JowlesMcGee

edit: apologies for the multiple posts! I deleted the others.

Right now, there's a plethora of ways to play WoW, so how do you play WoW?

We have classic Era (shout-out to Deviate Delight for a community driven fresh server experience).

Season of Discovery for a taste of classic+ (though opinions seem pretty different now than on launch at how successful it is).

There's private servers, like Turtle Wow, if you're looking for a different take on the game.

Cataclysm classic if you want to experience the world revamp.

Mists of Panadaria Remix if you're looking for a new way to level or want to grab some transmogs.

And finally, retail.

Personally, I took a break at the start of phase two of season of discovery and came back when I heard about Panadaria Remix. I bounced between remix, cataclysm, and deviate delight on classic Era. I've finally settled on leveling a character on cataclysm. The mechanics are a nice middle ground between classic and retail, and the revamped world is fun to experience again. I'll likely jump into remix in a month or so to get the transmogs.

So, with all of these options, what are you playing?

As the title says, we're about to start Phase 2, so I thought it would be nice to reflect on what everyone liked / disliked for Phase 1. Also, I believe classic wow content is allowed here, but let me know if that's not correct.

What are some things you liked/disliked in Phase 1 of Season of Discovery?

For me, some of the pros are probably the obvious ones. I love the level cap, which gave me the chance to not only get a main to raid but actually get an alt to raid with as well. It was also interesting being hyper focused on one segment of the world, essentially. I actually saw some places/quests for the first time because of this, and professions felt rewarding even at this lower level. I also appreciated the new runes and the gameplay changes they brought with them, in particular the new roles. My alt is a rogue tank, and while I think there are some kinks to work out there, it's been a fun change of pace. I've been working on a mage healer and a warlock tank on the side and I'm excited to give them a try at some point. Finally, 3 day lockout on the new raid, and making the raid 10 players, was a very welcome change for a casual like me.

For mixed success, I'd say the BFD raid was a nice entry level raid and it was fun seeing the dungeon converted to the raid format, but not all of the mechanics were super interesting. But again, as an entry level raid, I think that's fine. I am looking forward to seeing what changes they've made to Gnomergan.

For the bad, I'd mainly say PVP and class balance. I like the idea of these world PVP events, but I don't think Battle for Ashenvale worked as a PVP event most of the time. Also, playing on an unbalanced server (lava lash US) made it hard to win the event unless you tried during off hours. I wasn't a fan of the % counters to make it start and appreciate the fixed timer they've since implemented (though I think a hybrid system might be more interesting, where the % goes up automatically so you're guaranteed one every 2-3 hours, but you could work to make it happen sooner). For class balance, I don't mind that some classes are overpowered, but there are some classes/specs that do feel a little ignored. An example would be druid tank, which I think feels extremely gimped by having two extremely helpful runes on the same slot.

Overall all though, I really enjoyed Phase 1 and am looking forward to Phase 2. What about y'all?