World of WarCraft: Cataclysmic Crowd Control

If you've ever talked to a WoW veteran who has been around since release, you're probably familiar with how much we all like to assume our grandfatherly tone and preach about "the good ol' days" and how things were "back in MY day!" The game has come a long way in it's nearly 6 year lifespan, and has undergone quite a number of sweeping changes that have fundamentally changed the way the game has played. No doubt we could go on and on down the laundry list of changes, but to look at the impact in just one facet of WoW, we need only look to crowd control.

"Sap star. Sheep moon. Trap square. Focus fire skull, then X. Kill order is square, star, moon." While the above may sound like the monologue of an obsessive-compulsive, control-freak of a tank, it wasn't a particularly unusual thing to hear in a group of level 60-capped dungeon-goers. However, with each expansion release, there has been the subtle yet drastic shift away from crowd control. In a present-day Wrath of the Lich King dungeon, it is not uncommon to be distributing loot of a final boss without having used a single cast of a crowd control spell in order to get there. Players have been trading their carefully devised crowd control formulae for the quick and dirty slaughter of dungeon mob packs using copious amounts of Area of Effect spells.

WarCraft players didn't consciously decide to make this change; they use it because it works. With the release of Wrath of the Lich King, the increased health pools of tanks relative to the damage output of instance enemies, as well as the proportional increase in healing power, has made the "round ‘em up, AoE ‘em down" tactic both viable and desirable over the painstaking planning required of crowd control.

As with most anything in World of WarCraft, the player base falls within a wide spectrum of approval regarding the evolution of CC use in dungeons. It would be safe to say, however, that at least a sizable chunk feel that today's dungeons are too easy and mi ndless when compared to their old school brethren. Fortunately for them, Blizzard seems to be taking their concerns into account in the design of the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. A number of statements from "Ghostcrawler", the lead systems designer, have pointed toward an increased focus on crowd control in the expansion.

And finally, from the Blizzard Developer Chat on Twitter, 4/16/2010:
In true Blizzard style, the developers appear to be taking what they have learned from past releases and bringing them together in a middle ground of sorts. Many players felt that the purely CC-oriented dungeons of old were tedious and difficult, and many feel that the AoE slaughter-fests of today are mindless and easy.

In Cataclysm, we should be seeing a greater focus on crowd control, but not quite to the extreme degree of classic WoW. The developers are shooting for a balance that allows for dynamic battles in which it is up to the players to decide if they need crowd control or not. Blizzard no doubt has further tricks up their sleeve when it comes to the new dungeons, but in the group playstyle department, expect to see the triumphant return of crowd control.

The grizzled vets will surely still parade their olden-day stories of impossible CC feats, but at least the newer players will get a taste of some good old crowd control fun for themselves.