This article claims that Cataclysm was supposed to turn WoW into a whole new game, which is wrong and any bit of research into the actual features of the expansion sans buying into marketing hype would have told the author that.

Getting really tired of people who keep complaining about Cataclysm being more of the same when that's pretty much all mmo expansion packs have ever been.

Originally posted by SuperXero89

This article claims that Cataclysm was supposed to turn WoW into a whole new game, which is wrong and any bit of research into the actual features of the expansion sans buying into marketing hype would have told the author that.

Getting really tired of people who keep complaining about Cataclysm being more of the same when that's pretty much all mmo expansion packs have ever been.

No i am geting tired of the hype or lies , like talent trees .

I got 5 more points and woot does it really matter if i spent those 5 points .

After hitting 85 , it didn´t even unlock a new talent tree options (so 10 points into a talent tree) .

So much for diversity and misscommunication of blizzard , we offer more choice ?

Thats what they stated all along , now the real cold hard fact are here .

THERE IS NO DIVERSITY , everybody has the same toon !!!

Thats 2 step back in evolution !!!

So your Death Knight is exactly the same as my death knight , aside from yours is slightly more gimped .

Cause you took worthless talents ?

So where is the people now who said , its not dumbing down the talent choices ?

Cata is a huge disappointment for me. I can't deny the work they put into the old world is extensive, and it will make a fun game for new players. My problem is the 80+ game. I have 5 80's. The journey to 85 is rediculously short, doing the same old "kill x number of these" quests we've seen many times before. Then it's off to 5 man dungeons to grind out those points/badges to get gear from a vendor. This is, in my opinion, the laziest end game mechanic I've ever seen.

I had hope when the pit of saron came in wotlk and we got the battered hilt with it's quest line to get a sword. I thought maybe we'd see more of that for tier gear when cata came out, instead of the repetetive, boring, grinding tradmill of 5 mans to gear up for raids.

No such luck! Considering the amount of money being made from WoW subs, Blizz should be on the bleeding edge of game content development. It's not like they can't afford it. They just can't be arsed.

If they have that little respect for my time, effort and money, they deserve none of them. I'm truely sorry I bought  Cata, waste of money.

My sub is cancelled once more, probably for the last time. I can't see myself wasting another penny on the next expansion when it comes out in yet another 2 years.

Originally posted by drake_hound

Originally posted by SuperXero89

This article claims that Cataclysm was supposed to turn WoW into a whole new game, which is wrong and any bit of research into the actual features of the expansion sans buying into marketing hype would have told the author that.

Getting really tired of people who keep complaining about Cataclysm being more of the same when that's pretty much all mmo expansion packs have ever been.

No i am geting tired of the hype or lies , like talent trees .

I got 5 more points and woot does it really matter if i spent those 5 points .

After hitting 85 , it didn´t even unlock a new talent tree options (so 10 points into a talent tree) .

So much for diversity and misscommunication of blizzard , we offer more choice ?

Thats what they stated all along , now the real cold hard fact are here .

THERE IS NO DIVERSITY , everybody has the same toon !!!

Thats 2 step back in evolution !!!

 

So your Death Knight is exactly the same as my death knight , aside from yours is slightly more gimped .

Cause you took worthless talents ?

So where is the people now who said , its not dumbing down the talent choices ?

Even if the game offered you 200 talent points, you're still going to be considered gimped unless you personally use one of the "community approved" builds.  No matter how much customization is offered, players will always end up clones of each other at some point.

Originally posted by SuperXero89

Originally posted by drake_hound

Originally posted by SuperXero89

This article claims that Cataclysm was supposed to turn WoW into a whole new game, which is wrong and any bit of research into the actual features of the expansion sans buying into marketing hype would have told the author that.

Getting really tired of people who keep complaining about Cataclysm being more of the same when that's pretty much all mmo expansion packs have ever been.

No i am geting tired of the hype or lies , like talent trees .

I got 5 more points and woot does it really matter if i spent those 5 points .

After hitting 85 , it didn´t even unlock a new talent tree options (so 10 points into a talent tree) .

So much for diversity and misscommunication of blizzard , we offer more choice ?

Thats what they stated all along , now the real cold hard fact are here .

THERE IS NO DIVERSITY , everybody has the same toon !!!

Thats 2 step back in evolution !!!

 

So your Death Knight is exactly the same as my death knight , aside from yours is slightly more gimped .

Cause you took worthless talents ?

So where is the people now who said , its not dumbing down the talent choices ?

Even if the game offered you 200 talent points, you're still going to be considered gimped unless you personally use one of the "community approved" builds.  No matter how much customization is offered, players will always end up clones of each other at some point.

