World of Warcraft is often under fire, frequently from a loud minority. However, the complaints about Shadowlands seem to be increasing, especially lately. One player cannot understand this at all. MeinMMO spoke with him and asked how he sees all of this.
The criticism of Shadowlands ranges from technical issues and Blizzard’s policies to design decisions and gameplay. Everything possible is being criticized, sometimes more strongly, sometimes less.
In recent months, complaints have come from quite a few directions and from well-known people in the community:
- WoW changes dungeon achievements in patch 9.1 and players hate it
- the biggest Twitch streamer for WoW tears apart Blizzard: ‘I’m fed up’
- the new mega dungeon from the upcoming patch 9.1 is already unpopular
- even before the release of Shadowlands, players criticized the features of the expansion
While it seems that not the majority of the community is dissatisfied with everything, these topics keep coming up and are discussed repeatedly. Even on MeinMMO, we often have opinions and criticism about the game:
- Cortyn complains: How can it be that the most important social feature in WoW has been broken for years?
- I, on the other hand, hardly have any time to have fun in WoW
One of our readers is annoyed by the constant criticism of the game. He finds Shadowlands good and significantly better than previous expansions. His stance is: Most of what is criticized doesn’t really affect most players anyway.
“I greatly appreciate WoW for its raids”
MeinMMO: Would you introduce yourself briefly? Who are you, how long have you been playing WoW?
Patrik: Hello, my name is Patrik, I am 30 years old and the guild leader of the semi-hardcore guild “Antimate Social Club”. I have been playing WoW since 2006 – of course with some shorter, but also longer breaks. So I’ve experienced everything, including the infamous “good old days”.
MeinMMO: What do you do most often in WoW and now in Shadowlands?
Patrik: Clearly group-oriented PvE content. I greatly appreciate WoW for its raids, and the introduction of Mythic+ was a great change. I took a break at the beginning of Legion, and an old WoW friend wrote to me: “Hey, there is something new. Mythic+. It’s like raiding but with 5 people!!”. One of the arguments that brought me back to WoW.
Shadowlands hasn’t changed that. We raid Mythic twice a week. Besides that, I also play heroic raids with alt characters and, of course, Mythic+ – sometimes just 15s for the chest and sometimes higher, depending on my mood.
MeinMMO: What is your general assessment of Shadowlands? How has it developed since release?
Patrik: I consider Shadowlands to be a great expansion, and not just because Battle for Azeroth was a less successful expansion. I really think that Shadowlands is very well done. Of course, we also have the same problems here that we had in other expansions before – Blizzard reluctantly listens to the community beforehand.
By community, I don’t mean the eternal complainers on Reddit and such, but especially the spearheads of the community who are usually right with their assessments – whether it relates to class and raid balancing or other aspects of the game.
But I also realize that I clearly belong to the milder voices and that not everyone finds Shadowlands great. However, I still find the current development okay. Blizzard realized that the introduction of valor points could be a good thing (which by the way, it is) and they actually did it. I currently have two hearts beating in my chest:
- Hello, where is patch 9.1? I want something NEW!
- Hello, please not so quickly 9.1, let’s at least achieve the top achievement!
“The casualization of WoW is not ultimately bad”
MeinMMO: What is your opinion on patch 9.1?
Patrik: I’m looking forward to it, but when is it coming? In November 2020 Shadowlands began and now it’s already June 2021. Okay, Castle Nathria is a challenging first raid, we still have that to nibble on, but it’s already time.
I view the patch quite calmly. You know, when you have played Legion and BfA, what to expect. New raid, 10 bosses. I think that’s good, it’s a solid amount, I’m looking forward to it.
The new zone Korthia… well, the stuff for “daily fun” comes with it. New Mythic+ season with a new, very exciting-looking affix. That will probably be my highlight, alongside the raid.
I also think the concept of mega-dungeons is very good and I’m looking forward to the hard mode, even if it will only be a very temporary feature. We had a lot of fun on the release day of 8.2 when we ventured into Mechagon at 9:00 AM and took three and a half hours for the hard mode.
PvP trinkets and weapons are no longer as essential in PvE with 9.1! Or at least, I really hope so.
Maybe a very unpopular opinion, but I’m looking forward to Torghast! I didn’t mention it earlier, but I really think Torghast is great and I have a lot of fun with it! The twisting corridors were incredibly fun for me. But I’m also a big fan of solo adventures where you can fail spectacularly (hardened by Dark Souls!). Not every player enjoys this; I can understand that.
MeinMMO: To which players do you think Shadowlands is currently most directed?
Patrik: Phew, that’s not an easy question. WoW is a massive game with so much to discover and achieve. The raid offers 3 difficulty levels, Mythic+ is dynamic, and outside of group content, there’s also plenty to do. Be it farming anima, pet battles, collecting mounts and transmog, completing achievements…
I was someone 5 to 10 years ago who complained about the “casualization” of WoW, but in the end, it’s not so bad. Everything goes much faster now; you don’t need to invest so much time in the game anymore. TBC Classic is showing me that again.
I have to farm a lot of reputation to do HC dungeons. That was completely fine before, but today I would ask Blizzard if they are still sane if I had to grind for Mythic+ unlock. I like both worlds.
TBC Classic is a slowed-down farming simulator, and I expect action from Shadowlands! I like the fast and straightforward gameplay of modern WoW. There’s something for everyone in this game, at least in PvE. Let’s not talk about PvP; I have no idea about that and I’m glad that with 9.1, it is also being further separated from PvE.
“Why are we getting upset about things that don’t affect us at all?”
MeinMMO: What is a complaint that others often express that you can’t understand at all?
