This Is Your New, Post-Cataclysm Warcraft

[Vitor Goncalves]

As someone who has been playing since a month after launch, the changes coming in Cataclysm are the best thing Blizzard could have ever done.

Classic was far and away the worst version of WoW, and every iteration has been an improvement. It had some advantages, but those were mainly just due to the game not being a SCIENCE yet. It had a bit more wonder and mystery to it, but in terms of being a game, it just pales to what we have now.

As someone who played daily from launch to about a month or two ago, I can say the exact opposite is the case for myself and a great many others. Let's completely forget about the fact they went and tried to make 25 divisible into 40. Or the fact that 10 and 25 man loot will be the same soon enough. The 'expertise' system forthcoming to Cataclysm will turn the game more cookie cutter than ever. Get rid of all the complex formula's they had for everything, and tie it all under one little system. That shouldn't make the game more simplistic, or predictable.

The game used to be actually...difficult. You know? Like...actually work towards something and you'll get it. Now...people just work at bitching. Then blizzard dumps the nerf hammer all over the game. Sweet. Anyway, it was a great run, had a blast while it remained relevant to me, thankfully I still have vents and TS info for most of my friends so we can coordinate which IP we move to next.

By the way, nobody's 'crying'. We're just not renewing our accounts. It's my opinion that the game has turned into kiddy garbage. As such, I choose not to play. You can have every problem in the world with that, really you can. But, it's not changing a damn thing. My only regret is not donating the 7600g currently sitting on my inactive toon to my GB before I took off.

Yes mornelithe, I agree with you but I do believe we are a minority. Even during classic wow, most players were always complaining how hard the game was and difficult to get hold of any decent game experience. I saw the diference now very well between classic and WotLK. After around a year of playing, I had to stop about 6 months, from about March to August in 2006. My main was a mage and when I was forced to stop I had pratically full tier 2 and was better geared then like 95% of the players of my server. When I returned I was still better then the same 95% of the players in the server, and returning to the same raiding guild, they obviously had AQ40 gear. But no other guilds had mastered BWL completely since I left. Now I had a stop on the game starting last November till May, 6 months. My gear is scored 4700, equivalent to ulduar Hard modes and colisseum 25 normal. Yet I log in and try to do an instance and realise everybody has gear scoring 5600 to 6000 and I got kicked of the group. A second time I tried, with 3.5k dps and was kicked from another group as was supposed to have 4.5k dps up?! I mean, in 6 months I came from better geared then like 80% of the players to worst geared besides a few new 80's?!

Thats how easy the game is . I am already regreting having returned.

 

[John Funk]

Hahaha, the game only used to be difficult because people were worse at it then.

Tell that to the original Four Horseman fight, where you had to kill them all within 10 seconds of each other. Or the original Razuvius fight, where his disrupting shout hit casters for the total amount of mana they had. I understand you still enjoy the game, and that's ok. Beyond that, I've had my fill, time to move onto something a bit more challenging.

Ooooooh, did I read the word challenging? Just how long did it take for people to kill Yogg'Saron after they needed the gear to do it, as opposed to any single boss in classic? I dare you to name one.

EDIT: Wow I worded it badly. What I mean is, name one that took longer. Naming commence!

Uhh all of them? Onixia, illadian, even grull was harder. The reason they toned down the difficulty is cause < 5% of the player base was able to down black temple. Less so for sunwell.... idiot. And just fyi, yogg has been downed by guilds in only blues just to prove a point. We downed him in 6 tries when we got to him (Mimron was a MUCH more difficult fight). While there is some difficulty left in wow it is usually reserved for the heroic modes last 1 maybe 2 bosses. This coming from someone who has server firsts so trust me, your wrong.

I'm pretty sure he meant Yogg+0.

Also, don't call people 'idiots.'

 

[CoverYourHead]

Unfortunately, it's not about what it looks like anymore. The direction they've taken the game is losing allot of the older players, well, ok, to be fair I don't know 'every' older player. Simply, many of the folks who played Classic, aren't too keen on the changes coming for Cataclysm, to say nothing of the changes already made.

As someone who has been playing since a month after launch, the changes coming in Cataclysm are the best thing Blizzard could have ever done.

Classic was far and away the worst version of WoW, and every iteration has been an improvement. It had some advantages, but those were mainly just due to the game not being a SCIENCE yet. It had a bit more wonder and mystery to it, but in terms of being a game, it just pales to what we have now.

