World of Warcraft - The Win Within

[@Godaronful]

Don't do this to me man. I've been clean for almost 2 years I don't wanna relapse

[@ItsTheSameCat]

Underrated comment.

[@tyga9766]

It’s sooo worth it, have self control and enjoy yourself!

[@PretzlNinja]

I haven’t played seriously since legion and this has been a blast so far

[@Dynamice1337]

This hurt me.

[@calvintran9707]

embrace the darkness

[@lary6420]

I love the 'Stay and listen' stuff. That way it's there for people that want more character interaction and can be skipped by those either not interested/ already viewed it w/out it being required to sit through to get the next quest.

[@freddymeisner]

I’ve found those interactions to have the best writing in the whole game. Real dialogue, emotions put into the characters, reflecting on past events, etc.

[@lary6420]

@@freddymeisner it really did start with that dragon with the visage of a dwarf trying to remember his lover's name(absolutely tragic and tear jerking). And the fact it's done as a quest to subtlety get you familiar with the mechanic was genius. Now I'm alway on the lookout for them. So far the ones in the 2nd and 3rd zones are my favorite in TWW.

[@n1cl4s]

Right? It is such a great addition. This adds so much more life to the game. It is insane, that such thing has barely been there before.

[@lizzardentertainment3846]

Stay a while and listen stuff are single handedly the worst thing that could happen to this game. All the whimpering, deep breathes, sighing and talking about their feelings.. no thank you. It's also just a tool to retcon sht into the game.

[@donderstorm1845]

@@lizzardentertainment3846 "single handedly the worst thing that could happen to this game" lol just don't click on it then drama queen

[@Toilettrauma88]

This is the person I wanted to hear this from. Asmongolds opinions are one thing. This guy knows wow on a different kind of level. Ty for this

[@chriss8563]

His opinions surely are one thing...

[@shockwave.9749]

​@chriss8563 what are you a concord fan

[@Toilettrauma88]

@@shockwave.9749 the plane? Idk what that is lol

[@Swerg20]

​@@shockwave.9749 you're really weird... Concord doesn't have anything to do with anything here. Go fight your culture war battle somewhere else, most of us are just tired of hearing about it. Concord is bad because it's bad, not because of some DEI whatever. Go gobble asmons nuts some more and be outraged at whatever he's telling you to be mad about somewhere else

[@Nisenziart]

@@Toilettrauma88 the player count drooped like the snoot

[@bos7522]

"its good right now, so ima play it right now" - most underrated sentence on the internet

[@shanemarchwick7532]

Every single thing mentioned will be a form of a daily in 3 months. I'll play it, but I can't wait to see the 180 flip by all the youtubers. We all know it's coming.

[@86Corvus]

A victim primed by marketing to consume slop in a brief moment of weakness

[@Nightflash28]

@@86Corvus He starts the video by saying he played through all the quests, went raiding etc, so he already experienced the majority of the content, still praises it and you think he's a victim of marketing? whaaaa?

[@lou.pcanway247]

Something I heard a lot about No Man's Sky too. It's nice to see developpers actively trying to provide better experiences and players actually updating their opinion of these game, without the ego from either part getting in the way (and I know the irony considering the No Man's Sky dev's ego at launch)

[@heathmcrigsby]

This happens every single expansion. Dude will be here in a month calling it mid at best (gotta get those views). Honeymoon phase is real.

[@muimeko2774]

Rare moment of Thor actually making a good thumbnail.

[@dagnartheedge8060]

it reminds me a lot of grinding gears stream thumbnail...

[@biglink13]

At least you know it's home made.

[@bub3080]

God*

[@naicitoahc]

I love that you singled out that one quest from the dwarf dragon in DF because that's literally the only thing I'll remember from that expansion. I so badly want more quests like that.

[@davidbrown7590]

I initially wasn't going to get this expansion, but eventually caved and I'm glad I did because a quest in the first zone floored me. I don't want to spoil it, but I will say that chain hit me so god-damned hard in the feels I had to log off midway to process.

[@kaijudru]

on god, sitting on the edge with the dwarf for an hour+

[@marcmartino8518]

That quest sucked. Sitting there waiting for the NPC to yap and nothing happens. I hated it.

[@OmegaShanic]

It's unfortunate - there were a few other good story quests like the Dwarf in Dragonflight, but they were optional or buried under tedium\discovery. They hid them as nuggets to find. In War Within, these quests are more front and center.

[@deadspoonxxx]

Expectations for players are so low, reading text now equals a good quest. ​@@marcmartino8518

[@kaseywahl]

The thing that has stuck out to me more than anything is the music. WoW music has always been good, but my goodness...pairing the music with the visuals in this expansion is just ethereal.

[@giespouwen8091]

@@kaseywahl Dalaran city music in Wotlk always gave me goosebumps

[@qirico]

​@@giespouwen8091 tears every single time I come back there

[@markthornton9800]

I only play WoW solo now and I sincerely appreciate all of the new solo friendly additions to the game. Also, your initial analysis of this new expansion is 100% spot on. Thanks!

[@JimmyNuisance]

Same here. There is so much solo stuff now. I'm looking forward to getting into delves in a huge way. WoW has never felt more solo-friendly than right now. It truly feels like a game that was made to be played any way you like. Back when instances and dungeons meant having to play with others, that whole part of the game was just lost. Pretty much half the PVE content of the game is gone for solo players. The game just feels super packed with stuff to do now that we have dungeons and delves etc.

[@nad0w]

@@JimmyNuisance Playing SOLO in an MMO :>

[@Navefreamo]

@@nad0wye he is deluded

[@Navefreamo]

Go play singleplayer games people like you destroy industry

[@Mediados]

@@Navefreamo People like this are the new industry.

[@Syntari]

You mentioned the dwarf on the cliff, and that’s interesting because I had the same comparison. It felt like Blizzard understood WHY everyone loved that quest, and then made a ton of side quests with that in mind. So many side quests just grabbed me and I was so invested.

[@tommantek3632]

That one Earthen quest in Isle of Dorn where his caretaker has you looking after him and eventually needing you to locate him after he wandered off. No spoilers but it did make me tear up as I know of people with this condition.

[@ToriasDaxximus]

As far as I have observed, all reps are account wide. They took what ever was your highest reputation across all characters and made that the rep level for the warband.

