Thoughts On Cataclysm And Player Reactions
Posted by 
Amatera on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - 43 Comments Tags: blackwing descent, blizzcon, burning crusade, cataclysm, expansion, grim batol, hellfire peninsula, itemization, players, stats, wrath of the lich king
Amatera on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - 43 Comments Tags: blackwing descent, blizzcon, burning crusade, cataclysm, expansion, grim batol, hellfire peninsula, itemization, players, stats, wrath of the lich king
Cataclysm is changing many things, but perhaps nothing moreso than player psychology. The thing you really have to be careful about, when deciding what information to reveal for an expansion that's still at least nine months out, is how that's going to impact progression from right now, up until its release.
We've witnessed it before: the vast swaths of people who fret for the worth of their gear when Wrath was announced. Many had considered themselves burned by the instant upgrades they found when they first stepped foot into Hellfire Peninsula. All the goodies that they had earned through blood, sweat, and tears of high-end raiding; so many epics, just completely wiped out by a green or a blue won for killing a few basic demons.
Blizzard took note of this and made gear scale differently in Wrath of the Lich King. I admit that I didn't find very many replacements for my Rogue's gear until I got into the 78-80 range. Sure, there's an innate thrill in obtaining cheap upgrades, but it surely isn't one that lasts very long.
Even though I'm sure Cataclysm will continue this positive trend, the effects of itemization mismanagement are still felt. I was shocked to hear that one of my guildmates hadn't even heard there was going to be an expansion, but when words reached his ears, he briefly sighed and wondered if all of this neat stuff he'd be accumulating would be worth anything a year from now. Who knows? Maybe initially, but it never will in the long run. Even Icecrown Citadel gear will likely struggle to find a home with the equipment that drops from Blackwing Descent or Grim Batol.
But I don't consider that to be a big deal anymore. I think a lot of people (and I know for sure that I have) accepted that as part of the game. It's always the effort I put into obtaining an epic that I appreciate more than the item itself (unless it looks really, really cool).
cataclysm logo
Cataclysm is already having its effect on players in other ways. One major issue is, of course, the controversial change to stats. Players are going to have to start wondering whether or not that extra Armor Penetration or MP5 is worth it on their next drop. In the end, this probably won't be a huge deal. All of these extraneous stats will be folded into the basic ones, so while you'll see certain things disappear entirely, you'll see others boosted greatly.
I believe this is something that will resolve itself with time, but players react quickly and fiercely whenever they're confronted with such sweeping changes. For the record, I agree with Blizzard's decision, and I think their reasoning is sound (that most people can't eyeball legitimate upgrades on the spot). It's just going to affect player habits, and I think that's what really scares people.
Naturally, we all fear the unknown, and while we know a lot more about the expansion than we did a week ago, it's done nothing but raise more questions. When nobody can provide concrete answers, the mob gets antsy. And that's when we get extreme claims of people quitting en masse or calling out Blizzard for ruining the game. The fact of the matter is that we've gone through this at least two times before, and the number of people who play WoW has only increased.
We'll get used to the differences, and we'll get through it again. But until we can wrap our grimy mitts around our very own copies of Cataclysm, player habits are still going to change. There's a psychological effect associated with anticipation that causes people to fear until the worst of things are over. Think of it as a roller coaster. Right now we're going up the first hill, we're tensing up, we're worried about what's to come, but as we crest that hill and start to come down the other side, we'll let loose and enjoy ourselves.
As I said earlier, I've come to accept a good many things about the nature of the MMORPG, and World of Warcraft specifically, but if there's one thing I know I'm personally going to have to change, it's this: I'm going to really have to pump the brakes on my habit of creating new alts.
Right now, I'm working on a Paladin. It's Level 73. When I hit the level cap, that means I'll have five 80s. But I really want to experience all of the new and improved 1-60 content. I want to move along the new leveling paths, complete all the new quests, and see what Goblins and Worgen have to offer.
One of the reasons I've never gotten an Alliance character past the mid-20s is because I hated having to jump around the world only to find a small pocket of quests available at each new location. Leveling a Horde character isn't a cakewalk, but Alliance just felt so much worse to me. Now that I have a race that I'd actually like to be, and the flow of leveling is going to be streamlined, I think I might be taking my first Alliance character to the cap.
I just have to make sure that I leave some classes untouched until Cataclysm comes around!
So what about you folks out there? Has the expansion already changed your playing habits? Do you think these are positive or negative changes? Are you worried about what's to come or have you already begun to accept what Cataclysm plans to offer?
