I’m gonna say it; I think Shadowlands has started out really well

[dproject]

Yes, to be honest, I would say this expansion is the best ever. Very well designed, great storyline, awesome graphic. Really worth it!

[akaTheDude]

I agree, I am really enjoying it!

[Jessicka]

Other than the Maw it's been pretty awesome so far. The complaints I have are all really minor and the moment to moment gameplay is still fun enough to keep me having a good time.

For me the problems with the Maw stem from population instability, I either get an instance that’s overcrowded where you can’t move without someone pulling mobs over you and a spawn rate so high you can’t get out of combat; or an empty instance where you’re standing around waiting for spawns. Tie in faction imbalance where sometimes I seen surrounded by Horde and can’t tag a single mob.

These things will settle with time I hope.

[SirBeef]

If you check the Diablo 3 forums, there are a tiny handful of posts per month, few play the game, but those that do will defend it as an incredible game and will call anyone who criticizes it as a troll. So, this really means nothing.

The standard for good would be something like WoD launch, where a TON of players came back and the playerbase quite obviously exploded. And even then, they quickly shed all of those players and more because endgame sucked.

Not even true unless you are only looking at the end of the season. It is pretty active and a ton play the first month or two of a new season.

[Elkfingers]

Well, I did three crappy WQ in Bastion that took 40 minutes, and got a random bunch of vendor trash as reward. I liked the fact that I could target individual quests for gear in BFA, but that seems not to be the case here. Unless I'm mistaken, of course. And I've no fucking clue what's going on with Covenant stuff, other than it's a mess of borrowed power mashups, but I'll get around to it eventually I suppose.

With that, I rate the level 60 experience at 4/10 so far, and if you disagree with me you're wrong. BFA was better. Chapeau!

I mean at the start of BfA world quests also took more time, because just like now your gear was bad. Nobody ever remembers week 1 of the previous expansion 2 years on.

Like idk, if your enjoyment of an expansion is predicated on the speed at which you can clear WQs and the rewards you get from them...more power to you I guess? Both the dungeons and Torghast are fantastic though, and we're yet to have the raid and M+. Targeting gear through WQs was literally never a thing outside of the first couple weeks, or the first couple hours if you cleared M0s and ran heroics. If you're not doing the other content that rewards better gear, then you're pretty much railroaded into having a fairly myopic view of what's on offer.

As far as borrowed power goes, I get the argument to an extent but it seems like set bonuses always get left out of the equation. They are/were borrowed power systems, but for some reason nobody ever brings them up as being a problem.

Tl;dr: If you actually do all of the available content, it's a pretty damn promising start.

[Malania]

I've enjoyed it all so far. It's been a fairly stable launch for me, no realm problems. Server lag obviously but that's to be expected but that's settled now. Interesting stories and even the maw is fine, even if it is empty. Hopefully it will be fleshed out with more but right now I spend minimal time in it anyway. Travelling for the daily quests is the biggest time sink in the maw.

The only gripe I have is the story quests just end randomly. And I assume they will get unlocked as I progress on my covenant but it was just jarring to stop where it did without any story payoff. Chapters need to feel complete.

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I mean at the start of BfA world quests also took more time, because just like now your gear was bad. Nobody ever remembers week 1 of the previous expansion 2 years on.

Like idk, if your enjoyment of an expansion is predicated on the speed at which you can clear WQs and the rewards you get from them...more power to you I guess? Both the dungeons and Torghast are fantastic though, and we're yet to have the raid and M+. Targeting gear through WQs was literally never a thing outside of the first couple weeks, or the first couple hours if you cleared M0s and ran heroics. If you're not doing the other content that rewards better gear, then you're pretty much railroaded into having a fairly myopic view of what's on offer.

As far as borrowed power goes, I get the argument to an extent but it seems like set bonuses always get left out of the equation. They are/were borrowed power systems, but for some reason nobody ever brings them up as being a problem.

Tl;dr: If you actually do all of the available content, it's a pretty damn promising start.

I still remember week 1 of TBC trying to find felboars because everyone got shoved into the same zone, you couldn't share tags and nothing was instanced.

[Jessicka]

I mean at the start of BfA world quests also took more time, because just like now your gear was bad. Nobody ever remembers week 1 of the previous expansion 2 years on.

