Review: Is World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Worth It?

Every two years, many videogame players around the globe have to reflect on where they are in life, have to reassess their development in self-control, the state of their relationships, and if the void in their soul is asking for another temporary plug of incredibly satisfying fun. “Will I play this World of Warcraft expansion?” I say to the mirror, my face dripping wet from trying to flush it with cold clarity. 

Despite the risk of investing entirely too much time into it, there are two factors that can sweeten the deal: “Is my group of gaming friends playing it?” and crucially “Is this a good expansion?”, factors which are unequivocally entwined. We’re here to answer the second question, and though we might be getting ahead of ourselves, it bears stating right out of the gate that the experience so far has been excellent but in a different way than you might be used to from World of Warcraft (WoW). While the rule of every WoW second expansion being a hit once again applies, Shadowlands meets the mark in a different way. While previous expansions made you dig through them like a half a litre Häagen-Dazs cookies and cream tub without the ability to stop yourself, Shadowlands tries to be more like a box of chocolates you may pick and choose from for sweet bite-sized flavour and the choice to put it back into the pantry. However, if you want, you absolutely can run through it like Forrest Gump disregarding all responsibilities in your life. 

The levelling experience

Players who will be returning to WoW for Shadowlands will notice that the game has undergone another stat and levelling squish, with your former max level character starting out at level 50 and the new max level being set to 60. As we will later find out, your character level will not be as important as you are used to from previous expansions, with a lot of gates to respective content and even abilities opening through other means than merely unlocking the highest available level. This changes the experience of progression for this expansion fundamentally, giving you a feeling of incremental progress rather than chasing and achieving huge milestones. Perhaps you are reading this in order to gouge whether or not it’s still worth getting into Shadowlands weeks or months after launch. It is for these very design changes that the feeling of “being behind the curve” never manifests to the same degree that it did before.

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With fundamental ideas about levelling out of the way, you start out in your main city talking to an NPC which will impart a great sense of urgency about the things that are going wrong, information you are already aware of. After all, you’ve just been introduced to the big problems facing Azeroth and beyond by another stunning trailer that Blizzard Entertainment are known for. As the feeling has barely subsided, you’re thrown another nostalgia bomb, returning to the Frozen Throne which fans of the universe might recognise from the greatest of times in the Warcraft games as far back as Warcraft III: Frozen Throne and the WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King. A recognisable relic of this past, the helm of the Lich King, has been shattered by a well-known villain in Sylvanas in a “WoW-that’s possible?!” moment.

Playing puzzle with the pieces, you’re soon told that you’ll have to go where mortals should ordinarily never show up: the afterlife. Soon enough, you’re thrown into a zone called “The Maw”, a place you will soon learn to despise, as is very much intended. Going onto rescue missions with main story characters like Jaina Proudmoore demonstrating that they still got it, the game will introduce you to yet another new mysterious villain called Zovaal or the Jailer - as if Sylvanas wasn’t enough.

Eventually, as you always do, you manage the impossible and become the mortal that not only got into the Maw (so basically hell) but gets to travel back and forth to take care of business. Soon after, ethereal beings start to question the validity of your story, you’re thrown into one of the complex conceptions of the afterlife in a place called the Bastion which vibes like the middle ground between the Good Place and House Hufflepuff. In short, it’s annoyingly upbeat with the character Kleia demanding that you take your soul to a spiritual spa to cleanse it, dragging you from place to place with name conceptions of (Building) of (virtue). I guess at least the “owl-dwarves” are keeping it real.

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Otherwise, I find myself repeatedly thinking: “Screw your patronising garbage, I wanna kill things!”, which I believe to be kind of the point of Bastion and soon enough you see the cracks in the world that these carebears have built for themselves while getting to zap some of their power. Kyrian, as the first covenant you’re introduced to is called, teach you two of their abilities which you get to freely use as if they were part of your tool kit. It’s the introduction of one of their new systems in which you get to progress, and the levelling experience is the introduction into both the vibe of a covenant and their skills, two factors which you’ll later have to factor into your decision which afterlife conception you want to become a follower off. 

While you have the option to continue doing the sidequests, I can’t wait to get out of this hell hole. “As you wish” says Shadowlands with a monkey pawed grin, throwing me into Maldraxxus, which boils down to a world of undead MadMax. Gorey patchworked creatures spend their dead day duelling it out for gladiatorial supremacy in arenas. While the initial impression is total chaos, you soon realise that this place isn’t quite as lost as it seemed, having some structure in the form of houses who interestingly communicate a sense of duty that isn’t all manic onto you. The Necrolord covenant with its narrative spearhead Draka turns into a satisfying story arc that stands out among the others, revealing her as one of the ultimate weapons against the Jailer. You’re also more thoroughly introduced to the group of the “Eternal Ones” which the Zovaal, Bastion’s Kyrestia, and also Maldraxxus’ Primus are part of, giving you the impression that while things are dire, at least there is some help to be expected in the afterlife.

