Despite harsh criticism, Blizzard defends the idea of the Netherlight Crucible in WoW. We reveal why.
The Netherlight Crucible in World of Warcraft is a double-edged sword. While one group of players praises the new feature and enjoys unlocking new bonuses with the increasing level of the artifact weapon, there is much criticism from a second group.
With the Netherlight Crucible, players can further improve relics in their artifact weapons by unlocking a small talent tree. However, this is only possible at the mentioned Crucible and not “in the open world”.
Many players still find it incomprehensible that “recrafting” was removed as a feature, but the Netherlight Crucible essentially functions in a similar way. This is because you have to leave current content (like a raid) to properly shape the new relic and then return to the raid.
Blizzard likes the Netherlight Crucible
The Community Manager Ornyx has once again reached out to the players and represented the opinions of the developers. They discussed the feature and the feedback and are fundamentally satisfied because:
- Recrafting was simple and annoying. You simply took the best stat and never really had a choice. With the Netherlight Crucible, the decisions are more significant.
- Talents in the relics should not be redistributed. Otherwise, players would pilgrimage to the Crucible depending on the boss fight and choose either AoE or single-target abilities.
- Relics are occasionally replaced. Therefore, a “wrong choice” is tolerable and only lasts for a while. With the new raid Antorus, the Burning Throne, this shouldn’t matter as much.
- Blizzard is also pleased that when looking at the relic properties, it is soulbound at that point. This is meant to prevent relics from being passed around endlessly in raids.
Even after Blizzard’s explanation, opinions in the community are still mixed.
What do you think of the whole Netherlight Crucible topic? Was it a misstep? Or is it a nice feature to provide a bit more choice?
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