World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

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User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1290 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 477 out of 1290
  2. Mixed: 426 out of 1290
  3. Negative: 387 out of 1290
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  1. nikkoleth
    Aug 25, 2011
    0
    This is the worst expansion to date. Plain and simple. Why do we even level anymore? What is the point. There is no challenge, it is just something you have to waste your time on before you get to the actual gameplay. You are learning nothing during the leveling stage, except how to kill 10 of this, and bring an npc 12 of that.
  2. Keridor
    Dec 11, 2010
    1
    I commend Blizzard on having truly shown me the lengths they'll go to to make money. It's a simple matter of fact: Cataclysm has reworked ALL of old Azeroth, adding new quests, new dungeons, reworking old dungeons, and creating such "cinematic" experiences, that one would be a fool not to buy this game! Unfortunately, all this loses its luster when you realize something: this game hasI commend Blizzard on having truly shown me the lengths they'll go to to make money. It's a simple matter of fact: Cataclysm has reworked ALL of old Azeroth, adding new quests, new dungeons, reworking old dungeons, and creating such "cinematic" experiences, that one would be a fool not to buy this game! Unfortunately, all this loses its luster when you realize something: this game has become so putrescently easy, that all this content is meaningless. Your out the Dark Portal and into Burning Crusade in a few short days. The leveling in this game has been turned into a joke. The quests are easy, and rather than feel enjoyable, it feels like you rush through this game to get to the end-game content. I see people giving this game 10's because they level so fast, but what's the point of reworking the first sixty levels if all you're going to do is fly by them? Is that supposed to be impressive? That in a week you can be having fun in Burning Crusade? Hardly. Next is the graphical quality. Now, it's a bit of a taboo subject when it comes to WoW, because the game's so old, it's more "vintage" than it is "horrible" looking. Unfortunately, I fail to see the validity in that arguement. If a game looks bad, it looks bad. Blizzard reworked the water, and it looks fantastic. And that's about it. Everything else in this game is a congealed texture-filled mass of color that falls short from "impressive". The new character models look sometimes laughable (the Goblins especially), and the Worgen "mount" form was so rigid looking, that it feels like a shame they made them run like wolves, and not like, you know, wolf-MEN. As in, anthropomorphous, bipedal wolves. You play a worgen so you can walk on two legs, otherwise you could use Beast Vision and see through your pet's eyes if you wanted to play just a plain old wolf. The other thing that nobody seems to mention is that, the lore has been so destroyed, it's appalling. Tauren use the sunlight? Well then how are they Paladins? Unless the sun and the Holy Light are the same entity? But then, why can't Orcs and Trolls be Paladins? I mean after all, if their Shamanistic ways cause them to revere the elements, including the sun, then they, too, should be imbued with the Holy ways of the Paladin. Right? Well, of course not, because that's too much work for Blizzard. And Night Elf Mages? Oh, you mean the original race of magic-casting elves that branched off into Night Elves and High Elves? Because here's a nifty lore tidbit for you: there can't be Night Elf mages. They lost their ties to the arcane schools of frost and fire. They use nature now. But hey, if it gets Blizzard these resplendant reviews from the bleeting sheep that gave this game a ten simply because it gives them content that hardly lasts half a month, then by all means, rate this game a perfect ten. For those with some foresight, however, I implore you to look beyond this game for one simple reason: You know what happens in World of Warcraft. Say all you will about the new quests, but in the end you're just reading a block of text, hopping into some played-out vehicle quest, or using some flashy spells that make you incredibly powerful to complete the quests. It's the same stuff you've seen, except now it takes even LESS time to reach level 85. So why even redesign the first 60 levels if you outlevel it super fast anyways? Because it makes Blizzard money, and in the end, this isn't "WoW 2" as someone so ignorantly stated, this is "WoW: Less Content, Faster Leveling." I mean, ask yourself. They redesigned the quests and the areas, but is the content still the same? Is there AS MUCH to do? No. But the quests are flashier, so it gives you the ILLUSION that you're doing more. Besides, you level so fast, there's no need to go outside of the basic chain of areas to level, i.e. Elwynn, to Westfall, to Redridge, to Duskwood, etc. But no matter what I say, the fact of the matter remains: love is blind. If you couldn't stop playing Vanilla, or Burning Crusade, or Wrath of the Lich King, then nothing I say will matter. But if you've been on the fence about this game, then I implore you to disregard it. Read these positive reviews, and you'll see they all say the same thing: flashy "new" content makes for a great game! Just wait until the progression drought kicks in, and you wait for the new set of raids, just like Vanilla, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King. Then you can make all the alts you want. See how long THAT lasts. Just remember: all that glisters is not gold. If there were ever a way to physically show that, all you'd need do is show someone Cataclysm's box. And let's not be ignorant, like Plagiarmaster, and mistake my first sentence for an authentic compliment. It's sarcastic. A joke. Much like this game.… Expand
  3. 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
  4. Drillur
    Dec 7, 2010
    10
    Every area has been redone, and if not completely redone, then slightly convenienced. The quest flow is amazing now! Start a Human and go thru Elwynn, Westfall, and Redridge. By the end of the three regions, each with their unique stories (well Elwynn is much the same), you will agree with me. Much better than classic. Everything continues to grow as the years go on
  5. 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
  6. Th3laugh1ngman
    Dec 9, 2010
    6
    There's multiple ways to go about reviewing Cataclysm.
    The actual event, and the content itself that was distributed for free is utterly excellent and some of the quest chains are so well excecuted that the quests would have you believe that it's been written like a standard, non-mmo while still maintaining excellent functionality. Under that rule, Cataclysm is a solid 10/10.    There's multiple ways to go about reviewing Cataclysm.
    The actual event, and the content itself that was distributed for free is utterly excellent and some of the quest chains are so well excecuted that the quests would have you believe that it's been written like a standard, non-mmo while still maintaining excellent functionality. Under that rule, Cataclysm is a solid 10/10.

