SL after the honeymoon phase

[RemasteredClassic]

After a month of playing now, with the initial impression being overall good, SL now feels like it is there just to keep people busy for the sake of being busy at this point. So far, it's been neither a "journey of fun and wonders" nor exploration nor a search for powerful loot or cosmetics to be felt. Just feels like the objective from the beginning was logging in to check out what they came up with for dungeons and systems this time around and how the gated content is done differently from last time using renown, which makes it feel more like a progression in a way. The story feels weak and unexciting.

The zones and overall story after being seen once only makes up 10% of SL for me, the remaining 90% is just a boring grind that feels too familiar and unrewarding. Still hopeful that this gets taken care of in 9.1+. Flying is a must for the "exploration part". It's enough to grind this far and see it all on the ground. Also would have been nice if they made the intro quest skippable for alts, but it is too late, I am fully burned out because of it and I feel like it is time to take a break for a while.

If there was one thing I wish to see in WoW that is not far fetched or unreasonable, that would be: having mini dungeons made up of previous expansion raids playable as timewalking instances from 50->60 as a choice after clearing SL leveling content once for variety's sake as opposed to the repetition of the same 3-4 things over and over. 10->50 is so much more fun than 50->60 regardless of how many times you do it due to the massive selection of dungeons and many expansions as available choices to spice things up. Anyway, the new SL dungeons will get played endlessly in heroic/mythic/m+ and this suggestion is not for M+, but for leveling only.

It's not because you've done it all that it starts to feel boring, I have only done 20 to 30 percent of SL so far. I'm just not interested in SL as much as I am in the non SL WoW content. It is very important to create new content in light of older content and make sure it stands out in a good way compared to previous content otherwise it will fail and disappoint. At the same time, old content must not be ignored and rendered irrelevant which is currently the case for raids only (compared to leveling dungeons/different expansion questing).

I don't login to do some weeklies or daily, but to actually try and learn a new spec while enjoying a dungeon or an LFR raid. My choices are currently severely limited because I am stuck with current content only at level 51+ on all my alts.

I don't think this is something that should be addressed via a korrak's revenge or invasions or something short term and for SL only, but via a long term solution that never gets old and the only thing that comes to mind is turning old raids into dungeons for levels 50 to 59 after clearing all current content first on a single character.

Ton of variety, fun and challenge while waiting for gating BS to get taken care of in future patches. A great example of this solution is the anniversary multi raid boss event.

[Greyvax]

I like SL still post honeymoon phase. CN is great, and mythic+ is solid as always.

I do agree that we need something else though. The outdoor content is definitely lacking (WQ's are worse than they've ever been). Content like Mech/Naz were great outdoor type content added in BFA. Hopefully we get something similar to that or timeless isle.

[Liarparadox]

I've really loved SL so far. But WOW is all about time-gated content and slot machine rewards. It won't change, ever. This is the game, for better or worse. I'm still having fun; but i'm more and more wondering if there is any point to logging in aside from raid nights. Even m+ at this point feels fairly pointless. I'll do 4 of them for the vault. But, pretty soon I don't think i'm gonna bother beyond 1 dungeon a week.

pvp is still poorly balanced, and blizz doesn't seem to really put tons of effort there, so i only do it casually with some friends. The zones, while beautiful to look at, are annoying to navigate, so not really likely questing. M+ still has an awful meta with horrible spec favoritism. Not fun without being one of those specs. Actually, i don't really like many dungeons aside from Mists, Halls, Sanguine Depths. The rest are sorta bleh to me. De Other Side is fine I guess.

there's a lot to praise SL about, at least for me. I loved the levelling experience the most. Best levelling imo. Didn't even want it to end tbh. And this is a good first tier for raids. Heroic Sire is a fun fight. But ya, idk, mythic raid nights is pretty much the only thing I'm feeling the need to log into anymore. 1 month from now? IDK, not really sure there's much to keep me logging in other than some alt stuff. Thankfully other games exist.

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(WQ's are worse than they've ever been).

Agreed, They are pretty painful to do. IDK why, but they really suck so far.

