The Next Shadowlands Patch [Discussion]

[Cyi]

What do you want from 9.1? Currently, SL is amazing for me. There are very few issues I have with it. For starters what I would like to see removed, nerfed, etc:

Gameplay:
Loot drops buffed but not to the point where we're spammed with duplicates and purples.
35 anima from Mythic + Buffed. 70 base. Ex. Mythic 5 gives 95 anima. Mythic 7 gives 130. Mythic 10+ gives 250, [1st timed. 500 only per week].

Blood, Prot Warrior, Frost Mage, Frost DK, Arcane, Survival, Resto Druid, and other weak specs buffed.

Prot Paladin, Veng DH, Fire, and some specs nerfed.

Sanguine Depths, Necrotic Wake, and Plaguefall nerfed.

Removal of Necrotic Affix and a partial removal of the Tyrannical affix [No more extra boss DMG]

Kyrian Troops fixed.

Buff to some covenant abilities.

Story:

More Sylvanas and Jailer
More lore on the other realms of the Shadowlands that aren't in game
Who are the Brokers? And who is Ve'nari?
Why is Anduin "the weapon"?

New Content:

New Raid
New Dungeon
New Battleground
More customizations

What about you

Not a huge fan of the nerfs section. I mean sure, Prot Paladins in PvP might be wonky right now, but I don't see them being over the top in PvE. Same goes for VDH. I mean druid bears are unstoppable killing machines with the right lego's and talents and I don't see people saying anything about them. I just hate when Blizzard gets the nerf bat out because they almost without fail over due it and kill specs.

[Ermelloth]

Currently, SL is amazing for me. There are very few issues I have with it.

Same. Last time I had so much fun and spent long hours playing WoW was in WoD.
These are my suggestions for 9.1:

1. Maw has to be reworked. At least 60% mount speed allowed plus extra rewards from rares needed. At the moment 95% of rewards are Stygia only, which has very little use. Thus, most Venari stuff is entirely skippable, so we need some serious incentives for keeping doing that.

2. We need another adventuring zone - perhaps an island, full of dangers, but with much more substantial rewards. Nazjatar and Mechagon did make BFA better (8.2 perhaps the best BFA patch before corruption nightmare utterly ruined it in 8.3 and beyond)

3. Torghast should also award something in addition to Ash. What if player doesn't need it anymore? Why should he or she keep doing it then? Not saying it should give us epic gear, but some pets / mounts / cosmetic stuff / resources / extra gold / whatever would be welcomed.

And - make it HUGE. It's been a while since we had really LARGE adventuring zone like Timeless Isle (it only seemed small, but in fact it is a wrong impression with all its secrets, elevations, hidden caves and stuff). I remember running Timeless whole day long. It was great - rares available not just once per day, but MULTIPLE times per day, so people could farm cool stuff and have fun there all the time.

4. Covenant abilities in PvP.

While, perhaps, in PvE covenants indeed don't matter this much in terms of their effect on DPS done, in PvP it's a completely different story. Imbalanced stuff like Night Fae seed usable in Arenas, Convoke, etc. has to go, be seriously nerfed or at least become unusable in rated PvP.

5. PvE gear better than PvP gear in PvP situations

It feels like devs did half job regarding vendors. However, you can still run M+ whole day long and get enough drops with Versatility, which will quickly overshine honor gear with all its upgrades. Conquest, however, is limited per week and for getting comparable PvP gear you need high rating, that is, again, unreachable w/o running M+, cause even at ~1200 CR the ladder is full with M+ PvE players, stomping lvl 184 PvPers with their 200+ PvE gear.

My own example comes to mind. I'm currently sitting in M+ guild and run +6-7-8 keys here and there (we're pretty casual + I don't really have much time to invest in hard keys + its not really needed thanks to the Vault). Still, I've got a few 200-203 ilvl gear with Versatility from dungeons, one 207 and two 213 items from the Vault, another 213 item from M+ weekly event, and, finally, 4 200 pieces and a weapon from Ulduar TW, making my overall ilvl 203 at the moment. And this before I touched any rated Arena yet. So, I kinda replaced all my 184 lvl 5 PvP pieces about two weeks ago. They are useless.

Either re-introduce PvP resilience / PvP power WoD system instead of Vers so PvP gear (both unranked and ranked) will be once again better in PvP than PvE gear, or add PvP set bonuses for having 2,4,6 PvP items in slot to grant further damage reduction.

