World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

 PC
User Score
2.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2560 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 561 out of 2560
  2. Mixed: 98 out of 2560
  3. Negative: 1,901 out of 2560

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  1. Dratin88
    Sep 1, 2021
    3
    After reading several critics I think, that many players (including me) are just tired of Blizzard recycling old systems and retconning the lore non stop, so that they can have their favorite banshee in the focus all the time.
    With old systems I mean those:
    - that let you grind with no end in sight, just so that you can put all that effort in the garbage with the next expansion and    After reading several critics I think, that many players (including me) are just tired of Blizzard recycling old systems and retconning the lore non stop, so that they can have their favorite banshee in the focus all the time.
    With old systems I mean those:

    - that let you grind with no end in sight, just so that you can put all that effort in the garbage with the next expansion and start grinding for the nex borrowed power system.

    - that prevent you to play your favorite race in your favorite faction and on top of that doesn't let you play with your friends in the other faction. The old faction system with all it's barriers is really an outdated relict of the past that needs to go. Not the factions per se, but the fact, that races can't choose their faction freely and players, who can't do dungeons and raids with their friends in the other faction.

    I want to add, that world of warcraft looks like a very lazily designed game. There are huge parts of the world, who are stuck in the past, if you look at the graphic. It's really pathetic actually. Also the customization options... there are so few. It's really embarrassing for modern standards...    … Expand
  2. YrikiX
    Aug 31, 2021
    2
    Shadowlands is just awful. Just like Battle for Azeroth. I kinda hoped things would get better with this expansion... but the game is still bad.
    They ruined so much of what I used to love in wow. The lore. Oh the lore... it's so cringe... I can't even... What I would give, if they would just reset everything back to Legion...
    We all worked together in our class halls back in Legion,    Shadowlands is just awful. Just like Battle for Azeroth. I kinda hoped things would get better with this expansion... but the game is still bad.
    They ruined so much of what I used to love in wow. The lore. Oh the lore... it's so cringe... I can't even... What I would give, if they would just reset everything back to Legion...

    We all worked together in our class halls back in Legion, then came bfa and whoops, now the Horde is like: You know what? I know we were friends like 5 minutes ago, but I feel like today is a good day for genocide. Don't mind me slaughtering all of you, including woman and children. wtf is this writing? Now in Shadowlands it's like all of that isn't all that bad, let's be friends again! Get you sh* together Blizzard. This back and forth between factions is beyond ridiculous. That brings me to my next point actually.
    Why can't we play together?
    Mmos are supposed to be social games, yet wow is as anti-social as it can get.
    Why can't we choose a faction regardless of the race we want to play?
    It's like USA's racial segregation back in the day all over again, just this time in a virtual game.
    And why on earth does it matter, if we are Alliance or Horde, if we want to raid together with our friends, who might prefer a different faction?
    Why can't we play together the way we would enjoy it the most?
    Faction rewards like mounts and tabards can stay, but the other restrictions like race and one faction only raiding should go asap to make this game more social and enjoyable.    … Expand
  3. blaze89010
    Aug 31, 2021
    1
    Looks pretty as always. The time gating is just too obvious currently. If you are trying to be a sweaty player this game is for you as you can level alts quickly. Punishing the slow player that likes to enjoy the process is modern day WOW's moto it seems. Waiting for changes to fix issues is fine for free-to play games but this is a subscription based game. Requiring players to pay forLooks pretty as always. The time gating is just too obvious currently. If you are trying to be a sweaty player this game is for you as you can level alts quickly. Punishing the slow player that likes to enjoy the process is modern day WOW's moto it seems. Waiting for changes to fix issues is fine for free-to play games but this is a subscription based game. Requiring players to pay for inept design choices does not fly in this tight economy. Lowered my score. If you don't have dedicated M+, rated BG, Arena groups or a raiding guild you will be suboptimal probably until the end of the patch.… Expand
  4. dfhsfh
    Aug 29, 2021
    1
    online dead , content zero only grind korthia, pvp broken, covenant system ridiculous
  5. SothaSil
    Aug 29, 2021
    3
    One more addon where Blizzard don't listen their community and fix **** systems only after a year of boring expansion.

    You need keep player in game? Let them farm all covenants and have comfortable alt-friendly system (thing what we asked from the start of expansion). What Blizzard do - let's reduce drop chance to force people repeat **** non-social (because we kill social part of the    One more addon where Blizzard don't listen their community and fix **** systems only after a year of boring expansion.

    You need keep player in game? Let them farm all covenants and have comfortable alt-friendly system (thing what we asked from the start of expansion).
    What Blizzard do - let's reduce drop chance to force people repeat **** non-social (because we kill social part of the game expansions ago) dungeons without master-loot. Put small and non-interest story-lines in weekly Thorgast farm.

    With all this social replacements in Blizzard Hazzikostas should be fired for raping WoW. This game do not develop still Legion, we playing same dungeons, same classes, same **** story about CHAMPION OF AZEROTH LETS WATCH IN-GAME MOVIES ABOUT JAINA AND THRALL SAVING US ALL (on a note - BfA 4 war quest line was good), same ignore to our wishes from developers.

