9.1 has taken so long to arrive, I feel like there should be more cool stuff to chase

[DeathKnightRum]

If they would’ve released 9.1 in a reasonable time frame they would’ve had to develop a 9.2(money) and sold less tbc boosts(money)

[Soikona]

What you're asking for requires effort. The WoW team only put in effort when it's a convoluted system, never for content, unless it's mythic raids of course.

Tbf, the mythic raids are fantastic. Only reason I keep my sub!

[loras]

Maybe Legion just spoiled us way too much, but I really expected this expansion to be able to embark on some kind of quest as a Death Knight to forge a new Runeblade (or "Mourneblade"... such a dumb name...). Maldraxxus kinda-sorta involves that, but it's not something you actually use, and it's tiny anyways, and EVERYONE forged the same thing.

Not to suggest ONLY Death Knights get something cool, mind you. But certainly, this seems like the expansion to have a particularly cool Runeblade, even if it's largely just a cosmetic. Or hell, even a "replica" of Frostmourne to unlock somehow.

And previously, this could be justified as "well there's still plenty of time for that, 9.1 is just the first patch". But holy fuck has this patch been a long, painful wait. Eventually, it reaches a point where expectations start to rise, and even when 9.1 was first revealed I was honestly pretty underwhelmed.

For as long a wait as we've been in for, it seems like they would do well to at least "plant some seeds" for some truly cool shit for us to pursue.

Like, for DK's, give us a quest where we start logging various Runes we come across in the Shadowlands, alluding to us eventually forging a badass new Runeblade. Maybe randomly when killing bosses or elite mobs in raids and dungeons, Warriors have a chance to encounter the spirits of great warriors passed, each speaking of some prophesied badass weapon. Druids maybe discover some sort of connection between the Shadowlands and the Emerald Dream, Shamans can speak to new elemental spirits or commune with the ancestors... so on, so forth.

Nothing that equates to a "real quest-chain for something cool", but just kind of setting the stage for cool stuff in the NEXT patch. You know, whenever the fuck THAT winds up being. Go ahead and give us a long-ass grind, so that whenever the next patch comes out, we have cool rewards to look forward to.

Just my two cents.

Honestly they should have added an aesthetic customization aspect to the forging of our legendaries.

Let us forge our own weapons and stuff, completely customized as we see fit. Also a legendary should come with some optional, minor quality of life things or flavor things, like, i dunno, an added earth rumble effect when casting shit as a shaman or something.

Though on the other hand: The other day i saw a fury warrior beat the shit out of everything with two fish while dressed as a lumberjack, so perhaps they think they've already given us enough.

[Soon-TM]

They did something similar at the end of D3. There was a huge content drought, then they pushed out the Necromancer pak, and then that was it. No fanfare. Just no more content. Years later, D3 handed to legacy team quietly.

It was a real shame, if you ask me. I really liked the content in the Necro addon, and for a time it seemed that Blizz was actually serious in its attempts to revive D3, especially after the massive revamps that came with the RoS addon. But in the end it was delivered to legacy team without much fanfare... Oh well.

- - - Updated - - -

As far as "unsolicited advice" you sure also gave some...you just thought you would be "cleverly" disguising it as sarcasm.

Only to the folks that offered it in the first place. You, on the other hand, just stumbled into a conversation that was was neither addressed to you nor it even had anything to do with you. I'll let you the work to label such attitude.

[Claymore]

Honestly, the biggest bummer is that I was having a *GREAT* time with Shadowlands when it first dropped! I had friends and family playing again, we were actually pushing Mythic+ Dungeons, Torghast was a fucking *BLAST*, I was honestly super into it!

But no game can survive the kind of draught we've experienced. I don't raid or PvP anymore (the community is just way too toxic for me to deal with anymore), and now I'm just bored. Most of my friends and fam have no quit, and it makes me sad that most of them said at this point, they just don't feel like returning. And really, 9.1 felt like an underwhelming reveal TO BEGIN WITH, and there's really not been anything to get me particularly excited about 9.1. And it's going to suck to not even have my friends to play with.

