After shipping players off to a new continent and even an entirely different planet over the last couple of years, Blizzard has gone full steam ahead with the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion, which brings the world's most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game back to its roots. And then it takes those roots, grinds them up, and serves players an entirely fresh experience in the world of Azeroth. Join GameSpy columnist and WoW-head Leif Johnson as he travels through this whole new world (of Warcraft), exploring new zones, beating new dungeons, and enjoying what may turn out to be the happy medium to unite diehards and casual gamers alike.
Happy Cataclysm Day!
Just before midnight on the morning of December 7, players on every server flocked around the flight masters in World of Warcraft's major cities, in the hopes of being the first to grab the new ability to fly on the old continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. When the bell struck, the servers crashed for as long as 30 minutes, as more than 5,000,000 people tried to log in at once. And within seconds, you could type "/who 80 worgen" and find all 49 slots filled with furry adventurers who paid to change their race. Cataclysm is here, and the world is all the better for it.
We needed this. With the death of the Lich King, Blizzard used up its treasure trove of memorable villains from Warcraft III and the fascinating conflicts that attracted so many of us in 2004. Up until this point, World of Warcraft was largely about tying up Warcraft III's loose ends and milking that strategy masterpiece for all it was worth. Suddenly, however, the old conflicts seemed tired and meaningless -- activity on role-playing servers died down to near-nonexistence. Even Halion, the last major raid boss in Wrath of the Lich King, went comparatively ignored in the final months.
And so Cataclysm destroys the lore of old Azeroth just as ruthlessly as it destroyed the landscape. Horde players logged in after the Shattering event a few weeks ago to find tauren chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof dead after a nasty duel, and the grumpy Garrosh Hellscream lording over Orgrimmar. Alliance players learned that Ironforge's Magni Bronzebeard's Stoneform had bugged (or something like that). Kingdoms fell, formerly strong brotherhoods crumbled, and Deathwing's wake left us with a storyline that's more mobster movie than classic fantasy. It's all so well-integrated that you'll likely pick up on it even if you don't read the quest text.
Cataclysm reveals deep tensions in the Horde even as it points to a slight strengthening of the Alliance. As mentioned, Garrosh Hellscream rules Orgrimmar in the absence of Thrall, who abandoned his post for important do-gooder work with the Earthen Ring. Thrall was always kind of an "aw-shucks" Horde warchief despite his obvious badassery, and his compassion made him a prime candidate for plush-toy adulation. But while Thrall was known for shouting things like "I did not ask for this!" while cracking skulls, Garrosh spews such winning one-liners as "Only the strongest may dwell in Orgrimmar." And he means it: "Lesser races" such as trolls and goblins are forced to live outside of Orgrimmar's walls, and only orcs and tauren may dwell within.
Elsewhere, Sylvanas and the Forsaken are up to their old tricks again, and dangerously treading a line which -- if crossed -- would make them no better than the newly defeated Lich King. The former Alliance regions of the Hillsbrad Foothills and the entire kingdom of Gilneas now reek with their plague, and in a key scene, Sylvanas reveals her decidedly unethical method of increasing the Forsaken's numbers. In short, this is the first expansion in which the Horde often seems palpably evil.
I've barely scratched the surface; I'll let you find out the rest for yourself.
Importantly, it all works: Blizzard's decision to release almost half the world-shattering changes late last month dampened some of the shock, but chat channels in the newer zones were filled with a shared sense of wonder that's been missing from the game these past few years. In Darkshore, players chattered about the awesomeness of jumping into a raging whirlpool to confront a psychotic demon hunter. The highways in the goblin city of Kezan looked like the freeways of Los Angeles at rush hour. And, of course, everyone reveled in the opportunity to fly, and chat channels in Stormwind and Orgrimmar were filled with funny stories from players forgetting that they were no longer landbound.
I, for one, fear that the game is moving too fast. Professional gamer Athene leveled his paladin Forscience from 80 to 85 within only six hours, and I know from playing in the beta that his feat isn't quite as impressive as it sounds. Indeed, I'd already leveled up four experience bars after turning in only a few quests, even in the crowded chaos following release -- and I managed to see a player reach 525 herbalism (for a server-side first) within 45 minutes of launch. Zones fly by at lower levels without many chances to enjoy them, and before long, you're questing in the empty wastes of Outland and Northrend. At times, it seems like this novelty could burn out in seconds. And since Cataclysm is all about the experience and the lore, we don't want it to end.
But hope still exists. Time and time again, we've heard that the new raids and five-man dungeons will be much more engaging than they were in Wrath of the Lich King, and I hope this change makes up for the comparatively quick leveling experience. I've been a mage for six years now, and I've long missed the silly Polymorph macros we used to have to make to help our fellow team members stay alive. I miss focusing on strategy over mere DPS numbers. I miss showcasing skill over merely learning the moves. And, having played the beta, I think the instances may bring some of that skill differentiation back.
Cataclysm is a whole new game, and already you can see chat channels filled with lines like "This is SO much better than Wrath!" This, again, was a badly needed change. In only a few hours of playing since launch, I've yet to see any negativity directed at the changes, and most players are looking forward to the harder instances. If you haven't played in years (or at all), grab a trial account and see what happens when a reboot goes well. The servers are even stable, so you don't have to worry about Cataclysm smashing Blizzard's equipment as badly as it smashed the landscape.
And now, if you don't mind, I need to start leveling before my guildmaster kills me.
Leif Johnson is a trained medieval historian, ex-cowboy (really), and recovering academic who left his graduate studies at the University of Chicago to get a real job -- and now he writes about video games for a living. A devotee of World of Warcraft since launch day in 2004, Leif is also a former longtime member of the early world-class raiding guild Risen. Visit his blog at JeremiahLeifJohnson.com.