World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

 PC
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1290 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 477 out of 1290
  2. Mixed: 426 out of 1290
  3. Negative: 387 out of 1290
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  1. nikkoleth
    Aug 25, 2011
    0
    This is the worst expansion to date. Plain and simple. Why do we even level anymore? What is the point. There is no challenge, it is just something you have to waste your time on before you get to the actual gameplay. You are learning nothing during the leveling stage, except how to kill 10 of this, and bring an npc 12 of that.
  2. Keridor
    Dec 11, 2010
    1
    I commend Blizzard on having truly shown me the lengths they'll go to to make money. It's a simple matter of fact: Cataclysm has reworked ALL of old Azeroth, adding new quests, new dungeons, reworking old dungeons, and creating such "cinematic" experiences, that one would be a fool not to buy this game! Unfortunately, all this loses its luster when you realize something: this game hasI commend Blizzard on having truly shown me the lengths they'll go to to make money. It's a simple matter of fact: Cataclysm has reworked ALL of old Azeroth, adding new quests, new dungeons, reworking old dungeons, and creating such "cinematic" experiences, that one would be a fool not to buy this game! Unfortunately, all this loses its luster when you realize something: this game has become so putrescently easy, that all this content is meaningless. Your out the Dark Portal and into Burning Crusade in a few short days. The leveling in this game has been turned into a joke. The quests are easy, and rather than feel enjoyable, it feels like you rush through this game to get to the end-game content. I see people giving this game 10's because they level so fast, but what's the point of reworking the first sixty levels if all you're going to do is fly by them? Is that supposed to be impressive? That in a week you can be having fun in Burning Crusade? Hardly. Next is the graphical quality. Now, it's a bit of a taboo subject when it comes to WoW, because the game's so old, it's more "vintage" than it is "horrible" looking. Unfortunately, I fail to see the validity in that arguement. If a game looks bad, it looks bad. Blizzard reworked the water, and it looks fantastic. And that's about it. Everything else in this game is a congealed texture-filled mass of color that falls short from "impressive". The new character models look sometimes laughable (the Goblins especially), and the Worgen "mount" form was so rigid looking, that it feels like a shame they made them run like wolves, and not like, you know, wolf-MEN. As in, anthropomorphous, bipedal wolves. You play a worgen so you can walk on two legs, otherwise you could use Beast Vision and see through your pet's eyes if you wanted to play just a plain old wolf. The other thing that nobody seems to mention is that, the lore has been so destroyed, it's appalling. Tauren use the sunlight? Well then how are they Paladins? Unless the sun and the Holy Light are the same entity? But then, why can't Orcs and Trolls be Paladins? I mean after all, if their Shamanistic ways cause them to revere the elements, including the sun, then they, too, should be imbued with the Holy ways of the Paladin. Right? Well, of course not, because that's too much work for Blizzard. And Night Elf Mages? Oh, you mean the original race of magic-casting elves that branched off into Night Elves and High Elves? Because here's a nifty lore tidbit for you: there can't be Night Elf mages. They lost their ties to the arcane schools of frost and fire. They use nature now. But hey, if it gets Blizzard these resplendant reviews from the bleeting sheep that gave this game a ten simply because it gives them content that hardly lasts half a month, then by all means, rate this game a perfect ten. For those with some foresight, however, I implore you to look beyond this game for one simple reason: You know what happens in World of Warcraft. Say all you will about the new quests, but in the end you're just reading a block of text, hopping into some played-out vehicle quest, or using some flashy spells that make you incredibly powerful to complete the quests. It's the same stuff you've seen, except now it takes even LESS time to reach level 85. So why even redesign the first 60 levels if you outlevel it super fast anyways? Because it makes Blizzard money, and in the end, this isn't "WoW 2" as someone so ignorantly stated, this is "WoW: Less Content, Faster Leveling." I mean, ask yourself. They redesigned the quests and the areas, but is the content still the same? Is there AS MUCH to do? No. But the quests are flashier, so it gives you the ILLUSION that you're doing more. Besides, you level so fast, there's no need to go outside of the basic chain of areas to level, i.e. Elwynn, to Westfall, to Redridge, to Duskwood, etc. But no matter what I say, the fact of the matter remains: love is blind. If you couldn't stop playing Vanilla, or Burning Crusade, or Wrath of the Lich King, then nothing I say will matter. But if you've been on the fence about this game, then I implore you to disregard it. Read these positive reviews, and you'll see they all say the same thing: flashy "new" content makes for a great game! Just wait until the progression drought kicks in, and you wait for the new set of raids, just like Vanilla, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King. Then you can make all the alts you want. See how long THAT lasts. Just remember: all that glisters is not gold. If there were ever a way to physically show that, all you'd need do is show someone Cataclysm's box. And let's not be ignorant, like Plagiarmaster, and mistake my first sentence for an authentic compliment. It's sarcastic. A joke. Much like this game.… Expand
  3. Ainotna
    Jan 10, 2011
    3
    I will start off my post with a complement. Some of the new zones are beautiful: Vash'jir, Uldum, and Deepholm in particular. But if they were marketing the fact that they "destroyed Azeroth," well... that is a huge stretch. The Shimmering Flats (now called the Shimmering Deep) is the only place which has changed significantly. All the other zones are essentially the same minus aI will start off my post with a complement. Some of the new zones are beautiful: Vash'jir, Uldum, and Deepholm in particular. But if they were marketing the fact that they "destroyed Azeroth," well... that is a huge stretch. The Shimmering Flats (now called the Shimmering Deep) is the only place which has changed significantly. All the other zones are essentially the same minus a ridiculous amount of extra flight paths, and small sections of burnt up and/or regrown portions of old zones. Some zones didn't change at all.

    Instances are the same as they've always been despite peoples' arguments that they require more crowd control. That is false. Every new expansion that has come out has required some sort of crowd control because their gear is not on par with the scale of difficulty. Give it 6 months and some high-end raid gear and people will revert back to "tank and spank" mentality. But the worst part about dungeons, raids, etc. is the fact that the group makeup has been exactly the same in this game and in every other MMO. Dungeons: Tank, healer, 3 dps. Raids: Scale up the ratio of dungeons. For crying out loud, can't anyone come up with something original for once?

    But the worst part of the expansion has got to be the PVP. I'm not even sure what the actual names of the new battlegrounds are because I've nicknamed them "Simple Arathi Basin" and "Warsong Gulch 2." Aside from looks, the only difference between Arathi Basin and "Simple Arathi Basin" is that you fight over 3 nodes instead of 5. There is no logistical difference between Warsong Gulch and "Warsong Gulch 2." They basically took Warsong Gulch and divided the two sections with a river. World PVP is also no different. People queue up for Tol Barad every couple hours, some AFK, some actually play, and Horde typically win because they outnumber Alliance on most servers. And as far as the "fight" for Tol Barad is concerned, it's essentially a mix of Arathi Basin and Wintergrasp, but without tanks. Archaeology will bore you to tears and yes, you will get cool rewards for doing it but it's even worse than fishing. Lastly, there is nothing "MASSIVE" about this game or any other "MMO" these days. Maybe I'm feeling a little dejected about the MMO genre as a whole but I simply don't find 10 vs. 10, 15 vs. 15, or even 20 vs. 20 very massive. Then again, all the games who babble on about Hundreds vs. Hundreds or THOUSANDS vs. THOUSANDS have performance issues and fail horribly. As far as PVE is concerned, I also don't find 5 mans, 10 mans, and 25 mans massive either.

    Meh... I guess I just expected something a little better from Blizzard this time around, given all the hype. I'll give it a 3 because I really enjoyed some of the new zones--aesthetically speaking--but I've already cancelled my account and no, you can't have my stuff.    … Expand
  4. Naosyth
    Dec 9, 2010
    1
    Well. Honestly it depressed me that within 5.5 hours of Cataclysm's launch, somebody already reached max level. Blizzard spent around three years developing this, this is by far their worst expansion yet. All they did was re-skin Azeroth and call it an expansion. Have fun in WoW guys, im out for good.
  5. kendro1200
    Aug 30, 2012
    2
    The thoughts going into the Cataclysm expansion were good ones. There was an intention of customization and letting people play how they wanted to play.
    What came out of beta and was shipped and then patched was nothing like what was promised. Stat customization went from an optional cool thing, to something that was just plainly required because itemization went down the drain.
    The    The thoughts going into the Cataclysm expansion were good ones. There was an intention of customization and letting people play how they wanted to play.
    What came out of beta and was shipped and then patched was nothing like what was promised. Stat customization went from an optional cool thing, to something that was just plainly required because itemization went down the drain.
    The talent tree revamp flopped.
    The raid content flopped for the most part.
    A lot of pvp content that was supposed to come in, never did, and got pushed into MoP instead, and the stuff that should have come out in MoP is not coming out. That is to say PvP content that had been around in files since the Cataclysm beta were never utilized and instead just recycled for a later expansion, which they have no context in.
    Blizzard has become quicker to do knee jerk nerfs, but now waits years to fix any problems they create in their knee jerk nerfs. Druids are a case and point in this expansion, early on they were doing fairly solid all around, average players stayed in the middle of the pack while playing the class, and awesome players performed awesomely, instead of the druid class' usual performance where average players perform sub par and good players may just barely make out ahead of the middle of the pack. Blizzard's methods for remedying this change in performance were to put mechanics into the class that removed key talents and abilities from toolkits thus severely nerfing you no matter what you did. MoP is showing the same trends in dev behavior. No they can't be reasoned with to be shown the errors of their ways, they just dig in deeper when you prove them wrong.

    The amount of content put in this expansion is the smallest amount put in any iteration of WoW to date, and all for the same price (for you) as previous iterations. This also isn't a trend that doesn't seem to be going away or getting better, but instead getting worse in the upcoming years.

    Yeah, I could write a short novel on all of the downfalls of Cata, and the problems so far seen in the next xpack MoP. I can't do that here, so just walk away with the knowledge and suggestion to stay away from WoW until next year at the earliest, maybe the end of next year to check up and see if anything has been fixed, and the devs have gotten a few humble pills so that way they stop thinking they can treat their customers like crap and still charge full price for less than half of the content advertised.    … Expand
  6. ringruXeeh_Bitz
    Aug 30, 2012
    2
    I can't believe i went back to WOW for this, i left after i got bored with Burning Crusade thinking Cataclysm would bring dramatic changes, but it's just the same old crap, boring questing.

    I've played Guild wars 2 for about 10 hours and already had more FUN then the 3 or so years I've had in WOW.
  7. Expospeed
    Sep 28, 2012
    0
    WoW was a fantastic game in the past. It was filled with adventure, discovery, and most importantly, teamwork. However, the game has been going downhill recently with the release of the new expansion, the Mists of Pandaria. It has become too simplistic, and plays like a console game. There is no sense of accomplishment and adventure anymore. Clearly, Blizzard is now targeting a differentWoW was a fantastic game in the past. It was filled with adventure, discovery, and most importantly, teamwork. However, the game has been going downhill recently with the release of the new expansion, the Mists of Pandaria. It has become too simplistic, and plays like a console game. There is no sense of accomplishment and adventure anymore. Clearly, Blizzard is now targeting a different demographic - the game is now for kids. If you enjoy paying a monthly fee AND playing with (other) children, this game might be for you.… Expand
  8. BigJ69
    Dec 30, 2016
    0
    Garbage. They destroyed the continents. Same problems. Not worth the $15 a month by a longshot. I'd rather play Nostalrius ad infinitum until the end of the universe.
  9. crsh
    Dec 29, 2010
    4
    I'm a long-time player of WoW and I had been looking forward to Cataclysm; after purchasing it on launch day and getting at least one character from 80 to 85, I feel comfortable giving it a 7.

    There's not a whole lot to this expansion to be honest, it feels more like half an expansion. The questing zones and content are beautifully crafted, but it's very linear; quest content completely    I'm a long-time player of WoW and I had been looking forward to Cataclysm; after purchasing it on launch day and getting at least one character from 80 to 85, I feel comfortable giving it a 7.

    There's not a whole lot to this expansion to be honest, it feels more like half an expansion. The questing zones and content are beautifully crafted, but it's very linear; quest content completely holds your hand in a "go to quest hub 1 / pick up 3 quests / kill mobs / turn in quests, get a cutscene and move to quest hub 2". Between the heavily-optimized questing model and the over-use of phasing, a lot of the time it feels like you're playing a single-player game. However, it is technically well done, it's Blizzard quality all over after all. There are tons of little bugs everywhere, but it's fairly minor.

    Dungeons are a little wonky when running them the first few times; everything is new for everybody, so that's to be expected. The rehashing of old content doesn't sit well with me personally, I can see why they do it and why it's viable, but it's a bit lazy to me.

    I'm completely excluding the revamping of the old world here, that's not technically part of the Cataclysm expansion itself (it was made available to everybody in a huge patch prior to launch).

    Cataclysm itself is fairly skimpy on content once you reach lv85, hence why I feel like I got half an expansion. Not down-right terrible, but not as great as it could have been either    … Expand
  10. nyymi
    Aug 6, 2012
    2
    WoW is a great game, but this is not a great expansion. The storyline is really boring and Deathwing is very impersonal antagonist. In BC and WotLK the antagonists were very well known and loved Blizzard characters: Illidan and Arthas.
    Also the overall style of the expansion is rather cheesy. The new Thrall seems more like a coward than a legendary orc hero.
    Some of the new areas    WoW is a great game, but this is not a great expansion. The storyline is really boring and Deathwing is very impersonal antagonist. In BC and WotLK the antagonists were very well known and loved Blizzard characters: Illidan and Arthas.
    Also the overall style of the expansion is rather cheesy. The new Thrall seems more like a coward than a legendary orc hero.

    Some of the new areas indeed look nice - but because they're split all over the world there's not really a nice connection between them like in the two earlier expansions. And there's not a main city which would serve as a whole server's meeting place and a place to hang out.

