World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion was an incredibly transformative moment for Azeroth and its inhabitants, and the Cataclysm Classic release is giving players a chance to relive the era that passed almost 14 years ago. Although the most obvious changes Cataclysm brought were reshaped zones and all-new quests in Deathwing's wake, Cataclysm also came with plenty of other systemic changes to World of Warcraft's equipment, stats, talents, and more. In particular, the player guilds system was given a makeover with its own leveling system, perks, and guildwide achievements.
Cataclysm Classic has made a few changes of its own compared to the original launch, especially regarding the guild perks and leveling system. In an interview with Game ZXC, Cataclysm Classic lead software engineer Nora Valletta and principal game designer Kris Zierhut spoke about why the team felt that certain changes needed to be made to improve the experience for smaller guilds in particular. The original guild system incentivized players to flock to "super guilds," contrary to the spirit of guilds in the first place, which is something the team wanted to address.
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World of Warcraft's Guild Leveling System Was A Mistake
An early piece of advice any new World of Warcraft player receives is to join a guild, as the sense of community is a huge draw for the MMORPG genre. Recognizing this, Blizzard sought to improve World of Warcraft's guilds system and encourage participation by introducing a leveling system for guilds. At first, it seemed like a brilliant idea: groups of players could work together to level up their guild for rewards, strengthening the communal bond. In practice, however, the system destroyed smaller guilds.
The guild leveling system incentivizes you to have a guild with a lot of members because it didn't change how much experience you need based on the size of the guild. There was initially no way to do that without creating perverse incentives, so small guilds would take forever to level and have a hard time with it and very large guilds were maxed out very quickly. After launch, this was a really difficult problem, and what ended up happening–and Nora has a great story about this one–is that people in smaller guilds started quitting those guilds to join the bigger guild so they could get more perks, and people who wanted to form a new guild couldn't find anybody to join their guild.
When it comes to collecting mounts, pets, and transmogrification appearances, World of Warcraft players will go to incredible lengths to obtain them. By locking some of these items behind the guild level system, depressingly impersonal "mega guilds" were formed whose entire purpose was inviting huge numbers of players to unlock the rewards quickly, which then drew in more players seeking those same rewards. Instead, Cataclysm Classic has switched to a "guild reputation" system where players earn reputation with their guild much like any other in-game faction, and rewards are purchased based on reputation levels. Not only does this leave smaller guilds intact, but it also encourages players to stick around and build their reputation.
Cataclysm Classic's Guild Perks System Has Also Had Some Changes
Aside from the item rewards like mounts, tabards. and pets, guild perks were a huge bonus for joining a mega guild in Cataclysm. These perks could increase the player's mount speed, allow them to summon a bank on demand, or instantly send mail to guildmates. Many of these perks are now instantly granted to players upon joining any guild, while others have been removed entirely. Zierhut says that perks like Cash Flow were causing players to form guilds for all the wrong reasons.
There were some perks we decided to remove. For example, there was a perk called Cash Flow. In the original Cataclysm, whenever you loot money from an enemy, an extra 10% of that money is generated and then automatically deposited into your guild bank. That actually was really cool at the time, but what ended up happening was some players would create a guild and fill the guild with as many players as possible, and then use the guild as a means to funnel money to the guild master. At the end of the day, we want the focal point of the guild to be about interpersonal connection, having a guild be a means for moving together towards one or more shared goals as a team.
Thanks to these changes, players shouldn't feel pressured to leave the tight-knit raiding guild they've been a part of since WoW Classic's original launch just to acquire a Dark Phoenix mount. Although it's important for WoW Classic to be authentic, it's hard to argue against using 14 years of hindsight to make sensible adjustments like these.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It's one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
