Zaralek caverns feels like it was designed by dev that made Shadowlands so Unbearable

[erifwodahs]

What you're describing is not a Zaralek Caverns problem, but a core design thing. Good or bad, it's super subjective and you'll have many people agree with Blizzard's design - you don't raid or do M+, you don't shouldn't have access to anything decent and deserve to be an insect.

I agree on design part. They are severely lacking on cool outdoor content and I am saying that as someone who loves m+. Dragonriding tracks were pretty much the only cool addition to world/casual content in a while. Oh, the digging map puzzle too - it's very cool imo, but it's only 3 a week. I don't agree on the "don't have access to anything" part - this patch onward, while yes, you need items from raiding/m+ to upgrade your gear - you still have access to very powerful gear (437) if you only do +11s which and the fact that you gradually upgrade gear and if you get new item it costs you nothing to upgrade it to your current ilvl - it's insanely powerful and lets you brutally overgear next piece of content you want to do to get even better gear.

Tiny events are ok but most of them are WQ level of brain activity.
Rares - I mean, it's named mobs - nothing about them is rare. I hate this - Timeless island was cool, after reusing it for so long? It's literally just mob with a lot of HP and most of the time it has f-all to do. As obnoxious as it is WotLK rares are way better example of them and I wouldn't mind to have something like that. I mean they do, but then they add 30 other ones and it's just ass.

WQs - most of them are braindead - used to love jumping WQ in Nazjatar, flying WQs are cool. Legion Kirin'tor minigame WQs are cool - all of them engage you in some level rather than just mass pull 10 mobs.

I had so much hope for snail race.. what a fucking disappointment. Just steal GW2 ideas.
Steal jumping puzzles from FF XIV.

All the need to do is just take stuff from other games and make it better... Give us world content we would be excited to do!

[Cynical Asshole]

Just Blizzard's new content strategy at work: "You don't have to do anything", which always means that the content is irrelevant and serves no purpose other than to waste your time. Optional content cannot be relevant, it's a contradiction. Something is either relevant, and then you have to do it because it's not optional, OR it's optional, but then it's not relevant because you can just choose to not do it.

They decided to cater so hard to casuals that all the content in the game besides M+ and raids is completely irrelevant and useless, just like pet battles, so most people see no point in engaging with it.

That's why, like I said in another thread, this game is turning into a lobby-based game, where people just log into a lobby and then queue up for content, just like fucking Darktide, because world content is "optional" (useless and irrelevant).

[neescher]

At least it's not "farm elites for hours" type of content like most other new zones have been so far, and at least riding/flying is unlocked from the start. Best of all, none of it is mandatory (if you're fine with being one week behind on crafting your high-end items), so compared to every other new zone that came out in the past 5 years, this is the best one for me personally.

[Soon-TM]

I don't mind the zone, but yeah, as people have said, mobs are not good. Too much health, and their abilities are frustrating and annoying, not challenging.

This suddenly brought flashbacks of the Maw /shiver Boy that place was unbearable unless you were in full HC gear... In which case you didn't need anything from that place in the first place, besides maybe the weekly.

- - - Updated - - -

They decided to cater so hard to casuals that all the content in the game besides M+ and raids is completely irrelevant and useless.

Actually, since the bolded part holds very much true, the logical conclusion is that the game isn't catering to casuals in the slightest, quite the opposite - much like WoD, DF is a raid logger's paradise made true. This kind QQ'd so hard during Legion and BfA that almost all non-instanced progression was obliterated come SL... Remember SL, right? That's when the whole "iTs 0pTiOnaL u duN nEedZ 2 dO iT!!!11!1" meme began, and it has only solified since then. I don't know how has DF fared during 10.0, but since it was on sale 4 out of its 6 months of existence... It probably might something to do, imho, with the game trying (very timidly, mind you) to provide at least a modicum of non-instanced progression now in 10.1

[Cynical Asshole]

This suddenly brought flashbacks of the Maw /shiver Boy that place was unbearable unless you were in full HC gear... In which case you didn't need anything from that place in the first place, besides maybe the weekly.

