![]() ![]() In terms of balance, the dungeons do a decent job overall at presenting a relatively fair experience, where a same-level keystone feels about as challenging in each. Trash packs are generally less threatening than BfA Mythic Plus, where a lot of the trash packs were unnecessarily challenging, but there is usually a single or two enemies per trash pack with mechanics that need interrupts, stuns, or other forms of control, so there is still a little bit of the BfA trash flavor while still reducing density of pulls and lowering the number of interrupt/control-required moments. There are trash front-loaded dungeons, trash back-loaded ones, evenly paced ones, a majority with 4 bosses but one with 3 and one with 5 to make it up, and a load of different boss mechanics. Shadowlands has unique dungeons that often deliver on different themes within the same zones, with routes and gameplay flows that are unique to each. Varied Dungeons With Overall Okay Balance: We’ll revisit balance in the cons, since it isn’t all rosy, but here’s my take. In short: it’s interesting as an affix, has an upside as well as a downside, and it works with the variations in each dungeon to deliver a unique experience in each scenario, all of which add up to making a fun, dynamic affix. Some MDI groups even built routes around being able to skip pulling the Prideful, forgoing the buff for the sake of not having to fight the Prideful! Meanwhile, a dungeon like Plaguefall or Spires of Ascension has you getting that final Prideful right on the last boss, after evenly-paced spawns throughout the rest of the dungeon with a mix of boss and trash Pridefuls. ![]() Halls of Atonement will see you get 4 out of 5 Pridefuls before you pull the second of 4 bosses, at least by some easier routes. By using trash percentage as the spawn timer for Prideful, it also highlights the differences in each dungeon. On higher keys and with veteran groups, Prideful itself becomes an interesting game – you can change up routes for Fortified versus Tyrannical weeks to smash through trash mobs with that sweet red glow, or you can pace it such that you get a Prideful for every possible boss. Prideful on low-10 keys feels really interesting, because it creates a bit of a ramp-up where performance isn’t quite so demanding, since the Prideful buff can empower a lower-end group to push on. ![]() It takes time from the core dungeon, yes, but it rewards smart play with the ability to power a group through challenging pulls, and I think that’s part of why the high key game feels so full this season. When learning tanking routes, Prideful creates an incentive for careful route planning and a small punish for poor or non-existent planning. Prideful, the Shadowlands Season 1 affix, is an interesting dynamic. It had a pretty limited implication on the play of most dungeons in the expansion and didn’t add a lot of depth. Strong Seasonal Affix: I played the first seasonal affix back in BfA and it was a cool touch, but also very annoying. I’ve done some every expansion with the system, but not a lot until now, and so some of my judgments are based on that. This will largely be my opinion, backed with some data where I was able to get it, and my perspective is very much that of a keystone novice. Instead, I want to look at SL Season 1 in isolation and explore the things that it has going for it and against it. This is really my first time engaging at this type of level with Mythic Plus, so I’m not going to lean too much on historical play-feel of dungeons in prior seasons. ![]() Today, I want to step higher and evaluate the current season of Shadowlands and how Mythic Plus has been for this season. Yesterday, I wrote a big honking post with the history and explanation of Mythic Plus dungeons and some general pros and cons to them as I saw it. ![]()
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