Why should i follow the standard community point ?

So you saying you play to be a streamline toon in a fanatasy MMO that you pay montly without any difference from other toons ?

Well then congratulations you are sold very well , so basically you dont want any difference between players .

Then this game is excellently made for you , and you follow ghost crawler and CO perfect vision .

Cause anything else then DRUIDS will be nerfed .

Dont forget DRUID best class in wow , every class optimised for 31 point system .

A HYBRID that can do everything a pure class can but beter !!! .

So here another lessons people dont play anything else but druids , thats GC and CO company vision .

Originally posted by drake_hound

Originally posted by SuperXero89

Originally posted by drake_hound

 

Even if the game offered you 200 talent points, you're still going to be considered gimped unless you personally use one of the "community approved" builds.  No matter how much customization is offered, players will always end up clones of each other at some point.

Why should i follow the standard community point ?

So you saying you play to be a streamline toon in a fanatasy MMO that you pay montly without any difference from other toons ?

Well then congratulations you are sold very well , so basically you dont want any difference between players .

Then this game is excellently made for you , and you follow ghost crawler and CO perfect vision .

Cause anything else then DRUIDS will be nerfed .

Dont forget DRUID best class in wow , every class optimised for 31 point system .

A HYBRID that can do everything a pure class can but beter !!! .

So here another lessons people dont play anything else but druids , thats GC and CO company vision .

I'm a survivalist hunter and was all throughout WoTLK when Marksman was the norm.  If I wanted to, I could be a marksman hunter or a beast master hunter, both of which play differently from the SV hunter.  Similarly, if I were a druid or paladin, I could tank, heal, or DPS.  That is variety, not the min/maxing that is done by putting points into talent trees.

To be honest, I feel like WoW gives me a whole lot more variety as to how I want to play my toon than its competition including LotRO and EQ2.

I've played and enjoyed most of this game for 6 years, As a healer, Cata has killed this game for me. Thanks Blizz you really did a number on me.

My only beef is the performance impact on the zones.  Before the zone changes, I was getting 90-100 fps in Orgrimmar, but now I'm lucky to hit above 50.  Some Cataclysm zones are absolutely abysmal with framerate dips in the high 20s in some parts of Uldum.

Originally posted by SuperXero89

Originally posted by drake_hound

Originally posted by SuperXero89

Originally posted by drake_hound

 

Even if the game offered you 200 talent points, you're still going to be considered gimped unless you personally use one of the "community approved" builds.  No matter how much customization is offered, players will always end up clones of each other at some point.

Why should i follow the standard community point ?

So you saying you play to be a streamline toon in a fanatasy MMO that you pay montly without any difference from other toons ?

Well then congratulations you are sold very well , so basically you dont want any difference between players .

Then this game is excellently made for you , and you follow ghost crawler and CO perfect vision .

Cause anything else then DRUIDS will be nerfed .

Dont forget DRUID best class in wow , every class optimised for 31 point system .

A HYBRID that can do everything a pure class can but beter !!! .

So here another lessons people dont play anything else but druids , thats GC and CO company vision .

I'm a survivalist hunter and was all throughout WoTLK when Marksman was the norm.  If I wanted to, I could be a marksman hunter or a beast master hunter, both of which play differently from the SV hunter.  Similarly, if I were a druid or paladin, I could tank, heal, or DPS.  That is variety, not the min/maxing that is done by putting points into talent trees.

To be honest, I feel like WoW gives me a whole lot more variety as to how I want to play my toon than its competition including LotRO and EQ2.

LOL are you even serious MM or Survival or Beastmaster plays different ?

You are playing a now standard MACRO FORCED class !!!

I honestly dont know where you hype that up , macro launchers , macro cobra shot , macro kill command .

Wait the difference is in the macro´s oh thats so hard ... i mean yeah its really skill to make a macro .

Hunter are now MACRO class cause of being focus tied , so macro those launchers and immolate trap for more dps.

I do know one thing , i saw wow classic till cata and everything , and i dont see like you options given .

and then taken away , is a beter deal !!

Then lied too its more diversity under the motion , see you have diversity , that was always there + more .

Honestly lies are lies , and trying to back peddle there is difference , YES IN THE PAST THERE WAS DIFFERENCE .

Now its even less difference and you say in WOTLK pre 4.0 there wasn´t a difference .

So lets see next expansion we buy another 5 levels . we gain again nothing ?

Honestly its not going to fly , no matter how much you want to hype or support it .

