Back then expansion felt like something big. Something new. Like they changed the game in a way that felt fresh and exciting. This is a feeling that I haven’t felt since Legion and it’s getting worse and worse with every expansion.
Like what exactly is the difference to Shadowlands? Or Dragonflight? My class plays exactly the same. The hero tree is insanely boring and adds nothing interesting to the game. Like they could scrap the entire thing and I wouldn’t care or notice. What else is there? We have a couple dungeons that we will get tired of in a week and that’s about it.
Does anyone feel the same? Even classic expansions manage to keep the excitement going even though it’s expansions that we already know. How is it so bad on retail?
I feel the exact same, and I think it’s a combination of things. BFA was fun for me, Shadowlands was horrible and Dragonflight was meh, we are still trying to overcome the disappointment that the last 2 expansions were.
On top of that, so far TWW seems like a 2.0 version of Dragonflight because classes have not changed at all, although the story seems better and I personally like the thematic way more, there’s still many things that feel off.
It feels like you changed as a player.
This isn’t a criticism in any way, over time we just don’t enjoy the same things anymore, and when this happens we tend to see changes in the environment instead of ourselves.
My warrior is 80 and running amok in the world.
My pally will go full lamplighter and never leave that zone I think. I will be good for a while.
But I’m a filthy casual with no raid intentions
you stopped enjoying the game in BFA and haven’t enjoyed it since. completely normal to not like a game forever. if there isn’t a particular thing that pushed you away, like say torghast grinding or whatever, then its likely nothing will bring you back. play a different game - there are dozens of good ones released every year these days.
To me it’s the new zones, new achievements, factions, and also the fact that i’m making like 75k gold per day in the first week (not much compared to some but a lot to me)
Doesn’t matter which buttons I press, mobs die and I don’t.
Stats doesn’t matter, I just equip whatever new item the game gave me.
Map doesn’t matter or reading quests, nor traveling or flight masters. The game is perfectly laid out so I’ll encounter everything in the perfect order.
Rewards doesn’t matter. AH doesn’t matter. I always get what I need or if not, I don’t need it.
My character doesn’t matter. The story isn’t about me, I’m just here to trigger cutscenes for the big lore characters.
Minor factions doesn’t matter. They all have the same unlock system and reward the exact same things and the same amount of things, just differently colored and I’ll become exalted with all whether I try or not.
I can’t decide for myself at which tempo to unlock things or which path to go. It has been decided for me and follows a strict schedule.
Profession and gold doesn’t matter. I do fine without it. What I need I get for free.
NPC’s doesn’t matter. Unless they give me a quest I don’t have to interact with any of them, not even to vendor.
Looting doesn’t matter. I don’t need gold, gear doesn’t drop and if it was important it will get sent to my mailbox or the game gives it to me without choice.
I don’t need to know what happens. I can watch tv while questing and don’t miss out on any crucial information to progress, because there is none.
I can’t pick wrong hero talents because I’ll get them all. The game even tells me not to worry about it.
Major factions doesn’t matter. We all fight together and for the same reasons.
Race doesn’t matter. Racials have no impact and they all have the same motivations and goals. None.
I can’t do wrong because the game doesn’t let me.
I can’t figure things out myself because the game doesn’t let me.
I can’t explore because there’s nothing to explore.
Feels like the game is designed for game journalists ^^
It’s definitely you issue dude. Since I started playing with my wife in shadowlands I rediscovered love for this game like I felt it for the first time in TBC. That’s why for me SL is one of best expansions because I have fond memories connected to it. Since then we hunt for mounts together, farm rares, mogs etc. She even helped me find mythic raiding guild in DF and cheered when I downed my first mythic boss ever. And we have a BLAST playing this expansion, collecting info on new mounts, rare spawns, etc.
So yeah, if you don’t enjoy it it’s not Blizz’s fault.
So it is “you” issue, he can’t adapt to the way things are chancing. Game’s cannot stay stagnant, they gotta evolve and not everyone will be onboard with it.
Well some games can… like cs, and likes of simple fps e-sports i quess.
What was so bad about Shadowlands? For you specifically. I often hear how bad it was and rarely see any specific points about it.
You claim it’s not “he” issuse and yet you haven’t presented single argument to it.
Just because you stopped enjoying things it doesn’t, objectively, mean it started to be bad.
I play since early TBC and can tell you that the expansions I enjoyed the most were those in witch I had some kind of social circle to play with. In TBC it was my friend, in wotlk we joined a guild, awesome times. After that I continued to play solo and it was okay. Legion was alright with its emphasis on class fantasy but not better than wotlk.
Then came SL and me playing with my wife, so yeah, again really good times.
And honestly, wow is the same for at least 15 years, get to max level and into end game that includes dungeons, raids, pvp for those that enjoy it and that’s it. As a side hustle you can farm some reps, collect mounts and mogs. Core of the gameplay is the same.
Complaining about writing is kinda pointless, because it’s like with movies or any other media. Some like it and some don’t. I didn’t enjoy Game of thrones for instance, since the beginning, does it mean that show was bad? No, that was “me” issue. Same logic applies here.
I get what you’re saying OP, Vanilla>TBC>WRATH>Cata>MOP>WOD>Legion all had massive changes to raiding, dungeons, classes, systems, the world and whatever else.
But ever since BFA it just looks like another season with some balance changes and a new zone or two.
To be honest there’s 2 main factors to the “stagnation” of wow expansions:
Players are usually against change
Blizzard can only do so much to change up the game so they’re sticking to what works
Another thing is it sure doesnt help that they time-gate content so much nowadays.
An incredibly poignant take on how convenience comes at the expense of meaning. The game is streamlined and spreadsheeted to the point that I am feeling it in the game. We are not adventurers, we are passengers. For the sake of more and more convenience and efficiency, every aspect of the game is becoming commodified and every facet of our experience carefully curated.
I would be fine with it if it were not so obvious within the game world. Use me, datamine me, but do it so I do not notice how blatantly you are doing it!
You don’t feel anything because modern WoW is completely soulless. Every new expansion is just a one day race to max level after which you’re stuck in an endless loop of repeatable instanced content.
When it comes to time gating content players are to blame for it nowadays IMO. Now im not saying it’s a good thing, it’s annoying if nothing else, but look at Wotlk classic as an example, bosses were dropping left and right few days after release because sweaty nerds kept playing non stop to kill them ASAP. If raids were open from day one we would see a lot of complaints on this forum that expansion is done within two weeks since it was released.
I’m playing a devil’s advocate here but honestly you can’t win with this community.