    I played WoW since WotLK and for a years have my subscription ON even if I not played in current moment, but now my loyalty is over.
    WoW right now is grindy, non-social and old-boring game which makes by people in isolation from the desires of the gamers who play it    … Expand
  6. cladimus
    Aug 28, 2021
    4
    Its pretty bad unfortunately.
    Enough has been said by many others at this point.
  7. Trakkal
    Aug 26, 2021
    1
    If you didn't like Battle for Azeroth, you won't like Shadowlands. The lore is still awful, the faction imbalance is still being ignored, for whatever reason they seemingly put all their effort in ridiculous time consuming systems, way too long content droughts.

    Quality of life things, that would bring me back: >Seems to be a popular request and I want it too - less faction    If you didn't like Battle for Azeroth, you won't like Shadowlands. The lore is still awful, the faction imbalance is still being ignored, for whatever reason they seemingly put all their effort in ridiculous time consuming systems, way too long content droughts.

    Quality of life things, that would bring me back:
    >Seems to be a popular request and I want it too - less faction restrictions. Let me play what I want, with whom I want and where I want. #AllRacesForBothFactions & #CrossFactionRaiding
    >I'm tired of all the systems. It was a healthy amount during Legion, but I hated everything what came after that and it is unbalanced, so please make some of the new stuff cosmetic.
    >Get rid of Sylvanas entirely. Everything surronding that character turns to trash. The whole lore has been ruined because of her as the overpowerd Mary/Evil Sue in this game.
    >More customization options. It is 2021 and the few cusomization options in this game are laughable.
    >Old world update. Start with the main cities and make them bigger with more unique districts.    … Expand
  8. Ykkaru
    Aug 24, 2021
    1
    I played two months of this expansion and quit. 9.0 is awful and 9.1... yeah, is still awful.
    You could argue that the systems suck, that the class balancing sucks, that the graphic sucks, that the limited customization options suck, that the story with that edgy bashee sucks and yeah, I would agree with that, but what I hate the most about this over 16 year old game is the fact, that    I played two months of this expansion and quit. 9.0 is awful and 9.1... yeah, is still awful.
    You could argue that the systems suck, that the class balancing sucks, that the graphic sucks, that the limited customization options suck, that the story with that edgy bashee sucks and yeah, I would agree with that, but what I hate the most about this over 16 year old game is the fact, that Blizzard continues to ignore the faction imbalance and activly made it worse with the former expansion Battle For Azeroth.

    I agree with many others on this subject. Given how bad the whole situation is, the only change, that would bring me back would be to make all races neutral like the Pandaren (preferable with their own introduction voice overs and new voice lines) and to give us players the ability of choosing optional cross faction raiding and bgs. So gamers would have free choice of playing with their own faction or together with the other faction.

    But the way it is now and has been for over a decade,- limiting the races to one faction only and the players to not being able to actually play together in this mmo, if they prefer one faction is just frustrating.

    Sadly I don't see this change coming anytime soon. Luckly there are other mmos, that are much more fun than wow at the moment.    … Expand
  9. Ultranasiliy
    Aug 23, 2021
    0
    I liked some of the content in the game, namely the random bg. But in this add-on, in order to play random BGs, I had to play keys and go to raids, I don’t have time for that. I stopped the subscription, expecting any changes like "leveling the level of armor on the BG". Lore is interesting but as a story although the main villain sucks.
    I think this supplement is the worst of all.    I liked some of the content in the game, namely the random bg. But in this add-on, in order to play random BGs, I had to play keys and go to raids, I don’t have time for that. I stopped the subscription, expecting any changes like "leveling the level of armor on the BG". Lore is interesting but as a story although the main villain sucks.
    I think this supplement is the worst of all.
    Legion and Pandaria at an unattainable level for the Shadowlands    … Expand
  10. Drely
    Aug 23, 2021
    1
    Shadowlands is so incredibly bad, just like bfa.
    Who writes such a cringe story? Who thought it would be a good idea to give us yet another bunch of awful systems? Who thought it would be a good idea to keep ignoring the faction imbalance? Seriously, who at Blizzard supports all these awful decisions? No wonder there is such a big exodus.
    Final Fantasy 14 is so much better in so many    Shadowlands is so incredibly bad, just like bfa.
    Who writes such a cringe story? Who thought it would be a good idea to give us yet another bunch of awful systems? Who thought it would be a good idea to keep ignoring the faction imbalance? Seriously, who at Blizzard supports all these awful decisions? No wonder there is such a big exodus.

    Final Fantasy 14 is so much better in so many regards. ff14 let's you play every race in every faction, in contrast to wow, where there is still racial segregation. Considering the lawsuit against Blizzard you would think they would get rid of racism in their game, but nah, they hold on to stricly separating the races. ff14 has player housing. Wow... not so much. xD ff14 has way better gear, not those ugly pixelated age old looking gear. ff14s Devs actually listen to their player's feedback. Yah, imagine that! ff14 doesn't have faction imbalance, because despite having several factions they let their players play together. Then you look at that extremely anti social faction system in wow on top of their racist division of the races. Yikes! And ff14 has a really solid story. Wow... just don't has a good story anymore. Bfa completly ruined the story and SL continues to be bad.

