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. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Pomornik
    Nov 3, 2011
    6
    Half-assed and overhyped expansion. Many of the features got scrapped, most of the content is just repainted old one, and it has worst end-game out of all of the expansions. WoW needs something new, not more of the same old crap we all saw hundreds of times already.
  5. Necrotaur
    Oct 8, 2011
    7
    Despite it being a decent expansion, Cataclysm ultimately caused me to cancel my account by revealing the man behind the curtain. The remake of the old world was pretty cool, but zones have now become incredibly linear, like one big quest chain, and you tend to outlevel them before you complete them. Then you power through Outland and Northrend, which are both in a sort of lore limbo.Despite it being a decent expansion, Cataclysm ultimately caused me to cancel my account by revealing the man behind the curtain. The remake of the old world was pretty cool, but zones have now become incredibly linear, like one big quest chain, and you tend to outlevel them before you complete them. Then you power through Outland and Northrend, which are both in a sort of lore limbo. Afterward you enter the new zones, which again are pretty cool, but it quickly becomes a treadmill where you endlessly grind rep/points/dungeons. There was and still is, not much new content.… Expand
  6. Duderoth
    Sep 26, 2011
    6
    WoW: Cataclysm is hard to rate, and really it should be divided into two separate games. One is the new 1-60 content, and the other is the end-game. I would give 1-60 an 8 and the endgame a 4 so they average to 6. Now obviously, if we make comparisons, since all reviews are a form of comparison, the closest thing we can compare Cataclysm to is Wrath of the Lich King, which I thought wasWoW: Cataclysm is hard to rate, and really it should be divided into two separate games. One is the new 1-60 content, and the other is the end-game. I would give 1-60 an 8 and the endgame a 4 so they average to 6. Now obviously, if we make comparisons, since all reviews are a form of comparison, the closest thing we can compare Cataclysm to is Wrath of the Lich King, which I thought was a tremendous expansion and I gave an 8. I know WotLK's content endgame was pretty easy (well, very easy), but that wasn't why I like it. WotLK's endgame dungeons had some very interesting environments, dungeons and lore. Lore. That is what is really missing with Cataclysm. You feel with endgame that you are simply going through the motions. There's nothing really unique or significant with design, architecture, or anything else. The gameplay is almost exactly the same as the previous expansion, with the exception that they put crowd control back in, and has been essentially the same throughout the series, so how do I rate the game on that aspect? It really is the world-building, the quests, and what you're hero accomplishes in his adventures against the Lich King, the Old Gods, and the Burning Legion that makes WoW entertaining, and I feel that Cataclysm ultimately failed to deliver the sense that you're character's actions have any sort of impact with endgame so far. There's just no depth to it. That said, I would spend all my time with Cata leveling from 1 to 60, because the new quest areas for new characters *were* developed with a sense of impact and interest, and some of the quests you just cannot miss (Badlands). So there's my summation. I don't know how helpful it will be if at all.… Expand
  7. JettoGaming
    Sep 18, 2011
    6
    World of Warcraft is still and probably always be one of the most beautiful online "worlds" in terms of MMORPGs. It's massive and pretty, although somewhat repetitive. At first it is easy to disregard it as a complete repacking of Vanilla, with a few extra areas thrown in for good measure. (Nothing was really changed in regards to BC or WotLK, at least not too much) The gameplay is muchWorld of Warcraft is still and probably always be one of the most beautiful online "worlds" in terms of MMORPGs. It's massive and pretty, although somewhat repetitive. At first it is easy to disregard it as a complete repacking of Vanilla, with a few extra areas thrown in for good measure. (Nothing was really changed in regards to BC or WotLK, at least not too much) The gameplay is much the same as it ever was, except now traveling does not take as long, leveling progresses much faster (sometimes this is good and bad) and the story does take an interesting twist. That being said the biggest issue is the story. Although it makes perfect sense what has happened in Azeroth, the missing elements are disappointing. What happened to the Emerald Dream? I'm still waiting for that. I want to face off with the Titans and Old Gods, I want the end to draw near in an epic battle, that I can play again, with better or more challenging mechanics, something. In essence you will be doing more of the same and there are some challenging instances, beautiful areas and awesome bind on account equipment BUT, we really need a change or I feel this game is going to die soon. Great if you love the Warcraft series but awful if you don't. Probably also not the best change for the most hardcore WoW players, since the challenge level slightly dropped. Save for some of the places in Deepholm, Hyjal and Uldum. Also what's the deal with only adding 5 levels? I know there is always epic loot but Blizzard, if we assume has at least 9 million people left, or at least did at once time, they were pulling in about 135,000,000 (135 million) per month, not including the cost of the game and expansions. Where is all the money going? That is my real problem with this expansion.… Expand
  8. Xextreem
    Sep 17, 2011
    6
    I love world of warcraft. Butt iam not die hard gaming freak i got a live to. So let me say this is the expand good or not well the f*ck up some good **** in this game but the graphics story and the fun in it don`t forget the leveling up system make this game OK not good but OK.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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
  12. 4lch3m1st
    Aug 9, 2011
    7
    After playing for 4 years at a cost of 675$ in total subscription costs and a couple hundred in discs and another hundred worth of pets and mounts it has been the most immersive MMORPG I have ever installed. The cataclysm expansion was long awaited by myself and millions of other players and it delivered about 25% of the satisfaction we expected in the game. Farming nodes are as if someoneAfter playing for 4 years at a cost of 675$ in total subscription costs and a couple hundred in discs and another hundred worth of pets and mounts it has been the most immersive MMORPG I have ever installed. The cataclysm expansion was long awaited by myself and millions of other players and it delivered about 25% of the satisfaction we expected in the game. Farming nodes are as if someone just decided to put a few lines of nodes in each new area and call it a day, versus pre-cata where nodes could be anywhere. Each week is met with at least 8-10 hours of complete downtime and neverending restarts as if they don't quite know exactly what they are doing. They recently also shut down all forums during these downtimes to ensure they need not read about unhappy players who spend real money for downtime. Quests which used to take time to figure out to complete are overly too simple as if the new target player base is 8 to 12 year old kids. Rest assured that once you have learned your class and become good at it, blizzard will rewrite your skills and abilities to ensure you are half as strong as you once were and after overcoming that hurdle, they weaken you even more. End content in the game requires you to somehow become affluent in raid tactics and gear to even be eligible to play the end content, typically reserved for the top 10% of the realm. Goldsellers, (hackers), frequent the servers to steal passwords and accounts then bilk these accounts clean to sell your stolen items on the auction house with no retaliation as blizzard can roll-back your account to replace stolen items. One would surmise that these hackers would be banned, yet they are not and instill the idea that they are beneficial to Blizzard akin to the term, "you scratch our back and we'll scratch yours", the idea that if a player buys gold from a goldseller, that player will be banned but will be able to buy a new cd set to continue playing with a new slate. Tactical title sales? Be warned, it's no longer as safe as it once was, just ask any player who purchased an authenticator.… Expand
  13. mas223
    Aug 7, 2011
    6
    A late review since i also think Cataclysm is a terrible expansion. I hope blizzard put their A team back on wow for the next xpac. Think its pretty obvious that they were working on some other game instead of Cata. The issues i have are: The graphics are terrible. Fly around Northrend or Outlands for good graphics. 80-85 content looks very primitive and bland. The soundtrack has beenA late review since i also think Cataclysm is a terrible expansion. I hope blizzard put their A team back on wow for the next xpac. Think its pretty obvious that they were working on some other game instead of Cata. The issues i have are: The graphics are terrible. Fly around Northrend or Outlands for good graphics. 80-85 content looks very primitive and bland. The soundtrack has been destroyed. Went from equal best in a video game to stupid hollywood crap. Worst of all, say you did like the story, the model has changed to tens of little of quest hubs in a zone. Over everything else, this has made questing meaningless. If you only know an npc and their story for 20 mins max, you'll forget the npc just as easily. Oh yeah, the endgame is identical to previous expansions.… Expand
  14. IrishChai
    Aug 7, 2011
    5
