to every single one of you saying isles are fine (they were the week 8.1 released)
please try doing them now and do more than 5… just because you get lucky with drops doesnt mean they are fine, for people actually farming this for cosmetics/pets/mounts the drop rate has been overnerfed 2 weeks ago.
I have done them a few times since the changes. Overall, I think i got more pets now that the acquisition method is changed which is an improvement. In general I think that they still get old very quickly. The big Azerite guy is gone (or at least i havent seen him since 8.1) but the extractors are (seemingly) guaranteed to be there and that is basically the same thing. I think overall that Islands (like much of the content this expansion) just lose their luster after running them a couple of times. It’s the same set of environments with the same mobs and the same opposing teams. as a mindless activity its not so bad, but im not exactly logging in looking forward to do them every week. The treasure missions you get once per week are kind of cool i guess (good amount of gold, azerite, residum), and the fact that some of the mounts/pets are on a vendor is an improvement- but none of them are so exciting that I feel the desire to farm for doubloons.
So i guess to sum it up - the rewards aren’t overly enticing and the content isn’t overly engaging. I do them when i’m bored and have nothing else to do and the mood strikes me but otherwise don’t really think about them.
Drops seem lower than what they were, for sure. Crowd control from island mobs needs to have a DR, 100%. It isn’t fun or engaging to pull 3 yetis and have them chain stun you, back to back to back and hey why didn’t you get out of the cone that just oneshot you?
Some of the damage from abilities still seems way whacky, and there are FAR TOO MANY THINGS that do knockbacks, stuns, fears, silences, kicks, etc. It’s not that bad on melee classes, or tanks, or even my Mistweaver (Spinning Crane Kick is good), but trying to get a cast off on my priest or shaman makes me want to scream.
If you’re going to give us a PvP-level of CCs, enable DRs, please.
I never post on the message boards, but this is one topic I feel I need to chime in on.
I usually play Normal with a spattering of Heroic, and my group doesn’t see any reason to do anything harder because there’s no real benefit on doing so. That in and of itself is a problem. We LIKE to push harder content when we can, but this is one that’s super easy to get into…we just don’t see any incentive to do so.
The Azerite crabs are a huge pain. It’s the closest thing this game offers to possession. I see what’s happening to my body, but I’m absolutely powerless to do anything about it. I am possessed by some demon pingpong ball and will continue to just bounce around until I’m eventually given a moment of reprieve. I’ll use this to try and reestablish any aggro I’ve lost before entering PingPong Purgatory again. When (not if) I die, I’ll run back to reestablish aggro and hope that we’ve managed to kill one or two through their shields. Rinse and repeat until we’re done.
Rewards do feel a bit too low. I don’t particularly find Azerite rewarding, and while mounts are always awesome to receive, I understand not just handing them out. My server’s economy isn’t exactly booming, so the transmogs usually just end up going into the scrapper/given to a friend that can equip it.
The NPCs have 2 settings. Invisible or living in my rectum. I used to think seeing “SNEAKY PETE!” was charming and fun…but when he keeps showing up again…and again…and again…and again…I think I’d rather start just paying him Azerite to go away, because he’s only worth .02 Azerite. We’re going to kill him and his friends…easily.
I used to enjoy doing islands, and maybe there’s more that’s changed that I’m not addressing…but they just don’t feel fun to me anymore.
Bring back afk mythic expeditions, unironically the best wow social experience I’ve had outside of my guild in years. Bring back the weekly quest for 110+ characters, it gave me a reason to log into my alts once a week to slowly level them. The azerite extractor is a waste of time for how little azerite it gives. Either nerf the mobs or make it a use and forget thing unless the other faction takes it over. Enemy faction NPCs are way too annoying. They’re not a threat and they feel like they’re just there to slow you down rather than compete for resources on their own to try and win. I actively avoid engaging them because as soon as I hit them once, they always follow us around no matter how far away we are from their ship or how often we kill them. It makes them not feel like real players, as real players would eventually give up trying to kill people they can’t kill and try to win another way. Shrines are basically useless for dps, all I’ve seen are the stupid healer shrines, up the spawn rate or effectiveness of dps shrines.
Hi I do a lot of islands. You can check its honestly kind of weird.
the 8.1 changes were solid to overall flow of islands, particularly removing crocodiles from blocking every path. The way mobs are currently laid out is more or less perfect, no complaints. Rewards are also coming at a decent pace, no complaints.
