What is Cataclysm’s legacy?

[Kyphael]

It’s a polarizing expansion to say the least, liked and hated for different things. Some good, some bad; it’s not as universally hated as Warlords of Draenor, but when you think of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, what stands out the most, good or bad? Was it revamping the 1-60 leveling experience? Given Classic's popularity, do you think no such revamp was necessary? Did your love or hate LFR? Is it Firelands that was so spectacular that kept you subbed, or Dragon Soul coupled with LFR that drove you away? Did you enjoy the new playable races and their integration? Was class design good or bad?

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

I will always thank Cataclysm for bringing Transmog into the game. Still one of the best features in WoW.

[TristanTaylor]

Well now, what if people thought breaking the world and Dragonsoul were good?

I liked that the world actually changed based on what was happening as opposed to just having some text claim things happened, but not seeing it in the game.

[Kyphael]

I will always thank Cataclysm for bringing Transmog into the game. Still one of the best features in WoW.

Ah yes, forgot transmogging came with Hour of Twilight. That was a pretty sweet feature, good thing I added Other.

[leggomydairy]

Transmog and the leveling revamp. I think most people would agree the leveling revamps biggest issues were railroad track questing and destroying classic zones eternally with no way to fix them. The game needed a revamp but I bet more people would have been receptive to it if the zones didn’t stay on fire / flooded / destroyed forever after

[Kyphael]

Well now, what if people thought breaking the world and Dragonsoul were good?

I liked that the world actually changed based on what was happening as opposed to just having some text claim things happened, but not seeing it in the game.

If you liked breaking the world then it's really the 1-60 leveling experience option. lol Just tried to use clever wordplay. As for Dragon Soul good? It's not a popular option, so Other?

[Soon-TM]

I will always thank Cataclysm for bringing Transmog into the game. Still one of the best features in WoW.

The only good thing to come out of it. The rest was (imo) a steaming pile of BS, bar Firelands.

[Knaar]

The old-world revamp was done in a way that if you never played the zones before they changed, you'd have no freaking idea of what's going on and why things are like that. Kinda like if you start a book, somehow chapter 3 to 8 are missing and you just keep on reading...
And let's not talk about all the story problems where each zone is it's own little world... when you go to Stonetalon and lear that Garrosh is the Warchief and he's not a killing machine ... lolwat?

Anyway, i'll agree with the other dude, Transmog was probably the best thing.

[Grimbold21]

Blizzard caving in to the masses following Wotlk because 5 mans were "too hard"

[kabshiel]

I definitely have mixed feelings about it.

The zone revamps were sorely needed and made leveling a lot more pleasant, but I’ve always hated that they weren’t done in a more timeline-neutral way. It feels like half the zones have you fighting the Twilight Hammer or have a random volcano now.

For raids, it has my favorite first tier of all time. Firelands was pretty fun, but aesthetically it’s one of the most boring raids they’ve ever made. Dragon Soul was pretty meh and went on forever.

LFR is one of the worst things Blizzard has ever created. It takes the main thing that makes raiding fun (working with other people to accomplish a goal) and throws it out the window.

Goblins are one of my favorite races, so I was thrilled they were playable (but their starting zone sucks).

[Depakote]

Not much anymore. Reforging was nice but that's gone, the raids were nice & so were the 5 man dungeons, the questing was nice as well though i am a bit disappointed we didn't get to see the Abyssal Maw raid. That would have been fun. With the Black Prince likely dying in the next patch there's not really much left story wise to talk about.

[Erous]

Dragon Soul turned me from an optimistic to a very pessimistic player regarding expectations of the wow dev team.

[Maljinwo]

The good:

-Advanced the Storyline and World changes. You could see how years had passed from WoW's beggining to Cataclysm
-Transmog system
-Deathwing showing up wherever he wanted conveyed a real threat instead of evilbadguy#123 sitting in his castle waiting for us
-Racial leaders started getting more involved in game


The bad:

-Deathwing was a moron and not scheming
-LFR was controversial. I don't hate it but I see why so many people do
-Gilneas becomes an empty wasteland and we never see content on it again despite its unique look

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Transmog was the greatest thing ever.

[babyback]

I enjoyed questing a lot in Cataclysm and the raids were pretty good up until Dragon Soul.

It’s pretty obvious Blizzard bit off more than they could chew with a full world revamp, new races, raids etc when they made Cataclysm.

[Khahirr]

While the 1-60 revamp can be appreciated for reducing the amount of time the process takes, the story/lore/world-building elements used completely ruined all semblance of continuity and exploration that made the old world great. I truly believe Cataclysm is most remembered for screwing up the leveling experience forever, something that will only soon be bandaided by the Shadowlands level revamp (doesn't fix the issues, just cuts it out completely).

LFR, while introduced late in Cataclysm, doesn't really feel like it is tied to the legacy of Cataclysm. It could have been introduced in MoP or Wrath to the same effect. It was just the inevitable extension of LFD that everyone knew was going to happen eventually.

As for the other options there are always good and bad raids each expac as well as new classes/races/combos. These aren't big enough to be Cataclysm's legacy.

One thing you didn't list that I find could be a decent contender is Blizzard's cop out on challenging heroic dungeons. There was a chance at making heroic dungeons actually relevant challenging 5-man content, but they reneged on that idea when people that were awful at the game raised hell after being coddled by WotLK. Cataclysm definitely killed the idea of gear level appropriate challenging 5-man endgame content for a long time, something that was only addressed with the release of Mythic dungeons in Legion (funny how nobody cares when you add a new layer of "difficulty" instead of using existing difficulties).

[Florena]

I mostly liked Cataclysm. Dragon Soul was an underwhelming final raid, despite how awesome the final encounter should have been with the setup. Deathwing's mutating malformed body rising up out of the maelstrom for one final go should have been epic but the fight itself felt repetitive and lame, probably because you're fighting his wings/claws doing the same thing 4 times with mechanics adding up and then fighting his chin laying on the floor like a sad puppy. Great idea, botched execution.

But I liked the new Cata zones, I liked many of the revamped zones. I liked BWD and Firelands. I liked Tol'barad. I liked the trimmed down talent trees and while I wouldn't want to go back to vanilla talents I might not mind cata style talents again where there was less bloat.

[ChronoSul]

The cynical answer? The unwillingness of blizzard to ever attempt another world revamp or underwater zone ever again due to negative feedback.
The positive answer? Transmog

[FossilFree]

Other: Flying in the old world.

[Littleraven]

The revamp of the old world stand out instantly. I don't think you can look at Cataclysm and not think of that before anything else. I still remember how everyone was losing their goddamn minds at that initial reveal.