^ This.
5-mans used to be my favorite things in WoW but for years now they’ve been a royal pain in the ass. Sure, sometimes you get a good run-through, but too often it’s a shit-show.
I’m going to have to do a couple of 'em on my main in a bit. Have to psych up for a bit. Sure, I still have a guild but we’re older now, our schedules have changed, and it’s not so easy to get together anymore.
Well, that’s that for me, I’ve cancelled the subscription. I deliberately let it run last month, to get to my final goal. And added one.
14 characters to 70. All classes played through Plus a second Warrior on Fury from 50, because, god, they’re so fun. Warrior is the first character I’ve played significant time in non-rested mode, because I’m on a deadline of next week.
I worked out the windwalker’s monks trick, having the threat statue and using it all the time. That made things easier. Interesting that the more fragile characters pretty much stalled a bunch of quests on the plain because they’re just so hard to pull mobs one at a time.
I wasn’t impressed by the Evoker in the end. Pretty much a mage though it felt less fragile without the slow, or CC, and seemed to only really serve as Blizz’s attempt to introduce the mechanics of a golf game from 2000 to the playstyle (click, try to get in middle). Frankly, I barely noticed the difference between hitting the red zone, the yellow zone, or just clicking once and letting it go. Sometimes the character one shotted a mob, other times you had to tickle them to death over 30 seconds while your mail acts like the type of paper a mage used to wear (mages seemed much better close quarters this expansion). I found it and the balance druid the worst of the expansion.
The order of fun and ease of levelling, I’d give was fury warrior, affliction warlock, blood deathknight, beastmaster hunter, vengeance Demon Hunter, Prot Pally, Elemental Shaman, Shadow Priest, Frost Mage, Windwalker Monk, Assassination Rogue, Devestator Evoker and Balance Druid.
Maybe I’ll go back and see if i can do all the dragonflight courses I avoided so far…
So soon bye bye to Anklenom, Cappielow, Snaakey, Doomcookie, Giddyaunt, Haudthebus, Jings, Stoneybridge, Boozysuuzy, Crivens, Tongs, Stumpovsky, Bampot and Heid for another two years.
I guess I’m still enjoying things because I just don’t have the time to play I used to. But to each their own.
I’m playing, in that I play once a week with IRL people, and still have fun doing things in the world, but as predicted, the instanced content gets ever more toxic.
Most recently did some timewalking stuff, and, boy was the hate for pointing out that there were mechanics you couldn’t ignore intense. Which lead to people ignoring, wiping, and dropping and the wait beginning again.
I was tempted to go back to playing Classic LK, which IMHO was one of the highlights of the game, but only one of my friends does that, and it really needs a core group of players to make it work.
Yeah, I just tanked a LK timewalked instance. Got killed once by some idiot evoker pulling everything, and wiped on the spinning dwarves near the end.
-nods knowingly-
Halls of Lightning. One of the places where every single pug dies because they ignore the stuns / interrupts / poisons / aoe.
I think part of the problems became when LFG matching started getting aggressive in the post Cata content, especially MoP and later, when they removed most of the previous tanking mechanics (aggro management, taunts, intercepts, etc) in favor of just making tanks have huge self heals and massive aoe damage to ‘tank’. At which point, it was all BIG PULZ except for raids.
And it’s gotten worse with each expansion since. Which I was having an argument with a friend of mine about. He was (like I) bemoaning the state of modern tanking, but I called him out on that. It’s now been a DECADE since MoP (2012) made this the norm. We’re old school, and a huge chunk of the population has never had any other sort of tanking style.
They’re used to big pulz, wiping and/or blaming the healer if they’re undergeared, and just want everyone to run back and continue as if nothings wrong. We should, as I mentioned previously, probably be playing one of the Classic flavors if we think it’s a dumb idea. Which didn’t make either of us happy.
Sadness.
Update - Now the inevitable has happened.
First major content patch, and release a new area, where the drops are 385, immediately making every piece of gear that I worked for absolutely obsolete. Again, I hadn’t been doing much in the way of instanced / raid content, so I’m sure my pain is less than that of one of my raider friends, but, well, yeah.
But, flip side, it’s new content. So more story. But the gear creep always seems to make prior content non-viable as it’s infinitely easier to gear up / get faction / grind in the newest stuff, and much harder to get groups to do the older stuff on your alts.