- - - Updated - - -



Actually, since the bolded part holds very much true, the logical conclusion is that the game isn't catering to casuals in the slightest, quite the opposite - much like WoD, DF is a raid logger's paradise made true. This kind QQ'd so hard during Legion and BfA that almost all non-instanced progression was obliterated come SL... Remember SL, right? That's when the whole "iTs 0pTiOnaL u duN nEedZ 2 dO iT!!!11!1" meme began, and it has only solified since then. I don't know how has DF fared during 10.0, but since it was on sale 4 out of its 6 months of existence... It probably might something to do, imho, with the game trying (very timidly, mind you) to provide at least a modicum of non-instanced progression now in 10.1

There was plenty to do in SL in Korthia and Zereth Mortis despite people hating those, those areas didn't die in 2 weeks after their release. Even now if you go to Korthia you see a ton of people for some reason, and I know that because I farm anima for covenant transmog.

Btw,

Casual = someone who plays the game rather rarely, maybe for like 5 hours per week.

So when you're a casual, you don't have time to do world content or engage in grinding activities. You just login, do a couple of M+ or your guild's weekly raid, and then you fuck off until next week.

By concentrating the activity on M+ and raids, Blizzard is very much catering to casuals, while people who play the game a lot basically have no content to keep them occupied because all the content outside M+ and raids is completely irrelevant and a waste of time so the casuals don't cry that Blizzard is making them grind and their 3 jobs, 2 wives and 10 kids won't allow them the time to play the game.

[FelPlague]

I don't think it was there the previous reset. It was mostly funny (he looked like he was glitching out). The loot one though is problematic since it has affected a lot of people.

Also a more minor issue; you get the world quest complete voice acting line and THEN you get the death line from the female elder.

Either it was fixed, or never bugged to "not drop loot" cause i saw no one get loot, so seems you can't see other people getting loot from the world boss. And yet I got.

[Garymorilix]

Actually, since the bolded part holds very much true, the logical conclusion is that the game isn't catering to casuals in the slightest, quite the opposite - much like WoD, DF is a raid logger's paradise made true. This kind QQ'd so hard during Legion and BfA that almost all non-instanced progression was obliterated come SL... Remember SL, right? That's when the whole "iTs 0pTiOnaL u duN nEedZ 2 dO iT!!!11!1" meme began, and it has only solified since then. I don't know how has DF fared during 10.0, but since it was on sale 4 out of its 6 months of existence... It probably might something to do, imho, with the game trying (very timidly, mind you) to provide at least a modicum of non-instanced progression now in 10.1

Here's the issue with this: You never design your game around people who actively want to play it for as little time as possible.
This shouldn't even be made an argument.
They literally tries to sell the expansion by saying that there are NO things to do in the endgame other than the usual instanced group content.

Doing the same thing, however fun or well designed it is, will burn out people faster than providing various options they can do from time to time (even while keeping the main instanced grouping as the main big thing).
WoD is a perfect example, as you brought it up. Raiding in WoD was not any worse than any other expac but there was literally NOTHING to do beside it, so players gave up on it. People need stimuli even if they say they don't.

People who actually play the game will play the game no matter what 'chores' they have to do.
But these are the people that need content to actually provide progression that they can use in the main big thing.

For example, people were actually more inclined to do Island Expeditions and World Quest and Uldum/Vale weeklys and Visions and Covenant dailies and Korthia and Torghast and this and that because those things gave you X power you needed in some shape or form.
These same people would actually be willing to do whatever open world content Blizzard implements in the game that might shut up the 'we want open world content' crowd without hesitation IF that thing gave any kind of edge.

The 'we want open world content' crowd DOES NOT want open world content that actually gives you rewards.
Because then you need to log in and actually spend time doing that content.
Good example would be the Nazjatar follower you had to level with dailies for the essence. I have 2 chars with 3 fully maxed out followers. Do you think the 'open world crowd' has those? Even one? It was in the open world afterall.

Blizzard has shifted their focus to be on people who actively refuse to engage with the game.
And then those people start crying how nothing they do is relevant.

As the previous person said it:
It's either relevant and people HAVE to do it or people DONT HAVE TO do it but then it's irrelevant.
Very simple concept really, real life operates this way too.

[Zoupa7]

Doesn't Blizzard just generate WoW zones with AI nowadays?

[WowIsDead64]

So, it sounds like it's more like Korthia, that was just Maw 2.0. Why Blizzard just can't make good x.1 patch content? May be because x.1 content is actually developed alongside release content, so it's usually just "more x.0 content"?