World of Warcraft: Cataclysm reviews

World Of Warcraft Cataclysm is going to revolutionise the way we play this MMO. With this massive expansion Azeroth is left sundered from the destruction Deathwing reigned upon the land, and the races are left fighting for what little resources there are left. The level cap will be raised to 85 as the stories, zones, and gear will progress to a point unseen before in World of Warcraft. You simply cannot miss this game, pre-order now and fight in arms with the heroes of WoW!!

The latest installation of Blizzard's long standing MMO World of Warcraft brings several changes to the board, essentially reworking much of the original game and adding yet more new content and five more levels.

Deathwing has torn apart much of the original world of Azeroth, and as someone who has been playing from day one, it was delightful to see all the old haunts that have been around forever torn up or changed, like the tropics in the Barrens or the Thousand Needles filling with water. Goblins have joined the Horde and Worgen the Alliance, and both starting zones are well constructed and unique. This along with other zone changes really brings you into the game more, and certainly makes levelling less of a chore. If anything, it might be a little too easy now. 80–85 took very little time, even as a casual player, and with guild gaining levels now and giving exp bonuses eventually, levelling alts was even quicker. Unfortunately, it's bad enough that 80–85 is a fairly trivial time investment before it's back to grinding for gear to PvP raid, if that's your thing.

Gameplay wise things have shifted away from the last expansions. Talent trees have been cut back from how they were most of the way through wrath and feel less cluttered. Aside from primary stats, gear is less of an issue given you can simply reforge secondary stats like critical strike rating away into something useful. It makes gearing up less of a pain. All of the gear has been standardised a little too, in that heroic version of anything drop the same items as regular, just with better stats.

Dungeons and raids are initially harder, but as anyone who played through the end of the last expansion is likely already playing Cata, they might not be so unusual for you if you only experienced the beginning of Wrath of the Lich King or earlier BC. Things hit harder, CC is useful again (though it's no fun at all to have to keep it up to the exclusion of doing anything else, as is still sometimes the case), and healers burn through mana fast if they're not careful. Changes are still being pushed to balance out all the classes, too.

As far as endgame content goes, Rated Battlegrounds exist now for PvP, which give out points and ratings similar to Arenas and require a group to queue for. Two new battlegrounds have been added – Twin Peaks, a capture the flag 10 man, and the Battle for Gilneas, an Arathi Basin style capture points 10 man. For raiding, there are three initial raid instances; Blackwing Descent, the Bastion of Twilight, and the Throne of the Four Winds. These have a total of 12 bosses, and so far the spread reminds me a lot of Burning Crusade raid content. The fights themselves are not necessarily more difficult, but they've certainly had a lot of fun with boss mechanics so far and if you liked raiding previously, it's far more interesting now.

The new profession Archaeology, while with some decent rewards out the end, is essentially just a time sink. Everything about it is entirely random, and can make it fairly frustrating at times. Most of those I've spoken to can only manage it when they're not really playing the game – they read a book or watch TV as they fly around the world chasing down the dig sites.

As a final note, I do have a reservation about this expansion that I can't quite place my finger on. It's a far more polished and well rounded game than in the last expansion pack, and many of the changes are nothing but fun, but something has felt… Off for me, and I know I'm not the only one. It could be that with levelling taking so little time and not really being a break from the grind of rep farming or gear farming or boss farming or kill farming, and instance/PvP queues often given you a 20–30 minute wait (unless a tank or healer, as always, but even then on occasion), it feels too much like you're just sitting there waiting, doing nothing. I can't speak for everyone, but while I like the gameplay, I'm finding it hard to justify sitting around waiting rather than just playing something else.

That could well just be me suffering a little burnout though, and if you've taken a lengthy break I'd still say give it a try. The changes will keep you entertained for a while, and if you've ever wanted to level a new character it's fair less tiresome and the quests are far more fun now.

Is this expansion just another add to the game?

YES, but with so much more, I found it easy to level up to 85, that made it feel like a disappointment, but then I discovered there is so much more added than first thought. Interesting new PVP and PVE things to do.