[leggomydairy]

I was running around the south east corner of Maldraxxus and it looks pretty unfinished. I fell through the world and got stuck. I bet there’s going to be more content added there some point. After that happened I looked at the rest of the zones and Mal is the only one with an area that’s obviously unfinished. I bet something is going there is why.

[Omedon]

What do you want from 9.1?

Glyphs. Or some system that leans right into making your class graphically represent your covenant further. Gargon bear forms, death elemental voidwalkers, covenant anima colored shadow and balance forms, covenant anima colored spell graphics.

It doesn't have to be glyphs, they don't have to be covenant exclusive (since we're going toward a unity theme with the covenants), but I suppose they can be covenant exclusive since they've hinted that they will reset the stinkeye of leaving a covenant with major patches. I don't necessarily like the idea of adding to the appeal of this or that covenant with exclusive cosmetics post launch, but I'd tolerate it to get a blood red astral form for my venthyr druid!

[Sondrelk]

Glyphs. Or some system that leans right into making your class graphically represent your covenant further. Gargon bear forms, death elemental voidwalkers, covenant anima colored shadow and balance forms, covenant anima colored spell graphics.

It doesn't have to be glyphs, they don't have to be covenant exclusive (since we're going toward a unity theme with the covenants), but I suppose they can be covenant exclusive since they've hinted that they will reset the stinkeye of leaving a covenant with major patches. I don't necessarily like the idea of adding to the appeal of this or that covenant with exclusive cosmetics post launch, but I'd tolerate it to get a blood red astral form for my venthyr druid!

Changing covenants is about as painless as it can realistically be while not making the meta of playing entail swapping covenants constantly.

Really, the only thing that would be needed would be more Anima available within a set timeframe. Even with the adventure table giving more Anima at higher levels I imagine more could be needed eventually. Especially if more rewards keeps getting added.

[infinitemeridian]

Seasonal armor sets for m+ being added. I'm thinking one per armor type instead of class sets - those can be reserved for raids. Replace the existing loot with the new loot appearances every season, with a special "elite" set for the season as the limited reward. On top of that, let bosses drop some type of currency that lets you buy sets from previous seasons.

Gives people more of a reason to run m+ after they get gear / set for the current season if they want stuff from previous season(s), adds more set variety, and makes m+ more cosmetically rewarding (which it desperately needs).

[Golden Yak]

Has there been any indication in-game yet of what the next raid could be? Any areas that are jumping out as possible raid concepts?

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Looks like Sylvanas may be 9.1!

- - - Updated - - -

Has there been any indication in-game yet of what the next raid could be? Any areas that are jumping out as possible raid concepts?

Oribos has a portal similar to those of Arden, Reven, etc that leads to the Maw but is inactive. It may serve as the raid portal. You can find it on the 2nd floor facing the map where it says "Ring of Transference" and the blue dagger sometimes shows up.

[Gimlix]

What do you want from 9.1? Currently, SL is amazing for me. There are very few issues I have with it. For starters what I would like to see removed, nerfed, etc:

Gameplay:
Loot drops buffed but not to the point where we're spammed with duplicates and purples.
35 anima from Mythic + Buffed. 70 base. Ex. Mythic 5 gives 95 anima. Mythic 7 gives 130. Mythic 10+ gives 250, [1st timed. 500 only per week].

Blood, Prot Warrior, Frost Mage, Frost DK, Arcane, Survival, Resto Druid, and other weak specs buffed.

Prot Paladin, Veng DH, Fire, and some specs nerfed.

Sanguine Depths, Necrotic Wake, and Plaguefall nerfed.

Removal of Necrotic Affix and a partial removal of the Tyrannical affix [No more extra boss DMG]

Kyrian Troops fixed.

Buff to some covenant abilities.

Story:

More Sylvanas and Jailer
More lore on the other realms of the Shadowlands that aren't in game
Who are the Brokers? And who is Ve'nari?
Why is Anduin "the weapon"?

New Content:

New Raid
New Dungeon
New Battleground
More customizations

What about you

I doubt anything PVP related.
New Dungeon for sure, new storyline to continue, convenant stuff.
MAYBE a new raid?

Nothing too special.

[LemonDemonGirl]

Looks like Sylvanas may be 9.1!

