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. Ciocolici
    Aug 20, 2023
    8
    Jumping into Cataclysm years after its initial release, I've got to admit, it's a darn good expansion. The introduction of worgens, my personal favorites, is a definite highlight. The expansion also nails it with engaging stories and meticulously crafted zones. My only gripe lies in the fact that while Cataclysm kicked off numerous narratives across different areas, it seemed to leave aJumping into Cataclysm years after its initial release, I've got to admit, it's a darn good expansion. The introduction of worgens, my personal favorites, is a definite highlight. The expansion also nails it with engaging stories and meticulously crafted zones. My only gripe lies in the fact that while Cataclysm kicked off numerous narratives across different areas, it seemed to leave a few of them hanging or not entirely fleshed out in my view.… Expand
  2. Vitalick
    Sep 2, 2022
    8
    Muchos valoran mal esta expansión pero yo es cuando comencé a jugar enserio al wow y le tengo gran recuerdo
  3. MacAree
    Jan 12, 2022
    10
    This game did so many things right. It was deeply underappreciated. Several years ago I look back and wish I invested more in Cataclysm when it was the last expansion that felt like WoW.
  4. Estro
    May 29, 2021
    10
    I feel like this expansion isn't appreciated enough, I love how they reworked the zones and how much more storyline driven they are + worgens and goblins are both really nice races that I love
  5. SeyeerGame
    May 28, 2021
    10
    addon cataclysm very noticeably spoiled the game. But still, the game didn’t fall into a complete slag. And the addon both added bad qualities and good ones (albeit less than bad ones). It's ok.
  6. iammrstinky
    Nov 25, 2020
    8
    this was a great release, good raids and nice and dark themed world. Balance was good and overall a great expansion really enjoyed it.
  7. Didjit
    Jul 22, 2020
    9
    Дополнение очень недо оценено,ради изменения карты и ландшафта нужно было рискнуть.
  8. Nomax
    Apr 19, 2020
    10
    С этого аддона я начал играть в wow, сейчас могу сказать что остаётся для меня до сих пор лучшим.
  9. Bloodnes
    Jan 7, 2020
    10
    Выход дополнение было очевидным, но тут стало не как в Короле Личе, по началу мучили баги, затем как-то стало скучно, был сплошной фарм, включая и профессий, но игра остается лучшей. 10/10
  10. Sivus
    Jun 5, 2014
    8
    A lot of people didn't/ don't like this expansion but I really enjoyed it. It was difficult and made the bad players who thought they were good (who also happen to always have the biggest mouths) leave out of frustration. The community continues to get more and more toxic and it continues to effect the game itself.
    Some of the best 5man content comes from this expansion as well as some of    A lot of people didn't/ don't like this expansion but I really enjoyed it. It was difficult and made the bad players who thought they were good (who also happen to always have the biggest mouths) leave out of frustration. The community continues to get more and more toxic and it continues to effect the game itself.
    Some of the best 5man content comes from this expansion as well as some of the best raid boss fights. BWD (and the final boss) could be argued as reused content like NAXX as well as reusing a certain famous boss from the original game. At this point all my friends have stopped playing which lowered my enjoyment by half. I also enjoyed the remake of the original game, it needed the upgrade bad.    … Expand
  11. Hall7718
    Feb 21, 2014
    8
    Cataclysm was a positive expansion for WoW.... but not as much as TBC or WotLK. Cata brought about come game updates that really needed to happen for the future of the game... but didn't provide as much content for end-game as the previous expansions.
