Accurate Cataclysm review?

[Mastergp]

Customer review off of amazon on World of Warcraft cataclysm expansion.

1. Questing. The quests are fun, but mostly only the first time around as the new "on rails" design requires each zone be done in the exact same order - no choices, skipping, or jumping around. Leveling is also too quick. It took longer to get from level 70 to 75, let alone 80. Even at a leisurely pace, it takes only days to get to...

2. Level 85. Cataclysm raid bosses are split between several raids, but don't be fooled - Naxxramas alone featured more bosses than all Cataclysm raids combined. Cata also has the fewest at-release dungeons of any expansion thus far, profession-related quests which pale in comparison to previous expansions, and few daily hubs. You get to 85 too quickly, and then there's nothing to do besides...

3. Heroics. They are too long for too little reward. For a mandatory (for progression), daily task for the entire expansion, two hours is an outright chore (and it's often still over an hour in epics). Dailies on multiple chars + raid-prep gear grinds = recipe for boredom. But the biggest problem with heroics is...

4. Healing. Universally maligned during the beta, all five specs now have identical playstyles where one spell is spammed ad infinitum. Worse yet, going from greens to epics (and healing groups in epics), the playstyle DOES NOT CHANGE. You cast the same stupid spell even more often, while your other spells remain inefficient to the point of near uselessness. To ensure hour-long queues, Blizzard also targeted the other vital group role...

5. Tanking. Tank cooldowns are now along the lines of "Reduce damage by 10% for 10 seconds" - you don't even notice you've used a special ability. Skill- and control-based mechanics were replaced by DPS-like rotations, but without the DPS. The changes to tanks and healers were part of a bigger problem...

6. Homogenization and loss of replay value. If you have one tanking or healing class, you have them all. The differences are superficial, and with few talent and glyph choices, even DPS classes all provide essentially the same experience. Every instance is the same, every character is the same, every day is the same - the game feels like a second job instead of an escape. There was only one thing left to screw up...

7. PVP. The imbalances are worse than at any point in WoW's history, and that's saying something. Tol Barad is an unmitigated disaster, with mechanics that were so poorly thought-out that it's mind-boggling. The "new" battlegrounds are quick clones of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin (Battle for Gilneas even displays AB node names at the start of games, to make it clear just how little work was put into it). Rated BGs are regular BGs with 90-minute queues.

---

The hype coming from Blizzard simply does not resemble the reality of the game. The talent/glyph revamp made things more cookie-cutter instead of less. The healing revamp, done because some specs relied on only 2-3 spells, has all specs relying on one spell for 75% (based on log data in epics) of total healing.

The worst hype is that Heroics are "harder." Heroics are longer, but the mechanics are simpler than ever. The perceived difficulty is from the removal of error recovery. Recovering from mistakes (which even the best players make) was actually the most fun you could have in a dungeon and the true test of skill. In Cata, neither do tanks have the cooldowns nor healers the output to make up for any mistakes, and most instantly kill you to begin with.

Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes. They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community. The devs are in a lose/lose situation now, as they'll lose players if they don't make changes, they'll lose players if they do make changes, and there will be caustic bitterness in the community no matter what.

Epics fix nothing (I tested end-game in both heroic blues and raid epics) - the game feels like a grind because it was DESIGNED that way. That realization made me give away the gold (and bank contents) on every char, cancel my subscription, and delete the entire install (and all related files). I am only writing this review because Amazon keeps suggesting Cata to me and the rating is far too high. It deserves one star for the Goblin starting zone and that's it.

After so many years and so many attempts by other companies to create a "WoW-killer," it is a hilarious irony that WoW has itself become a WoW killer.

I'd have to agree on most of his points..

Please don't flame me, i burn easily. =)

[Mongoose19]

People love variety, this game has non, every class is the same now. I loved TBC when every single spec was different, "boo hoo but I couldn't raid as ret pala" who cares! Every class was unique and even when other were op and other useless it was way more fun than everyone being the same. It's now a frickin FPS game with medic class, gunner class and the heavy armored class, no more Role Playing game.

