Affixes in World of Warcraft are making dungeons a worse place. At least that’s what Bellular says – and it resonates with the community.
In the endgame of World of Warcraft, there are a handful of activities that players can engage in. Those who enjoy dungeons dive into “Mythic+” and must master an instance on ever-increasing difficulty levels within a time limit. The higher the difficulty, the more negative effects, called “affixes”, are added.
However, they not only make everything harder but also cause massive frustration. At least that’s what YouTuber and analyst Bellular thinks, who breaks down the current situation around “Mythic+”.
The Problems with Affixes in Mythic+
Bellular points out right at the beginning that it’s not about removing the difficulty from “Mythic+”. But it can be achieved better than with an overloaded affix system. He states:
This is not a debate about making the game easier. Difficulty is not the problem. It’s why it’s difficult. And that is frustration. Most affixes are easily manageable on their own. Just move a bit. Just stop casting. Just click the explosive orb. The question we want to ask is: Does the fact that you have to do these things make the game better? It makes the game harder, sure, and that’s obviously the goal. But is it also more fun?
Afterward, Bellular names several reasons, summarized here:
The dungeon is hard enough by itself. When one dies or fails because of an affix, it feels artificial. It’s not the dungeon that caused the wipe, but the “bullshit” combination of affixes.
The entry barrier is huge. Mythic+ with changing affixes is “normal” for players who have been playing it for years. But weekly changing affixes without a way to learn it in a “safe” environment are massively discouraging. Every time someone fails, they might be the reason a group disbands, wasting a half hour of all other players’ time. Therefore, many are simply afraid to start with Mythic+ at all.
Affixes don’t always work and feel “cheap”. Affixes are simply placed across all content of the dungeons and are therefore of lower quality than other mechanics in the dungeon. This even leads to Blizzard having to manually disable certain affixes in specific situations. There are multiple instances where “Quaking” is disabled if another boss mechanic requires the group to stack.
Affixes are mostly related to specific roles. Many affixes affect some roles more than others. Quaking and Volcanic mainly disrupt spellcasters, while Storming and Bloodlust cause problems for melee players. This results in certain classes and specializations feeling significantly worse in some weeks and effectively providing less performance – not a good incentive to play M+ that week.
Seasonal affixes have always been better: Bellular rates the affixes with positive and negative effects much higher. These are mostly the seasonal affixes, which although bring additional difficulty, also always provide a reward. With “Thunderous”, for example, it’s the damage buff with the risk of stunning if not resolved in time. On its own, “Thunderous” feels good. A problem only arises when it overlaps with other affixes – like Quaking or Volcanic. Then frustration sets in.
How can the problem be fixed?
Bellular also has some ideas, inspired by the community, which has been discussing the topic for months.
The most direct approach would be to make all affixes only positive. If played correctly, affixes should reward the character rather than create a punishment upon failure. Some ideas would be:
- Explosive does nothing when the orb detonates. However, if you eliminate it, you receive a healing boost or mana back for the healer.
- Bloodlust: Enemies leave a ring of blood. If players stand in the ring, they deal more damage. Alternatively, enemies take more damage if they are in such a ring.
- Quaking: If you fail, nothing happens. However, if you don’t cast a spell at the moment of triggering, the next 3 spells become instant spells.
With such positive incentives, there would still be variety and additional tasks, but they would no longer be so frustrating. Moreover, the entry barrier is lower. Because if you don’t play with affixes, there is no immediate disadvantage – and if you play them correctly, you can get a bit more performance out of your character.
Instead of thinking: “Oh, how will the affixes annoy me this week?” you think: “Hmm, what are the cool optimizations I can make to be even better?” That would be fundamentally more exciting for players.
Cortyn says: Although I actually enjoy “Mythic+” as a whole, I can certainly understand Bellular’s problems – and those of the community. I have often had the impression that certain affix combinations are a more than clear hint with a fence post that I shouldn’t play a caster this week because Quaking or Volcanic in combination with Thunderous only means “Stay in motion all the time”. Therefore, I find the fundamental idea of assigning affixes mainly positive properties or “Kiss/Curse” variants quite good.
In general, I would find it good if the trash mobs of the respective instance and the bosses with their mechanics were back in focus in dungeons and not “the whole nonsense that affixes add”. It is clear that dungeons without negative affixes would be even harder. But that would just be an offset of the difficulty.
What is your opinion on this whole matter?
