I’ll be honest so far this patch feels mediocre to downright bad.
No new dungeons. No new zones. Re-used music and re-used raids and dungeons from Cataclysm and MoP, even the secret underground pathway from the Vale to Mogu’shan Vaults that Magni uncovered was black-screened.
Uldum just feels the same as it was in Cataclysm though I suppose the Vale kind of looks cool, but overall my first impressions are very disappointing.
Also I am not getting credit for killed Rares. Very good game Blizzard, outstanding job once again.
The Serpent’s Spine’s ability to hold flying mantid at bay has always struck me as a weird bit of lore, but now Blizzard is just drawing more attention to the implausibility of it.
It’s more so that Mantid are a mix of air and ground forces, the wall takes away their air forces and makes the flight around it a lengthy one, limiting their ability to just ZOOM over with a full army.
It’s because the purpose of the mantid has changed.
The mantid have always been different from the other Aqir offshoots because they were more concerned with preserving and growing their strength for their masters’ return than anything else.
That is why, instead of throwing everything they have at the wall, they focus on sending their younger troops to battle each century, so that they can gain veterancy and weed out the unfit. It was noted back in MoP that the Dread Wastes are especially dangerous since any mantid left behind there during a swarm was likely to be a hardened veteran.
With N’zoth back in full force, the mantid have probably thrown off all concerns of preservation, and are throwing everything they got at the Vale. This is supported by the actual Empress joining the assault in person, which as far as I know is unprecedented. With mogu already there (in numbers sufficient to smash right into Mistfall) as well as the Black Empire manifesting, it’s no wonder the mantid managed to get over the wall.
I have to agree with your sentiment. Uldum in particular feels incredibly underwhelming compared to the vale. The activities offered (Aside from the vale again) in Uldum are also noticeably grindier there.
I’ve got to say, I’m not sure this is a patch I’m gonna enjoy for long. Then again I have to admit that I haven’t done much PvE really, if not at all since I wasn’t interested in anything (not M+, not raids, not Islands, not even free loot Warfront.) so my measure of difficulty might be flawed here… Most of my toons are at least 410 which ain’t great.
spine’s got very potent cannons, and mantids don’t like dying. Also, it still leaves them without their forces that aren’t capable of flight, which is a considerable chunk.
Only patch this expansion I really enjoyed for longer then 1 or 2 weeks is Terror of Darkshore 8.1 patch. Rest was just same old sucky, yucky storylines.
I’m really enjoying the intro questline. I gave up on alts long ago, so I don’t mind its length, and I really like the visual style and generally the constant vibe I get. Still haven’t finished it tho, so can’t say for the rest. Probably gonna get bored because of how repetitive it is and then go back to Classic
As someone who has long yearned for older zones to be relevant in current content, this hasn’t really bothered me so far. It always bothered me that once we were done with an expansion, we all just sort of moved on and the locations were largely irrelevant.
A cynical side of me is wondering if it comes down to budget and ease, but with it being this relatively rare a thing still, I’m alright with it.
I like that we’re involving ourselves in established zones and lore instead of heading to some brand new facility that has the power to defeat the Old Gods that we’ve conveniently never heard of before.
Sorta one step forward and one step back, it’s a bit annoying that there’s still barely anything about the Cenarion Circle or Earthen Ring all expansion beyond a quest in the Maelstrom and “they’re helping magni”. I’ve had liked to have seen them involved as the original nature-oriented orders in the setting.
I’ll be waiting to see how the patch plays out before I have much more to say, as I suspect a lot of its enjoyment will be found in the later parts of the Horrific Visions, M+, and the raid itself.
Just sorta glad to have something new to do again.
I’m struggling a lot with the ‘find 8 scrolls of whatever it was’ daily in the Vale. The mobs that drop them are rare enough as it is, and on top of that they don’t drop the quest item very often!