    Hopefully world of warcraft will get better, but until then, Final Fantasy 14 it is!    … Expand
  11. Dink
    Aug 21, 2021
    0
    Cheap soulless trash :(
    Pile of chopped mechanic, imbalance, timegating and etc... Everyone also knows this, I do not see sense to repeat. Very boring.
  12. Bearoo
    Aug 18, 2021
    1
    Shadowlands is a dumpster fire. You can't sugarcoat it anymore.
    I could list a lot of things that need major changes, but since Blizzard keeps ignoring feedback or straight up corrupts their player's wishes... well, dunno, if there is any point in that.
    Guess I could list the main thing why my friends and I finally quit this game (probably for good, since we don't see any changes coming,    Shadowlands is a dumpster fire. You can't sugarcoat it anymore.
    I could list a lot of things that need major changes, but since Blizzard keeps ignoring feedback or straight up corrupts their player's wishes... well, dunno, if there is any point in that.
    Guess I could list the main thing why my friends and I finally quit this game (probably for good, since we don't see any changes coming, regarding this issue).

    1 of the 2 factions in this game is almost dead playerwise. It came to this because the Devs were actively pandering to the faction that is overpopulated ever since blood elves made their entrance. Giving the small faction overweight humans and junk gnomes, while giving the overpopulated faction an adorable new fox race and a better looking version of an old race in the last expansion didn't help either. Strange, right?! The overpopulated faction had one advantage after the other, one of them= op racials among other things.

    So me and my friends too had to play the overpopulated faction for the last couple of years in order to get anything done. Even though we prefer the small faction. Yeah, that sucks. The whole faction system in wow sucks. But Blizzard simply doesn't seem to care as long as their favorite faction has the upper hand.

    Players are asking for years now for a new faction system, that would allow us to play all races and with all players but everything in this game stays stale and outdated. No place for new and innovative ideas.

    Since bfa and Shadowlands are in general bad expansions our guild on the overpopulated faction died out now too and we have no desire to search for a new one. We never felt at home in the big faction anyway and when I logg on my alts on the small faction... well, there is almost nobody left to play with. Guess I just give up on this game. The outdated faction system is just... awful for the player experience.

    I much more prefer the faction system in Final Fantsy 14, that let's us play all races and with all players. Not to mention that ff14 has way more interesting features anyway.    … Expand
  13. Henry12A
    Aug 15, 2021
    2
    If you're looking for yet another disappointment after battle for azeroth, Shadowlands is waiting for you.
    Too many systems, endless grinding, too many chores, ridiculous lore, random loot, still old and toxic faction restrictions because racial segregation/racism is seemingly the pillar of wow... like... wtf?, still no class balance, big faction imbalance, still laughable few    If you're looking for yet another disappointment after battle for azeroth, Shadowlands is waiting for you.
    Too many systems, endless grinding, too many chores, ridiculous lore, random loot, still old and toxic faction restrictions because racial segregation/racism is seemingly the pillar of wow... like... wtf?, still no class balance, big faction imbalance, still laughable few customization options that might have been ok in 2010 but definitely not in 2021, random loot, still no account wide valor unlock and reputation, tiresome alt leveling, still no graphic update for old zones, not even for the capitals, arrogant behavior of the Devs, who either keep ignoring feedback or twist it so that nobody is happy with the result, gigantic content droughts, yet they still let their players pay for each and every month...
    I could go on, but in short: Shadowlands is yet another disaster after bfa.    … Expand
  14. Rogar
    Aug 14, 2021
    1
    No king rules forever... World of warcraft truley has fallen from grace. Battle for Azeroth was bad and Shadowlands is... still bad. I don't know what has happened during the last patch of Legion (which already was a bit weaker than the patches before that) and the beginning of Battle for Azeroth, but ever since then the game has become nearly unplayable. Both because of the gameplay andNo king rules forever... World of warcraft truley has fallen from grace. Battle for Azeroth was bad and Shadowlands is... still bad. I don't know what has happened during the last patch of Legion (which already was a bit weaker than the patches before that) and the beginning of Battle for Azeroth, but ever since then the game has become nearly unplayable. Both because of the gameplay and beacuse of the cringe writing reagarding the lore.
    What is it with this weird obsession with that awful written banshee queen? Ever since she is the focus of the story the lore went from mediocre to an absolutely cringe show.
    The writers ruined one major character after the other, they ruined the factions with yet another brainless faction war in bfa and continue to potrait everyone around that banshee like an idiot, while pretending she's so smart and everything, while the only thing she truly is, is a hypocrite. A mass murderer, a sadist and a coward, who only cares for herself. Yet through several retcons the writers forcefully want to push a redemption arc in our throats.
    I've read so many people suggest they should just retcon bfa and Shadowlands and blame N'Zoth for it and normally I'm not a fan of the trope "It was just a dream" or in this case a vision, but in this case I would gladly accept it. Because there is no repairing of the lore, if they decide to continue on this route.
    I would gladly return to Legion, to our order halls and to a time before the war. Like so many others I truly hate the meaningless back and forth between the factions. Let us play together. The devs created a huge faction imbalace, that you can't really fix anymore. Let all races have free choice like Pandaren. That would make the game so much better and let us choose, if we want to play in raids and battlegrounds together with the other faction with optional cross faction groups. And DO NOT corrupt something like that again. Don't make it half baked. Let us truly play together and with all races we want in the faction we want.    … Expand
  15. Luciuso
    Aug 12, 2021
    1
    I want to like wow, but I just can't anymore. I really enjoyed Legion, but I hated battle for azeroth and Shadowlands is... just frustrating... because I finally came to the conclusion that there is just too much wrong with this game.
    The lore, faction and class imbalance, throwaway systems, same old faction restrictions, choregast... there is nothing to like about the newest expansion.    I want to like wow, but I just can't anymore. I really enjoyed Legion, but I hated battle for azeroth and Shadowlands is... just frustrating... because I finally came to the conclusion that there is just too much wrong with this game.
    The lore, faction and class imbalance, throwaway systems, same old faction restrictions, choregast... there is nothing to like about the newest expansion. On top of that the long content droughts. There is nothing new and innovative in Shadowlands. Still no player housing, still no old world upgrade, still no cross faction raiding and more playable neutral races, almost no new customization options, nothing really for casual players.

