When the third expansion for World of Warcraft was announced I was ecstatic, it sounded like leap in the right direction since Wrath of the Lich King left many hardcore players asking for more. Wrath was fantastic for casuals and offered laid back easy raids with easily obtainable gear, however, with only a few difficult bosses throughout the entire expansion the hardcore players were left bored with nothing to do most of the week after they cleared the content.
All of this caused an uproar to make the game more "hardcore" in Cataclysm. Did they succeed in doing that? Absolutely. Did they do it right? Absolutely not. Clearing content took quite a while for everyone except for the elite of the elite that were able to put the majority of their time into raiding until they were able to clear all of the content, some even raided for 10 hours a day.
So this is what everyone was asking for right? So what is the deal?!?
Raiding
The fights aren't actually "difficult" like they were in Vanilla and BC, they're just extremely punishing. The mechanics of "If you miss an interrupt, you wipe", "If you are a second or two late with your interrupt, you wipe", and many more cause it to be more of a hassle than just downing a difficult boss. For example:
Heroic Chimaeron- it is actually possible for a tank to die instantly with no way to stop it, you just have to hope they dodge/parry the attack. Though this happens fairly rarely, it's still a game design flaw. Throughout the attempts that we did up until we killed him on Heroic mode we wiped maybe 6-7 times out of the 30 or so total attempts due to this happening, out of a total of around 40 or so total attempts.
Heroic Maloriak - If you are a second late on interrupting Arcane Storm during the red phase, you wipe. This mechanic is just wrong, putting the fate of the raid solely on a couple of people in charge of interrupting a cast.
Heroic Atramedes - If you a second late on hitting the gong, guess what happens? Yeah, you wipe. In this case you are completely relying on ONE person to do their job perfectly. It is most certainly possible and a few guilds do it with no problem, but that isn't the point, the point is the mechanics are punishing and it makes the game feel like a job.
Nefarian Normal or Heroic - Having to have two interrupters per platform is just uncalled for. On 10 man it is especially hard because you not only have to rely on them to get the interrupts perfect, but, in most cases you have to adjust your group makeup in order to get an extra interrupter or two in. Even in 25 man, having to rely on 6 people to get their interrupts perfect is just uncalled for and causes frustration which eventually turns into slowly burning out.
Heroic Magmaw - You have to rely on people to get their chains on the spike perfectly, if they don't the tank will get one shot. This is especially difficult with a new bug that was introduced in 4.1 where it is currently very difficult to cast spells that require manual targeting. You also have to rely on your death knight to kite the parasites perfectly, which is another example of 24 people completely relying on one person to do their job perfectly.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give this raid tier a 6/10. I know this blog seems like I'm bashing it more than praising it, but I do enjoy some fights such as Heroic Halfus Wyrmbreaker among others. The major problem is the punishing mechanics, most of the fight designs are fantastic but are often overlooked due to the annoying mechanics. If a blizzard employee reads this, please note, annoying/frustrating/punishing mechanics may seem fun but they lead to a slow burnout due to it making the game feel like a job more so than a video game.
5-Man Dungeons
The 5 mans are actually very well made and have a much better design than those seen previously. I applaud Blizzard for this expansion's 5 mans so far because they look fantastic, have excellent fight designs, and are generally just the perfect difficulty. Besides some horrible pugs that I've been in, all of the organized groups have been a blast running and I'm not dreading running them on my alts like I did in Wrath. I hit 85 the first day Cataclysm came out and was geared for heroics before midnight, the first thing we did was hit Heroic Blackrock Caverns. It took us 2 hours to learn everything and go through the instance with our terrible gear, but it was an absolute blast.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's dungeons a 9/10. The only bad part about them is the length in some is just too long (I'm looking at you, Deadmines).
Questing
Questing is just simply amazing in Cataclysm. My opinion is completely objective of course, but for instance, the quests in Twilight Highlands are simply amazing. Those of you that have completed the quest know what I'm talking about. The dwarf wedding had me cracking up for quite a while, and the cut scenes are well done with the very limited engine that they're working with. There are problems though, such as Vashj'ir. It sounds amazing on paper and was well executed but after the first 10 minutes of being underwater it just felt dull. Also, the cut scenes in Uldum happened far too often in completely unnecessary parts of the story. The revamped 1-60 zones are fantastic, I actually don't mind leveling 1-60 now. The quests are filled with hilarity and immersion (mostly) never seen before in any MMORPG.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's questing a 9/10. Fantastic leveling areas with a few problems such as Uldum having far too many unnecessary cut scenes.
Player Versus Player (PvP)
The only new things that were introduced in PvP were two new Battlegrounds, Tol Barad, and Rated Battlegrounds. I really like the direction they are headed with PvP, however, going the right direction doesn't mean it is good. Rated Battlegrounds were most certainly needed and they provided, I believe that was a success for the most part, since quite a few people do not enjoy the arena environment. The problem here is there just isn't anything new, the 2 "new" battlegrounds didn't introduce really anything new. Tol Barad is completely broken, not as much as it once was, but it is still just plain bad/lazy design.
