Soo...Is Shadowlands any good?

[Tesshin83]

You aren't going to get any real opinions until at least a month in. Talking heads were calling BFA the best expansion ever the first week in.

This is true to this as well.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

"Bestest expansion ever"

..gawd...if you're not the one that says that about every expansion you sure fit in with those that do.

His opinion isn't your to hurt you.

[Shadowferal]

This is true to this as well.

Aye.
It's still shiny and new...has the new car smell and everything.
After a while it'll show itself to be time-wasting fun, or a waste of time.

[bloodwulf]

It certainly is a puzzle, but it's not a good puzzle. It's just tedious, and time-filling. There's no clue, at all, to the solution in game. If you like that sort of thing, more power to you. Personally I prefer to just log off for the evening and find something more interesting to do.

And while I'm here, what was the rationale for removing the SL flight whistle? (other than 'increasing engagement').

Except there is a solution to the locked chest in Bastion in game. There is a steward in the central area of bastion standing next to a chest. He will give a quest to get a ripe purian. This quest will eventually teach you about the locked chests and how to open them (basically, find fruit, tribute fruit, collect reward). He will even give you daily clues of which steward to tribute for a gold key.


https://www.wowhead.com/quest=62730/fruit-of-the-gods

[pewpmeiser]

This is honestly my only complaint so far the Story was great, I loved that I could skip all side quests and only do the Main story Quests and dinged like 2 quests into Ravendreath. I loved Maldraxxus, the Covenant stuff is great and seems meaningful unlike Order halls or Garrisons. I like the dungeons so far many have little trash which is nice, I have enjoyed Torghast ive done Layer 3 and only ever really died to the traps as Frost DK. All in all its one of the best launches since CATA for me so we will see how it plays out as of now its a solid 8/10.

You do get a covenant hearthstone at a certain level of renown.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

You do get a covenant hearthstone at a certain level of renown.

Aren't those only Hearthstone skins? There is a unlock for a portal to Oribos in your Covenant.

[pewpmeiser]

It's a bit silly to judge an expansion of an MMO one or two weeks in, but I'll give it a shot and do so at what we have in front of us at this time. Naturally we need to keep in mind there will be a drip feed of new content throughout the expansion.

For me, I have found the story fresh and interesting, the characters compelling, and the zones distinct and wonderful. The leveling experience was paced nicely, and it didn't feel like a chore to hit the level cap and progress through the campaign. The covenants are all also unique and interesting, and I don't find the common complaint of covenant choice to be a problem -- in fact I like it.

The dungeons overall are solid, with enough new mechanics to keep things interesting. At this time, the pacing of them seems good as well, with no dread of having to run any particular one (yet). We will see how they hold up through months of m+ spamming.

Class design feels like it's in a good spot for the classes that I play (DH, Monk, DK, Paladin), and I'm having fun playing all specs of all of those classes.

The Maw sucks. I get it from a lore perspective why it is the way it is, but it's an absolute chore to play in and the feeling of having to complete the dailies there isn't great. We will see how this progresses over time.

Torghast is a lot of fun, and shows good promise. The way you craft legendaries is also great.

There is a lot of time-gated content currently, which is both good and bad. Good for those who would waste their entire life grinding if there were an endless AP grind again, bad for those who want more things to do that burn through the content quicker than others. I fall somewhere in the middle, and currently am only focusing on my main. With no raid or m+ yet, I've run out of things to do as I've done my weekly mythics, campaign and covenant progression, and now just do a few dailies. This will surely change come next week.

Overall I'm enjoying the expansion, and I really want to see where it heads. I'd give it an 4/5 (or and 8/10) so far.

[oldgeezer]

Except there is a solution to the locked chest in Bastion in game. There is a steward in the central area of bastion standing next to a chest. He will give a quest to get a ripe purian. This quest will eventually teach you about the locked chests and how to open them (basically, find fruit, tribute fruit, collect reward). He will even give you daily clues of which steward to tribute for a gold key.


https://www.wowhead.com/quest=62730/fruit-of-the-gods

That's great, but how are we supposed to discover that? Like I said, poor game design.