Originally posted by SuperXero89

Originally posted by drake_hound

Originally posted by SuperXero89

This article claims that Cataclysm was supposed to turn WoW into a whole new game, which is wrong and any bit of research into the actual features of the expansion sans buying into marketing hype would have told the author that.

Getting really tired of people who keep complaining about Cataclysm being more of the same when that's pretty much all mmo expansion packs have ever been.

No i am geting tired of the hype or lies , like talent trees .

I got 5 more points and woot does it really matter if i spent those 5 points .

After hitting 85 , it didn´t even unlock a new talent tree options (so 10 points into a talent tree) .

So much for diversity and misscommunication of blizzard , we offer more choice ?

Thats what they stated all along , now the real cold hard fact are here .

THERE IS NO DIVERSITY , everybody has the same toon !!!

Thats 2 step back in evolution !!!

 

So your Death Knight is exactly the same as my death knight , aside from yours is slightly more gimped .

Cause you took worthless talents ?

So where is the people now who said , its not dumbing down the talent choices ?

Even if the game offered you 200 talent points, you're still going to be considered gimped unless you personally use one of the "community approved" builds.  No matter how much customization is offered, players will always end up clones of each other at some point.

And thats not a matter of lack of customization thats just because WoW talents where mostly bland and shallow and the customization value once again is just bloated to give an impression of, but no real choice that matters.

When your choice is between "great final damage skill that kills all your foes with a whirly wind of doom attack that you must spend 10 points on 3 other generic talents for" and "1% higher chance of something to happen that might give you a chance to increase your blockchance by 2%"  and  "1/2/3/4/5% increased rating to increase some stat of yours by some percentage" then obviously all the choice in the world wont matter if it keeps to be designed in the same style.

Why can't you call it an expansion?  They've added Vashj'ir, Hyjal, Deepholm, Uldum, and Twilight Highlands (with other ancilliary areas) for high level characters plus a host of new dungeons.. two entirely new newbie areas plus new newbie content for Trolls and Gnomes.. and on top of that they revamped the old world.  There's plenty of "new" content that qualifies as "expanding" the game, IMO (and I'm sure I left some out).

Originally posted by Murashu

Originally posted by DevilXaphan

Granted Blizzard always does a good god with it's expansions, but really can't call Cataclysm a true expansion, the expansion part is minimal this time around. Like you said this is more a face lift and rework of some of the content.

Writing about a certain mmo even if you moved on from it however many months or years should not stop you from reviewing it, as long as you feel you wrote a honest articale, then feelings shouldn't really matter.

Whats minimal about the expansion? It has more content, dungeons, and raids than either of the two previous expansions. Theres a new profession, two new races, and finally a form of guild progression (as silly as it is after the nerf). Why is Cataclysm not a true expansion in your opinion?

Wouldn't call the revamping of the 1-60 areas and fixing quests that should have been fixed long ago content. The raids and dungeouns were few, not really that many for me to even give a try. The two races are not new but playable, the customization talent trees are revamped and simplified. The addition of archeology is new so i give it that, plus the guild progression but that should have been done in the last expansion..

There was no new lands or cities to explore, no new races or vechicals/mounts to acquire. I despise the way that raid or dungeoun gear was way better than what was player crafted. Think the player run economy could be run better also than what it is and the potential is there.

I left WOW little over a year ago and decided never to return but i did to see if this expansion could rekindle my joy for WOW, but it didn't. As simplified as WOW is i find it too easy to still get to 70 in a month, the challenge was lost and i have finally moved on.

New content pasted over the same old game.  Level to max, grind rep to buy crap, raid until your fingers bleed.  They haven't changed the formula at all.  They haven't even fixed bugs that have been there for the past 6 years - for example, mobs still get stuck in the terrain and evade til the server is reset.  They haven't fixed the bottleneck of having to stand in line behind 6 other players to kill a named mob in a quest even though there are ten corpses of that mob dead on the ground when you get there.  You can still really annoy other players by waiting for them to get stuck in combat while you do the "pickup the crap on the ground" quest that they were heading to pickup.  Some quests can only be done during prime time if you have the lowest ping time and fastest reflexes.

I don't think the basic way on how we play MMOs (or WoW especially) will change. There no game changer game yet or that mightly holy grail. Maybe another 3-5 year wait.

1) Writers ARE forced to write about Cataclysm. I cannot even fathom how anyone can say otherwise when just a week earlier people were bitching that nothing was written about Cataclysm. You people are completely unhappy and will remain that way no matter what any staff, writer or otherwise does to appease your insatiable need to troll. It's one of the biggest MMO's and merely ignoring it wouldn't make them very good MMO writers and reviewers.

