Shadowlands: Why I’m Not a Fan of the ‘Great Vault’ (and Why You Might Be)

In Shadowlands, the weekly mythic+ cache is being replaced with the great vault. I shared my initial reaction of their first post about it (and got a correction by a commenter), wowhead has gotten more information, including an actual example of how it works. I’ll summarize a bit of what they said, along with providing a link to the original post after the break. Having seen clarification, there are parts of what bothered me that were my misunderstanding, however, most of my main issues still linger…

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WoW: The Worst News of Shadowlands So Far

During Blizzcon 2019, it was announced that the Mythic+ weekly cache would now have multiple options we could choose from and possibly a currency option if none of the gear was desirable. This was to help solve the issue with our weekly disappointment box (such as how I once got the same exact piece of loot 3 weeks in a row and the same slot 7 out of 8 weeks). Sure, the options could all be bad, but it directly increases the likelihood of getting a piece of gear that is usable in some way. Truthfully, as far as new systems go, this was the thing I most looked forward to. There was a few weeks where I was getting a +15 on every single class and somehow still went 2 weeks in a row without getting a single upgrade, including on characters whose overall item level was under 460 (the box drops 475, for context). The idea that we were looking forward to was a straight-forward quality of life upgrade, not MORE loot or less effort, just a little more “player agency” as Blizzard is fond of saying right now. However, thanks to a Wowhead post… I’ve learned it isn’t quite that simple.

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Shadowlands Beta: What I Hope to Accomplish

Click to go to their beta opt-in

This week I found out about two people in my social circle who have gotten invites to the beta. One, a good friend that is in a top 200 world raiding guild and has been, prior to this expansion, typically between top 100 to top 10 in his raiding progression. However, a friend of a friends mom got in and that player is very casual. So, perhaps they are starting to let in a little more diverse group. You can read more about my thoughts on who they invite in my last post HERE. In this, I’m going to talk a little about what I hope to accomplish when(if) I eventually get into the beta. Maybe you’ll get some ideas for things to focus on, or maybe you can suggest something I’m missing.

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Shadowlands Beta: Who Gets In?

While, this blog isn’t quite back up and running yet, I did want to talk a little about the Shadowlands beta and the access (or general lack of) to it.

The alpha test for this expansion was almost exclusively limited to streamers, youtubers and other such content creators. In addition to those type, the very top end of competitive content players also had a high rate of invitation (as is true historically as well). At first, this made sense to me. The very best get rewarded for their accomplishments. The content creators will create content with their access. Even further, WoW streamers and high end content runners tend to be very active and are very likely to spend a lot of time in an alpha test to either get an advantage for when the expansion goes live or, naturally, to have something in demand to stream. Win, win, win, right? Maybe… Some thoughts about this, and a tip about beta access, after the break.

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WoW: Top 5 Ways to Improve the Garrison

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Let’s face it – Garrisons are a huge part of World of Warcraft now. They’ve been made a focal point of Warlords of Draenor and, overall, seem to be a pretty big hit. My guild is constantly joking during raid about needing to go back to the garrison to check missions. Okay sort of joking. Well, fine I just hearthed during our break. It’s okay we have a warlock to summon me back. But, even with a feature that’s actually doing well (See: Not Ashran), there are always some areas we’d like improved. While personally I had hoped that this feature would be account or server wide so all of my alts could play in the same space others have asked for things such as more plots for more buildings. While, expansion is likely to happen eventually (6.2), there are probably some ways it could be improved now. Let’s discuss! (more…)