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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Elementals vs. Zombies -- which event was better?
by Kevin Podsiadlik 
Dec 6th 2010 at 8:00AM
In the days leading up to Wrath of the Lich King, plagued crates started showing up in major cities, triggering a widespread zombie infestation that, for a few days, brought World of Warcraft as we knew it essentially to a halt. In the days leading up to Cataclysm, cultists started showing up in the major cities, heralding an elemental invasion that would also impact World of Warcraft, just before the game would change once and for all.
With both events now in the history books, which event leaves you with the better memories?
For better or worse, the zombie infestation will almost surely go down as the more memorable event. It involved unique player mechanics not seen before or since and even created a de facto third faction which members of both Alliance and Horde could temporarily join (not always voluntarily). The elemental invasion? Quests were there, you did them, stuff showed up, you killed it. The settings may have been unique, but in the end it was still "just WoW."
Which brings us to the downsides. During the zombie infestation, WoW stopped being WoW. Which meant: Want to raid? Want to quest? Want to farm? Too bad. All that was pretty much shut down, and we weren't being told when it would be back. It turned out to be just four days, but nobody knew that at the time. With the elemental invasion, when players got tired of it, for the most part they could ignore it. Dalaran and Icecrown Citadel were unaffected, and pretty much everything was out of the way except for the city events -- and for those, you always knew that things would be back to normal in an hour at most.
Neither event was without its flaws, and both were unique in the history of WoW. No doubt the advent of the next expansion will produce another such event. Which event would you like the next one to be more like?
| Wrath's zombie invasion was cooler. | |
|---|---|
| Cataclysm's elemental invasion was better. |
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 11)
swelt Dec 6th 2010 8:10AM
There needs to be a "All of the above" option. I'd say the zombie invasion was "cooler", really pushing the boundaries of the game... but the elemental invasion could be argued to be "better" for the controlled way in which it built to a climax and wove in rewarding mini-bosses.
Dez Dec 6th 2010 8:10AM
Come off it, Opening of the Dark Portal is the only expansion release event worth talking about. The other two were just dire.
transrelativity Dec 6th 2010 8:11AM
True fact. Dark Portal was awesome.
Muse Dec 6th 2010 8:31AM
It's one and only downside was the length. Have a day off the computer, blink and you missed it. :( I logged on in the evening to an Ironforge covered in skeletons from Highlord Kruul and everyone talking animatedly about it and I missed the bloody thing completely.
DarkWalker Dec 6th 2010 1:23PM
This is why I think such events should be instanced/phased to begin with, such as the fight for Gnomer/Echo Islands. And cross-realm too, so even after the first hours of the event running, Blizzard can still bring together enough players interested in doing the event to not give that "just me and the king" vibe.
The other two options are to have the events repeating themselves (which annoy the heck of most players after a couple dozen repetitions) or the event being one-shot (and so, risking truly horrendous lag if it proves popular enough, and creating a big risk players will accidentally miss the event).
Xid Dec 6th 2010 8:15PM
This is true. Back then I didn't really pay attention to special in-game events and stuff and I didn't really play as much, so I entirely missed the pre-TBC stuff as well. Wish I coulda been there. =/
rhorle Dec 6th 2010 8:11AM
I think the poll is flawed. I found the zombie invasion to be cooler, but thought the elemental invasion was better.
fanficbug Dec 6th 2010 8:31AM
^
The zombie event got very old and frustrating after a couple of days. For me it was mostly because people could still communicate through trade, general, and other similar chats. There were at least two factions--people who loved the zombie event and wanted to be as disruptive as possible, and people who hated it because they had business to do or simply did not like change (a valid personality trait, don't get me wrong). Those factions tended to be the loudest and constantly trash-talked each other in the public channels.
At the time, I didn't know that you could leave those channels, so my game experience became very frustrating even though I had nothing against the event itself per se. There's a good reason why Blizzard doesn't allow cross-faction communication, so I wonder why they did so here, or if it was an oversight.
I do have better memories from the zombie invasion for one specific reason. I tried to do the quest in Shatt where you get shown around by Khadgar's familiar. I think it was around the third day of the invasion, so the plague was pretty insane by that time. Plague + Shattered Sun troops = marauding hordes. I and three other pallies cooperated to keep the familiar alive. It took me two hours to get the quest done, but at least it wasn't boring! :)
gboyd Dec 6th 2010 9:17AM
I don't know that I agree. Yes the Zombie event was cooler, but to say the Cataclysm event was better... I just don't see it.
The zombie event was Arthas's way of declaring in one loud voice that he was a problem. he got your attention like none other. There was also story with the zombie event. Do you recall the attack on Stormwind and Orgrimmar? Garrash battling Thrall? The fact is, everybody knew we were under attack.
Cataclysms events were, as Kevin says, just more of your typical WoW. The coolest thing to have occurred in the Cataclysm set is Deathwing flying around killing everyone. Atleast, I think that's what was supposed to happen. I read about it. I saw a youtube video of it happening. But I haven't seen it in game at all. I know of only one person who has run into Death Wing, died, and gotten a feat of strength. it's just way too random and way too infrequent.
