Breakfast Topic: How would you change Cataclysm?
by John Zakour 
Apr 16th 2011 at 8:00AM
There is no question in my mind that Cataclysm has made substantial improvements to WoW as a whole. Still, the game is far from perfect. Improvements can always be made. So, I got thinking if I could change any one thing in WoW, what would it be?
At first, I thought that's easy: Make Baby Spice more available. Baby Spice is great at taking care of inconsiderate people (I'm being polite here) who park their mounts on top of mailboxes or quest givers or whatever. But then I realized that's not really a design bug in the game so much as a certain segment of the players being inconsiderate.
Then I thought: Faster instances would be nice. I'm a busy guy right now and can't often afford to spend two straight hours in an instance. I miss the days of 20-minute VH runs. But then I figured, my being busy isn't really something Blizzard should worry about designing around.
Finally, it hit me: Archeology needs to be streamlined. I don't mind flying all over the world to play a game of Hot or Cold once, but I really get a little peeved playing three games of Hot or Cold. My change would be that once you reach a dig site and find the proper dig spot, that would be it. One hit gives you 5 to 12 artifacts, and then you are on to the next site.
If you could change any one thing about Cataclysm, what would it be?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
bimberiusz Apr 16th 2011 8:08AM
I would say... some end game content that dosnt involve raiding nor pvp.
Ganglati Apr 16th 2011 8:52AM
Agreed. I've always thought the idea of being able to recruit NPCs for your own personal militia or gang would be cool. You could send them on errands while you're offline, like gathering crafting mats or beating down baddies, or you could join them on said errands.
Or daily quests for faction leaders, and a lot of them. I've always thought the idea of basically being Sylvanas or Varian's right-hand man, jack of all trades badass would be sweet. Could be a way to earn the kind of vanity rewards others have requested.
Amaxe Apr 16th 2011 10:28AM
I agree.
For some of us, the story is the thing and it would be nice to go on and continue the stories left hanging in all these zones. Perhaps further development in the war against the cultists or in the Alliance-Horde war.
But please... don't have the Argents decide to set up a Tournament before going after Deathwing!
DarkWalker Apr 16th 2011 10:57AM
Completely agree.
I might be still playing if there was anything at endgame that was even mildly challenging while not being PvP or taking a large group to do.
Noyou Apr 16th 2011 11:20AM
Wow. Never thought of that. Endgame epic quests kind of like the chain once you hit 84 before you can go to twilight highlands (on ally side-not sure what horde gets but I heard it was pretty cool too). Or maybe something like battle for the undercity. Maybe even something other people can share in but it's not required. That would be neat. I would still like an epic gear quest chain every 2-3 patches to at least give you one weapon/gear that you don't have to get via dungeon drop. Class specific so like a shield or 1H for tank or maybe a breastplate with your racial factions crest on it. Also would like to see upgradable gear- like you keep the item but get a token to upgrade the stats and maybe add a socket. I mean the lore behind these weapons/gear we get. You would think okay we just did X dungeon or grind for X amount of time. It would be nice to keep it for more than a patch or 2.
dengarsw Apr 16th 2011 11:32AM
PvP's a really broad term. Do you mean ranked pvp, or just killing in general?
For example, one thing I miss about sandbox games are the politics. WoW politics are dull or simply ego based ("I'm making a new guild and sniping players from X guild!"). If capital cities could be captured by the other faction, that'd be awesome. Get people to defend cities or take enemy cities, sending the losers to live at, say, Bloodhoof or Crossroads. It's pvp with a purpose other than "Oo, shiney!" I know I'd love to see orcs chilling in Varian's home ;) Maybe have a few quests for stealing parts of the tram to use for the Horde, or Alliance capturing Org and stealing parts for their own future zeps.
Housing would be nice too. I mean, really, if the game has war, why not give us a homestead to defend/attack? On a PvE server, it's just home decoration, but on a pvp server, maybe have the option of your house "going red" for a few hours a day, at which time you can attack other houses. "Dead" houses are in flames and require gold to fix, while defeated houses have a chance at dropping random loot (nothing lost since I know WoW folks aren't into losing items in pvp).
But biggest (and most realistic) chance? TB and TBP. TB's mechanics are boring. It's the soul towers all over again. A real siege would be awesome. Attackers start at the bridge and have to break down the entry gate, take a GY, and either destroy the enemy keep or kill an NPC leader inside it (literally an "either or" situation, like with BGs). Maybe defense has the option of sacrificing parts of their own base to stop the attackers (i.e. they can blow up the bridge to wall themselves in, or break open one of the external prisons so the attackers have to fight NPCs, which may also attack the alliance).
DarkWalker Apr 16th 2011 12:14PM
@dengarsw
In my case, it would be PvP as broadly defined as possible. I would like something to do where we don't have to either go against other players in any way, or else assemble groups.
While WoW has turned into mostly a single player game from levels 1 to 84, at max level the only options that are not ridiculously unchallenging involve either groups or player conflict.
BTW, in my specific case, I only care about PvP if it's either:
- Unstructured PvP, mostly free-form but with various objectives, where players can go solo or in groups as they please, and where a player in the field but not participating is not a hindrance to his own faction. This is mostly found in Realm x Realm PvP, or in LotRO's PvMP; WoW's closest things are either open world PvP, which is mostly abandoned, or the long gone Vanilla-era AV.
