I start with my worst experience directly in this test: The release of World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor. The problems escalated to proportions that a WoW veteran might remember from the release of “Burning Crusade”.

Thousands of players stood together in a very tight space to talk to the only NPC that should herald the addon – how could Blizzard overlook this flaw? Disconnects, frustrated players, and a lot of dissatisfaction in the general channel were the reactions. For the somewhat later start in America, they already had a solution and allowed players to enter the expansion at other locations as well – at least a quick response!

Once you finally made it into the new zones, the chaos became more bearable. Of course, everything was still hopelessly overcrowded here, but to an extent that I simply expect at the start of an expansion – quests were manageable, even if my elf sometimes had to use her elbows and snatch an enemy right under someone’s nose – one might forgive her. The rest of the night went – from my perspective – relatively calmly. I could play quite relaxed until dawn, and aside from brief lag spikes, most of it was bearable.

The launch didn’t go well, even days later there were problems

But then. But then…

By midday on the first day, it became terrible. Latencies in the four-digit ms range, hopelessly overloaded servers, and repeatedly the message “Transport aborted: Instance not found”. The garrison was inaccessible for a long time, instead desperate players were stuck on their mount in the air and could not leave as the game repeatedly tried, in vain, to assign them an instance.

I firmly believe that these errors will belong to the past in the coming weeks, which is why I do not want to consider them in this test – that would not do justice to the overall player experience. Nevertheless, I found it necessary to mention it at least once.

Staging of the game world

This time I did not play in the beta, so I only had limited knowledge of what was actually coming my way. My experience in this area can only be described with one word: magnificent. The introduction scenario lasts about an hour, introduces the main characters of the expansion, and plays out incredibly dynamically. It really felt like a rush to the dark portal – and then the desperate attempt to somehow find safety in enemy territory. The threat from the “Iron Horde” is real. And if I had mocked them a few days ago, I now no longer want to miss them.

Hard, harder, Warcraft

Above all, WoW has become a whole lot darker and more brutal! At the start of “Mists of Pandaria”, many criticized the rather humorous world and couldn’t make sense of the countless silly quests. Of course, that changed over the course of the expansion, and at the latest with the “Siege of Orgrimmar,” where many NPCs were impaled and hung from the city walls, most probably realized that Warcraft is not just a funny world. This dark style runs through the entire expansion. The “War” in the name is honored, as you help, among other things, with a rather cruel vendetta of an orc and eliminate a hostile leader – of course, you first kill all his sons and impale their heads on a weapon to further humiliate him. At one point, the bodies of Draenei are piled up like mountains – naked and simply stacked like animals. Many details are unsettling and cause players to question their own actions. Are we really the “good ones” in this conflict? Are our methods better?

And a pinch of humor

Despite these atrocities, WoW has not lost its humor, and just as often as horror gripped me, I had to hearty laugh at the creators’ ideas. In the game world, you can find a lot of “gray” items that are good only for selling, and these often come with really funny texts. On a “Iron Horde Bomb”, for example, it says:

[intense_blockquote color=”#ededed” author=”Iron Horde Bomb”]Too dangerous to defuse. Better to just sell it to a clueless vendor.[/intense_blockquote]

The quests also have some laughs in store, and at the latest when an Arrakoa reads the “School Chick Report”, all the suffering in this world is gone for a brief moment.

Quest and level phase

For many players, the leveling phase is always the worst part of an addon, as they mainly want to experience raids and endgame content. Personally, I always have a lot of fun with the leveling phase, as it tells the story of the world and especially as a role player, one can learn so many details about the various species that are hidden from others. I make no secret of it: Blizzard has not reinvented the quest system with this addon either. Most tasks follow the well-known pattern of “Kill X of these” or “Collect Y of those”. That would not be particularly exciting, and all players who do not value the story will probably be bored again while completing these tasks. However, those interested in the peoples and their past (especially the lore of the Arrakoa is outstanding) will have a lot of fun with the tasks.

