Shadowlands: In Defence Of The Maw
World of Warcraft is seeing a bit of a renaissance with its newest expansion, Shadowlands. Easily one of their best additions to the critically acclaimed game to date, Shadowlands sticks the landing on many fronts. However, one particular environment consistently catches the ire of the community at large. It seems as though everyone has an opinion on The Maw. Jaded by the inability to mount in such a seemingly important zone and conditioned to consume as much content as humanly possible, The Maw in some facets doesn’t do any favours for itself - and that is okay.
As polarising as it is, Blizzard Entertainment has been bold in how they designed The Maw and that should excite you enough to give credit where credit is due. What is often viewed as a tortuous, needlessly annoying hub for daily quests is actually a unique attempt at flipping the standard script of the World of Warcraft experience on its head. From the subtle beauty of limitation to the best expansion defining system put in place, there is an argument to be made in defence of The Maw.
For anyone unfamiliar or for any classic players debating on a retail migration, The Maw is the new end game zone for Shadowlands. Here you’ll find a rotating door of daily quests that reward you in Stygia, the currency of The Maw, as well as some interesting toys and cosmetics to help better distinguish your character from others. Once you earn enough Stygia you’re able to upgrade and adorn yourself with a utility belt fit for the caped crusader himself to help you better deal with life in the Jailer’s domain. It’s also home to Torghast, Tower of the Damned, a piece of content which you’ll want to familiarise yourself with if you want to equip any of the new legendary items. And last but certainly not least, the one thing you’ve probably heard time and time again is that throughout the vast expanses of The Maw you are unable to mount.
Now let me stop you there; this is not all to pot.
Just from that small fact, you can already see why people are so frustrated with The Maw. Mounting up on your trusty steed, or dragon, or jellyfish is the primary mode of transportation in World of Warcraft. Without thinking about it, you automatically log in, mount up and go about your day—and what The Maw does well is it breaks that cycle, at least just for a moment.
Click to enlargeTorghast, Tower of the Damned, is single-handedly the best system and piece of content the World of Warcraft team has developed in years. Torghast is not only an engaging solo experience, chock-full of different anima powers and creative builds to try, it also pushes players to better understand the class they’ve chosen. When it comes to group play, it is a nice surrogate for any dungeon fiends that want to play with their friends but are tired of the same old dungeon grind that we’re all used to and are looking for a slight change. Sure, there is no gear, but as a trade-off, you’ll earn a touch more Soul Ash to help finance your legendary addiction and give you the chance to earn other possible treasures all while playing with your mates.
Torghast, especially on the floors near the peak, challenges the player base to step back and see the forest for the trees. We’re careful here not to say “teach” here because Torghast doesn’t teach you anything—it presents you with problems, hurries you inside, slams the door behind you and leaves you to figure it out on your own. Something that at first feels unfair and chores-ish quickly turns into a strange sense of accomplishment.
The Maw’s limits make you appreciate the normal cycle of World of Warcraft. Flying for example is an incredibly fast and efficient way of travelling in World of Warcraft. However, it stands in opposition to one of the biggest criticisms that modem World of Warcraft faces; the lack of community and the lack of an immersive world. If we think of the movement of the game as a mostly 2D, the density of the players stays fairly dense. You see other players regularly, that opens up interactions and experiences. While it doesn’t build the community that people remember so fondly, it certainly helps bridge the gap and the game feels more like a living a breathing world.
Click to enlargeThe Maw in that same sense should be appreciated for limiting the player base and forcing them outside their comfort zone because, let’s be honest with our selves for a second, what is going to be the more memorable experience? Would you prefer another flat, dull daily quest hub or something a bit bolder, a touch more daring?
The limitations don’t end there however, The Maw also limits how much time you can spend in the zone itself. Everything you do in The Maw collects threat with the Jailer and as you increase in threat, the Jailer begins to throw obstacles in your path. This could vary from avoidable splash damage from the heavens or a shadowy assassin that appears at random. However, once you reach the max rank of five, the Jailer begins to quickly drain your health while all but halting all reputation and Stygia rewards.
This inherently asks the player to come in present and with a plan in mind of what they want to do in The Maw. Now, don’t get us wrong, few people are coming in with some hyper-specific plan of attack to best optimise the zone but the general player base has some choices to make. How do we traverse this zone to finish all our daily quests without triggering the fifth level of Eye of the Jailer?
“Rewarding but not required” is the motto of The Maw. As strange as it is to hear, you aren’t forced to do The Maw. Contrasting this against the sheer amount of time spent in your garrisons during Warlords of Draenor or how lucrative the island expeditions were early on in Battle for Azeroth, The Maw is nowhere near as invasive and ideally, it improves as Shadowlands matures. We can’t ignore that The Maw helps your gameplay in other areas through the vehicle of improvements to Torghast, Tower of the Damned and being able to socket select pieces of your armour, but outside the few times the story or other outside quest chains ask you to venture into The Maw, you don’t have to go there. Nothing forces you to do this particular piece of content. In fact, most of the player base would do fine if they never touched a daily quest or killed a mob outside Torghast each week.
For those who do venture outside the bubble, you’ll find that The Maw gets easier the more you do it. Indirectly having more experience with the world around you especially in the reputation locked elite areas like Perdition Hold and the Beastwarrens certainly helps. However, there are more direct items and upgrades that help you traverse The Maw. The Encased Riftwalker Essence grants you access to small teleportation stones scattered throughout The Maw which add a form of mobility and to help supplement your lack of mount. The Animated Levitating Chain is your familiar grappling hook mechanic back from Legion, this especially makes vertical mobility much easier in certain areas.
To reiterate, this is a defence of The Maw, not a full absolution of it. By no means, do we think the zone is perfect. Limiting player agency isn’t a personality trait and The Maw feels much worse if your class lacks mobility tools. The daily quests themselves feel tedious and uninspired. If lore is your fancy then The Maw could be your dream zone in future patches, but right now it feels empty and draws more questions than answers. However flawed it is, it is vastly more interesting, and it serves as a break from the normal monotony of World of Warcraft that we’ve become complacent with.
While The Maw has it’s problems, Blizzard has attempted a bold new approach to changing the game that, at the very least, can be respected. As long as the system sees iteration as well as addition, we might end up heeding the Jailer’s words. No one escapes The Maw, perhaps because we won’t want to.
Images via Blizzard Entertainment