It’s so much worse when the content drought is at the start of an expansion rather than at the end. At the end of BfA we had all the original content, plus Mechagon, Nazjatar, the N’Zoth areas, as well as a dungeon, 3 raids, and a mini raid with 2 bosses that weren’t there at launch.
I’m trying to finish up Mechagon and Nazjatar right now because SL is already feeling stale, and I’m not alone. Those zones have more players in them than SL does if you don’t count the world boss on Tuesday. But you can also fly in those zones, which speeds everything up. Part of why SL feels bad is because it takes so long to get anywhere. If you want to change zones, it’ll probably be at least 5 minutes each time, as well as the length of time it takes you to run all the way to wherever you want to go.
Shadowlands feels the least rewarding out of any expansion so far, including WoD. Did you know that this is the first week that you can finish your final covenant upgrade due to the weekly soul cap? But most people probably didn’t notice because we get so little anima. We get so little that it likely takes players over 2 weeks just for one upgrade, and upgrades are extremely underwhelming. 10,000 anima for 2 more mushroom transport locations and a one way portal to Oribos. 12,500 anima for another wildseed plot and access to a weekly quest where we go out and pet an animal spirit. 15,000 anima for a 6th wildseed plot. It will literally take over half a year for most players to max out their sanctums.