Heads really ought to be rolling over this delay. Many industries have weathered the same pandemic and the same trials and burdens that came with it, and this really just speaks to incredibly poor management that 9.1 isn't already out yet. Assuming there isn't more to it than we've been shown, but even the "new zone" just kind of looks like "more Maw".

I dunno. It's frustrating but mainly disappointing to me, as I really felt like Shadowlands -- while certainly not perfect -- felt like a really strong showing from Blizzard. I still feel like Oribos is maybe the worst "capital" we've had yet, but I could at least tolerate it when I was playing.

[Azerate]

There will be nothing to do after you complete Tazavesh and the new raid. If you dont do high m+ keys and mythic raiding ITS OVER after completing those two. Now sure you can grind to get the armor sets in those places but come on, its not enough man. We need Mage-tower experiences again we need something to work towards that doesnt include anyone else but YOU.

I want swords that glow like the moon.. i want armor that shine so bright.. i want new models for my feral druid and the boomkin.. You see where im going? its like every other game has these things to shoot for.. and Blizzard only had it once in Legion. Sure im going to use some time gathering the new armor sets/models but its not enough and im not trying to sound spoiled. Just getting very tired of the low effort blizzard is putting out for some of us casuals well im kind of semi-casual but i need something HARD solo content that rewards me for my efforts so that i have something to do when i dont raid and do dungeons with friends.

Uhh what... there will be plenty of world content and collectibles to get in the new zone. Not sure what other content you'd like other than raids and dungeons. There's gonna be the new revamped torghast with the new progression and rewards as well.

Most of 9.1 has been data mined and is public. It is an average WoW patch if I’m being generous. We’ve seen bigger and better patches made in less time

Something being public does not mean it's being talked about, and it has been like that every patch release in the recent years that I can remember. Content creators and fansites pay the most attention to dungeon and raid progression. Casual/completionist content is rarely discussed in depth, except maybe for channels like Hazelnutty and less popular collector youtubers.

Man if you are resorting to making up content in your head to excuse the state of WoW and patch releases you need to look in the mirror

What in the actual fuck are you even talking about.

[shise]

I theorized that in another thread. I suspect 9.1 was originally meant to revolve around the maw and torghast, but due to how unpopular both features were they had to panic and redesign the patch at the last minute.

Not only would this explain the delay, but it explains why the patch itself is kinda lackluster. For this much time and money spent waiting, the patch should be 2-4x the size it is. Multiple raids. Multiple dungeons. Multiple zones. Etc

Other companies do more with much less

Yes indeed. At this point I expect them to either release a large patch, consisting 60% of what the patch was going to be, 40% of redesigned stuff to make up for it. Either that or maybe they divide it in two to try to keep the pace of releasing content and avoid a new drought after 5 months...

They put themselves in a pickle now. Either release two patches with questionable content, and push it and release only one that might, just might save the day... but it is so late that it would have to be REALLY good stuff coming.

[Claymore]

If absolutely NOTHING else, I would hope that Blizzard learns to stop aiming for the "big, sweeping patches", and instead try to add smaller content a little more frequently.

Also, if I'm being honest? I think one of the issues is "catch-up gear". Right now, I feel like continuing to play WoW would be a literal waste of my time, because whenever the patch drops, the stuff will be replaced quite possibly overnight.

There's no denying Shadowlands had a ton of pets and mounts to go after. I'm honestly pretty guilty of not giving enough credit for that, as it gave my friends and I stuff to do for quite a long time.

Still though, I would like some truly COOL shit to pursue, IMMEDIATELY. Like I said, let DK's at least BEGIN the process of re-forging Frostmourne or forging a new Runeblade or "Mourneblade", and anything else for other classes is obviously a major plus too. This just feels like it was "THE expansion" I was waiting for, for so many years (in terms of story content), the fact everything has been so slow has been excruciating. I'm ready for them to stop teasing Arthas and just show us, and honestly considering we're in the fucking AFTERLIFE of Warcraft, we should be dealing NOTHING but S-tier characters, like Grom Hellscream, Orgrim Doomhammer, Anduin Lothar, etc. Alexandros Mograine was cool to see, but Draka is a lame fucking choice to be such a prominent character (Orgrim Doomhammer and Taretha would've been excellent candidates to move Thrall's story forward).

