It might be hard to believe it, but it turns out Blizzard really does listen to player feedback. In the midst of the constant complaining on the forums, I’m going to take a minute to point out several areas that show that Blizzard listens to the players and implements their requests.
#1: Professions
Let’s start off with a relatively uncontroversial one, I hope. Many professions were in a pretty bad state prior to Shadowlands. Leatherworking, you leveled it, and then… not much, really. I guess I made, maybe, a pair of boots when Nazjatar came out?
So Blizzard listened. Professions came back in a big way in Shadowlands. To start with, they’re a key piece in acquiring your legendary items. Tailoring, Leatherworking, and Blacksmithing, long regarded as second-tier (or worse) professions, suddenly became supremely important, especially at the start of the expansion and at 9.1. Additionally, consumables are no longer the sole domain of Alchemy and Inscription; Leatherworking brought back armor kits. Finally, interaction between professions came back – at least a little bit – with the reintroduction of enchanted materials. These are all things that players have asked for, and I know this for a fact, because I have previously asked for these things here on the forums.
#2: Legendaries
I’m going to need you to think back to Legion, when Blizzard first tried introducing Legendaries For All. Legendaries dropped randomly, but at an unspecified, intended pace. Players complained about two things, primarily: one, the random intervals at which they got legendaries; and two, that they couldn’t pick which legendary they got.
Well, Blizzard listened. In Shadowlands, players can make the legendaries they want. Furthermore, they know when they’ll get them. Now, granted, Blizzard did an absolutely abysmal job explaining the legendary system in-game, instead relying on fan sites like WoWhead to do that work for them. But hey, they gave players the agency they wanted, and players can target the legendary item they want.
#3: The Endless Grind
So do you remember last expansion? And the one before that? Where you had Artifact Power and Azerite Power and there was no cap on them? And they still granted power? And if you were trying to maximize your character, you really wanted to do every last AP quest because you never new if that 2 agility might make a difference? Yeah, players didn’t like it. They were tired of not being able to be “done” with the grind. And of course they complained on the forums.
So Blizzard listened. In Shadowlands, there is no power grind. There’s no endless meter. What comes closest to that is Anima Power. (It even has the same initials!) But what do you get from anima? Well… cosmetic rewards. Plus, it has an end. Eventually, you’ve bought everything your covenant has to offer. And then you’re done.
#4: War Mode Boundaries
This one probably flew under the radar for a lot of people, but in previous expansions, War Mode was really kind of a pain. It still is, but less so. It was pretty common in BFA to be unable to trade or interact with both guild members and people in general because one person would have war mode on and another would have it off. Somebody would be making a trip to Stormwind, or worse, Orgrimmar. And yes, people complained on the forums about the phasing.
So Blizzard listened. Granted, they still couldn’t have players out in the open world with mixed war mode setting; that doesn’t make much sense. But in the world design for Shadowlands, Oribos was designated a sanctuary, and it’s separate from the rest of the zones, so you can see other players there regardless of your war mode setting. Plus, because the player base is already split as a result of the covenant choices, Oribos serves as a natural meeting point between members of different covenants anyway.
#5: The Ripcord
This is, ultimately, what most of the complaints of the expansion are all about. Blizzard presented the players with a choice. But players don’t like choice. Players want options. Players want options because options are the illusion of choice. You think you want the ability to choose whether you have a single target ability, or an AOE ability, or a solo content ability. But really, you want all three, and you want there to be no penalty for switching between the two. And you don’t want your choice to be balanced! If the numbers change, your choice shouldn’t matter, and you should be able to freely pick again!
Look, if the covenants hadn’t had signature abilities, none of this would’ve been necessary. That’s Blizzard’s mistake. If it came down to helping sprites or angels or ugly things or special vampires, the ripcord would be irrelevant. But I would gain about 2.5% DPS by switching covenants, and that’s an unacceptable difference to today’s players. Whatever.
Blizzard is still listening. In 9.1.5, the covenant you choose doesn’t matter, because you can change it at will. I get the feeling that when Blizzard said they had the ability to pull the ripcord, players assumed it meant that they would do it immediately, but it’s clear at this point that their intent was never to remove the covenant divide at the start of the expansion.
The player base, especially those on the forums, seems to have a very short attention span. It’s simply much too difficult to remember what the game was really like a few years ago and see how it’s changed, but I suspect it’s even harder for the devs to overhaul a system in real time, and in the case of covenants, there were obviously story reasons for waiting to pull the ripcord. (Hey! Story! Aren’t players supposed to like story?) But I suppose they should’ve seen it coming. After all, we spent a ridiculous amount of time switching from Aldor to Scryer back in the day, and that was all to trade… what, 10 attack power into 5 crit rating?
So yeah, Blizzard listens. Just not instantly.