World of Warcraft Patch 8.3 has been out for five weeks. The patch introduced corrupted gear and Horrific Visions. The Horrific Visions offer a good challenge for players. Each vision has a boss and bonus objectives. The goal is to defeat the boss or complete the objectives before your insanity gets too high. Patch 8.3 also introduced Ny’alotha. Players can visit Ny’alotha as a raid. The ancient city is apart of N’Zoth’s Black Empire. It’s a fun and challenging twelve boss raid.
Patch 8.3 does have it’s share of problems. The final patch of Battle for Azeroth is grindy. Horrific Visions provide a good challenge, but the grind to obtain Corrupted Mementos isn’t fun. Also, patch 8.3 introduced new essences for our Heart of Azeroth. Essences aren’t account-wide and can take time to earn. So many players feel the patch isn’t Alt friendly.
Let’s examine more of patch 8.3.
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World of Warcraft Patch 8.3 Review
Revisiting Old Zones
We’re revisiting old zones in this patch. The Vale of Eternal Blossoms and Uldum are under assault from N’Zoth’s minions. Venturing to old zones is good because it makes the game feel larger and more connected. The problem is that the dailies in these zones are boring. To partake in Horrific Visions, players must earn Corrupted Mementos from daily quests. These can be used to purchase Vessels of Horrific Visions from Wrathion.
Blizzard did a great job of utilizing old zones for the current plot. Azeroth is a large and fascinating world. The company should use old zones and new zones together to tell a compelling story, but the content must be engaging. It’s always interesting to see how old zones have changed over time. Since Azeroth is a neverending world it’s fun to speculate about previous areas and how they’ve changed.
Corrupted Gear
World of Warcraft Patch 8.3 has given us Corrupted Gear. These armor pieces have been corrupted by N’Zoth’s influence. Our player characters can benefit from corruption because it empowers them. Corrupted Gear is used for a price. Our player characters can have too much corruption which can make them a target from minions of the Black Empire.
Corrupted Gear is a unique concept. The armor is different from Benthic gear which was obtained in patch 8.2. Players have complained about RNG in regards to the corrupted gear. It’s also frustrating that our gearing systems keep changing midway through expansions. Players don’t want to feel as if their hard work is obsolete by the next patch.
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The Story
World of Warcraft Patch 8.3 feels disconnected from the rest of BFA. The expansion began with the Horde and Alliance at war. Both factions appealed to potential new allies to get them to join the conflict. There was awesome pay off for Jaina’s character, and fans were finally able to meet King Rastakhan and visit Zandalar. By patch 8.2 though, players were visiting Nazjatar. Fans were excited because Queen Azshara is a popular villain in WoW lore.
The problem is that each individual patch felt like its own expansion. We had so many plot threads it was difficult to keep up. There was the Horde and Alliance conflict, the Azeroth was dying plot (which hasn’t been resolved), Queen Azshara and Nazjatar, and the Old Gods and the Black Empire. To me, that sounds like four different expansions. The expansion should’ve ended with the Horde and Alliance defeating Sylvanas, but all we got was her poofing away and somehow popping up in Icecrown to dethrone the Lich King.
Nazjatar should’ve been a continent, not a zone. Queen Azshara is evil enough to be the villain of her own expansion. I would’ve loved to have done a dungeon or raid like the Culling of Stratholme where we went back in time to see Zin’Azshari in all of its glory. There are so many intriguing things about Nazjatar and Queen Azshara which could’ve been explored.
N’Zoth and the Black Empire should’ve been its own expansion. The Black Empire could’ve been a continent by itself. I would’ve loved to have seen a dungeon, raid, or scenario where we revisited the original Black Empire. We could’ve defeated all of the Old Gods again. We also could’ve seen more of N’Zoth’s twisted version of Azeroth.
Allied Race Death Knights
Patch 8.3 also added allied race and Pandaren Death Knights. Bolvar the Lich King has been adding new Death Knights to his ranks. Allied races must be unlocked in order to play them. They’re different from the core races. For example, the Vulpera use the same skeleton as the Goblins. So allied races don’t have a dedicated starter zone.
The starter zone for allied race Death Knights was disappointing. I thought they were going to have a quest line that introduced them to the game. They began their journey in Icecrown which is really cool. After turning in a few quests the game sent me on my way. Death Knights were so epic when they joined WoW in Wrath. Blizzard is making Death Knights and Demon Hunters normal classes in Shadowlands, but hero classes were so awesome due to the class fantasy. The storyline made them must play classes and I’m going to miss the hero class concept unless Blizzard is planning to introduce new hero classes in the future.
World of Warcraft Patch 8.3 Review
Let me know in the comments below for your thoughts on the World of Warcraft Patch 8.3. Do you enjoy Horrific Visions? What do you think of BFA’s ending? The Horde and Alliance have a truce for now. So maybe the faction conflict is finally over. Only time will tell though.
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Spyells