Comparing WOTLK Launch Content vs Shadowlands Launch Content

[tirisfalskeleton]

Out of curiosity I decided to compare the launches of Shadowlands and Wrath of the Lich King. Wrath is heralded as the best expansion pack by much of the playerbase. I actually played Wrath of the Lich King at launch all the way until Ulduar was released. While we don't know exactly what content will be added to Shadowlands over the coming month, we have somewhat of an idea. Below I will be comparing the first few months of content between the two expansions.

Once you dinged 80 in Wrath of the Lich King you would hang out in Dalaran. Content included Normal/Heroic Dungeon farming, Battlegrounds, Season 1 Arena, Wintergrasp + Vault of Archavon, Naxxramas, and Zone Reputation grinds. Below is a more detailed summary.

Was there really more content in early Wrath compared to Shadowlands?

Wrath of the Lich King:

Normal/Heroic Dungeons (No Dungeon Finder)

There was no dungeon finder so you had to form groups with players on your server.
WOTLK launched with more dungeons than any expansion, but some were not well received.
Some dungeons were a lot more popular than others. Players would often avoid certain dungeons.

- Utgarde Keep (Popular/Fun)
- Uthgard Pinnacle (Popular)
- Azjol-Nerub (Unpopular/Many players would leave early on)
- The Nexus (Unpopular/Avoid by many)
- Drak'Tharon Keep (Not that popular and often mixed up with Gundrak)
- Violet Hold (Short and repertitive.. was in Dalaran)
- Gundrak (Not well liked/Lots of annoying trash)
- Stratholme Past (Well received.. but it a bit boring)
- Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom (Often confused with Azjol-Nerub)
- Halls of Stone (Pretty popular)
- Halls of Lightning (Fast paced and fairly well-liked)
- The Oculus (Not popular/many complaints)

PvP

- Lake Wintergrasp (Vehicle PvP, zerging + lag)
- Strand of Ancients (This was the most popular BG. It was vehicle rushfest.)
- Honor Vendor (No weapons)
- Season 1 Arena (Dalaran Sewer + Ring of Valor)

PvE

Zone Reputations and Vendors (Daily Quests)

- Borean Tundra (A bit barren, but memorable)
- Howling Fjord (One of the best starting zones ever)
- Icecrown (Not much to do here at lower levels)
- Storm Peaks (Same as Icecrown)
- Wintergrasp
- Crystalsong Forest (This zone was empty usually)
- Zul'drak (Not that well-liked.. lots of trash mobs that would chase)
- Sholazar Basin (Relaxing and fun)
- Grizzly Hills (Very memorable and fun)
- Dragonblight (Flat and fairly empt)

Raids

- Naxxramas (1 difficulty.. and easy and recycled)
- Vault of Archavon (1 boss)
- Obsidian Sanctum (1 boss)
- Eye of Eternity (1 boss)

Classes

- Deathknights (Very popular, yet imbalanced and controversial)

Cities

- Dalaran (Cramped, laggy, yet pretty)

Professions

- Inscription (Popular)



Shadowlands

Normal/Heroic Dungeons/Mythic/Mythic+ (Dungeon Finder)

- The Necrotic Wake
- Plaguefall
- Mists of Tirna Scithe
- Halls of Atonement
- Theater of Pain
- De Other Side
- Spires of Ascension
- Sanguine Depths

PvP

- Season 1 Arena
- Honor Vendor
- World PvP quest
- 2 Battlegrounds (Normal and Epic)

PvE

Faction Reputations and Anima

- Torghast (Mutli-layers and Legendary Powers)
- World Quests (Anima)
- Bastion
- Maldraxxus
- Ardenweald
- Revendreth
- The Maw


Raids

- Castle Nathria (LFR/Normal/Heroic/Mythic)

Cities

- Oribos

[apustus]

No one asked.

[Topornic]

You forgot Oculus in wotlk dungeons list. I had fun then and I have lots of fun now. I don't see the point tbh, you can't compare them all that much really.

[tirisfalskeleton]

No one asked.

Well I'm offering some perspective on the content available between what is often considered the pinnacle of WoW.

Was the content in early Wrath really that good compared to what we have now?