    One of the most frustrating things... Blizzard seemingly just don't care for their players. They only care for money. Feedback keeps being ignored or currupted. Wow is in a really sad state.    … Expand
  16. Zoklos
    Aug 12, 2021
    2
    Shadowlands along with Battle For Azeroth and Warlords Of Draenor are painfully bad expansions.

    I loved the artefact system in Legion, but with the start of bfa it became worthless. Ever since then they threw one new borrowed power system after the other at us, just so that they can put it in the trash right after. Not fun. The ending of Legion was weak regarding the forced faction    Shadowlands along with Battle For Azeroth and Warlords Of Draenor are painfully bad expansions.

    I loved the artefact system in Legion, but with the start of bfa it became worthless. Ever since then they threw one new borrowed power system after the other at us, just so that they can put it in the trash right after. Not fun.

    The ending of Legion was weak regarding the forced faction choice of the allied races. But if you ignore that Legion had a solid story. But with the start of bfa everything went downhill. The story in bfa and Shadowlands is such a dumbster fire... oof. I wish they would do somthing similar like Square Enix with Final Fantasy 14 ARR. Just retcon bfa and Shadowlands and bring us back to Legion. I don't know a single person, who enjoys the lore anymore.

    Factions... yeah, no. They don't work. They don't work in Classic and they don't work in retail. Massiv changes are needed regarding the Alliance and Horde to make this game balanced again.
    Like many already suggested, the best way of doing it is simply by removing the restrictions.
    By ending the racial segregation and allowing all races to choose their faction freely. Just like the Pandaren. It would be way less toxic for the playerbase too.
    Additionally all players, regardless of their faction, should be able to do raids and battlegrounds together.
    Factions should only be separated in the story and through things like exclusive mounts, cities, and transmogs. Loyalty to a faction shouldn't come from the way someone looks. You're race XL, ok stick to that side. Sorry, but that's extremly stupid and outdated. Would be nice of course, if every race could get a unique starter area and not just the embassy in each city. A small space ship on some of the higher rocks in Orgrimmar for example or like someone suggested a ship for Tiragardesund Vulpera in the harbor of Stormwind.
    I think a lot of players would come back for this reason alone. For being able to level new alts and expierence new races in their facorite faction. Fun stuff, that keeps us entertained.

    I also want to mention again, that it really sucks, how everything we do in one expansions becomes worthless with a new expansion. I would love to use my artefact weapons again. Not to mention how cool it would be to be able to do the mage tower again trough time walking or something.

    Anyways, wow is not worth playing at the moment. bfa was bad and Shadowlands is it aswell.    … Expand
  17. Jananas
    Aug 12, 2021
    3
    Few latest expansions to WoW feel to me like a layering a cake. The problem is that the older the layer is, the more rotten it becomes. Legendaries they have added in Legion are worthless in Shadowlands, Azerite not worth it. They are layering the game with more and more stuff, but the problem is that the old mechanics are completely worthless as time goes on. New additions in ShadowlandsFew latest expansions to WoW feel to me like a layering a cake. The problem is that the older the layer is, the more rotten it becomes. Legendaries they have added in Legion are worthless in Shadowlands, Azerite not worth it. They are layering the game with more and more stuff, but the problem is that the old mechanics are completely worthless as time goes on. New additions in Shadowlands are incredibly bland (boreghast) and trying to live trough the expansion feels like a huge chore. And those additions will be, again, worthless wit new expansions. Adding to that is the staleness of Shadowlands - not adding patch for how long now? All things considered, it makes sense why people are leaving WoW in huge numbers. Feels like Blizzard is out of touch. Not saying the game cannot be good at some point, but looking back at the journey, I don't think Blizzard is quite learning what the players do want.… Expand
  18. OvanOfTheNorth
    Aug 11, 2021
    1
    Wasted potential buried under needless convoluted borrowed power systems. Launch day held high hopes and it all quickly fell apart as design and execution led to lack of interest in continuing. Held out till the first major content patch and was once again let down.
  19. Xodin1
    Aug 11, 2021
    1
    I give Shadowlands 1/10.
    The story is on the same level as battle for Azeroth = bad. Really bad. I've read fan fictions, that had a better quality than bfa and Shadowlands.
    The big promise to give us more customization options for the races is a complete joke. They gave us almost nothing new. Not even something simple like different body heights were implemented. Systems upon sytstems    I give Shadowlands 1/10.
    The story is on the same level as battle for Azeroth = bad. Really bad. I've read fan fictions, that had a better quality than bfa and Shadowlands.
    The big promise to give us more customization options for the races is a complete joke. They gave us almost nothing new. Not even something simple like different body heights were implemented.
    Systems upon sytstems sprinkled with yet another borrowed power system to keep us grinding. Yeah... no thanks.
    Last but not least we still have to suffer under the stupid faction restrictions.
    Wanna play a dark iron dwarf in the Horde? „Guess what, you can't.“
    Wanna play a Tauren in the Alliance? „Nope. We here at Blizzard prefer to keep our races separated because we value racism as the pillar of this game.“
    Wanna do raids with your friend, who happens to prefer the other faction? „Nope. We here at Blizzard don't want you to socialize in our game and would like you to hold on to tribalism.“
    Factions per se aren't bad, but the restrictions to keep races and players strictly separated is really bad.    … Expand
  20. Sonelai
    Aug 9, 2021
    0
    After the complete failure Battle For Azeroth I was looking forward to Shadowlands. Turns out Shadowlands is just as bad as bfa. Man I wish we could go back to Legion...
    Furthermore the game became almost impossible to play because of the ever growing faction imbalance. I am so tired of these outdated faction restrictions that prevent us from playing the game in a healthy way; namely    After the complete failure Battle For Azeroth I was looking forward to Shadowlands. Turns out Shadowlands is just as bad as bfa. Man I wish we could go back to Legion...
    Furthermore the game became almost impossible to play because of the ever growing faction imbalance. I am so tired of these outdated faction restrictions that prevent us from playing the game in a healthy way; namely without racial segregation and with the option to play with everyone.
    Keep factions, but burn the faction restrictions down. Burn it!
    Allow all races to every faction + allow cross faction raiding, at least for hero and mythic. Factions can still get their unique stuff, like mounts and tabards for example. However races should not be exlusive to only one faction

