Why Do People Still Play Wow
Why Do You Still Play WoW?/ Are Going To Be Playing in 9.1?
So I’ve noticed alot of people being very critical of Shadowlands recently. Whether it’s content creators like Bellular and Asmongold. People on the forums. And fansites like mmochampion.. It’s got me thinking: Why do you continue to play WoW? Do you still enjoy the game? Is it some form of Stockholm Syndrome? If you enjoy it, what is it about Shadowlands that keeps you playing? If you are coming back in 9. 1, what is exciting about the patch to bring you back? Have the recent interview with Ion soured you on the game and convinced you to leave? For me, it’s the transmog, leveling, and PvP of Shadowlands that keep me playing. I really enjoy the new leveling experiance and the PvP gearing is really good. I also enjoy M+ and Raids. Might even RP at some point. I don’t take the game very seriously. When i’m bored with it, I go play FFXIV. But overall i’m pretty happy with the expansion so far. Though this content drought really really sucks.
Is World of Warcraft Worth Playing in 2020 – Game Rant
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Is World of Warcraft Worth Playing in 2020
World of Warcraft is shaking things up with a new expansion and level squish to get players interested in a return to Azeroth this year.
The tail end of 2020 is arriving and gamers are about to have more titles to choose from than there are hours in the day. The launch of two new consoles, brand new high end graphics cards, and a barrage of AAA games are sure to make fall 2020 a busy (and expensive) season for fans of gaming. With so much cutting edge tech on the table and dozens of brand new games competing for the attention of the community, how much of a chance does a 16 year old PC game that still requires a subscription model like World of Warcraft really have?
Although it may sound like the odds are stacked against it, World of Warcraft is poised to have a very big spike in popularity as the end of the year arrives. The nearly two decade old Blizzard MMO has a dedicated fanbase at any given time, but there is always a big spike in subscribers when a new expansion drops. That spike is likely to be even bigger this time around as Shadowlands rolls out and makes some major changes to Azeroth that some World of Warcraft players are anxious to experience.
Battle for Azeroth generated some good hype at launch, but ultimately did not end up a fan-favorite in quite the same way that the previous expansion, Legion, did. There were some valid complaints about the endgame and post launch content for BfA and Blizzard seems to be learning from its mistakes once again and optimizing World of Warcraft’s 2020 expansion in a way that will help avoid some of those problems. Part of the reason for delaying the launch of Shadowlands to late November was to tweak the endgame experience and make sure it is more in line with what fans are looking for based on feedback from the extensive alpha and beta testing.
So, with so many other options on the table is it worth if to dive into World of Warcraft in 2020? Obviously that’s going to depend what each individual gamer is looking for this fall and early winter. The level squish dramatically changed the grind in World of Warcraft by making level 50 the current max (it will rise to 60 when Shadowlands arrives) and making it way more tempting and less daunting to create alt and new characters. Although most gamers have likely tried out World of Warcraft at one point or another by now, this change does make diving into the game more approachable than ever. There is a new starting zone that takes players from level 1 to 10 and teaches them the basics of the game and their class in a way that WoW never really took the time to do before. From there, players are able to select any one of the eras of World of Warcraft and level up through a full expansion story, rather than jumping from expac to expac without ever finishing a whole narrative.
It’s clearly a great time to get started in the game for players who are interested to pick up the classic and get hooked just in time for Shadowlands, but it’s also a pretty enticing time for veteran players. There has been a lot of speculation and drama surrounding the major class changes and Covenant abilities arriving with Shadowlands, but overall hype amongst the engaged WoW community it still very high. The delayed release date could signal some problems with the expansion, but Blizzard already has a habit of not releasing a product until the team is sure it is finished, so that isn’t exactly a dealbreaker. Many old school players returned to Azeroth for the WoW Classic servers last year and it will be interesting to see how many of those fans will take a break from grinding through their vanilla raids to check out the new and improved retail version of WoW.
The level squish is definitely ushering in a new era of WoW, but that probably isn’t enough to will everyone over. The Shadowlands expansion also brings some exciting new zones, updated character customizations, and a ton of other brand new features to the MMO. Gamers who want to experience the new expansion at the height of its popularity should definitely make some time in late fall and early December for the 50-60 grind and the new endgame experience.