[@JackGPT84]

All DF and TWW rep are account wide and older ones will follow later

[@ToriasDaxximus]

@@JackGPT84 Thanks I was only like 80% sure

[@lIIest]

I really find it fascinating, how WoW players are so poorly informed even though the game has literally the most information easily available out of any game ever

[@not_cicero]

Aren't there limited slots for the Warband? Calling it account-wide seems a bit disingenuous.

[@Roric_The_Red]

@@not_cicero considering you can swap out who is and isn't in your 4 slots to see on the character screen at will, I'm pretty sure account wide means that. Hell, all characters from all realms show up on one tab now

[@silver_crone]

I solo exclusively (time constraints, work, yeah anxiety), and I have LOVED this expansion so far. I can log in, do some stuff, see progress, log out. The art is breathtaking, the music is just incredible, follower dungeons immediately, delves AND flying right away - I’m in.

[@Regulated907]

I love it. I only play wow in pvp these days but I grew up loving every single bit of wow. i like to appreciate beautiful zones, ideas, and solid quest chains with some good story n fun or nice interactions.

[@MrAyeSir]

Hey Thor, solo player here! I took a long break from WoW, dipped back for a bit in Dragonflight and gave up again. Hearing you praise the new expansion (or at least what's accessible so far) this much makes me want to give it another whirl! Like, I cannot overstate how much your word means to me here. I discovered you not that long ago, but so far you've seemed like someone who keeps it real. And I value that. Edit: I got the expansion and I'm loving it so far!

[@HerveMaas]

I haven't played WoW in a decade and a half. And this expansion I am going to give a fair shake as a "new player". Let's see if they can keep my attention.

[@ChristopherFehrenbacher]

I only play WoW solo anymore and almost exclusively on my Orc BM Hunter. I love to hop on late at night after the kids and wife are to bed and enjoy the world, taking my time running quests, fishing, mining, and just chilling. The expac feels great. This is the most I've played consistently in a decade at least. I haven't enjoyed WoW this much since BC or WoTLK.

[@ajaxtheunderkin2545]

The follow and NPC system reminds me of swtor that's the one system I wish more MMOs would integrate and I'm glad they're doing it.

[@chadvader974]

And the cutscenes

[@westonparker5940]

@@ajaxtheunderkin2545 Guild Wars had NPC hirelings and eventually permanent NPC party members. Most of the time they were better than PUGs.

[@Pyrosiege]

Dragonflight had me thinking "I just don't care about anything thats happening." War Within has been immediately engaging. I liked the nod to the class order hall at the beginning as well. Just made things feel more substantial

[@protocolsev]

Yeah I agree with that, Dragonflight just felt like it was missing something I can't quite verbalize. The "je ne sais quoi" as the French call it. War Within has much more of that, but I'm still struggling to find a class/spec I like

[@dojyr3130]

@@protocolsevDK. the class is DK. go play

[@LoveOlsson98]

@@protocolsev Yea, DF felt like a side quest. A fun one but still a side quest. Also felt like the testing ground for a lot of the things which are now returning and being improved on in TWW as well. Going to be really interesting to see where WoW goes from here on. Edit after watching through the video: A lot of the things Thor mentions are from DF which I think just reinforces what I said about DF being the experimental phase of a lot of the TWW stuff.

[@tylerleeson3045]

@@LoveOlsson98 Oh, DF was definitely a reset, and spend some time with a clean slate, so to speak. It then had the task of setting up the story to come since we weren't relying on things from previous expansions as much anymore. While DF was definitely bland at times, I think it's the only expansion I never actually unsubbed from. Even when I took breaks fom playing, I was never against playing.

[@LoveOlsson98]

@@tylerleeson3045 Yea, TWW is just continuing a lot of DF things but judging how people are acting rn it seems like it might be some revisioning of history going on to make TWW out to be the expansion that started all of these things by a lot of the playerbase who didn't play DF.

[@Rosskles]

I haven't played WoW in years and it looks so vastly different. The flying alone 🤌

[@renatatostada3318]

TBF the current flying system (Skyriding) was introduced in Deagonflight. But yes, it's a super fun system. The old flying system is still in the game, too, for people who struggle with Skyriding. They've executed it incredibly well

[@ub3rfr3nzy94]

Yeah the old flying system looks so dated and bad now when you have dragonriding.

[@Satyr42]

They copy/pasted it from Guild Wars 2. And I'm not even criticizing them for it because I think it makes sense to learn things from what your competitors are doing better than you. But that's where this new flying mount system comes from. They basically merged the Griffin mount and the Skyscale mount from Guild Wars 2 into one. Now they only need to improve ground mounts to make them more interesting to use. In Guild Wars 2 all mounts have a specific niche and even after obtaining the two flying mounts the ground mounts do not lose their usefulness. WoW needs to do something similar. Find a niche for ground mounts to fit in to make them useful again.

[@Planetdune]

​@@ub3rfr3nzy94 Not really. I prefer to be able to hover over having to focus 100% at all times.. also really bad for precision when you want to slowly scout something out or trying to find something. Only use dragonriding for long distance travel, regular for normal gameplay.

[@Vluxuation]

Rare WoW W and I'm here for it. A note about the music there is a slight nod (or at least what I hear as a nod) to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, you can hear it in the menu of WoW or in the bee area in the Isle of Dorn. There is a brief maybe 5 second or so part of the music that sounds very similar to the song that plays when Frodo is riding with Gandalf in the first 10min of the movie. Not sure if it was intentional but when I heard it in game I went "Who the fuck is watching LOTOR without me" and then I realized it was WoW and it brought a huge smile to my face. I really hope it was intentional or maybe the subconscious of the composer when he was bringing it all together.

[@acunningplan486]

This is a fantastically succinct review of the expansion. Couldn't agree more.

[@zengineer3369]

They finally nailed that modern questing/storytelling imo the pacing between action and cutscenes was good, i skipped dragonflight but in shadowlands i just remember screaming inside my head because leveling felt like a chore from the beginning to the end and i felt there was just way too much unskippable dialogue dump.

[@gowasnoga]

0:28 amateur I will out nerd you - this is not from Legion, this is from Worlds of Draenor

[@Wrathful2000]

Before Legion, with the rares and the treasure and such, it was Timeless Isle in Mists of Pandaria. Timeless Isle and Warlords was probably the birth of modern WoW with rare spawns that spawn frequently but might drop something nice, and usually current expac currency, as well as the chests that just have random shit in them.

