WoW's LONGEST content drought incoming

[Saltii]

Content drought only exist for people that play 12 hours a day.

Are you serious? Casuals have been possibly the most outspoken about the lack of content. Your comment makes no sense!

[MoanaLisa]

So could all of the cool Bellular haters please enlighten us poor, misguided idiots who occasionally visit his channel for WoW news and discussion? Prey tell, which youtuber should we be giving our attention to oh geniuses of the internet? Seriously, I'd love to know instead of a "LOL bellular bad derp" response

None of them. Play the game, come to your own conclusions. Report in what you think.

If I want to have a discussion with Bellular he can come here and make a post.

[Zantera]

There's probably a bunch of other better WoW youtubers if you want the news without watching doomsday prophet Bellular with his clickbait headlines. I occasionally watch Hazel but sometimes you don't even need a video since a lot of news are compiled down on MMO-C or Wowhead for example.

As for the talk of 'no content' i just find it laughable but i've been here through all the years so i remember the dark ages of wotlk (running around dalaran), cataclysm (running around SW/Org) and WoD (running around in the garrison). People tend to have this warm and glowy 'the grass was greener back in the day' nostalgia thing but in reality it's part of the game and always has been.

[cparle87]

i'd say game is incredibly annoying
U have sh8tload of collectables, but they need sh8tload of anima to farm, and u get 35 in average quest, while average item costs in thousands

It's almost as though we have 2 years to gather these things and it's not intended to be done in just a month or two. Tell me, did you have everything from the island expeditions vendor at this time last expansion? Same thing.

[Lolites]

As for the talk of 'no content' i just find it laughable but i've been here through all the years so i remember the dark ages of wotlk (running around dalaran), cataclysm (running around SW/Org) and WoD (running around in the garrison). People tend to have this warm and glowy 'the grass was greener back in the day' nostalgia thing but in reality it's part of the game and always has been.

this, not to mention for quite a while patch didnt help, as it meant new raid and that was it, maybe some small things like hub with few daily q

[Koward]

Content drought only exist for people that play 12 hours a day.

In Classic, yes.
But since around WotLK-Cata there are difficulty modes that allow everyone to eat content quickly.
Harder difficulties are not seen as "content" by many, so they feel like they finished the game pretty fast, and then just wait for the next patch.

[Wangming]

You're actually a clown. KEK.

I'd rather be a good clown than you, thank you very much. By the by did you see my breakdown above? Gonna admit being wrong yet?

[Nyel]

and neither of them had raid, so unless 9.1 is also divided into multiple releases its kinda dishonest to compare it to x.1 patch date rather than to raid release in x.1.5... (btw that would be 4.5 months for nighthold and over 5 months for battle for dazaralor)

Even if we compare 9.1 to 8.1.5 or 7.1.5 it’s late by two months if 9.1 comes in June, as I’ve already told you in another post. And we don’t even know if the raid in 9.1 launches directly with the patch, unlocks weeks later or comes in 9.1.5. So 7 months after Shadowlands launch is the most optimistic and positive way to view it (at this point it’s almost naive to be honest). Do you know what happened 7 months after Legion‘s release? 7.2 was released.

- - - Updated - - -

Are you really comparing the entirety of Suramar to the first patch of the Maw? The Maw that will be expanded exponentially based on what they've said? 7.1 was much quicker but it was fucking tiny. It had Kara revamp, expansion of Suramar and a fucking 3 boss raid. Wow. BFA started with the tiny War Campaign, Warfronts(LOL) 6 zones(only the Alliance ones were even good) and Islands. Warfronts were essentially 10 people carrying the other 10 afk idiots because they fell so flat. Islands....Why even bother. There is so much more to do in SL it's not even funny. PvP gearing isn't ass finally too.

I guess the plethora of things to do being completely optional makes it a content drought. Who knew.

Playing alts doesn't feel like an insurmountable task now either. It's fantastic.

Why are you talking about content of 9.1 when you say that 9.0 has been waaaaay bigger than any previous launch patch? The Maw is absolutely horrible compared to Suramar, has no storyline, has no quests and almost no fun attached to it. Suramar had a great storyline and two dungeons on top of that.

7.1 had a mega dungeon, something we‘ll get in 9.1 as well. A 3 boss raid is more than no raid overall (Nighthold came two months later in 7.1.5, which was a shorter timeframe than it will be from 9.0 to 9.1).

Even if you dislike Warfronts, they were there. Same with Island Expeditions. I hated them both with a passion, but that was all content of 8.0.

So I really don’t see any argument why 9.0 is a way bigger launch patch when in fact it isn’t. Playing an alt in Shadowlands is maybe a bit less dreadful than it was in BfA, but it’s still a pain. You do the same exact storyline in the same way, the only difference comes at max level with your Covenant choice. Hearing in Shadowlands via Mythic+ is horrible, having to do Torghast on all your alts is horrible and it’s the same with the Maw. Playing an alt in SL is not fantastic, it’s work work work.

[crusadernero]

Maybe Blizzard wants it this way? They release content, people buy box & sub up, play for a while then unsub. Months later, a new patch/xpac launches and its repeated. Theres probably enough people staying subbed inbetween patches/xpacs and enough people subbing up and buying the xpac box.