    If Blizzard would care about the health of the game they would do something to fix it. So why is the imbalance still being ignored?

    So yeah, in short, not a fun game at all.    … Expand
  21. Zokko
    Aug 8, 2021
    2
    There is almost nothing I like about Shadowlands. So a similar expierence to battle for Azeroth. Both expansions are pretty bad. At least we're not stuck in a brainless faction war, that made no sense after Legion.
    Speaking of factions, yeah, the imbalance is growing bigger and bigger by the day. No wonder, if you look at how Blizzard is handeling them, regarding playable races, racials    There is almost nothing I like about Shadowlands. So a similar expierence to battle for Azeroth. Both expansions are pretty bad. At least we're not stuck in a brainless faction war, that made no sense after Legion.
    Speaking of factions, yeah, the imbalance is growing bigger and bigger by the day. No wonder, if you look at how Blizzard is handeling them, regarding playable races, racials (in past expansions) and so on. That is a problem for years now, but Blizzard hasn't done anything to help the small faction out. They did quite the opposite if you look at the allied races.
    It's gotten so bad, that there is only one thing that would make this game playable and fun again. Get rid of most of the faction restrictions. Seriously.
    Let us play together with all the races we want. The playable races need to be neutral asap. Cross faction groups for raids need to happen aswell.
    There would still be a lot of money earned from faction transfers and race changes, once players get the chance to choose their faction and races freely without being forced to play in the overpopulated faction. So no worries there, Activision Blizzard.^^
    There don't have to be whole new zones for the races. just small introductions and a starting point. Aswell as new voice lines (for the Alliance! for the Horde!) for all races. Shouldn't be a big deal for such a huge company.
    Can't be so hard to reduce a part of the toxicity in this game by giving the players more freedom and the ability to actually play together.    … Expand
  22. Taccoru
    Aug 6, 2021
    1
    Shadowlands feels soulless.
    While I felt a lot of anger and frustration during bfa, because of how bad that expansion was... now there is just a feeling of disappointing for Shadowlands left. It just gets worse and worse with this game.
    They ruined the story and with that several important characters within the story... It feels like the authors of the story deliberately trash the    Shadowlands feels soulless.
    While I felt a lot of anger and frustration during bfa, because of how bad that expansion was... now there is just a feeling of disappointing for Shadowlands left. It just gets worse and worse with this game.
    They ruined the story and with that several important characters within the story... It feels like the authors of the story deliberately trash the lore...
    They don't respect the time of their playerbase. Quite the opposite. With endless grinds, random loot and time gating they make everything feel slow. They force their players to spend as much time as possible in the game in order to work their ingame chores off, so that Blizzard gets their monthly payment from us.
    They do not listen to feedback. Often they do the exact opposite of what their players ask them for or corrupt feedback and make it eben worse than before.
    They do not let us play together. They still split the playerbase with their old faction system and continued through several advantages like better racials, playable mainstream races, spotlight within the story etc. to give the players the feeling that they have to migrate to the overpopulated faction. They are promoting toxic behavior, which leads to some players acting like racist idots, who enjoy shouting at others for not being in their faction and yelling stuff like certain races don't belong in their „oh so great“ faction and shout certain races should be wiped out and similar stuff.
    But it seems as if that type of players are those Blizzard is catering to. While other players just want to be able to play all races in their favorite faction and to be able to do raids and battlegrounds together with the other faction. You know, being able to play with all players... something that should be normal in a mmo.    … Expand
  23. bravoad
    Aug 6, 2021
    0
    На ру сервере данной игры творится полная токсичная атмосфера и дискриминация по навыкам игрока, где на человека смотрят не как на человека, а на животного. Если игрок в их стаде, и играет также как они, или лучше, их расхваливают. Иначе сжирают толпой, подвергают моральному унижению и заставляют удалять игру, вместо того, чтобы взять и научить правильно играть. Призываю к бойкоту даннойНа ру сервере данной игры творится полная токсичная атмосфера и дискриминация по навыкам игрока, где на человека смотрят не как на человека, а на животного. Если игрок в их стаде, и играет также как они, или лучше, их расхваливают. Иначе сжирают толпой, подвергают моральному унижению и заставляют удалять игру, вместо того, чтобы взять и научить правильно играть. Призываю к бойкоту данной мморпг.… Expand
  24. Alori
    Aug 3, 2021
    1
    It's just so frustrating to see how bad this game has become. The last good expansion was Legion, but battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands are really awful. Grindy, frustrating systems, poorly written story, unbalanced, buggy and a ton of restrictions for players (they still hold on the age-old faction system, no improvements whatsoever).
    Be better Blizzard.
    • Allow all races to become    It's just so frustrating to see how bad this game has become. The last good expansion was Legion, but battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands are really awful. Grindy, frustrating systems, poorly written story, unbalanced, buggy and a ton of restrictions for players (they still hold on the age-old faction system, no improvements whatsoever).
    Be better Blizzard.
    • Allow all races to become neutral & available for both factions. No more missing out on fav. races & racials.
    • Allow optional cross faction raiding. Let us finally play together, if we want to.
    • Give us our cities (Teldrassil & Undercity) and old zones with better graphics back.
    • Stop ruining the lore or like others already suggested, reset the story entirely and put us back to the end of Legion.
    • Give casuals a reason to stay, like player housing!!!! or/and something similar like the mage tower or/and the artefact weapon skins.
    • More customization options, a lot more customization options are needed.
    • Be more transparent and start communicating with the players again Blizzard.

