I think the person who designed the maw needs to reconsider their career path. Just saying. It’s not good level design. It’s sadistic, and masochistic, and as someone who has spent lots of time building maps for games as a hobbiest, and who helped with an indie game, it’s bad design all around. I’m sure their intention was to create a hell. Ok sure, but they didn’t need to be piss off players and make them avoid it.
Designers at Blizzard seem to lack the capacity to think outside their own visions. They don’t think how will this affect players, and will they appreciate this, or avoid it. They did everything in their power to make people loathe it, and again. Not good design.
Idk, Ardenwald is definitely a 10/10 zone imo. Then again, I feel they were both meant to capture different things atmospherically. Ardenwald is meant to be a realm of rebirth, an infinite lunar forest in vibe and atmosphere. Meanwhile Howling Ford is meant to be, honestly, not 100% sure but the vibe definitely hits me as something more nature driven like a wild plainlands atmosphere. As a huge fan of Castlevania, I definitely dig Revendreth too. I’m a worgen, so those old castles and darksouls style vibes really are more my lane too. I’d say the art and music team are definitely still killing it for me personally.
Was listening to Dragonblight music tonight. Oh man, that piano and frail, chilly sounding violin really captured the desolate and deadly landscape. Even though you were in the shadow of the mighty dragon aspects (and before their immortality was forfeit) there was no triumph or regalia here… Wrath was such a breath of fresh, organic and immersive air from BC for me.
I mean, I love TBC. The faded, rugged majesty of Nagrand, the strings in Hellfire, the warlike drums, the melancholy of Shattrath, the alien vibe of Terrokar (straight out of Animorphs or some other sci fi I read as a kid)… I can go on.
TBC holds a very special place in my heart.
But yeah, Wrath holds a similar place for me. As does MoP.
Yeah, TBC had a lot of high points and it hit that high-fantasy and sci-fi spot well. But sailing north into “the Fjord” to Valgarde with the massive white cliffs and that music…it felt like this was going to be a truly epic adventure for me.
Obviously, we will each have our own emotional and nostalgic ties. TBC and Wrath were some of the peak times for me in WoW.
Glad you enjoyed it. It needed to be incentivized a lot more. I always say this about myself in real life. I’m motivated by gifts, and incentive. Take away incentive, and I’ll do F all. In game design it’s the same thing. Players always want to feel like there is more gain than loss. Even if it’s 60/40. The maw is like 20% gain vs 80% loss. It’s just over the top. The egos, yes.
It’s like, a Boss laying off people at xmas to save money, but they lack the ability to see beyond the piece of paper.
Agreed. It’s like… when I was modding my truck last year… I had all these ideas, but then, as I progressed, I scraped half of them because sometimes… subtle, and less is more.
In fairness, that’s… kind of by design in the Shadowlands. You’re NOT interacting with the natural world. You’re NOT interacting with people living their lives. You’re interacting with a very rigid soul sorting machine (that just happens to be broken right now).
It’s fine to not like that, but I don’t think that’s indicative of a change in the development of the game. BfA was a lot more like what you were describing and like the video you posted. Despite the other issues BfA had.
Having some room to breathe in a zone I think is worthwhile. A zone should be impressive but not overwhelming. I think sometimes the complexity (in both the physicality of the terrain of the game and the mechanic complexity of gameplay) can become the focal point and not the world trying to tell a story. When every zone is packed with hideaways and similar features (vertical, less off the beaten path, etc), they become less a part of the story and more a part of the road you have to travel.
Chris Metzen was big on having the world of Warcraft be the main character and early zones reflect their individuality. Early zones had features that stood out: blackrock mountain, dire maul, the crumbling landscape of Hellfire mixed with the citadel ruins, the wyrmrest temple, Naxxramas. I don’t know of a “watermark” of Drustvar beyond the narrative. Any geological or magical feature? Or maybe the story has progress to such depth that once simple highlights aren’t possible.
The art and level design is more creative and interesting in some of the Shadowlands zones. I have never understood the average fan’s obsession with the relatively generic forests and plains. Some of the most boring zones are the most popular.
The music is fine in Shadowlands, but not remarkable like some of the older stuff. Not surprising, given the departures.
Did you, or anyone reading, ever play Dungeons and dragons with a bad/controlling dungeon master? That’s what WoW feels like now, the dungeon master has created HIS game and expects us to simple fill our role and play it THEIR WAY.
I get that Blizz had a story to tell so we can’t go all “choose your own adventure,” but they’re not only making the needing of the story, they’re forcing us to that point in a specific way.
Yeah, there are a few zones which just are not fun!!! But if I ever say anything I get called, “a noob who complains about a challenge.” No sir, taking a five minute roundabout instead of a one minutes straight shot isn’t a challenge, it’s an annoying attempt to get more time played.
Remove the system dependency and make loot be loot again. Focus on zones and the game can recover. Bfa was all around bad but had great music in the zones. Shadowlands is lacking. Might of zandalar vs oribos is no contest.
It needed to be incentivized a lot more. I always say this about myself in real life. I’m motivated by gifts, and incentive. Take away incentive, and I’ll do F all. In game design it’s the same thing. Players always want to feel like there is more gain than loss. Even if it’s 60/40. The maw is like 20% gain vs 80% loss. It’s just over the top. The egos, yes.