I'm not saying PvP is terrible in this expansion, but there just isn't anything to set it apart from PvP in the past, this has caused me and many others to quit PvP all together.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's PvP content a 4/10. It is just all the same stuff that we've seen before, but now there are battlegrounds in which you can earn Conquest Points, which is about the only good thing I can say about this expansion's PvP.
Altoholics
Altoholics is a word used to describe a person who plays more than one or two characters. So what does the expansion offer us Altoholics? Not much really. The revamped 1-60 zones are amazing and a blast to level through, but then you hit level 60 and have to enter the Outlands with Northrend right behind it. The Outlands is incredibly dated in its quest design and should really be looked at by Blizzard in the very near future. The main problem for us Altoholics is the difficulty of pugging raids. Most pug raids just end in total failure after 2-3 bosses, unless you're on a server such as Illidan where they have regular successful pugs. Not being able to pug raids kind of defeats the purpose of having an alt, so my alt Rogue just PvPs while my alt Paladin fills in for healers when we need an extra. This is another source of burnout due to not being able to enjoy another character to its fullest.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's available alt options a 4/10. Not being able to pug most raids is a killer for me, and PvP gets boring pretty quick. The only reason I gave this a 4 and not a 1 or 2 is because having an alt right now is more important than ever. I know this from personal experience. Our first Heroic Chimaeron kill involved me bringing my relatively undergeared Holy Paladin to tank heal because we were down a tank healer, and it helped us tremendously and allowed us to get the kill instead of banging our heads against the fight for a while longer.
Things to do outside of Raids
This has been a problem area for World of Warcraft for the majority of its lifetime. I log on to raid then I log off. Why? Because there is just nothing to do. I stay in vent and chat with guildmates, but, what do I have to gain from doing 5-mans or boring PvP in which I have to wait in a queue that takes 10-40 minutes? The dailies are very poorly designed with such a small reward that it is hardly noticeable for the time it takes to complete them. Archeology is just a RNG-fest, I have enough frustration with RNG already being a Fire Mage.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's outside-of-raids activities a 1/10. Yeah, it is really just that boring outside of raids. One thing to note though, is that I have the majority of classes at or above level 80 (with 4 85s), so leveling alts may be an option for some, but not for me.
Summary
Here is a recap of the scores on the 1-10 scale that I have given World of Warcraft features in Cataclysm.
Raids: 6/10
5 Mans: 9/10
Questing: 9/10
PvP: 4/10
Alt Options: 4/10
Things to do outside of raids: 1/10
Overall: 33/60. Very slightly above average, but disappointing since in the past WoW has been amazing. I think they just kind of dropped the ball on this one.
My opinions are completely subjective and are not meant to be an attack on the game, or anything for that matter. Tell me what you think, do you agree? Disagree? It'll be great to hear some opinions on this matter.
All of this caused an uproar to make the game more "hardcore" in Cataclysm. Did they succeed in doing that? Absolutely. Did they do it right? Absolutely not. Clearing content took quite a while for everyone except for the elite of the elite that were able to put the majority of their time into raiding until they were able to clear all of the content, some even raided for 10 hours a day.
So this is what everyone was asking for right? So what is the deal?!?
Raiding
The fights aren't actually "difficult" like they were in Vanilla and BC, they're just extremely punishing. The mechanics of "If you miss an interrupt, you wipe", "If you are a second or two late with your interrupt, you wipe", and many more cause it to be more of a hassle than just downing a difficult boss. For example:
Heroic Chimaeron- it is actually possible for a tank to die instantly with no way to stop it, you just have to hope they dodge/parry the attack. Though this happens fairly rarely, it's still a game design flaw. Throughout the attempts that we did up until we killed him on Heroic mode we wiped maybe 6-7 times out of the 30 or so total attempts due to this happening, out of a total of around 40 or so total attempts.
Heroic Maloriak - If you are a second late on interrupting Arcane Storm during the red phase, you wipe. This mechanic is just wrong, putting the fate of the raid solely on a couple of people in charge of interrupting a cast.
Heroic Atramedes - If you a second late on hitting the gong, guess what happens? Yeah, you wipe. In this case you are completely relying on ONE person to do their job perfectly. It is most certainly possible and a few guilds do it with no problem, but that isn't the point, the point is the mechanics are punishing and it makes the game feel like a job.
Nefarian Normal or Heroic - Having to have two interrupters per platform is just uncalled for. On 10 man it is especially hard because you not only have to rely on them to get the interrupts perfect, but, in most cases you have to adjust your group makeup in order to get an extra interrupter or two in. Even in 25 man, having to rely on 6 people to get their interrupts perfect is just uncalled for and causes frustration which eventually turns into slowly burning out.
Heroic Magmaw - You have to rely on people to get their chains on the spike perfectly, if they don't the tank will get one shot. This is especially difficult with a new bug that was introduced in 4.1 where it is currently very difficult to cast spells that require manual targeting. You also have to rely on your death knight to kite the parasites perfectly, which is another example of 24 people completely relying on one person to do their job perfectly.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give this raid tier a 6/10. I know this blog seems like I'm bashing it more than praising it, but I do enjoy some fights such as Heroic Halfus Wyrmbreaker among others. The major problem is the punishing mechanics, most of the fight designs are fantastic but are often overlooked due to the annoying mechanics. If a blizzard employee reads this, please note, annoying/frustrating/punishing mechanics may seem fun but they lead to a slow burnout due to it making the game feel like a job more so than a video game.