    To sum up, the Cataclysm was a huge disappointment. The original "Warcraft-feel" is gone. The storyline's not interesting anymore. BC and WotLK had a lot of influences from earlier Warcraft-series games, such as Warcraft 3. Cataclysm doesn't.    … Expand
  11. coleerickson
    Mar 25, 2011
    4
    I loved World of Warcraft for a very long time- I joined only a few years after release. I went happily along, playing on the same server and faction for six years or so. Then along came Cataclysm- Cataclysm by no means is a terrible expansion, it has nice new features and so forth- and it changed everything. Just as promised, Blizzard changed tons of things in old Azeroth, making theI loved World of Warcraft for a very long time- I joined only a few years after release. I went happily along, playing on the same server and faction for six years or so. Then along came Cataclysm- Cataclysm by no means is a terrible expansion, it has nice new features and so forth- and it changed everything. Just as promised, Blizzard changed tons of things in old Azeroth, making the leveling experience fresh and new. I grabbed the game before it released, and was ecstatic to see all the new things. I cruised to the level cap, loving how much more experience and content was required to be completed before one could reach the level cap. The quests were designed uniquely and it seemed as though this chain of fun which I was climbing would never end. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------But, unfortunately, it seems that all things end at some time. Once I hit the level cap, I felt the general feeling of overwhelming-ness when you lose your direction. Endgame is always fairly nonlinear. So I spent some gold, gathered up the blues I needed, leveled up my Alchemy and was finally ready for heroics. I ran a few, and sure, they had some new encounters and they were difficult enough, but that was it. No, really, that was about it. There are probably some nice PvP things in Cataclysm, but I was never a huge fan of the WoW PvP. ------------------------------------------------------------------- So I basically went back to doing the things I liked to do in WotLK (which, though not particularly original, was a very nice expansion pack in my opinion). Suddenly I realized that my subscription was about to run out, so I decided to sever the recurring effect because I simply had nothing to do. The end game was so dry- most of World of Warcraft has these neat intricacies all over. Cataclysm doesn't. Not to me, anyway. By the time I had reached 85 I was only a little bit away from having completed all the quests in all but one of the new 80-85 zones. There aren't many little interesting things to do in Cataclysm like there were in the past. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I suppose my review will not wholly apply to most readers, primarily because they would be interested in starting World of Warcraft and my opinion results from the fact that I have played World of Warcraft in the past. One of the main things that frustrates me about Cataclysm, though, is all the changes. My joy from MMORPGs seems to stem from my knowledge of the game. I like to know the name of that city, how to do all those quests, where to get that, who has that, the fastest way to this place, all the easter eggs, all the glitches, all the secret exploit-to-get-to zones and so on. By redoing the old Azeroth, Blizzard annihilated the base on which I had built my knowledge. Nothing had the old mystique that it used to. I used to think, "Wow, I remember that this was like this way back in Vanilla. This is so cool." I loved to get the old factions' reputations up to the max and get all the mounts and so forth. That sort of bewitching feeling, even when few players were still around, was so cool. But it all vanished, and my love for WoW is greatly diminished. I feel like developers should not try to do this to their games, the destruction of good content is depressing. ---------------------------------------------------- Perhaps Cataclysm will interest the new and growing group of people who are new to MMORPGs and joining WoW for the first time, but it has certainly left me disappointed. Perhaps it's for the best, though.… Expand
  12. Akkad
    Apr 19, 2011
    4
    A lot of the user reviews focus on the levelling experience in Cataclysm. Personally I'm not too concerned about the difficulty of levelling, as long as it's tolerable. What's really turned me off this game I have played on and off since vanilla are two things:

    1. The blatant content recycling. Sure, it's "revamped", and the recycling of Azeroth is in some places quite impressive and    A lot of the user reviews focus on the levelling experience in Cataclysm. Personally I'm not too concerned about the difficulty of levelling, as long as it's tolerable. What's really turned me off this game I have played on and off since vanilla are two things:

    1. The blatant content recycling. Sure, it's "revamped", and the recycling of Azeroth is in some places quite impressive and interesting. But raiding in Blackrock Mountain, again? Killing Ragnaros, again? Taking on Zul'Gurub, again? Love it or hate it, WoW's primary selling point has always been raiding, and I believe this expansion adds the least to raiding from an overall game experience point of view.

    2. Dungeons are the least fun they have ever been. In my personal experience (mostly tanking), some heroics are harder than raids. Combined with the inevitable cross-realm PUG experience forced on all but the largest guilds by the dungeon finder, this makes gearing up for the end-game content that isn't something you've already done on normal mode while levelling a pretty painful experience. The new guild features are awesome but you're still forced into dealing with bottom-feeders from other servers you'll never see again. The community and fun of dungeon crawling is gone.

    I've played the PVP and PVE aspects of the game to death now, and I agree with many other reviewers that this expansion offers the least to what is a tired, old horse. Shoot it and move on.    … Expand
  13. Lindraluu
    Mar 24, 2011
    1
    I've played WoW since the start,I must say,It seems Bliz could care less about there loyal players. Cata is just more of the same,With MORE downfalls,Like the other guy said,Its to the point where they are shoving a guild down your throat.I have been in succesfull guilds,beat WotLK etc,but it gets really old. Try to advance your gear after 85 without a guild?? haha laughable.This may beI've played WoW since the start,I must say,It seems Bliz could care less about there loyal players. Cata is just more of the same,With MORE downfalls,Like the other guy said,Its to the point where they are shoving a guild down your throat.I have been in succesfull guilds,beat WotLK etc,but it gets really old. Try to advance your gear after 85 without a guild?? haha laughable.This may be fine if you dont have any kind of a life(or are a kid living with mommy) But other then that guilds are just a pain in the ass anymore.And i think its because Wow IS mostly kids living with mommy now,At least thats how immature most of them act that are in decent guilds.Its really pathetic.Also,every expansion uses the SAME boss models and icons,just changes color/size etc.. Dont waste your time with this,Unless your a kid,then you may fit right in.â… Expand
  14. chezfez
    Apr 19, 2011
    0
    I've been playing WoW since beta, it's eaten away years of my life but that's finally over with the release of this expansion. My first impressions of the game I'd give it a 7/10. First entering a zone, I find myself aboard a boat during an exciting cinematic when a giant squid tentacle comes down and destroys us. All of a sudden we're under water. Now this was quite the annoyance beingI've been playing WoW since beta, it's eaten away years of my life but that's finally over with the release of this expansion. My first impressions of the game I'd give it a 7/10. First entering a zone, I find myself aboard a boat during an exciting cinematic when a giant squid tentacle comes down and destroys us. All of a sudden we're under water. Now this was quite the annoyance being under water for 2 of my 5 levels as the angles get really ridiculous, finding where you need to go with the bugged mini-map also makes for quite the aggravating experience. I slightly enjoyed the rest of the zones a little better, but I wont go into too much detail about that. The new dungeons are terrible and completely not enjoyable by any means. Dungeon Finder destroyed server PvE, as everyone uses it instead of making a group that is actually capable of finishing a dungeon, you get a bunch of noobs who waste 20 minutes of your time by wiping on the first boss and leaving. Now, I'm more of a PvP person myself. PvP is one of the aspects of the game that had kept me going for as long as it has. It's progression was exciting for me up until WotLK, then it became quite dull with the insta-gib combos out there. It was more so who could kill who in 2 seconds over actual strategy. With the release of Cataclysm it completely destroyed this 1 remaining love of the game that I still had. The new battlegrounds are HORRIBLE. I did my fair share of the grind getting all my blue PvP gear aside the weapon. It was more of a job than something enjoyable -- which it used to actually be. Classes are unbalanced, resilience is a joke. Arena is more of a joke now than it ever was. This expansion really put the nail in the coffin for me. After years of playing this game with quite a bit of enjoyment, the rides finally over. The magic this game once had, is finally lost.… Expand
  15. HypeUsNotThem
    Jun 30, 2011
    1
    WoW is so boring this days. PvP is always unbalanced forcing players to endless cycles of grind. You must grind your level, grind your gear... Its a big waste of time and money. End game players are some kind of cheap labor to Clan Leaders now. I would not waste my money and free time with this game.
  16. SteveInVegas
    Apr 21, 2011
    2
    I was a hardcore WoW player since Vanilla. I was a GM of a top 10 raiding guild on my realm. For over 5 years years i have loved this game. Gosh, all the good times we had! Especially killing the LK on 25man, that was fun! However, Cataclysm made me stop playing, and to eventaully close my guild and cancel my account. I hate the class changes, the new trees, the new dungeon lock out modesI was a hardcore WoW player since Vanilla. I was a GM of a top 10 raiding guild on my realm. For over 5 years years i have loved this game. Gosh, all the good times we had! Especially killing the LK on 25man, that was fun! However, Cataclysm made me stop playing, and to eventaully close my guild and cancel my account. I hate the class changes, the new trees, the new dungeon lock out modes (10 and 25) and overall, the entire game has become more like a job than enjoyable. Good luck all, I am out!… Expand
  17. somedude
    Aug 14, 2011
    0
    I recently made a new character on a new server starting from scratch to see what it would be like and for something different. WoW is brutal to new players. It's a very long 85 levels during which PvP is absolutely broken, dungeons are boring and dumbed down, people will harass you for not having Bind on Account gear (which levels with you and is more powerful as a result) and it's aI recently made a new character on a new server starting from scratch to see what it would be like and for something different. WoW is brutal to new players. It's a very long 85 levels during which PvP is absolutely broken, dungeons are boring and dumbed down, people will harass you for not having Bind on Account gear (which levels with you and is more powerful as a result) and it's a repetitious sequence of hit this button followed by this one about a million times. There is no variety, though the places look different the sequence is the same, every time. Once you get to 85 you find yourself underpowered and so far behind it's an even longer grind just to catch up with gear to play where everyone else is. This part is much more difficult because people won't take you with them where the good gear is and won't PvP with you because you didn't start the new season on day one (so, you can never catch up in rating). The system is designed so that first come, first server and all else just miss out. The other major problem I had with this game is the support. The staff is not knowledgeable about what current issues are or how to fix them. Blizzard also openly supports racism, despite their claim to the contrary, by allowing people to name their characters with racial slurs. Their policy clearly states that they do not allow this and to report names if seen, but nothing is ever done about it and the offensive names remain. A simple search of their website reveals literally hundreds of characters named after racial slurs, either directly or thru letter substitution, IE. q for a g (also against their policy, supposedly masking words by altering spelling isn't allowed).… Expand
  18. syrik
    Apr 26, 2011
    0
    People have been speculating what it would take to bring the behemoth that is WoW down for years. Turns out, it's not the competition. Blizzard has done everything they could in the latest expansion, Cataclysm, to kill WoW slowly, painfully, without remorse.

    Cataclysm has a new quest design that is linear. You pick up a quest, it sends you to the next and so on until a zone is    People have been speculating what it would take to bring the behemoth that is WoW down for years. Turns out, it's not the competition. Blizzard has done everything they could in the latest expansion, Cataclysm, to kill WoW slowly, painfully, without remorse.

    Cataclysm has a new quest design that is linear. You pick up a quest, it sends you to the next and so on until a zone is complete. New quests don't show up until previous quests are complete, so there is only one way to do things. In order, every time, on every toon. Thankfully there are only 5 new zones of quests and the level cap has only been raised 5 levels so after you've seen the new quests, doing them again on you alt won't take long.

    That brings up another point, Cataclysm is short. Blizzard redid the entire 1-60 leveling process and tries to tack that onto Cataclysm. The fact is the 1-60 experience was NOT a part of Cataclysm, is not included with the new content and costs nothing extra to see. So, if you want a new toon no need to upgrade. Unfortunately the new questing is done in the same theme as the expansion, so you only need to see it once and after it's done there is never any reason to return to that area.

    In fact, once you finish any quests in an area, there is never any reason to leave a city. Thanks to linear questing and automatic queues the WORLD of WoW might as well not exist anymore. It's just a hassle to run through on your way to a raid. Not that raiding is worth doing. There are two difficulties hard and professional raider. The average PUG (Pick Up Group) can't clear more than a couple bosses. People don't form pugs even on the busiest servers anymore. Guilds that play together all the time even have trouble clearing the raid content now due to the difficulty with the number of guilds clearing heroic mode nearing 6 months after release in the tens nationwide. Yes, coming up on 6 months of working on the same raid and only a handful of groups have cleared it in the entire country. Let that sink in. Would you like to try a game for 6 months straight and still not beat it?

    The loot tables are pitifully small, the game play for all classes was redone completely and in many cases (I personally play 4 toons at max level) made worse or completely broken. New content has been very slow to arrive. The first content patch, 5 months after release, is simply a second presentation of two old raids converted to 5 man instances, one of which (Zul'Aman) wasn't even changed according to the interview with Scott Mercer. So, it's not new mechanics like they promised, it's in fact just rehashed old content just like Onyxia was. Populations on servers are in decline, the new patch 4.1 won't change that. If you haven't already bought Cataclysm save your money. It would be more aptly name Catastrophe, though I suppose the damage was cataclysmic. In the end Cataclysm is a boring, repetitive grind of daily quests and endless waits in queue's (there is a bug for battlegrounds where the queue won't work that had been in the game since Cataclysm's release), with nothing really new or fun to do. New content is slow to come and is being sold as much more than it truly is. WoW is dieing, sad but true.    … Expand
  19. luvhavingfun
    Mar 3, 2011
    0
    They just went overboard and changed way too much about this game that made it epic.

    Don't waste your money or your time. Locked in talent trees, increased homogenization of classes, grindy guild levels and rep, and so much more have sent this game to the pits. I loved the way this game was during Wrath. It wasn't perfect, but it was a ton better then what it has changed into this    They just went overboard and changed way too much about this game that made it epic.

    Don't waste your money or your time. Locked in talent trees, increased homogenization of classes, grindy guild levels and rep, and so much more have sent this game to the pits. I loved the way this game was during Wrath. It wasn't perfect, but it was a ton better then what it has changed into this expansion. Some are even calling it half an expansion for the high level players. I don't know what possesed Blizzard to go with All or Nothing changes like they did. It's odd that they think they either do this or that, but fail to see the middle ground. Sadly, WoW has lived its life. I am VERY certain that this game is heading more and more downhill. That sad part is that so many WoW players are so desperately addicted they are more then likely going down with this ship while the rest of us move on.