    Unfortunately, that is not the only thing to consider. What "Cataclysm" is, as a boxed product, is a meager amount of content that costs as much as a full priced game. £30 for a couple of extra zones and a couple of new races is just utter robbery which they will easily get away with. It's unjustified to give out such little content for such a high price without using the reason "We want the money and we can get away with it".

    So it depends on your stance on Cataclysm. Do you interpret the game as being one solid package, including the content which does not require you actually own the game this review is based around, or do you base it upon the game you are receiving in the box? As far as the boxed copy goes, it's a solid 5/10 for extremely poor value for money. As far as the full content including free content goes, it's a solid 10/10. If you don't own Cataclysm, just get yourself patched up to 4.0.3a and you can enjoy the majority of the content for free without paying a penny.    … Expand
  7. kloborgg
    Dec 9, 2010
    10
    You've gotta love the morons giving it a low mark because "all they did was reskin Azeroth", acting as though that's a trivial matter and unimportant. World of Warcraft Cataclysm revolutionizes the way we think about expansion packs, and manages bring something any fan of the MMO can enjoy.

    World of Warcraft is starting to age. Or, at least it was. The graphics are still beautiful, but    You've gotta love the morons giving it a low mark because "all they did was reskin Azeroth", acting as though that's a trivial matter and unimportant. World of Warcraft Cataclysm revolutionizes the way we think about expansion packs, and manages bring something any fan of the MMO can enjoy.

    World of Warcraft is starting to age. Or, at least it was. The graphics are still beautiful, but the model-count is noticeably low compared to any modern game. The previous expansion managed to upgrade the game, creating new zones, new content, new features, and featuring better gameplay. Burning Crusade introduced the flying mount and improved PvP, whereas Wrath of the Lich King spiced of questing with linear interactive storylines and added the oh so appreciated Looking-For-Dungeon tool. Nevertheless, the core of the game, the 1-60 experience, was left in the dust. The vistas in that region were uninspiring, the quest chains lackluster. Dungeons were long and tedious, and it all felt so, out-dated. People have long been bringing up the subject of a World of Warcraft 2. Obviously, nothing lasts forever, and eventually Blizzard would have to create a sequel. Blizzard managed to solve nearly all of its problems with their most recent release: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

