Rate Shadowlands

[Lynnaroo]

Before 9.1, it was a solid 6.5/10. After is a rough 3/10 for me...

[ashblond]

I only care about raiding, so going off that alone, I’d rate shadowlands 8/10. As long as the raiding scene is top notch, I’ll continue to play.

I also think SL raids are not bad.

But raids alone won't carry the entire expansion to 8/10.

[Coldkil]

Voted bad.

Mostly becasue if it wasn't for the raid and actually the fact i have found a very good guild to play with, i would be done with the expack. I'm at the point where i play the game because of the people i play with and not the game itself, and i assume a lot more people are at this level.

I'm having fun with WoW? Of course. But it's due to other players and not due to the game.

[McNeil]

9.1 has done very little to improve the game. Its just more of the same where we just regrind everything that we grinded before. I've barely seen people returning either, this has got to be the least hyped major patch I've seen yet. The only thing I kind of like are the raids, but other than that I just hate the world, hate the story, hate the outdoor content and the fact that the WoW team doesn't have any idea on how to make the game fun. If only there was less touching and more focussing on the work floor..... damn we would have a massively good game.

[Ivarr]

A solid 4, and all the 4 points are secured by the art team. I respect the innovative environment designs but once I've seen them all I was done with it.

[Biomega]

I also think SL raids are not bad.

CN was great for the most part, but I'm honestly VERY disappointed by SoD. There's some good fights in there for sure, but also some really weird shit. It feels like a step back in many aspects, especially Shards of Domination. That is one stupid system.

[muto]

A solid 4, and all the 4 points are secured by the art team. I respect the innovative environment designs but once I've seen them all I was done with it.

Yeah at least the art team is good.

[AboikoS]

If not for the laughably disappointing story and a bit too many chores i'd give it a solid 7.5 maybe 8/10 but with this 6.5/10 is the most i can give. Im glad they unprunned some spells, raids arent bad, PvP isnt great tho because of random one shots but its not the worst either but damn..."she will never serve" lost it for me...

[Uvania]

since the leveling changes made everything before shadowlands content feel 100% dead i will rate this 0/10 for not making sure older content stays somewhat relevant.

[Kithelle]

I don't understand why people make these threads then they gotta reply to every opinion they don't like to criticize them. Don't ask for people's opinions if you don't want them...if you just want a echo chamber those are easy enough to find all over the net for every point of view.

[Demsi]

So far its in the middle for me, Raiding is fun and PvP is a lot better than it was in Legion/Bfa.

On the other hand torghast is boring, covenants hardly feel like a "meaningful decision", grinding renown each week is a chore and not a fun one either.

[Paperfox]

The art and music teams once again excelled themselves.
If you're a raider or M+ player then SL is a lobby game.
The world sure seems small and what little there is has been artificially limited to increase MAUs.

A cake is more than hot ingredients, the story is what keeps everything together into a cohesive unit and it sure seems like Blizz has gone out of it's way to eliminate story. What story that remains is extremely disjointed and I think one should thank the story writing management (not the team) for that.

What is that syndrome where you convince yourself that you cannot fail?

Since all but one of my RL friends have left, and they no longer have an active sub, then a 3 would be generous.

[Alanar]

Yeah at least the art team is good.

I used to say hell yea to this, but honestly.. I hate this shiny/gloss effect on everything. Even on things that are suppose to be old. It's getting bit to cartoony sometimes. More like decent this time around for me.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't understand why people make these threads then they gotta reply to every opinion they don't like to criticize them. Don't ask for people's opinions if you don't want them...if you just want a echo chamber those are easy enough to find all over the net for every point of view.

That is exactly what forums are, people respond to eachother and this is how..

[Johnjohn]

I do find a lot of people tend to refuse to just let people have their own opinions without jumping down there throat, especially with WoW. Its one thing to tell someone you disagree, its another to imply they are stupid, lazy or ignorant if they don't find the same things fun that others do about the game. For example I watch people constantly tell other people WoD was the worst WoW expansion. No matter how many people try and give different opinions, some trolls just barrage threads with "You are wrong! its WoD! Any other opinion is stupid!". Its obnoxious and annoying.

Either way, I would rate SL very low. I cannot stand Mythic + and don't really have time to raid anymore. PVP has also been very bad since Legion. So really, there is nothing for me to do at all in SL. I don't count doing world quests/dailies for welfare loot content.

I did not like BFA but I did have warfronts and Island expeditions at least. In Legion I had the Artifact weapon system which I loved along with getting as many alts their order halls quests done for the mounts. WOD I had ashran and again alts, yada yada yada.

All I see with SL is doubling down and forcing people into Mythic+. Not my thing, and definitely not my thing as content for a full year +. The new 9.1 dungeon did look pretty cool. but I am not re-subbing just for one dungeon.

I would rate it a 2/10. I do understand that Blizzard really seems to be catering to a completely different audience than me now so to each their own. I got a few other games I am more focused on going forward.

[ashblond]

A solid 4, and all the 4 points are secured by the art team. I respect the innovative environment designs but once I've seen them all I was done with it.

I agree on that.

[Gaidax]

I think it's 5/10 so far. 9.2 looks promising, so maybe it might go up to a 6-7.