    Unfortunately this really feels like the beginning of the end for WoW. I liked the new content a lot at first, until a week passed and I was already 85. Then I decided to go back and start a couple new characters to see the new 1-60 content. A couple weeks later, I was reentering untouched old content for levels 60-80 that I didn't have any interest in replaying. The transition betweenUnfortunately this really feels like the beginning of the end for WoW. I liked the new content a lot at first, until a week passed and I was already 85. Then I decided to go back and start a couple new characters to see the new 1-60 content. A couple weeks later, I was reentering untouched old content for levels 60-80 that I didn't have any interest in replaying. The transition between Cata content and previous expansions is just awkward without any consideration or adjustment by Blizzard. There just wasn't enough content and fine-tuning with this expansion for veteran players, especially when the 1-60 game is now so ridiculously easy that it's just as easy and boring as watching someone else play it on youtube. Blizzard still manages to make some quest lines entertaining and funny, but these came few and far between this time around. The highlights were the new graphic effects, more challenging endgame instances, and the reorganization of the entire old world to make it flow better (technically this wasn't expansion content - vanilla players have access to all 1-60 content). The more prevalent cons of this expansion include the terrible transition now present for new players after level 60, everything outside of endgame dungeons/raids being pathetically easy, more graphical glitches then ever before, poorly made cutscenes, a very boring new profession (archaeology), and very little else to keep any veteran players interested beyond another month or two. I'm not sure if Blizzard is just losing their touch, or if the game is just reaching the age where no amount of quality content could help retain it's playerbase. Either way, this expansion came off as very mediocre at best.… Expand
  15. 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
  16. Fredelas
    Jul 18, 2011
    6
    It was interesting to see how this expansion reworked the original regions of Azeroth. However, the new max level content was a bit of a let down, in terms of quantity. I expected more to do, and there just didn't feel like more.
  17. CHINESE_TIGER
    Jul 17, 2011
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm just gonna be straight up here. I've only played the game for 2 years, yet I'm already kinda burnt out of it. However, it emits an attractive vibe that just keeps me coming back. It's addiction, my friends. I can't even find any WoW clones attractive. It's addictive and it's even fun most of the time. Whenever I get bored on WoW, I find a way to cure my boredom, maybe even have a few laughs. That's what I loved about WoW; its semi non-linearity. Now, however, that non-linearity kinda disappeared with Cataclysm. It's quest, gold, raid, gloat. It's always been like this but I just feel like Cataclysm is where it's been most pronounced. Even in Wrath it wasn't like this. I've raided this expansion. I find it challenging and fun. However, I've been burnt out. Hell, on my 85s I haven't even done a dungeon for months because I just don't enjoy the queues, then having the group fall apart because the tank doesn't know what a taunt is. I just prefer the leveling. I've done all the old zones plenty of times before Cataclysm and the reworking of the zones was very refreshing. However, it's just starting to get old now, and I cry in pain whenever I get to Outland because it's the same thing it was for years, now. Now, I wait it out. I level to 60, do some stuff there, then level to 60 again. I actually find it quite entertaining, even though I've done it plenty of times already. I'm a slow leveler, so I guess that inadvertently prolongs the enjoyment. I really hope Blizzard doesn't disappoint next expansion. BlizzCon is getting me excited. However, in interim, I find that my playtime is slowly eroding and having its place taken by other games like Team Fortress 2. It's burning out, but there still are glimmers of hope left.… Expand
  18. 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.
  19. Tkwz
    Jun 13, 2011
    5
    Opinion of this game (and particularly about this expansion) will greatly depend on the type of player one is. Cataclysm (and WoW in general) is a perfect MMORPG for those new players that have limited and scattered free time (aka Casuals). For them it offers well polished, rich and fairly entertaining content that lasts for quite a while, the graphics engine is fairly outdated, but stillOpinion of this game (and particularly about this expansion) will greatly depend on the type of player one is. Cataclysm (and WoW in general) is a perfect MMORPG for those new players that have limited and scattered free time (aka Casuals). For them it offers well polished, rich and fairly entertaining content that lasts for quite a while, the graphics engine is fairly outdated, but still the game looks positively alive, much more so than ANY mmorpg out there. The only problem is a complete lack of higher difficulty option, the classes have many skills but very straightforward, the quests and even dungeons are easy, not challenging even for completely new rpg players. Some will like it that way, many wonâ… Expand
  20. Brianz87
    Jun 1, 2011
    6
    Cataclysm is a very hard expansion to review. On one hand, the leveling content (Both from 1-60 and 80-85) is much more streamlined than it was before, though it is also much easier which may take down the enjoyment for more hardcore players. Casual players will likely be turned off though by the increase in time commitment required for endgame raiding from Wrath, along with much longerCataclysm is a very hard expansion to review. On one hand, the leveling content (Both from 1-60 and 80-85) is much more streamlined than it was before, though it is also much easier which may take down the enjoyment for more hardcore players. Casual players will likely be turned off though by the increase in time commitment required for endgame raiding from Wrath, along with much longer heroic dungeons. My recommendation is to look for another mmo, such as Guild Wars or Rift, or waiting for the old Republic… Expand
  21. 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
  22. Tridus
    May 20, 2011
    6
    I played Cataclysm until recently. It's pretty fun at first, but the magic is gone. The storyline at this point makes absolutely no sense and has come down in 4.1 to "for some random reason former good guy Trolls are now evil, so go kill them in these recycled dungeons." Content is pathetically slow in coming since release, and weak when it finally did arrive. There's a great sense of "whoI played Cataclysm until recently. It's pretty fun at first, but the magic is gone. The storyline at this point makes absolutely no sense and has come down in 4.1 to "for some random reason former good guy Trolls are now evil, so go kill them in these recycled dungeons." Content is pathetically slow in coming since release, and weak when it finally did arrive. There's a great sense of "who cares?" in most of what's going on. To top it off, Blizzard is now largely focused on tacking on extra charges more then they are improving the game. It's been a good run, but this is a game that's lost its way.… Expand
  23. 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...
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. 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
  29. TheJoxter
    Apr 25, 2011
    5
    Excellent rebalance and new content aren't enough to kill the ennui growing in this WoWer's heart. Perhaps someday something will rekindle the lost feeling WoW once inspired but this, today, is not it. Better luck nest time Blizz.
  30. 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
  31. 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
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. 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
  35. 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
  36. mjwilliams84
    Apr 10, 2011
    6
    Revamped areas, two new races, new instances/battlegrounds and a general streamlining of the levelling process make Cataclysm a fairly decent expansion to the series. However, as much as Blizzard sugarcoat it, it still results in a lack of end-game content if you're not in a huge raiding guild. This alienation of the player base that prefers playing in small groups or solo is unforgivableRevamped areas, two new races, new instances/battlegrounds and a general streamlining of the levelling process make Cataclysm a fairly decent expansion to the series. However, as much as Blizzard sugarcoat it, it still results in a lack of end-game content if you're not in a huge raiding guild. This alienation of the player base that prefers playing in small groups or solo is unforgivable in a game that promises so much. The new heroic mode provides a few hours of challenge which sadly doesn't last once you've seen them all at least once. Battlegrounds are, as ever, down mainly to pot luck (being in a decent server group) or the gear you have on. Level to 85, check out the areas, talents and instances, but don't expect anything much different from previous offerings or even anything particularly challenging. What was once an endless grind to the next piece of gear has stayed relatively unchanged.… Expand
  37. 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
  38. 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
  39. 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
  40. iabster
    Mar 28, 2011
    6
    I've been playing WoW since a week before Burning Crusade came out. I've been a fanboy ever since...loving the content and having plenty to do. I was getting a bit burned by the end of Wrath and debated getting Cataclysm. I did it anyway and was pretty happy with the first two areas I went through...the cut scenes they added were a pretty cool addition. Seeing how the stats on all theI've been playing WoW since a week before Burning Crusade came out. I've been a fanboy ever since...loving the content and having plenty to do. I was getting a bit burned by the end of Wrath and debated getting Cataclysm. I did it anyway and was pretty happy with the first two areas I went through...the cut scenes they added were a pretty cool addition. Seeing how the stats on all the new gear and weapons was very attractive...had my warrior's health up to 80k in no time...and then it hit me...I had just cleared my 3rd full area of quests and headed in to a 4th new area...I gathered up 3 or 4 new quests from the NPCs...and all of a sudden I felt my dinner coming back up, and cold sweat coming...go kill 10 Hateful Beings, and gather 6 Something or other essences, and free 12 Pitiful Souls...Blah! I was done...no more...I just couldn't go on...I'd seen enough of the reused buildings and creatures with new color schemes...I didn't want to do a dungeon 100+ times to get enough points for my new gear...not to mention tanking was not the same (i loved tanking), and rarely were groups patient enough as I learned the fights and geared up. My money, my time...I'm done. Looking forward to the Fall lineup of MMOs...until then, I'll catch up on some cool title for my PS3...peace All. No longer LFG...… Expand