    Unlike the previous expansions, which were additions and upgrades, Cataclysm is the first real update. It really is WoW 2, but without the problem of a split-player base. Before I go in depth, it's important to define what Cataclysm is. Technically, the $40 you pay only gets you the Goblin/Worgen, 80-85 content and the ability to fly in the Old World. That's only because the majority of work the developers put in is already there for everyone. Adding the Shattering of Azeroth makes this the most hefty expansion in WoW's history, arguably one of the greatest undertaking of any expansion in gaming history. Nearly every single World of Warcraft zone from 1-60 has been completely rehauled. Cutscenes and recurring characters make quest chains enjoyable. Vehicle segments and creative mechanics are mixed in to prevent tedious questing. Graphics have been upgraded, especially view distance and water effects, making for breathtaking vistas. This is the first time since 2004 that I've really felt excited to level. Blizzard took everything they learned from BC/WotLK and used it to optimize the Old World. This content alone deserves great recognition.
    The Goblin/Worgen are two extremely different and extremely interesting races, much more so than the Blood Elves, and especially more so than the Draenei. Goblin as wacky and funny, whereas Worgen present a completely serious storyline. Playing both offers great unique experiences.
    The 80-85 zones may not contain as much content as the previous xpacs, but each one can completely hold its own. Hyjal is a lore-lover's paradise, and Vashj'ir is absolutely incredible. Deepholm is a true warzone, and Uldum, my personal favorite, contains everything that is awesome about Ancient Egypt. I have yet to reach the Twilight Highlands, but I have a hard time seeing them being a disappointment. The quests are not all perfect, and there are quite a few generic ones, but ultimately these are some of the most entertaining zones in the game. While WotLK was undoubtedly a financial success, ultimately many "hardcore" players felt disappointed. Far too much of its content was either too easy or too simple. Vanilla raiding wasn't perfect, but doing a dungeon in Wrath was just boring. The tank would run through one group at a time, AoE-tank them, and move up. In that regard Cataclysm really is seeking out those older players. The dungeons have just as much flair if not more so than the other xpacs, but they possess the feel of a Vanilla/BC dungeon. Pulling different groups of adds requires thinking beforehand, and the group must watch out for patrols. Once again crowd control becomes a near necessity, something I almost forgot about in WotLK. Best of all, I have yet to encounter a tank 'n' spank boss. Each boss has its own unique abilities, many of them being very intuitive. If this is how the 5-mans shape up, I simply cannot wait to start raiding content.
    Other features in Cataclysm are the guild progression system, which I could go into much detail about, and the new professions. I'm running out of room, but both add new layers of complexity to the game and are very welcome.
    Overall, Cataclysm is a huge thing. It is easily the biggest expansion considering the Shattering, and manages to take what was learned from the previous xpacs and add some of the old lost flair from vanilla. There is literally something for everyone. Blizzard clearly shows that they know their market, and the Cataclysm is easily a solid A+, 10/10. Your $40 may only get you the last bit of the Cataclysm, but you can hardly complain about getting so much for free.    … Expand
  8. Naosyth
    Dec 9, 2010
    1
    Well. Honestly it depressed me that within 5.5 hours of Cataclysm's launch, somebody already reached max level. Blizzard spent around three years developing this, this is by far their worst expansion yet. All they did was re-skin Azeroth and call it an expansion. Have fun in WoW guys, im out for good.
  9. kendro1200
    Aug 30, 2012
    2
    The thoughts going into the Cataclysm expansion were good ones. There was an intention of customization and letting people play how they wanted to play.
    What came out of beta and was shipped and then patched was nothing like what was promised. Stat customization went from an optional cool thing, to something that was just plainly required because itemization went down the drain.
    The    The thoughts going into the Cataclysm expansion were good ones. There was an intention of customization and letting people play how they wanted to play.
    What came out of beta and was shipped and then patched was nothing like what was promised. Stat customization went from an optional cool thing, to something that was just plainly required because itemization went down the drain.
    The talent tree revamp flopped.
    The raid content flopped for the most part.
    A lot of pvp content that was supposed to come in, never did, and got pushed into MoP instead, and the stuff that should have come out in MoP is not coming out. That is to say PvP content that had been around in files since the Cataclysm beta were never utilized and instead just recycled for a later expansion, which they have no context in.
    Blizzard has become quicker to do knee jerk nerfs, but now waits years to fix any problems they create in their knee jerk nerfs. Druids are a case and point in this expansion, early on they were doing fairly solid all around, average players stayed in the middle of the pack while playing the class, and awesome players performed awesomely, instead of the druid class' usual performance where average players perform sub par and good players may just barely make out ahead of the middle of the pack. Blizzard's methods for remedying this change in performance were to put mechanics into the class that removed key talents and abilities from toolkits thus severely nerfing you no matter what you did. MoP is showing the same trends in dev behavior. No they can't be reasoned with to be shown the errors of their ways, they just dig in deeper when you prove them wrong.