[@TheSyncos]

All of these points are accurate, plus Xal'atath is more menacing in her first introduction as the villain than a lot of villains we've had in the last 10 years.

[@KrazyTrumpeter05]

Looks like the "In case of emergency, break glass and summon Chris Metzen" strategy is working...

[@roy4173]

Also worth noting, Blizzard recently got unionized wall-to-wall. It could play some role in how they're now making a game feel like a game, and not a golden-egg laying goose to be squeezed for every drop of money it can produce.

[@semiramisubw4864]

TWW is finished for quite some time already.

[@lordrevan571]

Have you actually played this Expansion? It's not good.

[@lumenox8541]

Unions aren't going to make the devs make "a game feel like a game" they just dictate how much the devs are expected to work and negotiate their pay collectively. The executives still decide exactly what is worked on and whether it will be that golden-egg laying goose to be squeezed or not. Unions aren't some magic bullet that's mysteriously saved blizzard lmfao

[@fencingfireferret1188]

@@lordrevan571 wrong

[@akaku9]

I hope they find a way to reattach their ions.

[@DaKloneGaming]

4:22 - "I'm in! It's fun, really really fun" So, I was playing DayZ with a new clan on [Sunnyvale Community Servers] and one of the guys jumped on and said "we need a Retribution Paladin for Blackwing Layer release next week." I haven't thought about WoW in 16 years, but I was immediately Piqued. "BWL Releases next week you say, and you need a Ret Paladin? BET I AM IN!" So I immediately went and downloaded "WoW Classic: Season of Discovery" and started leveling a Ret Paladin (Currently level 53 at the time I am writing this) and I have 5 days to get to level 60 and gear up for Zul'Gurub & Blackwing Layer. It was weird coming back, like opening a door in the back of your mind and finding a bunch of treasure. It looks like Retail WoW might be fun to peak at later, if I get around to it. Cheerings Friends 🤙🏻

[@Queldonus]

So far it seems they have taken what worked in Dragonflight (which was mostly good) and build upon those systems while bringing it back to the style of high fantasy that feels like the WoW I remember from early expansions, but without MOST OF THE GRIND. I'm not sure why you bounced off of Dragonflight, I loved it. But this is definitely better for theme and feel. Edit: Yes the music is SO GOOD. Edit the second: Yes that storytelling dwarf (actually a dragon) was one of the BEST quests in DF, by far.

[@Mediados]

Dragonflight from what I have gathered seems to have been just unremarkable.

[@lordrevan571]

@@Mediados Unremarkable, boring, stale, lack of content. So many things.

[@TheEpicMusic161]

@@Mediados gameplay/combat/skill tree wise it was great it's just the story and zones felt very boring even if dragon riding was pretty fun

[@Nindrian]

@@Queldonus I didn’t like the theme of dragonflight (renewal and family), especially as a dk. I personally like the conflict about shadow vs light, without being on an epic/cosmic scale like shadowlands, so TWW hits that sweet spot. (Plus the voice acting in dragonflight in all the cutscenes were kinda cringe. They always spoke sooooooo slowly and dramatic).

[@DoffenGG]

Beledar is the coolest thing they ever made. Making Hallowfall being an absolute banger zone

[@heragon58]

I was clean for almost 2 years. Time to relapse i guess. Yall got me hooked again

[@ye-roon]

First off, when i first saw videos of you pop up, i knew you were a fellow guardian druid enjoyer and this video confirms this. Second, I second your opinion about the expansion. Its a good expansion. I had a lot of fun leveling, still having a lot of fun, i've not done many dungeons yet as the scaling was so off that the low levels would just blow everything up. But you basically told everything i was telling myself when playing through the game. The music, the voice acting, the story, it doesnt feel forced. In Shadowlands and Dragonflight they put a lot of emphasis on you being the badass and they ended up trying to hard. Here it feels like they just did.

[@tarroes8797]

A lot of the features your praising were in dragon flight.

[@macarrony123]

Yes I was gonna write a comment saying exactly this. But back in dragonflight was cool to hate on WoW now it's the comeback wow is good fase

[@pastry9135]

One of the things I *really* love about this expansion is the zone layout. I do a lot of herb gathering for making potions for my guild. I adore skyriding, because it makes gathering interesting. The zones in TWW are multilayered, where I'll be trying to find an herb and I realize there's another ledge above me that I need to get to. Or the herbs on top of the rafters in the Ringing Deeps.

[@jitk1]

I’ve been trying to learn retail to prep for war within and I don’t feel it’s new player friendly. I’ve been leveling so fast I don’t even get a chance to really learn my abilities.

[@renatatostada3318]

Absolutely, but WoW has been new player unfriendly for about 12 years, if not longer. We had to buy each expansion separately until like Legion. Huge turn off for new players. My point is not to say that this is okay and should be given a pass, rather my point is that this is a long standing issue and not limited to the current expansion

[@jitk1]

@@renatatostada3318 oh absolutely and I get it. I’m having fun with SOD and HC because of my gripes.

[@BigBoneBusiness]

I signed up for the guide system the moment it was introduced. Please, please, please use the Newcomer Chat to ask questions if you aren't already. Take the game at your own pace. It's okay to stop and just read your stuff, fight things for a bit instead of quest, or use the training dummies in the cities to try and learn your stuff. Valdrakken and the factional cities have training dummies you can hit. In newer expansions they tend to have different types of dummies, like clusters of small ones to test AoE. There's usually a tank dummy that will hit you back for a lot of damage. Dragonflight also has Follower Dungeons that you can use to try to learn stuff. Follower Dungeons in general are a great way to get some basic gear and learn a dungeon before you do it with other players.

[@cattysplat]

@@renatatostada3318 WoD was when they gave you all the prior expansions. MoP and before you had to buy them all to play in those zones + raise level cap.

[@LongToad]

It's bloat, systems added on top of systems on top of systems. No matter how many tutorials and trials the devs add to help you learn you're always going to feel overwhelmed. It's definitely bad for new players but I think it's part of what keeps the devout players so loyal (they're afraid of missing out or falling behind, it also feels empowering to feel you have an advantage over others). I think the only solution at this point is to just make WoW 2 and make it different enough that everyone starts off on the same foot.