To be blunt, I think the people crying need to take off their nostalgia glasses of being part of an elite cadre who ruled the game solely by virtue of having the time to waste getting 40 people together (and I was one of those people), and face the facts: The game is better now than it's ever been.

Here here! I look back on the old days with a bit of a scowl. Raiding was hideous and zones were bland. The changes coming look fantastic (though I've seen a heck of a lot more cool things happening with the Horde compared to the Alliance, which just seems to be getting its bum kicked) and I'm really excited.

I also want to play a werewolf. Badly.

 

[Hiphophippo]

I've actually got a hold of the alpha client. It looks even better in game than the screenshots show. It's pretty amazing.

 

[Altorin]

there was a Confidentiality Clause in the Family and Friends Beta, and it wasn't broken. However, blizzard revoked it. That's when the pictures and info started pouring out.

I don't think it bothers them at all.. it's building people up to a massive flurry over a game that doesn't even have an official release date yet.

 

[Altorin]

As someone who has been playing since a month after launch, the changes coming in Cataclysm are the best thing Blizzard could have ever done.

Classic was far and away the worst version of WoW, and every iteration has been an improvement. It had some advantages, but those were mainly just due to the game not being a SCIENCE yet. It had a bit more wonder and mystery to it, but in terms of being a game, it just pales to what we have now.

As someone who played daily from launch to about a month or two ago, I can say the exact opposite is the case for myself and a great many others. Let's completely forget about the fact they went and tried to make 25 divisible into 40. Or the fact that 10 and 25 man loot will be the same soon enough. The 'expertise' system forthcoming to Cataclysm will turn the game more cookie cutter than ever. Get rid of all the complex formula's they had for everything, and tie it all under one little system. That shouldn't make the game more simplistic, or predictable.

The game used to be actually...difficult. You know? Like...actually work towards something and you'll get it. Now...people just work at bitching. Then blizzard dumps the nerf hammer all over the game. Sweet. Anyway, it was a great run, had a blast while it remained relevant to me, thankfully I still have vents and TS info for most of my friends so we can coordinate which IP we move to next.

By the way, nobody's 'crying'. We're just not renewing our accounts. It's my opinion that the game has turned into kiddy garbage. As such, I choose not to play. You can have every problem in the world with that, really you can. But, it's not changing a damn thing. My only regret is not donating the 7600g currently sitting on my inactive toon to my GB before I took off.

Yes mornelithe, I agree with you but I do believe we are a minority. Even during classic wow, most players were always complaining how hard the game was and difficult to get hold of any decent game experience. I saw the diference now very well between classic and WotLK. After around a year of playing, I had to stop about 6 months, from about March to August in 2006. My main was a mage and when I was forced to stop I had pratically full tier 2 and was better geared then like 95% of the players of my server. When I returned I was still better then the same 95% of the players in the server, and returning to the same raiding guild, they obviously had AQ40 gear. But no other guilds had mastered BWL completely since I left. Now I had a stop on the game starting last November till May, 6 months. My gear is scored 4700, equivalent to ulduar Hard modes and colisseum 25 normal. Yet I log in and try to do an instance and realise everybody has gear scoring 5600 to 6000 and I got kicked of the group. A second time I tried, with 3.5k dps and was kicked from another group as was supposed to have 4.5k dps up?! I mean, in 6 months I came from better geared then like 80% of the players to worst geared besides a few new 80's?!

Thats how easy the game is . I am already regreting having returned.

sounds like you just need friends.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

What exactly is the cataclysm that broke everything?

 

[GothmogII]

What exactly is the cataclysm that broke everything?

Big Dragon. Everything explodes. Pretty much. Ragnaros breaks stuff too.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Wow, this looks like some really interesting stuff. I can't wait to pick it back...wait...

Spoiler: No...No they wouldn't...

[img/]http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2010/may/cataclysm_models_npc/big/murloc8.jpg[/img]

THEY CHANGED MURLOCS!!?!!111!1ELEVENTY

FUCK THIS UPDATE!!!

EDIT: Jokes aside, the one thing that annoys me about this update is the lack of changes to the current races. Most of the player models are centuries old and it really, really shows. A whole new Azeroth with pixels up the wazoo isn't going to help matters.

 

[Shaegor]

Wow, this looks like some really interesting stuff. I can't wait to pick it back...wait...

Spoiler: No...No they wouldn't...

[img/]http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2010/may/cataclysm_models_npc/big/murloc8.jpg[/img]

THEY CHANGED MURLOCS!!?!!111!1ELEVENTY

FUCK THIS UPDATE!!!