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

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

    I've played Guild wars 2 for about 10 hours and already had more FUN then the 3 or so years I've had in WOW.
  11. Expospeed
    Sep 28, 2012
    0
    WoW was a fantastic game in the past. It was filled with adventure, discovery, and most importantly, teamwork. However, the game has been going downhill recently with the release of the new expansion, the Mists of Pandaria. It has become too simplistic, and plays like a console game. There is no sense of accomplishment and adventure anymore. Clearly, Blizzard is now targeting a differentWoW was a fantastic game in the past. It was filled with adventure, discovery, and most importantly, teamwork. However, the game has been going downhill recently with the release of the new expansion, the Mists of Pandaria. It has become too simplistic, and plays like a console game. There is no sense of accomplishment and adventure anymore. Clearly, Blizzard is now targeting a different demographic - the game is now for kids. If you enjoy paying a monthly fee AND playing with (other) children, this game might be for you.… Expand
  12. 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
  13. BigJ69
    Dec 30, 2016
    0
    Garbage. They destroyed the continents. Same problems. Not worth the $15 a month by a longshot. I'd rather play Nostalrius ad infinitum until the end of the universe.
  14. 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
  15. nyymi
    Aug 6, 2012
    2
    WoW is a great game, but this is not a great expansion. The storyline is really boring and Deathwing is very impersonal antagonist. In BC and WotLK the antagonists were very well known and loved Blizzard characters: Illidan and Arthas.
    Also the overall style of the expansion is rather cheesy. The new Thrall seems more like a coward than a legendary orc hero.
    Some of the new areas    WoW is a great game, but this is not a great expansion. The storyline is really boring and Deathwing is very impersonal antagonist. In BC and WotLK the antagonists were very well known and loved Blizzard characters: Illidan and Arthas.
    Also the overall style of the expansion is rather cheesy. The new Thrall seems more like a coward than a legendary orc hero.