[@8bitscoding220]

I totally agree with you, I also enjoy the expansion a lot. Lots of people are saying that there's nothing to do since there's no M+ & raids yet. I disagree, the story, the quests they are great and it got me interested in WoW lore again! Good job Blibli, please keep up the good work, I'm now interested in the Worldsoul saga!

[@martintrudel2523]

4 level 80 so far! Guys make sure you do your Artisant Guild quest BEFORE you craft anything

[@Iautocorrect]

Where is it located

[@martintrudel2523]

@@Iautocorrect new main city you can ask a guard it is inside the "custom order" or something like that. If you fly close to it you will see a hammer on the mini map

[@gingfree3383]

@martintrudel2523 I was wondering about this, crafting I mean, but was gonna look into it later. Thanks!

[@samcooper151]

I’m a casual solo player, by necessity not desire, and I love what they’ve done for us this expansion. Been playing since early TBC and was pretty hardcore up through WOD, playing daily and pushing progression. But family, civilian job, and military requirements grew overtime taking huge chucks of time away where I couldn’t even log in for long stretches of time. I stopped raiding in Legion, stopped doing group content altogether in BfA. From BfA on I’d get one to two characters to cap, finish the main quest lines then quit, wouldn’t even level professions. Once I capped one toon in DF I stopped, haven’t even seen any content added after launch. But with the recent changes geared to soloists, I’m enjoying TWW thus far. Play time is still an issue, I haven’t even capped one toon yet, but because I have a solo adventure awaiting me, at my pace, I don’t feel already left behind. I’m really enjoying it again!

[@RandoCDN87]

So far the campaign has been solid, and the leveling experience has been very good. Also for those not know, each character you reach to max level 80 with (up to 5 total) gives you a 5% exp boost to your other alts (25% total), making it easier to level. As for Warband reputation, from what I know/heard of, they plan on slowly working back on the older expansions which will be Shadowlands, then BfA etc. They are also planning on giving Dracthyr other classes to play (Ion said they're currently working out on the talent trees / animations, and will be available in the near future down the road in War Within)

[@JonezBBQ]

Does anyone really even have more than 5 alts? Lol

[@RandoCDN87]

@@JonezBBQ some do.

[@DefinitelyAhriman]

@@JonezBBQ Are you really asking that about a game with 27 different races and 13 different classes?

[@lordrevan571]

@@DefinitelyAhriman Yes, because anyone with that kind of time and need for that many alts is pathetic.

[@DefinitelyAhriman]

​@@lordrevan571 My guy, nobody wants to hear a child spouting nonsense. If you care that much about how much time OTHER people are spending on WoW then you must live a real sad life.

[@TRMshadow916]

It looks like they stepped back and really considered what people liked, and what was shitty; what people liked in their competitors, and what people liked that was unique to WoW. There are definitely questions of if they can keep it interesting and keep players returning, but this is a good start. Even as a non-wow player I think this is good for the entire MMO community. Good competitions forces everyone to improve.

[@Epsonea_482]

Playing it right now, having a good time following the story But they really did show a bit of the Xal'atoes which was strange

[@soapgaming4903]

Is that a problem?

[@Isthereromance]

I really enjoyed this expansion! I started playing WoW when Battle of Azeroth came out, and I enjoyed this so much more than any other WoW expansion!

[@rowser4472]

On the topic of solo content, you’ve got: - delves - follower dungeons - story mode raids - solo rated battlegrounds I’m so pumped to play at my own pace

[@rowser4472]

Oh I didn’t even mention. You can now do profession work orders for NPCs

[@kkthxbai]

How to do story mode raid? Its tww only?

[@DWlsh43]

@@kkthxbai Just do LFR, its basically story mode and you get some decent gear to boot.

[@sirpodge]

Bro, was clean for 13 years! And now I’m back in, cause of this. Honestly not regretting it, it’s a great expansion.

[@davidpeat184]

Honestly it’s the first time I’ve been super excited playing a game for a long time. Feels like wow’s essence is returning.

[@mynameisray]

The level design is phenomenal. If I had to spend the rest of my time in WoW in a single zone it would be Hallowfall. That place is gorgeous.

[@ub3rfr3nzy94]

Gonna correct Thor here. The chests and items around the word you can find were first done in Mists of Pandaria, back then they were only trash items worth a decent amount of gold. In Warlords of Draenor they expanded it and chests now contained gear, toys, garrisson resources, reagents etc. Since WoD every expansion has had them.

[@BigBoneBusiness]

Yes, but these constantly respawning chests full of trash AND usable goodies were introduced in Legion. In Mists of Pandaria and WoD the vast majority of treasures you found were static, one-time pick-ups. In TWW you can't go five steps without tripping over a treasure chest, disturbed earth which is a similar but separate thing, or one of the weird new profession nodes. I'm constantly picking up sellable materials or stuff to upgrade my gear from these tiny treasures.

[@cattysplat]

WoD was also designed to never have flying. Many chests were jump puzzles that required platforming to get to. When they relented against player pressure and added flying, you could just skip the jump puzzle and go straight to the loot.

[@lordrevan571]

@@BigBoneBusiness Yes, but the Legion system was based on the Mists System, so you're arguing a null point. It's just another polished concept ontop of another polished concept. If we're really going to argue this, it all started in Classic with static spawning battered iron chests with their green tier loot. In BFA you couldn't walk a step without getting an alert for something.

[@ub3rfr3nzy94]

@BigBoneBusiness yeah but I'd argue those are just iterations on the same system. It's changed over time, it started in MoP though.

[@fireraid9173]

As a new player, dragonflight actually ended up being a great start for me. It was detached enough that I wasn't lost in the lore, was a pretty friendly layout for a continent so I got to get a good first feel for the open world, getting introduced to dragon riding shortly into playing was a fantastic mechanic to open to for the exploration bit, and overall the world there was pretty diverse with the factions. I know it was a weaker expansion compared to a lot of previous ones but definitely a step up from the systems in shadowlands, which would've probably turned me away as soon as I would have began. Overall it was a proper place to experience a breath of fresh air in a new game for me, and I do like the chill feeling the dragon isles gave me. Now we got war within for a nice plunge into things and I've had the chance to catch up on enough lore to understand everything too.