EDIT: Jokes aside, the one thing that annoys me about this update is the lack of changes to the current races. Most of the player models are centuries old and it really, really shows. A whole new Azeroth with pixels up the wazoo isn't going to help matters.

I have to agree with you there, I mean they've spiced up some of the existing models quite a bit (Talking mainly about Jaina and Sylvanas) and the player models look kinda out of date in comparison.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

As someone who has been playing since a month after launch, the changes coming in Cataclysm are the best thing Blizzard could have ever done.

Classic was far and away the worst version of WoW, and every iteration has been an improvement. It had some advantages, but those were mainly just due to the game not being a SCIENCE yet. It had a bit more wonder and mystery to it, but in terms of being a game, it just pales to what we have now.

As someone who played daily from launch to about a month or two ago, I can say the exact opposite is the case for myself and a great many others. Let's completely forget about the fact they went and tried to make 25 divisible into 40. Or the fact that 10 and 25 man loot will be the same soon enough. The 'expertise' system forthcoming to Cataclysm will turn the game more cookie cutter than ever. Get rid of all the complex formula's they had for everything, and tie it all under one little system. That shouldn't make the game more simplistic, or predictable.

The game used to be actually...difficult. You know? Like...actually work towards something and you'll get it. Now...people just work at bitching. Then blizzard dumps the nerf hammer all over the game. Sweet. Anyway, it was a great run, had a blast while it remained relevant to me, thankfully I still have vents and TS info for most of my friends so we can coordinate which IP we move to next.

Hahaha, the game only used to be difficult because people were worse at it then. Because the playerbase hadn't yet distilled the game into a science. Because the itemization was crap (yeah, gotta love all that spell power on Hunter AQ40 gear...). Nowadays, we know that casters need (X) hit before they should even step inside a raid, and that tanks need (X) defense before they can think about doing heroics, and that we should all prioritize Stat A over Stat B over Stat C.

We didn't know that back then. We didn't have EJ theorycrafting. We didn't have all the tools we have now.

Compare fights in Molten Core and BWL with fights in Naxx, Ulduar? Fights are exponentially more complex - and interesting - than ever before. If you took a modern 25-man raid guild and took them back in time, and scaled all the Classic dungeons to fit 25 people, I guarantee you that they would blow through the content just as quickly as we do today. Hell, the longest unkilled bosses, C'Thun/Ouro/4H? Bugged, bugged, and needed an obscene gear requirement on 8 warriors, respectively. That's not hard, that's not challenging, that's stupid.

WoW used to be such an arcane snarl of numbers that only the privileged few used to be able to figure out. Now Blizzard is making it accessible to the other ten million people who play, and those elitists are getting their panties in a knot about it.

There are more options in WoW than ever before. There are more things to do than ever before. The quests are more varied, the fights more interesting, the lore more integrated than ever before. If you're hurt just because other people can do it and you aren't a special snowflake, then tough cookies and good riddance.

Generic you, btw. Speaking in general.

...*salutes* Epic speech, sir. Almost makes me want to play.

 

[Baron Khaine]

Best thing in Cataclysm?

DEATH TO 25 MAN RAIDS.

Finally, I can get all the loot of a 25 man raid without having to have 15 other retards as well as my drilled squad of 9 friends.

 

[Rath709]

I'm currently doing a twenty day quest to get my Venomhide Ravasaur mount. No aspect of the quest is even vaguely that difficult, but still, with 6 days of it gone and another two weeks left to do, I don't really feel that the game is easy right now.

 

[Yureina]

Interesting... but I don't think i'll be going back to that game anytime soon.

 

[dagens24]

Unfortunately, it's not about what it looks like anymore. The direction they've taken the game is losing allot of the older players, well, ok, to be fair I don't know 'every' older player. Simply, many of the folks who played Classic, aren't too keen on the changes coming for Cataclysm, to say nothing of the changes already made.

As someone who has been playing since a month after launch, the changes coming in Cataclysm are the best thing Blizzard could have ever done.

Classic was far and away the worst version of WoW, and every iteration has been an improvement. It had some advantages, but those were mainly just due to the game not being a SCIENCE yet. It had a bit more wonder and mystery to it, but in terms of being a game, it just pales to what we have now.

To be blunt, I think the people crying need to take off their nostalgia glasses of being part of an elite cadre who ruled the game solely by virtue of having the time to waste getting 40 people together (and I was one of those people), and face the facts: The game is better now than it's ever been.

Quoted For Effin' Truth!

