Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 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 5 of 11)
kaminari Dec 6th 2010 1:54PM
i loved the zombie invasion, and although part of that may be the ganker in my, it was mostly being able to play a horror movie, be bitten and turn into a zombie, and actually be the zombie, the zombie chat was great.
however it missed an "argent inoculation" or something to keep you with pvp off if you so wanted
Rylka Dec 6th 2010 2:05PM
This is quoting a response of mine to a post further down that was intended to be here:
I am glad to hear that your server was not as deeply affected as ours. We had folks camping in their own faction's starting areas to kill newly created players, going around to kill as many low level quest givers as possible over and over on circuits, lurking at flight paths and graveyards in 10-20 zones to infect anyone arriving or trying to flee the zone, and other zombie "fun." We had players swearing and cursing out anyone who cured them, blasting them in public and in whispers for "ruining" their fun.
It was not the best few days for many.
You are correct that I was not trolling above. My opinions and feelings are exactly as expressed above. You do remember correctly in that I did express those opinions at the time of the event here on WOW Insider.
You are also correct about the zombie event's effect on many types of people including those with social differences.
I myself found the event simply annoying aside from the terrible griefing. However, several other players I know, including my spouse, were extremely disturbed by it. They play the game as for enjoyment and a reduction of stress, deliberately playing on PVE servers and avoiding almost all instances of PVP to avoid human-on-human aggression. My spouse has mild Aspergers syndrome and was deeply affected by the event in a strongly negative way. Having people attacking you with no control and no idea of how long this would go on or what the world would be like afterward was hell.
Until that point WOW had been a haven for them where social interactions with other players could complement social growth outside the game. The game had become an important part of social life for my spouse where contact with new friends and distant family could be maintained. It took quite a while for things to settle down again and enjoyment of the game to return.
Breska Dec 6th 2010 8:40PM
Al wrote:
"Gave up on the cities after being repeatedly called a F---wit or a ---- just for Cleansing people."
Agreed, Al. Yeah, this was some of the general jerkishness of the community at work.
If you "got into" the event by eagerly being a zombie and griefing, that was "all in good fun."
If like me, you got into it by trying to, you know, be a HERO and cleanse people, people complained that you were ruining their fun.
Why is my fun less important than theirs?
Masalar Dec 6th 2010 8:32AM
To be fair, technically the Cata world event culminated with The Shattering. As far as game altering events go that trumps the zombies for impact factor. I still the zombies were better than the elementals, but I also don't think you can just leave The Shattering out of the equation.
Torqueo Dec 6th 2010 8:33AM
I think that Blizzard should re-activate the Zombie event every year for the 2 days that are "Day of the Dead" =)
poggg Dec 6th 2010 8:34AM
Some of the best times I had in this game were during the zombie apocalypse. I was one of the few people NOT playing as a zombie, in the later days. Defending the Stormwind inn as it was under heavy siege was just...beautiful. Absolutely epic. Very little since then rivals that memory.
In contrast, the best part of the Elemental Invasion was the excitement and anticipation before doing it the first time. Then it was just business as usual. Don't get me wrong, it was an alright event, but...its competition is a zombie apocalypse. Hard to compete with that.
Milanor Dec 6th 2010 8:35AM
Zombie invasion was far more "mind blowing" than whatever was supposed to happen before Cataclysm.
Blighton Dec 6th 2010 8:51AM
Easily the zombie invasion was a lot more like a world event. We were forced to take part that the lich king was attacking and that gave us purpose to go to was with the scourge. I did however enjoy the lore and progression of the elementals. Just didn't seem as forced as it should have been considering the whole world was about to get f'd up
Face Dec 6th 2010 8:36AM
I really WANTED to like the Elemental event more than I did... but meh. I did all the quests, tried to get excited, but there was just too much suspension of disbelief for this one. Twilight cultists are suddenly everywhere setting up altars outside of Orgrimmar?
I guess the other point is that when a zombie event is more believable than this one... well...
Cyrus Dec 6th 2010 8:36AM
The zombie invasion was better. I know a lot of people hated it at the time, but I wasn't one of them. It had been a year since the last new content; what could anybody possibly be doing in cities and major towns that was more important than eating brains?
DarkWalker Dec 6th 2010 1:52PM
Sincerely? Anything, for me, would be more important than playing zombie invasion. Even playing the original frogger non-stop would be more important for me than playing zombie invasion.