There’s nothing quite like working through Mythic Dungeons and new Raids right as an expansion launches to see the most exciting parts of the MMO community and experience as players work together to crack each puzzle and find the best strategies for different fights and obstacles. Some of that magic fades away from the game once everything is “solved” and there are optimized routes and plans established as best practices throughout the community. For those reasons, it is definitely worth playing Wow in 2020 to see what the early days of Shadowlands are like as the Horde and Alliance both usher in a new era for the iconic MMO.
Blizzard is clearly hoping Shadowlands can help bring about another WoW renaissance and things are off to a strong start. The expansion’s pre-sales are already doing incredibly well and the recent Welcome Back event offered lapsed subscribers a chance to dive back into WoW and see what the Shadowlands pre-patch era is like. It will be very interesting to see how strong subscription numbers are when the new expansion launches and whether or not WoW is able to hold onto that influx of players in the months after Shadowlands is out. Hopefully an engaging endgame and steady flow of post launch content are delivered and can keep the community logging in throughout the end of 2020 and into the new year.
Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as more details about Shadowlands emerge. Until then, For the Horde!
World of Warcraft is available now for PC. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands launches globally on November 23 for PC.
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Denny Connolly
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Denny Connolly is an editor and contributor who joined the Game Rant team in 2014. He specializes in game guides, MMO coverage, and the Pokemon GO beat; but is a lifelong fan of all game genres. He’s a graduate of Penn State where he studied English and Education.
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Is WoW Worth Playing In 2021 | Screen Rant
Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
Is World of Warcraft still worth playing in 2021? Blizzard’s long-running MMORPG has certainly gotten up there in age, but the commitment to making changes to improve the game’s overall experience, including the approach of Patch 9. 1. 5 for Shadowlands, has meant playing the game in 2021 is still worthwhile. In fact, the MMORPG seems to keep getting better – and, considering the last several years for context, it’s definitely possible that Shadowlands is at least the game’s best showing in its modern era, even with all the recent controversies surrounding Blizzard.
Answering whether or not World of Warcraft is worth playing can be difficult since the answer varies so dramatically based on what players want. With that said, those looking for hyper-specific, niche benefits to playing may not always find what they’re looking for, even if the general consensus surrounding the MMO’s overall gameplay is positive. There were plenty of players who enjoyed Warlords of Draenor, after all, despite that expansion’s less-than-stellar reputation within the game’s larger community. Ignoring the fact that there will inevitably be no unified opinion, however, the question of “is World of Warcraft worth playing in 2021? ” can be broken down into two separate responses: one detailing whether new players will enjoy it, and one discussing the experience of returning veterans.
The answer to both those questions is yes, albeit each group may find World of Warcraft worth playing in 2021 for different reasons. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands reviews were positive, player engagement is waning but still strong, and the world of Azeroth is still very much alive. Here’s why WoW is worth playing in 2021, regardless of a player’s previous involvement with the MMORPG.
Is WoW Worth Playing In 2021 For Newcomers To The MMORPG
For new players, “is WoW worth playing in 2021? ” boils down to “how hard is it to get into World of Warcraft in 2021? ” The answer to that question has been “not very” for some time now, as Blizzard consistently worked to make its MMORPG more accessible to newer players. However, the massive overhauls that came with Shadowlands have set a high bar for the new player experience in WoW, making it easier than ever for beginners to start their adventures in Azeroth.
The Shadowlands release brought with it a completely revamped leveling system that makes World of Warcraft progression feel smoother and more meaningful. Blizzard reduced the inflated level cap to a much more reasonable 60, condensing the game’s scattered abilities, talents, and upgrades into a much tighter path of progression. The result is each level earned feeling like a meaningful addition to a larger experience, and the game’s introductory levels have also been streamlined, making what was once a daunting experience a much more digestible endeavor.
Finally – and perhaps most importantly – Shadowlands’ level squish also fixed the game’s story. World of Warcraft progression pre-Shadowlands wasn’t necessarily a mess, but the result of years of expansions being stacked on top of each other (with tweaks that only directly considered whichever one was most recent) made for an uneven narrative. Players progressed through cool environments way too rapidly, often departing stories mid-way through because they’d out-leveled the adventure. Part of the reason WoW has been so successful over the years is the way it marries its storyline concerns to the way players progress to its endgame, and emotional investment in characters like Thrall and Jaina is hard to build when they’re jumping in and out of the player’s arc at seemingly random times.