5-Man Dungeons
The 5 mans are actually very well made and have a much better design than those seen previously. I applaud Blizzard for this expansion's 5 mans so far because they look fantastic, have excellent fight designs, and are generally just the perfect difficulty. Besides some horrible pugs that I've been in, all of the organized groups have been a blast running and I'm not dreading running them on my alts like I did in Wrath. I hit 85 the first day Cataclysm came out and was geared for heroics before midnight, the first thing we did was hit Heroic Blackrock Caverns. It took us 2 hours to learn everything and go through the instance with our terrible gear, but it was an absolute blast.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's dungeons a 9/10. The only bad part about them is the length in some is just too long (I'm looking at you, Deadmines).
Questing
Questing is just simply amazing in Cataclysm. My opinion is completely objective of course, but for instance, the quests in Twilight Highlands are simply amazing. Those of you that have completed the quest know what I'm talking about. The dwarf wedding had me cracking up for quite a while, and the cut scenes are well done with the very limited engine that they're working with. There are problems though, such as Vashj'ir. It sounds amazing on paper and was well executed but after the first 10 minutes of being underwater it just felt dull. Also, the cut scenes in Uldum happened far too often in completely unnecessary parts of the story. The revamped 1-60 zones are fantastic, I actually don't mind leveling 1-60 now. The quests are filled with hilarity and immersion (mostly) never seen before in any MMORPG.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's questing a 9/10. Fantastic leveling areas with a few problems such as Uldum having far too many unnecessary cut scenes.
Player Versus Player (PvP)
The only new things that were introduced in PvP were two new Battlegrounds, Tol Barad, and Rated Battlegrounds. I really like the direction they are headed with PvP, however, going the right direction doesn't mean it is good. Rated Battlegrounds were most certainly needed and they provided, I believe that was a success for the most part, since quite a few people do not enjoy the arena environment. The problem here is there just isn't anything new, the 2 "new" battlegrounds didn't introduce really anything new. Tol Barad is completely broken, not as much as it once was, but it is still just plain bad/lazy design.
I'm not saying PvP is terrible in this expansion, but there just isn't anything to set it apart from PvP in the past, this has caused me and many others to quit PvP all together.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's PvP content a 4/10. It is just all the same stuff that we've seen before, but now there are battlegrounds in which you can earn Conquest Points, which is about the only good thing I can say about this expansion's PvP.
Altoholics
Altoholics is a word used to describe a person who plays more than one or two characters. So what does the expansion offer us Altoholics? Not much really. The revamped 1-60 zones are amazing and a blast to level through, but then you hit level 60 and have to enter the Outlands with Northrend right behind it. The Outlands is incredibly dated in its quest design and should really be looked at by Blizzard in the very near future. The main problem for us Altoholics is the difficulty of pugging raids. Most pug raids just end in total failure after 2-3 bosses, unless you're on a server such as Illidan where they have regular successful pugs. Not being able to pug raids kind of defeats the purpose of having an alt, so my alt Rogue just PvPs while my alt Paladin fills in for healers when we need an extra. This is another source of burnout due to not being able to enjoy another character to its fullest.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's available alt options a 4/10. Not being able to pug most raids is a killer for me, and PvP gets boring pretty quick. The only reason I gave this a 4 and not a 1 or 2 is because having an alt right now is more important than ever. I know this from personal experience. Our first Heroic Chimaeron kill involved me bringing my relatively undergeared Holy Paladin to tank heal because we were down a tank healer, and it helped us tremendously and allowed us to get the kill instead of banging our heads against the fight for a while longer.
Things to do outside of Raids
This has been a problem area for World of Warcraft for the majority of its lifetime. I log on to raid then I log off. Why? Because there is just nothing to do. I stay in vent and chat with guildmates, but, what do I have to gain from doing 5-mans or boring PvP in which I have to wait in a queue that takes 10-40 minutes? The dailies are very poorly designed with such a small reward that it is hardly noticeable for the time it takes to complete them. Archeology is just a RNG-fest, I have enough frustration with RNG already being a Fire Mage.
So overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this expansion's outside-of-raids activities a 1/10. Yeah, it is really just that boring outside of raids. One thing to note though, is that I have the majority of classes at or above level 80 (with 4 85s), so leveling alts may be an option for some, but not for me.
Summary
Here is a recap of the scores on the 1-10 scale that I have given World of Warcraft features in Cataclysm.
Raids: 6/10
5 Mans: 9/10
Questing: 9/10
PvP: 4/10
Alt Options: 4/10
Things to do outside of raids: 1/10
Overall: 33/60. Very slightly above average, but disappointing since in the past WoW has been amazing. I think they just kind of dropped the ball on this one.
My opinions are completely subjective and are not meant to be an attack on the game, or anything for that matter. Tell me what you think, do you agree? Disagree? It'll be great to hear some opinions on this matter.
