DF, did the campaign

[shanker]

it does not feel like WOW to me. sure people have said this since BC and it's why we have classic and private servers, that being said, i'm not a wish it was like _____ Xpac again type and don't play any of those

imo, cut scene cinematics are way too many, over done, and annoying

technically i did purchase it, but imo it was sorta free since it was included in the $24 package with two months play, free 60 boost that blizz did prior to TWW. i used the time later in MOP remix to get some players set up to do SOO for the BOA currency, the rest doing TWW prepatch leveling/gearing, then doing some SL torgast for tmogs, mounts, achieves. to be fair SL for me was also off the beaten path which i quit early

during MOP remix i used dragon riding alot, rarely ever used flight paths, other than when climbing to kunlai summit, most areas just involved a lot of gliding and minor surging as needed. surprizingly in DF, i find myself predom using steady flight and flight paths.

 

[Thrano]

I agree with some points. DF definitely is the peak of our characters being a bystander to a story of questionable expertise. It's something I always harp on when discussing quest design. WoW would always have benefitted from some player agenda in the questing experience.

Steady Flight being preferrable to Skyriding in DF zones is a pretty obvious one. The zones were designed with Skyriding in mind, that's why you have alot of vertical architecture that has good aesthetics, because you're supposed to soar through on your protodragon and have that WOW-effect (no pun intended). But when Steady Flight is available, it is - although slower - a much more comfortable option gameplay-wise, as it allows for accurate landings ontop of nodes, herbs, quest objectives instead of having to aim a Boeing 747 even if that is the cooler way.
Also there's alot of cliffs, and while Skyriding isn't exactly MS Flight Simulator levels of movement, someone who's shit can easily find themselves stuck at the base of a large mountain range with no vigor to pass it.

 

[toskosa]

. surprizingly in DF, i find myself predom using steady flight and flight paths.

Probably because mop zones are considerably smaller then df zones. A quick surge/glide in a mop zone is like half the zone while in df it takes more effort to cross the zone.

 

[Eupitor]

Everybody wanted WoW2... here it is

 

[Robo]

WoW could learn a lot from Souls games. Dark, gritty, subtle storytelling with interesting but incomplete lore (less is more), and minimal dialogue from most encounters. Villains who are doing something obviously wrong or questionable need-not explain themselves before or after in some attempt for us to understand why. Have mobs throughout questing provide small hints/ideas as to whats going on. Let the environment also tell a part of that story. Let the community piece the things together. And not everything needs to be part of some grand plotline or needs some cinematic. Even the quests have way too much RP. Let players read if they want quest lore. Anyone who actually cares about the lore in the slightest WILL read the dialogue from the quest giver or turn-in. They WILL read the item description/note. It WILL be catalogued in wiki entries. And people WILL likely create lore videos discussing small albeit interesting questlines / side-quests. Much better than in-game cinematic compilations that I will find myself watching ONCE every xpac.

I know WoW was never super dark to begin with, but it's obviously scattered with mature themes and some mature imagery (albeit cartoonish). But I cannot figure out what their target demographic is lately with these last several expansions.

Also holy fuck I am so sick and tired of every new xpac involving the same leaders/"main characters" (I AM THE MAIN CHARACTER, I DO ALL THE WORK). Kill them off. Or go have them sit in some throne room giving quests to go do something morally grey for the greater good of their kingdom. Stop uniting everyone. We dealt with world-ending threats before without complete cooperation from EVERY known faction. We can do it again. Soldiers are enlisted and trained for a reason. WHY are we only seeimg Jaina, Thrall, Anduin, etc carrying out the main plot-points? Was President GW Bush personally leading the counter offensive in the middle-east? Was Obama on Seal Team 6 when Bin Laden was merked? Was Biden the one who took the shot at Trump? NO because they were the ones handing out quests to do so in white-house.

 

[Ammonite]

I subbed for the first month of DF and finished each zone... that was the last time I've had a WoW subscription. I'm not even going to bother with The War Within.

The actual gameplay is fine, but the world and stories feel so neutered. The writers made dragons boring somehow. And I know this is boomer talk, but I really hate the look of modern WoW. The cartoony look was peak when the graphics were old school, but now I feel like I'm in Disneyland.

I've been running a local BC server on my computer and playing it like a single player game. I scaled down elite mob health so I could solo dungeons, and the package I'm using lets you randomly populate the AH with items and the world with NPC 'players'. You can do battlegrounds, group with bots for dungeons if you want... It's been fun, more fun than modern WoW for me.

 

[CroyeTchor]

Y'all are a bit tough on DF. The bigger story is poorly handled I'll give you that.
The dragons are somehow underused in this dragon-themed expansion and the story in general is a bit too naive to my taste (Azure Span and Amirdrassil ending especially) which is truly a shame. I mean, we could have had some much crazier feats accomplished, the Zaralek Caverns opening (as in both cinematic and the litteral hole Fyrrak busted) was great on that. You can feel the scale of his power here but sadly this kind of feats are underused overall (for instance was the Primalists killing a bunch of faceless elementals really supposed to be impressive). Also the Ice incarnate story was messy and illogical at best.

