Peter Pan, huh? Middle aged, overweight guy who still hasn’t grown up and remains stuck in time, chasing the WOW-Unicorn of diminishing returns. Oh, you too? Welcome to the club my fellow neck-beard!
I intended to take this expansion from a different angle to the past. Instead of barreling quickly through content towards end game and relying on a powerful, but short-lived, dose of dopamine from that artificial achievement in my life, I started to play slowly and explored every crevice of this Maw-Bowel (enima or Anima?)
Initially, a little disappointed by Thrall’s constant taunting and my seemingly endless supply of ‘Exile’s Reach’ style HP (the greatest HP loss came from fall damage…) An NPC yelled 'Quick, avoid blabla!" and I didn’t listen because blabla didn’t hurt. Killed some 'roid munching elites by myself (wtf) before showing Jaina she could create a portal for us to Azeroth by demonstrating my Boralus AND Garrison Hearth stones. Still, she said 'I just…can’t…" On we went…
The forced, slowed pacing of Orbitos was fantastic. I saw a few entitled, ‘got to Gogol’ players literally articulating their frustrations that this wasn’t the pace of Candy Crush, by watching their actual characters shuffling around like they had a mosquito on one of their balls. Great job on that, Blizz. The mosquitos too. On that note, I don’t rush anymore, partly because I’m too old and slow, partly because I want to bask in the game design lore and detailed world and characters, but MAINLY I don’t rush anymore because once you realize you won’t be the first to 60 or the last to 60, you may observe the self-awareness meter pitch a bit. Let me explain: The WOW we have today is tailored to be accessible for the majority of people. Us, as a community. The majority of people are casual players - not hard core raiders. This results in declining feelings of exclusivity and personal pride in your MAIN, and more mediocrity across the board. So, what are you racing against? Same scaled items, adventures and quests will exist for you when you ding 60. I understand you’re possibly triggered…and that’s ok. Unless you’re raiding and progressing pre-nerf and in a guild or community which has resilience and accountability, you’re likely casual or semi-raider. That’s evident in Activision(Blizzard’s) annual graph metric system which projects profits and they’ll keep making the game a face-roll because of our monthly acceptance by dollar-default. (I make no apology i you’re triggered by this - and I’m glad this post found the right audience).
Soap box and rant = over. Still here?
I dinged 51 and found myself in Bastion. A beautiful space. If you sit down under Kleia, you’ll see she is wearing Gold-Rimmed white bathers…She is friendly and fun and I’m there now, 51 and about to head out. More soon…
Things I would like to see, if anyone above Newcomer Chat level reads this…
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Increase the player vulnerability in the game again. The Maw is a space players will be in after they’ve learned about AOE, DIAF, interrupts and CD’S. I had zero concern for my mortality and actually could AFK during fights while Thrall and Jaina finished them off and I unlocked cages…Granted my toon was +15 geared but I would assume lower ilevels experienced this OP status also? Scaled damage?
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Someone complained in /2 about not being able to mount up. Quickly shot down by people saying S/U and play. Good! More of that.
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The cinematics are nice. The Jailer looks awesome and the lip-syncing is finally a thing!
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If it’s not too late, please patch for more cross-class dependency. I know accessibility / casual player retention is the go for many companies, but it would be so great to feel exclusivity by specializing in a main race, class and SPEC. Short term pain for long term gain Blizz! xo Imagine being a tank again and having that skill set and having semi-exploitable but earned, subjective knowledge of your class’ rotation and limitations.
Looks and feels like the Blizzard I remember from Van and BC days.
Finally, listen to the vets. Not me necessarily. But, if you want advice from genuine, mature people who have been here since WoW’S conception, ask LK and BC vintage players for what’s a good plan ahead.
For the …
Cheers! Poohpa of Saurfang