The Season of Mastery is WoW Classic, just as it should have been from the start – at least that’s what the MeinMMO demon Cortyn thinks.
For some days now, Blizzard has launched the Season of Mastery in World of Warcraft. This is a variation of the original ‘Classic’ idea, with some special rules. There are faster new content phases and certain design adjustments have been made.
Here are a few examples:
- Black Lotus can now be found not only from a handful of spawn points per zone, but can rarely be found at all endgame herbs.
- The DoT limit has been lifted, allowing warlocks and shadow priests to have a place in raid groups.
- Bosses have new or improved abilities and more hit points, making them more challenging.
I know there are surely some purist players out there who only acknowledge World of Warcraft directly after the original release as the ‘real’ WoW and grind their teeth over every little change to that state.
Back then, there was a fierce resistance against any change, especially from a rather loud group that wanted to preserve their ‘pure’ World of Warcraft. However, reality quickly showed: Even if the game doesn’t change, the players themselves have long since changed.
- There were no more battles in Alterac Valley where a few players fished peacefully, someone completed quests, and somehow there was another little mini-battle going on everywhere.
- Raid bosses fell on the first attempt.
- World buffs did not become a special bonus, but a permanent standard that had to be maintained.
World of Warcraft Classic was played ‘more efficiently’ without the game being really fun at that level.
At least that was the case for me. Even though I am currently holding back a bit with exuberant joy towards World of Warcraft – due to many, many things – I am enjoying the Season of Mastery much more than I thought.
The Season of Mastery simply fits my play style and my life circumstances much better. Just the fact that I no longer have to wait 30 minutes for the clumsy dwarf from Ironforge to finally arrive when forming a group for a visit to the Deadmines boosts my motivation. Summoning missing players at the meeting stones is a feature from the more modern WoW versions – but it significantly improves the game for me.
It ensures that my time in Azeroth is valued by the game. Yes, back then it was somewhat acceptable to wait an hour for the last sleepyhead who had to ‘just grab one more quest’ from the other side of the world and died 3 times in the process. Back then, the only thing that could suffer from that was the first two hours of class that I had to endure somewhat sleepily. Leisure time was still virtually limitless.
Today I simply no longer have the time. If I have to wait half an hour for someone today, I find it rude and can virtually see the remaining time of my weekend slipping through my fingers.
And no, I don’t mean that things must never happen more slowly and relaxed. They can. Games like Minecraft are slow and relaxing, and World of Warcraft is that in many respects too. But there is a difference between leisurely play and the waiting where simply nothing happens.
The Season of Mastery feels like well-invested time. The changes make the game appealing to me, but at its core, it remains WoW Classic and thus a nice contrast to Shadowlands.
It is good that the idea of #NoChanges did not survive long. Because in the end, that has created the better game for me.
Can the Season of Mastery captivate me again like World of Warcraft did 17 years ago? No, definitely not. But it removes almost all the criticisms I had about the launch of ‘WoW Classic’ that made me log off shortly after reaching level 60 and buying my epic Nightsaber as a human.
The Season of Mastery is not the ‘WoW from back then’ – I am aware of that. But it plays out the way WoW from back then feels in my memories. And few changes were enough for that.
Are you playing the Season of Mastery? Or are you in normal Classic or BC Classic? Or could none of the ‘old’ WoW versions captivate you?