I dunno. It definitely feels like Blizzard could stand to step on the gas, and really prioritize "cool shit". I'm sick of Anduin and Sylvanas, I don't give a shit about the Jailer, I just want to see some truly "big, epic moments" from the story, along with "holy shit, I can't believe we actually get to wields X" badass weapons, even if only for transmog.

[Soon-TM]

Yes indeed. At this point I expect them to either release a large patch, consisting 60% of what the patch was going to be, 40% of redesigned stuff to make up for it. Either that or maybe they divide it in two to try to keep the pace of releasing content and avoid a new drought after 5 months...

They put themselves in a pickle now. Either release two patches with questionable content, and push it and release only one that might, just might save the day... but it is so late that it would have to be REALLY good stuff coming.

Well, that might be one of the reasons for the delay, the actual content of the patch being significantly changed somewhere between the planning and coding stages.

<generic boring speech>

So many words... and yet you couldn't produce a single meaningful quote. I'm so disappointed

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Heads really ought to be rolling over this delay. Many industries have weathered the same pandemic and the same trials and burdens that came with it, and this really just speaks to incredibly poor management that 9.1 isn't already out yet.

the chances of any heads rolling is incredibly slim all you need to do is take a glance at the gaming industry to see that there is a truly massive amount of company’s suffering delays since COVID started so firing devs over it would be rather idiotic

[shise]

Well, that might be one of the reasons for the delay, the actual content of the patch being significantly changed somewhere between the planning and coding stages.



So many words... and yet you couldn't produce a single meaningful quote. I'm so disappointed

There is also a very, very big chance that they will release a patch as AoC releases it´s "beta", and then we get the next big patch as Endwalker comes out (FF14) Clearly they are doing that anyway. It is not a problem on itself to do that.. problem is, they might release whatever crap they make... prepare an incredible marketing for it to get everyone hyped as never before... then we all log in and 2 months alter realize how the content is not even half as good as advertised. Hope I am wrong but after so many years, it´s starting to feel very optimistic.

[Surfacin9]

I guess that makes sense, but do you think its healthy in general for the game. I guess if what you are saying is right its good for the wallet, but I dont think that model will stay put much longer. Shadowlands has been a huge failure for the majority of the players. Even raiders tho.

It's hard to say, to be honest. In general, I think Blizzard have gotten themselves into a corner that is hard to geet out of. With high emphasis on raiding and power progression and the failure of WoD activities outside of the raid, they decided to give us things to do that also increase the character power in some way.

But I disagree with 'good for the wallet' part. Pleasing the part of the playerbase that stay subbed the longest is what they should to do as game-developers, consequentually it will impact the income. I wouldn't call it stretching MAUs. While releasing a patch every month to keep the casuals subbed, can be viewed as that, I've seen many posts in here saying: 'Give us all at once, I want to finish within a month and move on to other games'. So you can't please everyone. They are staying true to themselves, the direction that was established in TBC and Wrath - end-game is their prio, mostly PvE, and some PvP. Not a PvPer, but I think they don't get much love since they're lucky to get a new BG in an expansion. At least raiders get changes of scenery and mechanics.

I've never been a casual, and I don't know what their priorities are. But I know they differ significantly from person to person. Some just want to play many toons and gear them slightly through m+ and non-mythic raid, some experience the story and go out farming xmog and mounts, others do various different things. I also know that many just sub for a month or 2 of the patch to experience the content once. But all in all, I don't think casuals are interested or invested in the current content. And you can't say that Blizzard does nothing for them - ever since WoD there are lots of collectibles around the world, including mounts, pets and toys; we have max level questing campaigns and lots of side-quests; since 8.3 we have solo game mode with Visions and now Torghast (I know its boring and unrewarding, they could have done better). Since Legion everyone could increase their character power thruogh any activity by earning AP. But it backfired onto hardcore raiders and thankfully was replaced by optional anima farm.

As for the failure for the majority, I have to disagree. It depends on the type of player. Hardcore raiders had to grind the Maw, which wasn't fun at all. But that about ends there. Casuals have gotten their usual package with secrets, quests and collectibles. As a casual mythic raider, I'm not bothered with getting every scrap of power, so I skipped getting 226 conduits, farming gem slots, and had fun doing what I like - raiding and mythic+.

