MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent Eric Grucza writes this look at Cataclysm and makes the case that with the addition of this new expansion, Blizzard is opening up a whole other world of possibilities for players.

Now that Blizzcon has officially been over for a few weeks and we have been left with quite a bit of information on the new expansion pack, what does it mean to current players? At some point we have all looked at World of Warcraft and asked ourselves if anything is ever going to change. Many players every few months will quit the game and come back after a hiatus just to get away from the gear grind. The core of World of Warcraft is coming up on its five year birthday and I can't help but think the developers at Blizzard have abandoned the old world of Azeroth that we grew to love in the original World of Warcraft. The idea of leveling again has completely been removed from everyone's thoughts. Those who do decide to level again will simply blow through the 80 levels as fast as they can so that they can get to the end game content. Yet once they get there, they will be greeted by nothing but gear grinding and raid farming.

Read A Whole New World

After reading the first paragraph, i thought Blizz is gona do something new apart from the gear grind at end-game, got me excited for a few secs. But im wrong...

By the way, can you please separate those words that stick together? That's many of them...

Originally posted by arctarus

After reading the first paragraph, i thought Blizz is gona do something new apart from the gear grind at end-game, got me excited for a few secs. But im wrong...

By the way, can you please separate those words that stick together? That's many of them...

 

 

So you dont RP? Try any professions? Participate in PvP? Run a guild? Go to any of the multitude of social events they openly announce on the calendar? 

Sorry bud, its not Blizzard who forces people to grind gear end game. Its people who force people. Just like its not Blizzards fault people dont RP, its not Blizzards fault people only see the game as one dimensional. 

You dont need to have a player driven economy and a dancing class to make a game social or fun. Seriously everyone needs to quit the WoW hate. ITs been five years people, and people complain about the SWG vets, your average "Hardcore wannabe" will always be worse than any EX SWG player!

-Jive

Space bar and spell check are your friends.

Originally posted by jiveturkey12

Originally posted by arctarus

After reading the first paragraph, i thought Blizz is gona do something new apart from the gear grind at end-game, got me excited for a few secs. But im wrong...

By the way, can you please separate those words that stick together? That's many of them...

 

 

 

So you dont RP? Try any professions? Participate in PvP? Run a guild? Go to any of the multitude of social events they openly announce on the calendar? 

 

Sorry bud, its not Blizzard who forces people to grind gear end game. Its people who force people. Just like its not Blizzards fault people dont RP, its not Blizzards fault people only see the game as one dimensional. 

 

You dont need to have a player driven economy and a dancing class to make a game social or fun. Seriously everyone needs to quit the WoW hate. ITs been five years people, and people complain about the SWG vets, your average "Hardcore wannabe" will always be worse than any EX SWG player!

-Jive

 

I never say i hate WoW, in fact if you look at my profile WoW is 1 of my favourite game.

I just say that the first paragraph give me the impression that they are gona do something new for end-game, but upon further reading its not the case.

And apart from RP and run a guild, i do participate the rest of the contents...

I'm happy that Blizz is going to revamp Azeroth.  I can't count how many times in an MMO I said to myself,"How many times is "a quest giver" going to lose this "lost item"."

Really the only thing that disappoints me about this expansion is no new class.  It would be nice to see something different, like DK was.  A multipet class, pure healer/support, etc.  any of them would be welcomed by players.

Good article, but yeah it needs proof read badly.

I am unsure if Blizzard plans to, but it'd be cool if they would let players control their own terrain phasing so people that want to experience the original world could. However I don't think it is possible to truly experience the original content today. Yes, you can get a small taste of what it used to be like, but there is nothing quite like when an MMO first comes out. Everyone leveling together, experiencing content for the first time, taking it slow through new zones and instances, and forging new relationships with strangers just doesn't happen as much after a certain time. It stills happens, but not as intense, fast, or common.

I partially agree with the article when it says that most people barrel through the original content to reach end game content, but I don't think it is just for gear and raiding though. For a number of players I believe it is also to be with other people to forge the relationships and experience a smaller taste of what I mentioned above.

I couldn't read it all because of all the errors. 