  41. 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
  42. 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
  43. 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
  44. 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
  45. 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
  46. 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
  47. spoocaptain
    Mar 22, 2011
    5
    The 'professional' critics don't even need to be bribed at this point; they're likely all addicted fanboys. I have been playing WoW since a few months after release, so I guess I don't have room to talk. However, this has been, by far, the most lackluster expansion to date. I enjoyed the competitive rush of the first two weeks or so, but now it's slowed down to the exact same sluggish ****The 'professional' critics don't even need to be bribed at this point; they're likely all addicted fanboys. I have been playing WoW since a few months after release, so I guess I don't have room to talk. However, this has been, by far, the most lackluster expansion to date. I enjoyed the competitive rush of the first two weeks or so, but now it's slowed down to the exact same sluggish **** as WotLK, just with less content. This quickie expansion heralds the cry that the peak of WoW's dominance has waned. Say goodbye to the WoW of yore, but hold on to the good memories; WoW was actually good back then. That said, I will certainly look into future Blizzard releases, even this 'Titan' project. Blizzard is by no means a bad company, WoW has just gotten old and far too streamlined-yet-grindy.… Expand
  48. 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
  49. 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
  50. 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
  51. 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!
  52. 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
  53. 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.
  54. 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!
  55. akelz7
    Mar 16, 2011
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Dear Blizzard, Thank you for revamping old Azeroth into a world of heavenly (and Horde-favored, LOKTAR OGAR!) experience for the playerbase. Thank you for making some nice new zones and two competent (I hated the BS races) new races. Thank you for adding even more BRILLIANT music to the game and, perhaps MOST importantly, thank you for both making the Forsaken as a playable race make any sense and giving the trolls a new starting zone. Also thank you for making your end game content fun and challeng- WHAT? 19 direct nerfs to heroics? 15% luck of the draw buff? Oh, dear God, Blizzard, DON'T GO BACK TO THE HELL OF WOTLK. Also to everyone who "hates" this expansion and is "done" I have 3 things to say: 1: If you are calling leveling too easy, yes I can agree with that, WTF Blizz? 2: If you are quitting, you'll be back, you've probably "quit: every damn patch, and 3: If you ARE quitting, NOBODY CARES! you are a worthless internet troll and Blizzard wouldn't care if you DIED, get over yourself. This is, however, only MY opinion, and I recommend you try it out, seeing as how the revamp of old Azeroth was done via a patch, so you don't need to buy the expansion to experience this updated content.… Expand
  56. 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).
  57. 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
  58. ltx
    Mar 12, 2011
    7
    Fun for a little while. Unless you're into raiding or other long-term grinds, this expansion brings about 2 months worth of content. Overall, least amount of content from any expansion so far. This would be fine if expansion release cycle was shortened to 1 year or even 6 months. Good stuff: heroic dungeons were a lot of fun before everyone geared out and difficulty was reduced. New zones,Fun for a little while. Unless you're into raiding or other long-term grinds, this expansion brings about 2 months worth of content. Overall, least amount of content from any expansion so far. This would be fine if expansion release cycle was shortened to 1 year or even 6 months. Good stuff: heroic dungeons were a lot of fun before everyone geared out and difficulty was reduced. New zones, although few, are pretty and have story-lines.… Expand
  59. 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
  60. 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
  61. 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?
  62. dondon
    Mar 7, 2011
    7
    I've played WoW since the BC days and seen the changes. The old classic world is revamped forever and quests have become linear. The storyline for this expansion is not the best compared to previous expansions. Compared to WoTLK the dungeons and raids have been made a bit harder. Probably for the outrageous numbers of players in forums complaining how easy Wraith was. Graphics are neverI've played WoW since the BC days and seen the changes. The old classic world is revamped forever and quests have become linear. The storyline for this expansion is not the best compared to previous expansions. Compared to WoTLK the dungeons and raids have been made a bit harder. Probably for the outrageous numbers of players in forums complaining how easy Wraith was. Graphics are never high end because Blizzard tries to get as many people as they can get. Be it that people have a crap computer to high end users. This game is a bit shorter than usually for the start of a expansion but more content will come in the months ahead.… Expand
  63. gamegeek
    Mar 5, 2011
    5
    I have been playing World of Warcraft since its release, lots of changes have happened and 3 expansions later we have arrived at Cataclysm. For me, Cataclysm looked great, it seemed that WoW was going to move up another step in the MMO ranks. For me, its the same old stuff, to get to 80-85 its tons and tons of quests. The story line...well, I kept doing so many quests I started to justI have been playing World of Warcraft since its release, lots of changes have happened and 3 expansions later we have arrived at Cataclysm. For me, Cataclysm looked great, it seemed that WoW was going to move up another step in the MMO ranks. For me, its the same old stuff, to get to 80-85 its tons and tons of quests. The story line...well, I kept doing so many quests I started to just accept the quests without reading them. If your an avid WoW fan you will love it. If your new to the game, there isnt any reason to buy Cataclysm unless you want a different looking avatar (Worgen, Goblins). The new starting zones are beyond great, the story lines are VERY well done. But thats just until level 20ish, when your around level 80-85 the quests just keep coming and there seems to be no end to it. If your looking to advance the next levels in WoW go for it. But once you hit the level cap, its the same old story of PvP and 5 man dungeons and play your eyes out until you have the correct gear score to do 10 and 25-man raids.… Expand
  64. 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.
  65. LongtimeGamer
    Mar 3, 2011
    5
    Ok cool. Its another wow expansion that adds a fairly good amount of content for your money but overall it grows old very quickly. Its the same old wow. GO here, quest, get max level, enjoy the endless gear grind until next expansion. Rinse-Repeat. Save yourself the trouble.. Play wow for a few months maybe like 2-4 then once uve played through a few raids etc quit. Cus its the sameOk cool. Its another wow expansion that adds a fairly good amount of content for your money but overall it grows old very quickly. Its the same old wow. GO here, quest, get max level, enjoy the endless gear grind until next expansion. Rinse-Repeat. Save yourself the trouble.. Play wow for a few months maybe like 2-4 then once uve played through a few raids etc quit. Cus its the same concept over and over...… Expand
  66. 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
  67. Dyskresiac
    Feb 25, 2011
    5
    This may be the hardest ame to review. Cataclysm's gem comes for free. Get Vanilla, get to level 60 a few times, find another game. You will love every minute of it. 60-70 was like getting teeth pulled, and 70-80 dragged on towards the end. Cataclysm (strictly speaking) 80-85 content was wonderful. Wonderful, but disgustingly short. It can be done in just a few hours. Imagine aThis may be the hardest ame to review. Cataclysm's gem comes for free. Get Vanilla, get to level 60 a few times, find another game. You will love every minute of it. 60-70 was like getting teeth pulled, and 70-80 dragged on towards the end. Cataclysm (strictly speaking) 80-85 content was wonderful. Wonderful, but disgustingly short. It can be done in just a few hours. Imagine a roller coaster where you get to the bottom of the first hill and- woop, ride's over. Not horrible, but not exactly what you were expecting after waiting out that long line. It's not worth the torture of 60-80 to play 80-85 content, but 1-60 was great, first second and third time.… Expand
  68. 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
  69. 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.
  70. 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
  71. Vasot
    Feb 14, 2011
    10
    World of Warcraft is more than just a game, it is a malicious waste of time, where one has to work so much to keep up with the rest of the players that it becomes something like a virtual job, frustrating and tedious, it is more repetitive than the spinning of a wheel, and has no substance whatsoever. If only players realised how much time they spend waiting to fly from one spot toWorld of Warcraft is more than just a game, it is a malicious waste of time, where one has to work so much to keep up with the rest of the players that it becomes something like a virtual job, frustrating and tedious, it is more repetitive than the spinning of a wheel, and has no substance whatsoever. If only players realised how much time they spend waiting to fly from one spot to another, waiting for a boat or a zeppelin, riding for miles to get to the desired spot, waiting for the raid to build up, do long, plenty and very tedious dailies to earn virtual money they would see that most of the game time is spent doing effectively NOTHING.

