World of Warcraft Cataclysm preview

*Originally published on 9/16/09



Fans of World of Warcraft got quite a treat earlier this year when it was announced that there would be another expansion called Cataclysm.

An ancient evil has awoken and it is seriously going to jack some stuff up. I'm not too familiar with the back story of World of Warcraft, but this seems like a brilliant idea. It will alter the game play enough that it makes the expansion worth picking up and, as noted by the developers, this will allow players to explore regions they had already covered.

Not only that, but it's a freaking apocalypse level event that will shake the world to its core. If done well, it would make the game even more epic in scope than it already was.

As one would expect with an expansion. There are new races that will be made available. For the horde, you will now have the option to play as a goblin. If you are an alliance member, you have the option of playing as a Worgen, which is not dissimilar to a werewolf. New class combinations will also be made available.

For the hardcore players who have already hit the max level on their character, the level cap will be raised to level 85. The other expansions raised the max up by 10, but with all the other things added, the developers decided to just increase the level max by 5. It should hold most players over, at least I think it would.

With the flood of MMO's coming out, World of Warcraft is going to have to fight to hold onto it's title as reigning MMO champion. While it does have millions of subscribers, the game has been out for some time and people may consider putting the game aside for awhile. This will keep people interested in the game as well as increase the chance of attracting new buyers.

Heck, had World of Warcraft worked out for me, I probably would've gotten this. When this was announced I reconsidered my decision to put World of Warcraft aside. Not for long mind you, I already have two MMO's that I plan on picking up, I can only do so much. Still, this expansion does have potential.

If you were getting bored with World of Warcraft, this might be just the thing to keep you hooked. With all the regions to explore, new quests to go on, not to mention some agent of ultimate evil to battle, long time fans will likely get everything they could ask for out of an expansion.

Like other MMO's, there is no set release date for this expansion. It will most likely come out some time next year.