From my perch, my problem with SL was that 9.1 came good ~2 months later than it should have been and 9.2 is also going to come ~2 months later than it should have been on top of that. This, for me is the BIGGEST issue. Now I realize we have end of the world outside, but that does not make SL better anyway. If they would have managed to stick to 6 months cycles without changing anything in patch content - it would already push score up to 6/10 alone.

Additionally to that 9.1 new area is about as uninspiring as it gets - being just some dustball with few ruined structures and nothing in it aside from WQ-like crap. The new mega-dungeon was cool, but somehow Blizz managed to make it instantly obsolete.

Other than that - launch areas were good, questing experience was good. Minus points for Maw though, I understand what they tried to go for, but rather than oppressive and challenging - it simply became annoying chore of 9.0/.5. It wasn't even challenging really, more like daunting and bland. Maybe that's why 9.1's area felt especially poor on top of it already being barren as is - it was yet another smudge of brown/grey/dead we already seen and got tired of in Maw.

The covenant system overall is actually very nice, especially after the rip cord was pulled. Legendaries were implemented almost perfectly, imo - being both non-RNG AND option for several gear slots.

Raids and dungeons are good. Torghast, on the other hand - IMO, did not pay off - it became too grindy and annoying way too fast.

---

On the story itself - I don't subscribe to story being bad, personally. I think the issue there was storytelling and pacing. WoW is not FF, it does not have hours of intense characters dialogue and cutscenes, where the whole magnitude of the story could have been properly laid out. And given the scope of the story - the usual way WoW presents story in-game simply was not enough and the few cutscenes, which were also vague AF did not help there either.

Jailer is a major missed opportunity of a character and ended up feeling like some random insert, rather than some relatable threat. The plotlines converging in "oh btw, that new guy planned it all and you don't even really know why until the very end" simply does not click with me. It could have been cool if we'd got introduced to the guy a good 2 expansions ago, so we could get him unwrapped and explored a bit.

Thankfully, on the other hand - zone and covenant stories themselves are pretty good. The whole Ysera rebirth Arden questline was rad, Venthyr had great vibes and Kyrian also were pretty majestic and interesting to explore being the inspiration for popular enemy designs of the past. I did not like Maldraxxus as much, but then it's the source of Necromancy as we know it - so there was interest there too, even if area design was meh for me.

---

SO TLDR - the usual core WoW experience (base areas minus Maw, questing, raids, dungeons) was good and new covenant systems were pretty good. However the needless restrictions, Maw, Torghast and Korthia either got old very fast, were just daunting or simply not good enough from the get go. All that especially exacerbated by delays between patches.

[Toybox]

I think it's 5/10 so far. 9.2 looks promising, so maybe it might go up to a 6-7.

From my perch, my problem with SL was that 9.1 came good ~2 months later than it should have been and 9.2 is also going to come ~2 months later than it should have been on top of that. This, for me is the BIGGEST issue. Now I realize we have end of the world outside, but that does not make SL better anyway. If they would have managed to stick to 6 months cycles without changing anything in patch content - it would already push score up to 6/10 alone.

Additionally to that 9.1 new area is about as uninspiring as it gets - being just some dustball with few ruined structures and nothing in it aside from WQ-like crap. The new mega-dungeon was cool, but somehow Blizz managed to make it instantly obsolete.

Other than that - launch areas were good, questing experience was good. Minus points for Maw though, I understand what they tried to go for, but rather than oppressive and challenging - it simply became annoying chore of 9.0/.5. It wasn't even challenging really, more like daunting and bland. Maybe that's why 9.1's area felt especially poor on top of it already being barren as is - it was yet another smudge of brown/grey/dead we already seen and got tired of in Maw.

The covenant system overall is actually very nice, especially after the rip cord was pulled. Legendaries were implemented almost perfectly, imo - being both non-RNG AND option for several gear slots.

Raids and dungeons are good. Torghast, on the other hand - IMO, did not pay off - it became too grindy and annoying way too fast.

---

SO TLDR - the usual core WoW experience (base areas minus Maw, questing, raids, dungeons) was good and new covenant systems were pretty good. However the needless restrictions, Maw, Torghast and Korthia either got old very fast, were just daunting or simply not good enough from the get go. All that especially exacerbated by delays between patches.

I agree with pretty much all of this, apart from Torghast, which I thought remained fine throughout so long as you didn't play too many characters.

I'd also add the expansion ending with 9.2 (or perhaps 9.2.5) as another reason why I can't give it a much higher score regardless of how good the patch might end up being. We might very well be on track for a 2-year expansion with just 3 raids, new systems/"features" that are destined for the bin the second the expansion ends, some of the longest early-expansion patches in the history in the game.

After being incredibly optimistic about Shadowlands early on, I'd have to agree with a 5/10, but I do think the new raid looks very good, & I'm glad they're continuing to make fun & interesting items like the new 2H Mace & the new Priest/DK rings.

[kaminaris]

0/10

im having so much fun not playing it and not giving a fuck i would not play again
addiction cured
still giving me entertainment for $0 so when it comes to value per money 10/10

[ulululu]

How can you find covenants a Pro and borrowed power a Cons at the same time.

It's like saying "I hate spaghetti but I really like eating spaghetti" - Covenants are PART of the analogy you drew to legion.

[exsanguinate]

So bad that it gives me anxiety while logging in.

0/10