2nd update, the full new sequence involving a huge new faction grind is out, fundamentally similar to Korthia of Shadowlands or the Nazz-hole of Legion. Everything hits harder, there’s new gear, and pretty much everyone is there rather than the rest of the world.
Multiple new currencies and dailies to grind to once again go with flavors of upgradable gear, the bugaboo of the last few expansions. Note, I did an update a few weeks ago, which was the same, but for a class of gear that existed for pretty much a month(ish) and is now almost completely dead.
There’s been a lot of designed obsolescence that feels super wasteful, along with some excessive faction grinding. Still waaaaay better than Shadowlands, but this expansion so far feels full of throwaway content: each time something new comes out, older options never come up again. For example, the weekly quests used to involve content over the whole new island. The last month and a half - only the new zones.
I really get the sense that we customers/players are supposed to follow a specific script and if you want to do something else too bad. Also we’re supposed to engaged in EVERYTHING, which is nigh impossible unless you have 8 hours a day to play and, no thanks, I already have a full time job.
Admittedly, being the casual player has always been somewhat an issue for the WoW player. Not everyone is able to regularly participate in 40 man raids, as an example.
Dragonflight at least has some nod to those of us who like to explore a new environment and find the occasional Easter egg out in the landscape. And I haven’t had a problem getting spontaneous groups out in the wild to tackle the occasional rare or world boss. Haven’t even attempted a 5-man this expansion after multiple burns in the past which has stymied some of my crafting advancement - who the hell came up with the idea that crafters MUST defeat bosses to continue to advance? Can we aggro a mob then leave them stranded? Please?
And yet I continue to play and get enjoyment out of the game. Maybe because I don’t get too wrapped up in the treadmill of Advance! Advance! ADVANCE!
Mini-bump
I suspect that a lot of the thread participants are in semi-active mode now, as after the two mini-content patches discussed upthread are basically ‘done’, and all that’s left is faction grinding on characters/alts. But if there was anyone who was wanting to get back to WoW, Blizz just announced their summer sale. Specifically, most of the expansion content ( base / heroic / epic) versions are about 50% off right now (6/20/2023) through July 4.
Much other Blizz content (Diablo 1-3, Starcraft, the World of Warcraft RTS remaster) are also on sale, although D4 of course isn’t.
Actually, some of us are still trying to catch up with everything. I have this thing called “real life” involving debuffs called “bills” that keep interfering with my hobbies. I like this part of an expansion when I’m still discovering new content and also leveling my alts.
Although this fall I will probably be on medical leave for about two months and I can WoW until my eyes cross.
That’s fair, I don’t have the hours that the leading players have by any means. But I doubt, outside of the tedium of faction grinding required to unlock some of the content, it takes all that long in this particular expansion to run through the story/campaign quests. Much longer of course if you’re doing a steady, zone by zone completion of quests.
And since the exp tends to be generous (see post #15 where there were players hitting max level in 3 hours!) it’s insanely easy to be max level without completing more than 1.5 or so of the 4 main quadrants. Which leaves you with good enough gear after the micro-expansion geek ups that can lead to the open-world content being laughably easy.
But for those like Broomstick that are savoring the flavor of the new expansion, and having fun exploring the nooks and crannies, there’s plenty to enjoy. And I too am working on my alts to keep myself amused. My earlier statement wasn’t meant to be dismissive, describing the life-cycle of the average WoW campaign.
Quick Bump - Blizzard is teaming with BlueCheck Ukraine (A support organization) by selling a pair of pets for $20 with all proceeds (minus any imaginable taxes of course) going to the organization for humanitarian aid.
I have no problems burning some of my Blizz bucks (not ‘real’ money to me anyway) to support them, and wanted to mention it to other current players, but I have no idea of how effective said organization is in providing aid. It hasn’t shown up on any of my evaluators, but again, only formed in 2022.
If anyone else wants to contribute, it’s up from 7/25 - 8/29. And if anyone knows more about said organization I’d love to know more.
Update:
Yeah, I suspect most have already left WoW until the next expansion, but figured I’d mention the two recent content updates, minus spoilers.
