estimate the cataclysm

Okay... so this is a World of Warcraft post, pure and simple. If you don't know about World of Warcraft, you WILL get severely confused by what follows here... If you're a WoW player or even nerd like me, read on.

So, yeah...

The new expansion has been announced.

For a while, I've been reading the speculation and rumours, surrounded by a dangerous amount of leaks and proof... and resolutely going "No, no, no. No fucking way Blizzard is going to pull off all of this shit." It all sounded far out, completely crazy. I really just expected a few new zones, a new level cap, the usual deal - but not something that encompasses, well, essentially 80% of the game.

And it was all true.

I was honestly and truly surprised.

It's a thought that occured to me once or twice during Outland and Northrend...

Those zones are really well done, especially Northrend with phasing and a thread of an all-encompassing story thorough everything, which got especially good in the latter expansion.

But none of that pertains to Azeroth. It's a tangled mess of quests, confusing and poorly itemized, remainders of a fledgling design that pales in comparison to the newer zones.

Azeroth could use a remake, I thought.

And a remake it gets... What a remake, too! Not just going over quests and items, oh no. A whole, enormous, all-encompassing cataclysm that impacts on almost everything. The story continues to evolve, struggling against technical limitations of the MMO status quo and toppling them to deliver more plot to spice up the gameplay.

Some of these revelations still reek to me slightly of simplification, like guild skills or talent changes... but overall, I'm highly impressed by the announcement and how much of the rumours were confirmed.

I will be impatiently waiting until Azeroth is shattered and frantically looking for metal that can serve as a decent background for the Cataclysm. So far, I've only found this and this...