Yah, the homogenization of the game im mixed about. On one hand, we don’t have to worry about one side getting something better than the other. On the other, a lack of diversity in having different perspectives to the same story.
also i hate things like sharding/layering and remember how Wrath they had two startings zones in Northrend which split the player base so one area wasn’t getting rushed by a billion people all at once. That was very neat and cool and it would be awesome to have something like that again.
I really don’t enjoy sharding. I hate that I can’t show up to an area my friends are at and just see them anymore unless I party with them to ensure we’re on the same layer.
I heard FFXIV has some sort of shard control for players where they can select the shard to be on? I’d love something like that in wow. “Hey guys, we’re gonna play on shard 42. see ya there.”
On a good note, I’m enjoying TWW. Dungeons are tougher and I’m not such a god as a tank anymore, but I’m enjoying a real sense of progression again. My group will begin our push to portals and KSH in the next few weeks and, because the dungeons are tougher, it feels good to actually overcome them.
I haven’t been able to do a lot of M+ this expansion as I’m either on late or busy on our dungeon nights but I’m glad we have delves! I have been able to gear up threw them and I don’t feel so behind with the rest of my guild. So when I do make it to dungeon nights, I don’t feel bad for being carried in pooping questing gear.
I geared up a DK tank alt from fresh 80 to 608 in less than 15 hours /played due to bountiful delves. Didn’t even need a carry for t8 since tanks be tanks. Absolutely a great kickstart to characters.
Because despite having nothing to do with the Horde AT ALL beyond ‘oh no, green jesus has the visions also!11’ the campaign is written so that everyone can be involved. That’s the difference between Alliance-coded and Alliance-only.
The biggest problem is for the past 20 years, WoW has been nothing but Alliance-coded narratives and never an Alliance narrative in and of itself.
While the Horde’s continued to suffer attrition in characters (to the point the Faction Conflict isn’t viable any more if for no other reason then preservation of the survivors), the Alliance just seems to lose towns and cities every expansion. I know Dalaran’s become more universal, but it was still yet another founding Alliance city dashed upon the shores of the Isle of Dorn.
The Alliance characters get to be the principle drivers of the plot, but the Alliance as a faction may as well not exist.
this is kinda why i don’t miss the faction conflict. who was the main character of Garrosh’s villain arc? oh. vol’jin. who was the main character of sylvanas’s evil arc? Saurfang! the alliance kinda just got to watch and maybe say a few mean things occasionally.
Like I don’t feel bad for Horde players crying that they don’t feel included by this expac because the Alliance has been relevant like on one patch of Legion where Velen got to exist and apart from that, they might as well not be a thing.
(If anyone says Illidan is Alliance-coded, I’m eating you alive. Illidan has never been part of the Alliance. Ever. In His Life.)
I think the balance I finally arrived at is that the attention comes with drawbacks.
The Alliance does not get to be as active as the Horde and they tend to lose any and all direct confrontations with the Horde, often in really boring and unsatisfying ways. But when the Alliance gets to be the focus, they tend to have some pretty good stories that stick out for quality.
The Horde gets the spotlight more often, they get a hundred times more effort put into their content and it always comes at the expense of the Alliance, but the Horde-centric stories are often really, really bad. Watching the Horde go down the exact same path of cartoon villainy, over and over again, while Blizzard high-fives each other on their amazing writing is a special pain for special people.
Finally had my Big Halloween Bash this weekend- I was Akuma and my wife was Chun-Li. We had a DJ, Bartender and the best people come round. Sunday we kicked backed and did nothing at the house all day (We haven’t done that in like forever).
I would like to NOT be given the “honorable, guilt-ridden redemption into something good and dies with honor after realizing that apes together = strong / this is bigger than all of us and our petty wars” stick anymore, please.