- - - Updated - - -

You forgot Oculus in wotlk dungeons list. I had fun then and I have lots of fun now. I don't see the point tbh, you can't compare them all that much really.

I added to the list. I tend to forget about that dungeon.

[Jabakaga]

- Azjol-Nerub (Unpopular/Many players would leave early on)
What it was easy and quick dungeon. Everyone I knew loved it because of that.

[tirisfalskeleton]

- Azjol-Nerub (Unpopular/Many players would leave early on)
What it was easy and quick dungeon. Everyone I knew loved it because of that.

Good point. It was fast if your group stayed together. I remember when dungeon finder was released it received more complaints. Agreed it wasn't that hard at all, but I think the bugs creeped some players out.

[Gimlix]

Lets compare MoP content to any other xpac, i think MoP Destroys WOTLK on content. What u wanna point out OP?

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

The fact that expansions got smaller post-Wrath and then again post-MoP isn't something that needs to be pointed out. It's a universally accepted fact.

[oplawlz]

Lets compare MoP content to any other xpac, i think MoP Destroys WOTLK on content. What u wanna point out OP?

If you want to compare things that aren't included in the Op make a new thread.

OT: Very different eras in gaming. WoW has casualized itself to the point where adding even moderately challenging content causes the community to collapse on itself like a pack of starving feral hounds. While WotLK was certainly the starting point of that slide, the players who experienced it were looking at a vastly different set of metrics.

[dewd]

also malygos and sartharion

[Daronokk]

The fact that expansions got smaller post-Wrath and then again post-MoP isn't something that needs to be pointed out. It's a universally accepted fact.

The amount of content patches per expansion has been dropping since Vanilla WoW.

[tirisfalskeleton]

also malygos and sartharion

Added Obsidian Sanctum and Eye of Eternity.

[oblakoff]

I'll take Oculus before Mists of Tirna Scithe ANY DAY

[Nightstalker]

Oh Naxxramas, that raid that took so much work for adding 1 drop quest and increasing Patchwork's melee damage.

[tirisfalskeleton]

Lets compare MoP content to any other xpac, i think MoP Destroys WOTLK on content. What u wanna point out OP?

Well how much of early WOTLK was nostalgia? Was there more content than in Shadowlands in retrospect.

[FelPlague]

Out of curiosity I decided to compare the launches of Shadowlands and Wrath of the Lich King. Wrath is heralded as the best expansion pack by much of the playerbase. I actually played Wrath of the Lich King at launch all the way until Ulduar was released. While we don't know exactly what content will be added to Shadowlands over the coming month, we have somewhat of an idea. Below I will be comparing the first few months of content between the two expansions.

Once you dinged 80 in Wrath of the Lich King you would hang out in Dalaran. Content included Normal/Heroic Dungeon farming, Battlegrounds, Season 1 Arena, Wintergrasp + Vault of Archavon, Naxxramas, and Zone Reputation grinds. Below is a more detailed summary.

Was there really more content in early Wrath compared to Shadowlands?

Wrath of the Lich King:

Normal/Heroic Dungeons (No Dungeon Finder)

There was no dungeon finder so you had to form groups with players on your server.
WOTLK launched with more dungeons than any expansion, but some were not well received.
Some dungeons were a lot more popular than others. Players would often avoid certain dungeons.

- Utgarde Keep (Popular/Fun)
- Azjol-Nerub (Unpopular/Many players would leave early on)
- The Nexus (Unpopular/Avoid by many)
- Drak'Tharon Keep (Not that popular and often mixed up with Gundrak)
- Violet Hold (Short and repertitive.. was in Dalaran)
- Gundrak (Not well liked/Lots of annoying trash)
- Stratholme Past (Well received.. but it a bit boring)
- Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom (Often confused with Azjol-Nerub)
- Halls of Stone (Pretty popular)
- Halls of Lightning (Fast paced and fairly well-liked)
- The Oculus (Not popular/many complaints)

PvP

- Lake Wintergrasp (Vehicle PvP, zerging + lag)
- Strand of Ancients (This was the most popular BG. It was vehicle rushfest.)
- Honor Vendor (No weapons)
- Season 1 Arena (Dalaran Sewer + Ring of Valor)

PvE

Zone Reputations and Vendors (Daily Quests)

