Cataclysm is No Catastrophe for Disabled Players

{sidebar id=1}The World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm brought sweeping changes to the land of Azeroth. Many cities now lie in ruins and many faction leaders have died or moved to other locations. It’s all a bit grim, story-wise, but as far as accessibility, it’s just the opposite.

Leveling from 1-60 has changed significantly in many ways, and it’s all for the good for disabled players. Some of these changes took place before Cataclysm’s release, but they contribute greatly to the improved experience.

People with vision impairments no longer have to squint at tiny icons to find out whether and for how long a certain proc effect is up. (“Proc” is short for “procedure,” and refers to buffs and other effects that are triggered by an event such as landing a critical hit.) Now, players are surrounded by a bright, colorful power aura that stays up until the effect wears off or they use the power in question. For color-blind players, the auras can be distinguished by their own unique location around your avatar.

The game also now includes helpful additions that could benefit people with cognitive difficulties. WoW finally included a native quest tracking system that provides a clear visual reference on the map as to the locations of quests. Additionally, the Hero’s Call Boards and Warchief’s Command Boards tell players the precise areas where they should be questing. Of course this advice can be ignored, but for those times when it may be difficult to tell where to go, the boards are extremely helpful.

Many players of all kinds have been unhappy with the new focus on linear quest lines, which take you straight from one area to another with few or no options but to follow the chains. Compare, say, Hellfire Peninsula, where your log can quickly fill up with quests scattered all over the zone. However, this does benefit players with motion, pain, or fatigue disorders, reducing the need to run all over the dang place.

Some quest chains, such as Nesingwary’s hunts in Stranglethorn, have been retooled so that the player can complete the quest as soon as it’s done, and get the follow-up with no need to continually return to the quest giver. There are a number of new quests that use this system as well and further improves the ratio of play time to travel time for people who can’t tolerate too much time online.

Speaking of Hellfire, the changes to the mount system are another boon to disabled players. The ability to fly at level 60 makes the earlier Burning Crusade zones much more manageable as you spend less time traveling. Similarly, for alts (characters other than your main one) or new disabled players, being able to ride at 20 combined with the linear questing is a clear improvement on vanilla WoW, when you didn’t get your slow mount until 40!

Some disabled players find it difficult to play in groups, for various reasons. Levels 1-60 now include many opportunities for solo players to experience raid-like battles and achieve PvP-like goals. Elite monsters at the end of quest chains used to require at least another person. Now, either through NPCs who fight alongside or items to reduce the monsters’ power, solo players can enjoy the challenge of choreographed fights -- such as Ragnaros, still spawning his sons of flame -- or defending flags against the opposite faction.

With the addition of many new flight points and other reductions of travel time, epic solo quests, better visual notifications, and more explicit help within the game, disabled players of all kinds can enjoy the improvements to the great land of Azeroth.

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