Familiar characters around every corner

Particularly, the storytelling is denser this time than in previous expansions. Every few quests, you are accompanied by familiar NPCs who later participate in some decisive battle or assist the player in other ways. Blizzard has managed to put together a suitable balance of epic and ordinary quests, so it always stays balanced, and you never get the impression that it tilts in either direction. However, it is particularly rewarding to complete an area completely, as usually a big final mission awaits the character, followed by a cutscene – and these are at a damn high level and leave a shiver behind. I guarantee that to you.

The only criticism I can make about leveling is that it was over too quickly. By that, I do not mean the pure number of hours; that was absolutely fine. Instead, I reached level 100 in an area that was actually meant for level 96. If it were up to me, I would adjust the numbers for the experience gained a bit downwards – on the other hand, the world offers so much more than just plain “XP grinding” that I also enjoyed questing at the maximum level.

Exploring the world – worthwhile and immensely satisfying

Those who stick only to the predetermined paths and mindlessly complete the tasks may only uncover about half of the map by the end of the area. Many things happen off the beaten path, and while there were about 50 small treasures to discover in “Mists of Pandaria”, the number has been more than sixfold in this expansion. Those who keep their eyes open will be rewarded with additional loot in every area when they find, for example, the “Grave of an Old Warrior”, which lies deep in a hidden cave. To further heighten the incentive to search for such items, there is also a hefty amount of experience points that can go along with each discovered treasure, equivalent to about 1-2 quests.

Rare enemies, rare loot

But rare opponents have also been packed back into the game, a little more than 150 – and these are just the ones I have certainly killed, and I have by no means found them all. Similar to the timeless isle, anyone who has attacked the enemies can loot them, so there will be no disputes. Each of these rare enemies only has one item with them and can only be looted once per player – of course, there are a few exceptions, but overall this new system fulfills its purpose.

But even if one is not solely after the plain “rewards”, there is much to discover. Almost all known and unknown NPCs from WoW appear somewhere in Draenor. The well-known quest line from the Barrens “Mankrik’s Wife” finds its beginning here when you can meet Mankrik and his girlfriend. Many Arrakoa, whom you fought as bosses in the shattered world, are now allies and quest givers. Those who approach the game world with open eyes will find so many allusions, hints, details, and news about the background story that role players love to refer to as a “lore-gasm”. The world is rich in things to be found – you just have to turn off the tunnel vision that can easily arise since the quest objectives are always marked on the map and often suppress the urge to explore.

The graphics – old but pretty

World of Warcraft has now become ten years old with its engine, and you can see that in every aspect of the game. The graphics probably won’t win any beauty awards for the best resolution or the highest polygon count, and a major leap in graphical splendor should not be expected anymore. Nevertheless, the developers manage to add a little bit more with each addon and push the limits of what is possible just a bit further.

It’s the little things that stand out positively, such as the reflections of stars in the water as you fly over it. And even though it was meant a bit mockingly, I want to quote a friend from Skype here: “Moon and stars in the water, THE FUTURE IS NOW!” That’s exactly how it feels. One has gotten so used to the graphics of the MMO over the years, and these little changes matter so much because they are unexpected.

Anyone who stands on a hill in Shadowmoon Valley and lets their gaze wander while the incomparable music of the game plays in the background will instantly know what I mean. The world has a unique beauty, a magic, and a radiance that does not depend on high-resolution textures. Sometimes less is simply more, and this has never been truer than in the environments of Draenor.

The music – breathtaking without exception

I know that many players in WoW generally turn off sound and music because they find it disturbing and prefer to play with some dubstep music in the background or sit in TeamSpeak or Skype while playing. Therefore, here is a piece of advice to everyone who has been doing this so far: Don’t. Turn the music on.

