Blizzard has added a massive amount of content to World of Warcraft: Shadowlands this week with the addition of Rated PvP, Mythic+ dungeons, and the Castle Nathria raid’s release on its first two difficulties.
With so much content added, it seems a bit whiny to be focused on the things that are missing – endgame has now fully opened up and players are able to jump into content that they couldn’t before, so why focus on the bad?
The problem there is simply that the “bad” is deeply tied to the new content – Castle Nathria and Mythic+ content specifically.
In past expansions, Blizzard has used what are generally referred to as “reroll tokens,” a limited mechanic that allows players to take another shot at the RNG loot roulette after finishing PvE content. This was active on raid bosses, Mythic dungeons, World Bosses, and a few others.
Players could receive a limited number of these tokens a week, which could stack up to a limit – about half a dozen, depending on the expansion you look at. Only one could be used at a time, so players couldn’t hoard five and reroll on a Mythic raid boss to snag six pieces of gear.
But as we step into the first release of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands‘s endgame content, Blizzard has seen fit to remove reroll tokens altogether, giving players no way of snagging that extra loot at the end of whatever content they’ve finished.
This hasn’t necessarily been a popular move – generally, RPG players don’t enjoy being given fewer chances at loot and progression, as one would expect. As Blizzard has made gearing altogether a bit more difficult, many are wishing that they could have another chance at their scarce loot drops.
But that isn’t to say that Blizzard has removed extra loot entirely. Players can still earn extra gear in their weekly chest within the Great Vault by completing endgame content.
Best of all, the Great Vault removes some level of RNG, though a bit is still present. Rather than rewarding a single item as was the case previously, the Great Vault now gives players options to choose from.
The options vary depending on the content – completing a certain number of Mythic+ dungeons, a certain number of Nathria bosses, and obtaining a certain amount of Honor/Conquest will unlock more options. A total of three rows, containing three options each, can be opened.
This removes some RNG, but this also isn’t as useful as reroll tokens, which many are wishing they had both. Many are lamenting that Blizzard’s response to improving one aspect of the game was to remove or worsen another, rather than simply improving both.