- - - Updated - - -



Oribos has a portal similar to those of Arden, Reven, etc that leads to the Maw but is inactive. It may serve as the raid portal. You can find it on the 2nd floor facing the map where it says "Ring of Transference" and the blue dagger sometimes shows up.

Can you screenshot it?

[Raetary]

MAYBE a new raid?

A raid is pretty much guaranteed.

Why would there NOT be a new raid tier?

[Gimlix]

A raid is pretty much guaranteed.

Why would there NOT be a new raid tier?

Been away myself for last 2 expansions (except when last patch already hit BFA)
back in WoD days, there was no raid at those type of patches. just small content with rarely any content.

I assume that changed?

[Raetary]

Can you screenshot it?

Been away myself for last 2 expansions (except when last patch already hit BFA)
back in WoD days, there was no raid at those type of patches. just small content with rarely any content.

I assume that changed?

Both 6.1 and 6.2 came with a new raid tier.
Every major patch since mop came with a new raid tier.

There's absolutely no reason why that would suddenly change.

[LemonDemonGirl]

Oh I see what they meant now. Could we be seeing three/four new gates in Oribos?

[Blayze]

Oh I see what they meant now. Could we be seeing three/four new gates in Oribos?

Between new quest zones and portals for dungeons or raids, those four could be anything.

Hell, if Oribos is part of a raid, that could be where they intend to have the exit portal be when they copy the layout to the raid itself.

[Shedaar]

Class balance
Maw rep account-wide
New dungs etc.,
New soulbinds
Soul ash catch up
Possibility of repair in sanguine depths : ' )

[Kathranis]

I'd like to see Torghast get some more rewards (either cosmetics or a Covenant-equivalent set that gives bonuses within Torghast) and some improvements to how Soul Ash is awarded so that failed runs aren't a complete waste of time, or if not Soul Ash then some other reward. Frankly I'd like to see more internal progression with regards to unlocking Anima Powers and whatnot, too.

I'd like to see a new realm of the Shadowlands. There's apparently been some indication that one of the patch zones will show us how a new realm of the Shadowlands is formed?

A "Naxxramas 3.0" mega-dungeon or mini-raid would be cool.

Fully expect some sort of invasion/assault system.

Hopefully some new customization options for the races that are still a bit lacking (crossing fingers for blood elf tattoos and scars) and the Allied Races.

And then the usual stuff we can expect from any major content patch.

[Sondrelk]

A raid is pretty much guaranteed.

Why would there NOT be a new raid tier?

Because that bolsters their ever-present theory that WoW is dying and that the developers have given up on the project and are lying in a puddle of their own tears in the office.

Though more realistically the only reason they would not have a raid is if Blizzard is intending to catch up on lost time from releasing the expansion so late. I personally don't see the expansion as having launched that late, but you cannot change the forums I guess.

- - - Updated - - -

Between new quest zones and portals for dungeons or raids, those four could be anything.

Hell, if Oribos is part of a raid, that could be where they intend to have the exit portal be when they copy the layout to the raid itself.

Thye could also be nothing.

Remember the Wyrmrest temple in Dragonblight. 5 entrances, and only 2 were ever used despite how easily they could have become a mini-raid or dungeon or whatever.

[Alanar]

Not a huge fan of the nerfs section. I mean sure, Prot Paladins in PvP might be wonky right now, but I don't see them being over the top in PvE. Same goes for VDH. I mean druid bears are unstoppable killing machines with the right lego's and talents and I don't see people saying anything about them. I just hate when Blizzard gets the nerf bat out because they almost without fail over due it and kill specs.

What about convoke for example.. the one shots need to get lost. Fersl and boomie with night fea is beyond retarded atm and ofc Sub rogues etc.

I forsee a 25% overral nerf to pvp combat in bgs/arena etc. Meaning not fixing the outliners but nerfing everyone.

Welcome @oneshotshadowlands

[Dracullus]

Both 6.1 and 6.2 came with a new raid tier.
Every major patch since mop came with a new raid tier.

There's absolutely no reason why that would suddenly change.

And 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 didn't. I much prefer Legion system over BfA, patches 8.1.5 and 8.2.5 felt really empty.

Also raid in 9.1 would mean really late patch BfA style or shorter first tier (and Nathria is 10 boss, no reason to make this shorter than 5 months), or both.