So far, I have praised the music in every addon and thought that after the epic Cataclysm soundtrack, one could not improve anymore – but my goodness, I was completely wrong. When the background music of a game is so good that I stand still with bated breath despite the rather outdated graphics and just admire the landscape, then it is doing something incredibly right. Whether it was in the icy expanses of Frostfire Ridge or the inhospitable landscapes of the Peaks of Arak, the music contributes immensely to the atmosphere and manages to describe every location perfectly. Each single soundtrack fits incredibly well, and when I close my eyes, I can always tell exactly where I am – I often visited both the “friendly” and “hostile” places just to listen a little longer to the music before being drawn into the next area.

The Iron Horde is not least threatening because the music makes them seem many times stronger. Hats off, Blizzard. The team responsible for the musical accompaniment has outdone itself.

Here is one of my favorite pieces; I get goosebumps every time:

http://youtu.be/tqRvFnL51Gs

The Garrison

If one wants to talk extensively about WoD, one cannot avoid saying a few words about the Garrisons, as they are the focal point of your adventures. I will start with the negative aspect first: The Garrison is mandatory, and you cannot avoid taking care of it. Not only do many of the missions start here, but it also serves as the main hub for your crafting materials.

And now for the positive aspects: It is incredibly fun. Even though it does not resemble a “housing” system like in WildStar at all, the Garrison does offer many customization options to make life in Draenor easier. At the beginning, the Garrison is still quite small and offers space for only one or two buildings, which are usually used to generate additional crafting materials for your profession. While you collect fur scraps in the wild, the NPCs in your camp will be busy turning the fur into fine fabric.

But since we are talking about NPCs: You can recruit a lot of them as followers for your Garrison and send them on missions – there they gain experience and become stronger, while also bringing you valuable resources, gold, or even items back home. The duration of missions varies from 5 minutes to 10 hours. Of course, you do not have to wait the entire time; just return to your Garrison at some point, and your followers will have returned victorious from battle – or mercilessly fallen (in that case, they are “deactivated” by me directly – there is no place for failures in my camp!).

From a small camp to a large fortress

As your level increases, you can continue to expand your fortress and greatly customize it – would you prefer a bank NPC in the camp or a tailor? How about a sawmill that gathers resources, or better a stable to tame special mounts? To expand these additions usually requires two different resources: the first is gold, which is relatively easy to obtain – it flows steadily into your coffers in Draenor. The second component is simply called “Garrison Resources” and is considerably harder to acquire. Although your residence generates some every few hours, you cannot make significant strides with it. If you want to expand everything in a timely manner, you need to look for the rare enemies and treasures of the world to at least be able to upgrade the basic buildings. While some may find this annoying, I found it a clever way to encourage players to examine the game world more closely.

Crafting – takes some getting used to, but not worse

Crafting items also takes place in the Garrison, but a little differently than one is used to. The collection process for the necessary materials can take several days, as the production rate is strictly limited. For example, let’s take tailoring: Your character can make 4-6 bolts of cloth once a day, but over 100 are needed for a new robe. If you have built a tailor shop on your plot, the NPCs working there can also assist you and produce these bolts over the day, thereby roughly doubling the production rate. A handful of rare followers even bring special craft bonuses, which increases the yield further. This “stretching” of the crafting process increases the value of the crafted items in the auction house, but not all players may appreciate this. It should also be noted that crafted items can be upgraded over time – for example from item level 640 to 655. But again, this costs countless materials.

Dungeons – Mixed feelings

Regarding the instances, both the heroic and normal ones, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. On the one hand, there are many instances with new, fun boss mechanics. In “The Evergreen Floor”, for example, you have to prevent a giant plant monster from awakening a whole army of seedlings by stepping on each seedling before it can see the light of day. That’s funny, is enjoyable, and at least I haven’t seen that before. In other dungeons, like the “Shadowmoon Burial Grounds”, you find some mechanics that you’ve already seen in many other instances and raids – for new players this might be no problem at all, but as a veteran, these repetitions might diminish the fun a bit.

