Cataclysm Classic Devs On What's New & Old

Summary WoW: Cata Classic brings nostalgic moments and new experiences for players, replacing Wrath Classic servers.

The developers add transmogs, customizable options, and changes to guilds to enhance the player experience.

Cata Classic may introduce Titan Rune Dungeon-like content for continued relevance, reflecting player feedback and evolving from Wrath Classic.

World of Warcraft Classic may trigger initial thoughts of the massively multiplayer role-playing game in its earliest form, before Deathwing made his cataclysmic changes to the entirety of Azeroth. Therefore, the new move to WoW: Cataclysm Classic may seem a bit surprising to some. In fact, the journey into Cataclysm Classic simultaneously presents a world of opportunities for nostalgic moments for some players, and a chance for newer players to experience the iconic event for the first time.

Naturally, with WoW Classic, there remain servers dedicated to the original, pre-Cataclysm experience for those who wish to play the game as it was when it first launched in 2004. This new expansion to the game will replace the Wrath Classic servers, giving players a feeling of what it was like to see the fresh aftermath of Deathwing's destruction anew in a bustling server of others who are able to be together for the feeling and events. Whether someone played during the original World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion, or not, the excitement of massive world changes is palpable.

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The servers for WoW: Cataclysm Classic will go live on the afternoon of May 20, 2024, for anyone with an active WoW subscription to try out. In anticipation of the new Classic expansion, a couple of the developers from Blizzard talked to Screen Rant about the game. WoW Classic's Associate Production Director, Clayton Stone, and Game Producer, Linny Cooke-Saverline, graciously answered a few questions regarding what players can expect.

Classic World Of Warcraft Shouldn't Be Left To Pre-Cataclysm Times

Why Bringing Cataclysm To Classic WoW Is Beneficial

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Screen Rant: If Classic WoW was traditionally looked at as a way for people to experience pre-Cataclysm, what is the driving force behind bringing Cataclysm to WoW Classic? Why should somebody jump into Cataclysm Classic rather than Modern, Retail WoW?

Linny Cooke-Saverline, Game Producer: One of the really neat things with Cataclysm and being able to create it as a Cataclysm Classic is that there are a lot of the same overall quests, but the actual feel of the game is very different. The way that combat worked, and just going out in the world is a very different experience for the player. I was actually really excited when talking to a lot of people, especially after our BlizzCon announcement, I’ve had a lot of people reach out, talking about how they didn’t have a chance to play the original trilogy and Cataclysm is where they started playing WoW. So, we are able to create that nostalgic moment and give that back to them now, which for me is so exciting.

There were things that have been lost in the Modern game... which we are able to bring back with Cataclysm Classic.

Clayton Stone, Associate Production Director: Whenever we think about these Classic experiences, “Classic” has really redefined itself over this Classic journey that we’ve been on as we have gone through Classic 2019, followed by Burning Crusade Classic, and then Wrath, and then Hardcore, and then Season of Discovery, and now with Cataclysm, where the phrase “Classic” is becoming a much broader thing for us. We are delivering these expansions that bring back the feeling of them, or these experiences that bring back the feeling and nostalgia while also, in a lot of cases, being able to bring in something new that players might not expect or that the contemporary player base might have just assumed existed back in the day but actually works much better for Modern players. As Linny mentioned, something like Cataclysm - that’s not accessible on the Modern version of the game with the original talent trees and the original spells and everything like that. So that’s what we are really delivering to players. I will also note that there were things that have been lost in the Modern game, which no longer exist in the Modern game, which we are able to bring back with Cataclysm Classic. Things like parts of Bashir, which simply are not accessible in the modern client of Dragonflight and going forward. There are a lot of experiences which have been lost over time, which we are very excited and enthusiastic to be able to bring back to players. Plus, there’s just something about being in the zeitgeist and having that be the expansion at the time that all of our Classic players are playing, new and old, everyone is jumping in. And with the new 1-60 experience, and that journey which so many players back in the day never experienced because they just brought their Wrath of the Lich King characters over and did the new five zones as level-up, they never got to experience that 1-60 content with the other players jumping in at the same time. It’s really an awesome opportunity, both for those players who never experienced it originally, and for new players who have never jumped into Classic before to be able to jump in and do it. There’s a lot for us to be excited about, and as we get closer to launch, seeing that hype build in the community as players rediscover Cataclysm has just been so special to see.

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Changes Being Made To WoW: Cataclysm Classic

Things For New And Old Players To Enjoy

Screen Rant: I’ve been seeing a lot of things talking about "#SomeChanges" advertised. Could you go into a little more detail on what these changes will be for players coming into this? Especially for players who may have played Cataclysm before, what different things will they be seeing?

Linny Cooke-Saverline: Transmogs will be brought in, as well as having the collections UI, so you no longer have to put things into your bag, figure out what you want, and drag them over to the Transmog guy, you can do everything through the Collection now, which is really cool. Along that visual thing, we also have added some additional hairstyles that were previously only available to NPCs, so those will be available for a little more customization of your characters. As well as, you’ll be able to transmog items into legendary appearances, for people who are really excited about some of the amazing things they have picked up, or just stuff like pitchforks. So, you can have that level of personalization for your characters.

It hopefully feels a lot more welcoming [for players] to play guilds the size that they want, and to build a community that they feel comfortable in.

Something else I’m really excited about is some changes we have made to the guilds. It’s kind of one of the bigger changes we have made. Originally, the way the guilds worked was that you, together, leveled up your guild by doing different activities and doing different things. It was really cool for making everybody really connected in their guild and giving them common goals and community, but it got really challenging because it made people feel like they had to be in these enormous guilds just to level up and get the things they needed. So, one of the things we have done is, with guilds, we have gotten rid of the guild leveling. So, when you join a guild, instead of having to hit certain levels to get perks, you instead get all of them on joining. As well as some of the perks we have just given to all players, the stuff that helps more with world balance. Whereas the stuff that is more community based we have included with the guilds. You will still have reputation to level up with your guild, and so you’ll be able to level that up on the individual to get different things, the different transmogs, gear, pets, and stuff like that. But it hopefully feels a lot more welcoming to play guilds the size that they want and to build a community that they feel comfortable in.

Clayton Stone: Cozy guilds are more than acceptable in Cataclysm Classic as opposed to just mega guilds.

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Titan Rune Dungeons Will Pave The Way For More Advancements

Wrath Classic's Titan Rune Dungeons Will Evolve Moving Forward

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Screen Rant: In Wrath Classic, of course, there were the Titan Rune Dungeons, I understand that something similar is going to be carrying forward into Cataclysm Classic as well? Is there anything that is going to be changing or evolving from that? Are they going to be following basically the same pattern and systems that Wrath Classic had?

Linny Cooke-Saverline: Great question… one of the great things with Wrath Classic is our goals for the Titan Rune Dungeons was to keep the dungeons all relevant through Wrath Classic as well as just providing a really good catch-up mechanic for players. There are already some neat catch-up mechanics built into Cataclysm with the five-man Zandalari dungeons that were previously raids. So there are some opportunities in there. We really do want to provide something Titan-like, although it won’t be exactly Titan Rune Dungeons since that was very thematic for Wrath, but we want to provide something that will be fun and thematic and really fill in what needs we discover in Cataclysm to make it a good experience for players. There are a lot of really iconic dungeons throughout Cata, so that’s pretty cool.