Ok, lurker on Straightdope for years, but a wow player for longer…
Currently I’m not in subscription… Dropped it two months ago, having tried, I tried…
I’m an alt’er. Been that way since, I think Wrath, I kind of was before, but I think it was Lich king when I hit every class at max level. That dual accounts thing got me the last few up, Rogue and Mage wer the last. Distributed them across two servers (to pass a char with gold for flyers), to have space for bank alts.
I even had 11 in wrath, come to think about it, I had a Pally on a horde pvp server (to make a change), just to see the horde side of the territories.
Cataclysm killed it for me, I think I got about four to max level (85?) and binned it. Instances were horrible three hour long LFGs, levelling content was just annoying.
Think it was Pally (tank), Druid (healer), Hunter and Shammy (healer) which made it max that expansion. I spent a few months just doing gold on the AH rather than just quitting.
I came back for Pandaria, but only after the Timeless Isle appeared. It was the BOA epics dropping which meant I could gear up my 90s before they’d hit max level. I enjoyed ALL my playstyles there, but not the monk (11 max level alliance) as much, but he was a free 85 boost (*). But still, each character felt powerful enough to kill a few mobs and level.
Draenor, I was in with a full set of 100s. I levelled them all, over a period, no flying. Garrisons made me some cash, but the base game and variety and most importantly, the POWER of the character felt right. I didn’t do much of Tanaan jungle for most of them, but a few got their epics, and got bored eventually. Instances were ok. Tanked when I needed to. Healed on my healers. It was an ok, expansion. I earned flying, but after all everyone hit 100.
Now, Legion. I’m not sure if its worse than Cata, but its certainly there abouts.
I’ve got (hang on, let’s get my shoes and socks off), Warrior, Shammy (healer/caster), Warlock and Hunter sitting there at 110 in Legion and, god it was painful. Except the Warrior. The Warrior was the god class this expansion. Arms, Fury or Protection, they were mass killers of mobs and self healers. Unkillable. The rest died like dogs, except the Warlock, of course, they’re always just dot dot farmers. Hunter as Marksman died more this time than any expansion. Shammy was slow killing caster (could not face making it another roguelike, like DK, Cat druid, Monk or Rogue), but I got there.
I tried the rest, and that’s mostly my problem with this expansion. Died like a dog, pretty much every character class not fully leveled (rest around 101-104), as well as 110 Shammy and Hunter. Struggled to kill every mob. Never got better with level, too, just as hard, possible harder, the closer you got to 110. Massive pain. I tried the recommended levelling specs, (this might have changed), fire for mage, combat for rogue, even changed my boomkin (now a ticklekin) to a bear to try and mass pull to see if it was like warrior, it was not).
I even went and levelled an ancient warrior alt on another server, my first character, from level 14 to 100, because the Warrior was so good.
I did try to start the flying achievement for a bit, it did help a few expansions when it sped things up for alts (think there was a book in Wrath, certainly in Outland). But that made the WOD flying achievement look like childsplay. I’d not mind the reputation grinds, but its Suramar which is the horrorshow.
Suramar, it’s like the guy who did the Stranglethorn pages has been let out of his cage again. Did a few weeks on that, and didn’t even finished a questline. What a horrible zone. Sneaking about in disguise continually, otherwise I’d pull half the level. Huge part of city a MASSIVE drop down in height, which is only accessible by a central staircase, or with whatever float spell your class might have (or goblin glider). Just painful.
I got about 70 world quests towards achievement. Broken shore opened, and got the loot fest for my hunter to make it bearable for a week. Then they scaled the mobs with gear, and I was dying like a dog again in the normal zones.
I looked at messing with earning gold, and none of the trades were good this time, except weirdly, the Tailor chucking out bags three to four times a week from last expansions cooldowns. Not the alchemy moneymaker, and why the hell are jewelcrafting and inscription still in the game when the jewels are barely used, and the glyphs cosmetic (they did earn a lot back in cata/pandaria). Gathering made a packet for a while after being useless in WOD though.
Now, I’d come back if they made flying less of a thousand hour grind (to make up most of the dps’s being useless), and if there were BOAs dropped on the Broken shore. Perhaps. Not even sure if the last one would tempt me with the ilevel matching with mobs now though.
So I pop by every so often to look at wow news to see if anything has improved, like it sometimes does near the end of expansions. Not holding out hope for this one though.
I do find it weird that some people put this as the best expansion for a while. Maybe I just have different criteria. I’m casual with no fixed guilds (each char is usually on a different guild, I’m actually a GM of one where everyone went idle now). Perhaps this expansion is just alt unfriendly, and I should just stay away. Pick your class, struggle with it to 110 (if not a warrior), and it’s tuned to make your main be challenged. Fair enough, in which case I’ll stay away, not for me…
Quite sad, really, given the time spent with the game…
(*) hang on, did I get a free 90 boost on Draenor, I can’t remember, and if so, can’t remember what I did with that?
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