World of Warcraft has had some difficult years. Even hardcore fans have turned away from the MMORPG giant at least temporarily. But now, MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus claims, things are turning around. The new expansion Dragonflight and even the 14-year-old Wrath of the Lich King are providing the boost that WoW desperately needs.
I am having fun with World of Warcraft again. Honestly and with the childlike joy I felt when I first explored Azeroth and the shattered world. Right now, WoW is undoubtedly one of my favorite games again, and I would love to have more time to thoroughly play different classes.
I am incredibly excited about Dragonflight. The Evoker is so much fun that I will switch classes in the next addon and play a caster for the first time in 12 years. Wrath of the Lich King Classic is also just as fantastic as it was 14 years ago. I am happy.
That I can write such an introduction again, I did not expect in recent years. Because lately, it has not seemed like Blizzard knew why millions of fans actually love World of Warcraft. Before I can explain to you why I love WoW again, I want to explain first why this is such a big deal.
Blizzard is also getting people excited for Dragonflight with a short film series. Here is Part 1 of “Legacy”:
2021 and 2022 were not great years for the MMORPG, even aside from the big sexism scandal. Shadowlands disappointed many fans. Thousands migrated to the Japanese competitor Final Fantasy, including Twitch streamer Asmongold, who has a deep love-hate relationship with WoW.
I said back then, that World of Warcraft is dying – but too slowly. Even MeinMMO demon Cortyn said, Shadowlands has lost, no matter what Blizzard does to it. The decline started much, much earlier.
Since Mists of Pandaria at the latest, WoW has been slowly dying
Many see Cataclysm as the beginning of the end for World of Warcraft. The whole idea of a rework of the entire world was received rather negatively. And indeed, that is reflected in the player numbers.
Wrath of the Lich King had over 12 million subscribers almost 12 years ago, the most players it ever had and has never had since. At least not according to official numbers, which stopped being released at some point. And since Cataclysm, the numbers have been declining. This was certainly because with the death of the Lich King, Warcraft 3 was completely told. But not only that; the MMORPG factor gradually decreased as well.
For me, Mists of Pandaria is the point when WoW began to die. Specifically: the pruning of talents into a much simpler system. That was the first step to stripping the feeling of an RPG from the MMORPG.
The MMO aspect was heavily reduced by the Raid Finder (“LFR”). The LFR was introduced at the end of Cataclysm – so it was one of the features that carried through the entire expansion in MoP.
Guilds became less and less important for casuals, while many classes lost their depth. You no longer had to engage with the game to see everything.
Sure, for “WoW tourists,” this was great. Playing for 2-3 weeks for every patch and then disappearing worked perfectly. But these players do not keep the game alive. For me, WoW began to die at that point. And I generously leave out Warlords of Draenor, like most WoW players…
BfA and Shadowlands were at best “meh”
When Legion was released in 2016, something of what made WoW truly an MMORPG returned. Artifact weapons and legendaries added depth again and required you to engage with your classes – even if that just meant looking at the hundreds of traits you had to grind with artifact power. It seemed like WoW was on the upswing after a drought.
But then came Battle for Azeroth (2018) and Shadowlands (2020).
BfA took the worst system from Legion and made it even worse. More grind for even less choice, no tier sets anymore, and still, 4 gear slots were locked by Azerite gear and the Heart of Azeroth.
WoW never offered less opportunities for players to express themselves. I played 5 different classes in BfA and they all felt the same. So much so that I set my interface once and could use the same buttons for skills that had the same function.
Shadowlands was a glimmer of hope. Torghast sounded promising, the covenants as a major feature sounded like a new way to customize. In the end, however, it was all so grindy that you stuck with the one covenant you chose just to get through the story that was chopped up by time gating.
Dragonflight learns from the mistakes of the past
Both Shadowlands and BfA did at least one thing right: they adjusted the features over the course of the expansions so that you could end on a good note. Especially Season 4 of Shadowlands was so good that even the biggest critics praised it:
And it looks like Blizzard has learned from the mistakes of the last 4 years. Many of the systems and decisions that were simply bad are completely absent in the upcoming expansion or have been rethought.