The biggest problem with Islands and one that I think will continue to hamper the experience of players is how little variation there is. It’s All combat and most enemies can be split into Frontal Cone AoE, Stomp/Earthquakers, or Casters. The balance between them is, to be frank, horrendous. Mogu casters seem to do FAR more damage than Troll casters, and god help you if you encounter a bunch of Elite Sunscale lizards as their frontal cone AOE is an extremely fast cast and its very easy to get slowed. I typically run mythic islands with a requirement of 370 and I’ve seen mythic raiders get chopped to bits FAR too quickly to be fun or fair. I think a top down readjustment of how Island Enemies put out damage is necessary. Being Alive and healthy until you are suddenly not is a fine gameplay mechanic for raids, but dying several times in what should be a 10~15 minute gameplay session actually breaks spirits. I have not been able to keep a group of dedicated high end raiders doing more than 3 islands in one run.
If you want to keep enemies damage and spells different from each other,Thats fine, just not in its current implementation. There is NO information about islands in the game, aside from how to do one. I understand a cone AoE as well as anyone but when some have 3 second casts and some have 1.5 it can be incredibly frustrating as any info you might have learned in an earlier island can be completely useless in the next. I’ve started to compile a list of mobs i tell people to completely avoid on mythic because their spells are simply way too powerful. Maybe some inclusion in the Dungeon Journal, or an old RPG style Codex whenever you encounter an enemy. Just Something to have Any idea what im going up against.
Unrelated to other points but damaging weather effects in islands feel incredibly bad. I enjoyed the rework to azerite mobs as its one of the few enemies with a unique fight style on Islands, but once you start layering these with incredibly dangerous ground aoe spells it gets dicey, and when you throw in lightning strikes that chunk tanks HP in half it becomes not fun.
I also think the current implementation of Shrines is pretty abysmal. If you want to have a Kiss Curse system people have to have SOME idea of what they’re stepping into. Even the ones I do know the effects of are usually not worth the downside, and i feel part of me shrivel each time i see a curious tank click on Pillar of the Watchers with no way of removing the buff aside from death.
What I would like to see in Islands (aside from what I feel is a really Really pressing look at how damage goes out in a mode that is supposed to be spec neutral) is more Non Combat activities. I actually enjoyed looking for keys and such before they got lit up by a spotlight and placed two feet away from the quest. As a spiritual successor to scenarios theres pretty much none of the minigame style fun that made scenarios interesting. Even if you were mostly fighting enemies you had a person to protect, barrels to find and roll, fire to put out etc etc. This bit of context and variation in gameplay was important to making these more than just Dungeon Lite.
Islands are a cool kind of content with mediocre to bad implementation of most ideas. They feel pre-abandoned with no in game resources on what to do or how to learn anything about how they operate. I Loved scenarios and honestly even after airing so many grievances I still Like islands. I genuinely like 3 man 10 minute content in wow, i call it Podcast content, but I am almost positive that without Serious SERIOUS changes this is going to be an entirely forgotten feature by 8.3 with no potential for any 3 man short content for expansions to come.
I care far too much about islands because someone needs to, and I’d love to actually have somebody for once say “yeah ill do an island” rather than “well i guess i need to do it”
I won’t write a big wall of text repeating what other people are saying. Instead, I’m going to just add three things that I think will just fix most of the major issues with islands -
Cheers.
So for me Islands have been pretty fun since 8.1 came out. I don’t even want to remember how Islands were in 8.0 they were pretty boring. But since 8.1 I been more willing to do them even past getting my cap. The only complaints I could say off the top of my head is that the new azerite mobs hit for way to much even on normal on my 380 rogue. Doubloons imo should drop if you win, not every so often. Unless you’re a world first contender guild farming islands all the time for ap you might be able to buy the 1000 doubloon mount. Seeing doubloons drop more often would still be rewarding then just receiving azerite at the end of the Island (most people are not lucky). Maybe put in some bad luck protection in place so you have a better chance at getting either a mount / toy. (I feel like this would “make” players do more Islands in a way.) Also I feel that the azerite you get at the end of the Island should be increased I think 500 for Mythic would be enough but I am welcoming a higher amount. Since I play Alliance we do have to deal with the Horde every so often depending on the difficulty the only ones I have an issue with is that DK group. DK doesn’t want to die but I can live if he doesn’t get nerfed. Maybe make the quests more engaging its pretty boring to go pick up X so you can save X or click X to release X.
TLDR:
I might have missed a few points but I think that’s fine.
edit: Probably have typos.
I found islands to be fun before the update, and still do after the update. My main concern are the rewards. I’d like to see much fewer pets and mounts as RNG drops and put on a vendor and a guaranteed reward of dubloons for every Island. There can be a few for as RNG drops, just not so many of them. The transmog gear can stay as RNG drops, IMO, as I wouldn’t want to choose between them and pets/mounts, and there does need to be some RNG reward to make islands a thing people still want to shoot for.
