9.1: was doubling down on the Maw a good idea?

[Oneirophobia]

Yeah, basically no one other than me is saying Vashjir was good.

Vashjir is one of my fav areas!

[Coldkil]

Voted no but it's more like "eh".

The 9.0 maw was fun when i was doing the questline, and then i abandoned it as soon as i was done - the farm for 226 conduits was useless and boring especially since it' all rng (i still have some 213s now) while they should have given players the choice on what to upgrade first.

In general i find all the maw/torghast content to just be a drag. It was/is a chore you jave to do just because leggodust and once you're done you can simply ignore it compltely. It's pretty clear to me how the whole thing had to work like this otherwise most people wouldnt simply care about it.

I actually like korthia. Small, fast and aimple dailies that take me 15 minutes tops so i can do actually valuable things in game. Assaults are not terrible for the same reason, they're not so exciting but it takes no time and you're done.

[FuxieDK]

The Maw sucks, Korthia sucks, Torghast sucks.

Nobody likes these areas, or the associated systems.

Actually, Korthia is quite nice; it's one of the best zones ever added in a patch.

[shadowmatrix]

You know Sunwell basically started timegating content right?

I would have thought that Molten core would be considered the first timegate considering the Hydraxian Waterlords rep grind.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Next patch when we get our angel wing mount
and ascend the maw it will all have been worth it

Haha, tbh, I think that Blizzard didn't come out with some wing-based mounts is probably the biggest failing of the expansion so far. As cringy as it might have been, it would have sold them a ton of extra copies/subs. I doubt they have the time/capacity to hack some workable solution into the game for the last patch though, that 9.1 amounted to just this is pretty telling about their current state.

[cparle87]

I surprisingly didn’t mind the Maw prior to patch 9.1. What pissed me off in 9.1 is they made all that stygia farming people did for conduits moot as you now get 226 conduits from dungeons and raids, and upgraded legendary’s now have a free socket. They also made running Twisting Corridors pointless as you can now freely mount in the Maw. Also the new Korthia zone looks like it was made in a week; super small.

I probably wouldn’t have had stygia farming either, but trying to fix your mistake after people dedicated a ton of time to it pisses those people off, while lazy people get rewarded.

I love how enabling non-mythic raiders to catch up on mythic level conduits is somehow a bad thing. I love how enabling people to earn riding sooner than everyone else is somehow a bad thing.

[Sinaa]

I feel like they were so far in development that they couldn't backpeddle out of more Maw content following player backlash to the Maw since launch.

Either that or they knew the Maw was disliked and forged ahead anyways - either scenario wouldn't surprise me. How are you finding assaults etc in 9.1?

You are assuming that it hasn't been more than half done by the time they got the first reactions after launch. It would not have been financially feasible to just discard it.

[Pheraz]

Not a SL fan. But the maw at least fits to the theme of the xpac of afterlife / hell. So yes, imo it was a good idea. Also the assaults are nice. Generally assaults are nice. They are always nice, but came too late in SL. Kothria is kind of a b*llshit zone though. A short intro to the dungeon would have been enough. Making it a whole zone/daily hub is pointless.

[Voidwielder]

Absolutely not.

One of the main reasons why 5.2 is regarded so highly is that it was an entirely different vibe from the rest of that expansion. It was so refreshing, it felt like a game within a game.

[netherflame]

Going to play devils advocate.

I surprisingly didn’t mind the Maw prior to patch 9.1. What pissed me off in 9.1 is they made all that stygia farming people did for conduits moot as you now get 226 conduits from dungeons and raids, and upgraded legendary’s now have a free socket.

Conduits had to be leveled up given the new content levels otherwise they'd feel useless and players would complain there character had no power growth. Having max level nathria conduits was a pretty big boost over those that didn't. So either players need to choose significantly smaller power gains through an expansion or we will continue to run into this cycle every major content patch.

They also made running Twisting Corridors pointless as you can now freely mount in the Maw.

WoW as a game is constantly about the haves vs the have nots, raids; the haves(AoTC) the have nots (no AoTC), M+ and RPvP; the haves(high score) the have nots(low score). To my above point, being able to mount in the maw during 9.0 was a HUGE advantage and to say it wasn't is pretty disingenuous. Additionally the playerbase was seemingly clamoring for this dark souls like experience where dying had meaning so blizzard creates the maw and instantly the playersbase hates it because if you die you COULD lose progression. Theres no pleasing the community unfortunately because the Maw felt very intense in the sense that everything you did for a day had meaning because you were on a clock.

Also the new Korthia zone looks like it was made in a week; super small.

