Today I leveled 2 toons. 1 in Normal 1 in Heroic world Tier. To my surprise they both hit level 34 in a very similar time. So credit where credit is due, the 500% exp increase is doing its job. However there are still some issues…
Way too many “bullet sponge” mobs.
Shortage of Dust to level up weapon.
Few times ‘boss’ mobs would also be empowered, and were basically unkillable.
These are balancing issues that I see can probably be easily fixed but the MAJOR issue with both toons, it simply was not fun.
This build has absolutely tweaked the numbers to make leveling faster. We hit harder, and mobs have less health, but this only emphasizes the same issue retail has had for years which is leveling is a chore to be blasted as fast as possible to get it over with to get to the “fun”.
Defining “Fun”
Things need to matter to be fun. Right now, mementos don’t matter. There are multiple different named ones, multiple different rarity’s, but ultimately they all do the exact same thing, which is add a small number to the pile of “infinite” power. There is the animation already there! They just need to do something interesting! (Secondary Stats, i am looking at you!) When they only give Stamina, nobody cares. In Mop Remix, each time you looted a thread, it was almost always an “Ah, shucks” moment when you got stamina, because secondary (or even Main stat!) was far more fun to get.
Your main Artifact Ability, kinda matters, but only because its your CD Nuke button. Feels good to press, feels bad when waiting for it to come off CD.
The Artifact Traits matter very little. They are almost all entirely passive, have very little synergy with each other, and even those that do will be a pain to pair together because the traits on Jewelry are fixed. I plead you to read through the list of gems we had to choose from for Mop, to really emphasize how bland the Traits are in Legion.
Being told you have had enough fun today is not “Fun”. Phasing HAS to go. Each Raid can easily have slightly stronger mobs, reward slightly higher loot if the goal is to create “progression” .There is zero fun in reaching a point where you are walled off from progressing further. ESPECIALLY since it is clear to almost everyone that any real silly OP gameplay is going to be locked away till the end.
Overall, the promised “…Added Fun” will not come from just tweaking numbers, when there are more foundational issues to why it feels bland, hamstrung, and built for long term engagement. Simply the same game, but a new map is all most people want from remix. I really want to like it, but it is very hard to do in its current form.