new ancient glyphs that will greatly benefit them. Currently, each path consists of 10 ranks, with ten slots numbered from I to X; at each rank players will be presented with a selection of two to three different ancient glyphs from which to fill the slot.
Players earn these ancient glyphs by using the archaeology profession to recover and trade in titan artifacts. Respeccing will be possible should players decide to go down another path. Some possible paths are:
- Path of Aggramar, the Avenger
- Path of Aman'Thul, the High Father
- Path of Eonar, the Lifebinder
- Path of Khaz'Goroth, the Shaper
- Path of Golganneth, the Thunderer
- Path of Norgannon, the Dreamweaver
Some examples for ancient glyphs available through the Path of Golganneth include:
- Rank I
- Earth's Embrace - Physical damage taken reduced by 4%.
- Battle Hardened - Reduces the duration of Bleed and Stun effects by 20%.
- Rank II
- Medic - Bandages heal targets by an additional 30%.
- Fortification - instant - 5 min cooldown - Nearby allies take 10% less damage for 6 sec.
- Rank III
- Breakthrough - instant - 5 min cooldown - Increases damage dealt by 10% for 10 sec. Only usable after you deal a critical strike.
