20 Years Later, World of Warcraft Is Finally Respecting My Time

Let’s be honest: gaming can be quite a time-sink, I mean just look at my time in Diablo 4. Whether I like it or not, I am getting older, and my time is becoming more precious. So, like many, I don’t really want my games, or their developers, sucking up all that time and doing so with predatory or money-centric live service slop. Unfortunately, that seems to be the norm at the moment, and clearly, it’s working out well with all the layoffs and such. That said, one rather unlikely hero to this current climate is one I never expected to see: World of Warcraft.

With the newest expansion, The War Within, on the horizon, Blizzard is taking its 20-year-old juggernaut and finally doing something its peers should observe. It’s respecting my time, and I couldn’t be happier.

All Adventures Start Somewhere

Let’s start with some personal history between WoW and me. My time with the MMO goes back a long way, beginning with the previous entry to the series, Warcraft III. Along with my older brother, I played through the game in its entirety, learning the characters and their stories—the Fall of Arthas, the Orc’s journey to Kalimdor, Illidan’s sacrifice, the attack on Silvermoon, the whole deal. From there, I remember seeing my brother take his first steps into Azeroth’s MMO outing with his Warlock, watching him level up and play through the newly released The Burning Crusade expansion.

That same brother was nice enough to let me play on his account. So, I made a human frost mage named Meltha, and from those early moments and watching him play his Warlock, I was already enraptured by the world. I couldn’t have been more than 10 or 11 years old, and after dabbling on his account, I eventually got my own and began to play with friends. It was the start of a lifelong relationship – and one that’s continued until now.

Granted, there were a few gaps in my commitment, with multiple expansions missed as I grew older, played other games, went to college, uni, worked, lived, and all the other things you do in the real world. That’s not to say I wasn’t in tune with Warcraft’s journey; having a younger brother who also dabbled in WoW during my time and keeping up to date with the game and its many expansions and major story beats.

That brings us to now, with my time in Warcraft being some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. The game itself is in a great spot, and the Dragonflight expansion proved to be a fun and worthwhile investment for the most part. It was made all the better by my girlfriend deciding to join in on the adventure.

But now, my eyes are firmly fixed on the next step in my World of Warcraft journey: The Worldsoul Saga. Three expansions, all connected and telling a grander story than ever, with the first entry, The War Within, coming in August of this year and filled with everything I could have asked for. But more importantly, Blizzard is finally doing something I didn’t expect: respecting my time.

Warbands are the Future

Now comes the slightly gushy, enthusiastic ramblings of why I’m so excited about The War Within, starting with the most significant change. Despite some measures to make the game more friendly to multiple characters, it never quite got it right, and I’ve also been reluctant to invest in or play more than two characters at most. After all, like many other players, I don’t have all the time in the world to play several characters to their fullest.

But, after years of separation between characters, World of Warcraft is finally moving to an account-based game thanks to the new feature, Warbands.

Gone are the days of grinding across multiple characters. With this new system, nearly everything in the game you can earn will become account-wide, finally removing the biggest obstacle for myself and many other players to enjoy playing multiple characters.

I can’t tell you the elation I felt when this was revealed, and my excitement grew with each detail. Reputation gains and ranks? Shared across your account, so I don’t need to grind for each character again. Transmogs? Any character can pick up and add appearance to their collections regardless of class, making it much easier to get the look you want. Currencies? Finally, oh sweet lord, finally I will be able to send currencies to other characters, making it much easier to move around resources to get rewards, and upgrades, or shift my attention to different classes when I choose. Plus, they even have a new type of gear, Warbound, to help alts catch up that can be sent to other characters.

Add to that the achievement shared progress, a Warband bank, and shared flight paths, and it becomes this truly fantastic addition that I and others are so grateful for the developers finally implementing. It sounds simple, and maybe they have been slow to get a feature like this into a game that will turn 20 years old in 2024, but all the same, I’m grateful it will be in now.

Of course, there is also the content itself, which is just as intriguing and respectful of my time as a player.

An Adventure for Everyone, Regardless of Playstyle

WoW-TWW-Dawnbreaker — Image via Blizzard

Warbands are a major addition, that’s clear, and my fanaticism probably gives a good idea of how players feel about its inclusion. But it’s not the only example of Blizzard’s newfound mantra. That extends into the new content too, starting with Delves.