Like idk, if your enjoyment of an expansion is predicated on the speed at which you can clear WQs and the rewards you get from them...more power to you I guess? Both the dungeons and Torghast are fantastic though, and we're yet to have the raid and M+. Targeting gear through WQs was literally never a thing outside of the first couple weeks, or the first couple hours if you cleared M0s and ran heroics. If you're not doing the other content that rewards better gear, then you're pretty much railroaded into having a fairly myopic view of what's on offer.

As far as borrowed power goes, I get the argument to an extent but it seems like set bonuses always get left out of the equation. They are/were borrowed power systems, but for some reason nobody ever brings them up as being a problem.

Tl;dr: If you actually do all of the available content, it's a pretty damn promising start.

On borrowed power, I mean it is very obviously borrowed, not some contrived way of it being you but better because you have a thing. Functionally it may make little difference, but having found some of them clunky and ill-fitting of the spec in the first place, it doesn’t have the same gameplay feel because of the distinction. What’s yours is yours, what’s borrowed is very clearly borrowed.

[Mightytasty]

Week 1 of SL has definitely been better than BFA. At this point in BFA, and even Legion, the cracks had already started to show. Imo PvP being fixed is a huge deal and will bring a lot of players back to the game.

[Eurhetemec]

Well, I did three crappy WQ in Bastion that took 40 minutes, and got a random bunch of vendor trash as reward. I liked the fact that I could target individual quests for gear in BFA, but that seems not to be the case here. Unless I'm mistaken, of course. And I've no fucking clue what's going on with Covenant stuff, other than it's a mess of borrowed power mashups, but I'll get around to it eventually I suppose.

With that, I rate the level 60 experience at 4/10 so far, and if you disagree with me you're wrong. BFA was better. Chapeau!

I guess if you're not interested in the central feature of the expansion and just comparing it on "how much loot can I get from World Quests in how short a time", which is an... unusual... measure, then yeah that's a thing. It's a bit weird but hey, everyone has their own way of playing.

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I mean at the start of BfA world quests also took more time, because just like now your gear was bad. Nobody ever remembers week 1 of the previous expansion 2 years on.

Like idk, if your enjoyment of an expansion is predicated on the speed at which you can clear WQs and the rewards you get from them...more power to you I guess? Both the dungeons and Torghast are fantastic though, and we're yet to have the raid and M+. Targeting gear through WQs was literally never a thing outside of the first couple weeks, or the first couple hours if you cleared M0s and ran heroics. If you're not doing the other content that rewards better gear, then you're pretty much railroaded into having a fairly myopic view of what's on offer.

As far as borrowed power goes, I get the argument to an extent but it seems like set bonuses always get left out of the equation. They are/were borrowed power systems, but for some reason nobody ever brings them up as being a problem.

Tl;dr: If you actually do all of the available content, it's a pretty damn promising start.

Agree with all of this, esp. set bonuses. I think the reason they don't get included is that people felt like they owned them because they were physical pieces of equipment, but it's bollocks, because whenever they were actually valuable enough to carry to the next expansion or sometimes even the next tier, Blizzard nerfed them, and then later just straight disabled them in higher expansions.

I think for more casual players WQ gear had a bit more value than you're giving it credit, but yeah, it didn't last very long. I am slightly surprised that WQs don't seem to award gear here, because I could swear that when I first hit 60, they did (I'm probably wrong). The callings do at least provide gear sometimes (though more often just loot worth cash money and the odd Conduit).

[Kokolums]

Some people just want to make the world burn. If people are enjoying the game you have to find some contrived argument as to why they might be wrong. Surely you have better things to do.

I'm just pointing out, fanboys will defend their game until the bitter end. It doesn't matter how dead the game is. Its annoying.

[loras]

I think this is the first expansion I’ve not felt rushed, not felt a need to put a ton of extra hours or late nights into and not felt I was going to fall behind if I didn’t.

And yet, I get home from work and I want to log in. I’ve levelled my Warlock and Mage, I feel like I’m going somewhere with both, I’m enjoying the story and the world, and the gameplay actually feels good. Progress feels decently placed, and I don’t feel too tied to systems I’d hated in previous expansions like the mobile game aspect, so while I don’t like them they don’t feel so overbearing.

It’s good. So there. How about that, a positive post from me. I wasn’t sure at first but week one has me convinced.

That's actually really nice to hear, and helps my decision making.
I hope it provides you with many more hours of fun.

[Lord Pebbleton]

Leveling was a CHORE for me. Way too many padding quests, not enough substance, forgettable enemies (like the supposed baddie in Ardenweald, he almost dies offscreen).