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

    To sum up, the Cataclysm was a huge disappointment. The original "Warcraft-feel" is gone. The storyline's not interesting anymore. BC and WotLK had a lot of influences from earlier Warcraft-series games, such as Warcraft 3. Cataclysm doesn't.    … Expand
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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.
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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
  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. Minderrx
    Dec 22, 2011
    2
    Worst expansion in wow history, Broke off my addiction and I must thank for that.
  27. Feifong
    Dec 13, 2011
    4
    Being a player since 2005 and playing all the expansions of WoW I have seen changes I like and some I don't like. I am appreciative of the effort Blizzard has put for in changing the environments and trying to make old content new again for players; such as myself, but, in the end is just repetitive. I am not looking to be "wowed," no pun intended, but I would like Blizzard to come up withBeing a player since 2005 and playing all the expansions of WoW I have seen changes I like and some I don't like. I am appreciative of the effort Blizzard has put for in changing the environments and trying to make old content new again for players; such as myself, but, in the end is just repetitive. I am not looking to be "wowed," no pun intended, but I would like Blizzard to come up with some new boss encounters. Now before I get the "Have you even played this expansion or done that fight," I want you guys to really think about it, its the same mechanics over and over again. One to two players tank the boss or NPC, and the rest of the group tries to not stand in AOE. While I will admit the FL Rag encounter was fun and with the drop of 4.3 patch the Deathwing fight is very entertaining but everything before that was made extremely easy by nerfs or just a boring mechanic (in regards to4.2 FL patch.) I have to comment on the Looking For Raid feature that has been implemented in 4.3 Patch. I think Blizzards thinking was that it is a great way to get the average player to end game content and get them gear. On the flip side it annoys the hardcore raiders because it makes them seem like they don't have anything to look forward to and that they are not achieving anything when they do it on 10 man or 25 man normal/heroic. While I am well aware that the gear is different and content is harder; I don't think people should be given an easy pass for end game raid content; this was already done in part with Tol'Borad. I do believe Blizzard's heart was in the right place but the implementation was some-what off. I also feel that there needs to be a challenge implemented into these Looking for Raid groups, steam rolling each boss in new content should not be achievable in the first week of a brand new patch. I personally would like to see a little more challenge!… Expand
  28. mattbtheg
    Dec 8, 2011
    1
    I remember when this game was fun. Blizzard actually made attempts to balance pve and pvp content. Now, they have completely made it clear that they don't care about the pvp community. Classes remain overpowered for months at a time rather than being fixed within a month. Furthermore, the developers continue to display a lack of intelligence by continuously making poor tweaks to classesI remember when this game was fun. Blizzard actually made attempts to balance pve and pvp content. Now, they have completely made it clear that they don't care about the pvp community. Classes remain overpowered for months at a time rather than being fixed within a month. Furthermore, the developers continue to display a lack of intelligence by continuously making poor tweaks to classes and gameplay mechanics. The community continuously gives suggestions to the developers about various ways to improve the game, such as separating pvp and pve abilities and making certain abilities change depending on what kind of zone they are in. Blizzard continues to refuse to implement such a change, and continues on their hopeless act of attempting to balance two parts of the game that are always going to be in conflict. This game is past it's prime, it is time to shut it down.… Expand
  29. Thaltom
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    This expansion has turned out to be the same old iteration of reskinned bosses and monsters, a loot treadmill devoid of community and a massive award to the "Give it to me now!" crowd of gamers. The plot and story weakly hold together at the best of time. The various talent and attribute systems have been watered down to the point of complete homogeneity. The only reason this expansionThis expansion has turned out to be the same old iteration of reskinned bosses and monsters, a loot treadmill devoid of community and a massive award to the "Give it to me now!" crowd of gamers. The plot and story weakly hold together at the best of time. The various talent and attribute systems have been watered down to the point of complete homogeneity. The only reason this expansion earns a 4 out of 10 is it's continued unique art styles and the two new races (worgen and goblin) that stick to game lore.… Expand
  30. TwiTu
    Jul 28, 2012
    1
    I liked this game when I was leveling. It was very tedious because quests were just a simple go there and complete a few quests there and then go there and complete a few quests there. But it was still fun. However, this tediousness made the game almost unplayable with more than 1 character to level. Because the second time running all this just like the first time, was extremely boringI liked this game when I was leveling. It was very tedious because quests were just a simple go there and complete a few quests there and then go there and complete a few quests there. But it was still fun. However, this tediousness made the game almost unplayable with more than 1 character to level. Because the second time running all this just like the first time, was extremely boring and it felt more like work. I never leveled more than 2 chars because of that. I gave up with the 3rd on level 81.

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

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

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

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

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

    After I read about MOP it felt like they are doing an Aprils fools joke. But they actually meant it. Even more dumbed down, even less control and customization for your char, even more cutting down old and nice features, even less freedom, even more childish artwork and Facebook like features, etc, etc, etc. That was the wooden stake into the Vampires heart. Its over. Dead. Gone.
    I would feel ashamed if I was a Blizzard employee.    … Expand
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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.
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  2. PC Games (Russia)
    Mar 21, 2011
    90
    More of an evolution in terms of gaming experience, but it's the best World of Warcraft expansion so far. If you have never tried WoW or are thinking about returning in Azeroth – now is the time. [Feb 2011, p.66]
  3. GameOver.gr
    Mar 4, 2011
    90
    Blizzard has undergone an extremely ambitious effort with the Cataclysm expansion, razing the familiar to the ground and building something that proves both new and inviting. And while certain balance issues are being fixed via patches, thereʼs something good here for new players, veterans, hardcore and casual gamers alike.
    Read full review
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