    I don't really believe, that Shadowlands can be saved at this point. But who knows, maybe 10,0 will be better.    … Expand
  25. Jokaal
    Aug 2, 2021
    1
    Shadowlands is just as bad as Battle for Azeroth. Don't play it. Wait until they improve their game. I have no idea when or if that will ever happen. Guess the only thing we can do is wait and see. That and giving them feedback. Maybe one day they come down from their high horse and start listening to their players again.

    The lore is important to me. So one thing that could bring me    Shadowlands is just as bad as Battle for Azeroth. Don't play it. Wait until they improve their game. I have no idea when or if that will ever happen. Guess the only thing we can do is wait and see. That and giving them feedback. Maybe one day they come down from their high horse and start listening to their players again.

    The lore is important to me. So one thing that could bring me back is a story reset, like others already wrote before me. Reset the story from bfa and shadowlands and bring us back to Legion. Make bfa and Shadowlands a fever dream or a vision. Something like that. Just remove that stuff from the canon storyline. No, there wouldn't be a problem with the allied races, but I come to that point later.

    Another popular request, that I too would like to see in retail is a change for the faction restrictions.
    Let us play with all players and let us play all races in each faction, not just half of them.
    You want to remove toxic stuff in your game? Racial segregation is probably one of the biggest aspects of your game that promotes toxic behavior. It's like those old dudes shouting at people with a different skin color that they shouldn't get near their lawn because they look different. It's pretty much the same ingame with people yelling they never ever want a specific race in their city.

    Blizzard should finally open the gates for free race choice, all races for both factions. Yeah, I get it. It's just a game. Who cares if there is racism in world of warcraft and a strict devide between races. I still don't have to like a virtual form of racism.
    But even if you ignore that, the devide forces players to make compromises they don't want to make. Because they can't have their favorite races and racials in the faction they prefer. They can't experience the game in the way they want and that is a bad thing and takes away a good portion of fun.
    Blizzard should also allow cross faction raiding and bgs, also a popular request I agree on.
    With these changes they would finally end the problem of faction imbalance. With these changes they would make the game much more fun.

    But what about the allied races? It's really not hard to come up with an alternative way how they join.
    Here are some examples.

    Nightborne, High Mountain Tauren and Lightforged Draenei:
    Both Alliance and Horde helped them during Legion. That they are neutral and join both factions is the only natural thing to do.

    Void Elves:
    The encounter with Alleria can stay the same and through Alleria a part of them joins the Alliance.
    However a second group should join the Horde. It's very weird that a faction like the Horde wouldn't want them, since they had never problems with "dark magic", if you want to call it like that. Just delete the part with the sunwell encounter.

    Dark Iron Dwarves:
    The connection to the other dwarf clans can stay. So that group joins the Alliance.
    However their whole being and their theme fits the Horde very well. It would feel natural for a group of them to join the rough ranks of the Horde.

    Vulpera:
    While the Horde explores the deserts and comes across the Zandalari, they also befriend the desert Vulpera of Vol'dun.
    The Alliance befriends the Tiragardesund Vulpera, so there would be a sailor and traveler theme for Alliance Vulpera. Taelia should be the one leading them in to the Alliance. They would be a very good fit for the Alliance and could have their own ship in the Stormwind harbor. They could also put a group of Vulpera into Stormsong Valley. There should be enough place for them too.

    KulTirans:
    They would look so awesome within the Horde with a sailor or even pirate like them, while the Alliance befriends them trough their connection to the Proudmoore family.

    Mechagnomes:
    Should be neutral anyway, since both Horde and Alliance befriends them. The encounter with Mechagon can stay similar to the original.

    Zandalari:
    Here you could take a group of banished trolls or travelers for the Alliance. Zandalari, who don't feel connected to the kingdom.

