As a long-time WoW player who’s spent countless hours raiding with my guild and tackling 5-man dungeons, I can wholeheartedly empathize with this fellow adventurer’s sentiment. The allure of solo content like Mage Tower or Brawler’s Guild has always been a beacon for those moments when we yearn for a challenge apart from the group grind. Delves, with their promise of self-contained, rewarding adventures, have piqued my curiosity and sparked hope in me.
Last year, Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard, which includes iconic Blizzard series such as World of Warcraft. The initial expansion released under this collaboration is titled World of Warcraft: Conflict Within. Although it maintains a classic Azerothian motif, this expansion may well be the most significant and crucial one for the game in more than ten years.
In my World of Warcraft: The War Within on-going review, one of the aspects I’ve been working to dive deeper into is Delves, its much-lauded small group / solo player content. Delves are small 15-20 minute experiences (according to Blizzard in my recent interview), that are akin to mini dungeons complete with a boss at the end. Delves have 12 tiers, with the 8th and higher rewarding powerful end-game loot on par with Heroic difficulty raids. There’s also a 13th tier that is a challenging boss battle, culminating a mini story quest chain that rewards players with added bragging rights and cosmetic rewards.
So far, I’ve been enjoying myself immensely playing Delves in World of Warcraft as a demonology warlock, equipped with my own demonic bodyguard and tools tailored for solo play. However, it’s important to note that other players have been encountering significant difficulties with Delves due to ongoing balance issues.
As a tech enthusiast, I’m excited about the potential for Blizzard to revolutionize solo and small-group endgame play in World of Warcraft. However, achieving this dream might necessitate a significant shift in design approach, one that could potentially impact other aspects of the game negatively. Balancing Delves is going to be an extremely challenging task.
Balancing challenge with access
For two decades, World of Warcraft has been primarily focused on multiplayer experiences. Back in the day, Blizzard emphasized that one-on-one player versus player combat wouldn’t be well-balanced due to the importance of each class having unique characteristics and skills. If all classes shared the same abilities, it would dilute the distinctive nature of each class fantasy, potentially reducing the need for interaction within the game.
With Delves, Blizzard acknowledges that some World of Warcraft players prefer to play without interacting with others intensely. The game world can sometimes feel exclusive or elitist, with gatekeeping and strict rules. Players often rely on online tier lists to determine class strength, labeling certain classes as “bad” and restricting group content access, even when the differences are minor (as low as 3%). Delves offer a possible escape from this environment, where finding compatible players can be challenging at times.
I’m fortunate to be part of a lively and considerate group of semi-casual gamers who enjoy pushing themselves during seasonal events without undue stress. Finding such a guild, however, took me nearly four decades. New players might not possess the same level of perseverance, especially those who haven’t been hooked on World of Warcraft. For these individuals, Delves could be just the right balance of challenge and accessibility.
In the game Delves, players find themselves in compact dungeons meant for completion within 15-20 minutes (as shared during my previous conversation with Blizzard). Each Delve offers three distinct storylines, altering bosses, narratives, and sometimes even the dungeon structure itself. The illustration below showcases one such scenario where I was tasked with shielding a colossal Leviathan squid from being seized by the necromantic Kobyss.
Over the weekend, I played through some Delves in 2-player co-op with my brother, and we had a blast. The tier-8 difficulty dungeons reward champion gear, which typically come from 20~ player raids or mythic+ difficulty 5-man dungeons, requiring very tight co-ordination and organization. The tier 8 Delves are similarly challenging, requiring careful planning, and class skill utilization. I found myself casting Fear for the first time in years outside of PvP to crowd control monsters, while my bro beat monsters down with his plate-wearing tauren warrior. We had a solid set up for Delves here, with his high-armor making him very tanky, and my demon pets keeping aggro on other monsters while I burned them with fel magic from afar.
However, one challenge with Delves is that it tends to be significantly simpler for certain classes and configurations compared to others.
Delves are great for strong solo classes, and awful for others
As this article gets published, it might no longer be current due to the swift updates Blizzard has been making to Delves in World of Warcraft: The War Within expansion. They’ve been consistently patching and hotfixing these Delves at a rapid speed, even applying certain changes during players’ dungeon runs in some instances.
Blizzard considers resolving issues with Delves as their utmost concern, making frequent adjustments and modifications to the system in diverse ways. To illustrate, a recent change addresses a glitch where Brann, your NPC companion, deals extra damage in certain instances. Those who experienced this glitch found Delves less challenging compared to others. I’m unsure if I’ve encountered this bug or not, but my gameplay experience varies significantly based on the character class I choose.
With my armored brother, we had an amazing time navigating the challenging tier-8 Dungeons (Delves). Our gear was tailored to match the suggested item levels provided by Blizzard, yet these weren’t the quick 15-20 minute adventures they described. Instead, the enemies had an unusually high number of hit points and took a significant amount of time to defeat. The peak of this challenge came when I attempted to run the same tier-6 Dungeon using gear levels suggested by Blizzard with my Discipline Healing Priest.
Update on Delves:Following recent hot fixes, we want to let you know we’re working on additional updates.It’s a top priority for us and we expect to deploy further fixes later today.September 13, 2024
In reality, what I thought would be a 15-20 minute journey turned out to be closer to 45-60 minutes due to the lengthy time it took to defeat the monsters, not because I met an untimely end. Interestingly, my only demise occurred during the final boss battle in this particular run, but the main challenge was the prolonged time it took to slay the monsters as a player specializing in healing.