  12. InfamousOffence
    Mar 28, 2013
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. World of Warcraft Expansion: ‘Cataclysm’ Views on the PvE & PvP system
    World of Warcraft has changed alot during the time I’ve played. I wasn’t sure how Cataclysm would go down, but it has surprised me. The game-play has improved overall; however the PvP experience and PvE experience has changed alot. An Example of how PvP changed; PvE raid gear can be acquired by doing ‘Raid Finders’ premade groups. Gear is dropped from bosses, however there is an unbalanced PvP system because of this because now Patch 3.3.5 raid gear is much more overpowered than the PvP gear. This makes no sense... PvP gear should be doing its job, owning ‘noobs’ in BG’s with PvE gear. However this is not the case, you will get 1shotted by certain classes which have been tweaked to increase their performance and whom acquire these over-powered raid gear. On the other hand, the Raiding experience in Cataclysm has improved which is what kept me playing, raid bosses, world bosses encounters are becoming harder which means it’s not just charge and attack, the group has to form strategies and implement them into their game-play. The new raids have also been tweaked and bosses are seemingly dropping better loot and at a more often rate. Overall I believe the new expansion ‘Cataclysm’ has impacted WoW in a big way. The PvP system has corrupted due to the unbalanced gear but however the raiding experience is becoming alot more fun, and makes players think twice about tactics and strategies to overcome an encounter. Hopefully in the next expansion, the PvP system will get balanced and the gear will be sorted. What I mean by sorted is that PvP gear is better than the majority of the PvE gear because that’s what it is for and nerf downgrade the PvP gear so that its only got an advantage while PvE raiding. The best thing about this expansion is that the scenery has changed and everyone wants a new change right? Stormwind looks brilliant. The fiery cores and corrupt walls have really made the city look as if it was attacked by ‘Death-wing’ the world boss. So I believe because of this expansion they are trying to persuade players to do more PvE rather than PvP. The PvE Loot system is still the same, and is very good (Need before Greed). Very well done Blizz, however please consider balancing the PvP system in the next expansion!
    Click here to see the trailer for the expansion CLICK HERE
    #World of Warcraft-‘Cataclysm’
    - Infamous Offence    … Expand
  13. Zeusknws
    Jan 4, 2013
    8
    Haven't played on the official site yet!!! But a pretty good one!! Amazing ideas used!!! I guess the best online game till date!!! Gotta see the latest addition!!
  14. effataigus
    Sep 27, 2012
    8
    I am officially late in writing this review, but I finally finished playing the game. I thoroughly enjoyed this expansion and the progression of the WoW story. The game is aging, though perhaps aging well. High-points were the Firelands raid, and the heroics and raids present at launch. Vashir was beautifully done, and has the least annoying underwater combat in any game I've everI am officially late in writing this review, but I finally finished playing the game. I thoroughly enjoyed this expansion and the progression of the WoW story. The game is aging, though perhaps aging well. High-points were the Firelands raid, and the heroics and raids present at launch. Vashir was beautifully done, and has the least annoying underwater combat in any game I've ever played (though the gated nature of the zone almost forbade exploration and there was no reason to go back to it afterwards). Transmog (item appearance customization) arrived (at last... better 7 years late than never), but is still too restrictive... this made old content fresh again... brilliant! Low points were the dismally small amount of raid bosses released with Firelands and Dragon Soul. The progression reset with a new expansion's increased level cap is unavoidable, but the structure of valor/justice/heroics made for a mini-progression reset with every sub-patch, and really forced many people to see the gear treadmill through the curtain. Quests were also painfully linear. Talent trees were simplified with the aim of reducing options while increasing choice... unfortunately, the opposite happened, taking 10 or so "truly-optional" talent assignments down to ~3. Mists has reduced this further. Goblin and worgen starting quests were well done. The community has been becoming increasingly toxic, but cross-server raiding has the chance to make this less of an issue, as it has opened the door for sites like openraid.us where there are consequences once again for being a d-bag.

    Overall, I had some of my happiest moments in videogames with this expansion. I mostly blame my guild for that, but this game let that happen, so I'm deeply appreciative.    … Expand
  15. Seasz
    Jun 1, 2012
    10
    The World of Warcraft has changed for the better it is more streamlined and far more easy to to follow, the game now explicitly tells you the best spots to be at your level. many see this as hand holding and an absolutely massive blow the the game's quality i find that rather absurd making a game less confusing is not making it worse and in some ways not even making it less difficult butThe World of Warcraft has changed for the better it is more streamlined and far more easy to to follow, the game now explicitly tells you the best spots to be at your level. many see this as hand holding and an absolutely massive blow the the game's quality i find that rather absurd making a game less confusing is not making it worse and in some ways not even making it less difficult but rather simply less tedious. Another aspect of the game that i find highly improved is they way gilds have been reworked. Lets face it this is an MMO you are supposed to play it with others complaining that you can not solo parts is like complain about the lack of race race cars in a fighting game. This gives a guild actual benefits and rewards you for advancing your guild making the for a more cohesive game. My only complaint is that Outlands and Notherrend are absolutely untouched even a slight touch up to the 2 would have been a nice change of pace.… Expand
  16. Trancez
    May 15, 2012
    10
    WoW will forever be known as 'THAT MMO'. The first MMO to make MMORPGs a mainstream game. It was and forever will be the biggest game of it's generation and forever to come.