[@ricijs2000]

its good that you enjoy it alas for me , im not giving them my chance, iv given them so many chances in past and in return all i got was spit in face and burnout in my soul, sorry but all the goodwill they had with me was chewed out and i have zero trust for the company and the team even if they make it great and do so in future for me its a no, they burned all the bridges here

[@DDCRExposed]

I haven't played WoW in quite a long time and it's great to hear this expansion is more than I thought it was going to be when I heard, "there's a new WoW expansion" commercial. I started playing just before Burning Crusade and played for many expansions. Dropped out for a while, came back to just run the expansions I missed, and dropped again. Looks like I might just have to jump back in for a little while and see what's going on.

[@graveyardoperations7407]

The War Within has me actually terrified, because I've been playing WoW since I was like 16. I haven't felt this enraptured in the WORLD since leveling in Cataclysm. No expansion made me kinda just wanna stay in the world and not dungeon run until I was blue in the face. I am impressed thusfar. I hope Blizzard continues to bring the heat. Azj-Kahet has to be my favorite zone in the history of my tenure.

[@renatatostada3318]

I finished the campaign (which surprised me how short it was) and then I just went to the zone that Thor spent this video in (can't remember the name) to just fly around and explore. I actually WANT to do the side quests to learn more about the zone, for like the first time since Legion

[@lucaslucian3503]

The songs from City of Threads with string instruments are crazy good

[@ForTheOmnissiah]

I got back into wow last expansion only because my dad (he's hitting 60 y/o soon) really wanted me to raid with his guild. I only stayed because the guild is so chill and I love interacting with them, they're very nice people and we barely pulled off heroic Fyrakk (we're very casual ok). This expansion I'm *actually* enjoying the lore and enjoying the quests for once. Blizzard might, by some miracle, actually be delivering a good experience. The main thing is there isn't some gimmick nonsense this xpac. It's just content and that's it.

[@TheSpydetector]

The one thing in TWW that putting me off atm, is the lack of Horde representation. I'm an Orc main, I don't care for Alleria, Anduin's PTSD, Moira and her beardless son, humans or dwarves in general. At this point I feel like there's nothing for me story wise, and I think that dropping the two factions narrative we had for most of the other expansions was a mistake. It's not even neutral anyway. You follow around Alliance characters that are anything but neutral, in lands that are heavily inspired by core Alliance races : dwarves and humans.

[@krolltheknight]

Metzen and the team addresses that horde players may feel that way initially. Kinda sucks for now but yeah horse will have their day in the sun

[@TheSpydetector]

@@krolltheknight That annoys me more then. They knew that choice would annoy many players and did it anyway. I'm skeptical for the future

[@Zap27022]

This is becasue in midnight they'll likely flip the table, where the Alliance is most likely going to be following around horde characters like forsaken and the horde aligned blood elves in northern EK

[@Mediados]

I sincerely hope that they will build a proper new war, because the faction war is what makes Warcraft the thing it used to be. They have had a strong Alliance bias for years now. The best thing would be to use the Light fanatics to call for a crusade, making the Alliance the morally questionable side.

[@nerfzinet]

@@TheSpydetector Probably because the number of players who actually give a shit about that stuff is like 12. I play both Horde and Alliance. I don't care which faction the story is about, it's interesting either way. I mean who has a main race? I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to their race as a "main" before. Must be some kind of RP thing?

[@kirielbranson4843]

Solo dungeons is such a great change. I haven't played WoW for about a decade but I had 6k or so hours. All solo. There was so much story I missed because I didn't do dungeons except a few. I did group a couple of times and did a few dungeons solo when overleveled and I could get in. Watched some of the content years later on KZbin. But I really missed it during my play time. FFXIV was good in that most dungeons in the beginning allowed solo play. I never got to the first expansion since you had to do a dungeon grouped and since I was a solo player I was too nervous. I played a bit more to level more but ended up setting it down since end of last year. Still pay and have it installed and at the back of my mind but haven't jumped in. Anyway, lots of us have always been solo. We like the company but don't want to group or socialize much.

[@RedSoulVnT]

Not sure if you already know, but you can do all of the story dungeons in FFXIV with NPCs now! You'll still need to group up for a few trials here and there, but it's just a boss fight, and people are usually very helpful and kind, specially if you state you're new at that content, so there's no need to worry!

[@kirielbranson4843]

@@RedSoulVnT thank you so much!!!😊 after I finish Baldur's Gate 3 I will log back in and see. Probably play a bit since I am sure I forgot how to play. But this makes me so happy.

[@RedSoulVnT]

@@kirielbranson4843 I hope you have fun! Honestly, FFXIV is so great for so different reasons. Not only the story is fantastic, there's just so much stuff to do. Even crafting and gathering aren't just after thoughts, and there's even storylines to it as well. It's an MMORPG that rushing to the endgame isn't the main (and often only) goal. So take your time, and do everything! Lots of story, side content, and fun stuff to do.

[@ShamankingZuty]

I love your stuff Thor, but there's nothing Blizzard could do to ever bring me back to WoW. I'll stick to private servers.

[@Xfacta12482]

Holding an emotional grudge against a game you used to like is wild.

[@NickGreyden]

I refused to buy an Nvidia graphics card for a decade because of what they did to 3dfx. This is called voting with your wallet. I didn't agree with their practices, so I refused to support them. Doing the same to blizzard or a blizzard IP isn't a stretch. Hell, I cancel Disney+ because I didn't agree with moves made by Lucasfilm. You call it an emotional grudge. That's fair. I call it standards.

[@MyouKyuubi]

@@NickGreyden Standards and principles. :)

[@JACKxTHExRIPPER]

Neat, I’m seeing some stuff that SWTOR had that was really nice. Common bank across characters, being able to do solo stuff with a companion NPC. That’s great to see

[@le_mustardman43]

That thumbnail 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@JimmyNuisance]

I've done all the quests in the first area now and I'm already level 76.. I love this expansion so far. It is gorgeous, man. There are places that look so good during sunset, others look amazing mid day. It's worth taking your time in the first zone just to take in the views. Had a quick peek at the next zone, I kinda went there by accident.. How it makes the whole thing feel continuous even though there has to be some loading there, absolutely awesome. Never felt more like I moved into an underworld in any game ever. What a great fricken game. I'm a solo player, playing it on a gamepad with the Consoleport addon, delves and follower dungeons makes this game into something any RPG player can jump into IMO. Just make a beastmaster hunter and start mashing buttons. Quests are clear and easy to follow, many of them are fun. I'm getting hella Wrath vibes from this. It feels fresh in a way that Wrath did.