[ro9ue]

I had fun but im at the point now where renown unlocks so slowly and it doesn't even matter because i dont have the anima to buy shit anyway lol. So I'll prob just resub in 9.1 or 9.2.

[Liarparadox]

I had fun but im at the point now where renown unlocks so slowly and it doesn't even matter because i dont have the anima to buy shit anyway lol. So I'll prob just resub in 9.1 or 9.2.

yeah the anima time-gating thing is annoying. I get it's a draught, but come on blizz, do you really need to time gate collectors? I guess the profit model says yes. But ya it's pretty annoying bc I wanna unlock stuff, but no way in hell am i farming anima in that small of quantity. Likely will get boosted in 9.1.

[ohwell]

I had fun but im at the point now where renown unlocks so slowly and it doesn't even matter because i dont have the anima to buy shit anyway lol. So I'll prob just resub in 9.1 or 9.2.

If you're not focusing on alts, you can get around 1k or more anima a day. I'm just trying to not get burned out and also want to keep my alts running at a moderate rate. Also you usually want to skip the 2 anima wq as unless they're the quick vehicle combat ones it's often not worth your time. Anima isn't nearly as slow as it seems. I just was making the mistake of healing my adventurers early on.

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yeah the anima time-gating thing is annoying. I get it's a draught, but come on blizz, do you really need to time gate collectors? I guess the profit model says yes. But ya it's pretty annoying bc I wanna unlock stuff, but no way in hell am i farming anima in that small of quantity. Likely will get boosted in 9.1.

I feel like a lot of the weapon models are in the raid at least for Kyrian(in terms of the globule turn in items). I think most of the unique stuff is from the covenant unique activities which that one is the most heavily gated for upgrades.

[Smash Adams]

I’m still having fun but a lot of my time has been getting spent outside of SL proper. The whole lack of anima thing has been discussed to death but man does it really make me want to just avoid doing anything for another patch or two when it inevitably gets boosted. WQ’s are god awful and in short supply(they really, REALLY need to add more). The zones themselves are fine I guess. They aren’t terrible, but they feel small and kinda suck to navigate. Not to mention it still feels like I can’t take more than three steps without pulling fourteen mobs.

[SoloMmofriendly]

After a month of playing now, with the initial impression being overall good, SL now feels like it is there just to keep people busy for the sake of being busy at this point. So far, it's been neither a "journey of fun and wonders" nor exploration nor a search for powerful loot or cosmetics to be felt. Just feels like the objective from the beginning was logging in to check out what they came up with for dungeons and systems this time around and how the gated content is done differently from last time using renown, which makes it feel more like a progression in a way. The story feels weak and unexciting.

The zones and overall story after being seen once only makes up 10% of SL for me, the remaining 90% is just a boring grind that feels too familiar and unrewarding. Still hopeful that this gets taken care of in 9.1+. Flying is a must for the "exploration part". It's enough to grind this far and see it all on the ground. Also would have been nice if they made the intro quest skippable for alts, but it is too late, I am fully burned out because of it and I feel like it is time to take a break for a while.

If there was one thing I wish to see in WoW that is not far fetched or unreasonable, that would be: having mini dungeons made up of previous expansion raids playable as timewalking instances for variety's sake as opposed to the repetition of the same 3-4 things over and over.

The problem has been gradually over time blizzard changed it from an effort reward based system into one big giant time gated slot machine.

The result is people are quicker to become "veterans" and get bored than in the past where the new content was actually challenging and rewarding based on your ability due to frankly if you wasnt good enough you couldnt do the higher end content, now its all about how social you are and how much you win on the slot machine.

Your post will be shot down by 90% of the comments here, but what you have to remember is these comments are from players that are not yet in the veteran bored stage. they will get there, they just cant see it coming likely clinging onto the idea that there success is down to there skill while playing an overbuffed class.

As soon as the buff rng swings they will have to look around at either rerolling/putting up with the underbuffed class and being hindered with being instantly declined for groups (we all do it, as soon as you see a class you dont like decline) they dont realise what its like sitting on that side of the fence....yet

[Djuntas]

Yea, its the same as always. Just unsub. I grind gold, achievements and that shit, so always too much to do for niche players like me, but it does feel boring if you aint doing that, as usually.

