Maldraxxus – The Climb #642

Wednesday 25^th November 2020

Maldraxxus is the zone I’ve been least looking forward to. It suffers a bit with middle-zone syndrome, where the excitement of launch has worn off, the big story beats are either behind or ahead, and the grind starts to set in.

For the main I’m levelling, Maldraxxus could have been a good RP choice. They’re a Death Knight and this place oozes Scourge aesthetic. Except, I dislike that aesthetic. Western Plaguelands never really captivated me as a player, and this has a similar feel.

Storywise, it’s been good. We arrived after the attack on bastion to find the houses of Maldraxus at war. There’s a great little opening that throws you right in the middle of battle, but even with all this, this is still a zone to get through rather than languish in.

For a zone I’d really not been looking forward to, it did a good job of holding my attention. I enjoyed my time here but it’s made me certain that Maldraxxus is not the covenant for me.

Something that’s really struck me about Shadowlands is the zone size. Since Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard’s been great at creating environments. It’s one of the things I love about the game. They can hide two quest areas either side of a small hill and make it feel like they are miles away.

I’ve heard people say that the zones in Shadowlands are huge but I don’t think that’s true. If anything, they seem smaller to me. Obviously, Blizzard have been up to their old tricks to make it feel so, but they’ve also added a lot of verticality this expansion.

In prior expansions, lands might rise and fall to give a new expansion areas of height, but you could always take a very top down look to it all. Now, there are overhangs. With the lack of flying, it makes the zones appear larger than they are. It also makes them more frustrating to navigate if you’re not following the set paths.

Only a few weeks ago, I was marveling at the space of zone like Valley of the Four Winds or even Icecrown, but here it feels tightly packed. Maldraxxus tries to give space by having giving room around the central Theatre of Pain, but that’s ringed by mountains beyond which a lot seems to be crammed.

For the average player it’s not going to be a problem. I only noticed because I love Blizzard’s environment design. This just feels a little over optimised. Whereas before it was subtle, this seems much more obvious. I’d like to think whatever costsaving has been made from making the zones physically smaller (either in terms of processing power or manhours) it’s been invested into the verticality.

Next on my tour of the Shadowlands is Ardenweald. I only have a few more levels to go, so it’s possible I might reach max level here. A load of beta players have said it’s one of their favourite zones ever made, so I’m keen to dive in and continue my journey.