Before Shadowlands released, I decided I would level 4 characters to 60 (one per covenant) so I could see all the campaigns. It was a lot to do because I’m very casual and don’t have a ton of time for WoW, but I managed to get them all done and all 4 toons reached 40 renown as soon as it was available. I enjoyed seeing all aspects of the story while the content was still relevant.
The Korthia campaign was interesting the first time through, but it’s been quite a slog to get all 4 of my max level toons through it (just finished it on the 3rd toon) because it’s exactly the same for all covenants. It would have been much cooler if the Korthia campaign was different for each covenant as well. Having each covenant focus on their own sigil would have been logical. I will finish it on all of my toons just for the mounts and other rewards, but it really isn’t fun. If you’re going to create different story paths in the future, it would be much more engaging if the story continued to have different paths in each major content patch of the expansion.
TL;DR - if you make different story paths (i.e. covenant campaigns) at the start of an expansion, it’s much more engaging if each patch continues to have different story paths as well.
I had a plan to do the same as you, to level 4 toons through each of the covenants.
As it turns out, it was hard enough just getting this one through one covenant. And by hard, I mean I just could not get the motivation to play.
I found just enough motivation to finally get flying and now I am completely disinterested in playing any further. Renown’s at 45-ish? Finished Revendreth campaign. Half way through Korthia. I’ve only done Torgast and the Maw when I’ve been forced to to advance a chapter.
I am not a long term player. I started in the middle of Legion, but by the time I got to legion, I only got a little ways in before Battle for Azeroth was released. Finished legion, went on to start BfA after about 1 patch was released. I liked it, but again, it was basically my first time through WoW. Now I’m just like, “I have to do all the same stuff all over again?” I mean, Shadowlands is the same as BfA is the same as Legion. Just different names for currencies and factions.
I don’t think I can bring myself to do it. I’ve got 2 months left in my sub and I’ve just lost all interest. Maybe I’ll download and play Dragon Age. I heard great things about it but never played it.
Please excuse the rant. It just seemed apropos given what OP posted.
You have pointed out one of the biggest problems with WoW right now. In the past, Blizzard worked to bring real innovations to WoW with every expansion. It didn’t always work (I.e. Warlords of Draenor failed spectacularly), but Legion was very innovative and successful. Adding world quests/emissaries, Mythic+, class halls, and artifact weapons were all big successes. The demon hunter class was also quite popular.
Since Legion, there has been no real innovation. There has not been a new class, and as you said it’s basically all the same systems with different names. This has made the game get stale in many ways.
Let’s hope they have some real innovations in the next expansion, and a new class as well - the game needs both.
Others boasted about korthia but I found it passable at best. Even doing the research unlock quest is a pain for more than 1 character. I just won’t do it.
guess they should of balanced them better i wouldnt of left necrolord out could care less now. the game needs less bloated systems then i will play my alts seriously when i play like i used to .
I gotta say… I don’t think I’m gonna make it to the next expansion.
I know there’s lots of “I’M QUITTING!!!” on these forums but man. I can’t believe I used to play this game for hours every day. EVERY DAY! And now, nope. I guess that happens with most games but I thought for sure WoW would keep me interested, especially since there’s SO MUCH CONTENT! But the content is only good if it has at least some relevance. Like, for example, what’s the point of maxing out whatever currency was king in Wrath of the Lich King, if it’s only useful in that expansion and then utterly worthless forever after?
I just can’t keep redoing the same stuff. I can’t. I can’t be Bill Murray in Groundhog’s Day. I’d drive that truck off the cliff every morning if I had to.
I leveled four characters through the campaigns… it took a lot of time and it even caused me to contemplate even going on. But, I finished it anyway… it did not feel fun to do. It was a bit better when renown catch up was introduced, but the renown was the only thing that made it feel like a drag.
Lets be honest they probably had bigger ambitions for 9.1 but given how long it had already been since 9.0 they just had to cram it together and push it out the door half baked.
Sometimes taking a break for a while is the best thing. There are improvements coming in 9.1.5, and I’ll be interested to see what 9.2 is about. Personally my circumstances keep me from ever getting to play as much as I really want to now, but I used to get burned out on WoW periodically and just take a break until they added something new that sounded interesting.
This is one of the biggest problems with current game design. Devs design questing as much for the purpose of sucking up time as for telling a story, expecting players to repeat all questing on every character. Players will play through once and then find themselves burning out when they try to repeat on other characters.
Devs need to recognize that this is a problem. If they’re thinking it’s the “solution” to players playing alts, then their understanding of human nature should preclude them from making business decisions based on forcing players to do this.
I’ve been saying for some time even before the video that I thought 9.1 was a combination of 9.1 and at least part of 9.2 content and that when they do finally release 9.2 it will be the rest of 9.2 and all of 9.3 combined .
To me the video was of someone else having a similar thought on things.
That would help explain why 9.1 took so long. Do you think not having a 9.3 patch would be a bad thing?
I think it might work okay to just have one more major patch for shadowlands. I finished my major goals for this expansion of completing all the covenant campaigns and making another big chunk of gold. I still have quite a few smaller goals that will keep me busy for a while (Korthia gear upgrades, path of ascension, stitchmasters, ember court, a few more mounts/pets) through any content droughts.
I guess the big question in all this is what will Blizzard bring in 10.0 - more of the same, or something new and innovative?
I think if they have to choose between no 9.3 or delaying the next expansion they’re gonna do the one that will make them more money. Which is definitely making sure that next expac comes out in a timely fashion
Not to say we could never have both, but its looking less and less likely. I mean it seems we’re not even getting any heritage sets at all in this expac and they were said to be released in .5 patches
That makes sense. I would expect them to target December 2022 for the next expansion release, so they’ll probably do whatever it takes to make that timeframe.
I get why they did the korthia stuff as they did, you are eventually tasked to work with everyone to take down the Jailer. Thing is Korthia offers so little as per the usual that separate covenant quests unique to said covenant wouldn’t FOR ME change much.
It’s just that end game zone you weren’t going to get much variation anyhow compared to the core covenant campaign.