Shadowlands Positivity Thread

[Powerogue]

From the guy that brought you the BFA Positivity Thread, the moment you've all been waiting for! The motto remains, genuine positivity only, if you want backhanded sarcasm, you've got good company already.

First up, enhanced half-cutscenes.

I break down cutscenes in-game into 3 main categories: High-res cinematics, cutscenes using the in-game artstyle, and in-game model half-cutscenes. For example, here's a half-cutscene from just last expansion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tWIrrLasJA&t=17s Sylvanas Arresting Baine

Now compare/contrast that to our most recent half-cutscene featuring Sylvanas. Note the incredibly detailed facial rigging they've added to lipsync and do subtle facial expressions comparable to a full cutscene. It looks much better. Every emotion is conveyed as intended, an undeniable step up from Baine's lips going "BLAB!" and the subtitles saying "BANSHEE!" I hope this is the norm going forward. Close ups without lipsync just look bad.



Next, player customization. In absence of allied races this expansion, Blizzard focused their efforts on enhancing older ones and underappreciated allied races. New jewelry and finally slanted eyes for Nightborne players? Consider it done! Scars? Tattoos? Scars and tattoos? Whatever you want! High Elves? Sandfury Trolls? Wildhammer Dwarves? Done, done, done! Even when it doesn't make much sense for a barber to be capable of doing it. Snip snip!



Lastly, leveling zones once again. We have a world on clouds where you're followed by a little owlet who will doot his little flute on command, picking them out like it's the Adopt-a-Murloc micro-holiday event. We have Ardenweald, which is like if everything I loved about the Emerald Dream, Teldrassil, and Suramar fused, to the newest Zereth Mortis, we've got some prime zones that I just like being in. Take a break from the grind, turn the music on, and just wander the forests living with movement beyond any prior zone, and you notice the otherworldly weather effects kick in as a shower of twinkling stars cascades down instead of rain. Incredible.



That should get things started!

[Toybox]

Season 1 & 3 both have enjoyable M+ affixes, with the S3 affix being great for offering different routes through dungeons. I also think SL had a much better dungeon pool than BfA, with Plaguefall being my standout thanks to its interesting player aids (fleshcraft "suck" & the barrels of explosive goo).

The increase in player/alt-friendliness since 9.1.5 but especiallyy in 9.2 has been very welcomed, and in general I think 9.2 has been a very good patch. The raid isn't flawless, but it's by far the best raid of the expansion so far, & a much better finale than the likes of Nyalotha & Dragon Soul.

It's not BfA, so that's also a big positive.

[Shadowferal]

Read a "theory" recently that Shadowlands was all a dream

Just thinking positive...

[GabrielKnight]

I kinda enjoyed it, and I'm still doing it too to be honest. Of course after Battle for Azeroth I was sure that nothing could ever surpass the near-perfection of that expansion, so I didn't logged in with too much expectations.

I really liked Revendreth, especially the music. The Ember Court is very fun and I'm looking right now to finish all the achievements to become a true Party Paladin. I'm not much of a raider but I liked the first two, nice looking places with cool events.
The story was mediocre at best, but overall had its moments. For the record, I hated what they did with the character of Arthas, but the rest was ok. Not great, just ok. I'm not going all crazy like the rest of the playerbase who expects Tolkien levels of writing. This is WoW, I learned to deal with it.

Classes are great. I main a Paladin but also play a Priest and Warrior, all of them are very fun and engaging, I actually feel more powerful as I gain more items, and I like the legendary system. I hated Thorgast at first but learned to love it as soon I understood how to properly farm it.

Zereth Mortis is a nice place and I look forward every week to fill that little bar, it's actually relaxing and has tons of stuff to do.

PvP is ok, nothing special. Of course, coming from the incredibly Nazjatar + Mechagon battles it's easy to say that, because that was some God-tier level of PvP. But right now at least the battlegrounds still hold up, and I like how they added brawls every week, and easier ways to obtain conquest gear for casuals with the solo queue matches.

I do play Mythic+, just one per week for the vault, and they're fun. I liked the +10 bonus affixes per season, although I prefer the current ones since you don't actually have to change your path for them, unlike the previous ones. I hope they stick with this system.

Overall, a solid expansion, I give it a 7/10. Not going to remember it much in the future, but I won't hate it either, nor forced me to unsubscribe, unlike certain asian themed pandafest.

