Does Cataclysm have too much potential content?
I was running around Uldum recently, doing the Ramkahen quests on yet another new 85, when it occurred to me that Uldum itself feels like the story has barely been told. Sure, we run around doing odd jobs for Harrison Jones, then we infiltrate the Halls of Origination and turn off the big doomsday device Algalon was going to use on us. And sure, we eventually crash into the Vortex Pinnacle and Throne of the Four Winds to stop Al'Akir and his minions. But what about the connection between Silithus and Uldum?
We know that Ahn'Qiraj was a lost titan city and that the Tol'vir were assigned to it, that entities like Ossirian were once watchers like Setesh. (Setesh's model is nearly identical to the Anubisath that patrol AQ today.) It just feels like, with C'thun obviously driving Cho'gall around even after his "death," that there's room for a whole raid just dealing with the lost connections between AQ and Uldum. The lost passages of the titan research facility that the Qiraji took over? (We know from Uldaman and Ulduar that titan constructions tend to go on for miles and miles.)
And that's hardly even the top of the list of raid instances we could see. A lot of us hoped for and expected an Abyssal Maw raid of some kind. There's a lot of talk about another Caverns of Time instance or raid with Nozdorumu's return. And I can't be the only one who keeps thinking that Grim Batol has entire layers we haven't seen yet. Heck, there are whole terraces in Deepholm we visit once and never go back to, and that whole zone is massive and cries out for more.
What interests me here is just how much potential Cataclysm has as yet left untouched. Hyjal is getting more attention patch 4.2, fleshing it out with a daily quest hub and a raid, but that still leaves Vashj'ir, Deepholm, Uldum and Twilight Highlands all feeling like there's more to do.
In addition, it feels like the world around those zones has lots of stuff going on that could become instances and raids. With the upheaval in Stonetalon and the discovery of new night elf ruins just over the mountain from Nijel's Point, you could easily imagine the ghosts of the Highborne and the remains of the magical experiments needing to be dealt with. With Desolace undergoing a kind of renewal, what does that mean for the deeper titan vaults underneath what is today Maraudon? Have they been awakened as well? Since Cho'gall held a conference at Dire Maul, does that mean the Maul itself could become an active home for ogres and gronn? Cho'gall's attempt to subjugate his people's hostile overlords could end up with angry gronn lords (long time enemies of the Black Dragonflight) seizing control.
It feels like there's almost too much here to do in one expansion. Does an Azshara raid fit in Cataclysm, or should she be saved for her own? Do we want to hold off on an invasion of Gronn from Outland for a possible future where we turn our gaze back to the greater Warcraft cosmos?
Cataclysm sets the stage for the new status quo, after all. Every time I find myself nerding out over a War of the Ancients raid or a Kezan raid to deal with whatever servants of the Old Gods are under that place, I have to remind myself that it's okay to focus on the content we have. However, Cataclysm seems absolutely packed with stuff that could be brought in. I would love to see more of Kul Tiras, and frankly, the fact that we haven't had a daily quest hub put into the Ruins of Gilneas where Horde and Alliance can do quests and engage in world PVP just amazes me. I mean, we even know who we'd be fighting for and why.
Make it happen, guys.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