    But hey, it had 6 years in the spot light, and that is a heck of an acomplishment. No amount of hotfixes or patches for Cataclysm will bring it back to what it once was.    … Expand
  20. buzer
    May 17, 2011
    1
    I dont get it. IMO Wotlk was a biggest success in wow history. I mean during this expansion wow had more then ever subscriptions and people online. And what they did, instead of listening majority of gamers that actually played the game they listened to few whiners in forums. Cataclism expansion was exactly what it mean to world of warcraft. They killed everything that was fun. Few fastI dont get it. IMO Wotlk was a biggest success in wow history. I mean during this expansion wow had more then ever subscriptions and people online. And what they did, instead of listening majority of gamers that actually played the game they listened to few whiners in forums. Cataclism expansion was exactly what it mean to world of warcraft. They killed everything that was fun. Few fast heroics after work? I dont think so.. with 40mins queue time and dungeons themself taking forever. Pugging raids? not anymore. Diversity of what you can do in game? not really... btw how can you call it expansion when there's less things to do in game then before. Add to this unbalanced pvp, dead world outside major cities, less people online, forcing people to create alts, removing 10/25 as different lockouts, no fredom whatsoever in new lvling zones. Grats to blizzard for destroying game that was close to perfect. I canceled my sub month after release of this $%%^$. One point because archeology, since it was quite cool and something new. Anyway cata is dead for me.… Expand
  21. Minderrx
    Dec 22, 2011
    2
    Worst expansion in wow history, Broke off my addiction and I must thank for that.
  22. Feifong
    Dec 13, 2011
    4
    Being a player since 2005 and playing all the expansions of WoW I have seen changes I like and some I don't like. I am appreciative of the effort Blizzard has put for in changing the environments and trying to make old content new again for players; such as myself, but, in the end is just repetitive. I am not looking to be "wowed," no pun intended, but I would like Blizzard to come up withBeing a player since 2005 and playing all the expansions of WoW I have seen changes I like and some I don't like. I am appreciative of the effort Blizzard has put for in changing the environments and trying to make old content new again for players; such as myself, but, in the end is just repetitive. I am not looking to be "wowed," no pun intended, but I would like Blizzard to come up with some new boss encounters. Now before I get the "Have you even played this expansion or done that fight," I want you guys to really think about it, its the same mechanics over and over again. One to two players tank the boss or NPC, and the rest of the group tries to not stand in AOE. While I will admit the FL Rag encounter was fun and with the drop of 4.3 patch the Deathwing fight is very entertaining but everything before that was made extremely easy by nerfs or just a boring mechanic (in regards to4.2 FL patch.) I have to comment on the Looking For Raid feature that has been implemented in 4.3 Patch. I think Blizzards thinking was that it is a great way to get the average player to end game content and get them gear. On the flip side it annoys the hardcore raiders because it makes them seem like they don't have anything to look forward to and that they are not achieving anything when they do it on 10 man or 25 man normal/heroic. While I am well aware that the gear is different and content is harder; I don't think people should be given an easy pass for end game raid content; this was already done in part with Tol'Borad. I do believe Blizzard's heart was in the right place but the implementation was some-what off. I also feel that there needs to be a challenge implemented into these Looking for Raid groups, steam rolling each boss in new content should not be achievable in the first week of a brand new patch. I personally would like to see a little more challenge!… Expand
  23. mattbtheg
    Dec 8, 2011
    1
    I remember when this game was fun. Blizzard actually made attempts to balance pve and pvp content. Now, they have completely made it clear that they don't care about the pvp community. Classes remain overpowered for months at a time rather than being fixed within a month. Furthermore, the developers continue to display a lack of intelligence by continuously making poor tweaks to classesI remember when this game was fun. Blizzard actually made attempts to balance pve and pvp content. Now, they have completely made it clear that they don't care about the pvp community. Classes remain overpowered for months at a time rather than being fixed within a month. Furthermore, the developers continue to display a lack of intelligence by continuously making poor tweaks to classes and gameplay mechanics. The community continuously gives suggestions to the developers about various ways to improve the game, such as separating pvp and pve abilities and making certain abilities change depending on what kind of zone they are in. Blizzard continues to refuse to implement such a change, and continues on their hopeless act of attempting to balance two parts of the game that are always going to be in conflict. This game is past it's prime, it is time to shut it down.… Expand
  24. Thaltom
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    This expansion has turned out to be the same old iteration of reskinned bosses and monsters, a loot treadmill devoid of community and a massive award to the "Give it to me now!" crowd of gamers. The plot and story weakly hold together at the best of time. The various talent and attribute systems have been watered down to the point of complete homogeneity. The only reason this expansionThis expansion has turned out to be the same old iteration of reskinned bosses and monsters, a loot treadmill devoid of community and a massive award to the "Give it to me now!" crowd of gamers. The plot and story weakly hold together at the best of time. The various talent and attribute systems have been watered down to the point of complete homogeneity. The only reason this expansion earns a 4 out of 10 is it's continued unique art styles and the two new races (worgen and goblin) that stick to game lore.… Expand
  25. TwiTu
    Jul 28, 2012
    1
    I liked this game when I was leveling. It was very tedious because quests were just a simple go there and complete a few quests there and then go there and complete a few quests there. But it was still fun. However, this tediousness made the game almost unplayable with more than 1 character to level. Because the second time running all this just like the first time, was extremely boringI liked this game when I was leveling. It was very tedious because quests were just a simple go there and complete a few quests there and then go there and complete a few quests there. But it was still fun. However, this tediousness made the game almost unplayable with more than 1 character to level. Because the second time running all this just like the first time, was extremely boring and it felt more like work. I never leveled more than 2 chars because of that. I gave up with the 3rd on level 81.

    Anyway, the atmosphere, scenery and story line was really well done. But again, there was something that made it uglier: The viewing distance. In WotLK you could customize it to like 1700 and the game instantly looked sooooo much better. But on Cata they axed that and 1250 or something was maximum. The game had DX10 effects, yes, but those were completely negated by the lower viewing distance.

    When I reached 85 I still had lots to do, like raising reputations, getting PvP gear and running heroics, which were really challenging at the start. But only a few weeks after came the patches and attempts to balance. They failed horribly in every aspect, so much worse than Ive ever seen before in this game. It was like a completely different company was in charge all of the sudden. This was no WoW anymore. It became more and more apparent to me that this was more like a Facebook game now. Far too easy, no balance and boring as hell.

    After a few more days I gave up because even the last straw, PvP, wasnt enjoyable anymore, even though it hold me a very long time before. Leveling new and other characters was boring even with a semi-new world, because I simply didnt want to run the Cata zones again. They were just boring as hell. I felt an aversion to those zones like I never felt before.

    I liked what they did to PvP gear, because I never liked Arena games, but when the balance is so bad, even nice equipment wont keep me playing.

    1 point because it was fun the first time leveling to 85, and a few weeks more after that in the challenging 5p instances. But overall it destroyed WoW. Not like TBC or WotLK (I actually liked those apart from the DK bias at the start), but it literally destroyed WoW. Not only because you wont ever see the old world again, which I already missed after playing Cata for a few weeks, but also the gameplay. WoW, even with TBC and WotLK, was challenging, fun to play even when you reached max level, even if it was just for PvP. But after Cata almost nothing was left of all that. Cata transformed WoW into a feint shadow of its former self. I felt like something was stolen from me. I put so much time into my chars only to see them "balanced" to boredom, simplicity and seeing abilities taken away that I loved for 4-6 years.

    After I read about MOP it felt like they are doing an Aprils fools joke. But they actually meant it. Even more dumbed down, even less control and customization for your char, even more cutting down old and nice features, even less freedom, even more childish artwork and Facebook like features, etc, etc, etc. That was the wooden stake into the Vampires heart. Its over. Dead. Gone.
    I would feel ashamed if I was a Blizzard employee.    … Expand
  26. Vizition
    Jun 12, 2012
    0
    I could write 100.000 words, how Lich King, and Cata has ruined WoW. WoW is now the most easiest game, with no original, or RPG feeling. It's now a HACK AND SLASH, DO THIS QUEST with no really feeling. Everyone has epic gear, and everyone can succeed in the world. It's just too **** changed from the original. And Blizzard doesn't even support vanilla servers, which is so wrong. Well, youI could write 100.000 words, how Lich King, and Cata has ruined WoW. WoW is now the most easiest game, with no original, or RPG feeling. It's now a HACK AND SLASH, DO THIS QUEST with no really feeling. Everyone has epic gear, and everyone can succeed in the world. It's just too **** changed from the original. And Blizzard doesn't even support vanilla servers, which is so wrong. Well, you ruined it Blizz. You ruined Diablo III too, now you just need to ruin Starcraft II with the new exspansion coming out huh? can't wait! -.- GG… Expand
  27. Harikari
    Jun 20, 2012
    0
    Blizzard completely jumped the shark with this expac. It is now the easiest AND most expensive game on the market with box cost + sub fee + cash shop. This combined with the lack of content patches for over a year while only getting 2 rehashed dungeons for one of the patches has left many realms dead or dying - but you have to pay a $25 transfer fee + $30 faction fee to transfer to aBlizzard completely jumped the shark with this expac. It is now the easiest AND most expensive game on the market with box cost + sub fee + cash shop. This combined with the lack of content patches for over a year while only getting 2 rehashed dungeons for one of the patches has left many realms dead or dying - but you have to pay a $25 transfer fee + $30 faction fee to transfer to a realm with a decent enough population to play the game. Shame on you Blizzard!… Expand
  28. Dremord
    Aug 16, 2012
    3
    I cannot believe how sad this game was. Every expansion it seems like they are trying to dumb it down even more so than the vanilla game was. The only things nice were the water, new graphics and new race/class options. The quests and environment changes were fun for twenty minutes then it got bland and only seemed like rehashed quests and Wrath of the Lich King buildings.
  29. Ghengiz
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    Someone wake me when I can actually care about the story. Seriously. It has been wrung in so many directions it feels like they're just hanging ornaments on a dead christmas tree. Moving on to something more interesting.
  30. Annihilism
    Feb 12, 2011
    2
    First let me get things clear. My first impression of Cataclysm was great! I loved the new zones and some of the quests were really fun (i even did the new Hillsbrad quests on my lvl 85 and they were really fun). However after a month of playing you realize that you are doing the same thing you have been doing in Wotlk. Grinding for gear and money. The changes to raids and dungeons areFirst let me get things clear. My first impression of Cataclysm was great! I loved the new zones and some of the quests were really fun (i even did the new Hillsbrad quests on my lvl 85 and they were really fun). However after a month of playing you realize that you are doing the same thing you have been doing in Wotlk. Grinding for gear and money. The changes to raids and dungeons are minimal (except for more CC and added difficulty) but nothing really new.

    Now say this game was for free (buy Cataclysm for 30/70 euro and rest is free) this would be a great game. But the current content is just not worth paying a monthly fee for, especially if you have already done most content in Wotlk, Cataclysm is just more of the same. Blizzard had a real gem on their hands with WoW but it is really showing its age. WoW Vanilla/BC/Wotlk were great games and really fun to play but Cataclysm just doesnt cut it anymore for me. The reason i gave this game a 3 is mostly because i think its just not worth the 13 euro per month + 30/70 one time fee.    … Expand
  31. footfall
    Mar 7, 2011
    1
    Jeez. What happened Blizzard? We used to have so much fun together. You've changed, and I don't think I can live with it anymore. Why don't we just agree that you've changed, I've grown up, and the flaws you refuse to fix after three face lifts have gotten between us, ok?
  32. hornm67
    Aug 24, 2011
    4
    World of warcraft was untill the release of patch 4.2 an awesome game to play, blizzard is at the moment actively RUINING the gameplay wich did already scared away 1 milion subscribers, if they want to recover this they should listen more to their players and less to their developpers.
  33. Mongoose1987
    Nov 10, 2011
    0
    Game is incredibly boring, there is nothing, absolutely nothing to do! And it so easy, catered to dumb people so every mouthbreather can kill boss on heroic. That leaves you with cleared raid in 2 hours and you dont have play this game again for next 7 days. Seriously MMO game that u only need to play 2 hours to do full end game content, what is that? Ofcourse there is no doubt to blameGame is incredibly boring, there is nothing, absolutely nothing to do! And it so easy, catered to dumb people so every mouthbreather can kill boss on heroic. That leaves you with cleared raid in 2 hours and you dont have play this game again for next 7 days. Seriously MMO game that u only need to play 2 hours to do full end game content, what is that? Ofcourse there is no doubt to blame Activision for it who destroyed Blizzard with they greed for money. R.I.P. WoW 2004-2009… Expand
  34. Manmade3
    Dec 23, 2011
    4
    For all you Lego fans out there you can sort of get this I hope. Its like Blizzard had worked for years on building the best castle ever, making every piece perfect, and constantly adding things to make it more outstanding. Then one day they decide Legos are childish and knock the whole thing down and start from scratch without the creativity they had before. As a player since vanilla, theFor all you Lego fans out there you can sort of get this I hope. Its like Blizzard had worked for years on building the best castle ever, making every piece perfect, and constantly adding things to make it more outstanding. Then one day they decide Legos are childish and knock the whole thing down and start from scratch without the creativity they had before. As a player since vanilla, the difficulty is non existent, the quest chains are done in 30 mins, epics are practically free. I would have rated this game higher, but they took away old content forever, preventing nostalgia from taking place in game. I understand times change, but Blizz could have pulled this off if they hadn't removed so much from the otherwise perfect masterpiece that was the World Of Warcraft. I look forward to Blizzards future games such as Diablo 3 and the others in the Starcraft series. But ill always feel bad when it comes to WoW. Mourning what could have been. Heres to a great game that was finally destroyed by over ambition and greed. I will truly miss this game more than i've missed some deceased family members. Goodbye WoW… Expand
  35. TheGhostAgent
    Dec 4, 2011
    0
    There are no words in the English language to describe the failure that is this expansion. The term "welfare" epics is probably a start based on their direction they're taking this game when it comes to the difficulty of instances and raids. The real fun of engaging challenging game mechanics and tough encounters are a thing of the past, even for heroic version fights. And don't get meThere are no words in the English language to describe the failure that is this expansion. The term "welfare" epics is probably a start based on their direction they're taking this game when it comes to the difficulty of instances and raids. The real fun of engaging challenging game mechanics and tough encounters are a thing of the past, even for heroic version fights. And don't get me started on the story and lore that they have mangled so incredibly. When Chris Metzen was confronted about the lingering unfinished story at the Throne of the Tides, he basically buried it and said it was going to remain that way. This entire expansion was rushed, worked haphazardly, and completely trashed on any sense of story telling and fun. I've been a blizzard fan since I was 12, but they're making it real easy for me now to turn my back on them.… Expand
  36. Quickdraw
    Mar 11, 2011
    1
    After looking over the critic reviews, I'm simply speechless. An average rating of 90 speaks volumes of how much credibility these reviewers will have for me in the future. I've been a subscriber to World of Warcraft for several years and game was at one time to best of breed. Things change however, and Cataclysm is the culmination of a grand company changing course and direction forAfter looking over the critic reviews, I'm simply speechless. An average rating of 90 speaks volumes of how much credibility these reviewers will have for me in the future. I've been a subscriber to World of Warcraft for several years and game was at one time to best of breed. Things change however, and Cataclysm is the culmination of a grand company changing course and direction for the worst. The content developed for Cataclysm was decent, certainly within the bounds of expectations. However, it was shallow and introduced a new philosophy of developers determining "how" players should have fun rather than allowing players to creatively determine their own methods of enjoyment from the game. Part of foisting philosophy and arrogance on the player include a higher focus on guild play, grinding and progression. This expansion introduced bugs and issues not typically found in Blizzard products. Community management has fostered a great deal poor gamesmanship and bad behavior. Horrible expansion and a marked change in direction for Blizzard.… Expand
  37. joen00b
    Apr 15, 2011
    1
    This expansion drove me away from the game for good. I had all but given up playing prior to this because of the player base in WoW, but, the game was fun, and that's what kept me in it. The great thing about WoW was the sheer amount of things to do within the game. With Cataclysm, my hopes were up with all the pre-release patches and quests and I tirelessly did them. Then release.