- Borean Tundra (A bit barren, but memorable)
- Howling Fjord (One of the best starting zones ever)
- Icecrown (Not much to do here at lower levels)
- Storm Peaks (Same as Icecrown)
- Wintergrasp
- Crystalsong Forest (This zone was empty usually)
- Zul'drak (Not that well-liked.. lots of trash mobs that would chase)
- Sholazar Basin (Relaxing and fun)
- Grizzly Hills (Very memorable and fun)
- Dragonblight (Flat and fairly empt)

Raids

- Naxxramas (Normal + Heoric. Low difficulty.. and recycled)
- Vault of Archavon (1 boss)
- Obsidian Sanctum (Fast, few bosses)
- Eye of Eternity (1 boss)

Classes

- Deathknights (Very popular, yet imbalanced and controversial)

Cities

- Dalaran (Cramped, laggy, yet pretty)

Professions

- Inscription (Popular)



Shadowlands

Normal/Heroic Dungeons/Mythic (Dungeon Finder)

- The Necrotic Wake
- Plaguefall
- Mists of Tirna Scithe
- Halls of Atonement
- Theater of Pain
- De Other Side
- Spires of Ascension
- Sanguine Depths

PvP

- Season 1 Arena
- Honor Vendor
- World PvP quest
- 2 Battlegrounds (Normal and Epic)

PvE

- Torghast (Mutli-layers and Legendary Powers)
- World Quests (Anima)
- Bastion
- Maldraxxus
- Ardenweald
- Revendreth
- The Maw


Raids

- Castle Nathria (LFR/Normal/Heroic/Mythic)

Cities

- Oribos

Why do you mentions reputations in wotlk but then not in shadowlands?
why do you skip the other cities? (Covenant halls)
no mention of pvp world quests?
obsidian sanctum was 1 boss, not 4. those other 3 were mini-bosses, not actual bosses.
also what is the point of this?

[McNeil]

WotLK hit the sweet spot where it still had a design philosphy that came off Classic and TBC, but also had enough QoL improvements that made the game a lot better without alienating its MMORPG genre to much. The gameplay was in an excellent state, the zones were beautiful, the dungeons were fun, Ulduar and ICC are some of the best raids, a lot of love for PvP, the story was solid (well... for Blizzards standards).

I have no full opinion on Shadowlands yet, but in comparison the one thing I notice is how much smaller the world feels. The gameplay is also lacking despite being better than BFA. The zones are alright, the dungeons I've seen so far are solid, looking forward to see Castle Nathria as I'm digging its theming and Denathrius is one of the better new characters.

Also guys can you please stop quoting the entire post from OP -_-

[ldev]

I'm doing stitchmasters on my main and tea party on my alt. Nice comparison bruh.

In wotlk it was:
dungeons > hc > shoulder enchant rep > recycled old raid
That's fucking it. There was no point for me ever to grind any rep - unlike anima, covenant specific stuff, etc, that actually give noiiiiiiiiiice rewards.

In shadowlands:
dungeons > hc > mythic > anima (relevant for whole expansion) <> covenant renown (still long way to go) <> stygia (relevant for whole expansion) <> soul ash (loooong way to go to craft cool legendaries on top of best dps one) <> stitchmasters/other covenant activities (loooooong way to go) <> new raid

Wotlk was baren as fuck. Dungeons - more in number, but fucking ONE last boss of ToP has MORE MECHANICS than all these wotlk dungeons COMBINED on mythic, wotlk dungeons are a joke, they provided literally no content for more than 10 hours total, if that. Mythic key races - oh yes, Shadowland mythics are still useful in the future.

Shadowlands is fucking huge, I see why there's only 4 normal zones - there's SO MUCH CONTENT elsewhere.

[tirisfalskeleton]

Why do you mentions reputations in wotlk but then not in shadowlands?
why do you skip the other cities? (Covenant halls)
no mention of pvp world quests?
obsidian sanctum was 1 boss, not 4. those other 3 were mini-bosses, not actual bosses.
also what is the point of this?

Added some of those.

Trying to determine if early Wrath was better than early Shadowlands. Was there actually more content back then?

[Broken Fox]

No one asked.

then dont open the fucking thread if you're not interested you little weasel