If you think this then you know nothing about game design, Korthia is very well designed and gives players something fun to do while not doing pillar PvE or PvP content. Its chill low stress with cool rewards and nice ways to progress your characters and fill in gearing gaps.

I probably wouldn’t have had stygia farming either, but trying to fix your mistake after people dedicated a ton of time to it pisses those people off, while lazy people get rewarded.

I don't get your complaint, if this is in regards to sockets then stygia farming wasn't needed, plenty of people cleared content without maxed sockets. Not going to sit here and say everyone should be able to clear with ultra low iLvl like they do during the world first race, but this game comes down significantly more to player skill then people want to admit. If you are doing everything you can do with max performance, not dying, and hitting enrage timers then yeah theres a discussion to be had but most guilds aren't doing that. Their raid is wiping long before enrages to player mistakes that are leading to deaths, the enrage timers in this game are pretty generous as long as you don't have 1/4 of your raid dead for 3/4 of the fight.

[ohwell]

Sense of Community
Challenging Dungeons
Great Raids
Arena PvP is enjoyable
Getting loot feels good knowing there's no 'better' version of it at higher Mythic+
Profession Crafting is actually useful
Beautiful zones, good quest writing

Shadowlands has great zones but I always feel like it's so claustrophobic at times, so much clutter. More isn't always better.
I loved Bastion, open fields made it feel sort of angelic but the furrythemed zone is boring and cluttered.

Comparing the stories wouldn't make sense, somewhere Blizzard decided that the story needed to progress without player agency. You're not important, you're just a sidequest while Sylvannas and the Jailer take center stage. In TBC, you're also a no named player but you're one of the champions who imprisons Illidan and it makes you feel like you achieved that with a slow build up.

Only about 3 of those are accurate compared to live.

[Asaliah]

The maw is bearable now but the new area is awfully designed.... and they put a world boss inside.................

[FuxieDK]

They also made running Twisting Corridors pointless as you can now freely mount in the Maw.

Twisting Corridors were obsolete once v9.0.5 was released, as everyone and their grandmother could solo quest for a mount usable in The Maw.

[Amariw]

In itself, it could have been bad or good, i guess it comes down to what you want from a new zone.

For me, what i'd be happy with is:
-An engaging continuation of story
-Mysteries to be unlocked
and perhaps most important:
-An excuse to fight engaging mobs, that aren't trivial.

As far as i could see, 9.1 Korthia and Maw supplied neither of those. The story is meh, but thats a personal preference thing, but you definitely don't really get to fight much. There's no reason to fight elites that you can't skip, unlike say Timeless Isle or Thundering Isle in MoP which regularly sent you to zones with elites that had actual mechanics, letting you feel a bit engaged and at risk.

So for me, it could have been great no matter where they put it, but it sadly isn't.

[Jinpachi]

The insult was druids and worgen forms essentially being a free mount while everyone else mainly had to walk

I didnt spend enough time in the maw for it to really piss me off, but absolutely

[Coldkil]

I don't understand this perspective - "It's short and simple so I like it"... why even have dailies then (my preference would be NOT to have any).

Cause i like this kind of content, but irl time restrictions make me automatically skip stuff i don't have time to commit seriously. This way i can enjoy content without being constantly feeling to be lagging behind.

If the game was only m+ and raids it would be boring as hell. WoD was exactly this and its been one of the worst expansions.

[Metrox]

Blizzard had a map that was not highly used in it entirety. Blizzard had content to stuff somewhere. Insert Content B into Map Slot A and voila! 9.1 is born.
From a low cost, fast, and it will "work" standpoint .....Success.

From an intriguing addition, subscription magnet, and landmark creation ...... Whatever. Somewhat okay .... I guess ..... not really..... mostly not.

It's like a car that beats walking in the rain. It smells bad, looks bad, is forgettable, but it kept you dry ... mostly. It is never going to make you turn around as you walk away just to look back at it and smile. The Maw is a car that I wouldn't lock in hopes that someone would hop in it and install a working radio.

[Krayz]

Sounds like it would be better off if they pulled a wod cut their losses only go up to 9.2 and put legion level effort into the next expansion. Legion wasn’t perfect but it was way more enjoyable than bfa and from what I’ve seen SL

[Bakis]

BLZ could not know it would be thought of as crap(well everyone not constrained by marketing would, hence zero devs).
A humongous amount of development time got plowed into it.

The question is more like:
What could BLZ possibly developed in any timely fashion once it was obvious players(overall) didnt find it to be what BLZ hoped it to be. Fun and longterm content.

[Aurrora]

It's just an ugly zone, the ugliest they've made since Desolace, it's not fun to quest there because the place is so monotone.