tl;dr: I play Wowhead more than WoW.
Absolutely nothing is intuitive about this game any more. Random normal bosses have more mechanics than raid bosses did a few expansions ago, and most of them make no sense at all. Onyxia deep-breathing? Of course, she’s a dragon. Bosses shooting rays in four directions while dropping puddles? wut. The first couple expansions, you needed guides; then you needed addons; now you need to go through hell – as much abuse as a community can heap on you – for a few runs just to know where to begin to research.
Non-intuitive is not the same thing as challenging. It’s just stupid homework at every. single. stage. “Get in a helpful guild and get carried.” Okay, but why does a successful game not function without third-party websites and assistants? When we have to install a dozen mods to get Skyrim to run right, we call it what it is: bug fixes.
Even world quests and chests need wowhead on alt-tab. And for what? I can’t think of a game where the reward-to-research ratio is so bad. And because of that, people are in berserk mode: bored, rushing, irritable. Which means group content is a special nightmare with everyone except the closest of friends.
I remember my first mythic+, a few expansions back. I dropped the keystone in before some of the group had entered. Wow, cursing in three languages. Fair enough, it was a new mechanic, even back then I probably should have known to ask before clicking. Fast forward to tonight, when I went into a heroic dungeon that I far out-geared, picked up some item that gave me no indication I now held the life of the group in my hands, and suddenly I’m reliving that first mythic+ experience: cursing, raging, etc. How would I have known this? I picked up the quest inside, there was no mention in the Adventure Guide afaik, there was nothing on the quest item that warned it wasn’t just a quest item … It’s like all these situations exist JUST to make the game as hellish as possible. And. For. What?
Quests with key mechanics not even mentioned: don’t step on the purple blobs or the race resets, the clicky is underground, you have to wait until next week, there are EIGHTEEN FLOORS this time, etc. Your rewards: some anima, with 14 ways to spend it and no clue which does what. Surprise, alchemy stones stink this expansion, thanks for grinding up all that way for nothing, should have read the wowhead comments first, idiot ha ha.
Anyway.