Why the current expansion got me excited about the MMORPG again.

Blizzard had meanwhile experienced many ups and downs with World of Warcraft. Either in the MMORPG or (unfortunately) outside of the game. Nevertheless, MeinMMO author Jakob Gerden was well entertained by WoW up to the Legion expansion. But with the release of Battle of Azeroth, he finally started looking at other MMORPGs. Here he tells you why he’s playing WoW again.

I was still playing the MMORPG Everquest 2 when World of Warcraft was released. I liked leveling up and improving my character there and swore allegiance to that, but also to the game at the time. Unfortunately, I didn’t reckon with my guild and friends.

One after the other they jumped off. While hundreds of thousands flocked to WoW, I found myself on a server with only around 3,000 people left. The world of Warcraft games, which I’ve been actively following since Warcraft II, naturally appealed to me.

When I finally looked at WoW with a friend of mine and especially the Horde side, I found the world and characters, the entire look, just right. This is how my personal adventure in World of Warcraft began.

Take a look at the most important features of the Dragonflight expansion here.

The move away from WoW was a gradual process

This point was more of a gradual process that took place so much at the latest when the Battle of Azeroth expansion was released that I started looking around for other MMORPGs.

I’ve always liked exploring the world of WoW, especially playing the story with its quests and then being led to dungeons. You could finally enter this together with other players, but you had to form a group on site beforehand.

It was always a great experience to run through the dungeons for others and their progress. This provided me with a sense of community that is unique to this day. But unfortunately for me the dungeon finder – which I think is a useful tool today – destroyed everything back then.

There was nothing special about traveling to the dungeon anymore. It was also not necessary – admittedly, sometimes it was tedious – to cobble together a group. It was now only a matter of choosing his role and off he went.

Chat has been reduced to a minimum. It started with a hi, but over time the chat was only used for flames, for example when your own tank made mistakes in the dungeon.

In the Battle of Azeroth expansion in particular, the drama really picked up speed, where looking at cutscenes in raids was mercilessly punished by groups. In the end, it was all about how quickly you could get through the content.

At some point, Battle of Azeroth felt like work

It just felt like work. In my opinion, the flat story did the rest. The island expeditions and the grind to Azerit for a few more traits didn’t pick me up either.

In the end it was all about random loot, which, rumor has it, had become more and more popular in order to align new and old players. However, the grind took on excessive proportions for me, similar to Black Desert Online. I also didn’t like the fact that raids often had to be completed at fixed times.

So I decided to turn my back on Blizzard.

Riding a dragon in WoW gave me a new open world experience

Since the Shadowlands expansion also fell short of my expectations and the shadow lands didn’t really convince me either, I followed WoW from afar.

But the announcement of the Dragonflight expansion made me sit up and take notice. A new, colorful world with an urge to explore while riding dragons? Add to that a new story and lots of changes, including to the crafting and talent system? Sounds like a radical cure – it seemed too good to be true.

In addition to the new content, such as more dungeons or the faction of the dragon scales expedition, I found the revised crafting and the new talent system particularly interesting, as well as dragon riding. This now offers a specialization and general talent tree in detail, in which points should be diligently invested.

Above all, I was fascinated by the open-plan world of the Dragon Islands. Where mountain ranges still have enclosed and limited zones, these act as a nice accessory and no longer as an annoying obstacle, precisely due to the intentional use of kites.

So the dragon islands seem much more open to me, like a real open world, than any other zone that I explored until I left WoW. Sure – everyone defines their optimal MMORPG differently.

But the Open World label is what makes a good MMORPG for me. The freedom to do anything, when and where I want it. That’s why I tried sandbox MMORPGs like ArcheAge or Black Desert Online for a long time.

So Blizzard managed to get another €50 from me for the Dragonflight expansion.

First steps in a new world

Excited, I climbed the tower just outside Orgrimmar to travel to the Dragon Isles with my newly minted level 60 Warlock. I almost missed the zeppelin and was only able to reach it in time thanks to my flight mount.

When I got there, the optics immediately caught my eye. A world traversed by extremes presented itself to my eyes. First there were the lands riddled with lava complete with lairs of bloodthirsty monsters. On the other side, however, lush greenery revealed itself to me, peppered with ruins and mountains.

The mountains in particular are no longer a problem thanks to the possibility of flying on the Dragon Islands. It’s also great fun to pull the tracks with your kite. Adjusting the scaly vehicle is a nice treat at that.

After all, I had something to do right away. In addition to the side and main quests, there were other tasks that I could fill directly by killing enemies, for example, like the hearts in Guild Wars 2. The first rewards beckoned.

Since then, I have continued my journey in Dragonflight and look forward to the tasks of the Dragonscale Expedition and the new dungeons. I have already installed suitable add-ons, such as Hekili and Co., for this task.

What is your opinion on the Dragonflight expansion? Which aspects of it do you think are good and which are bad? Is there even anyone who has also gotten back into Dragonflight or even tried WoW for the first time? Write about it in our comments.

If you want to know what else is coming up in World of Warcraft, you shouldn’t miss the following article: WoW: Patch 10.1.5 is huge, brings mega dungeon, new caller specialization and mage rework