I’ve had a number of people ask me for a good place to read up on Cataclysm Lore. My standard answer is wowpedia.org, but the honest answer is, “There is no all encompassing Cataclysm Lore library yet.”
Why? Because there’s just so much of it.
And this ties into something else…
Based on my earlier review of Cataclysm Lore, a number of you seem to believe I think Cataclysm sucks.
No. Cataclysm does not suck. When I played Hyjal through on beta, I thought it sucked. One zone. It plays as if a programmer was given a crash course in “What’s cool in War of the Ancients Lore?”, then promptly blew that wad like a bad piece of fan fiction all over the world tree (How’s that for an image? )
Cataclysm though? The entire expansion as a whole? Mark my words, right here:
Cataclysm is the absolute best expansion ever done by Blizzard in any of their franchises.
Yes, I think it even slightly edges out StarCraft 2. BUT…. there is a catch, and it’s a simple one. You need to play levels 1 through 60. Want another metaphor? Imagine ordering the best dang slice of cheesecake in the world and it arrives with 2 glazed strawberries on the side. You dive into the Strawberries. They’re crazy delicious. Those strawberries are the new zones in Cataclysm. They’re awesome, but they’re not the meat of the meal.
If you want to experience Cataclysm, if you want to see the true genius that is Blizzard, then you need to roll an alt, and level it up through 60. Remember all of the times we’ve discussed what WoW2 would be like? That’s what we’re talking about here. The new 1-60 content is not just “a bunch of tweaks”. They’ve completely redone it from scratch. Cataclysm’s 1-60 experience is what WoW would be like if Blizzard were to take everything they’ve learned over the past five years and redo Vanilla WoW. Yes it’s that good. I think it kicks the hell out of the new zones. In fact, I’m jealous of the people who will begin playing WoW for the first time after December 7th. To have the new 1-60 experience be your first impression of WoW? Awesome. Sheer awesome.
This is where you say, “That’s great Coc, but what about the Lore?” Right. I’m telling you that the bulk of Cataclysm’s lore is found in the new 1-60 experience. The new zones are packed with lore, don’t get me wrong. But we’re talking five levels of quests versus sixty. Even if those sixty levels go by fast, there’s still no way they can match up. Let’s also not forget there are several different paths you can take based on what faction/race you roll. It’s mind blowing.
You’re all in for quite a treat.
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“Let’s also not forget there are several different paths you can take based on what faction/race you roll. It’s mind blowing.”
Herein lies my “problem”. I’m leveling a Tauren Paladin, and halfway to 60, she’s never seen the Eastern Kingdoms. She probably won’t unless she makes it back from Northrend because there’s still so much left to do in Kalimdor. This leads me to the conclusion that I’m destined to level at least 3 more alts to 60 – 1 of each faction on each continent. I guess the easier solution would be to just run my main back through all the new old world (which I will do eventually) but it’s fun to see leveling stuff as I level. It’s too bad that Outland and now Northrend feel so far removed from the Cataclysm coolness, I’m afraid my poor girls will get mired down in the monotony. Ah, well, by then they will have served their purposes and let me thoroughly enjoy the new lore.
Heh, yes, Cataclysm is going to be a veritable paradise for anyone who enjoys leveling alts. That said, I think almost everyone in a game that lasts this long eventually ends up leveling an alt for one reason or another, which would explain Blizz’s decision to provide multiple leveling paths.
Also, I’ve heard noise of future updates for Outland. Maybe we’ll see something.
I’d like to buy a book of lore for WoW. Is there any knowledge of such a thing existing?
The closest I think you’ll get to that are the World of Warcraft tabletop RPG books. They’ve since gone out of print, but you can probably still find them. Here’s an example: http://www.wowpedia.org/Monster_Guide
Hey Coc,
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the current direction of the Forsaken come Cata. Most of what you’ve hypothesized for them way back has happened, so where do you think Sylvanus is heading. Aside from Jaina, she’s the one character who I think has a world of possibilities at her feet.
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