The real strenght of the xpac is the side quests. We have a lot to do and I mean a LOT. There is neat, interesting side stories be they funny, badass, establishing some lore or just being fairly well-written as a whole.

You cannot judge such an expansion with only a month trust me and this comes from a Classic main (at least when I'm subbed ^^). To be fair, this expansion felt more like a transition, a setup to the next big thing -which, being a 3 part xpac is important to give solid roots to- and Iridikron still can become a great character.


To be fair, this expansion does hand you the big story very easily and I feel like handling the Isles like Pandaria (slowly setting up a villain -Lei-Shen- and overall making the zone feel like an unexplored area for the players) would have been better rather than going straight for a big bad followed by barely introduced other big bads.

So yeah overall the main plot is decent to bad but the side world-building is very good (even down to a lot of flavorful trash items) but since it is, well, a "side" thing a lot of players missed it.

Take your time in the Isles. There is a lot of interesting stories, the main one can be decent, professions are great (mostly useless now bit still), the zones are beautiful and Valdrakken is phenomenal.

I've been running a local BC server on my computer and playing it like a single player game. I scaled down elite mob health so I could solo dungeons, and the package I'm using lets you randomly populate the AH with items and the world with NPC 'players'. You can do battlegrounds, group with bots for dungeons if you want... It's been fun, more fun than modern WoW for me.

How do you do that ?
I missed BC Classic and I bite myself for it.

 

[Kaxle]

I just dislike how the player characters have transitioned in story from random adventurers to being like one step away from a chosen one stereotype. I understand its somewhat unavoidable with how long the game has been running but its absolutely destroyed the vibes that made early wow and the classic revisits so endearing. The player characters have essentially followed the same story arch as the Winchesters in Supernatural which in both instances kind of killed the charm that made the early parts so successful.

 

[Ammonite]

How do you do that ?
I missed BC Classic and I bite myself for it.

The repack that I used was by Ike3, called the Single Player Project. The actual name is SPP Classics (CMaNGOS edition) or something similar.
Without getting technical, the SPP basically acts like a server that lets you run a BC copy of the game locally. Massattack82 on YouTube has a tutorial and there's other info spread across reddit and discord. It's not very different than playing on a private server.

The real strenght of the xpac is the side quests. We have a lot to do and I mean a LOT. There is neat, interesting side stories be they funny, badass, establishing some lore or just being fairly well-written as a whole.

I remember the centaur story arc with the dog that didn't want to hunt or something. That one was good, but nothing else really stuck with me. I wasn't really vibing with the new profession system or dragon riding and I think that brought my experience down as a whole. It made me miss questing as a nobody through Tirisfal Glades... but I've felt like that since BfA.

I just dislike how the player characters have transitioned in story from random adventurers to being like one step away from a chosen one stereotype.

Me too! Commander of a garrison and ship fleet, leader of a class hall, wielder of legendary artifacts, profound ability to leave the Maw... I just want to punch boars and pick cactus fruit.

 

[edgeofhearing]

I just did the DF campaign too, and I liked it better than the last few expansions at least. Shadowlands and BfA both felt more “on rails” to me. I also prefer storytelling that’s more grounded and doesn’t make my character a main character, but I think DF at the very least isn’t any worse than it has been recently.

I would love if Chromie Time could also select classic time (even if that meant I couldn’t use flying mounts); I would happily spend time in a Westfall that isn’t one big CSI reference. IMO, Cataclysm may have been better in terms of main character syndrome, but it was the worst in terms of on-rails questing and immersion-breaking pop-culture references.

 

[shanker]

i ran a second 20 thru DF with some side quests each zone, what seems to be most prevalent theme is the centuar factions and zone.

we are able to do more DF content compared to SL which is severely gated.

with zones rescaled after each expac, at least you can wander off the beaten path now in BFA, SL and DF with only a few skull areas. in DF some skull areas when a daily pops the skulls scale down to 20 once you have done the campaign. if no daily is up. you will get one shot

i remember streamers back in BFA complaining even raging about the railing or roller coaster ride constraints on exploring without going into detail or explaining. i had no clue what they where talking about until near the end of a the xpac when i bought a package including a 120 boost, time and game that was really cheap. i picked drustvar as the start point as horde using a 110 i had from legion expac. i got the quest where you ride the chopper thru a questline to a area to set up a goblin base. during the quest line on a road/path to the right was a rare like 3-4 yards away, i jumped out of the quest chopper, towards the rare, got one shotted. it was a AH HA moment. while continuing the questline i would mouse over other mobs and they showed skulls. SL had some of this but not as severe as BFA