Mandatory Maw - the biggest SL problem now?

[kaminaris]

The problem here is that you're going for a two-pronged approach.

1) Something different from the norm = interesting
2) If one person likes it = thing is good

I'm not saying a game should be breezy and offer no challenge. Overcoming challenge and being rewarded for it is a major part of most game structures. The thing here is that the Maw doesn't do that well. It basically takes away things you've grown accustomed to or worked to use in the first place, and then tells you "go earn this all over again. Traversing through this place without wanting to throw yourself off a cliff out of pure frustration is going to be your reward for it."

No, just no. I am talking mostly about pain, suffering and frustration. Not challenge.

Challenge is just a lil' bonus.

[Jastall]

The dailies are a bit of a chore, but nothing too out of what we're used to. Personally I mostly do the weeklies because I don't raid Mythic anymore so I can't be bothered to care about one socket on like, 4 items. The Torghast boosts are far cheaper and mostly rely on rep, which again is gained quickest by weeklies.

No mount is just stupid and a waste of everybody's time. Make the mobs dismount you easily if they really want the place to feel dangerous (even if it's not, really, even on foot), but just getting somewhere takes too long for no real reason.

[blankfaced]

You literally run in, click five things and run out for souls.

You don't have to do anything else, not all that "hardcore" in my opinion.

Everything else in there is strictly for torghast or the maw itself.

[huth]

I disagree that the maw is hardcore. That's the aesthetic they went for, but it's trivial world content like anything else they've made.

I do agree that it is easily the biggest problem in Shadowlands. Daily content is your anima channeling, some adventures, a handful of world quests, and then ages in the maw trying to fill up that bar. I easily spend the most time in the Maw compared to anything else and it's just boring.
There's hardly anything to do, it's a small zone, and it's just camping rares until they show up and moving to the new space so you slowly fill your bar. I wouldn't mind as much if the dailies and events gave all 5 tiers and the rares were just an alternative, but the daily content won't even give 2 tiers.

I take it you haven't unlocked the second area yet? Because after the dailies, i'm capped on attention and have to leave, with nothing to spare for minor events or rares.

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huh?rly?the main stat gems are gone?dang,well anyways mastery is a direct increase for many classes in dmg,basicaly like a main stat,versatility gives flat dmg increase

Not gone, the BfA ones still exist and work just fine.

[WowIsDead64]

You are not forced. Maw is not mandatory. You dont have to do Maw.

What currency do we see here? Isn't it souls, that can be obtained in Maw only? Some players here can say, that this content isn't important for them, so they can skip it. But for me Covenants are major xpack's content and therefore Maw in mandatory for me.

[msdos]

If Shadowlands is anything like BFA, you will be able to meet your requirements by only doing weeklies, emissary, raid logging and doing the table missions on cooldown.

Since it's Shadowlands, there definitely is zero reason to be grinding anything UNLESS your objective is be ahead of everyone else. Even the PVP stuff is gated behind Renown 7, so grinding honor won't get you ahead of a curve either.

[WowIsDead64]

If Shadowlands is anything like BFA, you will be able to meet your requirements by only doing weeklies, emissary, raid logging and doing the table missions on cooldown.

Since it's Shadowlands, there definitely is zero reason to be grinding anything UNLESS your objective is be ahead of everyone else. Even the PVP stuff is gated behind Renown 7, so grinding honor won't get you ahead of a curve either.

I don't want to be ahead of anything. I play with my own pace. Overall I just don't like that "try it a little bit - may be you'll like it" design, Blizzard constantly try to push. Same, as with Dalaran Sewers in Legion. I just don't want to go there, as design of this location definitely doesn't suit my playstyle. Why should I do, what I don't like? So, overall that Blizzards' "There should always be mandatory content" mentality is just bad thing. Especially in xpack, where at least they try to make game more player-friendly, not just BFA-like suffer-fest.