Full scale, chaotic, free-for-all PvP is not a game genre I enjoy, and I don't pay the game to have it suddenly change from something I like to play to something I dislike. I also dislike the whole Zombie Apocalypse genre. Which is why I took a 3 months vacation from the game as a result of the zombie invasion, and delayed buying WotLK for those months.
Radiophonic Dec 6th 2010 8:38AM
The Cataclysm event fell pretty short of being epic. Would have been nice if say, they had a dragon attack Org like Burning Crusade when Mal'ganis attacked (at least, I think it was him, my memory is a bit blurry from then). This even was just like, "Hey, some more elementals are here" oh noes? Boring.
aramis Dec 6th 2010 8:38AM
The only people who decry the elemental invasion as being lame are the ones who were looking to grief the other side the way they could with the zombie invasion. Point proven with almost every commenter above this post.
I liked both events. They both fit in with their own timelines and lore, and I enjoy the story more than griefing Alliance. The story about the elementals invading and why they were pissed intrigued me and reading "The Shattering" helped to understand their turmoil.
With the zombies, griefing aside, there was an interesting story there: The re-unleashing of the scourge on a population that had all but forgotten them. Which is what brought chaos and helped the lore progress into the time of the Lich King.
Again, each event worked in their own respects. I don't put weight on one event simply because that was the one where I could run into the Stormwind AH and wreak havoc. Might be good for a laugh...once. But over and over and it was just obnoxious. And as a Horde player...I'm more honorable than that ;)
hagbard Dec 6th 2010 9:48AM
Of all the people that missed the point of the zombie invasion, you sir take the cake. The reason the elemental invasion was lame, is that it was on a predictable schedule and you could ignore it completely by setting your hearth to a different city (people still complained that this was too much of an inconvenience as well. Think about that, a world ending event that's too much of an inconvenience). The zombie event felt like a world changing/ending epic event. You couldn't ignore it. The elemental invasion felt too scripted, hence, boring to most.
aramis Dec 6th 2010 10:14AM
@hagbard
Scripted?
You clearly weren't in Thunder Bluff during the first city invasion. No warning. The clouds rolled in, and the elementals we had been toying with for days beforehand that were all tiny and small, all of a sudden were large...and pissed and large in numbers. And one-shotting the lowbies not smart enough to get out. Such was the scene in Orgrimmar.
That "scripted" feel comes from the repeated invasions over and over. But such is the case with a video game. Once you've experienced it, it loses its luster.
Such was the complaint of the zombie invasion. It was cool at first because it was chaos. It went with the lore prorgression, and people didn't know what to expect. It became obnoxious when people purposefully tried to manipulate to suit their twisted sense of humor. As I said...running into the Stormwind AH and spreading the zombie disease and causing mass gnomeicide was funny...once. Over and over, it was annoying. And yes, you could escape it by not hanging out in the city (as you pointed out for the Elemental invasion). In the case that you couldn't ignore it was because someone on the otherside purposefully went up to you to make it so. How is that natural and uncontrolled? No the zombie invasion was just as much controlled as you complain the elemental invasion was, only this time, there wasn't an opportunity to piss off the other side.
No, you sir, missed the point.
Bynde Dec 6th 2010 10:32AM
"The only people who decry the elemental invasion as being lame are the ones who were looking to grief the other side the way they could with the zombie invasion. Point proven with almost every commenter above this post."
No, the people who decry it do so becasue it was pretty mundane and lame. I think we all expected a little more from the Dev team than "Lets have a special instance every 3 hours or so". I mean come on. Any fool can come up with that. It seems little thought went into these events.
The Zombie event was immersive. If it ended up upseting someones' trip to the AH for a few days, too bad. It only was going to happen this one time and NEVER HAPPEN again. Live with it. It was unique and nothing like it happened before , and certainly not after.
I fear the tiny tears of so many QQing about the Zombie event is what made the pre-cata events so freaking lame. I have zero sympathy for people who want everything the same and nothing upsetting the apple cart, not even if it's only temporary and fleeting. If someone doesn't like that kind of variety/surprises then they should go play tower defense games instead.
Lord, the 'dare i eat a peach?' crowd is so boring.
N-train Dec 6th 2010 12:06PM
As I am reading through the posts about this, I'm wondering why 75% of all the arguments against the people who disliked the zombie invasion is that they must be boring people who are just ever so ruffled that their routine is disturbed.