For all the fun there is to have in WoW with other players, it’s not always feasible for some players, and what’s more, some bad apples make playing with others far less appealing than it should be. I know that sometimes I want to do content alone or maybe with my girlfriend, but I want it to feel worthwhile, and I can only do so many world events and daily quests before I melt in my seat. Enter Delves, the new endgame content that will soon suck up most of my time.

These new pieces of content, best described as mini-dungeons, give more options in the endgame, complete with all the unique ideas and potential seen in the fully-fledged dungeons – which, for the record, look bloody brilliant – but are all the better for a few specific features. Starting with the fact you can go them alone.

Yep, players will finally have a piece of content to do, with meaningful loot and rewards, dynamic objectives and changes, and do it alone if they choose, which is all the better considering these will offer Great Vault rewards, so gearing up is going to possible for those who want to enjoy Azeroth alone.

That’s not to say you can’t do it with others, but it’s not restricted like other content. Up to five players can enter a Delve together, and it’s class agnostic, so there’s no need to fill a role if you don’t want to. It’s perfect for those times I want to progress without other players or some less friendly ones that unfortunately litter the game.

Coupled with this, the new raid, Nerub-ar Palace, will be getting a dedicated story mode difficulty, and I cannot express how thankful I am for this one. While the other mentioned features are great from a gameplay standpoint, this one is for story lovers. WoW has often had the problem of locking epic moments in their story behind raids, and frankly, not every play likes to raid. This new addition allows solo players or groups of five to take on the raid’s final boss with less complexity and hassle, with the story at the center.

It is the option for players who want to experience all the story has to offer without the need to engage in content they aren’t a fan of, and one I’ve no doubt many will be happy to use. Hell, I like to raid, and I intend to use it the first time around. Whether or not it drops good loot, if any, is still up for debate, but just including a narrative option is a long-overdue feature that is more than welcome to the fold. Coupled with several dungeons being integrated into the story, the devs have tried to emphasize a story that, I hope, is as epic as it sounds.

They Understand Me, Finally

So, with the gushing out of the way, I want to get to the crux of this rambling you’ve been nice enough to read. All these additions and features point to something that I feel trumps the expansion’s hype. Sure, the content looks stellar, but the developers have done something far more important than make a great-looking expansion: know their audience of now, not the past.

It’s 2024. Live service is a staple of the industry, and let’s be frank: many games are trying to buy your time. Whether it’s seasons, battle passes, or just constant updates, there are so many options for players now. In most cases, they want you to play for a long time, a lot of the time, and they will do what they can to keep you there. Whether we like it or not, that’s the industry at the moment.

World of Warcraft is in that camp. Make no mistake, they want your subscription and time, but if there is anything to glean from The War Within’s features, it’s that WoW is respecting our time by not sucking it all up. Every single feature I’ve mentioned is both a fun addition and a less time-consuming one. Delves and the Raid can be tackled solo or with friends, with items or resources being shareable with other characters. The Warband feature is cutting out so much of the grind with shared reputation, banks, and achievements, and it fits perfectly into a player’s life.

World of Warcraft isn’t a job anymore; it’s a game like it should be.

The fact that I can play a character and make progress for them all, regardless of what I’m doing, is the single best thing to happen to WoW in years. Achievements? I can play the class which makes it the easiest. Need to gear up a new alt? Wicked, I’ll throw it some Warband gear I earned playing my main. Wanna do some more challenging content one evening? I can, and I don’t need to be bothered by other player’s attitudes or toxic behavior, and I can do it all without being married to the game.

That’s great, but I don’t have all the time in the world, nor the patience to deal with some of the, and let’s not mince words here, bollocks that comes with gaming nowadays – but that’s a whole other discussion for another time. I’m saying that many others want to play games, but we also have jobs, lives, kids, families, and other hobbies. We want to be respected as players, and time is one of the most important ways to show that respect.

If it works as intended, it will be a triumph for Blizzard, and I cannot wait to play, progress, and walk away from the game for a day and not feel like I’m missing out.

World of Warcraft, Blizzard, and all its devs have finally considered who is playing their game and taken the steps needed to accommodate those players. If successful, it will be a refreshing approach to player retention with true consideration for the audience, leaving the door open for when you want to enter. It is the antithesis of the industry’s chokehold approach and one I hope to see more of in the future.

If you want to hear my thoughts on World of Warcraft’s newfound focus, check out my feature on the WoW’s story and world in The War Within. Or, if WoW isn’t your thing, we have a preview on Neverwinter’s Mountain of Flame Module.