Patch 9.1.5 of World of Warcraft will likely fulfill many small wishes. A good thing? No, says our WoW demon Cortyn. It’s embarrassing.
It is now well known that Patch 9.1 of World of Warcraft was not exactly Blizzard’s shining hour. Whether it’s about the ongoing grind of Torghast, the weekly unlock of fame, or the story – Patch 9.1 is not very popular and, along with the sexism scandal at Blizzard, has driven away many long-time fans and content creators.
So the upcoming Patch 9.1.5 is the developers’ stopgap to fulfill as many players’ wishes as possible, which are easy to implement and require little effort. After all, 9.1.5 is only a small “interim patch” and will bring very few major changes. The 9.5 patches have always been about fine-tuning and small things.
The first promises from Blizzard have also hit the nerve of a specific player group:
- After the announcement in February that there would be no new character customization options for the time being, Blizzard has now relented and announced new options for Void Elves, Lightforged Draenei, and Nightborne.
- Night Fae players are getting the long-desired ability to transform into various small animals with the Soulshape – including squirrels, but (presumably) also Corgis.
- New travel forms for Druids.
- Old content with plenty of cosmetic rewards will become more accessible. Island Expeditions can now also be farmed solo to gather the numerous transmog items and toys.
Just a few hours ago, further confirmations came: Blizzard is fulfilling pretty much all the wishes players had. Free covenant changing, less stress with Anima, removal of Conduit Energy.
These are just the first things that have been announced. In the coming days, there will surely be more of these “low hanging fruits” revealed, meaning simple changes that require little effort in development but will please the players. We have already talked about a whole series of these possible innovations in this article:
Please don’t get me wrong. It is great that Blizzard is announcing a whole range of changes and improvements with Patch 9.1.5 that will make World of Warcraft more enjoyable. An improvement is fundamentally always something good and, of course, to be welcomed from the perspective of a current player.
However, Blizzard has to endure the – admittedly somewhat clichéd – question: Why only now?
The feature cycle in World of Warcraft
In recent years, a cycle has developed that is slowly becoming embarrassing to observe. Even in beta, there is extensive feedback on a feature that does not go over well with the community.
This eternal cycle of “We introduce a feature that players don’t like in its current form and improve it over the course of a year” is exhausting. It is predictable. Everyone knows by now that systems appear unfinished and are then adjusted over the course of patches until most WoW players are satisfied with them.
Of course, an improvement is good – even a late one. From my perspective, it is always better to want to improve a situation rather than to say, “Oh, let’s leave it, it’s not worth it anymore.”
But when the same problem is repeated over and over again year after year with different features, it’s sad. Because in the end, only two possible conclusions remain:
- Blizzard is unable to create systems that a large part of the community likes. The developers are incompetent.
- Blizzard intentionally releases systems incomplete to stress players and later redeem them and cater to their wishes. It’s a calculation by the developers.
I don’t like either notion. Both thoughts disturb me, but after the Garrison in Warlords of Draenor, the Legendary Items in Legion, the Azerite Armor in Battle for Azeroth, and the countless interwoven systems in Shadowlands, only these two options are left.
Some might now note that there is also a third option: time pressure, which prevents the developers from working on systems long enough and releasing them completely. But that would then just be a mix of both reasons – incompetence and calculation. If something is not satisfactorily finished, it can be postponed. Blizzard used to be known for that. “It’s done when it’s done” and not “It’s a bit finished, we’ll do the rest later, maybe, maybe not.”
The next expansion will be crucial – once again
The developers have only one way to refute both accusations. They must demonstrate with 10.0, the next expansion, that they can bring mature systems directly to the game at launch. Because even the most loyal WoW fans are slowly sensing that there probably aren’t many more warning shots needed for World of Warcraft before a bullet hits fatally.
What still completely confuses me to this day: During the beta, it was possible to level completely through Torghast for a while. I really loved that. As an option for twinks, it would have been optimal. I never understood why it was simply removed in later beta phases. It felt so good, even though Torghast didn’t have any rewards other than gray “placeholder” items back then.
Sure, some decisions are so strange that one cannot understand them at all. When the question about new cosmetics was answered at BlizzConline with “We saw how much you like the new character customizations, so we’re not making any more for now,” it rightly became a silly meme. Well, at least they reconsidered that.
I am also aware that I myself am not always in line with the loud voices of the community. “Conduit Energy” doesn’t bother me, as I don’t place value on perfect “Min/Maxing.” I enjoy Torghast and have no problem being bound to a covenant – I like the permanence of that decision and the negative consequences if one wants to change their mind later. But I can also live with it if that goes away now.
As you know, I still have fun in WoW. For me, it is still a good game where I enjoy spending my time. I love Mythic+ with my guild or the raid nights with friends in the Sanctum of Domination. But World of Warcraft could be so much better, and that without particularly great effort. One just needs to take the time and listen.
So: Yes, Blizzard. Please bring many good and simple improvements in Patch 9.1.5. And in the future, you should do that right from the start. Just like in the past, when games had to be finished upon release. Thank you.
