9.0 General Discussion

[Prophet June Bug]

Shadowlands is ALREADY my have xpac. Literally love everything So far and for some reason it seems more exciting to me than any other xpac before. There's is so much mysterie and this completely new universe we're about to enter. Ahhh cant wait!!!

Ngl, as much as I feel it's a relative asspull, Blizz are at their best when they aren't bound by pre-existing lore and environments. Revendreth and Maldraxxus have a nice theme to it and the ground rules of the Shadowlands are fine by my book.
I like how they aren't wasting resources on yet another Islands or Warfronts, but genuinely looking at the game's foundations.

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That is exactly quite the shock. Really makes you wonder if Shadowlands is actually going ot be a WoD type expansion with only 3 large raids.

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Don't really know how you can argue this case with Mythic+, world quests, Covenants and the endless dungeon in play.

Will people stop pretending like they're playing this game for bs like Islands and Warfronts.

[Shadochi]

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Don't really know how you can argue this case with Mythic+, world quests, Covenants and the endless dungeon in play.

Will people stop pretending like they're playing this game for bs like Islands and Warfronts.

Even stretching it and saying Garrison and covenants were equivalent (zone specific buffs, campaign,...) SL seems to still offer more endgame than just the raiding in WoD

[Sondrelk]

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Don't really know how you can argue this case with Mythic+, world quests, Covenants and the endless dungeon in play.

Will people stop pretending like they're playing this game for bs like Islands and Warfronts.

Definitely not going to be as empty as WoD, the amount of infinite content is high enough to carry pretty much any expansion.

What i mean is that WoD only went to 6.2. And i wonder if Shadowlands will only go to 9.2 (or 9.2.5)
Would not want that necessarily, but Shadowlands is on the surface level such a thin premise that i wonder if the idea is to make this a literal filler expansion so they ahve more time to work on whatever they ahve in store for 10.0. Whether that is a world revamp or something else.

[Shadochi]

Definitely not going to be as empty as WoD, the amount of infinite content is high enough to carry pretty much any expansion.

What i mean is that WoD only went to 6.2. And i wonder if Shadowlands will only go to 9.2 (or 9.2.5)
Would not want that necessarily, but Shadowlands is on the surface level such a thin premise that i wonder if the idea is to make this a literal filler expansion so they ahve more time to work on whatever they ahve in store for 10.0. Whether that is a world revamp or something else.

Or they add the mid tier to be a refreshing theme from death, something that couldn't stand at it's own in an expansion before finishing off the Shadowlands in 9.3

[uzira]

Definitely not going to be as empty as WoD, the amount of infinite content is high enough to carry pretty much any expansion.

What i mean is that WoD only went to 6.2. And i wonder if Shadowlands will only go to 9.2 (or 9.2.5)
Would not want that necessarily, but Shadowlands is on the surface level such a thin premise that i wonder if the idea is to make this a literal filler expansion so they ahve more time to work on whatever they ahve in store for 10.0. Whether that is a world revamp or something else.

A COMPLETELY new world with lots of mystery with a NEVER BEFORE known or seen evil entity doesnt look filler AT ALL....

[Sondrelk]

Or they add the mid tier to be a refreshing theme from death, something that couldn't stand at it's own in an expansion before finishing off the Shadowlands in 9.3

That is the usual formula for raids, yes.
First an intro raid that is a glorified dungeon.
Then a raid dealing with the main theme, in the case of Shadowlands likely having us fight the Jailer or Sylvanas.
Then there is the sideshow raid, which deals with a subplot and gets its own zone.
Then there is the final raid. Which closes off the story.

The problem with Shadowlands is that the lack of a main selling point worries me, because it is very similar to how the only main selling point of WoD were garrisons and improvements to player models and classes. Which is very similar to Shadowlands.


Definitely do not want ot be right on this though, hopefully the expansion releases around the usual time and we do not feel cheated by having a filler expansion like WoD whose only purpose is closing off a plot point form the previous expansion and set up the next one.