[seam]

I disagree with much.

But I'm getting tired of typing out why 1-2 times a day, and I don't feel like copy pasting.

[Cruor]

Leveling cant ever, EVER be to quick. For all mmo's I have ever played, the game starts at max level, and its a drag until then. I understand some people enjoy leveling, which to me is like hearing you enjoy watching paint dry while chewing broken glass but hey.. to each their own. I wouldn't mind if they put in a slow leveling speed option for those of you who do want to see every quest and and like a long road but do not complain about the speed and spoil it for those of us who are in the game for end game pvp/raiding.

[Chareoss]

It's funny... I still have a moderate amount of fun playing Cataclysm- but whether you love it or not, it has to be sad, every point this guy has made is pretty much spot on.

[Cyfoeth]

Funny how 'accurate' = 'agrees with my opinion', hmm?

I agree with the above poster. I disagree with the review, but have typed it out so many times to whiners that I'm not going to do it again.

[Ttgee]

2. Level 85. Cataclysm raid bosses are split between several raids, but don't be fooled - Naxxramas alone featured more bosses than all Cataclysm raids combined. Cata also has the fewest at-release dungeons of any expansion thus far, profession-related quests which pale in comparison to previous expansions, and few daily hubs. You get to 85 too quickly, and then there's nothing to do besides...

There's also Heroic modes you know, which makes it the most released bosses ever @ a expansion. Can't really complain about too few bosses when the skill level required also is significantly higher then what it was in wrath. I'd rather struggle with a few bosses (its not even few but w/e) then faceroll through an entire tier.

[Warwithin]

All WoW has is Healers, Tanks, Casters, and Melee. It doesn't matter which one you choose within each sub-category, because they all bring the same utility. The only reason I differentiate between Melee and Caster is because of the range issues (Melee vs. 40 yards).

I stopped playing my 85 lock on one server and leveled a mage on another. I finished gearing in PvP in about 3 weeks via honor and now it's all about Arena - which is terribly imbalanced.

Cataclysm is a damn shame.

[seam]

every point this guy has made is pretty much spot on.

No, it's actually not.

He said 5-6(Out of a lot, not just 7) things that are correct, and of those most were changed during beta.

[Throrion]

If he thinks so, good for him. The very fact that it has such a high rating on amazon, though, would indicate that most people disagree with him. There'll always be whiners and moaners and people who just plain don't like something. Good thing amazon shows us they're a small minority

[Mastergp]

Funny how 'accurate' = 'agrees with my opinion', hmm?

I agree with the above poster. I disagree with the review, but have typed it out so many times to whiners that I'm not going to do it again.

Whiners? how can i be a whiner if i haven't experienced cataclysm yet?

[seam]

Whiners? how can i be a whiner if i haven't bought cataclysm yet?

How do you agree that something sucks when you have yet to even play it?


Or are you just here to start arguments, like just about every other person who posts incorrect stuff like this?

[Mastergp]

Remember the free trial blizz has? yes that one.

[seam]

Remember the free trial blizz has? yes that one.

Oh, so you got to what, level 82 or 84 and decided that you knew aaaaaall about the game.

Man, I wish I had as much insight as you.

[Brett Skullcrack]

There's also Heroic modes you know, which makes it the most released bosses ever @ a expansion. Can't really complain about too few bosses when the skill level required also is significantly higher then what it was in wrath. I'd rather struggle with a few bosses (its not even few but w/e) then faceroll through an entire tier.

Hardmodes don't count as different bosses. It's just grinding the same bosses over again but with a few added tricks, but to compensate for those your raid will also be more highly geared from the normal mode. So really, it's nothing but a senseless grind with nothing new.

[Zka]

It's funny... I still have a moderate amount of fun playing Cataclysm- but whether you love it or not, it has to be sad, every point this guy has made is pretty much spot on.