    I    This expansion drove me away from the game for good. I had all but given up playing prior to this because of the player base in WoW, but, the game was fun, and that's what kept me in it. The great thing about WoW was the sheer amount of things to do within the game. With Cataclysm, my hopes were up with all the pre-release patches and quests and I tirelessly did them. Then release.

    I dug in pretty fast, but, something wasn't right. The essence and soul of the game was gone. New abilities were not so much new abilities, but revamped old abilities, and new tradeskills were abhorrently tedious. Leveling wasn't that difficult, and the underwater zone, though intriguing at first, became a task to deal with. And there in lies the whole truth of the expansion: It's just not fun! It's task upon task upon task, everything is phased, so if you were logged on 30 minutes before a friend, odds are, you're not in the same phase and can't group together.

    I gave up fast, merely 3 weeks into the expansion, World Of Warcraft finally up and died in my mind. There's no need to go back, it's a cumbersome, loathsome beast of a game now, and with every expansion, prior advancement means nothing. I replaced all my epic end game gear with greens IMMEDIATELY. No doubt about it, random world drops were far better than anything I had from downing the Lich King. Just sad.

    This expansion was so bad, and the playerbase is so immature, it's actually turned me off to all MMO's, not just WoW. It takes something special to accomplish this.    … Expand
  38. Srsbsns
    Dec 22, 2011
    0
    Make this washed up recycled garbage stop raping people of their money. Grind, grind, raid, grind, grind, raid. No story, failmode MMO from 1976 when computers were as big as rooms. Every single ounce of this game is little more than recycled content from every other mmo before it and after it. The only time something new and innovative is put into the game is when they are stealingMake this washed up recycled garbage stop raping people of their money. Grind, grind, raid, grind, grind, raid. No story, failmode MMO from 1976 when computers were as big as rooms. Every single ounce of this game is little more than recycled content from every other mmo before it and after it. The only time something new and innovative is put into the game is when they are stealing ideas from up and comers.… Expand
  39. Sinan45
    Dec 29, 2011
    0
    This game **** the franchise up... **** everything up. WoW Classis, WoW Burningcrusade and Lich King was 10 worth! But then they released this one and they changed everything from start to scratch! The game has gone simply too easy. You never hang around the mountains and look at the moon and trees anymore because they made a new TBC system, so you don't have to search for group membersThis game **** the franchise up... **** everything up. WoW Classis, WoW Burningcrusade and Lich King was 10 worth! But then they released this one and they changed everything from start to scratch! The game has gone simply too easy. You never hang around the mountains and look at the moon and trees anymore because they made a new TBC system, so you don't have to search for group members anymore. Any child can get to the highest level and the best gears... any person can find a group in no time and do dungeons and that stuf... but the harder the game was, the better and addicting it was! That's why WoW is **** in my meaning these days.. These 3 things **** it up: New Fast TBC system High drop/loot rate on mobs Fast leveling People don't hang around anymore and discover the parts of WoW anymore(because they find group members very fast with TBC) they don't look for people to cooperate with...… Expand
  40. Flash_Over
    Nov 9, 2011
    2
    I'm writing this review late after this games release. But, since I played it it deserves an opinion. First off the Original WoW was amazing, truly a work of art game. Burning Crusade was even better and another great success, but then comes Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm... With the games increasing popularity lead to a decline in the player community being filled with Trolls,I'm writing this review late after this games release. But, since I played it it deserves an opinion. First off the Original WoW was amazing, truly a work of art game. Burning Crusade was even better and another great success, but then comes Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm... With the games increasing popularity lead to a decline in the player community being filled with Trolls, greifers and elitist jerks. Also Wrath and Cata are poor in comparison to the previous versions. What makes Cata worst of all is Blizzard tried to squeeze more juice out of old lemons. By that I mean they took the old version and recolored it, including OLD dungeons forcing you to replay what you already had before for loot. Plus, doing Heroics where the wait time is 30minutes+ is unbelievable.... what am I suppose to do for 30 minutes? pick my toes and if I afk while i wait it drops you from the Que! This is ridiculous and is a LAZY excuse on Blizzards part. Further more Blizzard haste to be the most money hungry developer out there currently pioneering the way for $60 games with Star Craft II. I will never buy anything from Blizzard again. I also will add I cancelled my account 8 months ago after years of playing.… Expand
  41. Azill
    Jul 29, 2011
    0
    I ended up quitting in April, but came back to do a review because i read that WoW lost 600k subscribers. (derp) Anyways, i WAS an extreme WoW fanboy for like 6 years. I played the email beta in early 2003. I've seen every game diminish in potential. Cataclysm did it for me. No ACTUAL new content. Get to 85 asap, grind dungeons and pvp. Once you're all geared up... well that's it.. time toI ended up quitting in April, but came back to do a review because i read that WoW lost 600k subscribers. (derp) Anyways, i WAS an extreme WoW fanboy for like 6 years. I played the email beta in early 2003. I've seen every game diminish in potential. Cataclysm did it for me. No ACTUAL new content. Get to 85 asap, grind dungeons and pvp. Once you're all geared up... well that's it.. time to re-roll. I actually found myself sitting in Orgrimmar alt tabbed out doing other things, that's how bored i was. That's another thing, you get so bored because you just sit in main cities waiting for queues. Not like there's any world pvp anymore.â… Expand
  42. Highwind_Hiatus
    Nov 14, 2011
    3
    Oh i remember playing this game for hours. I sat through the Ball crushingly difficult game that was Vanilla WoW and made Grand Marshal. I sat through burning crusade arena, where those who did BT were on Top and did ok. I even stomached wrath's failure. But this. This was the end all. They took everything out of the game that gave it what little challenge was left, and flushed it. InsteadOh i remember playing this game for hours. I sat through the Ball crushingly difficult game that was Vanilla WoW and made Grand Marshal. I sat through burning crusade arena, where those who did BT were on Top and did ok. I even stomached wrath's failure. But this. This was the end all. They took everything out of the game that gave it what little challenge was left, and flushed it. Instead of people having to play for awhile to actually learn whats right and wrong, blizzard sits down and holds your hand through it. This has taken the community from the small amount of elitist douchebags, to everyone being a douchebag. Every Tom, Dick and Mary from the internet comes on here to spew fourth their trash and say that the game is still hard. Even though guilds cleared "Heroic" versions of the raids in the first week and i even made 2500 in arena in the first week of a season. I thought I could stomach it. Oh yeah. The revamped quests and zones really caught my attention at first. I was liking what I saw. Then after the first week or two, you realize its just the same zone, it truly changed little. And even though they changed the zones, they still refuse to do a graphics update for anything. It's still on the same engine from years back. But the age is starting to show. Drastically. The only thing that would keep you playing, is if you have any friends who still do. If not, you have to suffer the peanut gallery. Its truly astonishing that people can still be bad at this game at how easy Blizzard as made it.… Expand
  43. Adler1945
    Feb 23, 2011
    3
    Before I begin to say anything about Cataclysm, I will say that Blizzard should be applauded for tackling the semi-herculean coding task of rewriting, revamping, and rebuilding much of the code from Vanilla WoW. What they have been able to pull off successfully, and with relatively few bugs compared to what there COULD have been is nothing short of astonishing.

    That having been said, here    Before I begin to say anything about Cataclysm, I will say that Blizzard should be applauded for tackling the semi-herculean coding task of rewriting, revamping, and rebuilding much of the code from Vanilla WoW. What they have been able to pull off successfully, and with relatively few bugs compared to what there COULD have been is nothing short of astonishing.

    That having been said, here is my take on Cataclysm summed up in quotes made by myself or various guild members. (I was in beta, so some of the quotes were made based off the beta time.)

    "Wow, the worgen starter zone is sweet! Now if only they would fix the bugs..."
    "Oh my, the quests in Vash'jir are nuts! The zone is gorgeous and it has so many cool stories!"
    "Vash'jir is a pain. I can't handle all the 3D attacks. WoW is a 2D game, they should've kept it that way."
    "Some of these new quests for starter zones are awesome! The stories really rock!"
    "Hmmm, so there's a few plot holes here that don't mesh with lore...wonder what manufactured or forced lore Blizz will introduce to fix THAT one."
    "The water effects rock! Now why did Blizzard not fix how bloody cartoony this game looks...cmon!"
    "OMG, the dungeons are HARD! Seriously, all these idiot Wrath babies have NO idea how to CC!"
    "Dungeon finder ruined the game..."
    "Sweet, the Harrison Jones stuff is a lot of fun! Too bad there's no rep and it's a dead end after Brann."
    "Blizzard so screwed up, making it so hard and twitchy to handle some heros and most raids."
    And my personal favorite.
    "It's while doing Archeology that I began to realize how LITTLE there is to do in WoW once you're max level and don't need to do heroics. If I wanted to level an alt, I wouldn't have a main...And I want to raid, but it's not raid time...so what do I do? Run around watching a blinking light next to a telescope...I'm done."

    This sums up very well what Cataclysm is. It's an attempt by Blizzard to suck in more and younger players (and to an extent give old players something new to do) by a more "enjoyable" starting experience from 1-60. After that is the dryness (dungeon grind) of BC, followed by the worn out quests (and dungeon grind) from Wrath until you get to 80 (not 78). After that it's a continuation of the relative breeze it is in WoW to level compared to most (if not all) other MMORPGs. 80-85 should not take more than 3-4 days if played casually for 3-4 hours maximum per day. The quest content is a continuation of the themes that were started in WOTLK, involving vehicles, seemingly random encounters, cut scenes, and other aspects that are somewhat perfected. However it does not make up for the complete lack of depth in content from level 80-85, and the abysmal existence that becomes 85 endgame. What Blizzard did do was make CC required again. They also made boss encounters more intelligent than those in Wrath of the Lich King. However, these boss encounters are nothing compared to some of the Vanilla/BC encounters where you TRULY had to play intelligently due to lack of taunts and agro wipes. Between this and the over-simplification of the talent system, the things about WoW that actually allowed you to feel like you were roleplaying or building your own character have largely been removed.
    The over-emphasis on the Dungeon Finder has, as well, weakened many of the more casual guilds, and even some of the stronger ones, at least on my server. Many people have forsaken trying to work together as a guild to reach certain levels and have instead focused on themselves and gearing alts.