We've witnessed it before: the vast swaths of people who fret for the worth of their gear when Wrath was announced. Many had considered themselves burned by the instant upgrades they found when they first stepped foot into Hellfire Peninsula. All the goodies that they had earned through blood, sweat, and tears of high-end raiding; so many epics, just completely wiped out by a green or a blue won for killing a few basic demons.
Blizzard took note of this and made gear scale differently in Wrath of the Lich King. I admit that I didn't find very many replacements for my Rogue's gear until I got into the 78-80 range. Sure, there's an innate thrill in obtaining cheap upgrades, but it surely isn't one that lasts very long.
Even though I'm sure Cataclysm will continue this positive trend, the effects of itemization mismanagement are still felt. I was shocked to hear that one of my guildmates hadn't even heard there was going to be an expansion, but when words reached his ears, he briefly sighed and wondered if all of this neat stuff he'd be accumulating would be worth anything a year from now. Who knows? Maybe initially, but it never will in the long run. Even Icecrown Citadel gear will likely struggle to find a home with the equipment that drops from Blackwing Descent or Grim Batol.
But I don't consider that to be a big deal anymore. I think a lot of people (and I know for sure that I have) accepted that as part of the game. It's always the effort I put into obtaining an epic that I appreciate more than the item itself (unless it looks really, really cool).
cataclysm logoCataclysm is already having its effect on players in other ways. One major issue is, of course, the controversial change to stats. Players are going to have to start wondering whether or not that extra Armor Penetration or MP5 is worth it on their next drop. In the end, this probably won't be a huge deal. All of these extraneous stats will be folded into the basic ones, so while you'll see certain things disappear entirely, you'll see others boosted greatly.
I believe this is something that will resolve itself with time, but players react quickly and fiercely whenever they're confronted with such sweeping changes. For the record, I agree with Blizzard's decision, and I think their reasoning is sound (that most people can't eyeball legitimate upgrades on the spot). It's just going to affect player habits, and I think that's what really scares people.
Naturally, we all fear the unknown, and while we know a lot more about the expansion than we did a week ago, it's done nothing but raise more questions. When nobody can provide concrete answers, the mob gets antsy. And that's when we get extreme claims of people quitting en masse or calling out Blizzard for ruining the game. The fact of the matter is that we've gone through this at least two times before, and the number of people who play WoW has only increased.
We'll get used to the differences, and we'll get through it again. But until we can wrap our grimy mitts around our very own copies of Cataclysm, player habits are still going to change. There's a psychological effect associated with anticipation that causes people to fear until the worst of things are over. Think of it as a roller coaster. Right now we're going up the first hill, we're tensing up, we're worried about what's to come, but as we crest that hill and start to come down the other side, we'll let loose and enjoy ourselves.
As I said earlier, I've come to accept a good many things about the nature of the MMORPG, and World of Warcraft specifically, but if there's one thing I know I'm personally going to have to change, it's this: I'm going to really have to pump the brakes on my habit of creating new alts.
Right now, I'm working on a Paladin. It's Level 73. When I hit the level cap, that means I'll have five 80s. But I really want to experience all of the new and improved 1-60 content. I want to move along the new leveling paths, complete all the new quests, and see what Goblins and Worgen have to offer.
One of the reasons I've never gotten an Alliance character past the mid-20s is because I hated having to jump around the world only to find a small pocket of quests available at each new location. Leveling a Horde character isn't a cakewalk, but Alliance just felt so much worse to me. Now that I have a race that I'd actually like to be, and the flow of leveling is going to be streamlined, I think I might be taking my first Alliance character to the cap.
I just have to make sure that I leave some classes untouched until Cataclysm comes around!
So what about you folks out there? Has the expansion already changed your playing habits? Do you think these are positive or negative changes? Are you worried about what's to come or have you already begun to accept what Cataclysm plans to offer?
Reader Comments (43)
Lolololol, wait.
"should be reduced back to core wow thats the only x pac that im ever gnna buy again"
I was unaware that the original WoW is an expansion pack. Good to know.
i think Wotlk was a great expantion and made wow better in new ways.
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with cataclism im worryed that old WoW wont be the experience new players need to start the game, and that it will feal like their in an expantion and they can never replay the original world.
... i ment a attachment to the game that would reduce wow to its original version
i agree with the second part of gilanors coment
to zreena, i dnt raid anymore i pvp couse naxx was a joke and i dint see how ulduar or the other raids would be any diffrent. and i leave post 2 raise convresation....... i do like wow alot i enjoyed BC very much i belive that wotlk had a good cencept but blizz screwed it up. i left a hater post becouse blizz can do alot better then they are
i know i cant spell :)
post... im bored my laptop is broken so i cant play wow
I'm a bit dissapointed in this new expansion :/
First of all: No new hero class that was promised to next xpansion.
secondly, new races: Goblins are cool but Worgen?