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Soon enough, you make it to the third zone, Ardenweald, which I found to be the most intriguingly beautiful one. Moreover, while the matter at hand is serious - after all you are trying to salvage immortal souls for basically the currency of this expansion, anima - the zone is still a ton of wicked fun with the developers getting into their shenanigans bag. As such, you are tasked to catfish a gigantic bird, get pranked by three tricksters in a trenchcoat, and get taken the mickey by the Night Fae in general.

The last zone and covenant you are introduced to is Revenderth with its Venthyr, populated by Vampires that for once don’t enjoy blood but the important anima. The story leads you to support the wrong cause which you receive frequent hints off. As you murder them, opponents use their last words to inform you of that matter, the little imps only reluctantly call you master, and you’re always blamed for being late. At times, the story reaches deeper and pulls on your heart’s strings, introducing you to the Accuser who confesses to having killed her daughter in error. 

As a perfect sort of metaphor, I ding level 60 in the hands of a giant who tosses me across the map, figuratively throwing out the trash and making sure I understand that this isn’t the big achievement in this expansion that it used to be. Going into the endgame, I’m now only starting to unlock the systems which progress will be tied to.

Shadowlands - System-heavy dopamine spread

In previous expansions, I was done with anything that wasn’t dungeons and raids after I finally reached the highest level. Levelling and questing felt like something one had to do in order to pass the gatekeepers of the “real content”. Shadowlands doesn’t really care about that at all, not even giving you an extra ability once you hit max rank like you used to. Instead, you will have to make it through the entire storyline and choose one of the carefully introduced covenants to be part of.

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While this initially feels weird, the experience eventually grew on me. Since hitting max level, I’ve experienced a steady sense of progression, unlocking several types of content. Notably, getting into higher standings with your covenant after choosing feels rewarding while stirring you towards a narrative progression, still incorporating some of the grindy aspects.

The biggest feature introduction comes at the hand of Torghast, a rogue-like dungeon system which is entirely playable by yourself. Traversing floors and layers while picking up new abilities and building fun combinations to beat the end bosses, Torghast allows you to participate in content that feels fresh while also working towards something that will eventually push your character forward. Tied to the crafting of legendaries by acquiring the currency “Soul Ash” through player higher levels of Torghast adds an incentive. Later stages also offer further rewards in the way of cosmetics. The amount of Torghast one has to play to get a respectable amount of Soul Ash to get your hands on a legendary feels well-balanced and is likely to be on the edge of enjoyable in the volume it requires you to play it. Truly the worst part about Torghast is the quest zone supporting it, with the Maw being a dire experience to quest through. Not being able to ride, being chased by the lunatic’s army, and having to battle the rest of the tormented for quest items or NPCs makes for an oppressive experience which - once again - I believe to be a deliberate choice in order to communicate and make the player really feel what kind of a place the Maw really is. 

Of course, the dungeon system of Normal, Heroic, Mythic, and Mythic+ difficulties is back, offering the tried and true sense of progression without too much logistics required. For those wanting to spend their time in larger group activities, raiding is once again back. Daily quests are also back, and anecdotally they are among the most bearable types we’ve had since the feature’s introduction. PvP remains its old self in the most important ways, too.

The learning curve to these new systems is fairly steep, though still enjoyable as they are fairly well explained by having run through them due to several quest lines. The feeling of “arriving in the late game” becomes a multifaceted experience with all the positive aspects still in place, but giving you a piece of candy in basically every play session you turn up for.

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Conclusions

Shadowlands has managed to pace content in a meaningfully different way, with each content funnel at least at this point in time appearing very enjoyable and with extensive replay value. In some ways, it broke with paradigms of what it means to achieve things and feel accomplished in World of Warcraft, allowing players to choose their own pace and content each day while significantly lessening the blow on the min-maxers soul by offering incentives and rewards that feel impactful towards the direction you feel like moving in.

At times, these new systems and revisited ideas require the adept WoW player to relearn patterns they have played through for over a decade. Another strange thing several players have noticed is that Shadowlands asks you for your permission to start a quest much more frequently, and while it’s weird for it to not start immediately after accepting it, it does give you a feeling of agency if these demi-gods still require your permission before moving on. Changes like these make the curious player wonder just how deep towards first principles the designers thought with Shadowlands and at which level of cognition their improvements try to tackle.

Throughout my playthrough, only ever one quest bugged out on me, delivering the usual Blizzard polish one expects of their games, despite the introduction of several new gameplay mechanics which no doubt required extensive retooling.

One personal but no less major issue I found with experiencing the story came at the hand of the pre-release published Afterlife video series, which also functioned as cinematics within the game. While I took them to be introductions to the zones when watching them on YouTube pre-release, they are often in themselves conclusions that resolve a conflict you first have to fight towards in the game. As such, they are spoilers, giving the release of the tension away before arriving at them in the respective story arcs. Had I known, I doubt I would’ve watched the Afterlife series before playing the game.

While the discussion around the system will no doubt change over the course of the coming months, what remains right now is the first and second impression World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has left us with, and in this regard, it succeeds largely throughout what it appears to want to achieve. Major villains were installed, and their importance can be felt, very distinct differences in the covenants were communicated, and more options for endgame content were given- most of which hit the mark. From the point of view of early December 2020, Shadowlands has kept its promises of a great expansion, with all the setup to beat even success stories like World of Warcraft: Legion.

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