The release of World of Warcraft Shadowlands is now exactly one month ago. But how is the MMORPG doing?
The release of WoW Shadowlands went, as one would expect from the last WoW expansions, without major issues. Although there were occasional realms that were briefly overwhelmed, the difficulties mostly ended after a few minutes. Overall, the release went smoothly, and those who wanted to jump in at midnight could do so.
What has happened in the month since launch?
Overall, quite a bit has happened in the 30 days since release in Shadowlands, but most of it was likely planned and predetermined by Blizzard. After all, the content is unlocked piece by piece through weekly quests. However, there were also a number of incidents that were out of the ordinary – the most important of which we will briefly introduce.
Torghast went from fun to frustration – Blizzard reacted
A medium-sized scandal was the tower Torghast. In this endgame feature, characters receive new, crazy abilities over and over, allowing them to cut through the tower like in a roguelike game. Especially in the first two weeks, Torghast received a lot of praise. The first levels felt great; players enjoyed the tower and the crazy abilities it granted them.
However, the praise and joy quickly faded in week 3. That’s when levels 7 and 8 of Torghast opened, which came along with a number of hotfixes. The patch had made Torghast harder, giving enemies more health and damage, while many enjoyable player abilities were weakened.
For several days, every other post on the subreddit and in the official forum was a complaint about Torghast in its new form. For many, the tower thus became “Choreghast” – an annoying chore that one must complete to obtain legendary items. Individual runs lasted up to two hours, and often players would then fail against the final boss, who was much tougher and could defeat players with a single blow.
However, the criticism did not go unnoticed by Blizzard. Quickly came a saving update that rolled back many of the changes and particularly helped some struggling classes to manage Torghast again.
By now, Torghast has returned to a healthy state, and the criticism has subsided.
The “World First” race is on in Nathria
Two weeks after release, Castle Nathria, the first raid of Shadowlands, also opened. The raid received a lot of praise and was well-received by players, although it was considered a bit too hard on normal mode.
Blizzard also agreed on this and released some patches to lower the difficulty of at least the normal and heroic modes a bit.
In mythic mode, the “World First” race has been ongoing for just over a week. Here, the best players in the world are trying to take down the final boss, Count Denathrius, first. Since this is the first raid of an expansion – which is typically cleared relatively quickly – many assumed that the race would be over soon. However, that was not the case.
We are currently in “Week 2” of the progression of the mythic Castle Nathria, and the American guild Complexity Limit and the European guild Echo are facing the final boss and working on him. Close behind are other big names like Pieces or Method, who are only one boss away from Denathrius.
This time, the race is quite exciting, although due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the big streaming events cannot take place in full. However, anyone interested in the race and live broadcasts can often watch the big guilds live during their progress.
In LFR mode, by the way, not much is happening yet. In this difficulty, only the first of a total of four wings is currently available. It will likely be mid-February before all players have seen Castle Nathria from the inside – as the last wing in LFR will then open.
Curious bugs and strange incidents
With a game the size of World of Warcraft, there are always errors and problems with a new expansion. Not all of them are massive or terrible, but some are simply entertaining.
For example, players could take control of Druids with a necklace from Castle Nathria and make them their companions. The Druid had no choice but to obey the orders of his new “master” and was controlled for a whopping 5 minutes. At least Blizzard fixed this error after only a few hours, so Druids no longer have to fear being taken away by strangers.
At another point, PvP is concerning. Player Rextroy is back at it again, finding absurd mechanics and combinations to shine in PvE and PvP all by himself. He showed how Demon Hunter tanks can deal a whopping 30,000 damage in a single attack in PvP or how he cleansed a mythic dungeon solo in the first week. When he feels particularly nasty, he even sends cats after the evil Horde …
This is the current state
Currently, World of Warcraft is quite lively. Numerous players are scattered across each area, making it easy to join in on group activities. The mood in the game is generally quite positive, which is likely also due to the noticeable improvements every week.
As long as players still have choices, whether to upgrade their legendary, refine their gear, engage in PvP, or improve their covenant sanctum, boredom and thus frustration should remain far away.
The abundance of different activities, which also includes collecting toys or mounts, is one of the great strengths of Shadowlands and so far ensures that “the excitement hasn’t worn off”.
Although players are slowly returning to the routine of dungeons and world quests, that is simply part of the everyday life in an MMORPG.
What do you think of Shadowlands?
Now it’s also time to listen to the community again and ask our readers – that’s you – what you think of Shadowlands. After all, you’ve had a month to play the expansion.
Is Shadowlands a good expansion or even the best one? Are you still having fun with Shadowlands? Or have you already set the WoW addon aside because you don’t like it?
If you want to justify your opinion a bit better, please leave a comment and explain how you perceived Shadowlands in the first month.
What’s coming up?
In the coming weeks, WoW: Shadowlands will not be running out of content. Currently, new content is being unlocked every week through the covenant campaign or the expansion of the sanctum.
Also, one of the biggest features is still missing in Torghast, namely the twisted corridors. These will likely be unlocked in January and offer players who are interested a longer version of Torghast. There, you can unlock cosmetic rewards but earn no soul ash.
Conclusion: A solid position for the start of the new year
Overall, WoW: Shadowlands is quite well-positioned to keep players entertained in 2021. The content is still fresh, gear is rare, and the challenges are exciting. This will surely decrease in the coming weeks, and then Blizzard must present the next patch 9.1.
But due to the covenants, there’s also plenty of motivation to play a second character just to experience the entire story or experiment with new abilities.
But don’t worry. The “BlizzConline” will take place in February – and there will certainly be discussions about patch 9.1…