[Shadochi]

I hope we end up getting shadowlands raids in the various zones before ending the last patch with the Jailer patch.

And the patch zones to be other areas of Shadowlands with zone storylines and new covenants which after completing on your main you can use for leveling on your alts

[zlygork]

A COMPLETELY new world with lots of mystery with a NEVER BEFORE known or seen evil entity doesnt look filler AT ALL....

Damn, Wc3 was freaking filler. That entirely new world of kalimdor with all of these sudden new races that came out of nowhere (tauren, centaur, kobold, harpies, night elves...)
fun nonprogress.
We have to stop calling anything that tries to create new lore a filler from the getgo, that's how we get to go BACK TO OUR ROOTS for the fifth time in a row, which is the real filler.

[Raetary]

"dududud filler expansion"

Filler expansions are not a thing.

[Shadochi]

That is the usual formula for raids, yes.
First an intro raid that is a glorified dungeon.
Then a raid dealing with the main theme, in the case of Shadowlands likely having us fight the Jailer or Sylvanas.
Then there is the sideshow raid, which deals with a subplot and gets its own zone.
Then there is the final raid. Which closes off the story.

The problem with Shadowlands is that the lack of a main selling point worries me, because it is very similar to how the only main selling point of WoD were garrisons and improvements to player models and classes. Which is very similar to Shadowlands.


Definitely do not want ot be right on this though, hopefully the expansion releases around the usual time and we do not feel cheated by having a filler expansion like WoD whose only purpose is closing off a plot point form the previous expansion and set up the next one.

Reminder that WoD didn't end with 6.2 because they had no more story to add (it had compelling points for at least 2 more zones or 3 more raids, Shattrath raid, Farahlon zone+raid, ogre continent zone+raid) but because they decided for some reason to cut it (probably because it was time to switch the majority of the team to the next expac and they had barely anything done for next patch)

In SL they can basically add a new zone for any version of afterlife we've heard of before in past expansions (Loa based shadowlands zone?)

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Also cant wait to see how they play off the shadowlands theme in M+ affixes, if death will somehow be handled differently

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Damn, Wc3 was freaking filler. That entirely new world of kalimdor with all of these sudden new races that came out of nowhere (tauren, centaur, kobold, harpies, night elves...)
fun nonprogress.
We have to stop calling anything that tries to create new lore a filler from the getgo, that's how we get to go BACK TO OUR ROOTS for the fifth time in a row, which is the real filler.

A part I love about the new lore is that most of it is defining concepts we heard of before (Val'kyr, Necro magic, Fae) but giving us brand new information we never had access to on the mortal world. And that can be done in patches with so many more zones and themes from the world

[uzira]

Damn, Wc3 was freaking filler. That entirely new world of kalimdor with all of these sudden new races that came out of nowhere (tauren, centaur, kobold, harpies, night elves...)
fun nonprogress.
We have to stop calling anything that tries to create new lore a filler from the getgo, that's how we get to go BACK TO OUR ROOTS for the fifth time in a row, which is the real filler.

But WOW is not WC3....

Anyway if you think Shadowlands is a filler xpac you need mental help. The only xpac you COULD consider filler is WOD because is was so short.

[Augusta138]

I only have one major gripe with the new formula:

Linear leveling and story.
Pro: it feels like a real story instead of 3 different stories. (Zone stories dont feel so great to me)

Con: for the first weeks of release we will be majorly fucked and it will be crowded AF.

After that it is all optional so if you do manage to lvl quickly with your main, you might wanna instantly grab an alt and go the opposite way of the story.
Which will be most likely a really fast and easy way to lvl an alt.

Will start preparing for the expansion soon, finishing my last classes.

Will leave AR for what they are. Somehow it feels a better way to do that somewhere in Shadowlands with the changes instead of right now.

[Prophet June Bug]

Definitely not going to be as empty as WoD, the amount of infinite content is high enough to carry pretty much any expansion.

