WOW Classic Season of Discovery Phase 2 has begun for a few weeks. For many adventurers, reaching level 40 is quite a journey. We need to get runes, participate in Blood Moon Event, and even Gnomeregan.
Personally, I had a really great time at Season of Discovery. But unfortunately, the new phase also has some flaws that deserve improvement.
Here, I would like to talk about the six problems we currently encounter in Season of Discovery Phase 2. Because even if people don’t really say it publicly, many people are complaining quietly. If we can all offer some solutions, maybe we can solve some of these problems before they become enormous problems!
New Player Experience
First, let’s start talking about new player experience. What should new players do first? What runes should they get? What activities should they focus on in the game?
For one thing, there’s really no clear path to what to do first. Maybe that’s a good thing, because then you can do almost anything you want. On the other hand, you might worry about missing out on various aspects of the game being promoted and discussed.
Therefore, my initial hope for SOD Phase 2 is that the leveling system will finally allow new players to join and catch up at an easy pace, without pressure, and ensure that some players have a wonderful experience with the game. Luckily, there are actually some big changes happening right now with leveling up, with there now being a 100% XP bonus all the way up to level 39.
Class Balance
We’ve talked about the new player experience, let’s talk about classes.
Almost no one wants Rogues anymore at the moment, as many players have expressed how difficult it is to obtain raid locations as a Rogue. This also reflects the current status of classes in SOD Phase 2. One week your class might be super popular, and then suddenly you can’t even pay people to find raid locations.
Rune Balance
Admittedly, Rune is still one of the most interesting abilities in the entire game. But by the end of the game, I expect to have a full skill bar of four runic abilities weighing on my rotation, which is just too much.
The game started out balanced, but as later expansions kept stacking more and more abilities, at some point, the game became completely unbalanced and completely different from the original vision.
Arathi Basin
Is Arathi Basin still worth doing now? Many players believe that if you do anything other than Blood Moon Event to gain your reputation and honor, you’re wasting your time.
And there’s no real reason to do Arathi Basin alone, unless you’re really looking for some way to level up your character between Blood Moon.
But for me, I kind of like the intense battle atmosphere, and felt like this phase didn’t fully explore PVP outside of Blood Moon.
Lag & Layering
Speaking of Blood Moon, we must discuss the issue of lag and layering.
Overall, the problem is that the developers have crafted a very interesting event in Blood Moon. But as more players reach level 40, events become increasingly lag and worse during peak hours, with delays between actions often four seconds or more. This feels completely unacceptable in a modern game.
Then we also have the layering issue, where you go to Blood Moon and half your team ends up on a different layer. You can never play together, which is the exact reason your team gives up and does something else, ultimately it all comes down to the layering system.
Economic Issues
In Phase 2, you must obtain 100 WOW Classic SOD Gold to obtain the mount. You then have to get full Pre-BiS in many cases, which requires crafted gear, and you also have to get consumables for raiding.
Those groups that wipe more often end up burning more money. But the problem is that after level 40, gold production doesn’t magically quadruple in missions, and profits don’t increase significantly.
Although the developers have added more gold coins to the game, such as Epic Helm quest line. Of course, you need to buy all these extra recipes from the supplier as well. As a result, the economy now feels a bit broken.
A big attraction in this mode should be equipping your character and really enjoying the endgame PVP feel. And farming gold is not an endgame that most players want to play, unless you’re a Scrooge.
Outro
Overall, the developers really put a lot of effort into Season of Discovery and tried to recreate RuneScape style feel. Despite its minor flaws, if we complained enough in many cases, anything in the game could change, at least for the long-term health of the game, and the developers know better than we do.
Here are my top six concerns about SOD Phase 2. I’d also like to hear your thoughts. I look forward to Season of Discovery getting better and better.