Thankfully, Shadowlands introduced a much tighter narrative progression system, one that sees newer players guided through the story content that’s most relevant to the new WoW expansion prior to engaging with it. If new players decide to reroll a character afterward, they’ll be able to choose a zone to make their focus leveling, letting them stick to one story arc and see what it has to offer without feeling like their progression path is suboptimal or outright nonexistent. It’s a welcome change and one that’s likely had even veterans revisiting their favorite expansions with new characters just to relive iconic story beats.
The WoW Shadowlands Endgame Is Genuinely Fun
For the most part, Blizzard has World of Warcraft down to a science, which is why WoW is still popular in 2021. Character arcs, class roles, itemization, and more have all been carefully honed over the years and are now implemented with mostly minor hiccups. If there’s one thing that has seemed virtually unsolvable in World of Warcraft’s long history, though, it’s how to make the WoW endgame fun for the entirety of an expansion – if that’s even possible. For veteran players, “is WoW worth playing in 2021? ” is almost certainly a question that can only be answered by an assessment of its current endgame design.
How Shadowlands endgame feels probably depends a lot on a given player’s reception to the Great Vault mechanic, but it’s got some strong characteristics going for it. The Great Vault essentially provides a hub for endgame players that helps them sort out which content they’re “meant” to be doing in a given week, giving players loot based on the content they did in the week prior. The Great Vault also gives players choices – the more content they complete in a given week, the more options they’ll have with regards to the loot they acquire from the system, removing some of the frustration of reward gear not being a good fit for a player’s needs.
The Great Vault also helpfully keeps track of what a character has accomplished that week, further reducing the frustration of missing out on one of WoW’s endgame loot cycles. There are still some concerns over the Great Vault – like whether or not it’s enough of a reward for those sinking in the most time – but by and large, the system is a new idea from Blizzard that’s helped make the Shadowlands endgame more accessible without making it feel too simplified or mundane.
There’s also Torghast, the World of Warcraft answer to rougelike dungeon exploration. Torghast mixes up the way endgame progression usually goes, randomizing more than just loot drops while also offering Torghast-specific character builds that grow more powerful the deeper a player gets in a run. Torghast hasn’t been for everyone, and it can still be a vexing element of the game whenever runs go awry, but it’s yet another addition to World of Warcraft’s endgame content that has improved and diversified its experience.
Since Shadowlands launched last year, WoW has gotten bug fixes and balancing updates, including the most recent fixes to the Sanctum of Domination on September 24. Of course, the recent lawsuits and controversies surrounding Activision-Blizzard have likely diminished some of the goodwill players felt after Shadowlands’ release, but looking at the game solely as an MMO, WoW still holds up incredibly well. In the meantime, fans are eagerly awaiting Patch 9. 5, which will add a number of player-requested changes to WoW. For these reasons, World of Warcraft is still very much worth playing in 2021.
Next: World of Warcraft: How Much It Costs To Buy EVERY Expansion
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Cody Gravelle
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Cody is Screen Rant’s Game Reviews Editor. He joined the team in 2018 and has been reporting on games pretty well every day since – except on weekends, where he’s typically playing them instead. Despite being in a field ostensibly about critiquing and enjoying quality games, his most played game of 2019 was Fate/Grand Order – something unlikely to change in 2020 and beyond.
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Frequently Asked Questions about why do people still play wow
Is WoW still worth playing 2020?
The level squish is definitely ushering in a new era of WoW, but that probably isn’t enough to will everyone over. … For those reasons, it is definitely worth playing Wow in 2020 to see what the early days of Shadowlands are like as the Horde and Alliance both usher in a new era for the iconic MMO.Nov 9, 2020
Is WoW still worth playing 2021?
Since Shadowlands launched last year, WoW has gotten bug fixes and balancing updates, including the most recent fixes to the Sanctum of Domination on September 24. … For these reasons, World of Warcraft is still very much worth playing in 2021.Oct 6, 2021
Why is World of Warcraft still popular?
The game has a living and breathing economy. There is also the Player-versus-Player (PvP) side of the game. WoW is often spoken of highly in this regard. The mechanics are fine-tuned, the classes provide an intriguing balance, and there is an interesting assortment of match types.Feb 10, 2021
