The media energy in World of Warcraft has been improved. From now on, you no longer have to wait 10 days, but it will be filled much faster.
Patch 9.1.5 of World of Warcraft is still a few weeks away, but Blizzard has already activated a feature via hotfix in advance. Since today’s maintenance (09/08/2021), all those who enjoy min/maxing can look forward to more freedom. The media energy (“Conduit Energy”) now regenerates much faster.
What was the problem? Soulbinds in Shadowlands can be customized with media (“Conduits”). This is generally a good thing, but it previously had an annoying limitation: media can only be changed by spending media energy. Each day, the character regenerates only one unit. So, if you play many different specializations or frequently adjust your playstyle, you will be slowed down and have to play with suboptimal media.
The whole system was criticized during the beta of Shadowlands. Recently, Blizzard admitted that they should have listened to the feedback and that media energy should not have been introduced at all.
What has Blizzard changed now? Since it seems to be not so easy to completely remove media energy via hotfix, Blizzard has done something else: The regeneration of daily media energy has been increased from 1 to 10. While this still does not allow for optimal freedom, it gives much more leeway than before. Depending on the needs, at least 2-3 soulbinds can be adjusted per day and aligned with the planned content.
However, note that the tooltip does not correctly reflect the change. It still states that only one unit is restored per day, even though it is 10.
Especially players who frequently switch between PvP and PvE will benefit from this.
Is more to come? Yes. With Patch 9.1.5, Conduit Energy will be completely abolished. Then all players can reconfigure their soulbinds as they wish and set them up anew for each activity. Finally, everyone will have full control over their used media and will no longer be forced to start with a suboptimal setup due to lack of energy.
Patch 9.1.5 will also address a few more issues that players currently see. Some of the highlights are:
- There are more adjustments for Lightforged Draenei, Void Elves, and Nightborne. Many players wanted more options here.
- Heirlooms can be further upgraded and are also active in Shadowlands.
- Covenant campaign and Maw intro can be skipped.
- Legendary items can be reused.
However, there is still no release date for the patch. Most expect a release in mid-October – in about 5 weeks.
Will you adjust your soulbinds more frequently now? Or are you one of those players who set their soulbinds once and have not deviated since?