No it's not.
1: it's a matter of personal taste. The game begins at max level for a lot of people (including me) so we're totally happy about fast leveling.
2: okay, Naxx had more bosses. Big deal, they were all utter pile of unenjoyable undertuned crap. Also they were completely recycled. Not just graphics or base ideas. They removed a couple of abilities and retuned it all from 60 to 70.
3: yes, heroics take long, especially if multiple players in the group suck. The reward is little. As a raider I don't really care about this, but nonraiders probably do.
4: this is complete and utter nonsense. The writer clearly has no clue about healing.
5: sorry, tank cooldowns are still significant and I don't see the dps-like rotations either. No clue again.
6: homogenization has to happen if you want to tune 10 and 25 man raids similarly. Also I don't feel that my priest, dk and warrior are so very similar. They are not.
7: I never cared about pvp so I can't tell much about this.

I have to laugh at this part too: "Heroics are longer, but the mechanics are simpler than ever. The perceived difficulty is from the removal of error recovery. Recovering from mistakes (which even the best players make) was actually the most fun you could have in a dungeon and the true test of skill."
BC heroics were undertuned but extremely simple. LK heroics were not much more difficult, but they were so incredibly undertuned that you didn't even notice 90% of boss and 99% of trash abilities, how was that fun to recover from? Exactly what do you need to recorver from, when you just can't make a mistake unless you're a drooling retard?
Sorry, but this is not an accurate review, it's whining from someone who has no clue about pve.

[Throrion]

As for my person opinion, I think his review completely and utterly ignored certain vital aspects of the expansion, such as the massive 1-60 overhaul, for maximum dramatic effect. It's also plain fact that there's more variety class-wise in Cata than there was in WotLK, with classes and even specs starting to get differing resources. Additionally, I think the PvP balance is a lot better than it was at WotLK launch - the increased health pools are partially to thank for that - and Blizzard have certainly taken some steps in the right direction with rated BGs and making most of the PvP gear available to everyone to even the playing field, unlike in WotLK where pretty much everything significant had arena (because back then arena=PvP) rating requirements.

Also;

the game feels like a grind because it was DESIGNED that way. That realization made me give away the gold (and bank contents) on every char, cancel my subscription, and delete the entire install (and all related files).

If this is what it took to make him quit, he ought to have done it some five years ago. WoW, as well as all MMOs, have always been about grinding. This was even more accentuated in vanila where literally everything was a grind, including leveling, rep farming, PvP farming, farming mats for professions, farming dungeon gear from 5-mans, farming gold for your 100% mount, farming resistance gear for raids, farming mats for raid consumables, etc. Each subsequent expansion has actually decreased the grindyness of the game in its own way. Also, he whines that leveling is too quick, and then blames the game for being too grindy? Oxymorons hurt brain

[Deleted]

Hardmodes don't count as different bosses. It's just grinding the same bosses over again but with a few added tricks, but to compensate for those your raid will also be more highly geared from the normal mode. So really, it's nothing but a senseless grind with nothing new.

But then Wotlk only had 2 new bosses at the start. Cause im pretty sure i had already done Naxx back in Vanilla...

[themaelstorm]

1. Questing. The quests are fun, but mostly only the first time around as the new "on rails" design requires each zone be done in the exact same order - no choices, skipping, or jumping around. Leveling is also too quick. It took longer to get from level 70 to 75, let alone 80. Even at a leisurely pace, it takes only days to get to...

Questing has been easy since wotlk.. heck, even tbc. People need to understand that the days when wow was leveling+max level content is WAY back in the past. Currently the content is about high level, leveling is about story telling. It's been so for a long time.
I mean seriously, people complaining about easy leveling in cataclysm... if you had actually hard time leveling in any expansions, you probably didnt know how to play back then. Is it easy? Yes. Is it easier? Not by much.
I understand how some people don't like the story driven leveling, but for most people, there are favorite zones and you clear out zones anyway. The true vagabond leveling was a thing of vanilla.

