It's a new year...

...and we're still playing the same games.

I've been sitting on this post for a while, I blame my new job... but I said in my last post I would say "more" about Cataclysm and it's been long enough; let's begin.

First, the good:
The old 'vanilla' WoW from mid 2000's is gone... replaced with a world that uses some of the technology from the expansions since it's release. This is awesome, no more NPC's sitting there complaining about the same shit as when you rolled your toon in 2006. The world changes and progresses with your quest completions... it feels more alive!

The graphics are better, while still not requiring a beast of a computer to run. Good graphics don't make a good game, but WoW was starting to look very dated... although the character models could do with an update.

The game is hard* again. Wrath made the game way too easy... but there's still some tweaking to be done. Some bosses slap you around like a bully is stealing your lunch money, while others essentially just fall over and die the moment you draw your weapons.
*...a little bit anyway.

Archeology is cool... kinda?

GET DIGGIN' MOFOS

The Bad...
Blizzard changed too much, my personal favorite spec, the Retribution Paladin changed completely such that it feels like a different toon. Hunters would know this feeling well. We're in a situation where some classes and specs seem dead compared to others... This is a classic case of overreach on Blizzard's part, changing too much and not listening to the players during beta. Why have a beta and then release the game without making changes the beta made obvious?

Healers have it too hard (imo); healers are giving up from what I'm hearing, they've perhaps dialed up the difficulty a bit too much for them...
...as a result, melee characters tend to die from the increased overall difficulty and stressed healers; I don't die as much as I'm a ret and can self heal. This is hardly an ideal situation though.


The Ugly...
Blizz put in a change that forces you to level in your "proper" areas... ie, once you hit level 60, you are hit with a 90% penalty to your XP if you stay in the old world... the nice new old world... so you move onto the now quite old Burning Crusade content... Why? WHY?!?

WTF BLIZZARD?!?

I could have a few more levels in the brand new revitalised old world zones... I could explore areas revealed by the cataclysm and enjoy the new stories... but no, some moron at Blizzard decided to hit us with a massive disincentive so we'll leave the new content and go be bored for the next 15-20 levels. Good show.

Also the new pre loader fucks up every second time I open it for no apparent reason...

Failed is the right word...

Conclusion:
Ultimately, if you like WoW, Cataclysm is a safe bet; if only because of the revived old world but prepare to hit a brick wall as soon as you enter the new Cataclysm heroic dungeons... especially if you're a healer.

...of course, for those old boys who liked the elite feel you got when epics were actually kind of hard, well... that might just attract you.

Next time, ima talk about some new games I bought from Steam (...I still hate Steam though).