[Toby451]

9.1 seems like a pretty good sized patch overall but the long delay definitely feels bad.


But at this point, whatever patch is next be it 9.1.5 or 9.2 and beyond we get back to a normal release schedule. I realllly hope with covid vaccines being so readily available now they can get everyone back in the office soon, it will definitely help. A quick turnaround 9.1.5 patch with more solo/outdoor focused content would be fantastic.

[PrairieChicken]

Although 9.1 seems bit lackluster in terms of content, it lets you get full 233 gear without doing any organized stuff, so the reward system looks great for casuals. It is refreshing to see an actually very decent gear not gated behind RNG or toxic group content hurdles. And no stupid reputation gates for flying as well!

Saddens me that the content drought is killing the game when Blizzard is actually getting things in a right direction.

[orney]

> Source please? But I guess if 10 ppl waited before and now 15 ppl wait...that IS technically "more and more" ^^

man, you people love to ask for sources every time someone states that game is in a garbage state. I dont have the access to blizzard's data centre. My source is my 100+ people mythic raiding guild, which is nearly dead right now.

[TidalConflux]

Patches are not developed and maintained? Aren't they part of the game? Or are we going to pretend that people developing e.g. D4 weren't affected by the pandemic, but those in charge of WoW were? Duuuuude...

I mean from the article you posted:

"As for your question on game development, we are fortunate that to date we really haven't seen any significant impact on game development with our current games in pipeline because we're really meeting our pre-COVID milestone." - first quote.

"The current Activision Blizzard release schedule includes Call of Duty 2021 (in development at Sledgehammer), Diablo II: Resurrected, Diablo Immortal, Diablo IV and Overwatch 2, though the latter two games won't be released this year." - ending article statement.

Those would be the context clues that most likely WoW is not included in the COO's statement because Shadowlands is technically already a released IP. Its pretty clear that is the case. It is pretty clear that is the case.

[Soon-TM]

I mean from the article you posted:

"As for your question on game development, we are fortunate that to date we really haven't seen any significant impact on game development with our current games in pipeline because we're really meeting our pre-COVID milestone." - first quote.

"The current Activision Blizzard release schedule includes Call of Duty 2021 (in development at Sledgehammer), Diablo II: Resurrected, Diablo Immortal, Diablo IV and Overwatch 2, though the latter two games won't be released this year." - ending article statement.

Those would be the context clues that most likely WoW is not included in the COO's statement because Shadowlands is technically already a released IP. Its pretty clear that is the case. It is pretty clear that is the case.

9.1 wasn't in the pipeline at the moment of Alegre making his statements (early May iirc)?

[TidalConflux]

9.1 wasn't in the pipeline at the moment of Alegre making his statements (early May iirc)?

Shadowlands was already released and its a discussion of IPs coming out -- hence why "games in pipeline" is bolded and the ending paragraph of the article specifically mentions game release schedule.

Patches would not be a part of that discussion -- much similarly to why things like Hearthstone expansions are not also included there. The article gives reference to what the conversation is on specifically.

[Soon-TM]

Shadowlands was already released and its a discussion of IPs coming out -- hence why "games in pipeline" is bolded and the ending paragraph of the article specifically mentions game release schedule.

Patches would not be a part of that discussion -- much similarly to why things like Hearthstone expansions are not also included there. The article gives reference to what the conversation is on specifically.

Interesting. So apparently the teams in charge of e.g. D4 or OW haven't suffered any delays, but the WoW teams have, at least those in charge of WoW patches. Which would be frankly weird, but if you insist...

[TidalConflux]

Interesting. So apparently the teams in charge of e.g. D4 or OW haven't suffered any delays, but the WoW teams have, at least those in charge of WoW patches. Which would be frankly weird, but if you insist...

Dude if you honestly dont think that Acti-Blizzard would put forth more effort to avoid delays on new IPs (specifically Blizzard titles, since realistically WoW and HS are basically the only active title atm) then I dont know what to tell you.

This is like trying to see fire when theres no smoke around.