[@Maitreya3001]

Good to hear that WoW had a good new expac. GW2 also had a good new expac with Janthir Wilds, while I don't quite feel it with Dawntrail for FF14

[@cattysplat]

Dawntrail story doesn't give me hope for the future of FFXIV MSQ. They need a plan.

[@sukho01]

@@cattysplat crazy uno reverse tbh, people were saying that ff14s story has bright future and wow does not and now its the other way around

[@Arizonian312]

@@sukho01 It goes up and down I wouldn't write off either game when they hit a rough spot

[@SocietyOfDecency]

It's genuinely been a blast getting back into the game. I feel respected as a player.

[@ravnos04]

“It’s so good I’m willing to give them a chance.” Same…

[@Hakum8]

I bought the pre release like a sucker, but… the morning I woke up early just to get on call with a bunch of mates to do quests that we enjoyed together and took our time for the weekend was the SOLE reason I got hooked on wow. And it’s become that again, I feel like I’m my younger self exploring this fantastic game with the side quests and little things to do. It’s just that fantastic it’s brought the nostalgia back. And I agree, will this continue, who knows but I sure as shit hope they do.

[@coltranenaima6869]

Early access and level scaling are still problematic...gonna wait for a sale.

[@tomazou2010]

Early access resulted in the smoothest expansion launch ever.

[@Telados]

@@tomazou2010 I wouldn't call it smooth, considering the auctionhouse still doesn't work

[@flameknightdragon]

and the fact you still get weaker when you level.

[@tomazou2010]

@@Telados no server lag, no issues interacting with quests, no random disconnects, no server outages. I'd say with those factors, smoothest launch ever.

[@Kuthbeard]

Chests/Treasures I think were technically added in MoP, but became an icon in WoD.

[@pokemonteaml]

Dragonflight felt like a "ok we need to start over, lets go do a smaller story thatll lead into what we want to do but focus on working out the technical limitations of what we can do" and it you can tell it worked out really well because Dragonflight was fun, this is fun, WoW FEELS like how it always wanted to feel right now imo

[@cruxofthesubject1402]

Blizzard's art and music team never misses, so I've come to expect greatness from them even in the sub-par expansions, and they still blew me away with this one. They really do make the extraordinary ordinary.

[@KokoOroq]

See I was going to play TWW but then I saw the price for release day access, went to play some ff14 expansion instead and now I just lost all hype for it

[@johnnyringo2695]

k

[@chrishawkins1813]

Oof sorry to hear that Dawntrail is complete ass :(

[@therraxz]

The zones and my god the music is fantastic 10/10

[@cruzader0]

surprised you didn't mention the scummy early access for an mmo

[@mr.harmuzad4201]

@@cruzader0 No one mentions that. No one ever will mention that. I am still in my firm belief that these people that say that this expansion is amazing this early are bought shills.

[@AsanellaHD]

Well, what you expected him to say? He judges the game in this video, not methods of paying.

[@bn2247]

@@AsanellaHD in what way is the week 1 experience not part of the game? for a lot of players myself included, it's one of the best parts of a new expansion, I literally do not even play WoW past the first 1-2 months of a new expansion, I have no interest in mythic raiding anymore, but I enjoy everyone hopping on at once, leveling faster than my friends, seeing the zones and the world at its max capacity, finding things out that others haven't, lots of the methods I find early on give my friends that keep playing a lasting advantage, and I personally enjoy racing to cap even if i'm not going for server/world firsts, I like beating my friends, WoW following one of the worst trends in gaming to make a little extra cash takes away from all of that experience, a lot of my friends lost the hype, starting 3 days "late" feels lame, it was enough to deter a lot of my friends from playing, which in turn deterred me, how can you say that isn't part of the gameplay experience? maybe not yours.

[@nikolatodorovic7198]

Because it literally didn't matter. You couldn't get any advantage based off of you getting early access or not. Second of all and people often seem to forget this but server que is a thing especially on high pop realms. By providing some of the player that are likely to not log out till they've reached a max level before the casual people you've suddenly provided everyone with a better experience

[@zengineer3369]

@@bn2247 Yeah the biggest issue regarding the early access is gold farming, the non-whales missed out on so many opportunities to make lot of gold fast.

[@Millenial_Minuteman]

slamming that hammer as a pally, even the sound, is SO SATISFYING!!!

[@Xemioza]

Ringing Deeps music is absolutely amazing

[@derricksmith1828]

Chris Metzen came back as creative director. I think his vision is making the game great again.

[@MrLemmiwinks91]

Metzen's inpuit wont be seen till the next expac, he has had next to 0 input on tww.

[@necrongaming7557]

I loved Dragonflight dearly, like, played it more than any expansion in years. But this is a whole new level of "I love this and want more".

[@SouthendLad600]

"I think I'll skip this exp. I haven't enjoyed wow for a while" And now you and Preach have seriously made me want to play. :(

[@waffleswafflson3076]

Shadowlands made Chromie into a trans and assigned a trans as the bespoke over god of death. Dragon Isles added in the gayest dragons i've ever seen in any medium in as the new race. nah im not coming back. Game isnt for me anymore.

[@Zap27022]

@@waffleswafflson3076 they stopped that out in tww, barely see any of it now

[@Andromansis]

So generally speaking the time for them to respond to stuff is much faster now, they've held down a ~8 week patch ~24 week season cycle for most of dragonflgiht, and as somebody that played the entirety of dragonflight my biggest complaint right now is that 1:) the profession stuff seems like they're missing a bunch of recipes by comparison and 2:) along about the second season of dragonflight they appear to have moved one of the people in charge of battle pets to be under the marketing and event team so it seems like less battle pet content is actually making it into the game, and both of those things might just be a temporary problem.

[@evan752]

Wild to see pirate selling out like this, preach was understandable It's an ad. The new xpac has 3 hours of leveling content, which was done completed by the people who purchased early access and spoiled There are only 4 dungeons, which will be boring in 3 weeks

[@Zap27022]

@@evan752 I don't know what the hell you were told but it's all incorrect. There is atleast 10 hours of main story content and like 20+ hours of side quests across each zone. Not to mention that there are 4 level up dungeons and 4 max level dungeons, making there be 8 dungeons. Just because you dislike world of warcraft, dosen't mean everyone who likes it is a sellout

[@LoveEsdeath]

I got a super cool map idea for a game from listening to this, so thank you for inspiring me.