    Which brings me to my final point. WoW developers know that they have nearly no end-game content worth a pinch of salt. They know it so much that they, during WoTLK created gear that would be able to be sent to an alt and used to level faster, both by having great stats and XP bonuses. What this did is effectively negate the necessities of LEARNING the classes you play before you hit endgame. They also MOVED many key spells or abilities and put them into places at much higher levels. The logic for this escapes me, as some of these skills are literally game-changing if you don't have them to learn with. Imagine being a tanking class and trying to learn how to tank, only to find that a particular skill that is absolutely necessary for holding threat on groups of mobs is not available until you are almost in the 85 range. How are you to learn to utilize said skill without first making it a very unpleasant experience for players you group with? Blizzard seems to have forgotten that the game does not begin at the next expansion's level and they have left many players wanting to actually have the RP in MMORPG experience. In the end, all that WoW:Cataclysm does is the same as Wrath... do all your rep and heroic grinding, then log into an alt and do the same thing...until you can do a raid...and once the raids are done or downed for the week, there's nothing more to do except alts again.    … Expand
  44. mt2e
    Mar 10, 2011
    2
    World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
    Average User Score: 5.6
    10 World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Image Even before this expansion WoW started to feel as if you were being funneled into where they wanted. With all the options of characters and things you can do I cant help but feel I'm being forced to do what Blizzard wants you to do. The free world experience is lost. Everything is too structured now,    World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
    Average User Score: 5.6
    10
    World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Image
    Even before this expansion WoW started to feel as if you were being funneled into where they wanted. With all the options of characters and things you can do I cant help but feel I'm being forced to do what Blizzard wants you to do. The free world experience is lost. Everything is too structured now, dumbed down. The rebuilding of Azeroth seemed completely pointless, new content very insignificant. To me it feels like a money grab, an opportunity to bring in more players and increase the player base but at the same time alienating smart people who know better. I was a DAOC veteran, thus have a high expectation in terms of a MMORPG. I like complex items, complex skill system, and true character customization. I feel as if Blizzard is limiting many options and streamlining everything in order to make WoW more mainstream. I enjoy things like Open world PvP. I like the ability to become a lone wolf and scour the land for an opponent like the old days of DAOC, but in wow it is very structured. It feels like the "facebook game" of MMO's now. I am severely disappointed in the direction they have taken WoW because they have in my experience worsened the experience for smart players not enhanced. WoW is now a game for kids, as an adult I feel it is embarrassing to be associated with it, and more of a liability. Plus the Wow world is getting very old very outdated, there is a reason their making a new MMO....aka "Titan"    … Expand
  45. Tramm
    Mar 4, 2011
    2
    Not the best of expansions. The game is focusing more on the hardcore players, and making less content for the players that dont have 20 hours+ a week. Disappointing if you ask me. The world remake was good no doubt, and the quests are funny, but end game content is too time demanding.
  46. Pelara
    Apr 30, 2011
    2
    I *may* still be a WoW addict, but it seems less likely by the day. I haven't even downloaded the 4.1 patch. Why? I'm bored. Cataclysm revamped all the old world zones, redoing most of the quests! Cool, but they also made it absurdly easy to fly through them in a bare minimum of time. Why spend so much effort on giving the leveling process a facelift, only to be done with it so quickly?I *may* still be a WoW addict, but it seems less likely by the day. I haven't even downloaded the 4.1 patch. Why? I'm bored. Cataclysm revamped all the old world zones, redoing most of the quests! Cool, but they also made it absurdly easy to fly through them in a bare minimum of time. Why spend so much effort on giving the leveling process a facelift, only to be done with it so quickly? There is this persistent rush to end-game, and when you get there... there's very little left to do. Particularly if it's with the same character you've reached end-game on in previous expansions. There are achievements! Got 'em on my main, minus a fair bit of the ones requiring a raid. I really have no desire to get them again on another character, just for the sake of having them. Dungeons! Heroics! Have all the gear I can possibly use for an upgrade from them... on 6 or so toons, and their offspecs. PvP! Okay, really. I *know* Blizzard is in a constant struggle to balance PvP, but I just don't see it ever actually happening. Ever. Happens I have few-month-long moods where I really want to PvP, so I do it anyway, balanced or not. Well, since the massive battlegroup merger, and the faction changing for a fee thing, my beloved Horde *massively* outnumbers the Alliance. This leads to absurdly long queue-times for battlegrounds, and the inevitable sitting in Orgrimmar, waiting, that goes with it. Gets a bit old. Raids! Yes, I enjoy raiding, but you can only raid so many times per week. What's left? Professions? I have all of the professions maxed on various characters, except for archaeology. Which, as another reviewer quoted, involves staring at a stick with a blinking light, and *massive* amounts of travel time. /Yawn. So, we're left with leveling another character... again. Well, I've definitely got that covered--I have two accounts with max character limits on one server alone. Leaving me with absurd things like 3 priests, and 2 lvl 85 prot paladins, etc. Why? Well, not counting the fact that it's about the only thing left to do, I actually *like* leveling. Well, yay, there's new content for leveling up to 60. I've done all the new quests, on Horde and Alliance toons. It goes by too quickly, and I just end up with yet another 85 that I can't bare to delete, but probably won't play very often. As for the whole concept of "cata dungeons are hard!", they were moderately difficult initially, especially in comparison to the ones in Wrath, but, last I was playing they were easy mode again. Really, the dungeon-finder hp/healing/damage bonus is nice, but with 208k hp (with that bonus) and good avoidance and mitigation, I really didn't need CC any more. Yes, you still have to do appropriate things to compensate for various boss mechanics, for the most part, but it really had gone right back to "tank grabs a group, we all kill it, next!" from Wrath. For a little while, there was a hint of challenge. Now I don't care if you're hitting my target or not, I'm not gonna lose threat to you. That's just the tanking standpoint. With two accounts full of toons on one server, I *do* do other things, and I'm still bored. The new zones are interesting the first time through. Vashj'ir added in the element of needing to look above and below you, instead of just around you on a plain, but it loses its shiny luster of newness rather quickly. Most people find the zone pretty, but annoying. I only know of two people who don't hate it. The constant chain of cinematics in Uldum is an interesting twist the first time through, but after that, it's incredibly annoying to try to skip the cutscene, and find out you don't get the quest update, and have to go back and actually sit through the whole thing again. Also, an annoying facet of questing in the lvl 80-05 zones is that, with the ability to fly in the old world, the new zones were designed for you to fly in them. That doesn't sound problematic at first, but it massively affects mob spacing. You kill one mob, and then run just a bit too long to get to the next one, or you have to mount up, hop a short distance in the air on your flying mount, and then kill the next mob. Over all, the content is visually appealing, in the same WoW style, but the "new" parts get old pretty quickly. That's a gripe I have about the game as a whole, actually. Content gets outdated *fast*. Sure, you can do a Vanilla raid at lvl 60, because you can actually zone into the raid zone, but good luck finding other level appropriate people to do it with. Everyone wants to zoom through them on 85s. For luls, I soloed most of Kara shortly after Cata came out... on a holy priest. Sure, it's got the amusing "look what I can do" factor, but like everything else, it loses its appeal rapidly. If you don't mind using WoW as a giant chat room for weeks on end while waiting for major content patches, then you won't have a problem with Cata. It's pretty, but it's nothing truly new.… Expand
  47. Bolter
    Nov 10, 2011
    1
    I played this from the beginning. It was amazing when it was released but cataclysm required little effort to play. Everything in the game that made it fun for me was dumbed down beyond belief and it took little effort to gear for everything so I found myself sat in SW just waiting on queues to actually do something. PvP just seems to be overlooked constantly and well has been a joke forI played this from the beginning. It was amazing when it was released but cataclysm required little effort to play. Everything in the game that made it fun for me was dumbed down beyond belief and it took little effort to gear for everything so I found myself sat in SW just waiting on queues to actually do something. PvP just seems to be overlooked constantly and well has been a joke for ages now. Un-subscribed which is a shame cause I used to love this game and with their new expansion on the horizon its not getting any better.… Expand
  48. Alcarinqueqt
    Mar 20, 2011
    1
    I've played WoW since vanilla, and my favourite 'era' is tBC, now I expected Cata would make a big difference, but now I feel like I'm being served the same meal over and over again; And although I love the game I must say that I have become quite bored, especially with the quests. Someone would think that at lvl 80-85 we wouldn't be supposed to gather silly things for a quest, or grindI've played WoW since vanilla, and my favourite 'era' is tBC, now I expected Cata would make a big difference, but now I feel like I'm being served the same meal over and over again; And although I love the game I must say that I have become quite bored, especially with the quests. Someone would think that at lvl 80-85 we wouldn't be supposed to gather silly things for a quest, or grind for stuff. I did like though the guilds ranks and achievs system and the fact they added qs on entrances of dungeons. After leveling my druid to 85 I felt I was bored to lvl the rest 7 lvl 80ies. I started doing some qs on my priest then gave up and started using only the dungeons system to gain xp. My overall feeling is that the game has made it's circle, graphics and gameplay need more than just a make-over for this 6-7 year old game. Really, one thing I hate most is eating the same dinner for a third night!… Expand
  49. LordDoomslayer
    Jan 27, 2012
    3
    As far as making the game more attractive to new players goes, Blizzard has done a wonderful job. Anyone who has played WOW from earlier expansions will be severely disappointed by the lack of anything remotely resembling difficulty in the new content.
  50. Quorina
    Jul 21, 2012
    4
    This has absolutely got to be the worst expansion that Blizzard has released so far for WoW. It has slowly gone downhill since TBC. I'm writing this on July 21 2012 and first of all, the last content patch was November of LAST YEAR. Now, this might be acceptable to the uber casual player, but for the rest of us, this lul is simply unacceptable. Now, Blizzard has said there will be noThis has absolutely got to be the worst expansion that Blizzard has released so far for WoW. It has slowly gone downhill since TBC. I'm writing this on July 21 2012 and first of all, the last content patch was November of LAST YEAR. Now, this might be acceptable to the uber casual player, but for the rest of us, this lul is simply unacceptable. Now, Blizzard has said there will be no content patch until 5.0, and who knows when that will come out?
    Anyways, I mentioned the uber causal, who is even more casual than the normal casual. This person plays maybe half an hour to a couple of hours a day and may be satisfied with the direction this game has gone. Why? First of all, you can get Valor (the currency used to buy the end of the line epic gear) capped in one night by running three insanely easy and short dungeons. Secondly, you can clear Dragon Soul (the latest raid dungeon) in roughly two hours, IF that. Thirdly, it takes only 1-2 weeks to get to level cap in extremely linear fashion with almost no challenge posed whatsoever; monsters, aka creeps, post little threat, and if you choose to level up via Dungeon Finder, the dungeons are incredibly short and easy, again posing no challenge. So what happens once you hit 85 in 1-2 weeks? You can buy blue PvP gear from the Auction House to bypass the ilevel requirements of the most relevant three dungeons. Once you do that, you can easily gear up for raiding in a matter of days, and then, like I mentioned earlier, once you actually get to raid it's only for a couple of hours a night, unlike the previous expansions, where it could take 3-4 nights of raiding. People might say this change is good, but what else is there to do in the game once you valor cap in a night and finish Dragon Soul in the next night? A whole 5 days of nothing until it resets on Tuesday and you rinse and repeat. I guess you could PvP, but PvP is horribly unbalanced. At least back in The Burning Crusade there were balancing hotfixes like every week, now PvP is completely dominated by rogues, death knights, resto shamans and other classes.
    Mists of Panderia looks like it's turning out to be even worse when it comes to catering to the uber casual player base, so I'm going to skip it. I'm stuck in the Annual Pass that I stupidly got last December, but I guess that's what cancelling a credit card is for, right? There ARE better games out there!    … Expand
  51. zahpp
    Jul 8, 2012
    0
    they did it again,delivered a masterpiece of **** is it possible? what kind of people buy this? by now it must be only the chinese goldsellers that play this
  52. Marmalade
    Sep 29, 2012
    4
    I'm not sure why I didn't end up enjoying Cataclysm - it was based upon a lot of revolutionary ideas. Up until that point, I hadn't been that excited about a new expansion since Burning Crusade. The events leading up to Cataclysm were well done and exciting. The new races were additions to the game that I felt were long overdue. Archaeology was a new secondary profession I looked forwardI'm not sure why I didn't end up enjoying Cataclysm - it was based upon a lot of revolutionary ideas. Up until that point, I hadn't been that excited about a new expansion since Burning Crusade. The events leading up to Cataclysm were well done and exciting. The new races were additions to the game that I felt were long overdue. Archaeology was a new secondary profession I looked forward to, as well as the concept of guild leveling. The breaking of the world and overhaul/redesign of classic zones was an innovative, ballsy and refreshing move by Blizzard, and I felt it would breathe new life into the game. I was giddy with anticipation at the inclusion of new zones that were an integral part of Warcraft lore such as Hyjal and Vashj'ir. However, Cataclysm is a hard lesson for everyone that shows how an outstanding idea can be implemented in the wrong way. First, the good: The new zones were beautiful and fun to play in, though like in WOTLK, Blizzard decided to force the player to choose between two fantastic zones that robbed the player of the full leveling experience of Cataclysm by making Vashj'ir and Hyjal the same zone level. Having to choose between these zones was a horrible decision to make, because I was keenly interested in both. The quests in these new zones were, at times, broken and lackluster. In addition, the new zones were spread WAY too far apart and didn't seem to fit together. Next, let's look at the new races. I hate what they did with the starting areas - why they made these areas "instanced" is beyond me. One can argue that the Cataclysm that drove these races to their respective factions is why you can never return to these zones, but it was exceedingly annoying that your new characters had no access to mailboxes after you left the initial starting zone, and if you got sick of the starting zone, you HAD to finish it before joining the rest of Azeroth. They wrote themselves into a corner and had to do it this way, but surely they could have written the lore differently so that, like other races, they could easily port to a new zone in Azeroth if they grew tired of being forced to go through the same story over and over. I was particularly disappointed with the Worgen, because the fall of Gilneas is STILL broken, and one wrong move during this final battle and you're ported back to the beginning of the instance and have to start over. Quests in the starting areas had a few fun experiences, but many were tedious. I felt the new quests in the retailored classic zones were redundant, because it was more efficient for players to grind through levels by running dungeons and battlegrounds, while questing in the refurbished zones wasn't nearly as fast. All of the work done by writers and developers to overhaul the classic zones was wasted, since running dungeons would get a player leveled more quickly. The ethos of WoW seemed to change with Cata, where leveling was no longer a journey to be enjoyed but a grind to be overcome. Perhaps it's because max level is ridiculously high while Blizzard hasn't adequately increased experience gained by questing to make players want to bother. In addition, the game has become far too easy. Cata kind of went from one extreme to another - they broke the healing class and made it exceedingly difficult to make it through a dungeon alive, and then they went the other way and made it far too easy. Guild leveling, intended to bring members of a guild closer together, acted instead to make guilds more cliquey - and now, almost 2 years post-Cata, people are only joining level 25 guilds for the benefits and ignoring the lower level guilds, making it almost impossible for new guilds to level, as there's no incentive to join. I'm not sure why I left two months after Cata's release - I became aware of Cata's faults later on, but at the time I couldn't put my finger on what I didn't like about it. I just found myself in Stormwind one day with some friends repeatedly jumping off our flying mounts into the water, and realized, "I'm bored and unmotivated...what's the point of playing this game anymore?" I returned briefly 9 months later, only to have my lowbie slaughtered repeatedly with players decked out in BoA gear in battlegrounds and then slapped in the face with MoP, a further degradation into mediocrity. Cataclysm is when WoW lost its magic for me, and MoP ended up being the nail in the coffin of a once fantastic game. If Blizzard created separate servers for Vanilla WoW or BC (with achievements) or even WOTLK (still good, but not my favourite), I'd pay a monthly fee and play again in a heartbeat, but the direction developers have taken and the decisions they have made with this game since Cata has rendered this game unplayable.… Expand
  53. sams
    Jan 3, 2011
    2
    First impressions are 10 out of 10. That is the reason so many critics rated this game so high.