What I did get was yet another article that repeated the same thing.  A very, very long article with no new info.

Whether you hate the changes that happen or not, the old world needs updating for people who care about the entire experience of the game.  To me, the end game is just tolerable, but the journey is everything. 
I look forward to the update.

World of Warcraft was disappointing.

After a loooong climb to level 80, the game devolved into forced grouping and only being able to really play a few times a week with guild created raids. The Equipment Grind through Heroics...and Raids means it is not possible any more to play the game solo, or even Duo which I did while leveling from 1 to 80.

So the game has become something that I would not have played had it started out this way, and therefore do not want to play now.

Nothing I see here from Blizzard indicates a change in that. All they are trying to steer me toward is making an alt and leveling it for four months to 80.

The End game is an item grind. Or a reputaiton Grind. PVP is nice, and roleplaying is nice...but neither really helps you progress like you did from 1 to 80.

Daily Quests are also limited. So there is actually a cap on the amount of quests I can do in a day...again a massive change from when I was leveling.

So the entire gameplay has changed once I hit level 80.

I'm waiting on the next generation MMORPGs that are due out next year. Cataclysm doesn't reignite my passion to play World of Warcraft.

I know some ppl have already commented on this...but i find the need to also.  ITS CALLED A !@#$%!@ SPACE BAR!

Originally posted by thormach

Space bar and spell check are your friends.

Agree'd. Doesn't MMORPG.com have editors? I couldn't bear to read more than three paragraphs.

Does not matter what MMO you play they will all end the same. Raid and gear grinding. It is something that can not be avoided for now. You can always play a new game but once you reach max lvl you will be stuck again and there is no guarantee that the new game will be anywhere near as fun as WOW is to lvl.

I wonder if the experience boosters will be rolled back for Cataclysm.  It would be a shame for all of these new alts to blast past most of the new content with experience being so easy to get now.

I agree about the level 80 game - it's completely different than the 1-80 game.  Leveling up with a couple of friends was a blast the first time, and the second time with a guild.  The 80 endgame is just a string of daily quests and the same dungeons over and over.

I don't know any MMO that has solved the endgame problem successfully.

Blizzard is talked about as being so creative, so innovative (not saying I agree), where's the creativity, or innovation? No new class is a very major minus (and such a obvious thing to have done), can't imagine what they were thinking no including one. I don't see this expansion as doing them any good. I have no interest in re-opening my account for this.

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Originally posted by battleaxe
I wonder if the experience boosters will be rolled back for Cataclysm.  It would be a shame for all of these new alts to blast past most of the new content with experience being so easy to get now.
I agree about the level 80 game - it's completely different than the 1-80 game.  Leveling up with a couple of friends was a blast the first time, and the second time with a guild.  The 80 endgame is just a string of daily quests and the same dungeons over and over.
I don't know any MMO that has solved the endgame problem successfully.

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level-based games are deeply afflicted with this whole "end-game" bs, no getting around it. High time to dump the whole level/class design.

It's been several hours and still no edit... even if it is an interesting article, it doesn't matter as I couldn't stand to read more than a line or two.

Originally posted by arctarus

Originally posted by jiveturkey12

Originally posted by arctarus

After reading the first paragraph, i thought Blizz is gona do something new apart from the gear grind at end-game, got me excited for a few secs. But im wrong...

By the way, can you please separate those words that stick together? That's many of them...

 

 

 

So you dont RP? Try any professions? Participate in PvP? Run a guild? Go to any of the multitude of social events they openly announce on the calendar? 

 

Sorry bud, its not Blizzard who forces people to grind gear end game. Its people who force people. Just like its not Blizzards fault people dont RP, its not Blizzards fault people only see the game as one dimensional. 

 

You dont need to have a player driven economy and a dancing class to make a game social or fun. Seriously everyone needs to quit the WoW hate. ITs been five years people, and people complain about the SWG vets, your average "Hardcore wannabe" will always be worse than any EX SWG player!

-Jive

 

 

I never say i hate WoW, in fact if you look at my profile WoW is 1 of my favourite game.

