Cataclysm Counts As Enough Work for Two WoW Expansions
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We’ve got two new playable races, the level cap is increased to 85 and the whole of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms reshaped from top to bottom, yet somehow accusations of Blizzard being lazy still persist.
The contention from certain quarters is that since World of Warcraft‘s previous expansions: The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, increased the player’s level cap by 10 levels each time, Cataclysm‘s increase of 5 levels is a lazy, nonchalant slap in the face from the developers.
In an interview with The Escapist, vice-president Rob Pardo said that he found the suggestion of Blizzard making a lazy cop-out “laughable”. He good-naturedly said: “It’s way more work! Calling it a cop-out is just funny to me. We’ve been redoing the entire world on top of making new level-up content (from level 80 to level 85)… Cataclysm has probably been two whole expansion packs full of work for us so far!”
Having seen the pain-staking detail that Blizzard have put into making its games just as they want them, the accusation of laziness smacks of childishness. Blizzard have spent years shaping their reputation as a games developer who never pull a rushed job, never “just make do”. When they set out to create something, they hone it, they aim to perfect it – and once its released they patch the hell out of it if it in order to continually tweak and nudge it towards perfection.
This whole “where are my other 5 levels of content?” argument has assumed, at least in my ears, the tone of a petulant whine. It’s akin to a sulky schoolboy demanding to know why he isn’t getting a second new comic book, when he got two last time, not realising that the comic book that he is getting happens to about three times thicker than usual and full of frickin’ Worgen and Goblins.
Cataclysm will fundamentally change WoW by providing an entirely new experience for players as they level up right from level 1. This isn’t a quick reshuffle of a few NPC that we’re talking about here, we’re talking a complete restructuring of Azeroth: dungeons, lands, cities and peoples. This is before we even consider the additional content for levels 80-85.
If Blizzard has taken a lazy approach to Cataclysm, then by comparison a number of its rivals in the gaming industry have been positively sloth-like in the development of their new products. Check out Kotaku’s review of The Force Unleashed II for a quick crash course in designer laziness.
The problem is that all the content revamp of the old world was not included with Cata…this happened for everyone that didn’t pay for Cata as well so when you take that part out it’s just 5 lvls.