    And then there's the anger, stress, disappointment which are all inevitable in both raids and arena, and so little satisfaction to gain which is not in the game-play itself but in the number of emblems or badges one strives to collect, or the loot, the arena points and team rating respectively.
    Cataclysm is yet another useless add-on, which urges players to level up some more, get in new boring instances and basically just start the whole repetitive labour all over again, all to one end only - to obtain better gear as quickly as possible, before other players do, and be among the first in their guild to be congratulated with "GZ" when earning a worthless achievement.
    World of Warcraft appears under "similar games" regardless of one looking into an RPG game, action, strategy, or any other. It's advertised EVERYWHERE and in a most annoying manner. But what can we do against the almighty power of money - the sum Gamespot collects from Blizzard.    … Expand
  72. 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
  73. Etreum
    Feb 1, 2011
    5
    I love World of Warcraft. I have played for over four years and have 11 level 85s.

    I am not criticizing Cataclysm. I loved the new zones and the questing, but... I think Blizzard is really shoving guilds down our throats. Yes, in WOTLK, if you wanted the absolute top of the line gear, you needed to be part of a raiding guild and spend the time. Fine, but if you did not want to raid,    I love World of Warcraft. I have played for over four years and have 11 level 85s.

    I am not criticizing Cataclysm. I loved the new zones and the questing, but...

    I think Blizzard is really shoving guilds down our throats. Yes, in WOTLK, if you wanted the absolute top of the line gear, you needed to be part of a raiding guild and spend the time. Fine, but if you did not want to raid, there were still quite a few ways to improve yourself through heroics, PvP and achievements and still have fun.

    Now, everything from achievements, to PvP, to heroics are guild-centric, so as a solo player, your options for advancement have been pretty much destroyed.

