I think a lot of the player base would like a return to a Wrath style WoW. I don’t really think a lot of the people that love WoW really wanted all these copy pasta systems from other genres.
For some reason, the development team got obsessed with trying to bring new systems to the game in order to keep it fresh, but in their effort to do so, they created some weird abomination that has strayed way too much from the original vision of the game.
Personally I feel WoW has always had some pretty silly questing and story lines. I have never once expected the expansion story to be good, and I am not sure there has ever been one I would call good. In that regard, its all the same to me.
To me, WotLK was just a continuation of a story that was ripped off from Star Wars.
And please dont confuse “lost their passion” with “creating a game you dont personally like”.
Scroll up and watch the interview of Chris and then watch his video he posted. FYI, this is was a dev that was on the team for 13 years.
While I am sure it happens with some people, its almost a catch 22 on these boards.
Many people are able to do jobs for years and keep passion. On these boards every time a person leaves WoW and move on, they describe it as a death throw of WoW. Now when people don’t leave and new blood doesn’t enter…its also why WoW is dying.
Its just another lose-lose scenario for Blizz. If they keep their devs over longer periods of time, they are bad. If they lose any devs that have been there for longer periods of time, they are bad.
If its the interview that was somewhat recent, I did see it. And it sorta made me raise some eyebrows at a few points. I agreed with some, I disagreed greatly with some points. And thats ok.
That’s the struggle of all mmos. Either you keep the game the same for your current player base or add new ( sometimes tedious and confusing ) elements to attract a new audience. Seems like things like Classic are the only way the devs can “ make the game feel like it did”.
I think that blizzard believes they have “solved” the mmo problem. I bet they even have a spreadsheet on what percentage of kill X quests vs gather X quests they think they need to have. World questing is INSANELY grindy now…and yet gives no reward, because they think the types of people who do those things don’t really care about it.
SL is to date the fastest I’ve ever got bored. You literally log in for a hour a day to do Two Maw Quests and 4 WQs for covenant daily.
The “You can’t judge a 2 week old Xpac” is so stupid. I sure the hell can because I’ve played every other one before it and wasn’t bored within 3 days.
This xpac is going to tank within 3 months. Blizzard inability to add any new meaningful content is just sad.
I agree, I think once the honeymoon phase is over, SL is going to tank harder than BFA. The dungeons this expansion have been super boring for me.
Sure the mechanics are interesting, but most the dungeons are just copies of the outdoor leveling areas. M+ runners are going to burn out fast on this one. The only hope is, that the raid is really good. I think Torghast is going to burn out people too.
Torghast is the saddest excuse for content I’ve ever seen. It’s literally just “floors” of NPCs that have scaling HP/DMG throwin all over the place.
It’s uninteresting as all hell. I clear 3rd floor on both sides in like an hour and never touch it again.
It’s literally on the level of Mythic+ which i find very sad that people praise cuz it’s literally the same thing over n over.
I feel that you’re right that they don’t have passion for the game. However, I feel it’s due to them hiring fresh out of college aged people that have never played the genre. They grew up when the genre was on a rapid decline with the rise of P2W F2P MMORPGs. I can understand why they lack passion for the game if this is the case.
I don’t get the M+ praise either. People speed running the same 30 min dungeons for 2+ years is now the pinnacle of MMO development? You regrind the same loot too every season, same aesthetics with higher numbers. At least raiding adds new content. BFA added 1 new dungeon for the life of that expansion, it feels like the developers have been shipping the bare minimum level of content. At least Legion shipped some new dungeons that expansion and the dungeons from the start were unique and quite good.
Or maybe they suffered like everyone else from the Covid lockdown. I imagine it’s pretty stifling to try and design game systems with no-one to bounce ideas off of. I think they did the best they could and delivered a decent expansion. Many others did not manage that and some canceled entirely.
It is what it is at this point. I’ll just quit again no skin off my back so many good games out there. I have love for WoW but it’s just not good anymore.
People seem to forget WoW has lost 10+ Million subs. Obviously Blizzard screwed up bad somewhere but people don’t wanna admit it.
They’re out of ideas. It’s like a TV show that has been on for too long. You can tell they’re out of ideas and it’s time to just wrap it up. For this game though instead of wrapping it up they need to get new writers and developers, people with new ideas that the current crop will never think of.
Sounds like YOU are burned out.
I HATED the BFA leveling/questing experience. Every single zone was boring (except Mechagon). Of course, that’s just my opinion.
Coming into Shadowlands was refreshing. I couldn’t believe how fast it took me to get to level cap. I was level 58 before I even finished Bastion.
Can’t say the same for BFA. Felt like it took forever to go from 110 to 120.
I’m beginning to think it was/is all MMOs, they’re not MMORPGs, but this one at least has always been a min-maxers playground. This means you’re always going to be locked into playing the “one best way” and for those wanting freedom it’s not optimal.
Part of this is the proliferation of “guides” on the internet & other players trying to itinerate their version of “one best way”.
The other part of this is developer side: the mechanics & gear candy, diablo like.
How do you get both sides to offer more freedom I don’t know but as a customer all I know is what is bothering me.
Yet there are things I like too.
Some things: Combat, exploring, reading lore, listening to in game tracks, helping others.
Nope it is not burn out. Again, for like the millionth time, disliking something doesn’t mean you are burned out.
Yeah, I’m not sure if it’s the devs but I do know it’s me. But not even 2 weeks into launch I’m just…bored. I have no desire to log in now. I couldn’t really figure it out at first, but talking with a friend helped me sort it out a bit. Either way I have cancelled my sub for now.
A lot of it comes down to the content gating and the grinds they entail, I think. I have no issues with grinding. I also have no issues with gating. But too much of one or both just leads to a faster burnout.
Another part of it is after reaching lvl 60 I feel much less powerful than I ever did before. Heck, even my pets die in seconds. Once they die I melt pretty fast myself. Since I main a class that has ALWAYS been a relatively solo friendly one to play…this one stings a bit.
I don’t feel like my character has progressed. Initial gearing is also tied largely to dungeons since WQs got nerfed hard. Like 'em or hate 'em they had their uses in the past.
PvP…they seem hellbent on killing it off. I really don’t like what they have done to it in recent years, or what they seemingly have planned. Between obtaining the gear and wonky scaling it doesn’t seem like a fun time.
I’m sure I will return eventually. I always do. But it’s going to be awhile for me this time. I knew it was a possibility months ago though, and I am also on record on these forums in stating that I may take a break if I don’t like what I see. So…I guess I’ll do that. For it to happen this fast though…I can honestly say I have NEVER burned out on an expansion so fast before.
Well OP started his post with the premise that Blizz, not the playerbase, is burned out. Which is just not true.
People like him think Blizz are out of ideas. Blizz is tackling the very concept of WoW’s afterlife. Yeah must mean they’re out of ideas.
It sounds like HE is burned out.
I’m the OP lol. Man so many people on these forums can’t read. Again, your premise that I’m burned out is wrong. I’m telling you I’m not burned out!!! I just hate the theme and like almost all the systems they added to SL. They could have picked so many cooler themes for a new expansion, yet they picked one of the dumbest ones imo.
The story and the writing is beyond cringe and feels like a collection of generic fantasy tropes all wrapped up into one expansion.