In World of Warcraft, Twinks can now quickly obtain their necessary essences. But has that been enough to save WoW?
When Patch 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth was released a few months ago, there was swift criticism. Especially the essences for the Heart of Azeroth were a thorn in the players’ side, particularly since they also had to be unlocked for secondary characters.
However, after a long silence, Blizzard has given in to the players and made a change last Wednesday. Essences are now significantly easier to obtain for secondary characters, as long as a main character already possesses them.
This is how it was before: Prior to last Wednesday, essences for the Heart of Azeroth had to be unlocked individually for each character. This included – depending on the essence – weeks of reputation farming, visiting old raids, or completing many hours of PvP in battlegrounds, arenas, and even on island expeditions.
Since each character had to go through this cycle individually, players quickly lost interest in secondary characters and preferred not to play them at all.
This is how it is now: For several days now, players in WoW receive a new currency called “Echoes of Ny’alotha” on their secondary characters, which they can use to unlock essences at Rank 3 (the highest level). These echoes can be obtained from almost all current, relevant content. We have a detailed list of the content here.
Depending on the playstyle, it is now possible to unlock 1-2 essences for the Heart of Azeroth at the highest meaningful level per week. In clear terms, this means that Twinks can have a perfect set of essences after 2 weeks if the main character already possessed the essences. The grind has thus become significantly smaller.
Some criticism remains: However, there are also some players who feel that the system does not go far enough. For instance, if multiple essences come from the same source (such as the Eternal Palace raid), then unlocking one essence applies only to that specific role. If you have unlocked the DPS essence from the Eternal Palace with the main character and want to obtain the tank essence with a tank Twink, you must completely re-earn it.
In some places, the grind has therefore not been reduced.
Strictly speaking, however, it must be said that Blizzard did not promise this either. Support for Twinks applies only to essences with identical names for each role.
Was Patch 8.3 saved with the Echoes of Ny’alotha?
But now let’s get to you! Do you find the change to the essences good and meaningful? Are you playing more World of Warcraft again, especially more secondary characters? Or has this change failed to save Patch 8.3 for you?
If you want to elaborate a bit more on your answer, please leave a comment and explain what the change to the essences has meant for you.
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