    I have raised all my alts to level 85, but now what? I hardly got my guild (consisting of my alts) to level 3. So many of the achievements are guild related. Doing heroics with a Pug? Impossible. Rated battegrounds without being part of a PvP guild? Can't do that either.

    So you get to 85 and that is it, nothing more to do unless you are willing to join and spend the time with an active guild. And what do I have against guilds? The drama, the power games, etc. Why play a game to reproduce the idiocy that takes place at the workplace?    … Expand
  74. zermetac
    Jan 30, 2011
    10
    I played wow since feb '05. I wasn't surprised to find the end game content to be a few dungeons and a raid dungeon. What I was surprised to find was how difficult it was to get anywhere in heroic dungeons or the main raid dungeon. Blizzard's raiding focus has shifted from tank and healers doing all the work to DPS working out when to CC and/or interrupt. This can lead to a lot ofI played wow since feb '05. I wasn't surprised to find the end game content to be a few dungeons and a raid dungeon. What I was surprised to find was how difficult it was to get anywhere in heroic dungeons or the main raid dungeon. Blizzard's raiding focus has shifted from tank and healers doing all the work to DPS working out when to CC and/or interrupt. This can lead to a lot of frustration especially considering that a lot of people were used to WotLK mode of playing when all people had to do was round mob groups up and aoe them down. It's obvious to me that blizzard's extended focus on the old zones was to encourage players who were fed up with the difficulty of running dungeons to roll a new toon. Questing is cooler though with more added cinematics, making the questlines more than just a series of "to do" lists. I was surprised at how quickly I got from 80 to 85 on my pally. It only took 3 days. With that said, there isn't much to do when you get to the top, other than to do another dungeon so you can get a little more geared up. Tradeskilling is easier. PVP is still the boring objectives, just on different maps. Playing Tol Barad for the 20th time can be a little old and considering that you need to play every TB you can get into just so you can get some much needed gears it can feel redundant. All in all, it feels like Blizzard's quality in making games hasn't disappeared at all.… Expand
  75. Squeedly135
    Jan 27, 2011
    10
    Having been both a pretty serious PvE and PvPer in WOTLK, i feel Blizzard imroved on every quality of the game. I have only really gotten into the pvp in Cataclysm, but from what i can tell, its simply fantastic. All the classes seem much more rounded, healers arent unkillable anymore and fights take longer and feel much more satisfying. As for the new world pvp Tol Barad, i dont reallyHaving been both a pretty serious PvE and PvPer in WOTLK, i feel Blizzard imroved on every quality of the game. I have only really gotten into the pvp in Cataclysm, but from what i can tell, its simply fantastic. All the classes seem much more rounded, healers arent unkillable anymore and fights take longer and feel much more satisfying. As for the new world pvp Tol Barad, i dont really like it that much but is not a huge deal. Blizzard has also made PvP more accesable because they ahve added rated battlegrounds as a way to get better gear, so you don't have to play in arenas if you dont like them that much. As for the PvE content, the leveling in Cataclysm wasn't a great challenge, but the new zones are simply stunning and the quests were alot of fun for the most part. The new PvE endgame content seems alot better as well, as more thought was put into the boss fights and the dungeons are much more intriguing. As for the old content, it has all been remodeled and i found that it has been made much more enjoyable and accessable for both new and old players. Another thing that i was pleased with was the new gear. Both PvP and PvE gear is much more cool looking and really gives a sense of accomplishment when you finally complete the set you have been working so hard to get. Overall, i found that Cataclysm was and still will be a great expansion, and im excited to see what kind of patches and new content gets released. Great job, Blizzard :)… Expand
  76. cajun67
    Jan 20, 2011
    10
    I probably put in 3 to 5 hours of gameplay a day, and I find this to be an excellent expansion. Some folks are saying to just enjoy the changes to vanilla WoW without buying Cata. Well, that's fine if you want to miss out on all of the great endgame content. Some are saying that it's too easy, because a bunch of people hit 85 within the first 24 hours of the release of the game. ThoseI probably put in 3 to 5 hours of gameplay a day, and I find this to be an excellent expansion. Some folks are saying to just enjoy the changes to vanilla WoW without buying Cata. Well, that's fine if you want to miss out on all of the great endgame content. Some are saying that it's too easy, because a bunch of people hit 85 within the first 24 hours of the release of the game. Those would be the power levelers; it took me about two weeks to get my first character from 80 to 85, because the enjoyment of the game is about more than leveling. Those who said it was too easy -- they obviously hadn't played heroic dungeons or done Cata raiding when they said that. Heroic bosses now play like actual raid bosses; you've got to know the fight tactics, you can't just run and gun them like you could with WotLK heroic bosses. There's been a lot of whining in the WoW forums about how tough the new Heroics are! Gear strategy is well thought out; it's important to get exalted with all of the Cata factions in order to get your first few pieces of Epic gear, so there's a lot more incentive to do all of the expansion quests than there was in WotLK. Plus, we already know that Bliz is going to continue to add content to this expansion, as the final boss battle isn't even active yet. It's easy to give this expansion a 10 out of 10.… Expand
  77. bizzyx33
    Jan 20, 2011
    7
    The game is really fun but wait I hate the most are the queues for dungeons. 30-50 minute queues is ridiculous. The dungeons are also much longer than they use to. I remember finishing dungeons within 30 minutes during WOTLK. Now they are taking 1 hour + per dungeon.

    PvP is also pretty unbalance. Frost mages who can win by just running around spamming ice lance 80% of the fight is dumb.    The game is really fun but wait I hate the most are the queues for dungeons. 30-50 minute queues is ridiculous. The dungeons are also much longer than they use to. I remember finishing dungeons within 30 minutes during WOTLK. Now they are taking 1 hour + per dungeon.

    PvP is also pretty unbalance. Frost mages who can win by just running around spamming ice lance 80% of the fight is dumb. I also purchased my World of Warcraft Cataclysm at www.wtsmystuff.com for $37.99. Great deals for many games. That is where I do all my pc game purchases.    … Expand
  78. vincesz
    Jan 16, 2011
    7
    For a bit of background about me, I played WoW extensively when it first came out (cleared Naxx) then played a bit when TBC came out (mostly arena) and quit at level 78 with WotLK.

    I came back to Cataclysm after seeing beta footage on Youtube and having it pique my interest. I had lost my account at that point, so I needed to start from scratch. The game blew me away almost from the    For a bit of background about me, I played WoW extensively when it first came out (cleared Naxx) then played a bit when TBC came out (mostly arena) and quit at level 78 with WotLK.

    I came back to Cataclysm after seeing beta footage on Youtube and having it pique my interest. I had lost my account at that point, so I needed to start from scratch.