I didn't see any of that in Aramis' posts. I think he accurately pointed out some of the flaws and high points of the zombie invasion, and it had more to do with the grieffest it became than the fact that one often had to travel to 3 different cities to find a bloody auction house.
IMO, the zombie invasion was too uncontrolled. I agree with the OP, it was REALLY fun, (especially when in a large group in a major city)... for three days. Then it just became obnoxious. Some people found it to be fun the whole way through, and thats PERFECTLY OK. However, I, and others did not, and thats also PERFECTLY OK. The worse thing about the zombie invasion, IMO, is the way it polarized people (as one can still see in the comments here), and one's right to enjoy the game as they saw fit was challenged. Not everyone who enjoyed the whole thing was a griefer, and not everyone who didn't is a panzy, but in the aftermath of the whole thing it sure seemed that way.
The Wanderer Dec 6th 2010 12:48PM
@aramis:
"The only people who decry the elemental invasion as being lame are the ones who were looking to grief the other side the way they could with the zombie invasion."
That's not true. I was not present for the zombie invasion, and I definitely sympathize with the people who disliked the griefing (that was in fact my own initial reaction upon reading about it after the fact) - but I have to agree that it was epic, and that after making the switch to the "let's enjoy this for what it is" mindset I would probably have had a very good time with it.
I wasn't actually present for the elemental invasion either; I'm largely a WoW spectator at this point, although Cataclysm is making it hard to resist being drawn in to actually play. (I do acknowledge that this means my opinions are less well informed than those of others may be, and I may well miss the mark as a result.) Based on all the descriptions, however, I have to agree that it seems to have been generally lame - partly from the scripted nature of the events, and partly from the simple fact that it was so easy to completely avoid (or even miss noticing entirely).
@Bynde:
"I think we all expected a little more from the Dev team than "Lets have a special instance every 3 hours or so". I mean come on. Any fool can come up with that. It seems little thought went into these events."
Indeed. Here's an alternate proposal, which I think would have retained the benefits of the zombie invasion while avoiding the griefing which was its major downside:
Have there be a dozen or more locations in every capital city (and perhaps in some other parts of the world as well) where portals can spawn.
Every few minutes - no more than 15 at the most, quite possibly as little as 5 - spawn portals at a random selection of the potential spawn locations, and have a minimum of 3-6 elementals spawn from each portal.
Each elemental picks a nearby character (player or NPC), spawns at a level appropriate to be a "not easy, but not impossible" solo fight for that character (based on level and gear), and sets that character at the top of its threat list.
Rinse and repeat, nonstop, around the clock for a few days.
Properly implemented, I think that approach would keep things purely PvE (thus, no unexpected or involuntary PvP from it), and minimize the potential for griefing. At the same time, it would retain the feel which was present during the zombie invasion that "this is a major event!" - because it's hard to avoid, and because if you don't defend the "service" NPCs they will get killed and the services will get shut down till they respawn.
I came up with that in, literally, no more than five to ten minutes, in response to aramis' post. It's not perfect, necessarily, but I think it would have been a better approach to the actual "elemental invasion" phase of the pre-Cata event than what we apparently actually got.
anthonycwoods Dec 6th 2010 8:41AM
Zombies.
The Cata launch just kinda fell flat, timing-wise. It started insidiously, built momentum, had good questlines, new instances & bosses with decent loot. Then The Shattering! Should have been awesome!
And then next came: nothing. Besides a few new race/class combos and new starting zones.
It mostly felt like potential not fulfilled. I think the main reason has been this 2 week lag between the Shattering and the actual launch. It robbed the launch of any momentum. People went and rolled alts, farmed long-tired Wrath heroics for justice points, and kinda just put everything on hold waiting for Dec 7.
Flint Dec 6th 2010 8:43AM
The zombie invasion was a bigger event, but a cool idea turned into a nightmare in practice and despite feeling like a big thing the association is entirely negative. Forced PVP and accepted griefing is never a good thing.
Elemental invasion was probably a bit too careful after the zombie issues, but I loved the buildup and participating in the capital elemental attacks was suitably epic. Loved the little touches too like the earthquakes. Shame about the lack of any memorabilia though: all the items were distributed in dungeons and even those were just standard gear loot rather than any intriguing fun stuff. But I suppose the achievement system and Tripping the Rifts sort of took care of that.