Ah, good ol’ World of Warcraft, the game that taught me that a truly captivating game is one that you can never really give up forever. I’ve convinced myself many times during the past 10 years that I’m done with playing the game, only to return a few months later. At this point, I know better than to say I won’t return. I fully expect to eventually be an 80 year old man playing a level 800 Demon Hunter.
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor has a lot riding on it. I would argue that the last two expansions for World of Warcraft have been unmistakably the worst in the game’s timeline. Consequently, millions of players have unsubscribed.
Related: World of Warcraft’s Big Update is Here
Warlords of Draenor has a ton of great features, and implements crucial changes that the game has needed for quite some time. As a result, many unsubscribed players, including myself, are heading back into the fray. Sure, we have high expectations, but this is a Blizzard game we’re talking about; the hype can actually be met.
So what is it about Warlords of Draenor that is bringing me back? I outline eight reasons in the gallery below.
8 Reasons I'm Going Back to World of Warcraft For Warlords of Draenor
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Garrisons: The long awaited player housing solution
World of Warcraft fans such as myself have been asking for player housing for years. Now, it's finally here.
Garrisons are essentially player housing, but with some extra flavor. Instead of just having some real estate to fill with buildings, there are a variety of options to tinker with making it feature-rich. Upgrading buildings and recruiting NPC followers to work on the plot of land add a special Blizzard touch. There are blueprints to obtain that add some new building options, including a Forge or Barn. Really, it sounds like the kind of thing I can get lost in for hours.
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Premade: A way to find people to play with
Although I've been drawn to Looking for Raid over the past two expansions, it has some serious drawbacks, most notable of which is its lack of a true social atmosphere. Nothing is quite like participating in a raid with people who work together, but I've found that sometimes it's a real pain in the neck to form a group.
To solve that problem which exists in both PvE and PvP, Warlords of Draenor is adding a new Premade Group system. Essentially, you can sign up for one of many activities and let the system assist you in finding other players to meet with. I have a feeling that in my case this may completely replace Looking for Raid.
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90 Boost: I'm never grinding to 90 again
Over the past 10 years I've leveled up 12 characters to the level cap in World of Warcraft. Although the Cataclysm expansion made the 1-60 experience much more satisfying, I am bored to tears of everything beyond level 60 at this point.
For people like me, the level 90 boost is a godsend. When I purchase the Warlords of Draenor expansion, I'll be able to make a big decision for which class I feel like playing for this era of the game, and instantly receive a moderately well-equipped level 90 instantly.
Yes, I'll still have to fight my way from level 90 to the new level cap of 100, but at least that content is fresh.
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Draenor: A Return to Outlands... Sort Of
Many argue that Burning Crusade was the best period in World of Warcraft's life to this point. While I think Vanilla was more captivating, Outland definitely had charisma.
Warlords of Draenor is set in Outland before it became Outland. That location was known as Draenor at the time, and it was a place where a variety of significant events would occur. Heading back in time to visit the location, we'll be able to see a few of these major historical events first-hand, and that's exciting. Contrasting the aesthetics and mood of the zones in Outlands in Draenor is something I expect to be a highlight of my stay.
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New Character Models: Looking Fly for a White Male Human
It's almost remarkable that it's taken 10 years for the character models in World of Warcraft to be upgraded. Nonetheless, here they are, and they look fantastic.
The new character models retain the same general look as the originals, but have much higher polygon counts, and improved level of detail. I'm excited to see how much better screenshots will look now that characters don't look like LEGO.
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Raiding: One size fits all
Outside of Looking for Raid, I haven't raided in World of Warcraft since Wrath of the Lich King. It's something I enjoy, but there's a lot of commitment required for progression.
Blizzard is making its second big move to make the raiding scene more welcoming with a redesign of its structure. Flexible has been renamed to Normal, and has been given a great deal of attention to make sure myself and others can walk into the game's raids with any configuration of players between 10 and 25 people and not be at a disadvantage. It's a stark contrast from the days of Vanilla World of Warcraft when my guild would have to wait for 40 people to arrive before beginning a raid session.
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Simplification: Headache elixir
With several expansions, World of Warcraft has become a complex beast. Each time I've gone back to the game the level of investment required to get up to speed on my class and ability rotations has been, frankly, overwhelming.
Blizzard has been aware of this, and has done something about it. Several stats have been removed, including the most pesky one: hit chance. Expertise is also gone, which was a stat that was necessary for many specs, but never enjoyable to specialize in.
Additionally, many skills have been removed from each class. For example, Warrior has had its Cleave, Demoralizing Banner, and Flurry removed. I'm expecting my skill bars to become far less of an abomination with this change.
Put simply, World of Warcraft is trying to become less over-bearing, and that's a good thing.
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Item Squish: No more Super Saiyan numbers
Anther consequence of World of Warcraft's age is its hyperinflation of stats. Players these days are pumping out tens of thousands of damage per second. It sounded a lot more exciting to do big damage back when things were more simple, but I've learned my lesson. I miss being excited over a 3,000 damage shadow bolt critical strike in Warsong Gulch.
Stats have been squished with the arrival of 6.0.2, and it solves this problem without jeopardizing the quality of participating in old content. Excellent.