    The game blew me away almost from the get-go. I was absolutely stunned with how much I enjoyed it, especially remembering the agony of leveling before. Almost every zone has a story, some small tale that you affect, brilliantly using the phasing mechanic to make you feel like your actions impact the zone.

    The entire game felt fresh and new, many small things were added to make learning things easier. No more training defense and weapon skills, notifications when you can learn new moves from the trainer, improved interfaces, spell alerts etc. etc.

    I had a perpetual blast from 1-60, but alas that's when the magic abruptly ends. Being a casual gamer, I played maybe a 2-3 hours a week, and levels 50-60 (which pre-cataclysm used to take ages to complete) now take about 1/2 hour per level un-rested.

    At level 60 this joyride comes to a screeching halt, and outlands and beyond. All of a sudden after having fun, rewarding, half hour level ups it takes about 2-3 hours PER LEVEL. The quests in the outlands starting zones give LESS exp than old world level 55 quests. The quests are also much further spaced out (meaning more travel time) and overall not as fun (kill 10 of x and 20 of y). I am currently level 69, and went to Northrend. That place hasn't changed much either, and I will not be continuing my "adventures" much longer.

    If I was to give out a recommendation for this game, I'd say that you should just buy the original WoW and play through leveling to 60. The expansion content is only necessary if you want to play goblins/worgen/blood elves/draenei or want to continue beyond level 60.    … Expand
  79. Carnifex
    Jan 14, 2011
    5
    Care Bear-clysm.. I thought that this expansion was going to be Blizz finally waking up and realizing that- A : Their game is too easy and- B: PVP and PVE need to be balanced seperately. --- I leveled up to 85 in 4-5 days, (what the hell) I mean I was just doing basic quests. Sure the end-game content is supposed to be where the "true game" starts. Well, the end-game content so far isn'tCare Bear-clysm.. I thought that this expansion was going to be Blizz finally waking up and realizing that- A : Their game is too easy and- B: PVP and PVE need to be balanced seperately. --- I leveled up to 85 in 4-5 days, (what the hell) I mean I was just doing basic quests. Sure the end-game content is supposed to be where the "true game" starts. Well, the end-game content so far isn't anything to right home about unless you like farming plain looking dungeons with super-sized, color swapped, bosses with inflated hit points/damage to give the illusion of difficulty. --- Oh and speaking of color swap, they really phoned in the armor sets this time. Not only do most classes look horrid, when you finally get to upgrade out of that ugly set "gratz color swap" same ugly set. ----- Class balance issues have seemingly always plagued this game, alright any MMO to be fair, but WoW's balancing seems to defy common sense. You get to look forward to that in this expansion too, it just gets worse because they added Mastery rating so now they have another stat to screw up. ---- Sad fact is I'm still playing WoW and probably still will be when the next expansion hits because despite what I think I'm basically just another WoW drone.… Expand
  80. Zeph
    Jan 13, 2011
    8
    I would call the GOAL of this expansion more of a fix-it-up rather than adding new content (although it DOES add quite a few areas), but regardless, it will only appeal to those who enjoy World of Warcraft, or are on the fence. If you do not fit into these categories, then save your money and don't bother. You know, why even bother reviewing, its just going to be a tug of war betweenI would call the GOAL of this expansion more of a fix-it-up rather than adding new content (although it DOES add quite a few areas), but regardless, it will only appeal to those who enjoy World of Warcraft, or are on the fence. If you do not fit into these categories, then save your money and don't bother. You know, why even bother reviewing, its just going to be a tug of war between haters and fanboys anyways.… Expand
  81. thebenjster
    Jan 10, 2011
    6
    Smaller scale than the first two expansions and not as well tested. Some of the PVP content, Tol Barad - the new Wintergrasp- in particular, is very poor. Its a far cry from the days Blizzard delays the burning crusade because they wanted to releases as polished a product as possible. The concept is great and when its good it really is but it just feels far to rushed in places.
  82. 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
  83. Tpiom
    Jan 7, 2011
    8
    Many areas, not all, have been completely redone to get updated to stay true to Wrath's technology. Blizzard are also able to tell a story through most of the areas so it's not like: "just finish this quest so I can move on" and more like "I want to finish this quest so I can find out what's going to happen next". It's a HUGE step forward for the World of Warcraft!
  84. Realjno
    Jan 7, 2011
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Keridor Dec 11, 20101 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 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.â… Expand
  85. Jimbob2k666
    Jan 7, 2011
    8
    ......FIRST OFF: Metacritic - Please allow paragraphs, Walls of Text is no fun :D ..............................The last time I tried to get back into World of Warcraft was in 2007 when WotLK expansion was released. I had played the game from inception up to The Burning Crusade, and that was where my love for the game died. TBC was just plain boring, and I didn't see much new......FIRST OFF: Metacritic - Please allow paragraphs, Walls of Text is no fun :D ..............................The last time I tried to get back into World of Warcraft was in 2007 when WotLK expansion was released. I had played the game from inception up to The Burning Crusade, and that was where my love for the game died. TBC was just plain boring, and I didn't see much new imagination being used in how the new regions were created. The reduction to 25 man was also a hard hitter having been an officer in a very successful guild (all server 1sts from MC up to half of Serpentshrine). Suddenly having to pick out people to dump who didn't make the grade was not a task we enjoyed. Tied in with various patches that made all the boss encounters really easy after we had spent many MANY hours wiping, working out new tactics and getting dungeons on farm, I got really peeved at Blizzard for devaluing the efforts of those who wanted hardcore PvE.......................................... I then rejoied the game (and my old guild - as a member) and despite making it to level 78, I just really didn't like what I was seeing. My guildies levelled far quicker than I did as I vowed (to my wife) that this game would no longer take up too much of my life..................................... The guild had been raiding for a couple of weeks and had the first to major instances almost on farm, which to me just seemed too fast. Reports were telling me way too many encounters were just "tank 'n' Spank" and really didn't require much thought to beat. This is when I gave up............................................

    So, on to Cataclysm. This time around I am on a PvP server in a new guild which a friend of mine helps to run. They were fairly established with another guild but some squabbles seemed to have seen him and a few others splinter off to reform a new guild. The guild has about 15 players who are very regular, and I thought what the heck, I'll give WoW another try.................................. So, I rolled a fresh character, a Goblin mage, which is a class I have never played as before. I really don't want to go into extreme detail, but the efforts Blizzard have made in the revamped level 1-60 zones are something majestical. They have really put a lot of thought into a lot of quests that have been reworked, and quests now have a much better flow as now, many quest lines don't require you to keep running back and forth to the quest giver, and will give you a "clicky" to complete and move onto the next part of the quests.......................................Experience gain is now very fast, and it does somewhat derail a little as you start going way ahead of quest levels, to the point that I managed to reach level 60 (as horde) by just doing half a dozen zones in Kalimdor, and just Stranglethorn Vale in the Eastern kingdoms. Whilst this is ok for those looking to rush everything, for me, a player who likes to take a bit more time, levelling up all my primary and secondary professions at the same time, became a bit annoying................................