    But after your first month of play, you will realize that nothing changed. The end game is identical to wrath of the lich king. If you were hoping this expansion would add something new and fresh, you will be disappointed. Nothing has changes at level cap. If I could, I would go back in    First impressions are 10 out of 10. That is the reason so many critics rated this game so high.

    But after your first month of play, you will realize that nothing changed. The end game is identical to wrath of the lich king. If you were hoping this expansion would add something new and fresh, you will be disappointed. Nothing has changes at level cap. If I could, I would go back in time and skip this purchase.    … Expand
  54. Butcher
    Dec 28, 2010
    2
    Blizzard did a good job revamping the entire old Azeroth but Cataclysm isn't fun at all, to be honest, it is quite FRUSTRATING.

    Heroics are much harder, which is fine because that's what Heroic means, but it gives those casual players that queue in the Looking for Group system a terrible experience since they will probably not be able to finish one single Heroic dungeon with Pick up    Blizzard did a good job revamping the entire old Azeroth but Cataclysm isn't fun at all, to be honest, it is quite FRUSTRATING.

    Heroics are much harder, which is fine because that's what Heroic means, but it gives those casual players that queue in the Looking for Group system a terrible experience since they will probably not be able to finish one single Heroic dungeon with Pick up Groups.

    The worst thing, however, is the new profession Archaeology. It's all about random number generation, yes, pure luck. Things that relies on insane random numbers will create a terrible injustice situation: A very small amount of players will be getting rare items by doing just a couple of "solves" (this is how you create an item via Archaeology) while a huge amount of players will be trying to get the same exact item by doing the same thing over weeks and yet they might never get the item. There is no sense by doing this since Archaeology is certainly the worst professions, it is time spending and not fun at all.

    It is quite impressive that Blizzard's staff is composed by the greatest game developers around the world that have enough time to develop games and their mistake on this last expansion was just insane as others failed grinding MMORPGs out there.

    If you are a HARDCORE player that don't think about anything other than playing World of Warcraft, this game is just for you.

    Don't play this game if you think you also have a life.    … Expand
  55. Ansatsu83
    Mar 28, 2011
    1
    I have played world of warcraft on and off since vanilla, I stopped playing the first time about 5 months before wrath of the litch king came out, I have noticed a very disturbing pattern with blizzard lately which kills the game completely for any gamer that knows that there must be a challenge to make a game decent.

    These Two statements sum up the game completely: 1. "Vanilla and    I have played world of warcraft on and off since vanilla, I stopped playing the first time about 5 months before wrath of the litch king came out, I have noticed a very disturbing pattern with blizzard lately which kills the game completely for any gamer that knows that there must be a challenge to make a game decent.

    These Two statements sum up the game completely:

    1. "Vanilla and Burning Crusade had lore that was quite good, Wrath of the Litch King took this lore and smashed it with a hammer into 4 pieces, cataclysm takes the 4 pieces and throws them into a blender with other ingredients not food related, this is a smoothie you don't want to drink.

    2. World of Warcraft is mmorpg for newbies to the gaming industry.

    Here are the issues the game has. They removed all of the elements that actually made the game challenging, if you look at vanilla vs cataclysm vanilla always wins the challenge debate. Cataclysm rebuilt wow from the ground up, its not a good thing. Some games are better if you do not make massive changes which turns a game into a kid friendly environment.

    There is another common issue with blizzard, they say they will find a way to prevent twinks or make it so they cant do much but they turn right around and give players more options to do so, I am always getting one shotted unless I'm 60+ so doing any type of pvp before 60 is out of the question. Only chance I have at those levels is to go get my weapons enchanted and of course get a ton of Bind to Account (BoA) gear, no reason the game should have BoA gear anyway.

    Their attempts to balance the game have outright made me laugh beyond anything I have ever seen, the big issue is that they listen to all of the kids who have barely started gaming and not the ones who have been gaming since the 70s or 80s. On top of this they almost directly ripped off League of Legends abilities for abilities so there is little to no ingenuity anymore from blizzard.

    Vanilla WoW was incredible, challenging in every aspect and every casual player could play it and get ahead. Burning crusade comes and a good 20% of the pvp appeal was lost in the patch about a week before it was released (e.g. the beginning rank system which I know they are going to add back but wont be similar or challenging to get ranks.)

    Wrath of the litch king comes out, makes everything extremely simplified and adds in new stats to gear which means that pvp gear is no longer useful for pve and vice versa meaning its an attempt to get players to spend a lot more time in a game that should only have half the longevity.

    Now cataclysm comes out, everything is so simplified even an 8 year old can play it and learn quickly, the learning curve went from average to well below average in terms of how hard it is to learn.

    Real gamers know that we need a challenge to be content with a game, we know that games are worthless if we are not being pushed to get ahead in the game. Cataclysm removes all of these aspects from the game meaning there are more challenging games on the market with better PvP and PvE most of which are free to play.

    There have been studies that showed that the average amount of subscribing world of warcraft accounts that had characters over 10 was roughly 70%. This means that 30% played the game for a few hours and quit because it was just too boring.

    Here are a few examples of games that have better pvp...

    Perfect World International (free to play better pvp at higher levels)
    Global Agenda (Buy once no monthly charge - even though the game is just as bad as wow)
    Dungeon Fighter online (free to play)
    Air Rivals (free to play space craft game)
    Zero online (diablo 2 but in mecha style form)

    Games that have better PvE:
    Lunia Online (free to play)
    Global Agenda (see above)
    Battle of Immortals
    Perfect World International
    Dungeon Fighter online
    Zero Online
    Air Rivals
    Everquest Classic (thats right, old game but still better)
    Many others I cant actually list here due to character's remaining issues.

    Games worse than or equal to WoW in all ways:
    Vanguard - Saga of Heros
    Everquest II
    Hellgate London
    Guild wars (about the same in many ways in terms of longevity)

    Point being go play something worth 55 dollars if you are going to spend 55 dollars, not something that is worth 5 dollars to buy (e.g. cataclysm) and worth no monthly fees since blizzard does a terrible job at maintaining and managing the content for the game.
    My advise, wait for Diablo III, Dungeon Siege III, and Rift.    … Expand
  56. seifer
    Jan 5, 2011
    1
    no... no... no... no... and... surprisingly... NO! This is desperate, so this is just utter tripe.. itn is dismal, bad, no story -line and to many problems to list!
  57. noobr
    May 8, 2011
    4
    I guess it's just the game showing its age but wow is far past its best. The game world is now looking increasingly redundant and the only active areas of the game are now instanced. The end game content is reasonable but nothing special and the huge revamp of the low level world seems to have taken away from interesting and exciting developments in the end game play. I would likelyI guess it's just the game showing its age but wow is far past its best. The game world is now looking increasingly redundant and the only active areas of the game are now instanced. The end game content is reasonable but nothing special and the huge revamp of the low level world seems to have taken away from interesting and exciting developments in the end game play. I would likely still give wow the thumbs up for new players, there is very little reason for long time players to like this.… Expand
  58. edenbeast
    Feb 25, 2011
    3
    I was really looking forward to cata, and when it finally arrived I started leveling. In the beginning it was a bit crowded, but good fun anyway. Mount hyjal, deepholm, uldum, twilight highlands, 85! Leveling turned out to be way too quick and way too linear. After 3 days I was 85 already, and now what? Grinding dungeons/heroics for gear and emblems, just like in wrath. Farming mats forI was really looking forward to cata, and when it finally arrived I started leveling. In the beginning it was a bit crowded, but good fun anyway. Mount hyjal, deepholm, uldum, twilight highlands, 85! Leveling turned out to be way too quick and way too linear. After 3 days I was 85 already, and now what? Grinding dungeons/heroics for gear and emblems, just like in wrath. Farming mats for professions/flasks/food, just like in wrath. Learning and mastering raid encounters, just like in wrath. Cata is EXACTLY the same game as before, just with other surroundings. I started playing wow when wrath was just released, so this is basically my first expansion. I don't know if this is what wow expansions should be like, but it is a real disappointment. Yes, they changed all the old zones. So what? A level 85 character has no reason at all to go there, except maybe for the new profession archeology, which must be the most boring thing in the game, even worse than fishing. The new raids are challenging at times, but again more of the same: spread out, stack up, kill adds, don't stand in this, do stand in that, dispel that, interrupt this, etc. And then there is the failure called Tol Barad and blizzards laughable attempt to 'fix' it by rewarding the attacking side 1800 honor for a win. I mean, seriously? Leveling professions is too easy, new talent trees and stats are too simple, phasing is annoying (especially when farming nodes disappear and reappear), dungeons are hardly ever fun (except stonecore, which is pretty good)... So is it all bad then? No, I did really enjoy the goblin starting zone, Stonecore is good, leveling in Uldum was fun. Is it enough to make a good game? No. Most critics must have only played this game for a few days, cause that's when it still seems like a good game. Earlier this month I canceled my subscription... time to move on to better games...… Expand
  59. ultrafang
    Mar 17, 2011
    1
    Boring, another rehash, let's get something NEW going on...the changes were minimal and not impressive. The only thing Cataclysm brought was a click on the cancellation of my account button. I think I am done with Blizzard, though maybe I will check out Diablo 3...we'll see!
  60. Deturis
    Jan 31, 2012
    0
    Join free trial for 7 days! Yay and download a game within these 7 days (tried to change firewall, tcpip options etc.)
    No money or anything for you Blizzard.
    And yes. This. Is. A bash review.
  61. Firemind
    Sep 4, 2012
    3
    The good old days, when WoW was a revolution are over. To be honest: Cataclysm just deserves the 3 Points, because of changing the world map - an idea that came a few years too late. And the rest of the game? Well, it's pretty unfair. The way, Mounts and stuff are patched out of the game or being reduced to a minimum, so everyone playing 10h can get something, you've been working weeksThe good old days, when WoW was a revolution are over. To be honest: Cataclysm just deserves the 3 Points, because of changing the world map - an idea that came a few years too late. And the rest of the game? Well, it's pretty unfair. The way, Mounts and stuff are patched out of the game or being reduced to a minimum, so everyone playing 10h can get something, you've been working weeks for, is just unfair. Also the balance: while some classes get nerved all the time, pretty Paladin gets more and more op stuff. The times, feeling like a hero, having some things nearly alone, are gone. It became more and more a game for 6 year old children. I won't even describe the horrible quest system or even the achievements.… Expand
  62. astasenko
    Aug 31, 2012
    2
    Seriously, this game needs complete graphic engine update. I do not understand why Blizzard do not invest money in this direction since apparently they have all possibilities to do so.
  63. scotius
    Mar 17, 2011
    1
    Putting the GRIND back in Warcraft =)

    Having won over a big bunch of new players (a new market) with the success and ease of access in Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard has done a classic bait and switch. Get ready to grind your ass off if you want anything. Please be very aware that Blizzard employees have been caught spamming Metacritic with positive reviews in order to bump up the    Putting the GRIND back in Warcraft =)

    Having won over a big bunch of new players (a new market) with the success and ease of access in Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard has done a classic bait and switch. Get ready to grind your ass off if you want anything.

    Please be very aware that Blizzard employees have been caught spamming Metacritic with positive reviews in order to bump up the score (which has worked nicely)

    This expansion has less in it than any other expansion so far. this expansion has more "lolwut" moments in it than any other (Sphynx-Men, racist Arab midgets, a death-star pyramid, dragon rape) and its clear that blizzards primary development team are off doing something else, leaving us with the work experience guys and some retards who came in for a day trip to Blizz HQ. This game gets a score of 1 because it finally cured my World of Warcraft addiction, its just a pity that I replaced it with crystal meth =(    … Expand
  64. Dubarnik
    Dec 22, 2010
    2
    Cataclysm represents the end of the road for me in World of Warcraft. Blizzard has finally removed any and all challenge from the game. Leveling my pally from 80 to 85 was a joke as it was impossible for me to die. There wasn't a single quest that gave me a second of concern. After getting to 85, I began leveling a worgen warrior and, being unable to heal myself, I did die a few timesCataclysm represents the end of the road for me in World of Warcraft. Blizzard has finally removed any and all challenge from the game. Leveling my pally from 80 to 85 was a joke as it was impossible for me to die. There wasn't a single quest that gave me a second of concern. After getting to 85, I began leveling a worgen warrior and, being unable to heal myself, I did die a few times but only at the lowest levels. Once I got some half-decent gear, leveling became a dull, dull grind. My guess is that Blizzard decided that with Cataclysm WoW would no longer be a game for adults. Their focus must be on 8 to 10 year olds. I can't think of any other age group that could find any hint of a challenge in the game. Yeah, yeah, yeah - lots of new quests and the graphics, while still a bit cartoonish, are very detailed. The overhaul of Stormwind is pretty amazing. But Wow isn't a game. It's nothing more than a way to kill time.… Expand
  65. Realityfacts
    Dec 15, 2010
    1
    "Keridor" you really got the true perspective of this. I rarely read honest and real critic words about World of Warcraft and what it has become. Especially after Cataclysm has been released.