Maybe, just maybe, wow aint supposed to be a game were you stay subbed for a longer period of time because the content dictates so?

Its heading more for a seasonal fixture with raids, m+(new affixes), arena seasons and that mount for 6 month sub. Its getting closer and closer to a battle pass like we see in games like CoD. In Cod you buy the game and after that its battle passes that gives you stuff+ you can buy cool skins for weapons etc.

If we compare CoD to wow there more to have in common. You could continue playing both games and try the absolute hardest difficulties and clear them, or you can play it like a regular joe and finish the campaign on normal while dabbing into multiplayer. Then you get a bit bored of it, leave the game for a while and return at a later stage when new maps+battle pass and more is launched.

Both games also have cash shop features and we should expect more of that in wow over the coming years.

[arucado3]

I quit retail in mop and pretty much came back to play seriously in shadowlands. It was a good start yet i can feel like this is the expansion that is really gonna kill the game. When i say kill i don't mean 0 ppl playing. From my point of view as a pvper i can't even find RBG groups to climb from 2.3 rating onwards. Literally in the entire afternoon and evening of a saturday, i was able to find 1 group. Also in spanish region there currently are 0 premades pushing at the moment.

I got gladiator the previous week and the scene is disgusting. So many boosting that is gamebreaking, 50% of the groups u face above 2.2 are boosting groups. Same for the few games i could play in 2.4mmr RBG, people boosting.

Also as a 2.500 3v war , im standing the #10 of spain region. How is that even possible? I remember the mop days when u were 2.5 there were still so many people above you. Atleast i can say PVP is dead in spanish wow.

We are almost in april, and blizzard hasn't even said a release date for 9.1? Ye, i can tell a few months from here wow will be worse than it was in the last patch of BfA

[Masser]

the game is already incredibly stale and boring...

The game is always stale and boring.

[Varodoc]

In all of this, I'm left wondering "What are the mods doing?"

Like, why is it that when someone posts a harmless meme they get infracted in 10 minutes, but when there's a clear troll thread, it goes on and on for 20+ pages? Lol.

Then again, it's not like this forum has anything else to talk about than megalomaniac tidings of doom.

[Nyel]

In all of this, I'm left wondering "What are the mods doing?"

Like, why is it that when someone posts a harmless meme they get infracted in 10 minutes, but when there's a clear troll thread, it goes on and on for 20+ pages? Lol.

Then again, it's not like this forum has anything else to talk about than megalomaniac tidings of doom.

Let’s be honest, without these threads the WoW General Discussion forum here would be almost dead. I think in all the years I’ve never seen so less activity in this section of the forum as now.

[Nachtigal]

Eh who cares, I’m still progressing through mythic and enjoying my time spent with the game, sucks you burnt through your content already!

[crusadernero]

I quit retail in mop and pretty much came back to play seriously in shadowlands. It was a good start yet i can feel like this is the expansion that is really gonna kill the game. When i say kill i don't mean 0 ppl playing. From my point of view as a pvper i can't even find RBG groups to climb from 2.3 rating onwards. Literally in the entire afternoon and evening of a saturday, i was able to find 1 group. Also in spanish region there currently are 0 premades pushing at the moment.

I got gladiator the previous week and the scene is disgusting. So many boosting that is gamebreaking, 50% of the groups u face above 2.2 are boosting groups. Same for the few games i could play in 2.4mmr RBG, people boosting.

Also as a 2.500 3v war , im standing the #10 of spain region. How is that even possible? I remember the mop days when u were 2.5 there were still so many people above you. Atleast i can say PVP is dead in spanish wow.

We are almost in april, and blizzard hasn't even said a release date for 9.1? Ye, i can tell a few months from here wow will be worse than it was in the last patch of BfA

I think Blizzard should invest alot more time into PvP at this point. For years I was a firm PvE player and did PvP on the side. Over the years i've started to play alot more pvp and tbh alot of the times that kept me subbed through the boring times.

The replayability of pvp is great and more content would be awesome.

[CaptainV]

Maybe Blizzard wants it this way? They release content, people buy box & sub up, play for a while then unsub. Months later, a new patch/xpac launches and its repeated. Theres probably enough people staying subbed inbetween patches/xpacs and enough people subbing up and buying the xpac box.

Maybe, just maybe, wow aint supposed to be a game were you stay subbed for a longer period of time because the content dictates so?

Its heading more for a seasonal fixture with raids, m+(new affixes), arena seasons and that mount for 6 month sub. Its getting closer and closer to a battle pass like we see in games like CoD. In Cod you buy the game and after that its battle passes that gives you stuff+ you can buy cool skins for weapons etc.

If we compare CoD to wow there more to have in common. You could continue playing both games and try the absolute hardest difficulties and clear them, or you can play it like a regular joe and finish the campaign on normal while dabbing into multiplayer. Then you get a bit bored of it, leave the game for a while and return at a later stage when new maps+battle pass and more is launched.

Both games also have cash shop features and we should expect more of that in wow over the coming years.