[Aphrel]

But mandatory Maw is one big no no for me. It's one single big offender, that spoils whole picture. Because it's way too hardcore for me, so I don't want to even set a foot to there. But souls are required for all Covenant upgrades. It's just impossible to skip them. What do you think? Will Blizzard fix this problem in a nearest future, at least in 9.1, or we are doomed to have this problem till the end of SL?

Getting the 5 souls litterally goes faster than a random world Q. you can be done with it in 5min in the maw, probably even less.

If anything is gonna knock the casual crowd on their ass its Thorgast. That shit is not friendly tuned for some dps specs... ive had to boost two of my more casual friends that still play from time to time in there.

[msdos]

No offense but you're just complaining for the sake of complaining.

"I dun wanna do dat" is not a valid criticism of something. Okay, you can't mount up, oh well, we dealt with it a lot in many games. My suggestion is find a different game or ignore the content and use catch-ups later.

[Harry Botter]

i disagree on it being mandatory, it gives you account-wide torghast upgrades and that's it.

Also it being on foot only is the best thing they could've done iwth it

Wait! Those upgrades you buy with Stygia are account bound? That's awesome.

[TheRainman]

You spend 10-20 min in the maw for the dailies. You can get a mount by killing the npcs that provides it.
I don't get the maw hate, but then again I like it when gameplay reflects the aesthetics and provides mood to the location you are in.

The current design is fitting for it.

Likewise. I actually really like the maw. Feels fitting to the aesthetic. It's not even a large zone. People just like to whine, imo.

[Raugnaut]

Do Sanctum Upgrades even provide a single iota of instanced character power?

As Fae, while there are 2 legendary powers as part of the Sanctum Upgrade (I think, could be just part of the Convenant itself), both of them are pretty bad.

Pretty much the entirety of the Fae Sanctum upgrades is geared towards vanity. Even the few pieces of gear reward, tied behind the extremely expensive upgrade, will only be available at so late a point in the content life-cycle that it would be useless.

So, no, the Sanctum itself isn't "mandatory".
Maw still is though - You need to both get Venari rep up to afford the Conduit upgrades as WELL as the gem sockets.

Personally, the ONLY mechanic of the Maw I absolutely despise is the Eye of the Jailer. Outside of the Eye, the rest of the Maw is set up as essentially the Timeless Isle - Lots of stuff to do, farmable currency, farmable rep, except far harder, and better to do in a 5 man party. However, the Eye basically completely fucks all that over - Not only are you VERY limited in time (Before you get the Ven'ari items, once you hit lvl 3 you can no longer take your time in the Maw), but you HAVE to pick and choose what to do (Weeklys basicaly take a full lvl each. You can't even kill any rares or do any side objectives the first day of the week because you get capped from just the quests!), and you absolutely NEED to make sure you don't have any campaign quests in the Maw, otherwise you wind up not being able to progress that quest!

[Clozer]

What currency do we see here? Isn't it souls, that can be obtained in Maw only? Some players here can say, that this content isn't important for them, so they can skip it. But for me Covenants are major xpack's content and therefore Maw in mandatory for me.

so to unlock the xpack content, you have to play the xpack?????????????? IN WHAT WORLD DO WE LIVE IN! THIS IS INSANE! UNSUBBED RIGHT NOW!

[Whitedragon]

The soul quest takes all of 5 minutes to do, only needs to be done once a week, and can be done very close to the start of the zone... so no, I don't think they went to far with it.

[WowIsDead64]

Overall problem is - different kinds of content suit different players, so when one "common denominator" mandatory content pops up, devs should either make sure, that it suits ALL players, or not do it at all. I don't understand, why this concept is so hard to get. It's the same, as mandatory PVP for essenses. Overall content like Maw suits guys, who like jump/navigation puzzles and soft-timers. I just hate both of this mechanics. And "you just need to do 0.00001% of this content - it isn't that bad" just doesn't work for me. I do content or I don't do it. I don't like that "you need to do just one small piece of it" concept. It just feels bad. Just like some sort of "bait".