CC needs to go, or spells needs to hit for less, it is in no way acceptable to instantly blinded and watch a 300k shadow crash land on you.
mobs reset on the gilnean island way too often.
personally i think moving the average value from enemy/mobs to clickable/chests was bad, and is the main reason i do less islands in 8.1 than in 8.0, i don’t like killing an 600k hp elite and watching +90 float up.
I wish the difficulty was not ramped up even though the density was reduced. I understand it is a “group” activity but it can just suck how hard spam casted ability can chunk you now if pulling multiple groups.
Lots of one shots is fine, I just wish the abilities were perhaps a bit more clear as their direction. It could be a computer thing but tend to play on the 7 setting (medium-high) for graphics and the ground based abilities such as the Crocalisk or Giants/Etin AoEs can sometimes be unclear. I still see them, its just how they tend to blend in or have fainter particles, again could just be a graphics thing.
If difficulty is something wanted out of IEs, put a M+ type system where you can ramp up the difficulty for more Azerite or something. Increasing the difficulty overall just leads to me feeling weaker for something that was once me paying 20% attention, but now need to focus more or I will die.
The rewards definitely seem better/easier to get, although I do wish there was an incentive to perhaps find secret treasures for guaranteed drops. For example, killing rares awards treasure map pieces that once 5 or something are collected can be used to see an image of the Island with a shovel. Players can then attempt to find the “treasure” for some kind of reward, however players must WIN the the expedition to make off with their booty.
Overall, keep difficulties relatively the same and perhaps incorporate some actual “treasure” hunting tasks on IEs that allow players to hunt for rare treasures that may not necessarily be the fastest or easiest way to complete IEs but are more rewarding. Finding amazing treasure is not suppose to take 5 minutes and picking stuff off the ground!
I wish the Dubloon’s weren’t tied to the purchasable buffs at the start of an island. They are one of the few things for me that can make an island interesting. Maybe we could purchase an upgrade to our Expedition Ship with War Resources and gain an ability similar if not exactly like the WoD garrisons. (Summon NPCs/Cannon/Mount). I always loved those in WoD world content and questing. You don’t have to make an visual improvements to the ship to indicate the upgrade.
With that being said they should be a guaranteed drop with the amount scaling with the difficulty (1-5 normal, 5-10 heroic, 10 -15 mythic). The randomness for all the loot really is a huge pain. I have run roughly 25 heroic and 3 Mythic islands and the loot I revived was a few pets and some transmog that doesn’t sell. Feels like a hallow experience.
The CC that was added to a great deal of the NPC’s can be kinda insane when you are trapped in a CC loop until you are dead. Maybe put some DR on them. Some of the gaint’s AoE still doesn’t display correctly which is sometimes made worse by the terrain they are standing in.
The new island zones are cool but they still suffer from the fact that they are still just boring grind fests. The new azerite drill was a nice touch but maybe make a vehicle that we jump into and have to drive back to our boat to offload. I love the new indicator of where a quest item is. The new weekly WQ/Map for doing your islands was a really nice addition though lowering the required amount to three wouldn’t go awry in my book.
I’ve been doing Island Expeditions every week on multiple characters since the patch came out and only gotten two cosmetic items. It is absolutely absurd how rare loot drops are.
I’m an avid pet and mog collector and usually do my weekly islands. The 8.1 improvements are generally better in layout, mob composition, variety, etc…but:
Some other thoughts less about current state specifics and more meta:
![:frowning:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/frowning.png?v=6" ":frowning:")
(sorry)In short, having goals and making progress toward them keeps me logging in daily and playing. The endless slot machine just makes me want to give up.
Thanks for asking for feedback to improve this content. I want it to be more fun than it is!
You continue to keep asking for feedback on Island Expeditions but you refuse to address the problems repeatedly stated in every thread involving them since Beta. No matter how you phrase the question, you’re going to keep getting the same answers.
• Loot drops are not frequent enough. With a loot table as obscenely huge as the one we have and determined by countless layers of RNG, people should be seeing loot almost every, if not every run at Mythic or PvP difficulty, or every single item including mounts and quest items should be tradeable. Every. Single. Item.
• The changes to loot tables in 8.1 are a good decision to the reward structure, but at the cost of gameplay. Reacting to events on the fly and cherry-picking mobs to kill to target items was not particularly engaging either, but now there’s no difference in killing X rare over Y. I used to be excited to see a swarm of rares of the type I want. Now they’re just Azerite. Just like that pile of rocks over there.
• PvP expeditions suck. You are actively discouraged from participating due to terribly tuned azerite acquisition rates and the bonus azerite from killing a player has not been bumped up to compete with the drastically increased cap and yield. It’s actually a detriment to fight unless you can keep the entire team pinned down while someone else grinds. It’s almost impossible to catch up if you are behind, the islands are far too big to hunt the enemy down. PvP Expeditions WOULD be fun if PvP was crucial for victory but, no, it actually how you lose; even if you stomp the enemy team every time you run into them.
