What can Blizzard deliver in Patch 9.1.5 of World of Warcraft to appease players? We have 10 easy-to-implement things.
Update August 28, 09:00 AM: In the meantime, WoW has confirmed many of these wishes and will bring them in Patch 9.1.5!
Original article: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is currently not doing very well. Not only is the sexism scandal at Blizzard affecting player numbers, but the current content is also unpopular. Next up is the Patch 9.1.5 for WoW – this is a small “interim patch” that brings few major changes and mainly improvements to gameplay mechanics.
We present to you here 10 things that are relatively easy to implement and could keep the heroes and heroines of Azeroth busy until the big update 9.2 and prevent them from being overwhelmed by boredom.
Please note that this is mainly about “Easy Wins”, meaning easily implementable improvements that require little effort. Therefore, you won’t find major wishes like “a new raid” or “a new campaign” here – it’s solely about things that would be easy to implement and would make a portion of the player base happy.
1. Torghast as a Leveling Option
It was already possible during the beta, but it never made it into the final game: Torghast as a place where characters can level from 50 to 60.
It would be relatively simple to design it in a way that actually provides some benefits and rewards experience points. This way, players could do something for their progress during the leveling phase, allowing twinks to catch up to the main character faster. Some ideas could be:
- Soul Ash during leveling, so that one can craft a Legendary at level 60 right away.
- Level equipment through tokens at the end of Torghast.
- Korthian Armor Tokens that can be used at level 60.
- Glory as a possible reward at the end of a run to skip the initial glory levels during the leveling phase.
There would be many possibilities, and it would be the perfect option to supplement the “Threads of Fate” as a leveling option and bring a bit more variety to the game.
2. Abolishment of Conduit Energy
A simple adjustment that many players desire. Those who regularly change their conduits, for example because they play 3 or even 4 (in the case of druids) specializations at the same time, are hindered by “Conduit Energy”. The same problem affects those who need the same Soulbind partner for multiple specializations.
Conduits can only be swapped a few times before having to wait for the Conduit Energy to restore.
Players have deemed this limitation unnecessary since the beta, as few see any purpose other than “nuisance” in it. A simple change that requires little effort and would allow more players to experiment with new conduit combinations.
3. Simplification of Legion Raids for Solo Players
Due to the level squish to Shadowlands and the many lost powers from the “Legion” and “Battle for Azeroth” expansions, the raids from Legion are not as easy as they would be with raids that are already two expansions back.
Here, Blizzard could make some fine-tuning to make all raids completable by solo players. This would entice some inhabitants of Azeroth to collect some old sets and enrich their wardrobe. After all, Legion had some of the coolest armor sets, and especially in the Tomb of Sargeras or Antorus, there is some really nice stuff to grab – if one didn’t always need a group because some fights simply require multiple players.
4. Return of Bonus Events
This point is simple as well. When there was a long content drought in Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard simply activated bonus events. Double experience, double reputation, and similar. Such events should return.
Why not simply activate timewalking permanently for 6 weeks and change the selected expansion each week? Why not increase experience points by 50% or 100% for a few weeks so people can try out more classes and covenants?
Especially in conjunction with other adjustments from this list that make playing twinks easier and more rewarding, this would be a simple trick to at least cushion a content drought period.
5. More Rewards for Anima
What Blizzard has done with Anima leaves some players shaking their heads. From “There is not enough Anima, I can’t buy anything” it turned into “Oh my God, I am at the Anima cap and can’t buy anything” within two weeks.
Although you can now invest excess Anima in some crafting materials, it would be easy to extend that further.
Some ideas for trade offers could be:
- Exchange Anima for Stygia, which could then be invested in Korthian Armor Tokens for twinks.
- Exchange Anima for relics for the Archivist to unlock sockets and conduits.
- Make Anima account-bound, so you can send it to twinks.
The exact exchange rates would naturally still need to be determined and discussed, but considering that Anima is the crucial resource in the Shadowlands that everyone relies on, there is quite little one can purchase with it.
By the way, one could also simply remove the cap on Anima. It serves no purpose.
6. Justice Points in PvE
An old currency for PvE players could make a return. Although there are already Valor Points, they are weekly and seasonally strictly limited. If someone spends their Valor Points early in a season, they are jeopardizing their gaming future.
The smartest approach currently is to save Valor Points and only spend them when you only need to fill 3 or 4 gear slots.
Justice Points could help mitigate this problem. Much like Honor Points in PvP, Justice Points could serve to upgrade items in the early tiers. This would especially benefit second characters that need to collect gear. Since you would get Justice Points after every dungeon, every dungeon would inevitably be progress for your character – at least, until you have caught up to the current state.
To ensure that Justice Points are not useless for high-level characters, one could also introduce a vendor to trade the points for crafting materials, transmog, or other fluff.
7. Skip the Maw Starting Experience
This is self-explanatory. As cool as it is the first time to fight through the Maw with Jaina, Thrall, Baine, and Anduin, it becomes tiring on the second, seventh, or twentieth time. Again and again, one reads in the subreddit and forums that twinks simply never go beyond the magical level barrier of 50 because they have no desire to do the introductory quest in the Maw.
It would be relatively simple to just implement a “I know the story, send me directly to Oribos” option at the beginning in Icecrown. A small but good change for the majority.
8. Currency on Pickup
Currently, anyone playing World of Warcraft and exploring Korthia knows the problem. After about 5 minutes, the inventory overflows. There are a dozen different items for Archivist relics and countless various items for Anima.
Here, a simple change could be made, similar to what helped in Legion: the resource could simply be credited upon looting without items cluttering the inventory. Most players would surely appreciate 30 to 40 more slots in their bank or inventory, and not everyone wants to keep going back to the Sanctum or to the Archivist just to redeem the various tokens.
A simple change that has worked in previous expansions and has improved things a lot.
9. Improvement of Mythic+ Gear
The gearing system for Mythic+ is already relatively solid – at least up to an item level of 246. For the final push to item level 252, one needs one thing: luck. This item level is only obtainable from the weekly reward chest and is random. If someone is searching for their “Best in Slot” item, they have to complete 10 dungeons on Mythic+15 and higher every week to ultimately receive 3 items offered from a selection of over 100. It can take weeks, months, or simply an eternity to get that one item that one wants.
A simple step could help here: Allow upgrading gear with Valor Points up to item level 252.
Valor Points are already strictly limited. So, there is practically no risk of a player completely reaching the maximum item level with these points.
This is especially sensible when compared to PvP or raids – there, players can access the best possible gear much easier and don’t have to wait on luck from a large lottery.
10. Easier Covenant Switching
Covenants remain an important feature in Shadowlands, and many systems are tied to them. However, choosing a covenant is also an important decision, as they provide special abilities and access to different sub-systems and cosmetic rewards.
However, switching covenants is associated with a lot of hassle. Not only does all accumulated Anima expire, but also the glory levels must be painstakingly farmed again. A process that can take days or weeks depending on available playtime.
The covenant switch should therefore be made easier. A limitation is fine, but the effort required to switch when one is simply not having fun with their covenant is too great.
What suggestions do you have for Patch 9.1.5? What “Easy Wins” should Blizzard definitely include to elevate the mood and morale of the community in Patch 9.1.5?
