I’ve been a World of Warcraft player for years, and while The War Within started with a bang, delivering an epic storyline and exciting gameplay, something’s shifted over the months that’s left me questioning the game’s direction. The pacing of the game feels off—like it’s trying to be something it’s not. The grind I poured into those first two or three months to earn high item-level (ilvl) gear now feels almost pointless when I can gear up a fresh character in a day or a week. Professions, too, can be done fairly quickly as well, which strips away the sense of accomplishment I used to feel. It’s as if the game has adopted this hyper-accelerated playstyle, reminiscent of fast-paced games like Fortnite or Call of Duty, where everything is about speed and RNG rather than meaningful progression.
This shift makes rewards like mounts feel more like freebies than collectibles. Once, earning a rare mount was a badge of dedication, a story to share with your guild. Now, they’re handed out so frequently that they’ve lost their luster. The gameplay itself moves at breakneck speed, but the content—especially the story—feels like it’s crawling. The War Within launched with a gripping narrative, but as the months have passed, the storyline seems to have faded into the background, leaving us waiting for updates that feel like it might not come for ages. It’s frustrating to feel so invested in a world only to have its momentum stall.
PvP is another sore spot. It continues to feel unbalanced and will not be fixed, like the matchmaking system is designed to give one side an ~85% chance of winning (Alliance), creating lopsided matches. And when you’re on a losing streak, the game seems to throw you a bone by pitting you against undergeared players just to keep you hooked with a win or two. It doesn’t feel rewarding—it feels manipulative. I can’t help but wonder if WoW is being tailored to a younger audience or players who prefer single-button addons and thoughtless gameplay over the strategic depth the game once demanded.
Don’t get me wrong—The War Within had me hyped at launch. The world, the story, the vibe—it was all there. But the fast-paced grind, the devaluation of rewards, and the slow drip of meaningful content have left me feeling disconnected. I’m curious if others feel the same. Is this rush to instant gratification making WoW lose its soul? Or is this just the natural evolution of an MMO in 2025? Let me know your thoughts—am I alone in feeling like the game’s pacing is pulling us away from what made WoW special?
Edit because I felt like adding it: the point of every single thread of “Has X lost it’s ‘nebulous non-defined emotionally evocative phrase’ because of Y popular thing?” is exactly this. It is as timeless as complaining about stuff has always been.
They could’ve written it yesterday, a year ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago, or even two hundred years ago. Nothing about this is grounded in anything other than “me want to complain and use vague language that specifies nothing.”
Precisely nothing of what the OP said has any meaning whatsoever, and most of the stuff that they actually said that can be critiqued is just factually incorrect.
Gearing is slow for the first month or two of a raid tier. I don’t see a huge issue with catch-up at that point, tbh. Anything competitive / relevant is done by that point.
Also, no offense, but your ilvl is low. Why are you complaining about it being too easy to gear?
Oh 100% It started when Blizzard began treating an MMO like an E-Sport and it needs to stop. All this fast paced mentality is doing is breeding impatience, irritability, and a lack of critical thinking.
I feel the same about the narrative of the game, although, it has been like that for a while, so I’m used to it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you’re playing WoW for the story, you’re playing the wrong game. Generally, it seems like there is a bit of a story push with the release of the expansion, and there are no real big story changes until the next expansion. See, Shadowlands (viewed largely as the worst expansion, narrative-wise). See, Dragonflight - where we say hello to new dragonfriends, and pretty much nothing happens until Iridikon steals some scary artifact at the end of the expansion. See, War Within - Hello to spider friends and Arathi; And, pretty much nothing has happened for almost a year now.
Content, here is a new thing to do that our marketing department will hype for weeks / months before its actually released. It will sound so good and then you watch all the videos of the PTR through the streamers to learn its ordinary. Already not excited for The Legacy of Arathor after watching youtube.
Gear, veteran gear anyone? Oh, you have champion gear from this event already? here have some more veteran gear to the point that you need to create an enchanter to DE all the veteran gear in your WB, as you have already fully geared your alts.
Longevity - you have given your soul to satan in hours of your life, to consistently level that heroic gear you worked on since the beginning of season. 1000 delves done as of yesterday. We gated you, you have waited till now to have a crack of just having a character fully done. So 6 months is up and ALL that gear is going to be junk again. The point! Whats with nothing having any real value now. Where are the world items that you can farm for that permanent enhancement to your character? Its almost like the throw away society mentality where rewards have no value. I have other games, old games where rewards were few and earned. And you appreciate that upgrade because you worked for it.
Rewards, you love cosmetics dont you? And if you havent got pages and pages of cosmetics, that you are never going to wear as they are just that god damn awful, then its time you got more via our new housing system? A new cosmetic system on top of the old cosmetic system. Because we dont want to give power up rewards…On a personal note. A simple polished set of plate armour would be welcome Blizzard. Just the medieval knight look, that doesnt make a blood elf look like she is wearing tights!!! Please!!!
Wow has become a fast paced theme park where Blizzard is trying to be everything to everyone. Its still a good game but its very time demanding IF you are interested in trying all things out at a realistic pace.
yes its fast paced chaos in seasonal timeline if i want the fomo goodies
Im usually happy with ksm mount each season but now they add triple threat title that im tempted to get it done this season because my characters main and alts have the highest ever seasonal gear average of 6/8 heroic
seems too much chaos on my schedule
i had made 2 dedicated alts intended to do all side quests immersions but i havent had the time to do it due to this fast paced chaos taking over my priorities
What you actually mean is: like it’s trying to be something it wasn’t.
This change goes back a long time, at least to Legion.
The devs saw people dropping out of the game, for RL reasons or to play other games, and then come back. But many of them gave up on coming back, because they were too far behind and it was too hard to catch up.
So the devs’ Priority One became Make it easy for people to return and catch up. All other priorities rescinded.
They did it, but they had to sacrifice a lot, a lot of the feeling of it being meaningful to progress anywhere but at the current leading edge.
And that’s a loss, but it is a sacrifice they were prepared to make, to keep people coming back.
Was it worth it? Was there a better way? I dunno. I don’t like it, but I’m not seeing the reactions of millions of players.
Yes the game has become a “What’s in the moment now”. I would say warcraft is Spaceballs the video game. It has become a parody of itself. To sum it up in a nutshell.
“Everything that’s happening now is happening now”