Epic battles – even in small groups

Some boss fights have become absolutely memorable and still give me an adrenaline rush even on the tenth instance visit. While trying to hijack a moving train of the Iron Horde, a big orc with a thick cannon suddenly jumps in the way and fires everything he’s got. At the same time, he calls forth waves of minions and sends them to us to bombard us with explosives. As if that weren’t enough, the train’s disguise flips outward, offering an additional space to fight, while being swept up by the train wind and seeing the vast plains of Draenor whizzing by. All of this is so well thought out and staged so damn cool that one can overlook a few outdated game mechanics.

More challenging than before, but never unfair

Fortunately, the instances also have a significantly higher difficulty level than in Mists of Pandaria. Even on normal difficulty, groups often meet their end if they do not explain the boss mechanics beforehand or take a look at the dungeon compendium. You rarely come out of the heroic versions without a complete wipe, although that may change with the increasing item level of the visitors. In any case, the difficulty is sharper than before, and especially healers will once again be required to do much more than just occasionally casting a group healing spell.

Unfortunately, I have not yet had an impression of the raid instances; these will be unlocked in a few days to allow all players a relaxed leveling experience.

PvP – Fun, but still room for improvement

My experiences in PvP from “Warlords of Draenor” currently consist of two evenings in Ashran, and the fun factor couldn’t have been more different.

The first evening was a complete disaster. The Alliance was about five times stronger than the Horde, so it was pure slaughter. You could never leave your faction’s base camp, and the fun was kept within tightly defined limits.

However, this changed on the following night! I had the opportunity to thoroughly explore the island of Ashran, and the balance of power was now more equal. The open-world PvP area fundamentally deviates from the battlegrounds, as its design absolutely allows for some places to simply be unfair – fun was prioritized over balancing, but in the end, it pays off. A few examples, if you please?

Dead players can be looted, and now and then you receive an “ancient artifact”, which gives the looter a buff, increasing their HP by 200% and their damage by 100%. The buff lasts until you are killed by the opposing faction, and an enemy takes the spell for themselves. That makes you a true killing machine and can easily keep three Alliance players at bay simultaneously. But even more unfair, fun mechanics await on the island: In the spider district, you can free captured soldiers, who accompany their rescuers until they fall in battle. These good comrades have almost double the health of a player and deal similar damage or heal for a gigantic amount.

There are countless such mechanics on the island. Discovering and using them in the most devious way is incredibly fun!

Everyone can be a little “imba”

But have I mentioned the tomes? On the island, all classes can temporarily gain a powerful additional ability. For example, priests can fly for a certain time and just disappear in the middle of a fight. Paladins can stun their enemies for six seconds – if this stun is not cleansed, the affected player is teleported to the opposing faction’s prison, where they are usually quickly killed. Rogues can go completely into their element and relieve other players of their artifact fragments, which are used as currency on the island – and yes, they really disappear from your inventory.

No matter how you look at it, Ashran is mean, unfair, frustrating yet incredibly fun. Those who don’t want to throw their keyboard out of the window after every character death will feel like they’re in a paradise.

Conclusion

“Warlords of Draenor” is the best expansion for me. “Warlords of Draenor” does not reinvent the wheel, but it polishes it, oils it, and sets it back in motion. The innovations are all great and remarkably fun, the world has become darker again without losing its typical “Warcraft” charm, but often makes you laugh too. While I was initially skeptical about the crazy “time-line-dimension story,” I am now completely convinced of it. It serves only as a hook to present us with a world that is essentially what made Warcraft so grand and over the years risked becoming a bit dull. “Warlords of Draenor” is the best expansion for me and should manage to convert even the hardest “In Vanilla, everything was better” whiners. If they now also give the Blood Elves their new model, I will probably fall in love with a world that many have long declared dead – but it is not. It is livelier, more serious, crueler and more entertaining than ever before.