Hard to believe it has been 10 years since the game was "Ionized".
I view Cata as growing pains. The game was in dire need of a facelift. It came at the expense of other things at the time, but 10 years later, the game is better off because of it imo.
tied with mop for best
It was a fantastic expansion imo.
And we still hate the !@#$ty zone revamps, I mean destructions!Ashenvale on fire, Thousand Needles underwater NO THANK YOU!
I left during WotLK and came back for BfA.I like Cataclysm. As I advanced in life, efficiency (as in reduced travel time) became more and more important. I like the little quality of life improvements.Every zone is like new to me, with new stories. Some stories are like sequels to the classic storylines. I love those.2+ years of BfA later, I still haven't found the time to play through all the zones.
10 years since the beautiful old WORLD of Warcraft has been screwed up, marked as some people's territory instead of environment for players to explore and play in.10 years since the quests were remade from "loose lore-related story" model to "railroad single player story" model with 1 big quest chain per zone. No choice, no freedom, no alternatives, you all gotta go in THAT zone and none other, and you all have to do THAT quest and none other, and you're gonna see over 9000 players at 1 quest in 1 phase because stupid railroads generate stupid bottlenecks.10 years since the dungeons were "streamlined" i.e. no more incentivizing, y'know, EXPLORING the world and collecting quests to complete in dungeon because, Light forbid, someone could feel SO BAD by losing that PRECIOUSSS item/xp due to not caring to get out of starting location to take that 1 quest.10 years since talent specs got pruned for the 1st time. It all went downhill from there.10 years since talent specs got LABELED, because SOME PEOPLE apparently thought that players' small brains couldn't handle some specs possibly doing more than 1 thing.10 years since DK as a class has been butchered and Blood in particular was trashed with BS RNG rune regen instead of time-based rune system that made the class unique and requiring some forethought as opposed to mindless button mashing hoping for proc.10 years since for the first time in history of WoW we didn't got a new continent, but crappy new zones on top of old ones, and badly designed & plagued by oppressive phasing... if finished at all.All these and more bad dumpster fires we owe to Cata. Only 3 good things ever came out of it: transmogs, flying in Azeroth, LFR.
10th Anniversary of Pre-Cataclysm Event that Shattered Azeroth Forever Todayposted 26 days ago by DiscordianKittyTen years ago today, Deathwing took to the skies and changed the face of Azeroth forever in the Cataclysm Pre-Patch event, the Shattering.Long imprisoned in Deepholm, Deathwing - formally Neltharion of the Black Dragonflight - escaped from his prison and unleashed his fury on Azeroth, causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and floods which reshaped the in-game world. Thrall, concerned about the obvious unrest in the world's Elemental Plane, chose to step down as Warchief and instead focus on his duties as a Shaman. He chose Garrosh as the new Warchief - a hotheaded leader who would spearhead growing conflict between the Alliance and Horde.In one of the biggest overhauls we've seen to the game, Classic zones were redesigned - sometimes beyond recognition as in the case of Azshara and Thousand Needles - and given new Cataclysm-themed questlines. Worgen and Goblins were introduced to the game, with Worgen joining the Alliance and Goblins joining the Horde. While players were questing, Deathwing flew overhead, sometimes setting the world on fire and offering the Feat of Strength achievement Stood in the Fire.