Does anyone else see Cataclysm as The End?

Each expansion up to this point has been a gear reset.
As in, unlike Everquest I, there is nothing you have equipped at 80th, which is still worth equipping when compared to level 85 heroic/raid drops.

If each of the teams you care to level are 80th at the release of Cataclysm, they're on equal footing whether they dinged 80th the day before release or have been there for over a year... well gear might make the initial zones a bit easier, but they're balanced for single toons, while we run groups and absolutely slaughter the early content.

I'm pretty much very casually adding alchemists to my mix, purely for gold. Have not really logged in to play, aside from transmutes (existing alchemists) in about three weeks. I'd ideally like to level the teams upwards a bit from 68th (minimum for 450 skill is 65th, but transmute specialization is 68th) towards seventy-something, as the minimum level to reach maximum skill will likely increase a bit.

But at this stage, its pretty much just getting toons/teams ready for Cataclysm.

I would think if you had a team in the current badge/frost gear, would have a bit easier time from 80-85, would be over geared for the normal instances on the way up, and perhaps be able to move to heroics a bit faster. Replace a few slots and be good to go.

Only a 5 lvl difference this time, so it would seem that the high end raid gear would be better than the normal dungeon/quest blues. Course the devs can make this play out anyway they want depending on what iLvl they start the new gear with.

I plan on finishing equpping my first team, working on crafting, and raising a few more so I can mix and match for most effective team when exp comes out. Should have a pali, druid, priest 2x shaman , DK, mage warlock and a couple others to form my team with come cataclysm.

As a side point,

the more i read on the class changes the more I like them. I'm not an expert on all the classes but for the ones I have played significantly I like the direction they are taking. They seem well thought out and with a specific goal. No uneasiness at all really, just low level excitement for the expansion.

T

1-80 has become too bleak for me to continue. I can't imagine what a new player thinks when they join the game now.

If something major is done (like removing the time required for about 40 levels), then perhaps I'll try again. But right now the grind it too great.
60-70 is empty and boring.
70-80 is a beat down. Pretty cool the first time through it, but plain awful after that.

This, just when they seem to have found a good balance up at the top end, letting new items in for the trailblazers and allowing everyone else who puts in some time to stay relatively close. It's no longer a matter of raiders having tier2 epics vs non raiders having level 55 blues.

These basic questions have been asked with every single expansion and will continue to be asked with every single expansion. The world (of warcraft) will end when the world (of warcraft) ends :P Just enjoy the good times for now.

I'm curious what they'll do to make 70-80 bearable in cata - as while I'm excited to re-do 1-60 without RAF thanks to new races, zones and quests - 60-70 is quite fast with xp curve and flying (but will be a bore to redo as is) - but 71-80 is just terrible and so slow right now (which is why my new teams are stuck around level 72)

I would assume they would speed 70-80 up abit....may even speed up under 70 again (but w/ new races maybe not).
But I agree, my shaman are in Outlands right now....I'm not looking forwatrd to NR leveling. Idk, I find it extremely painful.
I may do Isle of QD for a level, then level in outland heroics for a cpl more, just to avoid NR some.

Not sure who was saying BC heroics were hard. Actually they were pretty easy because you can do them with 5 shaman. Using 5 shaman to clear heroics when LK was new was impossible. You can do it now with 232 gear but trying to do the same in blues would not work when LK came out. The guys in BC who had a tank 3dps and healer did heroics like they were nothing. I think all these changes to mechanics are going to make boxing much harder to do. If it turns out to suck I guess it would be time to cancel the accounts and move on.

Shortly into each previous expansion, they've reduced the experience required per level for the previous content by 30%.
This was true for classic content, in Burning Crusade, and for BC content in Wrath of the Lich King.
I would assume this will be true for WotLK content in Cataclysm.

They have stated the BoA +exp heirlooms will work in Cataclysm, but only for 1st to 80th content, not 81st to 85th... and that realm firsts will not be awarded to toons who have used the BoA's.
Under the class/race combinations, Death Knights are listed for both Goblins and Worgen, but Blizz has also said they will not be allowed to make DK's initially.

I'd assume the 30% reduction will go in, probably the first patch after Cataclysm release. Combine that with the two BoA items for experience, and we have Wrath content in half the time it is now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kalros

I think that there are ways to make new content that is challenging, even for those who have decent gear. I think Heroic Halls of Reflection is a perfect example of that. My guys were in full EoT/EoF gear (my Paladin in ICC 10/25 gear) and that place was STILL hard as hell for me.

Yes, with the gear that is available now, you can sleep through 95% of the Heroics, but when I first started running heroics with a fresh team of 80s, it was challenging, and at times, downright impossible. I can recall many a nights yelling and cursing at my screen because I couldnt kill one boss or another, or kept wiping on trash in Old Kingdom. But over time, as I started grinding out Emblems of Heroism and getting better gear, it got a little easier, but still fun as hell.

Then after I was able to clear all the Heroics, there was 'Glory of the Hero' staring me in the face, which took me several more months.

So basically, I think the challenge should be in the content, not making classes weaker.

Even with raids. In the beginning we had Naxx, but then came Ulduar. So we had a raid that could be PUG'ed, and then a raid that was hard as f**k! Though I never set foot into Ulduar myself until after ICC was already out, I didnt mind the fact that they created raid content for the hardcore nerds. I was more than happy to continue hitting Naxx and running Heroics.

Basically, I think they may be catering towards the hardcore audience a little too much. But like everyone has been saying, we wont really know until the content is actually out.

And I'm sure if they do something drastic that alienates a majority of players, they'll be quick to go back and fix it.

---

I spent 1500 gold in repairs doing Heroic ToC when it first came out. So I know the feeling of some shit being hard... I spent another 2000 and some change in Heroic PoS and Heroic HoR when they also first came out.

BC heroics got progressively nerfed throughout the xpac, and the people who ran 5 shamans through them were in full epic pvp gear ( that was way over budgeted for the content ). If you did the original BC heroics you would definitely not say they were easier than LK ones, yes after they nerfed the shit out of them and started handing out epics like candy people facerolled them just like in LK. I'm sure you can 5 shaman LK heroics now as well due to epics being much more available.

The difference is, LK heroics were never a challenge right from the start. Bc heroics got turned into what Lk heroics are, which I guess is just their general 5 man content design now which really makes me sad, the only challenging content in the game now are 10-25 man hard mode raids and high end pvp. I love running 5 man dungeons but when they are this easy ( even on "hard mode" ) its really disappointing and gets boring much faster.