So far, we have had our second and third ‘catch up’ mechanic for casual players (they’re both currently ongoing), and of course, rendered the earlier one I mention utterly obsolete and dead. The first is Time Rifts, an on the hour event where you and anyone around complete tasks against a timer and then fight a watered down version of old raid bosses. It gets you another rep (sigh), another currency (double sigh), and a few other drops that can be used to update yourself to 402 gear (LFR level) as well as the usual swaths of cosmetics, pets and mounts. This actually rolled out about a month ago now, but is still active.
As of last week, they also rolled out “Dreamsurge” events, which are ongoing events in different zones (all the time stuff was in a single area) with (triple sigh) yet another 1.5 currencies which can also be used to upgrade to 402 -and- be used to buy Bind to Account 402 gear for alts.
Both hint at future story pieces, but neither are actually heavy into story or content themselves, just make the numbers larger and give the players more shinies to keep them involved as the expansion spreads into a complacent middle age.
I’ve been playing WoW since six months after it started.
Yes, that’s sort of how things have gone with expansions the last 10 years or so. And I’m also OK with it. Sure, I loathe the multiplying currencies, but I just don’t have hours and hours a day to play any more and the “middle age” lets me get somewhere near finishing content if I so desire. Honestly, I didn’t “finish” (meaning, finish to a point I find satisfying) the last two expansions.
At least these days there are more options for the casual and/or solo player than in vanilla. And for those nostalgic for vanilla, that’s now an option, too.
Oh, I’m another long timer, so no worries mate. I too am used to each release of ‘teh new hotness’ and the inevitable itemization grind. And I did Classic (enjoyed it too!) for a while, but everyone I played with left, and while soloable (especially as a hunter) for a lot of content, anything close to end game did require an organized guild.
I need to keep reminding myself that each time I do LFR I’m 6 months from being able to just buy better gear from a vendor.
But, and the reason I updated, for people even more casual than I, this fact lets them come back and do more -without- the horror that is LFR and LFG. And the new ‘upgrade’ mechanic for gear is a whole lot LESS painful than prior versions, so I shouldn’t complain too much.
I’ve actually been enjoying the “Secrets of Azeroth” thing, as it’s a break from constant pointless grinding and requires exploration and thought. It’s an example of how the game appeals to those of us interested in more than just button-mashing fights.
Checking in to see if anyone’s still playing as this expansion wraps up. I’m pretty much done with the Dragonflight content by now, but I have been enjoying the WoW Classic “Season of Discovery.” It’s the classic version of the game, but with new abilities that let you play your class a different way or even in a role you couldn’t previously – e.g. warlock tanks, mage healers. It’s also level capped with an “end raid” consisting of a revamped dungeon. Right now the level cap is 25 with Blackfathom Deeps as the raid. Later it will be raised to 40 with a Gnomeregan raid.
I gotta give Blizzard credit, they keep finding ways to keep me engaged. And also Bobby Kotick’s officially gone at the end of this month, so the future looks bright!
Well, still playing. I’ve played more or less continuously except for a (brief?) break for most of Warlords of Draenor. Mostly because it’s a way to be social with friends who no longer live nearby.
And all the play to pay I do so I don’t spend real money.
But the whole Classic Scene murdered my interest when they said “Oh, you can stay in XXX expansion, we promise” and promptly killed that. So, yeah. And I was enjoying playing Classic Vanilla, even getting to raid again.
But while IMHO Dragonflight was a big step in the right direction from Shadowlands (boo, hiss!!!) I’m not positive that even with the return of some of the favorites, that Acti-Blizzard has anyone who can take the game in an interesting direction again.
I mean, I hated Shadowlands (because it tried to retcon everything that made the game what it was, and wiped out consequences for everyone, and was so riddled with inconsistencies, it boggled the mind) - but it was vaguely creative, just not very WoW.
Dragonflight was very WoW, but so lacking in consequences for you, the player and your faction, that it was frankly boring.
Meh. I’ll keep playing, I mean, I have over 2 years of paid gametime, 10 tokens, and $345 blizz cash with 12 million gold to get more when the new expansion comes out.
I’m still playing. If the new content runs out or starts to feel grindy I revisit my alts and play in areas I haven’t been for awhile so they seem fresher again. Or use my main to solo old dungeons.
It’s an escape from the real world. I work retail, I need that.
Also, tomorrow we all get presents.