    The biggest stumbling block as regards to the flow of the game, is that levelling 1-60 was at a good pace, but then you enter Hellfire Penninsula (I was at level 62) and it suddenly feels like hitting a brick wall. Everything slows down to a snails pace. The continuous quest utility used in Azeroth hasn't been brought forward to TBC or WotLK, so running back and forth is required. Luckily, the guild had hit the level required to give us a 5% bonus to experience, so it speeded it up a little. This buffed up to 10% bonus by the time I finished TBC and hit level 70. I only did Hellfire, Zangarmarsh, and Nagrand to reach level 70, so at least I didn't have to suffer too much in what for me was a nightmare expansion. I managed to get to level 80 by only doing a few zones in WotLK which is fine......................................

    At the time of writing this, I have reached level 81, and I am only in the first zone. Things appear to be a lot better so far, and it is a pleasure to see that old grounds will be revisited, and old bosses make an appearance here and there. I have watched some video reviews of the new expansion, and some of the new implementations and mechanics really look like I am going to have a good time. But the most important thing for me, is that Blizzard have re-introduced a level of difficulty to boss fights, and from what I've watched and read, means that not that much "tank 'n' spank" has made it into the expansion..............................
    [p]
    Whilst I haven't witnessed a whole lot so far, I still feel I can give a review so far, and I score Cataclysm (so far) as follows......................Graphics: 6/10, Audio: 8/10, Presentation: 10/10, Gameplay: 8/10, OVERALL: 8.......
    If you are a lapsed player like me, it is definately worth at least giving it a go.    … Expand
  86. 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!
  87. dnfstorm
    Jan 5, 2011
    10
    The best expansion for what can only honestly be described as the best MMO game of the last 10 years, huge player base for all the family, worth a try and retry if you've played before, i'm off to play again now.
  88. 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
  89. Tubie
    Jan 2, 2011
    8
    This expansion does so much to bring life into this game, it's incredible they only charge you $40 for it. There's is a lot of content here for everyone. The casuals, the alt-maniacs, the hardcore and the not so hardcore. As far as end game goes, I feel Blizzard hit a nice balance with dungeon difficulty, not being as easy as Wotlk but not as punishing as the harder TBC heroics. Good tooThis expansion does so much to bring life into this game, it's incredible they only charge you $40 for it. There's is a lot of content here for everyone. The casuals, the alt-maniacs, the hardcore and the not so hardcore. As far as end game goes, I feel Blizzard hit a nice balance with dungeon difficulty, not being as easy as Wotlk but not as punishing as the harder TBC heroics. Good too see so much work is and quality is still coming out of Blizzard.… Expand
  90. fanficbug
    Jan 2, 2011
    6
    Cataclysm is great fun, if you have the time for it. For new users, the expansion has improved the leveling experience so that it feels cohesive and flows better. The use of in-game cinematics also makes the whole experience much more fun and immersive. There really is no better time to get into the game than right now, IMO. Be warned, though, that the user base tends to be a bitCataclysm is great fun, if you have the time for it. For new users, the expansion has improved the leveling experience so that it feels cohesive and flows better. The use of in-game cinematics also makes the whole experience much more fun and immersive. There really is no better time to get into the game than right now, IMO. Be warned, though, that the user base tends to be a bit sociopathic. Just try not to let random players being mean ruin your fun, and you'll be fine.

    For users that are already into the franchise, views seem to be mixed. I actually found leveling from 80-85 to be much harder than previous tiers, but then again I'm not geared for dealing damage--I'm geared for healing as a paladin. Your mileage may vary here. Leveling from 80-85 didn't take much time at all. That being said, I hate leveling, so this is a good thing. The new zones are also amazing, using brand-new quest mechanics with great story lines. One of my favorite zones in the game is one of the new ones--Uldum. Pretty much all of the content I've played has been spot-on.

    Here's where my low score comes in. I found that once I hit 83 and began to do semi-max to max level content, difficulty increased steeply. (Again, because I'm a healer, YMMV. Healing difficulty has certainly sharply increased.) I found that very jarring, personally, because earlier content is very simple to complete. Groups in the 80-85 range must be coordinated if they want to get through heroic dungeons, and to some extent regular dungeons. While this is much less boring than the Wrath model of dungeon running, it takes much more time. Most heroics take groups on my server around 3-4 hours to complete at this point in time. My server (Zangarmarsh) is about average on the side of progression--not good but not bad, either. I can imagine that it would be better or worse, depending on the server.

    Since I'm working, going to college, and raising a (currently) 1-year-old girl with my husband's help, I simply do not have time for that much gameplay in a week. The Wrath model would have allowed me to keep playing, but sadly, this was not to be. Since the only way for me to get gear to raid would be to run one regular dungeon a day for a very small amount of currency to get gear, my estimate gear up time is going to be several months. I think perhaps I will take a break until I either have more time or the content takes less time to do.

    Pros: Much better leveling experience, great zone redesigns as well as new areas, story lines generally improved, much better gameplay at max level.

    Cons: Time sink at max level. Difficulty curve sharply steepens around 83 or so (at least from a healing perspective.)    … Expand
  91. CheyTacGamer
    Jan 1, 2011
    5
    Cataclysm is just the same old stuff. Sure Azeroth looks different and now, but nothing has changed. Original Wow, and BC where 1,000 times better. They actually took skill, time, effort, and knowledge to be good at. What Blizzard has done with WotLK and Cata is almost a shame to WoW. People hit 85 within 8 hours of the release, so leveling was a complete joke. Blizzard tried to makeCataclysm is just the same old stuff. Sure Azeroth looks different and now, but nothing has changed. Original Wow, and BC where 1,000 times better. They actually took skill, time, effort, and knowledge to be good at. What Blizzard has done with WotLK and Cata is almost a shame to WoW. People hit 85 within 8 hours of the release, so leveling was a complete joke. Blizzard tried to make instances harder, but the only people they were hard for were people who joined during WotLK. If you were an original or BC player these instances were a breeze because we know how to CC. When it comes to raiding people should not be able to clear raids the first day they are released. The Tuesday of the raid release patch I logged on and instantly saw someone with 6 epics. People had the Drake mount you get from raiding in the first week. That is just a joke. PvP doesn't take skill like it used to. It's who can do the most burst damage. Most PvP arena teams don't have healers anymore because of the whole mana issue, and lets face it, only being able to heal for 10-15k with most heals is a joke when people crit for 20k+. I've been playing WoW for 6 years now, and the only reason I'm still playing it is because I hope that Bliz will changed it back to original and BC some day. People giving this game a high rating are the people who came into it during WotLK. The original WoW players know this game to be a shame. I have yet to find anything good about this game. I'm going to go back to Starcraft 2, and wait for the release of Dead Space 2 in a month. GG Blizz...… Expand
  92. 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
  93. 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
  94. 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
  95. Rugosh
    Dec 27, 2010
    10
    I would like to start off by saying that I am a hardcore WoW player, but am by no means going to be biased with this review. First off, the expansion "redoes" all the old zones - Seems ok, and it indeed does put a lot of new quests and exploration in the game. As the expantion hit, i leveled my 80 priest to 85, and did some end-game content. There was a variety of it, and I indeed wasI would like to start off by saying that I am a hardcore WoW player, but am by no means going to be biased with this review. First off, the expansion "redoes" all the old zones - Seems ok, and it indeed does put a lot of new quests and exploration in the game. As the expantion hit, i leveled my 80 priest to 85, and did some end-game content. There was a variety of it, and I indeed was happy with the new implements for boss tactics and such. The new PvP was indulging and the new battlegrounds, arenas, and the new rated battleground system all deserve a positive rating.