[Lady Atia]

I actually enjoyed it too - the story was thousand times better than the shitshow we got with BfA and they managed to fix Sylvanas lore by the end (although most of it through a book which yes I guess it sucks and they should improve there).

Besides that we finally got M+ mounts similiar to PvP rewards aswell as a score and I hope they continue to build on that, f.e. I would love to see some M+ elite sets next expansion. And generally we got lots of cool mounts via casual activities (the ardenweald frog, zereth mortis mounts or the hand mounts just to name a few) which is defo an improvement over "either do elite content or buy a shop mount" from the past.

Shadowlands was also the first Expansion where I raided Mythic again since Legion and I quite enjoyed it so far, especially Sanctum.

Covenants had a bad start but they managed to fix most of my issues with them. All in all I'm quite happy with the amount of cosmetics we got through them (and that we can use everything now even if we aren't in said covenant).

[Lochton]

9.2 is better than the rest of the expansion, 9.2.5 just makes it sweeter.

Though I might not like the story, the art team and music team, still, and will always, have the highest score from me!

[MrLachyG]

Lots of things for collectors like myself to collect. 9.2 has been great, hopefully 10.0 is more like 9.2 than 9.0

[Icecat]

Having not played Shadowlands myself, the premise of Sylvanas wanting to correct the broken cycle of death in the world was always compelling to me. It's a sympathetic goal with a lot of nuance, and most importantly something I hadn't ever seen explored quite like this. The way the developers talked about death in Warcraft as a sort of machine that could be tampered with was an intriguing concept.

EDIT: Oh and even though people clown on it all the time, I actually liked the cutscene with Sylvanas talking to imprisoned Anduin. It was neat seeing WoW characters have a conversation with each other for a few minutes and exchange actual ideas rather than punctuated one-liners. I particularly like Sylvanas' genuine smile when she says "control of our fate will at last be possible," (the clip they also use in that early trailer). Like you can see how hopeful and deluded she is about her mission. I like it!

[Deventh]

The only positive thing about the last couple of expansions is the art department. Story, gameplay and everything else is at all times low.

[Triceron]

Love the concept art.

Yep.

[Iain]

Ardenwaeld.

[KSM899]

It's ending .. that's a positive

[Nemah]

I genuinely enjoyed some of the class abilities / mechanics granted via covenants. Soulshape for one.

[Nachtigal]

This next expansion will either be a return to form, or the final nail in the coffin. Either everything is going to finally come together and start making sense, or it’s going to be apparent that Blizzard is inept at trying to make a new story for Warcraft.

Cataclysm, Pandaria, and the first 98% of WoD shows that blizzard was just grasping at straws trying to stay relevant, as they exhausted the last bit of existing lore from the RTS.

The last 2% of WoD and onward, for me, shows that Blizzard finally found a story to tell. All the struggles we’ve had since the start of that 2% has been Blizzard trying to set the story up so they can actually execute it.

I’ve fully enjoyed the story since the pivot at the end of WoD. Legion earned them the majority of my faith that they have a plan. If this next expansion is a dud though, the questionable things I’ve been sweeping under the rug in good faith will probably no longer be excusable.

[Holdodlig]

Nathria's armor is one, if not my favorite armor added to the game because of its simplicity. Revendreth and Bastion had some really good storylines who sadly weren't developped.

Still, I had a good moment playing with the prideful affix and helping my casual friends to reach keystone +15 in almost every dungeon. (They managed to clean the last few ones alone)

[Dystemper]

First expansion I unsubbed for 99% of...positive I made the right call to stay away from this shit expansion

[Nachtigal]

Nathria's armor is one, if not my favorite armor added to the game because of its simplicity. Revendreth and Bastion had some really good storylines who sadly weren't developped.

Still, I had a good moment playing with the prideful affix and helping my casual friends to reach keystone +15 in almost every dungeon. (They managed to clean the last few ones alone)

Yes I absolutely loved the plate armor set for nathria, that was my entire motivation to raid mythic in that tier, honestly

[Rendark]

It was better then BfA i guess.

[Nachtigal]

First expansion I unsubbed for 99% of...positive I made the right call to stay away from this shit expansion

Seek help. You came to a positivity thread to spew your bullshit.

[schwank05]

I liked the PVP and had a lot of fun in the first season, I loved Castle Nathria and Denathrius was a fantastic villain.