I just say that the first paragraph give me the impression that they are gona do something new for end-game, but upon further reading its not the case.

And apart from RP and run a guild, i do participate the rest of the contents...

 

 

 

 

 

O ok, I completely misinterpreted that, but im sure you can see where your sarcasm could appear misplaced. But yea I agree with you, horrible article haha.

-Jive

Originally posted by gakule

Originally posted by thormach

Space bar and spell check are your friends.

 

Agree'd. Doesn't MMORPG.com have editors? I couldn't bear to read more than three paragraphs.

technical error folks, it's being looked into.

Anyone gone into the whole NGE thing?
And anyone gone into this is nothing like NGE?

I'm just curious.

New expansion maybe, but not a new game. WoW time is over. Can't wait to see refreshing new stuff like SOR.

Originally posted by saker

Blizzard is talked about as being so creative, so innovative (not saying I agree), where's the creativity, or innovation? No new class is a very major minus (and such a obvious thing to have done), can't imagine what they were thinking no including one. I don't see this expansion as doing them any good. I have no interest in re-opening my account for this.

In my opinion the creativity and innovation came from instancing, casual game play, in depth storyline, graphics, and actually listening to its player base. Before WoW came out there wasn't anything, or at least not many, similar to it. Now there are so many games similar to it that it does seem unoriginal.

Their expansions are just a continuation on what made them famous in the first place and I don't think any MMO has ever come out with new content/game play that is vastly different from what they originally had. If you want different game play there are different games for that.  

I doubt not having a new class for Cataclysm will hurt them that much as there will be new areas, story lines, races, professions, and what not to explore. So while I have quit the game quite recently I do plan to resubscribe, as I am sure many others will also, when the expansion comes out because there will be a lot of new stuff to experience.

ROFL. I cannot believe it was so many posts about typing errors. Its a shame people expect perfection from the wrong things. Too bad u dont waste all that energy on your correcting your imperfect tax system or getting rid of corrupt politicians who affect your life directly! lol Anyway i dont mind using patience and slowing down to read something. I think that Blizzard is going to introduce aspects of W.O.W that has been asked for by players over the years. A new world would be nice with new areas, npc's, player affected areas and quests. It dosent take alot too please an avid fan. I am through playing W.O.W but i hope it works and congratulations on a dynasty. (mmorpg speaking of course)

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Originally posted by spinach8puff
Their expansions are just a continuation on what made them famous in the first place and I don't think any MMO has ever come out with new content/game play that is vastly different from what they originally had.

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 Besides NGE for Star Wars Galaxies, right?
 
 

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Originally posted by Pharoin
Too bad u dont waste all that energy on your correcting your imperfect tax system or getting rid of corrupt politicians who affect your life directly!

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...What does this have to do with anything? Are you seriously comparing pointing out spelling errors with political activism?

Originally posted by Pharoin

ROFL. I cannot believe it was so many posts about typing errors. Its a shame people expect perfection from the wrong things. Too bad u dont waste all that energy on your correcting your imperfect tax system or getting rid of corrupt politicians who affect your life directly! lol 

I think because of the supposed "Caliber" of this site, which has be degrading slowly over the past few years, we expect a simple spell check. Were not complaining because its something we expect perfection on. But the article was virtually unreable for most people were talking about Its consistency. Its the same thing with music.

If you have a drummer who plays off time and off beat the entirity of a song, you tell him to pick it up. You dont laugh it off and go "O well no ones perfect, lets just play off time for a few more bars?!". I dont know what you look like, but i can imagine your face with this chuckled look on it going "Dont worry guys, it will be ok!"

And as for "Getting rid of corrupt politicians", what are you some closet theorist who thinks it takes a mere phone call to change political standards? I believe it was Burke who said Revolution is a fallacy, and that men who wish to change their government must do it over time, slowly. Forgive the people on this forum for not getting up right now and planning the changes that will occur forty years from now for their government. 

-Jive

Eric, please go take a course on writing.  Paragraphs are your friends!  That article has one of the worst readability indexes I have seen here. 

Personally I stopped about half way down, if you are going to write like that, please don't bother to post them.  We don't need the agony of trying to read it.