Is the “bad time” of World of Warcraft over? The YouTuber and analyst Bellular thinks: Yes. But there are things Blizzard must not do at all …
For a week now, players of World of Warcraft have been roaming the Dragon Isles, and there is praise and positive reactions coming from all sides. The analyst Bellular, who frequently tests World of Warcraft and its player numbers thoroughly, is also full of praise. For him, Dragonflight could be the beginning of a turnaround where World of Warcraft can grow again.
In his latest video titled “This is the most important moment in the history of modern World of Warcraft,” he analyzes the launch of Dragonflight and the so-called “honeymoon phase” – the first days with the new expansion.
“There’s no bullshit, I just can’t find it”
Bellular lists all the systems of Dragonflight once again and seems, like many others, to be positively surprised by the first days of the expansion. He particularly appreciates the significantly simpler main story with a more convincing villain – but also the numerous side quests that deal with world-building and simply ensure that the game world feels alive and cohesive.
He also appreciates that there is almost no necessary character power through “compulsive” grind. He compares the launch of Dragonflight with that of Legion back then:
A major point to summarize all of this: There’s no bullshit. There’s no impending drama, is there?
At that time of Legion, we were already having ongoing discussions about artifact power, twink friendliness, and obtaining legendaries. – Especially the obtaining of legendaries. People seriously forget many of the negative things from Legion.
At that time in Battle for Azeroth, we talked about azerite and all the bullshit.
At that time in Shadowlands, we talked about covenants and all the bullshit.(…)
This time there is none of that. There is no cataclysmically stubborn decision [from Blizzard] that ‘poisons the well’ and leaves you starting with a bad feeling.
The near future will decide
However, Bellular is also skeptical in some respects. Blizzard holds all the cards, but there is the danger of falling back into old patterns or forgetting the current freedom and forcing players back into rigid paths that are too strongly tied to character power. A second factor is the question of whether Blizzard can really deliver enough content in a relatively short time. Although they hired 100 new employees to make Dragonflight a success, in the past Blizzard has often wanted to bring “more content faster” – and has failed every single time.
According to Bellular, World of Warcraft stands quite well right now and has the potential for many enjoyable years for Blizzard’s MMORPG – even though there are still stumbling blocks on which the developers can fail.
How do you like Dragonflight so far? Are you similarly optimistic? Or do you see no improvement at all?