Everything about that is a terrible idea though, world of warcraft was meant to be a persistant experience, your not just meant to be indulged by a 4 tier raid or 15 tier dungeon experience infact, these things have 150% hurt the game.

Remember how in classic the patch cycle was a 2 year patch cycle but we had 12 patches? During that time alot got added, not just raids but general content, pvp maps, new pve content and alot more.

Sometimes a patch doesnt even *need* a raid to be a patch, or even a dungeon, it just needs more story content, with a few new sets of armor to grind via content that may not even BE raiding related.

The issue here is that this cash-shop battle-pass mentality is killing wow, its *not* call of duty and its *not* diablo, torghast prooved it wasnt built to be a diablo experience, mythic+ has become stale after 3 expansions, 4 tiers of raiding has become tedious and over cluttered.

Frankly? Less is more at this point.

1.

No more LFR, no more Mythic, go back to Normal+Heroic, make Heroic the Mythic difficulty, make Normal somewhere between normal and LFR.

2.

No more Mythic+ and Mythic, just Heroic+ and instead of 15 tiers, just make it 5, it'd work alot better and feel less like an endless chore.

3.

More content in general, more dungeons/raids/pvp maps and not just arena's but actual BG's, a world PvP zone, less world quests and more optional fun content i.e. festivals/mini events.

4.

More story heavy patches with a couple of QoL rewards like a full transmog set at the end, just something simple and enjoyable, instead of consantly exhausting the game with more tedious grinds, it also means they can add bigger raids at patches that are generally bigger.

5.

Less cash-shop, less abusing it for more money, more delivering quality content.

[sam86]

It's almost as though we have 2 years to gather these things and it's not intended to be done in just a month or two. Tell me, did you have everything from the island expeditions vendor at this time last expansion? Same thing.

i played 1 month in bfa
and no we don't have '2 years', we have as usual up to 1st major patch, unless blizz don't introduce anything new this is current patch content, not current entire year content (also with that process, it may stay for a year)

- - - Updated - - -

In Classic, yes.
But since around WotLK-Cata there are difficulty modes that allow everyone to eat content quickly.
Harder difficulties are not seen as "content" by many, so they feel like they finished the game pretty fast, and then just wait for the next patch.

because it isn't
doing exact same dungeon vs exact same boss with exact same voice lines with exact same music but he has some extra hp doesn't qualify it as new content
new content is an entire new dungeon, not same dungeon with extra dmg

[Eosia]

Take a look at Bellulars latest video where he breaks down the timelines. We will not be seeing fresh content for a very long time and the game is already incredibly stale and boring...

WoW's longest content drought was 14 months.

[crusadernero]

Everything about that is a terrible idea though, world of warcraft was meant to be a persistant experience, your not just meant to be indulged by a 4 tier raid or 15 tier dungeon experience infact, these things have 150% hurt the game.

Remember how in classic the patch cycle was a 2 year patch cycle but we had 12 patches? During that time alot got added, not just raids but general content, pvp maps, new pve content and alot more.

Sometimes a patch doesnt even *need* a raid to be a patch, or even a dungeon, it just needs more story content, with a few new sets of armor to grind via content that may not even BE raiding related.

The issue here is that this cash-shop battle-pass mentality is killing wow, its *not* call of duty and its *not* diablo, torghast prooved it wasnt built to be a diablo experience, mythic+ has become stale after 3 expansions, 4 tiers of raiding has become tedious and over cluttered.

Frankly? Less is more at this point.

1.

No more LFR, no more Mythic, go back to Normal+Heroic, make Heroic the Mythic difficulty, make Normal somewhere between normal and LFR.

2.

No more Mythic+ and Mythic, just Heroic+ and instead of 15 tiers, just make it 5, it'd work alot better and feel less like an endless chore.

3.

More content in general, more dungeons/raids/pvp maps and not just arena's but actual BG's, a world PvP zone, less world quests and more optional fun content i.e. festivals/mini events.

4.

More story heavy patches with a couple of QoL rewards like a full transmog set at the end, just something simple and enjoyable, instead of consantly exhausting the game with more tedious grinds, it also means they can add bigger raids at patches that are generally bigger.

5.

Less cash-shop, less abusing it for more money, more delivering quality content.

I agree with all of this. I commented trying to imagine what Blizzard is thinking and where they want the game to go. All your ideas sounds great to me and I would most welcome all of them. Im probably considered a veteran in wow cause i've played since vanilla, and have seen all the changes. Some for the better, alot of them for the worse.

I want the game to keep me subbed, but for every year its diminishing away. Personally I dont have alot of time to play, but tbh I still get something out of it always. Heck, with my busy day-to-day life I have managed to have alot of fun with classic, even though that game by default requires alot of time. Im nowhere near any decked epic Paladin, but I get something out of that version of wow. Retail? Not so much, I play alot more on-off there.

[Antontein]

Content drought? As someone mentioned, only if you play 12 hours a day.

I am quite enjoying my main, still got a lot to do. And I didnt even start playing my alts.

As far as I am concerned, this patch can last another 3-4 months and I will be OK with that.