Lets do quick math:
Worgen can shapeshift themselves to human whenever they want without it affecting to stats or skills or anything
worgen = human
you can play from lvl 1 to 85 as human shaped worgen as well as beast shaped worgen without gettin' any benefit from it! I was looking forward to race that doesn't look so much alike with old races.
I didn't want human V2, Worgen w/o transforming ability would've been cool, but no.
I may sound perfectionist, but I had high hopes about characters and classes in the next expansion.
Hunters throwing away mana and gettin' energy? Wtf is that? I hate energy on rogues, and now I get it to my hunter? Ohhh... man!
I have to roll some other character which I probs gonna like play more, like paladin or shaman..
But there's good stuff too.
Old Azeroth looks amazing! And I've been waiting for Uldum and Grim Batol to open since Vanilla! Flying around old Azeroth is one of the best things you can imagine and new instances, raids and quests! Oh man! I'm gonna jump out my skin when waiting those!
Then mixed classes, It's shame that Draenei didn't get warlock as class, It's not to hard imagine Draenei Warlock (read, Broken ;)) but others are so cool! I've been waiting for human hunter since I first entered CoT: CoS with my hunter, It was so fun to look my human hunter that was not supposed to even be in game :D
Other "mixes" are great as well. Tauren paladin is something so great! With biggest starting str. of all races it'll make an easy pallyroll.
But in the end expansion doesn't give me what I did wait for. I hope patches are gonna fix it.
@Kim
You won't be able to play as Human 1-85, you know. The game forces you into Worgen form for combat.
@Amatera
I think u missed Kim's point. Kim is just saying since no stat/ability change when u shapeshift into Worgen then it's no differnt than playing human. It's a human but just a different look, Kim wanted more variety.
At least thats what I took from the comments.
@Grim
You got my point. I see no reason why Worgen can't be Worgen w/o Human form.
Ofc. there's that "werewolf"-thingy, but I'd rather play my whole game with one race :P
You can think Worgens as useless human druids :D
its just using up one of there racials :P
More than likely, Worgen will have different base stats from "normal" Humans, and they've got their own racials. With the werewolf form (once again, you can elect to stay that way 100% of the time), they're just as different as any other race is from Humans.
Really, I think it's tempting to think that Worgen should be able to do more because of their condition, but if they did, then that would upset the balance of the game. You wouldn't see anything *but* Worgen running around at that point!
My only true problem about the newest content is the fact that they are changing the resourse system for hunters after what 5 years now they decide to change a core mechanic of playing a class I really hope they change thier mind on it its just to big an upset.
@Kim
No i'm pretty sure there will be significant differences between a human and a worgen and personally I agree with you I'm not even gonna have the shapeshift ability on my bar ever. but there are stat differences and racial differences so it will be a new experience
Vannila WOW here we come , or WoW2 , call it what u want. This expansion will bring the fantasy back in wow , I'll really enjoy playing the game not for the millions of block ,dodge, crit,haste .. and item lack, and more for the variety of items , dungeons with close drops , and more balanced fun time.
Not to say pvp in many forgotten zones will come back to life, and what the hell World of Worgen craft is going to be cool .. p.s Water RULLS
As far as the hunter/focus thing goes, I've always thought it was silly to see pets get boosts from spellpower when they don't use mana but use focus. It's a cosmetic change at best (with limitations) but I feel personally that all the hunters QQing about the new focus system are just mad because they can't stand around with the same old shot rotation and being easy dpsing machines.
Seriously...I miss the days of chain trapping (loved those Hero Mech pulls gone bad!) and class strategy coming into play. Now it's all 'volley crits' and (easy as hell) shot rotation...If this change challenges me to think more about a shot rotation and which shot will give me the most benefit at any given moment, I say kudos to Blizz for making hunters for putting us back on the map as skilled players and resource managers and not some idiotic 'switch between AotH and AotV' between pulls noobs.
Welcome the change, welcome the challange dammit!
Hear ye! Hear ye! That Hunters ever used Mana at all seemed kind of weird, actually. You make some very good points Highwayman. I agree that the problem is less the change of the system and more that it is going to force existing Hunter to re-learn how to play their class. Is this a bad thing? No, not at all. It's just going to force some of the lazier players out there to step it up a notch.
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