Unpopular Opinion: I Agree With The Portal Changes

Listen I know a lot of people hated these changes, and at first i thought they would be trash. But honestly, I kinda like them. Here is a few reasons as to why.

  1. The new portal room looks totally cool, and fits right in with the feel of modern Warcraft. I mean come on the themed decorations behind each one, it reminds me of Crash: Warped. And the Cata portals, previously the coolest looking portals in the game IMO. The Harry Potter style illusion is amazing and magical as well, something they were trying for in the original version, but the small size of the room made it seem like an oversight rather than intention of illusion.
  2. New players found it very confusing to get to different portals, and I constantly saw in trade and general chat “how can I get to insert zone here” and now that all the portals are in one place, it is easy for them to know which way to go. The portal room! And that’s about it now!
  3. We beat the legion. The fact that Dalaran is floating over the Tomb of Sargeras is simply a precaution. But when you go downstairs, see the complete room of the Pillars of Creation, and silence. Silence from the whir of portals and flow of eager heroes that once filled it. When you leave and look up at the sky, a red dot remains where Argus once filled our hearts with fear. It feels, over.
  4. Adding new portals to this place SHOULD be possible, and I have hope this this will become a popular and frequently visited place for every Xpac to come. I mean, if the mages could change it overnight the way they did, they surely can make a minor adjustment overnight. hint hint nudge nudge

Not every change made in this game is for the better, but at the end of the day it is still the Azeroth we all know and love. And I look forward to seeing how the world will continue to evolve and change, and I will stick around. If simply to be the last guy saying “Remember when?..”

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My god…I posted this on my Gnome Hunter. NOBODY LOOK AT ME!!!

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We could have kept the portal room and the portals. Personally I disagree myself. New players could have been directed to those rooms, and our portals could have remained there for our choice.

Instead, they took it all away including Shrine. Shrine is the one portal that should have remained in tact with CoT in the very least.

Also the lack of portals does the opposite of making travel easier/helps new players. I’m sick of the whole “we need to punish current players for the benefit of new” or “so nostalgia people can be happy”.

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Here is the thing though. They aren’t trying to make travel easier. Not every change in a game HAS to be directed at making the game easier. We have gotten kinda spoiled in that we expect every xpac to bring a slew of changed that make OUR lives easier (quicker), and not really enrich the gaming experience.

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There was no need to remove portals. PERIOD.

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The portal room is beautiful

Their reasoning for removing certain portals is a laughable joke that even the biggest idiot wouldn’t buy into

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And I flat out disagree that it helps new players and is necessary. You’re not going to change my mind at all, in any aspect.

They didn’t need to take away what we had for a very long time without any warning when adding it in. Not once did they say “portals are limited content”. I’m sorry, but no, I disagree wholeheartedly with all of your points.

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Sigh. Pal, who in their right mind watches themselves take flight paths? Every single one of us afk’s to YouTube or Netflix (SO COMPELLING). This doesn’t make the world feel bigger. They have to sort that out with their design next expansion. Organizing the portals makes sense but placing a travel time-gate for those just wanting to farm old content (by making the portals take us to villages outside hubs)… Now they’re crossing a line.

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You could have everything you like about the new portal room, while still keeping the old portals that were convenient for the rest of us. There was no reason to remove the old portals except for Blizzard’s own marketing reasons.

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There was once a time where you had to take flight paths everywhere. Travel was difficult and it led to adventures DURING those travels. Then they added flying. And more and more portals and we got lazy. It is an open world game, where we have flying mounts, flight paths, portals, boats, ect. Remembering where to go to get to each portal was starting to get complicated. The portal room cleaned it up and nothing is saying they wont add in more portals. They even stated they ARE adding a caverns of time portal.

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Tedium doesn’t help anything except contribute to burn out.

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How on earth are they making money on removing the portals? That makes no sense.

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Data.

Time played.

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More time played = more money for blizzard. 2-5 minutes PER account adds up to a lot more time played from the community.

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Tedium is part of what put WoW on the map. Believe it or not many people like the grind. They like the process.

Lol you’re wrong.

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Yeah when it rewards you with something. Flying from A to B gives me nothing other than “thank god thats over”

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If they want adventures make the old world worth exploring. They’ve openly said they don’t want anything to do with the old world and that their focus is entirely on the new zones. So they too don’t care about adventure

If you want people to explore things then make it worth their while. Simply hindering them won’t make them want to engage in anything

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So you’re one of those “back in the old days” people? In that case we definitely won’t ever see eye to eye.

Flight paths aren’t fun. Portals reduced that boring aspect. Now I’m having less fun because i have to waste time and tab. So engaging.

And again–those that don’t enjoy portals could have gone on their merry way. Don’t like it, don’t use it. But taking it away from everyone else because you dislike it is nonsense.

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Blizzard is a company, not a hobby. Every decision they make is to make money.

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