We are at the end of another expansion. I cannot believe I will soon be entering the 10th expansion of this game. While I have taken a couple of breaks, here and there, I have played through all of the content of each expansion since I started playing back in Vanilla. Not Classic! Classic is not as good as Vanilla on any day. As our heroes return from the Shadowlands, let’s reflect on this ninth expansion.
Keep in mind that, as I am writing this, the pre-patch has not yet launched. However I do not expect the events of the pre-patch to affect my final thoughts of the Shadowlands expansion. In my opinion, the pre-patch is content that is linked to Dragonflight and is, therefore, exempt from this expansion.
Covenants
The player base has been clamoring for “player housing” for years. I feel like Blizzard has been testing out various theories on how that might look since Warlords of Draenor. First they gave us Garrisons, then we had Order Halls, and then we had Covenants. I, honestly, feel like player housing is in our future and it might be some conglomeration of these three. If you ask me, I feel like Garrisons are the closest thing we had to it.
Covenants were OK. I like the specific boosts we received from our “soul binds” and our renown levels, but I didn’t LOVE covenants. There was never really a deep connection to it or my soul bind. In the beginning I tried to pick the covenant that fit my character, class and “head mythology” the best, and I tried to do this for all of my alts. However, by the end, I ended up choosing the “best covenant” based on WoWHead and Icy Veins.
Raids and The Great Vault
The raids were also just OK. They follow the same formula as previous expansions. The first raid wraps up the leveling storyline and the following raids progress the overarching story. I think the raids and the storytelling really suffered from the Blizzard controversy. Despite my feelings for Microsoft, if the deal goes through, I hope the changes help improve the storytelling.
If I have to choose a favorite raid from this expansion it’s probably Castle Nathria; with Sanctum of Domination probably being the one I enjoy the least. Honestly, the difficulty gap between Normal and Heroic versions is where I really struggle. It feels like Blizzard decided that there are three types of raiders instead of two. I’ve always been satisfied with the Normal-to-Heroic raid progression and Mythic being the exceptionally dedicated. The difficulty gap and the almost-zero margin of error in Heroic really ruined it for me.
The final raid, Sepulcher of the First Ones, is clearly a rush job. Again I blame the “Cosby Room”.
Which brings me to the Great Vault. Conceptually I don’t think this was a terrible idea. It did motivate me, some weeks, to try to always have something in my Great Vault every Tuesday. The biggest problem I have with it is the algorithm for choosing which item is available. I hated it when I would open my vault after a week of raiding and one of the options is an item I received during the raid. The Great Vault is returning for Dragonflight; I hope they made some improvements on the randomization algorithm, or at least increasing the loot table.
Final Thoughts
This expansion had so much potential when it was announced but I really feel like they dropped the ball. Of all the expansions, it’s almost my least favorite. It’s probably a close second to Burning Crusade. I actually like Warlords of Draenor more merely because of the Garrisons.
I didn’t really care for the covenants. The story went flat and the obvious changes to the Normal and Heroic raiding gap is too much. Overall this expansion is a disappointment.
I’m looking forward to a story that actually includes some lore in Dragonflight.
If zombies attack the world, everyone will run and hide. Except for us gamers, of course. We’ve been waiting for this all our lives!