Two prominent examples stand out here. The first are the new talent trees for all classes. In recent years, so much work has been done on balancing the classes that some of them have almost completely lost their identity. Anyone could somehow do everything, and only the color of the spells differed. With Dragonflight, I can finally play my class the way I want – even if it means being mathematically 2% worse just because I placed one talent point differently. But this is MY character that I play MY way.
By the way, the developers recently told me that the talents are something like the “Best Of since Legion”.
The second example is the tier sets that will be in the game from the start. To be fair, the effects are quite dull compared to earlier. But removing sets was the dumbest idea Blizzard ever had. These special items were always the biggest incentive for me and many others to play. Performance boosts are just fun, and thanks to the LFR, it is easy enough to get to the important effects even as a casual player.
What I am still uncertain about is the reputation system. The endless grind with reputation in the covenants in Shadowlands was tedious. I hope that the progress in Dragonflight is not throttled too much, but we will see about that later.
I have to say here that I had a similar feeling with Shadowlands as I do now with Dragonflight. Back then, however, Blizzard removed many features such as the endless Torghast shortly before release, even though they were in beta. I hope Blizzard doesn’t make this mistake again.
Dragonflight has what WoW has been lacking for years
What talents and sets bring to Dragonflight is what makes World of Warcraft so great for almost 20 years: the feeling of the game. When I played the alpha and beta of Dragonflight, WoW felt again like an MMO and especially like an RPG.
Moreover, the idea of “back to the roots” runs throughout the entire expansion. I noticed everywhere that Blizzard has incorporated its quirky humor at every corner of the Dragon Isles. I was reminded again of why I actually love World of Warcraft. Shadowlands had its own kind of humor, but literally roaming the afterlife and interacting with serious Kyrians, humorless Necrolords, or self-satisfied Venthyr was not exactly an invitation to laugh.
Another reason why I enjoy Dragonflight so much is actually much more obvious and straightforward: There is a new class and a new race again.
The Evoker completely shakes up the balance of the classes. Everyone has to rediscover themselves, find their niche again, and what makes the Evoker so special is to adopt a new play style. Because Evokers are limited to 30 yards, but are highly mobile, making it especially exciting in raids to see how the group dynamics will develop now.
Here we have a bit of gameplay from the Evoker from the alpha cut together:
I understand that a new class always requires a lot of work to ensure all players feel fairly treated. But think about it… every one of WoW’s “good add-ons” has always introduced a new class into the game, right?
Moreover, the new race is as customizable as no other race before. This raises hopes for more opportunities to create your own character and realize your vision.
Wrath of the Lich King could not have come at a better time
To revisit the initial statement about why I am having so much fun with World of Warcraft again, I must also mention WoW Classic. Since September 27th, Wrath of the Lich King Classic is the current expansion of the Classic version.
Therefore, WotLK is chronologically precisely between Season 4 of Shadowlands and the release of Dragonflight. Unless you are one of those crazy players who just rush through the expansion, the leveling phase alone takes many hours, days, or even weeks.
One of the greatest strengths of Wrath of the Lich King is the continent of Northrend. There are so many hidden stories, so much nostalgia and attention to detail that every visit is simply delightful. To see again where Arthas picks up the cursed sword Frostmourne, to see again how Sindragosa is awakened, to discover the Frost Dwarves again. Beautiful experiences that everyone should have at least once.
Classic has always been the “feel-good” version of WoW for me. Retail is fast, it’s about performance. WoW Classic slows down the pace. I devoured the Burning Crusade as my favorite expansion, but in WotLK, I gladly play casually and at my own pace.
I take my time with WotLK, but back then, I was on the very first ship to Northrend. Together with hundreds of other players, it was an incredible feeling:
Whether I have “maxed” out my character by the time Dragonflight comes out, I do not know. Probably not, but I don’t care. If I ever hit a wall in Dragonflight where I just don’t feel like playing anymore, I will pull out my Classic Paladin and fly through Northrend, level my Death Knight, or farm something. Just seeing the world is enough for me.
Dragonflight and WotLK together are currently the best combination that WoW could possibly have. The two games complement each other excellently and are so perfect for me that I hardly need anything else for my leisure time.
By the way, Dragonflight is not only convincing for me:
Twitch streamer Preach is getting back into WoW, the MMO chief asks: “Didn’t you quit?”