Would you do just one mandatory BG a week to obtain some PVE currency, if you hate PVP?

If this souls are so unimportant and are time gated anyway, why can't be just remove this quest and add 5 souls a week automatically? Why should we have that illusion, that we do something to earn them beyond just waiting for another week?

[TheRainman]

Why can't be just remove this quest and add 5 souls a week automatically? Why should we have that illusion, that we do something to earn them beyond just waiting for another week?

This same rationale could be applied to literally anything in the game that takes time / work / coordination / anything. Gee wiz I sure wish I could log in on Tuesday, get some new gear automatically, the not log on for the rest of the week to do things that I, subjectively, think is a waste of time / work / coordination / anything.

Everything in this genre is an illusion wrapped inside of a time sink. Have you considered that maybe this kind of game just isn't for you?

[Clozer]

Overall problem is - different kinds of content suit different players, so when one "common denominator" mandatory content pops up, devs should either make sure, that it suits ALL players, or not do it at all. I don't understand, why this concept is so hard to get. It's the same, as mandatory PVP for essenses. Overall content like Maw suits guys, who like jump/navigation puzzles and soft-timers. I just hate both of this mechanics. And "you just need to do 0.00001% of this content - it isn't that bad" just doesn't work for. I do content or I don't do it. I don't like that "you need to do just one small piece of it" concept. It just feels bad. Just like some sort of "bait".

Would you do just one mandatory BG a week to obtain some PVE currency, if you hate PVP?

If this souls are so unimportant and are time gated anyway, why can't be just remove this quest and add 5 souls a week automatically? Why should we have that illusion, that we do something to earn them beyond just waiting for another week?

I agree having to do a 5-minute quest that I don't like keeps me from playing this game. I just unsubbed. 100% agree. They either design the game for exactly my needs or I just quit.

[erifwodahs]

What currency do we see here? Isn't it souls, that can be obtained in Maw only? Some players here can say, that this content isn't important for them, so they can skip it. But for me Covenants are major xpack's content and therefore Maw in mandatory for me.

I the maw soul quest in 3 minutes yesterday. You literally see 4 - 5 souls on the minimap when you leave the venari hideout lol.

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If this souls are so unimportant and are time gated anyway, why can't be just remove this quest and add 5 souls a week automatically? Why should we have that illusion, that we do something to earn them beyond just waiting for another week?

You could apply that to anything which does not require big effort in wow which is basically everything besides high rank pvp, mythic raiding and very high m+.

[Kumorii]

Overall problem is - different kinds of content suit different players, so when one "common denominator" mandatory content pops up, devs should either make sure, that it suits ALL players, or not do it at all. I don't understand, why this concept is so hard to get. It's the same, as mandatory PVP for essenses. Overall content like Maw suits guys, who like jump/navigation puzzles and soft-timers. I just hate both of this mechanics. And "you just need to do 0.00001% of this content - it isn't that bad" just doesn't work for me. I do content or I don't do it. I don't like that "you need to do just one small piece of it" concept. It just feels bad. Just like some sort of "bait".

Would you do just one mandatory BG a week to obtain some PVE currency, if you hate PVP?

If this souls are so unimportant and are time gated anyway, why can't be just remove this quest and add 5 souls a week automatically? Why should we have that illusion, that we do something to earn them beyond just waiting for another week?

You do realise that statement means no games could ever or should ever exist? Every single game there is have content that's mandatory because content is what games are about. To play any game you have to indulge in the content it provides you can't move around it. This is a case more about if you find a problem about the game, just find another game.

I dislike Mass Effect games, that games content doesn't fit all players because it doesn't fit me... should that mean they shouldn't do it? No games would ever be created with that ridiculous high bar.

[Mysterymask]

Overall problem is - different kinds of content suit different players, so when one "common denominator" mandatory content pops up, devs should either make sure, that it suits ALL players

They try to make content for ALL players...but the way you talk you might actually be a lost cause..Nintendo can only do so much to the guy who doesn't learn to not die to the first 1-1 Goomba