[Pandragon]

I'm enjoying it, I only have a few complains such as them removing crafted items being automailed to you if inventory is full, or Sub rogue not being able to enter stealth after combat if Shadow Dance is still active.

[bloodwulf]

That's great, but how are we supposed to discover that? Like I said, poor game design.

Its flagged with a big yellow ! in a main hub of the zone. The same way things have been for years. I mean i don't know how else you want it unless you expect blizzard to slap a huge full screen pop up as soon as you approach something new.

Also is it too much effort to attempt to figure it out on your own? All the chests have an interactable nearby, most are a tribute platter. When i saw a locked chest with a tribute platter, in a zone full of these little super helpful owldudes who have repeated exclaimed they love an orange fruit that is literally on basically every table in the zone, i assumed i needed to find a fruit to give the guy.

But hey, maybe i have about average deduction skills, or maybe the answer is i'm not a toddler looking to have everything explained.

[oldgeezer]

But hey, maybe i have about average deduction skills, or maybe the answer is i'm not a toddler looking to have everything explained.

Well that's rude. I'm bored with you now.

[MrFawlty]

"Bestest expansion ever"

..gawd...if you're not the one that says that about every expansion you sure fit in with those that do.

He rated the last expansion as "A Good WoW Expansion". Tends to overate things, probably if the have a Blizzard logo on them.

[Yooginava182]

I've been enjoying it more than BFA's launch thats for damn sure.

[Lei]

Seemingly there are fewer quests in the world quest pool this time around, which is a shame really. It's only been a week and many wqs were repeating several times. (pull the worms kill gorms etc)

[Kuruption]

I'm enjoying it. The main story was cool, the dungeons seem good and can't wait for M+ on them. Leveling an alt where you don't have to do the story again is a nice little feature.

But the biggest thing is that you can do the stuff you should do in a week, and that takes maybe 2 hours total to complete.

Can't wait for keys and the raid to open.

[rrayy]

It is weird how this was not chastised by Beta testers..... Or maybe they only allowed the yes-people into the Beta..

Or maybe people don't really care one way or the other.

- - - Updated - - -

It certainly is a puzzle, but it's not a good puzzle. It's just tedious, and time-filling. There's no clue, at all, to the solution in game. If you like that sort of thing, more power to you. Personally I prefer to just log off for the evening and find something more interesting to do.

And while I'm here, what was the rationale for removing the SL flight whistle? (other than 'increasing engagement').

Can't remove something that never existed.

[Angrie]

First Time not being subbed for launch of an expansion.

Played beta and really wasn't a big fan of the expansion. Almost EVERY class played like crap and the classes i enjoyed in beta were all nerfed with release.

The fact that there's already posts about "don't miss your _____" for this week gives me anxiety and i'm not even playing the game. Usually a sign the game is crap when it's a chore. Will stick with League until they level out the game.

On a side note: How many times did we (the beta testers) need to tell Blizzard about sub rogues being way too strong? Watching pvp videos of people dying in a stun... never going to get my $15 when that exists.

[oldgeezer]

Can't remove something that never existed.

Fair enough, I enjoy a good game of semantics just as much as anyone else.

Why was a (popular, as in everyone used it) feature of Legion and BFA, to facilitate WQs, not implemented in SL? I appreciate that not having it slows everyone down, sorry - increases 'engagement' - which is what the developers want, but what are the odds of it appearing in 9.1 after a long-ass grind for which the humble players/customers will be eternally grateful?

[Noxina]

Yes, just the right amount of stuff to do so you don't feel you need to quit your job, but still have a lot to do every evening.

Only thing I don't like so far, is the penalty of changing covenants. I'd wish we could change easier, but I do understand they wanted us to take an important decision. Sucks to be stuck with the best covenant for PvP, but a sub-par for PvE though.

[Kyux]

I'm loving it so far. I like that there's plenty to do, but I don't feel like I HAVE to do anything.

Plus zones and music are outstanding as usual.