The world quests in WoW: Shadowlands can be frustrating. They are sometimes long, unclear, and not very rewarding. Does it have to be this way?
One of the simplest endgame activities in World of Warcraft are world quests. They rarely require other players, lure with anima, reputation, or gold, and can be found quickly.
However, world quests in Shadowlands often have one commonality that makes many players roll their eyes in annoyance: hidden phases and steps that are revealed only afterwards.
Additional phases can be annoying: Not always is the quest objective shown on the world map truly the final goal. It may happen that a quest initially only requires a handful of enemies to be killed. That sounds like a lucrative deal and a clear cut – maybe 3-5 minutes of effort, depending on equipment.
Hardly is the objective completed, the quest switches to the next phase. Instead of directly receiving the reward, step 2 of the quest now follows. Here, for example, a number of cages must be opened to free prisoners. The cages are of course scattered all around the area where the enemies were just fought, which by now have all respawned.
But the quest does not end there either. Once all cages are open, another step appears: The boss of the respective area must still be defeated. And he is waiting – oh wonder – at the other end of the quest area, so you have to slice through the enemies a third time.
World quests are not necessary: However, one should not forget that world quests are not a necessity in Shadowlands. The rewards are primarily interesting for new characters who still need gear and have not yet ventured into dungeons.
Moreover, only reputation and anima are interesting, which serves mainly as a resource for cosmetic rewards. It is therefore easy to simply skip world quests and “leave them be” if one is not interested – the player misses out on very little.
World quests – Are they good as they are?
Now it’s your turn: What do you think of the current world quests in WoW: Shadowlands? Are they fun and feel rewarding or just “good”? Or are they exhausting, unclear, and in need of revision?
If you want to justify your vote a bit more, feel free to leave a comment under the article.
Cortyn says: Basically, I don’t find this quest design bad. It feels like you are actually completing a full task that consists of several steps. However, what is frustrating is the spontaneous popping up of new objectives. If the objectives (and additional phases) were announced in advance, it wouldn’t be a problem. If you know what to expect in advance from a world quest, it’s not such a hassle.
In the meantime, I have switched to doing almost only the profession quests, pet battles, and “unusual” quests where you have to win a race or fall through circles in the sky as precisely as possible. Not only does that go faster, but these quests usually only have that one phase and then they are done.
World quests don’t necessarily have to be faster or shorter – just the objectives should be clear to reduce frustration.
Those who don’t want to do world quests can try Mythic+ – you can find the best classes for that here.
