If you asked me if a game could be changed for the better by altering its core, I’d say certainly. If you said the game was already out, I’d point and laugh. Titles like Star Wars Galaxies and Gears of War 2 are prime examples of forced adjustments and indecision before and well after they shipped. Once a game is being played by the people, modifying the central experience can be detrimental to the longevity of any title, no matter how popular it is. Cataclysm isn’t doing this. Star Wars Galaxies went wrong by changing mid-drift to try and reclaim much of the user base that abandoned it. Skills changed, Jedi status was easily attainable, and it basically ignored its faithful users. Gears of War 2 was broken out of the box and relied on constant patching to fix and the unfix changes to the multiplayer. After six patches, the experience still wasn’t up to par and the result was a very different game than the one that shipped during the holiday season. Blizzard is certainly guilty of altering talents and other small quirks incessantly, but with Cataclysm it looks as though they’re breathing new life into the game instead of vice-versa.