    I dont want to rewrite what already has been written. So I will keep it short. This game has become something that only is there for taking the last money out of the "blind" people who belive the    "Keridor" you really got the true perspective of this. I rarely read honest and real critic words about World of Warcraft and what it has become. Especially after Cataclysm has been released.

    I dont want to rewrite what already has been written. So I will keep it short. This game has become something that only is there for taking the last money out of the "blind" people who belive the game is really giving something new. There isn't anything NEW to the game. Just easier way to endgame and do all the same thing over again. A few new changes. Nothing new to the mechanics or the core of the game.

    Dont get fooled guys. Don not let the high score or other blinded reviews get into you. It's a waste of time...

    Realize the fact. And think for yourselves...

    Enjoy other great games out there.    … Expand
  66. Coeco
    Apr 11, 2012
    0
    Outdated graphics? Check. Re-reusing old content? Check. Boring grinding? Check. Screwing over everyone that played and spent a lot of time on the previous expansion? Check. One of the most redundantly stupid and offensive community in the world? Check. Not listening to that community for better or worse? Check. Still shaking the class balance around like its a pot of scrambled eggs?Outdated graphics? Check. Re-reusing old content? Check. Boring grinding? Check. Screwing over everyone that played and spent a lot of time on the previous expansion? Check. One of the most redundantly stupid and offensive community in the world? Check. Not listening to that community for better or worse? Check. Still shaking the class balance around like its a pot of scrambled eggs? Check. Slapping on 80000 extra health for all classes? Check. You still want more? Okay then.

    Giving away level 80's including gear, mounts, gold and flight-paths, completely screwing anyone that earned level 80+ over? Check. Unbalanced arena matchup? Check. Crossclassing? Check. Rapidly losing a huge amount of subscribers? Check A decrease of user ratings by 40% over a year? Check. Money-grubbing overzealous company that has most of its staff leaving? Check.

    I will laugh HARD once they release MoP which will have roughly 20% approval by the end of next year.    … Expand
  67. Tata
    Mar 24, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. And then there is Cataclysm. It's THE borderline of WoW. Your experience with this game will really depend on whatever you played from Vanilla or you jumped on the train not long ago. I wasn't as excited as I was at previous Expansion Packs because I knew what summarily they bring. The new areas are really good and the stories are good, I'll sing that. I played Western/Eastern Plaguelands and Westfall which were pretty good and of course the 5 new Cataclysm zone (Yes, only 5 since the maximum level was pushed up with only 5!). I hoped they have made it harder since 3.2.0 but I soon realized how foolish I was to think this. It became so easy that you barely need to think anymore. The abilities became extremely overpowered (for Warriors at least). And Questing/Leveling was like surfing on small tides, It didn't have difficulty at all! I thought at level 85 I might find some challange but no. The heroics were again using the same system but with Points (why Points now?) and Battlegrounds used the same system with points too (at least this mostly remained like it did). So what did I do? Try out the new species (Goblin and Worgen). Wait. What are these classes? Tauren Paladin? MAGE DWARF? Orc Mage? I understand now. They killed half of WoW with the Badge system in 3.2.0 and now they killed the other half with messing the whole plot up, but this half was the one that was with Warcraft at its RTS roots too. Why would suddenly Taurens turn to the light? Dwarves are immune to magic in this way (they couldn't become mages). Even Dragon Age 2 could keep this rule. And Orc Mage.. Who thought that picking random class combinations out of the blue was a good idea? Why did they even do these combinations that completely DENIES THE LORE!? And there are the "merely a setback" characters. In Burning Crusade this was a great idea and it might made you smile in WOTLK, but It's extremely overused here. Hogger, Ragnaros, Nefarian, Onyxia, Cenarius (Yep, It makes the orcs' victory at Ashenvale completely meaningless). Oh, and Cairne is dead who was the leader of the Tauren since Warcraft 3 and got killed in some quest. Ultra Great,really... And what's with the constant instance repeating? I mean, Naxxramas was a great idea. But now they use Zul'Gurub, Zul'Aman and old bosses up again? I hope you were happy with your Amani War Bear because soon everyone will be running with that one all around. At least there are some more positives, It makes puts some character into the story which haven't done anything before : Matthias Shaw of the SI:7, Prince Anduin and It welcomes some new ones. I don't know what this expansion will bring up later but I'm not sure I'll resume playing it during the summer because It's so nerfed (they made it so easy) that I might play a week if I resumed It and then I would be jumping and talking in a Capital City. So to sum this one up: If you are new on the train, you might like it but if you are a veteran, you'll want to deny this as being part of Warcraft. For the later one I can only say what i said before, go to Vanilla or any private server that is before the 3.2.0 patch. And if the previous got bored of It or doesn't like it too, They might wanna check the previous games too.… Expand
  68. Aquila
    Feb 17, 2012
    0
    Classic: 9 TBC: 8 Wotlk: 7 Cata: 5. I enjoyed this game in the past it was an innovative change to the gameworld. Maybe im just getting tired from this game but let me explain why it becomes less fun from a pve perspective. Right now in cata for example the dps difference is mixed as usual each patch but between top spec and lowest spec is 30% while they pulled the synergy together. In myClassic: 9 TBC: 8 Wotlk: 7 Cata: 5. I enjoyed this game in the past it was an innovative change to the gameworld. Maybe im just getting tired from this game but let me explain why it becomes less fun from a pve perspective. Right now in cata for example the dps difference is mixed as usual each patch but between top spec and lowest spec is 30% while they pulled the synergy together. In my logic if synergy is pulled together the difference in dps should be very tiny. It seems the big numbers are making their system flawed, if some class is slightly scaling different the result in the end is huge because the numbers has grown big in this game(doesn't count only for dps). You can say you raid not to gain gear but for fun, i kind of agree with that. But nevertheless gear is a part of raiding. Raiding itself is fun for a while but not for a very long while and the system of raiding hasn't changed much. I don't like how much effort you must do for your gear. Since wotlk but more strongly in cata the fun value of gear has dropped dramatically. Now you must theory craft longer (mainly for reforging) to search out which stat setup is best for you which is a lot to work on besides the enchanting, and gemming where a large amount of time (and occasionally gold) is needed each time you get a new gear piece. Its feels like a tough job to do. And gear totally lost its value, in classic epics were really epic but its going slowly to the exact opposite of that epic feeling. Example you did Blackwing Decent or Bastion of Twilight Heroic mode and you had gear from those raids, and then as a reward they give you Firelands NORMAL with better gear?!. Its like your doing heroic raids for nothing. Besides raids heroic dungeons are fun but you get a bit bored of them before the 1st patch in the expansion appears and you got to do with them the entire expansion besides only a few new ones that come out. And the mechanics in the whole game are to repetitive.… Expand
  69. Paranoia
    Mar 26, 2012
    2
    the game is getting old and you can see it in front of your eyes, it does not have the fresh feel when you play t, last 3 years were a disappointment. Blizzard is rapidly loosing money and getting overwhelmed by other MMO's like Guild Wars 2 in the future. Not worth the time playing it
  70. Exfan
    Mar 22, 2011
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game is just boring they failed both new race starting zones. Game has been made for new new players leveling specially. High end game is just about being in large active guild and grinding and dailies. Utter waste of time if you're example casual player leveling 80-85. Deepholm and Vash'jir boring as hell zones Uldum is just one big cinematic. If you enjoy achi, totally unbalanced classes, item level, dailies and so called weekly caps game fits for you. Do not bother buying if you're looking for content or good time. Just same crap in different package.… Expand
  71. Livret
    Mar 20, 2011
    3
    really really bad addon .. content is so boring and just the same as always ..

    theres nothing really new.. 2 new races and a bunch of new instances is definately not worth the price .. really disappointed
  72. Shadamehr
    May 22, 2012
    3
    Not a game for the long term player. Cataclysm, at launch, was designed purely for the hard core and new player in mind. Now at its end, I'd drop hard core and add casual player in mind. This is the expansion that killed off my love of WoW. With only 5 levels, less content, a storyline that's no where near as epic in comparison to that of Wrath of the Lich King, and one that I finally lostNot a game for the long term player. Cataclysm, at launch, was designed purely for the hard core and new player in mind. Now at its end, I'd drop hard core and add casual player in mind. This is the expansion that killed off my love of WoW. With only 5 levels, less content, a storyline that's no where near as epic in comparison to that of Wrath of the Lich King, and one that I finally lost interest in after Firelands came out. It started out being pretty hard core and its developers took a hardline approach when it came to instances and raids. This unfortunately caused a backlash effect from the majority of WoW's player based, the casual PvP Veruca Salt player, and ever since its devs have flip flopped in desperation to try and please them and almost everybody else. The casualty of this being the long term player. Blizzard have thrown in the towel and given up on them. With Cataclysm it quickly becomes apparent that WoW has no more mystery left in it. I despair for WoW's future, fan boys are easily appeased with offerings of fluff, new mounts, new pets etc. It's next expansion, MoP has two main features Pandas and Pokemon, and will be even more casual friendly. Long term players should look elsewhere, try SWTOR for some seriousness or GW2 for a fantasy MMO. Unless you're a new player (or for MoP, very young), a casual, a PvP player, stay away from this expac and wait it out till either Titan or the next WoW expac after MoP hits (pending reviews of course), for the long term player, the explorer types, this dreck is not for you.… Expand
  73. Syrionn
    Mar 29, 2011
    3
    This game is the same as WotLK besides they reworked 1-60, added 81-85, added two races, and reworked talent trees. Once at 85 all you can do is raid / arena same as it has been since TBC only the raids are boring after the first 2-3 full clears. Granted I am a player that doesn't like to redo content that is boring the first time around let alone do boring heroic modes. Arenas is theThis game is the same as WotLK besides they reworked 1-60, added 81-85, added two races, and reworked talent trees. Once at 85 all you can do is raid / arena same as it has been since TBC only the raids are boring after the first 2-3 full clears. Granted I am a player that doesn't like to redo content that is boring the first time around let alone do boring heroic modes. Arenas is the thing I love to do in WoW and I play a Warrior got rank 1 S7 in 5s on shadowburn. I guess I burnt myself out back then or it is the fact that Blizzard / Activison killed small servers with rated BGs. I would have to transfer off server to find any sort of good team now a days. Too much time to invest in something I am wanting to play casual now. Overall it is the same grind as it was in WotLK with new fancy titles. If you didn't like it back then then you wont like it in the future months to come.… Expand
  74. muindaur
    Mar 22, 2011
    4
    After having played World of Warcraft since before Burning Crusade I can say this: a terrible destruction has befallen Azeroth. No, it's not the actual Cataclysm itself, but the quality of the game. Now, the leveling grind was horrid way back, I will give that to players, but Blizzard has no grasp of moderate. All the game has done is gone from painfully slow to this: *blinks* "Huh? Did IAfter having played World of Warcraft since before Burning Crusade I can say this: a terrible destruction has befallen Azeroth. No, it's not the actual Cataclysm itself, but the quality of the game. Now, the leveling grind was horrid way back, I will give that to players, but Blizzard has no grasp of moderate. All the game has done is gone from painfully slow to this: *blinks* "Huh? Did I just hit 60? Where did all the zones go?"

    I could understand the reduction in mount prices(having spent the fortune and time it was for the Paladin charger.) That brings me to another big point. Paladins got no choice. My first toon was a hunter, but in BC I made a Dranei Paladin. At some point the devs made a switch, and all Dranei got an Elekk Paladin mount. I liked my charger, had the feat of strength for earning it the old fashioned way, and was told I couldn't use it without paying for a race change to Human.

    So we get the crux of the situation, and that's money. It's all Blizzard cares about. At this point they should stop selling Vanilla, and make Cata the base: with Wrath and BC $10 expansions. No, they want the money. So that means it currently costs: $40 for the Battle-chest, $40 for Wrath, and $40 for Cata.

    This shows with most of the content. It has gone from spending time to find neat things to a grind for everything. Each expansion they make it longer to reach fishing cap(even with dailies it's painful.) They SHOULD have left the number of catches required to skill the same as they were at the highest in vanilla. So even if leveling is now super fast, it takes a solid month of grinding to do anything remotely useful dungeon or raid wise. Especially without guild support.

    Professions are worse. Fast to level? Only herbalism, mining, and skinning. The amount of mats for tailoring is insane, and the same for enchanting. Want the good recipes? NOPE! Not only are the high end one PVP, but they cost bolts of cloth to get.

    So instead of having an ok profession experience with useful gear, it's a painfully slow one, with a leveling grind that's so fast you don't get to enjoy the zones. I used to know all the zones by heart, just from leveling that first single toon.

    Stay away from this generic MMO. It lost it's flavor in the interest of catering to the entitled kids that screamed "I WANT 85 NOW!" The ones that don't get the reward from the hard work. *cancels sub and puts on gardening gloves*    … Expand
  75. scorched595
    Jan 8, 2013
    0
    This is where things started to get really bad. The inherent problem lies in the fact that this is the turning point of WoW where it became all about grinding, and less about the story or having fun.In classic wow and the expansions leading up to this abomination it was about exploring the new content, roleplaying, watching the storyline unfold, and having fun with your friends, but withThis is where things started to get really bad. The inherent problem lies in the fact that this is the turning point of WoW where it became all about grinding, and less about the story or having fun.In classic wow and the expansions leading up to this abomination it was about exploring the new content, roleplaying, watching the storyline unfold, and having fun with your friends, but with THIS expansion, it was about hitting the level cap and grinding for gear. Part of the problem is that the community was starting to take a nosedive in wotlk, but atleast in wotlk the community was still atleast half decent, but in cataclysm the community hit rock bottom, and the game isn't to blame for this, just bad customer service and other people not keeping the community in line, And while there are those rare servers that kept their communities in line, such as Cenarion Circle, those were RARE, and even if you were on one of those servers, those servers felt pretty empty and were not nearly as lively as they used to be. Even with a good community though, the game still sucked, mainly because the content felt shallow and it was all about grinding, which, by the way, may be necessary to an extent, they took it TOO FAR in this expansion. WoW would never get it's groove back after this expansion was released, going on to make a **** storyline about the events leading up to killing deathwing, and another **** expansion, Mists of pandaria.… Expand
  76. kyriores
    Aug 30, 2013
    0
    Why "modern" WoW is bad:

    First of all there isn't a world anymore. In a normal world you get to know people, know their strengths, their weaknesses. It used to be that way in WoW too, back when each player didn't own 30 alts on his account, 30 on a friends account and 30 more on his grandma's. Instant lvl 80, RaF and all this crap. Also, in a normal world there aren't 50 different    Why "modern" WoW is bad:

    First of all there isn't a world anymore. In a normal world you get to know people, know their strengths, their weaknesses. It used to be that way in WoW too, back when each player didn't own 30 alts on his account, 30 on a friends account and 30 more on his grandma's. Instant lvl 80, RaF and all this crap. Also, in a normal world there aren't 50 different versions of Elwynn Forest like there are in WoW (*cough *cough server hopping). Not to mention the good old summoning stones that actually required 2 people to fly to instance for a summon (at least they still exist in raid dungeons).. If you think about it they have cut down the time required on a lot of things (from looting to getting on your mount)

    Dailies. Did I say dailies? Are those quests? Those little dots that appear on the minimap? Those little dots that you just follow and just start clicking buttons mindlessly? You don't even have to do any research about the legendary quest... It just pops up in the middle of your god damn screen. DAMN, that's some hardcore gaming right there. Thank you Wowhead we won't need you again, back to farming dots for our alts.

