In a year’s time, Blizzard Entertainment has managed to transform its massively popular online world into one of the most resilient and exciting entertainment properties in video gaming. With record-breaking sales numbers across various platforms, player engagement remains at an all-time high while new content is being developed for players on a monthly basis.,
The “shadowlands release date” is the new expansion for the Warcraft game. It was released on April 27th, 2018. This review will be of the year that has passed since its release.
As we near the end of the material provided in the 9.0. and 9.1. patches, it’s time to take a look back and evaluate what went well and what went wrong. Note that I’m not a competitive player and often miss activities due to personal preferences, so this is a very personal assessment of the expansion.
The Intro Questline, in my opinion, was well-done. For our initial attack, we received a hammer to the head, met the deadly Maw and its master in person, and left with a clear sense of danger and a lengthy road ahead of us, setting the scene for our adventures. On the negative, the opening was very lengthy, and the game still does not allow alts to bypass it.
Warcraft is known for its leveling questing stories, and Shadowlands was no different. We learned about Covenants, their issues, their leaders and citizens, had a taste of their abilities, and went into the Covenant decision well-prepared and educated. The narrative was linear, unlike previous expansions, so we had to go through it in a certain sequence, but this worked out well since the whole arc was very climactic, culminating with the Renathal/Denathrius battle and laying the scene for the first raid.
The first ever introduction of Threads of Fate is a huge gift. The option to bypass the whole narrative and level by choosing was a dream come true, and I believe this is something Blizzard should include in future expansions.
Campaigns were… OK, I suppose. I’ve always like time gating, since since Suramar. With every reset, you have a new piece of mythology to look forward to, which is great. When replaying campaigns with alts, dividing them into four covenants was a good idea since it reduced repetition and same-path weariness.
Of course, there was nothing like that in 9.1, when they all melted together, but I believe it’s worth thinking about. In terms of contemporary World of Warcraft, I’d want to see it become the gold standard: all lore should be skippable on alts after you’ve seen it on your main. Campaigns were generally fascinating, despite their ups and downs. They significantly broadened our Covenant knowledge, which we had just gotten a glimpse of when leveling.
The overall lore, often known as the main story, is a catastrophe. Regrettably, I must confess that the malignancy of explaining nothing is growing. We never see the baddies in the game, and we have no clue what they’re up to – even as the climactic raid is approaching. We were given no explanation as to how Arbiter ended up in a coma. Denathrius took anima from other Covenants and created a realm-wide drought with no reason. All of the middle-age answers were insufficient, and although we do have a purpose and a way forward in general, we never received an answer to the question: Why Do We Fight? We know who the villain is, but not why he is the evil or what his objectives are. We fight for the sake of fighting.
Covenants – I believe they were generally unsuccessful as a system. As I previously said, they were able to offer some variation to transmogs, powers, ambiance, and questlines, essentially giving the player an option. But, in general, they’re as depressing as they come. We don’t recall any of the Covenants characters – who cares if they all perished tomorrow and were replaced by new people with identical appearances? The zones are monochromatic and lack diversity or points of interest, making them very tedious to visit.
The non-releveant aspect of the domain of death is my biggest complaint, which extends to the whole Shadowlands. When the expansion was announced, I exclaimed “oh no,” and it was precisely “oh no.” Our characters may grasp the idea of anima, but they are a long way from being able to relate to it. This universe operates according to its own set of rules, and we couldn’t care less since, as living beings, we don’t understand them.
Not to mention the power balance: Blizzard is notorious for having trouble with it, and adding a conduit/covenant power system on top of it didn’t help matters. Solution? Make it simply aesthetic, so a druid or a warrior might perform the same spell but with a different color scheme depending on whether he’s dealing with venthyr, fae, or whatever. In other words, it’s more important to be attuned to covenants because of people you admire than because of the abilities they offer.
Last but not least, strange “mini-game” unique structures that range from dull to impossible. There are many problems that have transformed what might have been a pleasant morning/weekly exercise into a grindy, uninspired dreck that no one cares about.
Torghast is something I’d never, ever want to see in a game again in any form. Roguelikes seem to be entertaining on paper, but in practice they are one of the most dull and laborious hobbies I’ve ever encountered in World of Warcraft. I believe some still do it for legendaries – I gave up in 9.0, returned once in 9.1, and don’t give a damn if legendaries burn in hell as long as I don’t have to travel up the tower again.