    Mag'har:
    I'll admit that these guys are a bit tricky, but you could play it out this way: They had the same vision or whatever it was from bfa and Shadowlands too and find a way to Azeroth in order to help out.

    It's really easy to come up with ideas and it didn't took more than 5 mintutes to come up with something. So yeah, it's easy to make it work. For all races by the way. Not just the allied races.

    I'm also tired of the borrowed power system. If there has to be such a system, then let us return to the legendary weapons in Legion.    … Expand
  26. Magicus
    Jul 31, 2021
    3
    World of warcraft - Shadowlands = a hot mess. Not worth playing at the moment.
    Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands are almost as bad as Warlords of Draenor. When it comes to story and systems it's even worse. Not to mention recent events regarding the bad working environment for employees.
    Nonetheless, there is a lot of things, that would bring players back and I want to hold on to hope.    World of warcraft - Shadowlands = a hot mess. Not worth playing at the moment.
    Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands are almost as bad as Warlords of Draenor. When it comes to story and systems it's even worse. Not to mention recent events regarding the bad working environment for employees.
    Nonetheless, there is a lot of things, that would bring players back and I want to hold on to hope. Blizzard and World of Warcraft still can become better.

    I've read a lot of reviews, comments and critics and there is so much Blizzard could do, to improve their game:

    -
    Lessen faction restrictions.
    Allow all races for both factions with new short introduction quests and voice overs.
    Allow cross faction raids, battlegrounds and alt mailing.
    Keep factions as a pure rp factor (exclusive clothes, rewards, cities etc.). Players shouldn't have the feeling of missing out something important, while deciding to join a faction (like races, racials, easier way of finding groups).

    -
    Real player housing.
    Garrisons are not player housing. Many players would love to have real player housing in Azeroth.

    -
    Less systems, less time gating, less or no borrowed power at all.

    -
    Improve the lore. Undo the events of bfa and Shadowlands. Square Enix did something similar to their game ff14 and now it's extremly popular. You can do the same. Both, bfa and Shadowlands were a mistake.

    -
    Better communication with the playerbase instead of ignoring it for the most part.

    -
    Better graphics.
    There are a lot of players, who wish for an updated Eastern Kingdom and Kalimdor.

    -
    A lot more character customization options for all races.

    -
    More playable races like Sethrak, Arrakoa, Ogre etc.
    Like all the others they should be neutral and available for both factions.

    -
    Return to Azeroth.
    Many players feel more connected to Azeroth instead of some other worlds and realms.

    -
    Account wide reputation.

    -
    Balanced pvp and pve.

    -
    Impactful professions.

    -
    Make old zones relevant again. (Not by destroying them!!! but rather by improving them and giving them some new quests).    … Expand
  27. Tritoon
    Jul 30, 2021
    2
    World Of Warcraft is in a bad state, in a really bad state.
    Though I want the game to improve, since I have good memories of it and it would be nice to come back to it someday, right now I would advise everyone not to buy it. For various reason. Some of them I'd like to list in this comment.
    1. Poorly written lore. I'm one of those nerds, who wants a good story in a mmorpg. World Of    World Of Warcraft is in a bad state, in a really bad state.
    Though I want the game to improve, since I have good memories of it and it would be nice to come back to it someday, right now I would advise everyone not to buy it. For various reason. Some of them I'd like to list in this comment.

    1. Poorly written lore.

    I'm one of those nerds, who wants a good story in a mmorpg. World Of Warcraft doesn't have good lore anymore.
    Ever since the end of Legion the lore went downhill.
    It is in such a bad state, that you would think the writers were drunk while they wrote Battle For Azeroth and Shadowlands. They ruined major lore characters left and right and the factions look like complete idiots with the way Blizzard is handling the story. Both of them.

    - Possible Solution:
    The only way how to save the lore at this point is to retcon Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands. I'm sorry, but I really don't see any other way how to fix that cringe fanfiction level of writing. Make Battle For Azeroth and Shadowlands a vision of some old god or something and return to the end of Legion. The "allied races", who came during that time can join the factions regardless. Just change the way how they join.

    2. Faction imbalance, faction restrictions and it's anti social player impact.

    Many people already wrote it, but it can't be criticized enough. World Of Warcraft's playerbase is known to be kinda toxic. Part of it comes from the over 17 years old faction restrictions.
    Many years of neglecting one faction and favoring the other faction led to a mass exodus, so that the faction imbalance is beyond repair.
    Now those, who are still playing this game feel forced to play the overpopulated faction,- to get pve and pvp done and because Blizzard decided to give the overpopulated faction the two most liked races of the game, along with a constant focus on said faction, like story, cinematics and so on.

    The faction system just doesn't work anymore. There are other popular mmos like Final Fantasy 14, who even have more than 2 factions and there is no faction imbalance whatsoever. Why? The reason is extremly simple: You have access to all races and you can trade and play with all players, regardless of the faction.

    - Solution:
    End the racial segregation.

    It is outdated, it is frustrating for the gameplay (both because you can't play your favorite race in the faction you prefer and because of the racials), it is unfitting and unnatural for modern standards when it comes to racism and it overall doesn't give a good look to the game. First thing you see while logging in is this huge resriction that doesn't let you play the game how you would enjoy it.

