Soo...Is Shadowlands any good?

[Hollycakes]

Lots of good points already made.

The main one for me is how on rails it is. It's like playing a single player game. And with shards/phasing, it's been empty quite a few places when I'm out and also even in Oribos.
Also yea, something feels off about it and doesn't feel like Warcraft. The story so far has been meh to me. As has been said, just can't get into it.
Just my opinion.
I play to have fun with friends though not level. After this many years, leveling is sooo boring.

[Pann]

It's certainly at the WoD end of scale.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I'll tell you when it has passed in its entirety.

Giving a grade this early on is impossible to someone like me. I can say specifically what I'm not liking and what I do, but that's it.

[arkanon]

I'll tell you when it has passed in its entirety.

Giving a grade this early on is impossible to someone like me. I can say specifically what I'm not liking and what I do, but that's it.

The other major issue is that because it is new, peoples opinion is FAR more likely to lean towards the positive. Someone in chat literally said this in chat, un-ironically: "it doesnt matter if its good or not, its new, and thats good enough". Shows how far some peoples standards have slipped.

[Devylknyght]

Honestly it's a mixed bag. There is a lot of good on the art as always, but the story is still shit like bfa and all of the content is bloated borrowed power systems. Half of the 4 zones are not even involved in the questing... I am leaning towards bfa 2.0 atm.... Such a shame.

[jellmoo]

Currently level 57, so still more to go. Thus far I'd say it's... okay. I don't love the "on rails" questing system that holds your hand from spot to spot. I understand that it's needed to tell the story, but, well, the story itself is actually one of the weaker parts. It doubles down on the player being super duper special, and I find it incredibly weird that all of the big name NPCs that get taken into the Maw are so buddy buddy with one another, despite being at war.

The zones are a mixed bag. I liked Bastion. It was nice and an interesting take on the afterlife. I absolutely hated Maldraxxus. It's ugly, bland, has a disappointing story and terrible voice overs. I'm absolutely loving Ardenweald though. It is just gorgeous. It's fun, has personality, and feels like a zone that has a heart. I still have a lot to do in the zone, so I hope it keeps up.

I'm playing a Brewmaster, so class wise it's fine. I do meh damage, but can pull everything in the zone without really worrying about dying, so that has a bit of charm. My realm population seems hugely skewed though. I'm playing Alliance on Wyrmcrest Accord, and I swear the people leveling are 90% Horde.

For leveling content, I rate it to be about on par with Cata. Slightly ahead of BfA and TBC. But behind Legion, WoD, MoP and WotlK when it comes to expansions.

[Nivena]

My plan is to resub during the Christmas holidays..then most of the annoying bugs will be fixed and we might even have a .5 patch then

I only started playing BfA three months into the expansion and the wait was worth it. I did not miss anything.

[Irian]

I think I'd give it a C+ right now, after having completed the leveling experience and done a few dungeons. Dungeons are fairly linear and forgettable, but this isn't M+ or anything.

The leveling experience just...really didn't grab me? I don't know, I can't really explain why if I'm being honest. Shadowlands and this entire plot is just so disconnected from everything I've experienced from WC3 to BfA that it almost doesn't feel like the same game. I almost feel like I'm playing a game that copied a huge part of the aesthetic style of WoW but didn't want to face copyright so they just sort of took vague likenesses of Warcraft-esque characters.

The zones being separated linear, and feeling as small as they are makes the expansion almost feel more like 7.3 Argus than it does a full fledged expansion, and the terrain already feels really garbage to ride across on a ground mount. I find myself wishing even only a day into the expansion that I would enjoy this a lot more if I could just fly.

Overall while it might sound like I'm being kind of critical of the expansion, I don't totally hate it. I like some of the zones well enough, covenant abilities are more enjoyable than I thought they'd be, and the dungeons were fine enough. I also appreciate that while the questing was pretty lackluster, it didn't overstay its welcome and I felt like I was going from zone to zone without spending too much time in any one particular area longer than I wanted to.

[HCLM]

It is ok. But i feel like outdoor content is badly tuned for level 60. One second you faceroll everything, another u got almost one shot.

Lvling was fun. But WQs are boring and artifically prolonged by adding too many mobs to kills or strange activities.

[Awfulist]

I've been on Illidan since Wotlk, so release "Realm is full" is something I'm used to, what I have gotten to play has been lit indeed.

