Warcraft Movie Was Good
Roselee Kruppa
Wow was and always will be a strange beast. Was it good? It had many highlights but never was it a perfect game by any type of means. Was it a bad game? Even at its WORST it was never the worst either.
But to OP: The old grinds did require friends, grouping, and slogging through things together: sure always a grind fest but a FUN (subjective) one you could drag your friend along with on that tormented ride.
Whenever a World of Warcraft expansion starts winding down, I find myself returning. Catch-up systems make barrelling through the campaign and faction reps easy, getting me well-positioned for whatever is coming next. In Dragonflight, though, I felt compelled to return from what proved to be a much briefer hiatus than planned, and frankly it's become a bit of a problem how much time I'm spending in Azeroth.
I am, it should be noted, devoid of chill. When I like a game, I go in hard. And Dragonflight makes it very difficult to say to myself, "Maybe I should take a wee break?" I haven't really enjoyed a WoW campaign since Legion, but now that we're at the end of Dragonflight I feel I can safely call this my favourite, even when I'm fondly remembering my days spent in Wrath of the Lich King with rose-tinted glasses affixed firmly to my face.
Look, dragons are just cool. And after Battle for Azeroth's reignition of the war between Horde and Alliance, and the huge stakes of Shadowlands, I like that Dragonflight is more of a self-contained side story where both factions are just merrily exploring a rediscovered land and helping out their scaly pals. And it's not like it's been entirely devoid of important moments. Events like Ebyssian's promotion and the birth of Amirdrassil are huge deals, and deeply connected to WoW's massive overarching story.
These last few months, barely a day has gone by without me spending a significant amount of time in-game, and I'm not feeling the burnout like I usually do. It's the relentless grind that usually inspires me to give up. but even before Blizzard made things a touch easier by removing renown gates, Dragonflight felt like one of the least grindy expansions.
The speed at which you can gear up for heroic dungeons and LFR raids, before moving onto proper raiding and mythics, means you're never stuck waiting around to get to the good stuff. If crafting or PvP is more your bag, progress feels similarly brisk. Developing your profession in particular becomes such a pleasant experience once you've run one character through the campaign, allowing all of your alts to benefit from renown buffs that let you access recipes and schematics at an accelerated rate.
On the subject of alts, oh boy, what a wonderful time it is to be fatally addicted to rolling new characters. For years Blizzard has been making more and more things account-wide, and in Dragonflight this includes a great number of renown rewards. In The War Within, this is going to be taken a step further, but it's already proved to be such a boon. Similarly, the way that dragonriding unlocks work, and the ease at which you can access regular flying in Dragonflight, makes bringing a new character into the expansion such a joy. You start with so many advantages now, making these repeat adventures largely hassle-free.
I just can't stop making alts, largely because Blizzard just keeps tempting me with the promise of making such distinct characters. The reintroduction of more complex talent trees a while back made each specialisation considerably more unique, and now we've got so many different Allied races to experiment with, without any of the accompanying rep grinds. The barriers to experiment and try something new have largely just been knocked down.
The cosmetic and roleplaying side of things has also never been better. One of the reasons I rolled a void elf Hunter was because I wanted to make a Dark Ranger, something that's now possible thanks to a quest that unlocks both new character creation options for all elven races and transmog gear for Hunters, evoking Sylvanas' chosen. It's incredibly badass. Though I'm equally partial to the fancy void elf heritage armour, which my Hunter is sporting above.
I couldn't stop there, though, and I quickly followed up my Dark Ranger with a man'ari Warlock, something I've wanted to do ever since the draenei arrived in The Burning Crusade, but which has only been possible since last year. Now I can muck about with my wee army of demons while swanning around with bright red skin and fel-cursed green eyes (when they're not on fire). Damn I look good.
And looking good is a big part of why I play MMOs. Judging by the vibrant transmog community who spend hours collecting new bits of clobber to create the perfect look, I know I'm in excellent company. I'm not a hugely competitive player. I don't do much PvP, and I'm just a casual raider, so I largely just play WoW just to have a laugh, indulge in some power fantasy and look rad. WoW offers me that in spades, along with countless other diversions.
When I hop in these days, I gleefully jump between dragonriding challenges, time rifts, Dreamsurge events, transmog hunts in old raids and maybe a dash of some lower-pressure raiding before going on a shopping spree in the trading post. I keep thinking "I should probably play one of the dozen other games I have on the go" or "It's 5am, I should maybe consider getting a few hours sleep", but no, there's always something for me to do in WoW, something dragging me back to the Dragon Isles. And now, thanks to Mists of Pandaria Remix, it's only gotten worse.
MoP Remix launched last night at 6pm BST. I've spent most of my time since then surrounded by pandas. I'm not even going to pretend I had a healthy amount of sleep. Or any sleep. It is utterly absurd that WoW still has the power to make me pull all-nighters like I did when I was half-arsing university, despite being a man rapidly approaching 40. It's a testament to my complete lack of willpower, sure, but also the joy that this old-ass MMO is still capable of eliciting.
It feels like more than just recycling an old expansion, and I'm incredibly glad Blizzard has found a way to leverage the game's history to give us something that feels pretty new at times, but also deeply nostalgic. And this marriage of old and new feels like a realistic way to keep us engaged.
As MMO players we're always looking for more novelties, quests, gear and seasons, and so many of us devour it at such a rate that the forums and subreddit frequently see players complaining about running out of stuff to do right after a big update. Blizzard can't keep up with that kind of ravenous appetite, but by delving into its archives and refreshing or recontextualising things like Mists of Pandaria, we get to fill our bellies without the devs completely burning out.
Only a year ago, I could never have imagined Blizzard would give us this kind of thing. Or Plunderstorm. And yes, I absolutely hated Plunderstorm. I spent a miserable couple of days grinding renown just to get some cool pirate outfits and it probably wasn't worth it. But what I didn't hate was what it represented: a developer trying something new, experimenting and taking risks with a game that had been, only one expansion before, an utter slog. I know Blizzard is going to try more stuff that I'm not going to vibe with, but it's more than worth the risk because at least I'm excited again.
If I was all about challenging myself, which many players are, I'm not sure the effortless nature of WoW would be my kinda thing either. It's entirely low-pressure until you hit the endgame. There are still lots of ways to test yourself, but everything up until the point where you're ready to properly get stuck into stuff like raids and mythics is so easy-going you can pretty much close your eyes and sail through it.
Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog. "}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Fraser BrownSocial Links NavigationOnline EditorFraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.
There's no denying that the new zones are downright gorgeous. The contrast between volcanic wastelands and verdant river valleys in The Waking Shores is a breathtaking introduction to the expansion. And these locales feature some of the best side quest writing I've seen in WoW in a long time. One of my favorite quests involved sitting and listening to a red dragon, shapeshifted into a humble dwarf, talk about all his regrets and the pain of being banished from his homeland for 10,000 years.
Another one I loved involves traveling slowly, on foot, with a centaur clan to their sacred meeting grounds, complete with a pit stop for a hunting competition. These kinds of heartfelt, memorable moments really are World of Warcraft at its absolute best. They seem to be here to lovingly bonk you over the head and remind you to take your time, simply exist in this beautiful world for a moment.
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