WoW Column: That’s why you can’t fix Cataclysm Classic
Will be released on September 27, 2022 WotLK Classic. This marks the start of the third round of the third and historically most popular WoW expansion from the classic projects. And while the Wrath of the Lich King reboot isn’t even out yet, you’re already looking at what’s on the horizon. Or not.
Logically, WotLK Classic should be followed by Cataclysm Classic. The big question in the room is “do the players even want that?”. Therefore, a poll is currently taking place from Blizzardasking players what to expect in the event of a Classic reboot of WoWs (buy now ) third extension would change. Because the developers at Blizzard also know: Cataclysm was the big fall in WoW’s subscription numbers for a good reason and will probably not be worth it for a classic version without major revisions.
The good and the bad of WoW Cataclysm
Cataclysm had some upsides, though. Almost the entire world has been visually revised and a large number of new, entertaining quests have been added. For the first time, players could let off steam on rated battlefields and the first raids were impressive. In addition, players got a guild level system including guild achievements, flying in classic areas, new race/class combinations, worgen and goblins, and a transmog feature. Cataclysm brought some awesome changes that we still appreciate in retail WoW today.
Some very uninspired and even identical looking boss rooms were one of the reasons the final Cataclysm raid flopped.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
Negative at that time were the extremely challenging heroic dungeons at the beginning of the expansion, which were a blatant shock for players compared to the WotLK dungeon finder, and the final raid with Deathwing. The dragon soul showed that the developers at Blizzard apparently ran out of time to finalize the raid. Identical or salvaged boss rooms and weird boss models for Deathwing didn’t go over well at all.
The fight against Deathwing seemed very unworthy, and the content was very long towards the end of the expansion, as was the case with WotLK. However, the developers no longer had an additional mini-raid like the Ruby Sanctum up their sleeve. What for many, however, was the death knell for the raid and for some even all of WoW at the time: the introduction of the Raidfinder.
The main problem of not being able to “fix” Cataclysm
Hard dungeons? Shouldn’t be a problem nowadays. Content too long? Can be easily remedied with shorter phases. balancing? No problem at all, as Blizzard has already proven with WoW Classic 2.0 and TBC Classic. The developers are trying to make Cataclysm a playable Classic expansion as well. But Cataclysm cannot simply be fixed.
Cataclysm wasn’t the decline in WoW subscription numbers for nothing. Cataclysm’s problems run deeper and cannot be addressed with simple balance adjustments or shorter patch histories. Cataclysm was the beginning of the game’s homogenization.
Cataclysm was the beginning of the Blizzard mantra of “everyone should be able to do everything, everything must be simplified.” Patch 4.0.1 simplified talent trees. We hadn’t gotten to the MoP talent matrix yet, but already there was little real choice or room for hybrid builds.
Simplified talent trees, buff variety, reforging and more – In WoW Cataclysm the gameplay has been greatly simplified. This dumbing down of the game was reason enough to ignore WoW for many.
Source: Buffed
Values on the equipment could suddenly be reforged, so that items also lost their importance. Skills and buffs have also been properly rotated. The motto “bring the player, not the class” was actually a nice idea. With Cataclysm, more classes received essential buffs for the raid. In addition, hunters and mages could now cast the rage/heroism effect.
This homogenization took classes in WoW so special and devalued the gameplay so much that you can’t just fix it for a new classic edition. It was the developer philosophy in Cataclysm that gave the game the death knell (4 million fewer subscriptions). This is the reason why Cataclysm Classic cannot be fixed. You would have to change the whole game for that. And then you might as well working on a Classic+. What do you all mean? Can Cataclysm be fixed, or do you agree with Seb’s opinion? We look forward to your opinion in the comments.
Reference-www.buffed.de