Gating endgame behind the whole questing experience was a bad idea because at the end you hit level 60 wayyyy before being done with everything. Of course you could just ignore side quests to speed it up (as I did), but those side quests are super long chains that afaik don't appear on the map; but if you decide to keep them, you run out of quest log space very quickly. Just kind of a headache.

BUT I feel the same as you regarding endgame. I had fun in Torghast, dungeons are nice, the pace is good. I still have to break into heroic dungeons, did 5 normals without a single upgrade dropping.
My only complaints would be: make the Maw less of a chore, and increase drop chance in dungeons.

[Kokolums]

Not even true unless you are only looking at the end of the season. It is pretty active and a ton play the first month or two of a new season.

If it was active, they would never have cancelled the second xpac. That's just throwing away a ginormous amount of money. They would keep pumping out xpacs if there was interest in D3. Its been moved to the legacy team. Almost all of the D3 devoted websites died except one 1 new one.

[Jessicka]

I'm just pointing out, fanboys will defend their game until the bitter end. It doesn't matter how dead the game is. Its annoying.

Interesting since historically I’ve been accused of being over critical and only making negative posts. I mean my take on Kyrians in my other thread is hardly complementary. Defending Blizzard absolutely is not my MO, but in this case I feel I should give credit where it’s due, because as a whole, the expansion so far feels really good.

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

I agree, but I'm sick of Torghast already and I've only done each layer once.

[SirBeef]

If it was active, they would never have cancelled the second xpac. That's just throwing away a ginormous amount of money. They would keep pumping out xpacs if there was interest in D3. Its been moved to the legacy team. Almost all of the D3 devoted websites died except one 1 new one.

Fourm activity has nothing to do with their decision to cancel the second expansion. That decision was mad when they decided to remove the RMAH to avoid the possibility of paying and collecting taxes on transactions due to a new law. They didn't even wait to see the reception of RoS, because they had no way to monetize the game so they moved on.

Regardless, many people play, and since you want to use unreliable metrics, twitch views for D3 when seasons start are high, and D3 views are constantly higher than D2, which everyone loves to claim is more populated.

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I'm just pointing out, fanboys will defend their game until the bitter end. It doesn't matter how dead the game is. Its annoying.

And haters will hate to the bitter end despite evidence contrary to their beliefs. It's annoying.

[oldgeezer]

I guess if you're not interested in the central feature of the expansion and just comparing it on "how much loot can I get from World Quests in how short a time", which is an... unusual... measure, then yeah that's a thing. It's a bit weird but hey, everyone has their own way of playing.

Well, yes and no. I mostly play the game solo, have done so for years. So, I'll get the alts levelled up, possibly work on professions and old content a bit, see how the wind is blowing, and decide if I want to sit things out until 9.1 arrives. And that's fine. To everyone else out there having a blast - good for you!

[Eurhetemec]

Well, yes and no. I mostly play the game solo, have done so for years. So, I'll get the alts levelled up, possibly work on professions and old content a bit, see how the wind is blowing, and decide if I want to sit things out until 9.1 arrives. And that's fine. To everyone else out there having a blast - good for you!

I think that's probably the right way to go. With the catch-up mechanisms they seem to have coming for Covenants, I suspect you'll have more fun leveling alts and so on for a few weeks at least, and then when you do Covenants, they'll potentially be more rewarding.

[Edward Wu]

I really, really like Shadowlands as well.

I see very little with it wrong so far, which is very surprising as they usually do themselves in with their own system design.

[PenguinChan]

It's quite fun, I'll admit. Havoc is absolutely crap-tastic so I've been mobbing all things in sight on Vengeance. It seems a lot of other players appreciate this in the Maw, since I just face-tank it all. So that's pretty cool - Torghast is also a joke with Vengeance as you... Just don't die, and Havoc has a bit of skill involved to not get obliterated from pulling too much and getting CC'd.

World Quests are, unfortunately, just alright. Without the whistle it's a chore and I skip all gold rewards and go straight for Rep + Anima. Unless it's on the way - and even still. Flight paths are really helpful at least and not too far apart as a DH. Can't imagine some of them on other classes who can't climb at all. Dungeons are good, none-too-challenging but unique enough.

I'm enjoying Covenants (Ardenweald for me), but I honestly wish they either made it a strictly one choice only - and that's it, or just allow us to... Progress in all of them at our own pace on a single character. It's really arbitrary, honestly. I know it's meant to encourage having 4 characters, but even so that's a bit of a bummer. At least everything but the Covenant grind is pretty fun.