After years of playing WoW and seeing all 3 expansions so far, I wasn't expecting too much of a revolutionary content to be honest, but so far I must admit I'm pleasantly surprised, having a blast feeling somewhat refreshed with Cataclysm, it brought renewed enjoyment of familiar content, definitely best expansion to date!

Love it, love it, love it <3

Awesome expansion.

Brought back a bit of challenge to the game rather than the WoTLK bash through everything model.
10/10 for me.

Any wow fans will love this expansion , but even if your a first time wow player you'll enjoy it , awesome graphics

Cataclysm has changed. Blizzard has gone back to the basics and made the game easy for beginners. The entire world is different. Changes have been made to the landscape and questing. the two new classes, Goblins and Worgen's are a great addition to the game. I recommend it to everyone even if you've stopped playing world of warcraft you will not find catalysm boring!

From when you first step into Cataclysm and see the new zones, quests and gear you are amazed. Whether you go via Vashj'ir or Mount Hyjal to begin your 80–85 experience you will have fun. The underwater realm of Vashj'ir is unique and has its own challenges but these are made easy when you receive a seahorse to ride on. Mount Hyjal the place of legend and wonder has now been opened up and when travelling there you get your first glimpse of the Worldbreaker himself, Deathwing.

Perfect delivery, with decent tracking.

All-in-all a very good purchase.

Recieved the goods on time in perfect condition, was first time using Mightape and will continue 2 use them

Being new to WoW I found it to be a enjoyable at the beginning, leveling up in a nice scenic area, but as I played some more it was all sort of the same stuff… Kept playing anyways because my friend had pushed me for a 3 month subscription. Got to level 85 and just found it extremely dull… I had tried everything and mostly just spent a lot of time seating in orgrimmar waiting for long PvP ques which was as well mostly bad because the PvP in WoW was broken and almost revolved completely around stuns. Ended up stopping playing at about a month and half, wasting half of my subscription :3

Increases level cap more raiding ,more mounts ,activitys ,and more killing horde ;) .contains enough content to keep any Wow fan going .buy this all you retired players it will light your fire

If you want to sit at the computer for hours a day to grind and get decent armour and raid this is for you – Problem is there is no NZ timed server

My brother gave this to me as a Christmas present and I cant get enough, I am trying to get that new BoA Troll 2H with no luck :( all new awesome dungeons and my priest is just about raid ready however I am finding it hard enough to do Heroics but nothing good gear and experience cant handle
Archaeology – the 1st skill I got to 525 great BoA's (Bind on Account) to be Uncovered if you are going to lvl this skill I suggest getting the best flying skill
Rich Storyline new starting aria's for troll and gnome classes
New Races!
Worgen – Great starter quests and they just look awesome however I've made way too many of them since I love there starting aria and am considering deleting 2 of them
Goblin – Long starting aria slowest 1–13 levelling I've ever done( maybe just me) however I had allot of fun although I'm an alliance guy myself
Guild Levelling System – Great rewards that make playing much more enjoyable, great addition to the game
(Next step guild halls!*/Fingers crossed*)
New Quests! – Fun new quests and daily's with great new zones my fav being vash (seems you either love it or hate it)
And new portals make it easy to get from SW to your questing aria
Mounts! – All expansions come with exciting new mounts and the centre of attention is the [Vail of Sand] it transforms you into a dragon and an ally can jump on your back cant wait to get my hands on one of those

Okay it seems I'm going on too long but I rely recommend you get your hands on WoW Cata and try out some of the great new features

<5 Stars :) >

If you are a World of Warcraft player, chances are you've already bought this expansion and are happily leveling your way through the myriad of new content created by the juggernauts of the MMO genre, Blizzard.

However, if you're still on the fence wondering whether or not you should dust off the cobwebs of your forgotten, forlorn account and get back in the game, or wait a bit to see how it all pans out, don't. This is World of Warcraft, the way it was intended to be played.

