The developers of “World of Warcraft” wanted to breathe new life into their flagship franchise and they were willing to blow up a large part of their world to do it.
“Cataclysm,” the third expansion for the best-selling online role-playing PC game from Blizzard Entertainment, goes on sale Tuesday.
As the name implies, a worldwide catastrophe has shattered the game's setting of Azeroth. Towns have been destroyed, floods and droughts have ravaged the world's landscape, and tensions between the game's two main factions, the Alliance and the Horde, are high.
And the giant dragon Deathwing, the villain who caused all the havoc in the first place, is pretty keen on finishing what he started.
There is a method to all this destruction.
Game developer Blizzard wanted to improve the original content of “World of Warcraft,” which had largely been untouched for years. That required a complete overhaul of Azeroth.
“One of the things we heard a lot in the planning stages for 'Cataclysm' was that ‘World of Warcraft' was a great game and if you referred your friends to it you would tell them ‘Just get through the first 60 levels then it gets fun after that,”’ game director Tom Chilton told The Canadian Press.
“And it illustrated to us that there was a problem with the way that our current game content was just a lot more compelling, more fun, then our old game content.”
To do that, Blizzard had to update the core of the game and so even “World of Warcraft” gamers who don't purchase “Cataclysm” will benefit from its improvements.
While the “Cataclysm” expansion pack features new areas to explore, new dungeons to delve and two new playable races, many of the changes brought about by the expansion are already available for free.
Every original zone has been redesigned with new quests and in many cases a completely new geography. The changes are large enough that the free content could be considered an expansion in its own right.
The new content isn't just thrown in either. The quests are now largely part of a greater storyline rather than one-off chores, and players are tasked to do big picture missions, such as bombing enemy cities or taking down a powerful adversary, at a much earlier level than before.
While sweeping changes have taken place to the game's environment, the core gameplay of “World of Warcraft” remains the same.
Players control a single character, which can be created using one of the 12 races and 10 classes available. Players who prefer sneaking around and taking out enemies unseen may choose a night elf rogue, for example, while those who prefer fighting on the front lines might create a burly orc warrior.
The character becomes more powerful and gains more abilities as it gains levels by killing monsters or completing quests. Many quests can be handled solo, but some of the challenging dungeons and raids will require groups of five or more to tackle.
And those who wish to pit their skills against human opponents can take advantage of the player-versus-player battlegrounds, where the Horde and Alliance factions struggle for dominance in battles ranging from five-on-five skirmishes to large-scale conflicts.
While there is enough free stuff to keep players busy for hours, Chilton thinks Warcraft fans will still gladly shell out to buy the expansion.
“As long as there is a good chunk of new content for players to experience that comes with purchasing the box then I think we're OK on that front,” Chilton said.