What i mean is that WoD only went to 6.2. And i wonder if Shadowlands will only go to 9.2 (or 9.2.5)
Would not want that necessarily, but Shadowlands is on the surface level such a thin premise that i wonder if the idea is to make this a literal filler expansion so they ahve more time to work on whatever they ahve in store for 10.0. Whether that is a world revamp or something else.

C'mon man, don't pull a Nyel.

They're not gnna end SL prematurely. BfA is enough proof of this. People need to accept WoD was the exception.

Regarding the premise, remember they made entire expansions of Pandaria and AU Draenor, whereas Argus, Emerald Dream and Ny'alotha (fan favorite xpac concepts in the past) ended up as either patch zones or instances.
I'm sure Shadowlands will be fine in this regard.

[Shadochi]

But WOW is not WC3....

Anyway if you think Shadowlands is a filler xpac you need mental help. The only xpac you COULD consider filler is WOD because is was so short.

Pretty much, no expansion gets planned as a filler, but wod turned out to be so because it was cut short. (Tho I'm still glad of the evergreen content we got from it, mainly timewalking and mythic difficulty dungeons)

[zlygork]

But WOW is not WC3....

Anyway if you think Shadowlands is a filler xpac you need mental help. The only xpac you COULD consider filler is WOD because is was so short.

Apologies, I re-read what you wrote and missed the "nt" in doesnt, we seem to be in agreement.

[Krille]

A lot of people love to throw around the words filler expansion. Shadowlands is a new place entirely with 5 zones (no one here is counting the maw?). A new mode that looks to be great, remains to be seen if they pull it off. M+ and wqs will stay. Covenants is basically 2 new abilities, three new shorter talent trees (soulbinds). And yet you call it "like wod", oh my. I dont know if you played WoD, but it had nothing except for the Garrison and the ring legendary questline. Not even comparable!

[Shadochi]

I only have one major gripe with the new formula:

Linear leveling and story.
Pro: it feels like a real story instead of 3 different stories. (Zone stories dont feel so great to me)

Con: for the first weeks of release we will be majorly fucked and it will be crowded AF.

Honestly I don't think this will be such a huge problem with sharding (the system everybody hates until it is absolutely needed). Sure it will be crowded, but not so crowded that you can't kill 5 mobs in 5 minutes for a quest.

[Prophet June Bug]

Reminder that WoD didn't end with 6.2 because they had no more story to add (it had compelling points for at least 2 more zones or 3 more raids, Shattrath raid, Farahlon zone+raid, ogre continent zone+raid) but because they decided for some reason to cut it (probably because it was time to switch the majority of the team to the next expac and they had barely anything done for next patch)

In SL they can basically add a new zone for any version of afterlife we've heard of before in past expansions (Loa based shadowlands zone?)

This.

HFC was pretty much just BRF meets mountain dew, and all new models were Legion demons. They pretty much decided post-launch to funnel the remaining WoD devs to Legion.

Loa are wild gods, so that's Emerald Dream and Ardenweald stuff. We do get to see The Other Side as a dung (Bwonsamdi's pocket dimension).

[Raetary]

Linear leveling and story.
Pro: it feels like a real story instead of 3 different stories. (Zone stories dont feel so great to me)

Con: for the first weeks of release we will be majorly fucked and it will be crowded AF.

I doubt that.

Sharding will easily deal with the problem.

[Shadochi]

A lot of people love to throw around the words filler expansion. Shadowlands is a new place entirely with 5 zones (no one here is counting the maw?). A new mode that looks to be great, remains to be seen if they pull it off. M+ and wqs will stay. Covenants is basically 2 new abilities, three new shorter talent trees (soulbinds). And yet you call it "like wod", oh my. I dont know if you played WoD, but it had nothing except for the Garrison and the ring legendary questline. Not even comparable!

Bar the timegating, IIRC TJ had nice story content (campaign and side quests) for a patch and it set up the bosses for the raid nicely. Hope we get something similar to that in patches and raid setup but without the timegating. And I still hope for patch zones with enough quest content that they could be used as a leveling zone for alts when finished on main