Blizzard has gone back to the basics, taking a long hard look at the 1–60 leveling grind, and have revamped the whole world of Azeroth (or Vanilla WoW as old timers would call it) into a leaner, meaner leveling experience that has to be seen (and played) to be believed. No longer do you feel like yet another janitor in the vast World of Warcraft, forever running other NPC's lowly ‘kill 10 rats’ schemes. Instead, story-driven quests task you with saving the world, with goals that range from outrageous to just plain hilarious. Leveling from level 1 to level 60 feels like a whole new adventure.

And the 80 to 85 leveling bracket carries the same love and care that the team put in to polishing the 1–60 experience, with streamlined questing taking you from quest hub to quest hub, quest lines differing both in scope and in its relatively non-repetitiveness. Also, a word of warning: Cataclysm dungeons have been tuned to be more…challenging. Gone are the days when the tank can conveniently pull a group of mobs, pop an aoe taunt, and happily hold agro while still be in the green, near full health bar region, while the healer simply tops up everyone's health. Dungeon mobs hit hard, and must be controlled properly if the group is to stand any chance of surviving the encounter.

Two new races, the Alliance Worgen and the Horde Goblin round off the expansion content. Both have their respective starting areas and bring a whole new level of fun and deep storylines to the table. While the Worgen have a whole ‘London, top hat, fog with werewolves’ feel going on, the Goblins, with their trademark greed, zip around Azeroth with as much glee, craziness and mostly dangerous antics as their short stature can muster.

New races, new levels, new spells, new dungeons, new leveling content, new graphics updates, new pvp battlegrounds.

What are you waiting for?

Note to new players interested in playing World of Warcraft: Because this is an expansion, you need the previous expansions, Wrath of the Lich King, Burning Crusade as well as the original World of Warcraft game in order to play Cataclysm.

The original continents completely redesgined to make way for flying in Azeroth. This means more seamless landscapes and better sights.
I have only had a few hours in the new game so far and I am liking what I see. Worgen has interesting starting quests and you also finally get to see Malfurion Stormrage in Mount Hyjal.
For anyone that plays WoW this is basically a must have. Flying in Azeroth has opened up lots of new possibilities. New quests and areas are more interesting than ever. I look forward to hitting 85 and check out the endgame scene.

Once again Blizz give us fresh content, better graphics and a sense of fulfillment when playing in Cat. The leveling is enjoyable and the Achivements remind us where we have been and what we have done. Kids and adults who never grew up and going to love this expansion.

So I was one of the people that was lucky enough to be given a beta key and I kid you not this is pure awsome 80–85 was extremly fun vasj'ir was just beautiful I found myself often stopping to admire the area as I was eploring the underwater world, playing the new race worgen and goblin bother had fun new starting zones qwerkiy quest including riding rockets to giant robot lazer sharks.

And if you like raiding and endgame I tell you what it is a challange the content at 85 is by far the best so far gone are the easy and in are the hard bosses hit harder move faster and in general pose more off a threat then ever befor you thought the lich king was a hard fight some of these fellows make him look like a chump.

In all I recomend this game to everyone if your new to mmos or a vetran looking to come back this is the one to play

Personally dont like any of the changes, once I get some cash im gunna get FFXVI instead, there was the transition from FFXI to WoW I think there is going to be a reverse effect once the Cataclysm hits

I enjoy WoW like all its players the difference between cata and the rest of the expantions is something I don't personally enjoy yet since patch 4.0.0 I have realised just how different the game is, oh well lets try new things =)

This looks insanely good can wait.

This looks off the hook and will be great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait for the next expansion, trying to get my main and 2 alts all decked out before it hits. TThe goblin startin zone looks amazing and looking forward to taking my violet proto drake for a spin through old Azeroth skies!

Also just saw whats gonna be in CE pack, will NZ be getting it anytime soon, I want to pre-order collectors edition!

Should be a awesome expansion!

hard-core WoW gamers, who are original die-hard fans are rating this expansion very highly across the net. Simply put, those of us immersed in the world of warcraft can't wait to get our hands on this bad boy!

Make sure you don't miss out, and remember – as with any goldrush, he who arrives first gets the best claim..... new riches await in this expansion, don't be left behind picking through the dregs.

Cant wait, going to make WoW a very different game to play 6 years after the original came out. Great game that just keeps evolving. Get in at the ground floor. Day one buy!