[dewd]

i just dont like raiding anymore. each expansion bosses become more and more gimmicky and annoying. mythic plus dungeons are equally as annoying since bfa and shadowlands dungeons arent better. mythic plus isnt rewarding enough ilvl wise. torghast could have been amazing if it had a purpose once youre done with soul ash and if it had item rewards or currency for gear as a new style of gameplay after pve and pvp.

there are many solo players for whom torghast would have been THE refreshing new way of playing the game but blizzard, as with everything for at least a decade now, halfasses everything.

also i dont like that my chars have basically 3 versions: the torghast funserver private server char with ludicrous stats. the pvp variant with stat templates and extra buttons and the weakest of them all my actual char which is used everywhere else that plays slow as fuck and nothing procs because of begin-of-expansion low stats.

everything else in wow i dont care about: levelling, pet battles, aesthetics of zones, music and least of all lore.

[LordVargK]

Well, I can do what I want, the raid is fun, even for casuals like me, I have fun with my guild. I don't play a melee so dungeons are also fun, and maintaining alts is easier than ever. Nearly no forced grinds, the maw is okay after I got the mount and since I'm and old school player I'm not bothered by the lessening of loot. Infact I don't notice a difference.

[Zyky]

and mythic+ is solid as always.

What world do you live in that M+ is "solid". This is the worst iteration of M+ yet...

[Dracullus]

Overall game looks pretty healthy. One major thing missing is that we have no info about next patch and if they'll wait until Blizzcon, 9.0 will drag way too long.

[Al Gorefiend]

The game itself plays great.

Only complaint is the story this time around. There are simply so many plot holes and absurdity it feels hard to not want to skip through quest text this time around.

[Baconeggcheese]

I feel like cosmetic rewards are lacking in general. Torghast is a good example with twisting corridors. Why are there 8 layers for 4 rewards? Not even a recolor (which would be eh) there or something, just 4 rewards with the most exciting part being the final one allowing you to mount in the maw. If we could mount in the maw by default I imagine the mount would be pretty rare as people wouldn't care to do it.

Same thing goes for the covenant systems. All of the rewards are just recolors of things that are given to you just for keeping up with the campaign. Its hard to justify how much more effort it takes to get those things vs the basic colors you already get. There's no cool unique rewards that motivate me to engage with that content.

Which ultimately makes anima feel worthless, which makes it feel bad as a consolation prize when doing other content, which makes that content feel worse with the reduced amount of gear we're getting.

[hayzlol]

I'm really enjoying CN the most. Very balanced and cool raid. Brilliant aesthetic.

Mythic+ is more fun now with increased gear levels. Felt brutally tough/slow at the start.

Torghast - The novelty has worn off. It's such a grind at this point, no fun. Twisting Corridors is the worst thing in the game.

Covenant - Having anima seems kinda pointless other than the renown level up. I do like the covenant identity and abilities, very cool.

[keldarepewpew]

After the honeymoon phase id have to say SL is the best expansion i ever played.

[Eapoe]

I like SL still post honeymoon phase. CN is great, and mythic+ is solid as always.

I do agree that we need something else though. The outdoor content is definitely lacking (WQ's are worse than they've ever been). Content like Mech/Naz were great outdoor type content added in BFA. Hopefully we get something similar to that or timeless isle.

I don’t understand this.
Mech/Naz: time released content with mobs that could be killed once a day that can drop loot, cosmetics, vendor trash, or both, with a meta achievement.
SL: time released content with mobs that can be killed once a day that drop loot, cosmetics, vendor trash, or both, with a meta achievement.

[intenz]

It's no different to BFA in that regard. It was a fun couple of months but I will probably let my sub expire.

[LordVargK]

Overall game looks pretty healthy. One major thing missing is that we have no info about next patch and if they'll wait until Blizzcon, 9.0 will drag way too long.

I can see how that's an issue for someone that already cleared hc and doesn't have the community for mythic. But I imagine most casual guilds (as in family and friends guilds) havn't done much progress yet. Our raid just started hc and has an ilvl of under 200, so I would welcome a delayed next raid to give us the opportunity to clear hc.