I don’t think since I first encountered the Forsaken have I been so instantly charmed by a faction.
First off the entire zone continues the ‘every frame a painting’ aesthetic of the Shadowlands. But this time they made every angle look like a death metal album cover. The entire zone is either a giant undead monstrosity itself or is at least made out of skin. Which is as creative as it is horrific.
Making undead Valhalla was genius. That actually makes a shocking amount of sense if the Shadowlands and it’s denizens remain corporeal. You can war all day and all night because absolute worst case scenario somebody just sticks your soul into an abomination and now you can war even harder.
And it would’ve been so easy to make this zone full of interchangeable, dull automatons who are nothing but a bunch of grim men growling grimly.
But each of the houses have their own distinct flair. I’m very partial to the House of Plagues myself because a birthday party goo monster named Kevin is just splendid. But on top of that they have an unhinged flair for the dramatic and even romance if our Plaguedoctor’s interaction with his fallen Margrave is any indication.
The House of Eyes seem addicted to being clandestine. To the point where I suspect even their grocery lists are written in a code that can only be deciphered by looking at it through a half torn spider web at dusk on alternating Wednesdays.
The House of Constructs for all the world seems like the love child of Sid from Toy Story crossed with 80s John Carpenter. I’m so glad somebody decided to get creativite with abominations. Seriously is there any reason they can’t have chainsaws for arms and a mini gun for a head? Feels like somebody brought the doodles I made in 4th grade to horrifying life.
And the House of the Chosen- well they can’t all be winners. Somebody had to be stuck with the honorable warrior hat to ground the setting morally. But they have plenty of time to surprise me.
It’s just a grotesque and gorgeous wonderland and even if the rest of SL turns out to be a disappointment this alone was for me worth the ticket.
Which I do like well enough for what it is. But the place is really in dire need of some enemy variety. Torghast can rearrange itself as many times as it wants but if I’m still fighting the same 6 enemies it’s going to get samey real fast.
I seen some complaints about the lack of ‘aliens’ and other souls in the Shadowlands, seems a lot of the model creation went into Maldraxxus. I can only speak for experiencing some of it so far, but I’m impressed. The slime men is pretty unique, as is many of the undead forces there.
I was disappointed with Bastion because most of the wild life felt like creatures from Azsuna.
I loved Maldraxxus, and I haven’t loved much in WoW since Legion. The whole time I was in Ardenweald and Revendreth I just wanted to get back to Maldraxxus (both zones are fine for what they are). Hands down my favorite zone. Even though the Primus is not present I also feel like he somewhat paradoxically seems like the most caring/present of the Covenant leaders in a funny sort of way.
Actually I put my DK in Revendreth. She’s my main tank toon and the blood aesthetic works well there. She’s also a deranged aristocrat who feeds off human suffering and is written as having a sentient flying runeblade.
So good to know I steal from the same vampire fiction Blizzard does. Makes me a tad upset Deathstalker Commander Belmont was so poorly characterized in BFA. I’m just saying if he wants to turn up with a whip apropos of nothing I wouldn’t complain.
Vandraeda is my main and is going with the lovely bitey folks in Revendreth, but I’m going to level my death knight next and put him in Maldraxxus. Marileth and Kevin are delightful, and I completely understand why Marileth is so fond of his slimes. I was so sad when he found Stradama, he’s so devoted to her.
Out of the House of the Chosen, I love Bonesmith Heirmir and Secutor Mevix. I love how Heirmir takes pride in her work, and how brave Mevix is. I’m looking forward to playing through the covenant storyline, and not only because I’m a sucker for any lore involving the Mograines. I look forward to the future adventures of Kevin and his many hats.
I must say, before launch, I was convinced it would be my least favorite zone, but after playing through it I quite enjoyed it! Pleasant surprise, very fun.
I liked Draka, Marileth (favorite!), and Mevix, but did the bare minimum of story quests so I could get out of there ASAP. At this point I’m not sure I’m even going to toss an alt in there to see the campaign because it’s just not to my taste…the whole ‘proto-scourge’/rawr battle!!’ aesthetic. At least Revendreth has the neat gothic/vampire theme going on. But…different strokes for different folks I suppose.
After feeling conditioned by several expansions to see militaristic ooh-rah orcs and plaguey forsaken as bad things, combining the two together into a Shadowlands zone made me cranky from the word go, even if they were supposed to be treated as good traits this time around. I couldn’t get out of the zone fast enough.
I have had some serious rollercoaster feelings for Maldraxxus. First quests in there? I was in love. I could Barrage them all and let other people sort them out all day long, and the Arena quests filled that niche. I legit was sad when I left.
Then after an hour in the zone, I hated it. The terrain is a pain to navigate in a lot of places, no good fishing spots, and I kept getting flashbacks to my early days in Icecrown back during Wrath, when I was just short on the gold to fly. Oh look, a zombie-like enemy just dazed and dismounted me! That’s new and different! Hasn’t happened fifty times this hour!
I invested in the mount gear that prevents dismounting for Horrific Visions. And it’s carried over excellently into SL. I’m an alchemist so B-lining off the trail and levitating around steep falls because I saw a flower is sort of my modus operandi. Usually with a congaline of local wildlife and the brigands de jour in tow.
My only real annoyance with Maldraxxus is it’d be nice if the undead monstrosities I’m friends with and the ones that want to chew my face off were color coded. Everyones just in some combination of purple, green and black. Make the baddies red or white or something.
Admittedly this also was a big factor in my dislike for the zone. I kept getting lost. My biggest enemy in-game is my sense of direction (or lack there-of) >_>;;