As we know by now, we’re not going to get a fourth raid in Dragonflight, making Dragonflight the expansion with the fewest raid bosses, ever.
We’re going to get 25 raid bosses in total, over a span of 24 months.
This is 5 less than Warlords of Draenor, an expansion well known for its content drought and widely disliked because it had too little content.
This is 6 less than Shadowlands, an expansion widely understood to be a failure because of inabilities to listen to incredibly early feedback on how covenants are flawed, as well as Covid happening.
I personally enjoy raiding the most in WoW. It’s my favorite content. Sure I dabble in m+, I’ve dabbled in PvP and I’ve generally played a lot of WoW over the past 10-15 years. But after the dust has settled, my favorite thing to do is to raid and to progress raids.
Now we get a second expansion of Fated content, showcasing that Blizzard believes that players are either okay with or want to have a Fated season 4, rather than a fourth raid.
I personally am not okay with it. I feel let down by something that up until this point I believed to be a fair bit better than Shadowlands.
I still believe Dragonflight is in many ways better than Shadowlands, but in the way that matters the most to me, in raiding, it’s the same, arguably even worse because it sets a new standard, a new standard that is also the lowest low there’s ever been.
Fated is not new content. Reprogressing 6 and 12 month old raids respectively is not something I enjoy more than learning new encounters and raiding a new raid.
Fated is the lowest effort that’s ever been put into creating 6 months of content for World of Warcraft.
And we’re gonna get more of it.
The last time we’ve got Fated as an alternative to a fourth raid was when Covid-19 was happening and nearly every company in the world was struggling to restructure towards working from home. Whether that’s a good argument for cutting content is another debate, but personally I’d buy that argument.
What’s the argument this time? Why are we receiving less content for Dragonflight?
Has Dragonflight been a commercial failure and we need to get out of it ASAP?
Has feedback for Dragonflight been overwhelmingly negative?
What about the next expansion, that casually comes bundled with guaranteed beta access if you pay an extra 80%?
Are we gonna get 3 raids and no Fated Season, all while paying more than for past expansions?
Are we gonna get 3 raids and a Fated Season, all while paying more than for past expansions?
At this point, I’d like to know what I’m getting for my money.
If we look at a simple value for raids and bosses, compare Dragonflight to Cataclysm Classic, another expansion often considered a failure, where I get 6 different raids with a total of 31 bosses, over 20% more bosses and double the raids than in Dragonflight, all while not even having to buy a new expansion every 2 years, but solely spend 240€ for 24 months of subscription, which is 20-30% cheaper than Dragonflight, since again, I do not have to purchase the expansion to play it.
And don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a call for you guys at Blizzard to now sell access to Cataclysm Classic for the same price that you’re selling access to new retail expansions, it’s a simple price comparison from me as a customer.
I enjoy being an informed customer and making informed decisions.
The lack of communication, e.g. the fact that it only became clear roughly 6 months before the Fated Season 4 that there was going to be no fourth raid, but rather a Fated Season 4 has prevented me from making an informed decision on whether or not to spend my money on Dragonflight.
Now I’d personally love to know, before spending 50, 70 or 90 bucks on the next expansion, are we gonna get the same treatment again?
Are we gonna get 12 months of the same content, three expansions in a row?
Are we gonna get 18 month expansions with only 3 seasons and no Fated Season to begin with?
I’d spend 90 bucks on The War Within, if instead of the “guaranteed 3 days of early access” I’d get “guaranteed 4 different raids during this expansion”.
Hell I’d take a Ruby Sanctum, Vault of Archavon, Baradin Hold, Throne of the Four Winds, Crucible of Storms, or any similar 1-3 boss raid over a Fated Season, simply because I’ve not seen nor progressed these bosses before and new raidbosses are always more fun than recycled stuff.
For that very same reason I play retail over classic, because I enjoy new things more than things I’ve already done in the past, even if that past is 10 years ago, but especially if that past is 6-12 months ago.
I’d personally hate to see Fated become the new standard, arbitrarily increasing our dps numbers through silly gimmick mechanics that aren’t real mechanics isn’t new content.
Cycling through old m+ dungeons, most likely all Dragonflight dungeons that have been around in the past is equally nothing new, it’s again things we’ve already done in the past.
I’d love to be an informed customer making informed decisions, but with the lack of clarity on the subject on what we’re getting for our 50, 70, 90 bucks, during the span of 12?, 18?, 24?, given the statement that “expansions are going to get released more quickly”, months, it’s basically impossible to become an informed customer.
I don’t want more Fated Content, I understand many people liked it because it enabled them to do content they never had the chance to do because of whatever reason, but as an active player who participates in the most recent content, I’d much rather get more recent content, compared to old content. And I’d much rather know if I’m buying access to 3 raids over 24 months, 3 raids over 18 months, or any other option, when purchasing The War Within.
I’m not happy about the decision to have a Fated Season 4, which ultimately is the third time in WoW history that we’ve had 12 months of raid content drought, but what matters more to me is whether this is going to be the new standard, whether 18 month expansions are going to be the new standard, or what the general idea behind giving us less for more money is.