    Allow cross faction raiding, cross faction bgs (not same faction bgs!) and cross faction alt mailing, so that the players are able to send gold and other things to their characters in the other faction.

    All the rest can stay as it is. Horde players can't enter Alliance cities, Alliance players can't enter Horde cities. Warmode stays the same too.

    3. Graphic, especially the old world
    The old world looks for the most part as if it is stuck in the early 2000nds. This is on such a lazy level... Just... oof. This game looks really, really old. It's just embarrassing how bad World Of Warcraft looks.

    - Solution:
    Upgrade the world.

    4. The people working on this game:
    It's very sad, but I have to put it on this list too:
    The straw that broke the camel's back are the horrible working conditions for the employees of Blizzard. I won't go in to details in this comment. Everyone can read about the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. The working environment needs to change asap.

    These are the most important things for me. However there are of course a lot of other things that needs to be better. Like borrowed power systems, class imbalance and so on. This game has a lot of potential, but ever since the end of Legion... it's just sad to see what this game has become. It certainly isn't a game anymore, that I would recommend playing. I do hope though it will become better. Hopefully sooner than later.    … Expand
  28. Rigor81
    Jul 27, 2021
    1
    This game has a lot of problems, unfortunately.

    One of the main issues is the glorified racism in form of racial segregation in this game. Not only is the restriction of separated races rather questionable for obvious reasons, it's also very annyoning from a gameplay perspective. Instead of choosing a faction because a player prefers the overall theme, the valors and ideals, they    This game has a lot of problems, unfortunately.

    One of the main issues is the glorified racism in form of racial segregation in this game.
    Not only is the restriction of separated races rather questionable for obvious reasons, it's also very annyoning from a gameplay perspective.

    Instead of choosing a faction because a player prefers the overall theme, the valors and ideals, they strictly make you choose based of the given races. Meaning if you prefer one faction over the other you only get access to half of the races.

    Seriously, what an idiotic and outdated system. I had several cases where my friends and I had to make annoying compromises, just in order of being able to play together.

    The faction system of wow is extremly anti-social.
    Racial segregation is questionable and annoying af. Especially if you consider, how unnatural it feels. However Blizzard likes to paint the picture of races, who follow a strict hivemind instead of making their own free decision.

    Then again, if you look at the recent scandal of Activision Blizzard, it comes to no surprise that racism in form of strict racial segregation is seen as a pillar of wow.

    Another thing that is annoying af are the pointless systems and borrowed power, that you can put in the trash right after every expansion or even after every patch. Meaning all the hours you spend with grinding for it are basically a waste of time.

    Then there is all the time gating for new content, just so that they can keep you/your money as long as possible in the game.

    Then there is the class and faction imbalance.

    Then the lore, that keeps being retconned, characters gain and loose power randomly just to fit Blizzards current narrative. The lore is in such a bad state, that I'm of the opinion that a bunch of middle school students could write a more solid story than what we have now.

    The list go on...    … Expand
  29. trains80fl
    Jul 23, 2021
    1
    This game is a complete waste of my time the stater gear that my character has been reset to is not strong enough for the scenario forge of aeons therefore I am very unhappy.... When character died in scenario I am instantly attacked upon revive
  30. KairiOrSomethin
    Jul 23, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I decided to try out WoW properly with this expansion because a few friends played and honestly speaking I'm quite disappointed, I haven't been here for it's prime but I don't understand how anyone could claim that this is still the best MMO out there. The movement feels atrocious to me and the fact that my character is to stupid to turn around and execute an action if I don't move my camera around is just dumb and artificial difficulty. Artificial difficulty that has plagued me throughout my entire leveling experience, everything I have had some sort of difficulty, which, to be fair, wasn't too often, it was because I was fighting the game and its controls and not because something challenging was thrown at me. The only good moments have been with my friends, because of my friend, the game did nothing to make it good, except maybe having animations so terrible, that it prompted us to laugh at them. The only moment in the game where I was positively surprised so far was when I joined Arenwalde, seeing this magical forest made so beautifully was really nice, however the storytelling in that was even more atrocious than the rest and it was just what I expected from an expansion coming out in 2020, the fact that the other zones (especially maldraxxus) can't even remotely keep up is just kind of sad, and disappointing. I can't recommend buying this game to anyone, I spent 60$ and it already feels like it's too much for them, where is the money they are getting from their players going? It doesn't look like it's going back into the game to me, to be honest, and after recent event I can only discourage giving Blizzard any money to begin with (though it is your decision if you want to play their products or not, this is just my opinion) so there's really no saving grace.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best PC Game of 2020
8
#8 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 12, 2021
    80
    Blizzard finally comes with an alt-friendly expansion that brings back the best features of the previous ones. The patch that WoW desperately needed. [Issue#309]
  2. Shacknews
    Jan 29, 2021
    90
    World of Warcraft: Shadowlands certainly manages to capture the same feelings we’ve had since first started playing the game. The leveling experience overhaul, constant sense of progress with rewards, and new campaign stories make Shadowlands a must-have for any avid player.
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  3. GamingTrend
    Jan 27, 2021
    90
    World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is a return to greatness for the franchise. The content is both accessible and fun for all types of players, and the story actually makes you feel like everything you’re doing is helping to save the Shadowlands. Torghast is one of the best features ever added and makes each experience unique and fun. While there are some issues which can slow down the time it takes to get everything you want, the journey there is still enjoyable.
    Read full review
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