Like the title suggests. No, I’m not talking about difficulty or that sort of thing.
What we’re missing in the present is the true essence of a dungeon. Caverns, (seemingly) abandoned places, catacombs, castles, ruins etc. For me at least, these locations are what I’m thinking when I think of a dungeon.
We got too many dungeons that take place in open areas that are easily accessible outside of the instance and I don’t know… they feel “eh”, theme wise.
Sure, we got some dungeons that take place indoors, but many times they are already populated by familiar faces. The new Uldaman dungeon is one example and Azure Vaults as well, but the others felt lackluster… especially Brackenhide and Nokhud Offensive which I don’t even consider them dungeons. Having a dungeon take place on a map we already quested on has no substance (Hillsbrad dungeon was guilty of this as well, even though the map was set in a different point in time).
I guess, what I’m trying to say is that we need some mystery brought back. Remember Black Rock Depths, Old Scholomance, Stratholme or Waycrest Manor? Those had that feeling I’m talking about. The feeling of 5 people going in search for treasure, facing challenges in a mysterious and (apparently) deserted/lifeless interior.
If M+ remains a reliable source for farming, why not make the dungeons we’re spamming more interesting in appearance and location?
I’d probably agree but I’m still recovering from doing a dungeon on a moving train this afternoon… after I regained consciousness covered in spittle and vomit I’m a bit dazed.
But, I like a good mix of different dungeons in a single pool, even if I don’t love them all, the variation can be fun, you mention a few in the current expansion’s pool that were good to you and some which weren’t. I don’t think I’d want all of the dungeons to feel enclosed and separate. They can remove dragonriding from dungeons though, there’s no need for that!
Edit: trying to think of dungeons I’d call my favourites and they all fit into some kind of theme, so maybe you have a point… Halls of Valor, Utgarde Pinnacle, Shattered Halls, Halls of Lightning, Temple of Sethraliss and the only more open area dungeon I liked was Culling of Stratholme, though that’s still linear.
They could possibly have missed a trick by not making Zaralek Caverns a mega dungeon or a mini raid. But yes, i prefer the indoor type dungeons (except BRH, theres a reason i only done it twice this season)
I personally like the dungeons that take place in a setting that’s also accessible outside of instanced content. Call me a masochist, but one of my favourite dungeons is probably Siege of Boralus. Rushing through the streets fighting off an invasion and saving a city makes me feel like way more of a hero than running through a cave that has no impact to the game world beyond ‘that’s where the bad guys are hiding’.
Those one get at a certain moment boring, because it’s the same…hey, another boring cave, if you see one, you saw all.
And tbh, we had known every fantasy trope of dungons, from cave, ruins, old castels, old fortress, manors, mines, tempels, ruins…
Its not easy to develop something new if you had the whole palette through.
And i appreciate if Blizzard do something unusual or innovative like the the argent tournament dungons withe the tjost or train dungon in WoW or assault on Norhud
From a gameplay perspective… it absolutely sucks to be in a very tight corridor.
The camera just goes bananas. And you are forced to zoom in really close. And I just cant deal with so many disco-lights and swirlies on the floor. And I am referring to the friendly stuff. I cant see anything !
I don’t really care as long as the dungeons are designed in a way that there is only one way to go. Hate all other dungeons where you need to watch guides and count mob packs for M+; I’m here to play the game, let myself get beat up for the team, not to study it and play guide for tourists.
Although, well, I do prefer caves / indoor cenarios with more room; Waycrest and BRH are to narrow to handle affixes comfortably, but yeah, having a full zone turned into a “dungeon” is slightly weird.
Personally i dont like Waycrest Manor but i am all for adventuring and discovering… but the path should be obvious…
I actually had hoped Delves would be that
FFxiv has amazing dungeon vibes. All feel like a far more real place than most wow dungeons. Up to lvl 60 or so, when the theme turns esoteric with all the space laser alien giant magic effects it gets saggy.
Wows mistake was they didn’t update the graphics while keeping the original classic scale, and just started making everything bigger and bigger, and now the last 2 expansions are like hyper cell shaded fortnite garbage art style wise. Not a fan at all.
There’s one dungeon I think early late 75 where you go through a forest with wind mills and big fields and hills all around you in the open, my god that place is AMAZING. I wish they had made westfall look like that.
although i like the Rolling Stones