If Delves are truly designed around the solo player, then in essence, I should be able to complete them efficiently with any class. I have Brann Bronzebeard, the NPC companion players get to partner up with for these “solo” dungeons at level 20. I had him in his damage dealer mode, and still it took an exorbitant amount of time to slowly burn monsters down with the tools I had available to me. This wasn’t the “casual” experience I feel Blizzard sold to me during the initial press run. I’m using the item level recommended to me here, with Brann Bronzebeard in his damage dealing role to compensate my lack of damage. Other players are hitting the same frustrating walls, depending on their class choices.
If Blizzard manages to create Delves as an enjoyable challenge for all specializations, it would represent the long-coveted ideal that solo World of Warcraft players have eagerly anticipated for years.
Many classes don’t have access to short cooldown interrupts, for example. These interrupts have been typically the realm of melee-based classes, and it seems that some bosses (particularly the tier-13 challenge boss) are designed around having access to interrupts. In some cases, players have found that it’s optimal to play these dungeons in a more traditional way, in 5-man groups with a tank, healer, and three damage dealer roles assigned. In other cases, players have found that certain classes have a brutally difficult uphill struggle while other have a total breeze, based on the tools their classes have.
In this dungeon, my discipline priest lacked an interrupt ability, making it difficult for me to stop the final boss from casting a powerful curse spell that dealt heavy damage. Without tools to remove the curse, I had to heal constantly to survive. As the difficulty levels increase, I worry that progressing through the dungeons on this class will only become more challenging.
Compared to other characters, my warlock finds solo play significantly more manageable due to a variety of advantages. These include personal defense, fear and interruption abilities, self-healing capabilities, high continuous direct and area damage, teleportation options, stunning enemies, and numerous additional benefits. Historically, warlocks and other classes have been renowned for their effectiveness in solo play. However, with the introduction of Delves, Blizzard might need to rethink its approach to class balance and design if it intends for this content to serve as its primary focus for solo gaming.
Can World of Warcraft get solo Delves right?
I want to emphasize that I do love a challenge in WoW. Getting the fel fire cosmetic challenge unlocked on my warlock back in Mists of Pandaria is one of the most fun and rewarding things I’ve been able to achieve as a solo player in WoW. Things like the Mage Tower and Brawler’s Guild have fleetingly offered solo players ways to enjoy and challenge themselves beyond the typical group-based content. I’ve also been concerned that Delves could be too rewarding, to the point where highly organized group-based content could become obsolete. Indeed, the highest item level in my weekly reward vault is as a result of the Delves I did this week, rather than any of the raiding or mythic+ 5-man dungeons I did.
Incorporating Brann Bronzebeard and other seasonal NPC companions in these Delve dungeons can serve as a beneficial counterbalance for any class’s weaknesses. However, Brann’s interrupts are somewhat unpredictable, often interfering with inopportune moments, and his damage output is inconsistent, making it challenging to gauge accurately. Moreover, Brann lacks the ability to effectively tank or taunt, which appears to be a missed opportunity for players attempting to solo heal or play as more fragile cloth characters. For instance, as a shadow priest, I still found myself too vulnerable to successfully run the Delve, with Brann failing to divert monsters away from me.
I aim for each run to be as enjoyable and fulfilling as it was when I played alongside my brother. It offered a tough yet satisfying test, involving careful maneuvering around the dungeon’s diverse dangers and strategic use of interruptions and stuns. We managed to finish within the estimated time, roughly 20-30 minutes. The payoff was impressive too – for me, a ring that drained my resources dry just to enhance its magical properties. However, replicating this experience on my healer priest alone was an excruciating, laborious journey.
If Blizzard manages to make Delves enjoyable for all specializations, it would be the long-sought ideal that solo World of Warcraft players have been yearning for since its inception. However, it’s not just a matter of boosting Brann’s damage; some classes lack the necessary tools to tackle specific difficulties. I believe it’s crucial for each class to maintain its strength within its unique role, but Blizzard should reevaluate Brann and the extent of our control over his abilities, particularly his interrupts, if Delves are to truly resonate with players.
I’m absolutely thrilled about Delves, and I hope each encounter feels as rewarding to me as playing my warlock did, unlike the disappointing experience I had with my priest.
You don’t want Delves to be too easy, because it’ll trivialize group content and social play. You don’t want them to be too rewarding either, because again, players will find it’s more efficient to eschew guilds. You also don’t want them to be too hard, because they’re designed around a shorter gameplay loop many casual players absolutely need in order to justify the subscription. You also don’t want to exclude any class or spec from it, because that defines what “solo” play is all about. But you also don’t want them to punish players who do want to play with friends in small groups.
Delves can serve as “all-encompassing” content in World of Warcraft, unlike other endgame activities which have certain restrictions. If Blizzard manages to strike the right balance, delves could significantly boost the game in numerous ways – such as attracting new players, offering chances to explore innovative mechanics, adding depth to the world’s lore in small areas, or simply providing a chance to showcase unique moments that don’t fit elsewhere.
I don’t envy the challenge Blizzard has given themselves here, but the rewards for what Delves could bring World of Warcraft from a game health perspective could be immense. Delves are tantalizing glimpse into what could be one of World of Warcraft’s most important, pivotal features, as it enters its 20th year.
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2024-09-16 22:09