[@BradlyFC]

Pathfinder quests is what made me uninterested in starting new expansions in the past, I'm tempted to pick WoW back up now just because of the immediate flight. I absolutely hate questing so I would rather just power through it as fast as possible and this expansion seems to cater to that which is amazing.

[@Queldonus]

Not only can you power through if you like, if you want alts, you only have to do the main story ONCE.

[@albertosoriaherrera7592]

Pathfinder in this expansiion is to unlock regular flying in the zones, if not you can only skyride everywhere, and doesn't involve reps anymore, just the campaign and explore the zones, so its pretty great

[@Nick69887]

3 chapters per zone is awesome

[@BradlyFC]

This is all sounding so amazing lol. The alts thing, the no reps thing and the chapters thing. All reasons I should probably consider getting back into it lol.

[@mikesalinas3398]

I haven't played for years. The audio has a hint of some of the early expansions but with a richness that they either couldn't or didn't achieve. I'm giving some thought revisiting WOW.

[@Diolur]

Basically, Dragonflight was awesome in terms of gameplay (it really becomes obvious when you realize that almost all the good decisions were introduced in Dragonlight), it had beautiful visuals and stuff, all they had to do was make the story compelling, and now they have. Finaly wow got expansion that bringings people back not the other way around.

[@michaelkovalsky4907]

Agreed, DF fixed a lot of what made WoW unbearable or at least only worthwhile to do at the end when all the catch up mechanics are in place. The story, of course, was very much meh and felt very pointless. I feel like they should've done more to set up The Harbinger as the only real reference to her was from the super dungeon and is otherwise very easy to ignore

[@lucadesanctis563]

To bring ppl back u need to integrate/ban addons, ban toxic shitters, remove token, fix time waste mechanisms, ecc. FF14 has over 30 mil active users while WoW has 7. Make ur own conclusions

[@praill]

@@lucadesanctis563 do you have sources for any of that?

[@soapgaming4903]

@@lucadesanctis563you can play the game without addons

[@dragocrafterr8286]

@@lucadesanctis563bro has not heard of luckybancho

[@twentieth_r]

Hallowfall has to be my most favorite zone ever made. It's REALLY pretty.

[@Dwarfurious]

went from orcs vs humans to elves vs elves :(

[@Nitram_xyz]

Well thank god because humans are boring and orcs are ugly

[@TheSpydetector]

@@Nitram_xyz Elves are mega boring

[@flameknightdragon]

good. wow needs to move on from orcs vs humans a long time ago.

[@TheBest1972]

Game is actually pretty good, i've been farming stones and crests to upgrade my gear, doing some Heroic dgs and exploring everything i've could, it feels REALLY good compared to Dragonflight, I love Dragonflight but this one it's just so so good, so refreshing.

[@ChadyotheWallnut]

We're not going to talk about the seperate release dates for people who'd like to pay more money? Rather then just one release date.

[@G13ULTRA]

@@ChadyotheWallnut not that big of a deal since player power wasnt at stake

[@ShadowSpanSpb]

It's still a shitty decision from bliz to separate playerbase by taking more money while doin it ​@G13ULTRA

[@nopiece3733]

And one more thing: characters progression. At last I can feel their pain and emotions, see their human side. They stop being just “all-fixing” kinds of creatures, and become much more human. Right now wow feels like very interesting fantasy story, rather than game. In many years I haven’t been interested enough to read quests. And now I’m reading every single one, and listen to all those “stay and listen” stories.

[@Taylor_Lindise]

Dunno what it means when the praise is entirely systems focused and nothing story focused. If the story isnt well written I generally bounce off.

[@D3th10rd]

You won't be disappointed by the story, I can assure you. Whether it's the main story or the side quests, I've been on the edge of my seat.

[@Vluxuation]

That's because WoW is heavily system based and if the systems suck no amount of great story writing is going to keep people engaged in a video game. If you want that then go read a book or play visual novels. That being said I think the overall story so far is good I just really, really hate that they've made Alleria the new Tyrande from Shadowlands, impulsive, rage filled vision, & makes bad decisions constantly that almost get everyone killed, I just don't feel that has really been her. They try to explain it with the void but my god it's like watching the same character arc with a different face. Also Anduin still being hyper depressed is getting old, I would not be sad at all if he was killed this expansion.

[@BarnesGannon]

I'm halfway through campaign just taking my time and it's enjoyable so far. It feels like there's stakes, the dialogue is strong, and the cutscenes are well executed. Pacing is also good. Excited to see how it finishes

[@wtff]

The storytelling right now is peak. I can't remember the last time I was this immersed.

[@MyouKyuubi]

@@D3th10rd Bro, current story is built on past story, and past story was awful... Remember shadowlands? Of course you don't, you probably weren't born yet, lmao... xD The lore of wow has been ruined, forever, literally... Only retcons can fix this mess.

[@arrak_]

Another thing that probably won't matter to most players is being able to obtain the appearance/ATT credit for any item on any character. So if I disenchant a green plate item on my mage, I'll get the appearance even though I'm not soulbinding it on my warrior. This removes so much hassle from farming transmog or just getting incidental transmog while doing things in the world. This was out with the prepatch, but it's so nice. Oh, and you get an exp % bonus for your alts for getting characters to 80. 5% per character up to 5/25%. It's from the "Mentor" achievements in General. So much QoL stuff.

[@zamis21]

ok i have found it is easier now for us solo players. But come one, the Rookery.. I did not die at all. the NPC's did all the work and I just followed them!!

[@Roric_The_Red]

I honestly want them to do what they did with that dungeon for all the dungeons. Just have us naturally go to the dungeons through the story. I loved it so much.

[@MizterMeatMissile]

I main DK and when i got to Hallow with my friend he had a bunch of quests i wasnt able to find and i had one he wasnt able to find (he is a warrior). As a DK the just paladins of hallow required i show my allegiance and i had a short questline to even get to the spot my friend was. That was so freaking cool to have class play a role in the game again!