2) Loved the article. I'm all for people enjoying WoW whether or not it appeals to me, but I was getting annoyed at the constant spouting of "innovation". Exaggeration leads to false hopes and highs that inevitably fade and lead only to disappointment and boredom. Nothing is new. It's the exact same game. They just added more crap and took prior, irrelevant crap away. It was stuff no one cared about anyway unless they were going for that insane Title Achievement. It's a nice idea to change the landscape, though I don't particularly approve of there being no way to revisit the past when systems like this are implemented. I dislike the idea that there are things I'll never be able to do again because they've been permanently removed. But whatever, there's plenty of other things to do, not that big a deal. Still, claiming it's a whole other game is delusion as its finest.

As for streamlining questing 1-60, whether or not that was a good thing depends on your playstyle. I happen to like having many ways to do it, that way if I'm making more than one class (I tend to make a lot of alts) every single experience can be different. Having to do it over and over the exact same way is the reason why Dragon Age: Origins only got a single play-through out of me; everything past the beginning origin stories played the same. I can see how some like the 'breadcrumbs', as it was put, so more power to those it appeals to, seeing as that's the target crowd anyway.

I think part of the problem is that a large portion of the WoW development team is made up of previous WoW "fans", each with their own particular "mark" they want to leave on the game. This trend started with Kaplan, who gained notoriety as a big EQ raider. It's no surprise, then, that WoW after his hiring began to focus on content that only a small fraction of the playerbase would ever see. Then they hired Alex Afrasiabi, obnoxious leader of another EQ guild and early promoter of Sigil's Vanguard to write quests and eventually become Lead World Designer. If you've ever read the Fires of Heaven forums, it's not much of a stretch to suspect where the focus on juvenile and toilet humor came from that started with Burning Crusade.

Yes, I agree, it is unavoidable, after not logging in for over 4 years, I'm back at WOW and i will confess, having some fun.

I'll probably start my own thread about the differences I see between then and now, where it seems better, where I can't tell the difference, and where it seems more lame.

Only level 23 though (no big deal believe me) so I'll hold off until I get a bit deeper into the game and have a better impression.

I was gone from wow for 3 years,  they sent me a free 7 days. I logged in and the world was differnet.  I tooled around for a few hours, and rememberd exactly what drove me from the game in the first place.

While the new quests were intersting,  having to retool my pally yet again and totaly relearn how to play. That is what point I actually gave up.

Well I am glad I got the return for fee 7 days bug out of my system. 

If gearscore is important to you then you'll have reason to whine, bitch and complain and feel like part of a rat race.  I've enjoyed WoW from vanilla to today without worrying in the least about gearscore.  I've been in top raiding guilds on my server and when the gear became more important than the friendship simply found another guild.  When that guild got infected with same problem it wasn't hard to find another one.  Amazingly most of the time the guild slowly filled up with people from the previous guild disenchanted about the "rat race".  The game is what you make of it.  I've enjoyed all the quests, story line and PVP and at MY OWN pace and guess what!  Before Cataclysm was launched I had managed to equip my main character with 3100gs and full arena set.  Again at my own pace.  No regrets.  Any MMORPG is ultimately decided by how YOU let the game affect you.  If you ignore the clamour and simply enjoy the content as a game you will find that the game is actually entertaining.

Originally posted by Gurpslord

Originally posted by Holgranth

Honestly these "Rants" are getting old fast for me. I got to wonder though why do so many people think that a new class will somehow revolutionize the game for more than the two or three weeks it takes them to master it? Is adding a new class REALLY going to change the game THAT MUCH? Woulden't it be a bigger deal if they, I dunno, reworked the mechanics on all the existing classes to make them play like somthing from 2010 not 2004?

 

 Y'kno I 've got to agree, I understand that this "rant" thing is all opinion, much like all the other columns written here, but the other ones tend to have..information.  They offer up tidbits of knowledge about a game or discuss experiences while playing, y'kno, it seems like gaming NEWS..sorta.

These rants just seem like someone trying too damn hard to pretend to be ranty about something.  Tihs one was in particular very weak.  I mean no matter what you feel about WoW, bitchin' about how you didn't want to write about something for the first entire half of your column is just sloppy.

The rants column could go away and I honestly wouldn't care one bit, they're increasingly becoming a massive waste of time.

 

I'd like a massive increase to frenetic (is that a word?) pacing.  Imagine Left For Dead first person frantic combat against hordes of (mob x) but with WoW classes, sceneray, etc.  Can someone do a Left For Dead 2 - wow crossover? Get on that.