"Dragonflight is the best expansion in a long time"

Community General Discussion
1

Anyone else baffled by this statement? I see it around these forums or on youtube typically. Dragonflight might be better than Shadowlands, but that expansion set the bar for quality so low.

Raid/M+/PvP participation is quite low compared to previous years, which is distressing as this game is primarily designed around these three end game pillars (as per game director Ion Hazzikostas).

In PvE It’s two fold really:

  1. People don’t like having their progress reset in a seasonal fashion. (as has been happening for quite some time now, its starting to wear thin) It takes away from the sense of world when the dragon you slew with your group of friends is simply just another game piece that can be scaled up or down by the whims of developers.
  2. The players that don’t care for progress/sense of world but only for the competitive aspect of PvE feel shafted after the addition of the Augmentation Evoker. This player desires fairness more than anything, and their experience feels cheapened by gimmicky gameplay.

Many people simply aren’t engaging with the PvE content anymore as they used to, and its not like the world content is any better. This is directed towards those who believe the ‘quality’ of the world content ‘drew’ in former raid/M+ players which is highly unlikely.

In patch 10.1, players really started noticing the trend/treadmill with world content in Zaralek Caverns and promptly quit. The world content is shallow and essentially involves flying around killing rares for whatever colored crystal/token/currency you need for catchup in any given patch in a very anti-social fashion. You quickly realize through playing the world content that the only portion of the game created with any real consideration and care are the PvE end game pillars mentioned earlier, everything else feels slapped together.

PvP Solo shuffle is a disaster, (30 min to 2 hr long queues per match) primarily because of a dearth of healers. The role simply isnt enjoyable to play for most people. The nature of solo queue in any game typically discourages socialization, or the need to befriend others for success, so healers tend to get treated very poorly match to match. Bar a few thick-skinned individuals, the role seems to be entirely dead in PvP/Solo-shuffle. The top-end of PvP is also quite dissatisfied with the gameplay of solo-shuffle as well (from what I read on the Arena forums) as solo queue can’t really live up to the co-ordination required in a pre-made team match on the 3v3 ladder. Solo shuffle lacks both the social fabric required for team based PvP, and the depth of gameplay that could be found in coordinated team effort, a complete failure in my opinion.

Leveling is a complete clownshow, and has been for years now (the entire process, not 60 to 70). Beyond the confusing and disjointed narrative mess, the leveling experience is simply mediocre. It lacks any real variance in terms of gameplay, and the lack of other players makes it very lonely as well. With chromie time, you can really share an entire zone with absolutely no one, a very distressing problem in an MMO. I can let this slide a little bit, as leveling is only a formality in an end-game based MMO, but I can’t just ignore it.

The only real success to come out of Dragonflight in my eyes is Dragonriding. A completely new feature (to WoW of course) with solid implementation and consideration. The new playable zone was made larger to compensate for the speed of the mount, and a decent chunk of the dragon isles is specifically designed around use of the mount as well. It’s a big win, but unfortunately, the only win.

Besides gameplay, the addition of the trading post seems to be Blizzards attempt at introducing a new whaling mechanic. People predicted it right from the get go, and now we’re seeing it ramp up with the addition of the in-shop purchasable tender. I don’t know about you, but I witnessed a big morale hit from long time players that are still subbed from just this alone.

I know those of you subbed are enjoying the game right now, which is fantastic. I write this wondering if my post resonates with anyone at all, even only portions of it.

Thanks for reading!
Have a good weekend :slight_smile:

38 Likes
2

PvE is excellent. bossfights in raids have been amazing both tiers.

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3

That would be a yup from me.

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4

I’m glad you’re enjoying it, I dislike being negative, but I don’t know. Something about the modern game just gets at me. It’s why I wrote up this long post

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5

it’s overly mechanized and singleplayer centric even in raids. plus we have the cataclysm hero factory going on where every class can sprint, pop a cd, break a snare and burst dps.

but overall it’s still very solid.

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6

Well, when you add hard to obtain items to bosses that you only have 1 shot a week to get, and have no deterministic way to eventually get them, then it makes people feel like their time is being wasted.

Just take the Evoker Legendary as an example. Many do not have it, it cost about a wow token, requires chores, and will be replaced next season.

People are sick of it, and they are leaving.

One day Blizzard will create a gearing system that is not fated fully behind RNG, but until then, there isn’t a reason to waste your time for an item that will only drop a few times, and everyone needs.

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Agree, but tbh, using a taxi is almost just as fast now for some reason. I think DR has a bit of illusion added to it making the zones seem bigger.

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8

people will critique the lore but provide no factually objective comparisons,
people will critique balance but provide no objective comparisons
people will critique content cadence but provide no objective comparisons

most critiques or praise about expansions are usually unjustified and simply emotional ranting from whoever delivers it. If you’re really having fun then why would you be spending your time trying to convince others. Its different now that people try and turn talking about a video game on youtube into their life, but I think thats the same as watching the news, eventually you realize they’re just meeting a quota and if they are literally the person they claim to be in front of the camera then you’re just watching them crash and burn.

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9

To me it just feels like WoD 2.0

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Retention is up. Idk what to say. Maybe being cartoonishly evil for years hurt their box sales, but the actual expansion is fun enough to keep people around. Hopefully the good press will bring back more people next expansion.

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11

That’s a good point. You get the impression that these e-celebs need the game to be ‘good’ even when it isn’t, in order to sustain their career.

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12

Which is why people are still flocking through the door…right?

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asmongold needs to come up with an evil twin persona who he has disputes with over whether or not a game is good

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No.

Enjoyment of any entertainment is entirely subjective. What might not please you will please others.

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15

I agree. I have enjoyed all of the PVE content from 10.0 and 10.1…but I also have been playing less than I have in previous x-packs that were much worse. It’s hard to say why really, but I still think DF has been pretty solid so far.

I think the lack of borrowed power and not having the feeling of constantly needing to grind to keep up plays a part in it. Which isn’t a bad thing per se. Now I can play for fun vs. feeling obligated to.

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16

Dragonflight is boring. The theme, story, the zones are just bland and boring. The game feels like some cheap knockoff fantasy game now.

Edit: The post launch content is a mile wide and an inch deep. Blizzard is dead, the people working on the game now are just there to get experience and cash a paycheck.

They don’t care about this game or the IP one bit. Their job is to pump out cheaply made content that keeps players logging in, so Blizzard can milk what is left of the remaining player base with MTX transactions.

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WoW content creator: The expansion that made everyone quit in S2 is the greatest expansion since Legion :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

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18

Well, 2 consecutive bad expansions, with Shadowlands making us the favor of burying the last ot hope the community had on Devs + the harassment scandal made that.

you can talk that by yourself. Yes, the queues are longer, but Solo Shuffle was a sucess. And by your argument:

Solo shuffle was a really good tool for the rest of the PvP player base (me included) who didn’t want to waste time looking for partners, waiting even longer than 30 minutes, just to find a healer, and he quits after the first bad game .

its not even an issue, to be honest. The leveling is fast, and the faster, the better.

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19

Couldn’t have said it better myself. There’s a whole lot of ‘fluff’ with no real substance in Dragonflight. It doesn’t feel like it was made with any love for the IP whatsoever.

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20

Dragonflight is boring, gameplay wise you do the exact same things as every other expansion. Dragonriding has potential, however the only thing you do with it in terms of competition is flying through rings. Why not have a queueable Grandprix type event with Dragonriding, bring something new to the game!

7 Likes