[@Farsythe]

"Dragonflight was awful." *Proceeds to point out several systems that they introduced in Dragonflight that he actually likes.* Ok then lol. But yeah, TWW is great so far.

[@cattysplat]

He basically didn't play Dragonflight much then.

[@Arizonian312]

I wouldn't say awful per say but a step up from bfa and SL and TWW is way better than all of those on par with Blizzard's actually good work like Legion for sure

[@MyouKyuubi]

@@Arizonian312 BFA hands down, worst wow expansion of all time, lol.

[@spagsketti]

It has been a long time since I played WOW. I originally got it when it was a month old. I played through all the server crashes when the Horde attacked the main cities and when Alliance attacked the horde was the same server crashes. I played into the 3rd or 4th expansion I don't remember what one. I don't remember how many hours I have in WOW but it was in the upper 1000's. I might have to recheck it out after hearing this. Makes me wonder what legacy items I have in my inventory.

[@mikzukka7149]

Im having issues with this video mostly because you're showing some of the "new" things in here and i feel like they're being misrepresented or misinterpreted as TWW content, like the profession specializations, THOSE CAME IN DRAGONFLIGHT. So did the faction rewards with progressing through the rep levels, so its just a continuation of what we had in Dragonflight. Everything else i feel like is bang on (Theme, music, artstyle, the zones)

[@_SkaffaH]

absolute best to the point video about what there is to do in the game lawl

[@2010vintagesandwichenjoyer]

im not returing to this game after shadowlands like 0 chance Shadowlands on release too had very warm reception but then game just spiraled into garbage

[@JRogers9190]

If you recall, there were big concerns people had with the shadowlands systems before launch. Covenants not being able to be freely swapped was the biggest concern. After that, torghast become worse and worse on the beta as release drew near. To no one's surprise those were the biggest problems throughout most of the expansion. The War Within has none of those level of concerns going in.

[@AsanellaHD]

But...did someone asked? Everyone is free to go with their own opinion about that, real freedom of speech right?

[@jaded-harper]

warm reception? you must've been playing a different game lol. all beta long and especially on launch people were complaining about choreghast/covenant swapping and the terribly uninteresting story

[@cattysplat]

It's the WoW honeymoon phase. Plus streamers get huge money from sponsored streams so they happy.

[@gorilla30100]

It's important to note that you and others disdain for Shadowlands was the catalyst for absolutely drastic changes to the game and their philosophy. Since SL was such a failure, they had to re-evaluate the entire way they thought of the game, it showed in Dragonflight. It's far more focused on perfecting the fundamentals now and building up things that can be iterated on as the expansions go instead of just tossing them aside once a new expansion comes out, and is far more player friendly (Warbands, alt friendliness is insanely good, they've been much more quick to react to feedback, they don't blindly keep changes in that aren't fun, etc). I'd give it a shot.

[@leovrf]

WoW needs a high resolution "resurrected" version

[@sudd3660]

i can get behind that, i am guessing that would require 16gb vram tho. i also like longer view distance for players, npc and objects/foliage. wow has long distance with low quality thing going on, i like it.

[@bluepototo7671]

Class fantasy is a hit or miss to be fair: why are restoration druids being pushed into using cat form (feral/ashamane) when in reality they're closer to treant form or even the green dragonflight? Of course not to mention treant form is not longer considered a druid form by the game because is no longer there by default and once learned (glyph) you won't get the removal of movement effects the other forms have.

[@littlemudlost]

my druid has treant form so I dont know where you get your info

[@OakenTome]

@@littlemudlostIt's strictly cosmetic, it doesnt function like the other forms.

[@bluepototo7671]

​​@@littlemudlost yours has it just like mine because at some point you used the cosmetic for it. Create a new account, with it a druid to lvl it up or research about it, this goes way back to Lich King/Cataclysm era. Nowadays any new druid player who wants to use treant form (which is a cosmetic, not an actual druid form the game system recognizes) they have to go to The Dreamgrove and buy Tome of the Wilds: Treant Form.

[@Aedoucan]

i actually also really enjoyed that quest, just a dragon (dwarf) talkin about life, how it was, what has happened and how its going.

[@MrZeuz666]

There are negative aspects. The writing is majority incredibly cringe DF-light, family, unity, love, hugs etc. And woman replacing men in nearly every storyline. I’m hoping Chris is gonna steer the big moments in the right direction which there are hints of, and all this cringe crap will fall by the wayside as time goes on. But I don’t have much hope.

[@chrismccassey]

Thank you thor for showing this I was on the edge about trying wow again but you have convinced me.

[@chrismccassey]

The game looks amazing now

[@badungus1333]

One thing I don't understand, is why it's a good thing that they took the mm out of the mmo. Why would you play an MMO to do everything solo, when there are many many single-player games that do this so much better and don't cost a monthly fee?

[@iindigo]

It’s nice to inhabit a shared world with other players, even if interactions are limited. It’s difficult to describe, but it somehow makes the world feel more “real”, where single player worlds feel more “fake”. This was actually one of the things that pulled me into WoW back in 2005. I didn’t even know that dungeons or raids existed at first, I just thought that sharing a living world with other players without a time limit was wildly cool. Of course I enjoy single player games too, but the feeling is just different.

[@KentW_P0300]

Not everyone plays team sports. Why do people play golf?

[@Lotheren]

Its more about the world now and shared space. If I want to team up with you I can but I dont have to. Feels great.

[@sophtopus259]

When I was still playing wow in ancient times, sometimes I just want to take a break from the social aspect while still being able to progress in the game. It was tiring and drama fuel to depend groups constantly. The fact that solo options exist is good so people can wind down a bit.

[@OakenTome]

The large majority of the instanced content still requires a group.

[@bennett475]

Played religiously from TBC up until BFA, stopped for about 2 years, played Shadowlands for a couple month, stopped for another 2 years.. played Dragonflight for 2 weeks, stopped for 2 years.. I've been having a blast. And now there's solo content so maybe I'll stick around this time.

[@P3R35AN5]

I can't review an MMO based on lvling content and filler, for me what determines the quality of an MMO/Expansion is the end game loop, and it seems like it's the same shit as always.

[@Dave-McRae]

That crystal transition is freaking unbealivable!

[@ollicron7397]

Im not sure why anyone would play this highly woke game.

[@MyouKyuubi]

it wasn't always woke, that's why.