  17. Biddi
    May 4, 2012
    10
    has improved in every way its now much easyer for the casual player to go in raids dungeons and even when questing you have your own built in quest helper in the game the landscapes are retextured so they look better the questing is more engaging and the raids are awsome the game has improved in every way ,
  18. videophantom120
    Jan 30, 2012
    10
    Word Of Warcraft is my favourite MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) on the computer there are two groups you can the alliance and the horde both groups have a mix of races in the alliance they have Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elves, Draenei, Worgen and the horde races are Orc, Troll, Tauren, Undead, Blood Elves, Goblin and they are bringing a new race in the new expansionWord Of Warcraft is my favourite MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) on the computer there are two groups you can the alliance and the horde both groups have a mix of races in the alliance they have Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elves, Draenei, Worgen and the horde races are Orc, Troll, Tauren, Undead, Blood Elves, Goblin and they are bringing a new race in the new expansion called the Pandaren the Pandaren is going to be alliance and horde the new expansion is going to be called world of warcraft mists of pandaria and they are also bringing a new class called monk There are 10 other playable classes that are out which are Warrior, Druid, Mage, Warlock, Priest, Hunter, Rogue, Paladin, Shaman and Death knight The death knight class is in the World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King and you can only make a death knight if you have at least one level 55 and you can only make one death knight per realm The other expansions are called world of warcraft burning crusade and world of warcraft cataclysm Each race has their own mounts the mounts for the alliance are called Stallion, Swift Brown Steed, Brown Ram, Swift Brown Ram, Spotted Frostsaber, Swift Frostsaber, Blue Mechanostrider, Swift Green Mechanostrider, Brown Elekk, Great Blue Elekk, Golden Gryphon and the horde mounts are Goblin Trike, Goblin Turbo-Trike, Black Wolf, Swift Brown Wolf, Black Skeletal Horse, Green Skeletal Warhorse, Brown Kodo, Great Brown Kodo but think the best mount is the druid Flight Form.… Expand
  19. drock
    Jan 21, 2012
    10
    although some people may not like the new expansion, i personally love it. It adds a new aspect to the world of warcraft experience, and one cannot deny that it is one of the best games out there. Can't stop playing!
  20. DecemberSilence
    Jan 6, 2012
    10
    I certainly recommend World of Warcraft for all gamers; especially for MMO players. Its pretty much impossible to NOT have an objective which I have found in almost all games. This one however has successfully managed to keep me entertained non-stop in the 3 years I've played. Its sure to be a game that is worth its price. :)
  21. radumilan
    Jan 3, 2012
    9
    This games continues the World of Warcraft story by revamping the content adding new quests and zones. The story is more complex and is very tied-up to all the other expansions (see quests in Felwood).
    Unfortunatelly the questing experience becomes very easy, too easy at some point, only at the Cataclysm dungeons you really get some difficult stuff.
    Overall it is a great expantion.
  22. some_guy
    Dec 25, 2011
    10
    I have been playing this game for nearly 6 years now and still am not bored with it. There seems to be an infinite amount of gameplay including raiding (PvE), arenas(PvP), battlegrounds(PvP), professions, holiday events, achievements, guild leveling, and even mount and pet collecting. No other MMORPG, including SWTOR comes anywhere close to WoW. If you want fun, challenging, or endlessI have been playing this game for nearly 6 years now and still am not bored with it. There seems to be an infinite amount of gameplay including raiding (PvE), arenas(PvP), battlegrounds(PvP), professions, holiday events, achievements, guild leveling, and even mount and pet collecting. No other MMORPG, including SWTOR comes anywhere close to WoW. If you want fun, challenging, or endless gameplay, this is the game for you!… Expand
  23. willmaster123
    May 22, 2011
    10
    The game has been redecorated and redesigned to change the much needed to be changed old world areas. I will include the patch contents within the expansion because this is about the change in WoW, not necessarily the value of the product. The old world zones used to be difficult, not the fun type which requires simple skill, but they were difficult to get through because they were tediousThe game has been redecorated and redesigned to change the much needed to be changed old world areas. I will include the patch contents within the expansion because this is about the change in WoW, not necessarily the value of the product. The old world zones used to be difficult, not the fun type which requires simple skill, but they were difficult to get through because they were tedious and frankly boring. However with cataclysm these things change, and mostly for the better. Old zones are redesigned so the effects of the catacylsm (mainly lava zones) are shown throughout, however the biggest addition are the quests. There are cinematics, phasing, and most important simply more quests. The 1-60 content is often better than any outlands or northrend content, making it seem much more feasible to start the new character you always wanted. However, during the leveling process, they have made it so quickly that its very possible to skip through things way to fast, for instance, i finished Stonetalon mountains within perhaps 1-2 hours, and i had gone up a whole 5 levels. Its like this of course until the early 50s, where blizzard tends to slow things heavily, but it is still a welcome addition. Now for the 80-85 content, which is actually some of the best blizzard has ever produced. The quests are epic in scale and involving many important lore characters, and even though their mostly against the odd Twilight Hammer. This also brings up another issue, the lore is quite unfitting besides the story of Deathwing (who is a fantastic villain) and the twilight hammer. The twilight hammer simply dont fit because they were always a very small part of the previous versions of the game, and only now do they go onto par with the demons and undead. It also marks the departure from the warcraft 3 lore, meaning blizzard will have to crank the creativity wheel soon enough to add to the lore anymore. The two new races Goblin and Worgen, are also a slight disappointment, but not because its blizzards fault. There simply werent enough players wanting new classes, and it resulted in very little amount of the new races. However their starting zones (especially the worgen) are great, and show the races homeland get destroyed as they take sides with their new factions. Now for the last part, and arguably the most important part, the endgame. The endgame is much better than Wotlk's easiness. The heroics, especially at the beginning of the release, were extremely hard and required teamwork and crowd control not seen since the BC days. It marked a return to the old days of classical wow, and was a huge welcome addition to many hardcore players. The design of the dungeons are great as well, with bosses being very flashy and numerous, and the diversity being good between them. Not much can be say about the raids however, mainly because they simply are not very good. There are three raids in total, and they are all much harder than WotLK beginning raids, however they are not memorable much at all. Over all i rate the game an 8, because the redesign of the old world is ultimately amazing, but with not much different to bring to the picture, wow's age marks are beginning to show.… Expand
  24. kalisnik
    May 20, 2011
    9
    After two trash expansions here comes finaly something what brings me back to trully World of Warcraft feeling. I was playing World of Warcraft from the begining, but as I said first and second expansion was crap with noob gamplay and EPIX for everyone, now comes something what brings to World of Warcraft something from good old wow, what we knew...
  25. Stormblazer
    May 18, 2011
    8
    I enjoyed Cataclysm significantly more than I did the previous two expansions. I feel most of the reworking was rather well-done overall.
    For those that plan on playing a single MMO long-term, feel free to ignore this, as that's not how I play MMOs. For me, if I get a few good, *fun* months out of an MMO, it's a blazing success for me.
    Now, Cataclysm certainly had flaws, but I'd argue most    I enjoyed Cataclysm significantly more than I did the previous two expansions. I feel most of the reworking was rather well-done overall.
    For those that plan on playing a single MMO long-term, feel free to ignore this, as that's not how I play MMOs. For me, if I get a few good, *fun* months out of an MMO, it's a blazing success for me.
    Now, Cataclysm certainly had flaws, but I'd argue most of them stem from the core gameplay that WoW offers in the first place, which while decent has become stale in a way that no amount of reworking is going to change.    … Expand
  26. Goosebump
    Apr 19, 2011
    8
    Blizz did some wonderful work redoing the 'old world' and the game is far more enjoyable to level up a new toon now than it has ever been before. For this, it get's a perfect 10. Personally an overly tough first tier of raiding has tarnished it somewhat in the sense that it's not pug friendly on normal mode. The new lockout system is not something I like either. I think patch 4.1 willBlizz did some wonderful work redoing the 'old world' and the game is far more enjoyable to level up a new toon now than it has ever been before. For this, it get's a perfect 10. Personally an overly tough first tier of raiding has tarnished it somewhat in the sense that it's not pug friendly on normal mode. The new lockout system is not something I like either. I think patch 4.1 will improve things here massively though.

    For the new races and reworked old content alone though, it's a fantastic expansion.    … Expand
  27. solsunforge
    Apr 9, 2011
    8
    I will try to keep this review strictly about the game and not about the people in it or the length of time I personally have been playing as I find that to be nothing more then a epeen issue.

