Cataclysm

BLOG2BLOG: Fuzzy salutes Ronald of Ronald's Blog


(there wasn't any nice screens/wallpapers from Blizz so I made my own ... download if you like .. its 1680x1050 dpi)

First off the official website here Read up, watch the movie and then read on here .... done? ... cool ets take a look at the features that will come up...

Two New Playable Races - Ok, nice ... we'll get the Worgen and the Goblins. Yet again the cool guys join the horde. I'm sorry but Worgen are just disfunctional Druids that can't shapeshift. My honest oppinion is to make both Worgan and Goblins able to choose faction of themselfs. Afterall Goblins have always been a neutral race.

Level Cap Increased to 85 - Only 5 levels?? .. They note this in their FAQ stating "We spend more time in end content then we did in the leveling department". Basically what this tells me is "the storyline this time is so shallow we only needed 5 levels to tell it all. They might contradict this and go all "Yes, But" but honestly the next few points will proof this actually.

Classic Zones Remade - So thats the reason for only adding 5 levels. They remade practically everything. Let me explain how hard work that must have been. Change the textures to the terrains, change the level spec of a few mobs, remove a bit here, sprinkle some new shit there, add some quests to fit the flimsy new story and vola.

New High-Level Zones - Now they sugercoat this by saying there will be new high-level zones. The only one announced so far are 2 unaccessable areas on the map in the old area. They also talk about making high-end level zones from old areas (example is The Barrens).

More Raid Content than Ever Before - Yes, I see. Why? Blizz calls Old raids remade into 10 and 25 men instances with both a Normal and Heroic mode "more raid content". I honestly call it "milking". They even gone as far as "remaking" Dead Mines .... DEAD MINES?!?!?! ... if there's 1 person who doesn't hate dead mines please let your voice be heard. I've done so many DM farm and boost runs, if I set one more foot in that place all the mobs will salute me by name and sirname.

New Race and Class Combinations - Ok I understand people wanting a certain class/race combination, but I really can only think of new players who this would actually interest. The main reason I think this feature is called to life is simply to promote the new feature Blizz made called "Change your spec / race / sex / etc. for money"

Guild Advancement - Now here's something interesting for the first time this rant started. Guild progression. Since AM (my current guild) is build on this idea this should make for a very interesting new upcoming thing for us to sink our teeth in. Although I must say its another way for players to drag in their old buddies to say "see we can do something together now".

New PvP Zone & Rated Battlegrounds - Who cares about pvp? ... ok sorry if I'm not a pvp nut like all the other wannabe Counterstrike players with a fantasy complex that hasn't been fullfilled since Lord of the Rings came out on movie form.

Archaeology - Yeey new secondary profession ... No ... Seriously .. I'm looking forward to this one!

Now since I pretty much dismantled everything (except for 2 thing) let’s see the features they don’t directly talk about.

New end boss - Deathwing is making his return. Now, those who talked to me on the expansion subject already now I said "all they can do after killing arthas is probably bring Sargaras back”. What I didn’t expect is them to continue the Deathwing story after 5 years of him being presumed dead. Besides we’ve already had the whole dragon story before. Onyxia, Blackwing Lair, the World Dragons (killable elites), the Aspects. Aren’t we done with this by now? Ok, Deathwing on return might be a nice touch to finish up another open story line, but there’s another thing. In the into they state “While war wages on in Northrend”. What does that mean?? We don’t get to kill Arthas???

New Raid Instances – Uldum, Grim Batol, Sunken City of Vashj'ir. My answer to these – Finally, Finally, Vashj?! … where is Queen Azshara? Isn’t she rather the queen of this naga folk instead of her maiden? Or is she going to be the last boss in the Sunken City? Cause if she is that means 2 story lines killed with 1 expansion.

Phasing – Now I’m all for dynamic world play and I liked the concept of having separate phases in the world around you, but I hate the fact I can’t do quest b on my own cause my friends are still on quest a and aren’t in the right phase yet. They already said there will be a UI solution to being able to see who’s in what phase, but it’s a serious thing that really puzzles me. If you’re only making 5 levels of leveling content then why focus on phasing the landscape and separating people from each other.

No new hero class – While the specifically said “this will be a new upcoming feature joining and players can expect lots more of these”. What? Did that plan foil? How many expansions will come before we get the monks and ninjas?

Although I’m burning down a lot on Cataclysm I do this with good reason. I’ve always said “I wonder what they’ll come up with after WotLK, if we kill Arthas that pretty much kills all the storyline that is left except for Sargaras” (and now turns out deathwing and azshara … can’t belief I forgot those two). I’m really a sucker for new content to a game though, specially one as massive as Warcraft, but what comes to mind first for me with this expansion is Milking. Redoing old content doesn’t really spike my game. I don’t level alts cause I hate doing the old content over and over again. I play a game to progress in the story and although Cataclysm does this to a certain level I get the feeling Blizz is trying to get away with an easy way out. Let me know what you guys think.

Fuzzy out! …