World of Warcraft is experiencing a surge. Although things are currently quite easy, it is still fun – and it brings WoW great player numbers.
For a while, World of Warcraft, especially the “Retail” variant Dragonflight, was in a downward trend. Even though Dragonflight is objectively and subjectively significantly better than Shadowlands and has resolved many major issues, many players did not return after Shadowlands – the trust was simply depleted.
However, World of Warcraft is now on a little upward trend again. The numbers seem to be going up, the world feels livelier, and there is plenty of praise from many sides, although some criticism, such as regarding the Shadow Priest or the Windwalker Monk, still persists.
The current patch of WoW:
Why is World of Warcraft popular again?
To be completely honest, this is quite an unusual sight. Normally, there are particularly many players in World of Warcraft at the start of an expansion. Over the course of the expansion, this number then slowly decreases and usually reaches its lowest point towards the end of an addon.
Even though WoW has not released player numbers for a long time, there are other metrics that indicate the game’s popularity. Especially in the endgame areas of “Mythic+” and raids, there are various sites listing how many groups have participated in certain activities. The most exciting indication here is the “Mythic+” area, as it represents the primary endgame activity for many. An infographic from raider.io shows how the current Season 3 compares to the two previous seasons of Dragonflight:
Even though fewer people are visiting dungeons than in the first week, the numbers are more stable than in both previous seasons. For comparison, the numbers from week 4:
- Season 1 had about 2,078,000 dungeon runs in the “Mythic+” category.
- Season 2 had about 1,102,000 dungeon runs in the “Mythic+” category.
- Season 3 had about 2,400,000 dungeon runs in the “Mythic+” category.
So, Season 3 in its fourth week had more active dungeon visits in the “Mythic+” category than both previous seasons.
The raid Amirdrassil is also well-received. The bosses have interesting designs and overall the raid is manageable on normal and heroic difficulties and has hardly any insurmountable obstacles, as was often the case in previous raid tiers.
BlizzCon Hype and The War Within
An additional factor contributing to Dragonflight’s recent surge is a mix of several factors:
- The BlizzCon has placed a new focus on World of Warcraft with the “World Soul Saga”.
- Those who pre-order the next expansion “The War Within” will also get access to Dragonflight.
- WotLK Classic is currently at the Icecrown Citadel – one of the most popular patches of all time.
- WoW Classic Hardcore is enjoying great popularity, particularly the painful deaths that many YouTubers and streamers respond to.
- The “Season of Discoveries” is attracting new players into the WoW universe.
All these external factors ensure that Dragonflight also benefits from the surge and many at least check out the current patch – and then stick around.
What the community says
Even in the WoW Subreddit and the current forums, there is discussion about why WoW is so much fun right now and what exactly contributes to it. Here, a mix of several factors seems to be identified. In particular, the current gearing system is praised, which allows for meaningful progression in various game content without endless grinding or facing insurmountable hurdles:
“It seems that if M+ is not an absolute clown show with too confusing mechanics, then people actually stay and play the game.” – Frorlin
“This week (so the next one in the infographic) will be particularly interesting. After a pleasant, easy push week with an increasing number of dungeon visits, let’s see how this week goes, which doesn’t have such good affixes.” – Tullo
“People play to have fun. If the progression is enjoyable and not debilitating like most affixes and dungeons, then people play more. I hope Blizzard remembers this.” – dogfan20
Lastly, an important point is that the current season is as easy and beginner-friendly as it hasn’t been in a long time in the Mythic+ area. Most dungeons have fairly clear mechanics and allow newcomers who have previously been deterred by Mythic+ to finally enjoy the game.
Can you understand the current “hype” around World of Warcraft, and do you feel the same way?
