I’ve been obsessed with World of Warcraft for years – playing it on and off for over a decade. The game is a monument to multiplayer madness, both from its ferocious PvP community and its most ridiculous devotion to individual performance in its mythical raids and dungeons, to its bad hoarders showing off obscure cosmetics to other like-minded weirdos. It’s probably one of the best games ever made – and certainly one of the most important. But almost 20 years since it first came to PC, is its latest expansion, Civil War, still attractive?
Earlier this week, I was able to play with the expansion for a while as part of an early preview event and feel optimistic about the upcoming update. I was able to play an early version of the first new zone: Dorne. I also experienced the original steps of the main line, looked around the new capital, and tried the freshly released PvE instance content-exploration! Obviously, things like dungeon or raid content, the more competitive aspects of the expansion, and some of the challenging content won’t be available for testing.
Let’s start with the interesting new content found in Delves. These are basically like mini dungeons that you can adventure into for brief PvE experiences, alone or with others, to earn loot, gold, and other goodies. An NPC accompanies you, and you can change his character according to your needs, and the result is a relaxing 10-minute romp. This will obviously become more difficult – the additional difficulty increases the enemy’s power and in turn increases the quality of the loot. You’ll also find temporary buffs and upgrades in there – a holdover from Shadowlands’ Torghast system, but luckily you won’t have the inherent desire to rip your own eyes out.
Essentially, these are cool little adventures aimed at players who prefer world exploration and single-player content to more traditional forms of progression (raids, dungeons, and PvP). I believe this is a good thing for World of Warcraft – it’s important to give more options to players who are intimidated by the content. I would ultimately rather have a warlock who isn’t confident in his rotational farming drill gear and fun than in my heroic dungeons – and I’m willing to bet they would be too.
Exploration has played a major role in driving Civil War’s accessibility more broadly. The user interface has been completely revamped, emphasizing the difference between important missions and side missions, which is great for those tired of map clutter. There’s also an effort to make the game more Alt-friendly, with more things being account-bound rather than character-locked, which should make the whole experience less frustrating for those who like to jump around. Early impressions of Civil War are of a sleeker, more thoughtful game. Be more considerate of your time and your desires.
Okay, now let’s see what the new area looks like. Surprise, surprise. The Isle of Dorne is an amazing place. I think the World of Warcraft team has always been good at world building and map design, but they did a really great job with Dorne. Rolling green hills are dotted with small flowers and dense trees, and the new capital sits on a vast rocky area. The area has a calm-before-the-storm feel. It’s a pleasant surface area that slowly but surely fades as we get further into the world.
As far as the new capital city of Donogal is concerned, I feel very good about it. Now, the merits of a new city depend on factors that have yet to be observed. Is there an auction house? How far is the hotel from the big vault, professional trainers, and portals? These are life or death factors that determine whether people love it or hate it. But, purely from an aesthetic perspective, it’s a nice little city! I love dwarf architecture built on stone, delicately intertwined between blending in with the surrounding nature and clashing with it through the power of industry. You get the feeling that the new race introduced in Civil War, the Tu, have been locked here for a long time. Although dreamy, they are as much a part of the landscape as the rocks and water.
I do think regionally the best is probably yet to come. I tried flying into Ringing Abyss, Halloween, and Azkaht, but had no luck on that front. However, as far as early impressions go, Civil War is very well done. I can’t wait to see more.