These are events meant to announce the new expansion. They're supposed to be in your face, annoying as all get out, and epic in what they do to the game. Cataclsym just felt lacking in my opinion...
fanficbug Dec 6th 2010 9:26AM
I suppose it would be more clear to say that I thought the Cataclysm event was better designed to avoid problems with griefing and smack talking from people of the "same faction." The Cataclysm event may not have been as fun because it wasn't player-driven, but at least there wasn't the massive griefing, QQ, and counter-QQ. Between the people who didn't want their routines disrupted (perfectly valid in its own way), the people who wanted others to come play with them or wanted to be jerks, and the ones who wanted the other two sides to shut up, the event got old. I'd rather deal with a little boredom than constant "SHUT UP NOOBS, YOU CAN GO DO YOUR CHORES LATER", "WHY DID YOU KILL THE AUCTIONEERS AGAIN? THE FLIGHTMASTERS ARE DEAD, I CAN'T LEAVE!", and "LET'S ALL JUST CALM DOWN FFS!" I liked the Cataclysm event better because it was hugely less frustrating, not because it was cooler.
Grumpy Wow Guy Dec 6th 2010 9:50AM
The poll IS flawed:
The image shown is of zombies and shortly into the article, the author rules that the zombie event is more memorable.
So, the poll is biased and the % can not be accurate. Imagine going to a poll on election day and seeing one of the candidates' faces inside the booth next to an ad saying that this candidate would be more "memorable". The author's argument is biased towards the zombie event in presentation and structure.
Had an unbiased poll been made available, I would guess that sightly more people would have voted in favor of the elemental event; since it just occurred and with the excitement surrounding Cataclysm.
With that said, the zombie event was incredibly unique and so much fun.
However, after a few days, it did get really old; if you were leveling a toon, you would instantly be slaughtered by higher level zombies griefers. (I should know, I was one of those griefers. heheheh)
A lot of people complained that they were being forced into pvp, which was the case.
All in all, I thought that the zombie invasion was a blast.
KJP Dec 6th 2010 10:24AM
I would have worded it more evenly myself, but it didn't appear that I had control over that part of it. Next time I'll try to specify.
Vort Dec 6th 2010 8:13AM
Zombie invasion stands out more in my mind. A lot of people I spoke to to hated the zombie invasion because they felt it interfered too much with their regular gameplay, but to me I feel that should be the whole point of a world event, i.e. you can't ignore it. The downside of the elemental invasion for me was the fact that you could ignore it completely if you wanted to. "The world is ending? Elementals attacking? Really? Hmm... yeah I think I'll just go back to my farming, LFD, auctioneering tbh". A world event you can ignore just seems like a non-event in my mind. At least with the zombie invasion, you could escape it by making an effort to do so, but you couldn't ignore it.
Hoof Dec 6th 2010 9:17AM
Please... you escaped the zombie event by mounting your flying moutn and not landing...
DarkWalker Dec 6th 2010 1:33PM
Yeah, we could ignore it. By simply not playing, or, as myself and other people did, by cancelling our subscriptions, either temporarily or permanently.
You may think an unavoidable event is cool. But unless Blizzard can guarantee that all players will like the event, doing an event where the only way to avoid it is to not play is not a very smart move. It makes players that dislike the event feel like they can't really trust WoW to provide on-demand entertainment. It makes those players look at other forms of entertainment, actively pushing a part of the player base to look into the competition. I think everyone can see why this is bad.
rich.krzem Dec 6th 2010 8:14AM
The Zombie invasion gave you a sense of fear, things were out of control. There was no place to hide accept in the air on a flying mount in Shattrah.
I never felt that way with the Elementals, I just stood off to the side and didn't aggro anything.
sephirah Dec 6th 2010 8:14AM
I'm a carebear but those weeks of zombie pvp were a lot of fun.
Shame that lot of people QQed about their "daily routine disruption" and caused Blizzard to make the elemental invasion so lame.
Persephanie Dec 6th 2010 8:15AM
Zombies, killing hundreds of them... Epic win. Who doesn't love taking out zombies. I mean, be a fire extinguisher as the world burns, or get in there and do some zombie shots to the head.
Sleutel Dec 6th 2010 8:17AM
Zombies. Hands down. It felt like a real *event*, instead of a minor annoyance. Did it shut things down? Yes. Did you have an opportunity to participate during the "shutdown," regardless of your level? YES. As opposed to now, when the best your lowbie alts (like bankers/mules) could do was run their asses to a new capital. And oh, hey, only two cities for every faction were affected. It might as well not have been happening.
Wrath: Worldwide and intrusive, but in an amazingly immersive way that gave you the opportunity to be a part of something epic. This is what playing an MMO should be like.
Cata: Intrusive but limited in scope. No way to participate for many characters. Scripted to the point that nothing felt natural, spontaneous, or under player control. Lame and tedious.
Oliver Blanch Merino Dec 6th 2010 6:59PM
Lol for sure the zombies. I mean, the elementals got old to be honest. With the zombies I just didnt know what to do with myself hahaha it was awesome.