Post-Mortem: Cataclysm

Well, here we are, on the eve of another expansion launch for WoW. The transition from one expansion to another is rather odd. It just hits. New levels, zones, quests et al. open for us to explore while old content is almost always forgotten. Guilds get re-energized as they prepare for another raid tier where everyone starts from scratch. Players have new content to take up their time. So there can be mixed emotions going into another expansion. You get to experience new content while wondering what could have been.

The last two years have had their positives and negatives. Blizzard executed some of their designs really well and executed others really poorly. I'm sure most of this won't come as a surprise but I think now is a good time for one last look at Cataclysm and see what lessons, players, we can take from it.

Cataclysm, as an expansion, certainly wasn't one without its ups or its downs. There were times when I wished it would end. There were times when I wondered if it could get any better. I do think, despite what the average player says, Cataclysm did move the ball forward for WoW as a game. It did lay the ground work for future designs and content that will be utilized in Mists of Pandaria and beyond. We didn't like how they did it but they did make some good design decisions with Cataclysm.

But at the same time, there are several decisions you have to question. They are pure head scratches. When you have a player base as large as this game, that's very vulnerable to the echo chamber, the players will only remember the negatives.

So I thought I would review what Blizzard did well and what Blizzard did poorly with Cataclysm. First lets start with the bad:

Lack of max level content.

This one is the most obvious and the most important one by far. The fact is, that Cataclysm had less max level content than Wrath or Burning Crusade. This is why they were bleeding subscriptions, people didn't have enough to do. They didn't want to level 1-60 or do alts, achievements or old content. As a result, people left in droves. People burned out at a faster rate.

The Rate of change.

This is one that I think that a lot of the min/maxing types take issue with. People were able to prove with evidence that game mechanics were broken, unbalanced or simply not working and they were brushed aside statements that the change was too large for a patch. 

Its fine to say that players didn't enjoy the amount of change from patch to patch in Wrath. And that's feedback I understand but shouldn't there be a middle ground? There has to be a point where changing the combat table mechanics has to be mandatory because of lack of foresight in beta to recognize combat table manipulation.

I also think its ignorant to argue that the rate of change in Wrath was too high. They introduced a very unbalanced class that required a lot of iteration after release. Death Knights took the brunt of the changes in Wrath. So to apply the same logic to Cataclysm is a bit flawed.

Rehashed content

This could be considered a nit-pick but I don't think its good for the game to release two patches in twelve months which is nothing but rehashed content. 

Nobody thought ZG or ZA were fun enough to rehash for level 85. They had no relation to Cataclysm or Deathwing. They were an unrelated work that didn't need to be done. They didn't serve any real purpose other than to eat up a patch that could have been new content.

Then there's Dragon Soul. I won't mince any words here. Dragon Soul is the worst raid they have ever done. Ragnaros might have been a redone boss but they did a whole new fight with six new bosses in front of him. But for the first five bosses of Dragon Soul, they didn't use one new modal. Every boss modal or environment was already existing in the game before Dragon Soul. It appears they spent most of their time on Spine of Deathwing which turned out to be one giant trash pull. And Blizzard admits they won't do an encounter like it again because the burst requirements.

Now let's talk about the positives.

Looking For Raid

People might think its a push over or its just for bads to get gear. But Raid Finder is good for the game. It gives people chances to gear their alts, as well get gear on their mains.

People talk a lot of about the difficulties in recruiting, especially for 25 mans. But with Raid Finder, that should be easier. People will already be geared for Normal Modes and with a few boss kills, they'll be geared for Hardmodes.

Finally, it brings back the option to clear a raid zone multiple times on a single character. Many people speak very highly of the days of Wrath where you could do multiple Icecrown runs in a week. Raid Finder gives people a chance to get some of that enjoyment they used to have.

1-60 Leveling

Level from 1-60 was not very fun. As someone who did it multiple times, it was painful. Some zones were empty (Azshara), some we're a mess (The Barrens) and some were really good (Ungoro). The delta between the zones was too large. And comparing the old 1-60 to Outland or Northrend was like night and day. So I think its smart for them to have redesigned the largest chunk of the leveling process.

So on balance, I think Cataclysm laid some good ground work for Mists of Pandaria. Designs like Looking For Raid are keepers while rehashed content should only be used in a limited number of cases.

That's all we can really say at this point as we prepare to fight for Pandaria.