    Of course since everyone is busy playing on all of their 8 alts each day, nobody can play ANY class well. And of course nobody has the proper gear for the raid dungeon he is about to attempt.. So we make raid dungeons have no requirements. You can basically enter with uncommon gear and clear it in no time. Hooray, that was fun.

    I understand that there weren't that many """"""""""gamers""""""""""" using the internet back in 2004, but ruining a good game for those casual players who think that they are paying for an enhanced version of plant vs zombies is simply unacceptable.    … Expand
  77. Bruciato
    Dec 28, 2010
    1
    No more sense in this game. It's become "keep giving me your money because we're so good at marketing". Billions of dollars and Cataclysm is what a regular player gets after paying that much for years? It's a joke already, it's been a joke since the nerfs to Kael'thas, Illidan and Kil'jaeden. And blizzard kept it a joke **** around with naxx v2.0. Cataclysm is the example of how youNo more sense in this game. It's become "keep giving me your money because we're so good at marketing". Billions of dollars and Cataclysm is what a regular player gets after paying that much for years? It's a joke already, it's been a joke since the nerfs to Kael'thas, Illidan and Kil'jaeden. And blizzard kept it a joke **** around with naxx v2.0. Cataclysm is the example of how you shouldn't continue a game. 1 for the effort of trying to steal my money and life again.

    Blizzard keeps pressing greed at every "green" they see. Not mine for sure.    … Expand
  78. TheNoobifier
    Dec 17, 2010
    0
    Waste of money, and even worse, a waste of valuable time of my life.
  79. gotdownonthe
    Dec 21, 2010
    2
    What a hoot this new expansion is. For those Wrath players, just patch up and enjoy the grand majority of the (not very good and reasonably buggy) content for free. For those people who are still on the fence about WoW, just don't bother. BC and WoTLK were great additions to the game, but Cataclysm is the equivalent of taking 40 dollars and burning it. "If we can't reuse it, we won'tWhat a hoot this new expansion is. For those Wrath players, just patch up and enjoy the grand majority of the (not very good and reasonably buggy) content for free. For those people who are still on the fence about WoW, just don't bother. BC and WoTLK were great additions to the game, but Cataclysm is the equivalent of taking 40 dollars and burning it. "If we can't reuse it, we won't bother" - Blizzard… Expand
  80. SexyBeem
    Mar 16, 2011
    0
    HORRIBLE! every single thing about the worl of warcraft is now gone totaly wasted and gone it is not ballances at all it is so glitch and totaly for toatal noobs it is just to easy you need to avoid this and now you need to avopd WoW this rund all of it for all people in al way it is the Worst game ever ET was better than this you know the ET game yeah it was better!
  81. Mosesman1
    Mar 22, 2011
    0
    Horrible Simply Horrible. I have played WoW since classic And I will admit its a great game for a little while. having played in classic i will say it was Ok at best and then BC came out and Blew me and many others away I was completely addicted. Horde Pallies WHAT! Flying mounts WHAT!. simply great i loved it then Wrath. DKS WHAT!! i loved them I loved Wrath and BC. Wrath was great andHorrible Simply Horrible. I have played WoW since classic And I will admit its a great game for a little while. having played in classic i will say it was Ok at best and then BC came out and Blew me and many others away I was completely addicted. Horde Pallies WHAT! Flying mounts WHAT!. simply great i loved it then Wrath. DKS WHAT!! i loved them I loved Wrath and BC. Wrath was great and then The Crap started flowing Too many people Crying because they Suck and they dont know how to play the game So they started Nerfing everthing. then when the classes started leveling out people started crying again Dungeons are to hard! Nerf then I cant get into raids no one will take me and i cant get gear without raiding and Bam Now u can farm raids for gear and all the experienced players are like WTF now we get idiots who dont know how to raid but have amazing gear! and after all the hard ship they Announce CATA and all of the veterans are SCREAM YES! finally a way for wow to Make a turn around and become what we use to Love. NOT! the world is awsome but slightly disappointing in areas and FLYING MOUNTS IN AZEROTH! WOOT!. but what do they do they Nerf the talent Trees because of Whining bastards. And all that CATA really is, is a Polished version of Wrath WTF Blizzard How about making a game thats challenging again thats what makes it fun! Give us something knew to look at and experience besides the same old Grinding! I do not Recommend Buying CATA! i left it months ago because of all the stupid Crap going on. Yes i know my grammar and mechanics is junk but All well Read i carefully Cause i Speak the Truth! Stop Rating WOW so high when really its the same crap as before I feel like im in a movie of Zoolander ITS THE SAME GAME!!! GAWD! It Turned to Crap and guess what Even with a new name as cool as Cataclysm Its STILL CRAP!… Expand
  82. Athaniel
    Apr 25, 2011
    4
    I have been a WoW player for over 5 years, and i pretty much liked every expansion they tooked out, until Cataclysm, ok great theme revamping old azeroth and all but really i mean i would love to have 24 hours a day to play this game but the truth is i really dont, and seems to be that for blizzard that is not enought they force you to play like crazy so you can be "Decently" geared iI have been a WoW player for over 5 years, and i pretty much liked every expansion they tooked out, until Cataclysm, ok great theme revamping old azeroth and all but really i mean i would love to have 24 hours a day to play this game but the truth is i really dont, and seems to be that for blizzard that is not enought they force you to play like crazy so you can be "Decently" geared i mean, i have no problems with them using the whole story of deathwing, recycling old quest dungeons and whatsoever that´s cool for me, but honestly i feel like i dont have time to be "good" on game and that frustrates the hell out of me… Expand
  83. Crext
    Feb 23, 2011
    4
    +You does'nt have to be 10+ people to have a good time anymore.

    -Close to Nothing is New
    -No graphic improvement.
    -Story is none existent
    -More of the Same
    -No new classes, thus no freshness. -For an Experienced Gamer, this is still too Easy.
  84. Skulb
    Nov 22, 2014
    2
    High on my list of reasons why I quit WoW, this expansion just took the cake as far as nerfing things to placate incompetents and dullards. Absolutely nothing was a challenge, or if something was it lasted for about a week until Blizzard got round to nerfing it. Anyone who suffered through the indignities of Wrath and Cataclysm and is still playing the game either has incredible stayingHigh on my list of reasons why I quit WoW, this expansion just took the cake as far as nerfing things to placate incompetents and dullards. Absolutely nothing was a challenge, or if something was it lasted for about a week until Blizzard got round to nerfing it. Anyone who suffered through the indignities of Wrath and Cataclysm and is still playing the game either has incredible staying power with lost causes (Perhaps they`re all from Scotland) or at least one serious mental problem.

    The only positive innovation I could find was the inclusion of rated battlegrounds, which were great fun while my ill-considered final WoW subscription ran its course. But who subs to an MMORPG to play RBGs? I know I don`t, and everything else was total trash.    … Expand
  85. joesmith
    May 22, 2014
    0
    World of Warcraft: Cataclysm SUCKS!
    Why?
    -more than 40 minutes waiting in a queue to play random dungeons
    -bugged quests and dungeons
    -mobs that never die
    -lags that disconnect you from server
    -piece of **** gameplay
    -censorhip
    -never get an answer from customer support/ticket system
    -fanatism
    -and many lies

    TO ALL BLIZZARD EMPLOYEES: GO F--- YOURSELVES!
  86. houjo2000
    Jul 30, 2017
    4
    Another garbage xpac for a garbage game. They could have improved the game, instead they put a glossy finish over broken content that's been there for seven years and say, 'oh look, those enemies that were once bears are now scorpids, brand new game!'.

    You're fighting black dragons, again, Ragnaros, again- it's the same old grind with better looking fire graphics. Only real new thing is    Another garbage xpac for a garbage game. They could have improved the game, instead they put a glossy finish over broken content that's been there for seven years and say, 'oh look, those enemies that were once bears are now scorpids, brand new game!'.

    You're fighting black dragons, again, Ragnaros, again- it's the same old grind with better looking fire graphics. Only real new thing is the underwater zone- which is a sliver of the 'new' content anyway.

    Best of all, they made pvp even worse, I don't know how but they did it- healers are even more ridiculously OP, crowd control has been buffed through the roof- they essentially took every bit of feedback on what makes pvp bad and doubled it.

    The best part about Cataclysm is the goblin starting area- that is just fun. Sadly, once you're done that, the game is a steaming pile of dung.    … Expand
  87. Grim_Beluga
    May 24, 2014
    1
    so incredibly easy that a 5 year old could level 90 in one day... oh wait that's what Blizz was ACTUALLY going for?! Oh GJ Blizz

    (and dont even get me started with the Warcraft Pokemons!)
  88. Anonymous_1
    Sep 12, 2014
    0
    Pros: N/A

    Cons: The game lore was destroyed after Deathwing came back to life for the "Cataclysm expansion; highly inflationary economy; terrible leveling and gear systems where for example a level one character cannot even harm a level 80; each new expansion effectively resets the game, making your previous achievements through time invested worthless; game is deliberately designed    Pros: N/A

    Cons: The game lore was destroyed after Deathwing came back to life for the "Cataclysm expansion; highly inflationary economy; terrible leveling and gear systems where for example a level one character cannot even harm a level 80; each new expansion effectively resets the game, making your previous achievements through time invested worthless; game is deliberately designed like a giant money-generating hamster wheel for the players to run on, that is it rewards time invested very much and actual skill very little; once a new expansion is out, you can really no longer play the older versions of the game you had paid for.

    Score Breakdown: Sound Effects and Music 9/10, Game Stability 8/10, Graphics 8/10, Loading Screens and Frame Rate 5/10, Voice Acting 5/10, Background Story 2/10, Plot Development 0/10, Realism 0/10, Gameplay 0/10, Replay Value 0/10, Game Publisher's Ethics -100/10, Total Score 0/10

    Conclusion: Ignore this game instead of playing or buying it.    … Expand
  89. OPreviews245
    Feb 10, 2015
    1
    This absolute garbage for a game. Just click and move with a horrible graphics character. Play valve games or at least a decent game. Not this. It surprises me that this gets a 90 but other significantly good games don't. Get a life your virgins.
  90. Petforces
    Feb 20, 2021
    2
    This was the start of the end.... but not just for in game story. But for the game itself to many players. Talent trees were gutted, items and quests were lost. and the game became much easier. Truly a departure from classic wow.
  91. sikfuk
    Apr 8, 2017
    0
    every expansion has made the game worse. im not excited about the new level cap or the new grinding. there have to be better ways to add content to a game. cataclysm is one of the most deeply hated expansions for a reason
  92. Drangleic
    Apr 28, 2022
    0
    absolute garbage! Cataclysm destroyed what good was left in the world, from here it starts the race to the bottom!!
  93. Torgall
    Jan 26, 2022
    4
    It was the end of my WoW experience because after Cataclysm I stopped playing. The changes to maps where good idea on paper, and many players complained that old maps are lifeless, but that's the way it is with MMORPGS. The flying mounts in Azeroth where biggest mistake ever, it ruined core maps for me. It is also the very start of countless ways to dumb-down the game, making everythingIt was the end of my WoW experience because after Cataclysm I stopped playing. The changes to maps where good idea on paper, and many players complained that old maps are lifeless, but that's the way it is with MMORPGS. The flying mounts in Azeroth where biggest mistake ever, it ruined core maps for me. It is also the very start of countless ways to dumb-down the game, making everything simpler for causal players.… Expand
  94. Nepen1he
    Mar 10, 2022
    0
    games out of politics, juegos fuera de la politica, jogos fora da política

Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best PC Game of 2010
16
#16 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
47
#47 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 53 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 53
  3. Negative: 0 out of 53
  1. Worth Playing
    Apr 24, 2011
    95
    World of Warcraft: Cataclysm brings the excitement of a new expansion to much of the game and provides some exciting and engaging high-level content. If your account has lapsed, Cataclysm makes it worth the renewal cost. The expansion content raises the bar and re-establishes Blizzard as the reigning king of traditional MMORPGs.
    Read full review
  2. PC Games (Russia)
    Mar 21, 2011
    90
    More of an evolution in terms of gaming experience, but it's the best World of Warcraft expansion so far. If you have never tried WoW or are thinking about returning in Azeroth – now is the time. [Feb 2011, p.66]
  3. GameOver.gr
    Mar 4, 2011
    90
    Blizzard has undergone an extremely ambitious effort with the Cataclysm expansion, razing the familiar to the ground and building something that proves both new and inviting. And while certain balance issues are being fixed via patches, thereʼs something good here for new players, veterans, hardcore and casual gamers alike.
    Read full review
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