    Cataclysm is a effort from blizzard to breath a bit of life into a game slowly crushing from its own weight. Since the beggining of world of warcraft the game has taken blizzard by surprise and in    I will try to keep this review strictly about the game and not about the people in it or the length of time I personally have been playing as I find that to be nothing more then a epeen issue.

    Cataclysm is a effort from blizzard to breath a bit of life into a game slowly crushing from its own weight. Since the beggining of world of warcraft the game has taken blizzard by surprise and in my opinion made them greedy as seeing big dollar signs can do to many developers. A lot of mechanics have been simplified such as talent trees and the inner workings of character progression. The added mastery in many character builds is very stale but in others is very useful. You can reforge your gear which is taking half of your secondary stas and changing that to another secondary stat which isnt on the gear. Reforging is incredibly more useful then mastery however. Since Blizzard didnt know how to deal with people who had 45% or more crit chance they nerfed it by a drastic amount. They could of made it that the bosses had extra health to compensate which would in effect give players the exact same effect but they also wouldnt feel like they have been universally nerfed. The phasing system is very cool but it is also very aggravating to go to a ore to mine it and have it disappear bewcause its in a different phase. I believe they should make all resource nodes either show up on every phase or make only obtainable nodes show up for seperate phases. The new zones are a nice change of pace but all in all I feel the time it takes to get from 80-85 is very disappointing in how short it is to get to max level. Heroic dungeons feel heroic again but from what I have experienced raids seem rather easy comparitively to burning crusade or vanilla. I feel that having the end cataclysm boss being just a rehash of a boss already defeated is a huge slight to the playerbase. The precense of a blizzard store that sells non combat pets is okay except thats not all they sell. You can purchase a mount which is essentially just a reskin of a mount you most likely already have it even uses the same skeleton. The amount of daily quests is mind boggling considering blizzard has expressed numerous concerns about there being to much gold in game. All in all I would say it probably is worth it for old veteran players to come back to try it out at least. While there is faults it still is a enjoyabble experience and at the very least will save you money from buying numerous games that may only last a few hours.    … Expand
  28. TerKaDer
    Mar 26, 2011
    8
    I have played WOW since launch, took a short break around BC, so when I saw that Blizzard was going to be changing up the old zones and redoing the quest I was needless to say excited. The new zones are quite beautiful and blizzard did an amazing job on the phasing that they implemented, which really helps to make you feel like you made a difference. The new dungeons are greatI have played WOW since launch, took a short break around BC, so when I saw that Blizzard was going to be changing up the old zones and redoing the quest I was needless to say excited. The new zones are quite beautiful and blizzard did an amazing job on the phasing that they implemented, which really helps to make you feel like you made a difference. The new dungeons are great especially when you get into a heroic and it actually takes skill to get through it unlike playing through the WoTLK dungeons, which were just burn the enemies down no real strategy. One downside I have found is the leveling, it simply goes by too fast. I finished up all the new content within a month and was onto endgame content again, basically back in the same spot I was the month before when Cataclysm wasn't out yet. All in all it is a great expansion to a great game.… Expand
  29. bullkahn
    Mar 15, 2011
    10
    It's fun, but they removed the whle purpose or reason to visit old areas because you lvl so quickly. on the other hand lvling faster also means you can truly begin to play the actual game. Everyone knows that wow really only starts at max lvl, everything b4 that is bassicaly a way to make money and a way to get to know your character (a bit of practice).
  30. DANEger
    Mar 13, 2011
    8
    The World of Warcraft has changed for the better it is more streamlined and far more easy to to follow, the game now explicitly tells you the best spots to be at your level. many see this as hand holding and an absolutely massive blow the the game's quality i find that rather absurd making a game less confusing is not making it worse and in some ways not even making it less difficult butThe World of Warcraft has changed for the better it is more streamlined and far more easy to to follow, the game now explicitly tells you the best spots to be at your level. many see this as hand holding and an absolutely massive blow the the game's quality i find that rather absurd making a game less confusing is not making it worse and in some ways not even making it less difficult but rather simply less tedious. Another aspect of the game that i find highly improved is they way gilds have been reworked. Lets face it this is an MMO you are supposed to play it with others complaining that you can not solo parts is like complain about the lack of race race cars in a fighting game. This gives a guild actual benefits and rewards you for advancing your guild making the for a more cohesive game.

    My only complaint is that Outlands and Notherrend are absolutely untouched even a slight touch up to the 2 would have been a nice change of pace.    … Expand
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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

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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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