    The bad side? I made a new character (no, not a deathknight), and went through all the old content, 1-80. It started feeling even more rushed than in Wrath, and there were quite a few game (or quest) breaking bugs that didn't allow me to progress further. Since I am a completionist, it felt awkward to be leveling just in 1/4 zones meant for your level, and skipping the other three (heirlooms, guild perk, and too many quests).

    One more point: The game engine is way out of date for an MMO. Since this is supposed to be the top-notch MMORPG, I would advise blizzard to completely (not just water-effect) overhaul the graphical engine the next expantion. 7 out of 10.    … Expand
  96. Itsapaul
    Dec 26, 2010
    7
    For what it adds to the game, this should probably be rated a 10. Getting to max level is easier than ever too, so that's a huge plus. However, seeing as Blizzard made no indication on the difficulty increase to the average user thus nothing can be done without a guild or a decent group on your server, I'm left wondering why they made random heroics in the first place. As always withFor what it adds to the game, this should probably be rated a 10. Getting to max level is easier than ever too, so that's a huge plus. However, seeing as Blizzard made no indication on the difficulty increase to the average user thus nothing can be done without a guild or a decent group on your server, I'm left wondering why they made random heroics in the first place. As always with these kind of games, while the gameplay can be fine, the community ruins any enjoyment I could get from it.

    PS - They said they wouldn't nerf heroics, but they're going to have to before everyone quits from not being able to get any done with random bad players.    … Expand
  97. Nesico
    Dec 24, 2010
    10
    For the most part people have been complaining that the game is too easy. Lackluster compared to the bygone days when our half a year grind to level forty to obtain our first mount was rewarded with borrowing the one hundred gold from a guild member and having that held over your head until level sixty when you once again had to borrow money from someone. Sure it is easier to get gearFor the most part people have been complaining that the game is too easy. Lackluster compared to the bygone days when our half a year grind to level forty to obtain our first mount was rewarded with borrowing the one hundred gold from a guild member and having that held over your head until level sixty when you once again had to borrow money from someone. Sure it is easier to get gear now. Sure leveling is easier. They have made it more like a game and less like a job. I have been playing World of Warcraft since a month after the original release and I do not miss the difficulty. The new zones of Cataclysm have a smooth quest flow and if you are a fan or lore, you will enjoy it greatly. Sure within the first five hours there was a first level 85 already, but I guarantee you that person was not playing for the love of the game. Just for the love of achievements. If you play games for a great storyline, amazing gameplay, and a player base that is decent if you stay out of trade or are ready and willing to place people on your ignore list, I would highly recommended this game. Just remember, the game is what you make of it. If you take an entire day sure you can go from 80-85 but take things slow, see the sights, play with archaeology, go kill some Horde (since we Alliance dont go down nearly as easy!), level a profession... There is plenty of things to do and plenty of time to do it. Just don't ignore this great game because people whine that you young whippersnappers have it too easy, they just missed naptime so they get a little cranky.… Expand
  98. 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
  99. Seba
    Dec 22, 2010
    10
    Ill split this up into 2 parts. I want to first discuss how the good the game is if you just continue on your level 80 and get to 85. I would say its a pretty good experience. Hell, i think its the best they ever did in an expansion! However, even though making a new character and leveling it up in the new redone area's of the world is fun... it's the same thing through 60-85. So you'reIll split this up into 2 parts. I want to first discuss how the good the game is if you just continue on your level 80 and get to 85. I would say its a pretty good experience. Hell, i think its the best they ever did in an expansion! However, even though making a new character and leveling it up in the new redone area's of the world is fun... it's the same thing through 60-85. So you're really only getting the oldest zones redone. No Northrend, no outland. If you're a WoW fan like me, i would defiantly pick this game up, even though 60-85 is the same process.… Expand
  100. goettel
    Dec 22, 2010
    8
    As usual, a lot of outrageous scores of 1 drag down the overall score. Somehow, the simple concept that a review should not only be a reflection of your personal preferences eludes these simple folks. But I digress.

    So far, Cata has exceeded my (low) expectations by a large margin. Questing is much more focussed, mostly due to breadcrumb quests laying out a clear path on. Normal 5-man    As usual, a lot of outrageous scores of 1 drag down the overall score. Somehow, the simple concept that a review should not only be a reflection of your personal preferences eludes these simple folks. But I digress.

    So far, Cata has exceeded my (low) expectations by a large margin. Questing is much more focussed, mostly due to breadcrumb quests laying out a clear path on. Normal 5-man instances have been quite challenging, partially due to the overhaul of class mechanics, and partially because of mob and boss abilities. They've also been great fun, epic fail PUGs notwithstanding.

    The goblin starting quests are a blast, and offer an experience way beyond any older low level content.

    The new zones wring out every last drop of graphical delight offered by the ageing engine. After stepping back into WoW from other (non-MMO) games, it struck me as incredible simple looking. However, after only a couple of days play, I've come to appreciate the immense amounts of work which has evidently gone into the new content: textures, layout, general feel, etc. Just look at Deepholm, then tell me how bad this game looks. Technically, other MMO's are ahead in the engine department, but none of them offers the quality of artwork available here.

    As or claims of the games being too easy: I'll put that down to kids sticking to faceroll DPS classes/builds. Try tanking/healing, then come back and tell us how easy it has become.

    Furthermore: the balance of green vs. blue vs. purple gear seems a lot better, more like vanilla WoW - when epic actually meant epic.

    I can't speak for endgame content yet, but from what I've seen and read so far I'm not worried as to the quality. Same goes for PvP. So my score is based on leveling and normal 5-man instances, and should be read accordingly.    … 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

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.
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