Patrik: I’ve been waiting for this question. There are some points that I can’t necessarily understand, so I’ll try to keep it brief. First, the covenant system in connection with raid, Mythic+, and PvP.
People complain that the covenant abilities are too restrictive? Why? There are 4 factions, and you join one. If you want to switch, you have to invest time. Currently, WoW has a good comparison here in TBC Classic. Try changing from Seer to Aldor if you chose the wrong faction out of ignorance.
But hey, I know already. Not every covenant is the best for every specialization. Example: The shadow priest wants to be Venthyr in PvP because Mindgames is a really good ability, but in PvE he wants to play Night Fae. However, he can’t just switch covenants, which players find annoying.
Yeah, I find that annoying too, but Blizzard still wants to pretend that WoW is an RPG in 2021, which it really isn’t anymore. But is that really so bad? Then just play Venthyr Shadow in the weekly key; what’s the problem?
Isn’t that the best? So what? Are you playing +15 or +25? It really doesn’t matter. You can complete +15 with any combination of players and classes. Of course, some groups have it easier than others. There will always be a META, no matter how dumb or good you find it.
Someone is always FOTM [Ed. Note “Flavor of the Month”, describes currently popular and strong combinations]… but hey, at the level most players are playing at, it really doesn’t matter.
This includes casuals, but also people who semi-hardcore mythic raid. We are all average players or below, so why are we getting upset about things that don’t affect us at all?
Sure, the counterargument is always – If you’re not playing META, then you won’t find groups – which is often true too. I’m currently playing a Death Knight, have about 1,600 Raider.io score, and an item level of 226. I too get rejected for +15 keys.
Find a community and play with them; after all, it’s a social game. Hand on heart: If you prefer to play alone, there are thousands of better games out there than WoW.
Secondly, the anima grind. How can one even complain about that? You only need anima for cosmetic items. What’s the problem if it takes two weeks instead of one? You can always farm anima whenever you want; you’re neither bound to other players nor to times. Maybe I’m just the wrong target group for that, I only have 100 mounts.
“Shadowlands does many things much better”
MeinMMO: What does Shadowlands do better than before?
Patrik: In comparison to Legion and BfA, Shadowlands does many things much better. Legion is considered by many players to be a fantastic expansion. It was; Mythic+ certainly contributed to the fact that WoW could recover after WoD.
But friends, let’s not forget the legendary system. That was not cool, it was terrible. Not the possibility of having cool orange items – we all want that – but how to obtain them.
I can LEGITIMATELY obtain AN ITEM from a LONG LIST during ANY ACTIVITY I engage in. Who approved that? That’s basically the subscription trap of the 2010s.
For some bosses in Mythic+ on tyrannical, you needed a specific necklace that provided a large shield. Without this necklace, you would simply get one-shotted without dispute. What do you do if you don’t have this necklace? Too bad.
In the end, you could then purchase legendaries systematically, which was cool. Now in Shadowlands, you can systematically craft legendaries, which I think is very good.
Legendaries were a really dumb system, but not the dumbest. Titanforging was, for me, by far the worst system they ever introduced in WoW. There’s “personal loot” and yet Titanforging is worse.
Legion was overshadowed by that terrible system. T-set pieces could titanforge. A terrible idea. Titanforging is now gone. Thank you, Blizzard, thank you!
Speaking of T-sets. They were sacrificed for azerite gear in BfA. Good that this nonsense is also over. That system was a complete joke and changed constantly in BfA. It was doctoring around a fundamentally flawed system. Basically, labor of love. T-sets will come back soon™. I think that’s good; I look forward to it. T-sets belong in WoW!
Shall we talk again about strange grinds? What I personally welcome is that the disgusting grind from 8.3 is gone. It’s simply not a good system to grind daily quests to get limited access to time-limited content that you also have to grind and where you could fail. That was really incredibly annoying.
Sure, that was content that really only bothered the Mythic players and only the semi-hardcore players because the World-First players didn’t really need it to that full extent. In Legion, it was the artifact weapon that had to be leveled for each specialization, and in BfA it was the azerite to completely activate your azerite gear.
The grind today is by no means as severe, and it’s much easier to play additional characters.
“For me, there’s only one problem: long-term motivation”
MeinMMO: What do you think are the 3 biggest problems of Shadowlands at the moment?
Patrik: For me, there’s only one problem: long-term motivation.
Why do I even log into WoW anymore, other than to raid? Through Mythic+, I get all items to 220 – I’ve already done that. Why should I run higher keys than +15? Just for my ego.
I’m not interested in the other aspects of this game. I don’t do pet battles, I don’t play PvP, transmog and mounts don’t concern me either. Maybe I only play WoW for community reasons, but that’s not bad either; I enjoy playing with people I like. During 8.3 I (unfortunately) played a lot of LoL and right now TBC Classic.
MeinMMO: How could these problems be solved?
Patrik: Blizzard is introducing a new reward system for Mythic+. I believe this will increase my long-term motivation; I am really looking forward to it.
MeinMMO: Is now an ideal time to start with WoW? Why or why not?
Patrik: It’s the best possible time! We are currently at an incredibly good point within WoW. The big content patch 9.1 is just around the corner. You can now still leisurely level a character and prepare for the next patch.
TBC Classic has been released. Friends, do you want to experience the supposedly best time in WoW again or at all? Start and play!
MeinMMO: Thank you for the conversation.
What do you think about this topic? Are too many players complaining too often, or are there points where WoW really needs to improve? Discuss with us in the comments!
Blizzard is already working on some problems, but whether it’s sensible remains to be seen: WoW is revising the hated Maw – Does that even make sense?