[Jessicka]

So finished levelling now, and I think Ardenweald was an improvement on Bastion and Maldraxxus, but it did rely on a tried and tested ‘Druid zone’ formula shown in Mount Hyjal and Val’Sharah, so wasn’t really a unique experience. Revendreth was great though and a nice way to finish up levelling.

Actually decided to go Venthyr on the back of it, even though I prefer the Kyrian aesthetics, I just couldn’t bear the idea of hanging out with their NPCs. People who describe Bastion as ‘heaven’ must think the sort of despot place with sprawling empty, super clean architecture that exists purely for show and not use by the general population is heavenly.

[Teriz]

I think I'd give it a C+ right now, after having completed the leveling experience and done a few dungeons. Dungeons are fairly linear and forgettable, but this isn't M+ or anything.

The leveling experience just...really didn't grab me? I don't know, I can't really explain why if I'm being honest. Shadowlands and this entire plot is just so disconnected from everything I've experienced from WC3 to BfA that it almost doesn't feel like the same game. I almost feel like I'm playing a game that copied a huge part of the aesthetic style of WoW but didn't want to face copyright so they just sort of took vague likenesses of Warcraft-esque characters.

I think that's my issue with it too; It just doesn't feel like WoW, and I think that's because of the setting. Places like Kul'Tiras or Northrend just feel like you're part of Azeroth. Anytime we go off world to other places, it just doesn't feel as connected to me. Hopefully the next expansion keeps us on Azeroth, and uses some old location from classic Warcraft to draw me back in.

[Grimbolt]

The worst part for me having played MMOs for 20 years is that World of Warcraft continues to push the players on rails instead of letting them explore the world on their own. We have no choices as to where and how we want to level. Gotta follow the story line and maybe do some side quests, but its all layed of for us and we have to do it.

And the you are a champion story line has and is getting more and more old and used and limits player made roleplaying.

[Hollycakes]

My realm population seems hugely skewed though. I'm playing Alliance on Wyrmcrest Accord, and I swear the people leveling are 90% Horde.

That's because it is. WRA is mainly Horde RP. MG is the Alliance one.

[jellmoo]

That's because it is. WRA is mainly Horde RP. MG is the Alliance one.

It's never been noticeable before though. Throughout WoD, Legion and BfA, it always felt balanced whilst leveling. It's just in Shadowlands where it feels incredibly one sided.

[PixelFox]

Going slowly and really enjoying it so far. Can't remember an expansion that was felt better at this point. Almost done with Maldraxus.

[beanman12345]

Well I like that they removed some instants cooldowns off the GCD that were put on, but it still boggles my mind why ANY instants remain. just adjust the time of the benefit of the cooldown, and take it off the GCD!

As for the rest, idk I'm still leveling so it feels like basically every other expansion so far. Haven't gotten to the end game where shit actually matters. so can't really comment on if's it's any good.

[melodramocracy]

Waaaayyyy to early to tell. If I were to measure my reaction to this expansion and the prior at the same point in time (just 2 days in), Shadowlands kicks the shit out of BfA in every way possible, and might be the most interesting / entertaining leveling experience I've seen yet. If I had a complaint at all, it's that mobs are entirely too easy, including elites.

It's early though. Run this poll again in 4-6 months for a better assessment.

[Steelangel]

You think this site is some kind of hive mind for assholes? Not to reflect but then why do you come here? In fact there are many different kinds of people posting, and some are more worth listening to than others. Spend enough time here and you form opinions on who is who; I'm surprised you haven't figured that out after all this time.

Have you not read this forum? It's actually filled with brittle people. Not everyone, of course, but I'm not saying "everyone". I'm pointing out that there are people here who (even in this thread) returned the game for $ back at least on the day of release.

If you want to see how it is, play it and give it a chance.

If not, don't. Whatever.

But don't just listen to a group of randos on the internet.

[therealbowser]

I'm less interested in whether it's good, and more interested in why it's good. This is the first expansion I didn't buy at launch because I don't trust Blizzard to make games based off of quality instead of quarterly statements anymore.

I'm waiting to see how it plays out before buying, if I buy at all. My main concern is how alt-friendly it is with its layers upon layers of systems, and that is not something we're going to get a feel for a couple days into launch.