In the Alpha of WoW Shadowlands, hints for PS4 and Xbox controllers appear. What does this mean for players?
Where does the information come from? Hints about controller support had appeared, among other places, on Twitter. Here, key mappings were recognizable that suggest to players the use of a controller.
What does Blizzard say about this? In the English WoW forum, there was intense discussion about the string find. Many wanted to know whether there would be controller support. Now at least one community manager has responded. He writes:
We want to make WoW accessible to everyone. And in Shadowlands, if possible, we want to try to offer new options for buttons and camera for controllers like the Xbox Adaptive Controller. (…)
Kaivax, Community Manager WoW. Source: us.forums.blizzard.com
The statement is somewhat surprising, especially because Blizzard had previously made a clear statement regarding PS4 and Xbox. However, maybe this could change with the release of PS5 and Xbox Series X.
WoW Shadowlands – will the controller feature come?
Will the feature come to the game? Blizzard stated at the start of the Shadowlands Alpha that the program code also contains obsolete features that are no longer relevant. Therefore, one should not expect a secret or a new feature behind every piece of code.
This, however, does not deter the fans, who bravely scour the program code for things.
WoW with controller through detours
Can you currently play WoW with a controller? Officially, this is not possible so far, as there is no official support from Blizzard. But a YouTuber once showed that WoW is indeed playable with a controller.
Fan extensions like ConsolePort (via curseforge.com) also offer players the possibility to play WoW unofficially with a controller. This is cumbersome and takes some getting used to, but there are also people who find WoW not even too difficult on the dance mat.
What are the arguments against the controller? The argument from the opponents of the gamepad is: WoW is too big and complex and cannot function properly with a gamepad anyway. For that, Blizzard would have to overhaul the whole game. For example, precise casting in WoW with a controller would not be possible.
But there are also MMOs that can be played directly on the console and with a controller without detours. If you are looking for an MMO that also offers real console support, we have picked out the 6 best MMORPGs for the consoles that we can recommend in 2020.