The Maw was one of the worst finale zones ever created. Blizzard intended to give the impression that we weren’t welcome, and they succeeded: we didn’t want to play there, even now that mounts are permitted and no GTA stars are present. It’s something we’ll never forget because of the elites, hordes of people, and general atmosphere. Assaults did not play well either, with minimal reward and a short, but very irritating playtime.
On the contrary, Korthia is one of the finest endgame zones ever created. Its small size makes it fast and enjoyable to run about, the activities are extremely gratifying, particularly given the little amount of time spent, and it’s a pleasant place to be in general. What is its flaw? There is no legend. There are some scumbag floating people with a damaged archive, and we couldn’t give a damn what happens to them or the archive. What exactly is this archive? What is the significance of this? ffs, who are you? Overall, a fun sandbox with substantial benefits that we need and can easily get, but we could care less about the land and its inhabitants.
Another malignancy that got worse in Shadowlands was Renown and Other Systems. Even before the growth began, we had become weary of borrowed electricity and systems-over-systems-over-systems, and we had it increased by 10. I won’t go into detail; enough it to say that a money and a reputation are sufficient. Everything must be gated behind hundreds of activities, currencies, and systems. And don’t even get me started on the money, particularly the anima, which has a 9.0 income.
Alt Friendliness – Surprisingly, it wasn’t all that terrible. It was, if anything, beneficial. As you may be aware, I’m not diving deep like other players, optimizing the output of their 1-5 toon roster – instead, I’m digging broad, keeping it casual, LFR-rep-cosmetics level, but on a diverse variety of characters. I completed 9.0 with 22 alts who were all at the same level of power and advancement — the most toons I’d ever had in WoW. It was a terrifying stretch, but I made it. Now that I’m down to 15, I’m good, even though it’s still a little too much. But, whatever the case may be, I like my cartoons. Anyway, they’re all 217+ ilvl now, have helped with raid and covenant mog farming, and will be capping Renown next week, so I believe that says something. In BfA or Legion, for example, I wouldn’t be able to accomplish as many.
Dungeons & Raids – the group material was creative and entertaining as always. In my situation, dungeons extended long enough to ilvl me up for raids, then I left – like I do with every expansions, mythic+ has not been my cup of tea since Legion’s debut. Their mythology was fine, and the boss mechanics were intriguing. Looking back, I don’t blame them; they did their job well.
In terms of raids, Castle Nathria has a significant advantage in that it is not overtuned (as are most BfA raids) and features a lot of funny monsters. On the flipside, it inherited all of the covenant zone’s flaws, such as a lack of immersion in the dead realm’s way of life and a monochrome, uninteresting design. Sanctum of Domination was amazing in every way, from its design diversity to its history, important monsters, encounter designs, and an epic experimental Sylvanas end battle, with a little overtune in wings 3 and 4. Overall, the dungeon/raid teams are maintaining their high level of quality, which is excellent.
In comparison to raid tokens, the Gear Vault mechanism is usually worse. Of course, I’d rather toss a coin for the monster that owes me the last bit of treasure than receive a random item – sometimes from bosses I didn’t even fight this week.
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Conclusion? So far, Shadowlands has been my least favorite expansion. It has several bright spots, like as raids, some storylines, the Korthia endgame zone, and alt friendliness, and it is generally enjoyable to play.
However, the general tone is gloomy. I couldn’t give a damn what’s going on in the world of death. Blizzard failed miserably in providing a compelling lore backdrop, narrative, interesting characters, heroes and villains, and has yet to explain why we fight and why we’re even here. Systems on top of systems, strange inventions, and monetary problems don’t assist to improve the situation.
I can’t wait for the expansion to end, which is something I’ve never felt before this early in the expansion cycle. According to mythology and player perception, patch 9.2 will be the last patch, and my mood is simply kicking it to the finish line, ready to return to Azeroth and leave the death world behind like a terrible dream.
The “shadowlands review reddit” is a blog post that reviews the expansion of the Warcraft game. It discusses how it has been so far and what to expect in the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will Shadowlands be the last expansion?
A: I dont know if Shadowlands will be the last expansion, but it is a final arc in the story.
Is WoW still fun 2021?
A: It is unclear where World of Warcraft will be in 2021. The games developer Blizzard Entertainment has not stated what plans they have for the future of it. We do know, however, that WoW currently still enjoys a healthy and active player base as well as great success on Twitch with an average viewership per stream surpassing 5 million and reaching peaks over 10 million people watching at some points.
Should I play WoW Shadowlands?
A: I cannot answer this question because it is too complex.
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