World of WarCraft: Cataclysm

Reviewed and available exclusively PC

You know what? I hate reviewing an expansion like Cataclysm. There is so little to fault that one comes off sounding pretty biased or, God forbid, a fanboy. I guess it is needless to say, but World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, Cataclysm, is a masterpiece. Sure there are some problems, but they are overshadowed by what is done right.

The premise behind the world changes is that Deathwing the Destroyer has returned to Azeroth, sporting a new stylish set of armor. With his return comes all kinds of havoc, unleashing the elements and changing the landscape. Deathwing now sets out to bring death to Azeroth, and you will bump into him a few times.

Beginning my journey into Cataclysm, I created a Worgen, and I must say that the starting areas were vastly enjoyable compared to previous offerings. The lands had a somber, dreary feel, very much like that seen in horror films. Cut-scenes and voice-overs (seen in much of the new content), really pulled things together. Most of the MMO competition could learn a hundred things from Blizzard and how they immerse players in a world. Those little touches are what make Blizzard’s games stand out, and Cataclysm is no exception.

Denizen of Deepholm

Moving on, the Goblin areas were even more enjoyable than their Alliance counterpart, the Worgens. Blizzard’s sense of humour permeated every facet of the Goblin experience, and I found myself having a good laugh on a regular basis. You will also be glad to know that the older pre-existing races have also had a deal of re-working to their starting areas to bring them up to speed.

Playing through the new Azeroth, one almost feels as if you are experiencing World of WarCraft for the first time again. There is so much to see and do around each corner, and each area seamlessly leads into the next like never before. The quests have seen a huge overhaul in design. Sure, there are still the ‘kill X monsters’ or ‘retrieve Y items’ quests, but there is a good dose of interesting and varied questing to be found. However, I did find that pretty much all group quests have been removed, which is sad.

To match the new quests, phasing has been extensively used. For the uninitiated, phasing is the mechanic used to change the landscape after certain events have occurred. Let’s say you come to a burning village. You might then have to put out some raging fires, remove the marauding pillagers and retrieve resources for reconstruction. After doing so, the village becomes functional and a new base of operations to receive new quests. That is phasing – and it is seamless.

On a down note, I did notice that levelling has become extremely brisk. Before Cataclysm, one had to hop continents to find quests, but one can now easily stay on either continent and still easily get to level 60 from questing. It is shame, since one misses out on much of the awesome revamped content.

Let’s now look at the high level content spanning 5 levels. It may seem to be short compared to previous offerings, and it is. One needs to consider that much effort has gone into the revamped content. Still, the new high level content is not shabby.

From my favourite zone Vashj’ir (the underwater continent), to the dwarven Twilight Highlands, all of it is beautifully constructed and filled to the brim with quests. As I previously mentioned, group content is still slim in the upper levels, but do not stress too much – the new heroic dungeons are a serious challenge for those wanting it. Cataclysm is lauded to be very much like Vanilla World of Warcraft in its challenge. Crowd Control is back and failing to use it means death for a group. Tanking and healing has become much more involved than before.

Goblin ingenuity at its best

Browsing the forums, I have seen many people complain about the ramp up in difficulty, and I have seen just as many PUGs (Pick Up Groups) fail in a few minutes. So depending on your stance, the move towards harder dungeons is either a blessing or a curse. I have also found it can be difficult to find groups through the Dungeon Finder for DPS (Damage) classes.

Now to the new secondary profession, Archeology. I found it to be a rather hit and miss affair, where you end up schlepping all over in search of fragments. The thing is that it is not very enjoyable, and truly is a mind numbing chore or grind. There are some great rewards to be gained from it but, even then, I noticed that some classes got the short end of the stick, getting little of any real use.

One other thing that bothers me is the guild leveling system. The idea is a decent one, but it only works out for those with good, stable guilds, otherwise you find yourself wasting your efforts earning points for a “bad” guild which will likely to just fall apart. I will say that some of the unlockable items really are useful, but they can take quite some time to acquire and you can only use them whilst a member of the guild in which they were earned.

Meet Deathwing

The talent system has also seen a major overhaul, with some great benefits. Now you pick one talent tree and focus on it until you have 31 points in it. Once you have, you can branch out. Gone are the days of getting a talent point per level, which I miss. Instead, it is more like every third level.

I am not so much into PvP, but I have heard there are some serious issues, specifically with Tol Barad and the lack of honour awarded for defending. Looking at the forums, there are a multitude of complaints, so hopefully Blizzard will do something sooner rather than later about this.

Graphics have also seen a minor overhaul in the guise of better looking spells, water and lighting, but honestly, it is nothing amazing.

In closing, Cataclysm may have changed the landscape immensely, but it is still intrinsically World of Warcraft. If the formula did not work for you in the past, it won’t work for you now. For the majority of the fans out there, I see Cataclysm as a good expansion, bar the usual complaints seen on forums. However, it seems impossible to please all of the people all the time. Cataclysm, and specifically World of Warcraft, is what all other MMOs should strive to be, but honestly, most developers frequently fail to learn from these successes.

All in all, I would suggest go get it now, if you have not already!

Discuss MyGaming’s World of WarCraft: Cataclysm review on the MyGaming forum.