 

[The Iconnorclast]

Holy krap I stop looking at MMO-champ for a few hours and THIS happens?! Damn you Blizz, this expansion can't come out soon enough.

 

[Dudemeister]

Unfortunately, it's not about what it looks like anymore. The direction they've taken the game is losing allot of the older players, well, ok, to be fair I don't know 'every' older player. Simply, many of the folks who played Classic, aren't too keen on the changes coming for Cataclysm, to say nothing of the changes already made.

As someone who has been playing since a month after launch, the changes coming in Cataclysm are the best thing Blizzard could have ever done.

Classic was far and away the worst version of WoW, and every iteration has been an improvement. It had some advantages, but those were mainly just due to the game not being a SCIENCE yet. It had a bit more wonder and mystery to it, but in terms of being a game, it just pales to what we have now.

To be blunt, I think the people crying need to take off their nostalgia glasses of being part of an elite cadre who ruled the game solely by virtue of having the time to waste getting 40 people together (and I was one of those people), and face the facts: The game is better now than it's ever been.

Completely agree.
I've been playing since the start too and as far as I can see, most of the QQ'ers don't really think vanilla WoW was better, they just miss the elitism which is slowly draining out of the game.

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

Unfortunately, it's not about what it looks like anymore. The direction they've taken the game is losing allot of the older players, well, ok, to be fair I don't know 'every' older player. Simply, many of the folks who played Classic, aren't too keen on the changes coming for Cataclysm, to say nothing of the changes already made.

As someone who has been playing since a month after launch, the changes coming in Cataclysm are the best thing Blizzard could have ever done.

Classic was far and away the worst version of WoW, and every iteration has been an improvement. It had some advantages, but those were mainly just due to the game not being a SCIENCE yet. It had a bit more wonder and mystery to it, but in terms of being a game, it just pales to what we have now.

To be blunt, I think the people crying need to take off their nostalgia glasses of being part of an elite cadre who ruled the game solely by virtue of having the time to waste getting 40 people together (and I was one of those people), and face the facts: The game is better now than it's ever been.

Agree!
The moment i saw on the cataclysm site what was in store i knew that will be the best expansion EVAR!
And now with more and more info floating in the air there is just no question about it!
Wow will flip in 360 degrees and i wont be surprised if most of the "quit" heroes return to the game..way i see it...after this we wont be playing worlf of warcraft..but world of cataclysm... :O
And i may not have been playing since the start...(well i did but on pirate realms) but i dont get those old players....those changes are exactly what should make us happy...we`ve seen all the progress and changes of the world..its history and etc etc...its a great feeling to be a part of something so major.

 

[Danzaivar]

The new Orgrimmar and the Horde fleet off of Zoram'Gar look awesome. Shame about Stormwinds park tho, hah.

 

[Dorian Cornelius Jasper]

(My goodness, so much to snip, and just snipping this one because everything else is pretty much just an echo-reply wave off this)

As much as I'm loathe to beat on a decently good ol' grognard when he's getting his game on, I have to call shenanigans. I'm willing to bet that the only reason you're so sour is because you put a whole lot of time, effort, and heart into what people can now honestly look back and say was The Crap Version of a game. You took pride in overcoming the game's flaws, the rougher design, the much more boring grinding and farming, and standing at the top of the heap as part of the elite of the community.

Then as the game grew more polished, the design more sound, and the user-friendliness improved, you find the Crappy Version slowly and surely replaced by something better. Something that takes away all of the really bad stuff you misguidedly built your pride around, something where a new player can come in, put in less than half the effort you did, and come out having ten times as much fun as you ever did and dressed to the nines in the process.

Kiddy stuff? I bet Blizzard's crying its way to the bank over that remark.

Catering to a touchy, thin-skinned "elite" has led to the decline of many companies, and even an entire genre--2D fighting games went from world-dominating to insular, inbred niche in less than a decade. World of Warcraft would not be nearly half as successful as it is now if it were not more accessible and more appealing than its early contemporaries.


Of course, that doesn't stop the Stop Having Fun Guys [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StopHavingFunGuys] in WoW. Nosiree bob.

Oh yes, I posted that. Have fun with the additional loss of productivity, Escapists! And by golly there's a lot of WoW entries there, quite a few of which seem terribly relevant to posts made in this thread. The elitist raiders of the world really ought to be ashamed of themselves. The Arena PvPers, too. They're all silly.

I bet there's at least one or two Dungeon Finder Gearscore Divas lurking in the thread, too.

EDIT: Edited for extra passive-aggression and reduced direct snarling.