- Short duration, organized, level field PvP; no character advantages at all. Which also means there should be no rewards at all that improve a player's PvP performance. WoW only has this kind of PvP in the tournament servers, although in this case it's too formal for my liking. Games where this is implemented are GW (about all of it's PvP) and DCUO (Legend PvP, where we use pre-made characters).
fdaapprovedd Apr 16th 2011 1:50PM
I completely agree.
I think what cataclysm needed was an entirely new feature. Something that wasn't as time consuming as the new line of heroics, but something that wasn't an aoe-fest. It would require some skill and planning, but would be quick enough to achieve in under 20 minutes. What I'm thinking of is something similar to a pve type of arena. Kind of like the arena in Kingdom Hearts on Hercules' world.
What I'm suggesting would break the traditional group model. Usually you have one healer, one tank, and three dps. This type of arena would only require the dps role, or healer. The details could be worked out more, but I'm just trying to lay down the basic concept. This type of content would only require 2 or 3 dps.
Each wave/encounter would have mechanics that would force players to CC some of the mobs, say a wave of 4 monsters. Some mobs would have mechanics that would only enable them to be attacked by melee, like camouflage, but wouldn't hit very hard. Another mob in the same wave could hit very hard, but only in melee range, so he would need to be kited. And while these two are being attacked, the other two would have to be CC'ed. Some mechanics could be changed and added to make it just more than just pew-pewing, but you got the idea.
Once again, I'm just trying to lay down the basic concept. I feel like this fits the new cataclysm standard of actually paying attention, but isn't as time consuming as doing a heroic. One of the biggest things this could improve would be the ridiculous que for dps by funneling some of them elsewhere. The awards should be adjusted so that they're not not more or less attractive than doing an instance. Doing one heroic should provide as many Jp/Vp/loot as say, doing two or three arenas.
But to be honest, when I log in to play my dps classes I don't feel like waiting 40 minutes only to end up crashing and burning in some instance with people I don't know.
Poltergeist Apr 17th 2011 3:50PM
I would've loved to see a feature where you're thrown into a 5 man group and have to face off against old raid bosses in an arena type setting, with each bosses health, damage, and mechanics being tuned for the current end game.
Nothing too overtuned, just an alternate source of farming Justice Points. Make it less time efficient to grind JP this way to keep genuine heroic 5 man dungeons as the most time efficient way to grind.
Rezai Apr 16th 2011 8:08AM
I would replace Garrosh as Horde leader with basic campfire.
Noyou Apr 16th 2011 11:21AM
Don't for get Murlocs roasting smores ;)
Garrosh H. Apr 16th 2011 4:54PM
Basic campfire is an agent of Ragnaros.
lividmonkey Apr 17th 2011 12:30PM
Basic campfire is good, but I would still go with Mankrik's Wife.
Bronzey Apr 16th 2011 8:12AM
I wish that Archaeology would give MORE dig spots per zone, even if that means taking longer to get that whole spot done. Digging for a minute and then flying for five minutes is extremely boring.
Abbadon Apr 16th 2011 8:37AM
Yea, I like both suggestions... Any suggestions.... To make Archaelogy a smoother ride. I like collecting mounts (and even pets now) on my main (and could even use some of the BoA gear on alts), but I just don't have the patience to jump through the current hoops.
And I don't think the OP is out of line wanting shorter Heroics... I thought that was one of Blizz's goals (in Wrath?) to have shorter runs! While it sometimes causes arguments, maybe they could add more shortcuts (skippable bosses).
Amaxe Apr 16th 2011 10:31AM
I would like more digsites within a zone but make them smaller. What I hate are places like the Southshore fossil bank or the redridge fossil bank which require too many trips in scanning before your scanner goes from red to yellow... and you have been constantly moving in the same direction.
Noyou Apr 16th 2011 12:00PM
!%!@#$% Redridge! Yeah those are both bad. Any changes to Archy would be much much appreciated. I would rather you have to hit every zone once then have it how it is now back and forth like a ping pong ball. Or like you mentioned have more digs per site or more per zone. Another thing they could do to spruce it up is have a random mob spawn (level appropriate) and you have to fight them for some cache of relics or something like that. Dr. Jones had his share of skirmishes. So should we?
Twill Apr 16th 2011 2:44PM
Seriously. I 100% agree. Archaeology is the worst thing I will never be able to do. Its worse than leveling a druid during TBC.
(When you had 1 cat ability for 20+ levels, and if you were balance you sucked because of the huge hybrid tax of the time).
Schadenfreude Apr 16th 2011 3:04PM
Yeah, I hate those long archeology areas. There's a bad one around the tar pits in un'goro as well.
I'd like it to be more like the other gathering professions-- if you're looking for a specific herb, you can search for that specific herb in a specific zone. There will probably be other kinds of herbs there, so you can pick those as well in the hopes that the one you're looking for will spawn, or pass them over. You don't have to go pick silverleaf in the hopes that some twilight jasmine will spawn next.
Without belaboring the point too much, I want to be able to exclusively work on Tol'vir, Nerubian, etc. without having to clear out all the @*($(#$# fossil or Vrykul sites along the way.
venslor Apr 16th 2011 3:50PM
@Noyou: please... no killing stuffs in Arch! I do arch when I'm in the mood to mindlessly fly around. Like at 2 am and my brain has basically shut off. lol Please don't make me have to destroy level appropriate things. Otherwise, yes, arch could definitely use some repairs to the way it works. Southshore, Redridge and the fossil field in Tanaris are all entirely too large.