2. Level 85. Cataclysm raid bosses are split between several raids, but don't be fooled - Naxxramas alone featured more bosses than all Cataclysm raids combined. Cata also has the fewest at-release dungeons of any expansion thus far, profession-related quests which pale in comparison to previous ex+pansions, and few daily hubs. You get to 85 too quickly, and then there's nothing to do besides...

I get my daily cooking, daily fishing and daily JC quests. They don't pale in comparison. Heck, cooking and fishing quests became much better thanks to skill-giving, cutting lots of annoyance in the way (since there isnt really any challenge at all but grinding for fishing, and finding certain recipes or ingredients is also a boring grind for many).
As an engi, they added cogwheels purchasable with useless engi leveling items, a very good epic goggle and a few fun items.
For crafters, they added 5-skill-up recipes, cutting the "leveling" grind time.
Professions are doing very great. Every profession has stuff that makes you smile (havent tested them all personally and some maybe better than others, but still, you get something).

Also, "few bosses at release" is really crap. Naxxramas was a complete~ recycle. tBC had a lot of bosses at the start... but tell me, how many they added afterwards? Cata is getting at least three raids (Firelands, CoT, Deathwing), possibly 1-2 more. Cata started with a good amount of new raids.

3. Heroics. They are too long for too little reward. For a mandatory (for progression), daily task for the entire expansion, two hours is an outright chore (and it's often still over an hour in epics). Dailies on multiple chars + raid-prep gear grinds = recipe for boredom. But the biggest problem with heroics is...

So how is this different from other expansions? WoW's formula since tBC has been "do heroics/bgs+do dailies+prep gear for raid/arena". It's not a new thing.

4. Healing. Universally maligned during the beta, all five specs now have identical playstyles where one spell is spammed ad infinitum. Worse yet, going from greens to epics (and healing groups in epics), the playstyle DOES NOT CHANGE. You cast the same stupid spell even more often, while your other spells remain inefficient to the point of near uselessness. To ensure hour-long queues, Blizzard also targeted the other vital group role...
5. Tanking. Tank cooldowns are now along the lines of "Reduce damage by 10% for 10 seconds" - you don't even notice you've used a special ability. Skill- and control-based mechanics were replaced by DPS-like rotations, but without the DPS. The changes to tanks and healers were part of a bigger problem...

I'd rather not comment on these since I haven't raided a lot, but I'm pretty sure "healers spam only 1 spell" is an self-observational exaggaration.

6. Homogenization and loss of replay value. If you have one tanking or healing class, you have them all. The differences are superficial, and with few talent and glyph choices, even DPS classes all provide essentially the same experience. Every instance is the same, every character is the same, every day is the same - the game feels like a second job instead of an escape. There was only one thing left to screw up...

This is far from objectional and accurate. I never felt the instances were same. And once again, "second job" thing isn't something introduced to WoW through Cata.

7. PVP. The imbalances are worse than at any point in WoW's history, and that's saying something. Tol Barad is an unmitigated disaster, with mechanics that were so poorly thought-out that it's mind-boggling. The "new" battlegrounds are quick clones of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin (Battle for Gilneas even displays AB node names at the start of games, to make it clear just how little work was put into it). Rated BGs are regular BGs with 90-minute queues.

TB is indeed problematic and blizz have announced they'll make it better. People have asked for "new" WSG and AB maps for a long time and are happy to receive them. I'm not sure which about pvp imbalances, but both expansions also had a lot of pvp imbalances for the first months of the game and tbh, I think they were worse than Cata.



Honestly, this looks like a review from a guy who played WoW seriously for longer than he should and now preparing himself to quit the game. His points are -mostly- either not objective or just not correct. He has his points of course and I respect his own opinions, but I'd hardly call it an accurate review since accuracy calls for objectivity.

[Sal]

So dpsing on a rogue and dpsing on a death knight are the same thing? Got it.