And as it has been said time and time and time again - you struggle to keep people incentivized in islands as it is, PvP Expeditions are not worth the time unless the rewards were bumped up. They need to be retuned and more rewarding.
• Please allow us to explore islands after the match is over. Roleplayers want to play there. Explorers want to run around. The islands are gorgeous and have terrific soundtracks but we have no opportunity to linger and appreciate them.
So:
-Bump up the rewards. As in, people should be getting AT LEAST doubloons every single round, no question. At Mythic and PvP level, there should be an item a run, win or lose; with bonuses for winning.
-Revamp PvP expeditions. You have a great idea here, but the map size, gameplay, and azerite acquisition rates do not support PvP. Victory in combat should not put you father behind, period. PvP kill azerite should be giving you 1k+ minimum, not at most 250 for person rofl
-Let us appreciate the islands post-win.
-Consider ways to add in decision making and encourage exploration. Now that targeting specific mobs is irrelevant, what you see on the island has no bearing on how you approach it. It’s literally just kill the beefiest things that happen to be within pulling distance.
-Opposing teams need to clash more often. I should not go entire PvP expeditions without seeing the enemy team even if we hunt for them. Fewer mobs overall and more lucrative azerite sources that aggressively direct players toward are a must.
Oh also, can you tell the stupid AI pets to stop charge-stunning someone from across the map every 10 seconds?
I’d like to see all of the potential RNG drops from all islands be available on the Doubloon vendor, seems crazy that you added the vendor as a result of our feedback and then rather than putting the stuff on the vendor you just created a random handful of different reskinned stuff instead lol
The good:
Since 8.1 the pace of Islands are fun and enjoyable again and this is someone that runs mythic. The spawn rate at which the invasion happen are great now. Back before 8.1 Mythic you were waiting 15-20 mins to even see a invasion and it was slow pace.
The weekly is also a nice bonus
The is really the only positive that came out of the patch.
The Bad:
Drop rate for rewards are still to RNG between difficulties. From running them on multiple characters, I still get the most loot from heroic it feels like.
Since rewards are not that great, it feels there no point in running them after the weekly is completed.
Even though the islands pace feels good, the game play is still not engaging as their is not really any engaging objective other than gather azerite and win.
Opinion on fixes:
Make more defined/engaging objectives/quest on the islands that ether provide a Major buff or major Azerite gain.
Even make objectives were you ether have to defend a location from NPC attack. If you don’t then you would lose Azerite.
Same goes for Attacking objective were you would have to attack a location for major gain in Azerite.
Make quest also more engaging. Picking up a item and saving someone is not that great. Ether have quest to kill a specific monster on the map or kill the opposing team.
Make it were you at least have to kill the opposing team once before you can win.
Even if changes were made above, it all comes down to reward system.
Add all rewards to doubloons vendor, still allow for rng drops in islands.
change how getting quest items and rep rewards are obtained. ether have them be 100% drop rate by doing a specific objective/quest or killing specific rare/boss.
Conclusion:
Islands should be objective driven with a clear path on how to obtain rewards/AP. Mindlessly going around gathering up mobs and mining Azerite is not to engaging and to add the RNG drops for rewards.
Islands is a good concept but just is not their yet.
I despise them. They are not fun in the least bit and the rewards feel so disconnected. You can destroy an island with a group of skilled friends and get nothing. While in a horrible pug that can’t do anything, you’ll have something really good drop. Complete skill/reward disconnect.
Islands are okay to level in, and the weekly quest is a nice hook.
What I can’t stand is how rewards for islands work. More than often I get nothing, which feels super defeating and bad after running around the map and killing a bunch of rares and the like. A friend I play with so far has gotten no pets, no mounts, and no toys.
I’d prefer if all toys, mounts, and pets were on the vendor as RNG protection, and you still get random drops as nice little bonuses.
But by far I don’t like is how damn scarce dubloons are, and how RNG you get them. I mean damn, I think I’ve looted 200 over the entire expansion so far. And since they’re so rare, I don’t want to spend any at the boat vendor since I need every scarce little one for mounts.
Random dubloons on the ground in the island? No time to look for those. Gotta rush rush rush.
I guess you guys are wondering why people aren’t doing these isles or have given up on them.
Here is a list of why I stopped doing them:
-The rewards are almost non-existent
-Doubloons hardly ever drop now that they are useful
-Scaling makes the mobs too difficult
-The CCs are too OP and annoying
-The enemy team is now even more OP and annoying especially in mythic
I am not going to give you any more advice on how to fix this content seeing as how you have not really listened to any of the feedback in regards to this content.