In over 15 years of WoW, we've seen various features come and go. Many of them seemed pretty good at first glance, but turned out to be a complete waste of time in retrospect. Others, on the other hand, were able to inspire players despite great misgivings. And of course, there were also the features that turned out to be so good that they were adopted permanently. With the upcoming WoW Shadowlands expansion, we will once again be presented with a whole bunch of new features that should make us all want to sink even more time into our favorite MMO. Unlike the current expansion, however, the developers at Blizzard are now focusing on appealing and fun content instead of a tedious grind of repetitive and unchallenging content.
One such new feature is Torghast, the endless dungeon. In different wings and on levels of varying difficulty, we shred our way through hordes of enemies and strengthen our characters every few meters with additional effects that make any balancing in raids or raids absolutely impossible. Within the instanced environment, however, there are no limits for the developers in terms of effects, no matter how wacky they are. That alone would be enough to lure many players in there. On top of that, the layout and the enemies change with every visit, so no two runs are the same. It gets really fun in a group when five heroes go on a rampage with completely overpowered abilities.
At the request of the players, Blizzard has also abolished any access restrictions at the start of the beta. So you can go in there as often and as much as you want. No more unnecessary farming of resources as an entrance ticket.
WoW Shadowlands: First look at Torghast - Video World of Warcraft from €14.99
And we too have spent hour after hour in Torghast. Partly for the campaign of our own pact, but partly just because it's enormous fun to transform into a running battle machine with the various buffs. With all the joy, however, we also noticed a few negative points. As we all know, there are two sides to every coin and our editor Phil is already sure that he will curse the introduction of Torghast. He will love the endless dungeon as much as he will hate it. He explains why in the following.
Extremely varied, yet monotonous
Torghast was developed with the intention of making every visit unique. This has also succeeded in the basic features. Enemies as well as the environment and especially the buffs vary every time you start. So you will hardly ever experience a wing the same way twice. This alone ensures that no negative feelings arise when thinking about the next visit to the endless dungeon. In addition, the variance is higher than it was, for example, in the island expeditions.
Source: buffed Source: buffedNevertheless, a certain monotony sets in at some point. Because, and this may be due to the state of the beta, the amount of different settings and enemy types is quite manageable. Even though you never run through the same dungeon, everything seems the same at some point. It's a bit like playing all the Troll dungeons and raids from WoW (buy now €14.99) in a row. They are all different, but somehow all the same.
Necessary visits, but fun nonetheless
One negative point of Torghast is that you won't get around him at all. You'll already see it in the leveling phase, and later you'll be sent into it several times during the Pact campaign. In addition, you'll have to earn your materials for your Legendarys here. So if you don't like this feature, you're simply out of luck. Here, for example, the island expeditions were much better. If you didn't like them, you didn't have to set foot on any of the islands and still got through Battle for Azeroth just fine.
On the other hand, Torghast is a lot more fun than other "necessary" content. If you only complete the necessary visits for your materials and the quests, you probably won't feel monotonous. This is because you only visit each of the different wings once during the campaign - so a high degree of variety is guaranteed.
Atmospherically ingenious, but boring in parts
WoW Shadowlands: Torghast - why I will love and hate you - Column (9)
Source: buffed
The endless dungeon is also visually appealing. Some areas are inevitably reminiscent of a gigantic prison, where an infinite number of prisoners have to suffer eternal damnation. Huge cell blocks and chained souls are just as much a part of it as the screams of tortured and tortured inmates from afar. Fittingly, we face bosses that, even at first sight, look as if they would be only too happy to cause our hero endless pain for all eternity.
In other areas, however, Torghast is more reminiscent of the basic form of a linear dungeon, where the developers forgot to include the final details. Endless tunnels full of repetitive walls, gates and, accordingly, the same textures. In addition, it happened more than once that we had to fight with the same kind of 08/15 monsters for minutes on end. Here Torghast seemed more like a trial by fire. Only that we still had to run around.
Great challenge, but too much of a random factor
In endless mode, Torghast is also supposed to be a challenge for the players. They should fight their way up level by level and encounter increasingly nasty enemies. In theory, this sounds excellent. And as long as Blizzard can halfway balance the increase in difficulty with the growing strength from the buffs, I'm also very positive about it. Who doesn't like to face a difficult challenge. Even the trial by fire and especially the mage tower showed how much fun most players have with something like that - and I'm no exception.
Source: buffed Source: buffedHowever, there is still one negative point that can already be seen in the beta: the high random factor. Be it the distributed enemies, some of which are clearly more dangerous than others, or especially the various buffs that are available. These are also not fixed. While you get the strongest epic buffs during one run and thus mutate into walking fighting machines, you might be unlucky during the next visit and run 1,800 percent faster after three days, but are still just as strong as at the beginning. However, the developers have already countered this by allowing you to buy the buffs bit by bit. In return, you earn a currency during the run that can't be used for anything else. This way, the random factor is at least ironed out a bit.
Endless mode, but endless mode...
The last item on my list is the endless mode itself. It's great that we get to play something that is obviously fun to infinity. Whenever someone feels like it, off to Torghast. Whenever someone wants to play together, off to Torghast. Whenever I have nothing to do, off to Torghast. No restriction, no manifest visions farming, no ID reset waiting and no long group searching. If you want, you can spend the whole day in it and also spend hour after hour in endless mode. Sounds good, but is it? WoW Shadowlands: Torghast - why I will love and hate you - Column (8) Source: buffed
For one, I'm less than thrilled with the adjustment in the alpha to no longer have any timers in endless mode. Don't misunderstand: I don't want massive time pressure in Torghast. But I also don't want to eventually be required to wait minutes after every party or boss until my cooldowns are ready again and the debuff from Heroism/Battle Frenzy has run out. But that's what it's going to come down to, assuming you want to get to the top levels (and Blizzard doesn't change anything here). And also the tactile thing that I can always and at any time go to Torghast raises a few fears in me. How quickly will I get tired of Torghast, despite the variety? Can I set limits for myself? After all, we will have to go there again and again for a long, long time.
You see, I'm extremely ambivalent about whether I should love or hate Torghast
.
It'sprobably going to be a lot like Mythic Plus dungeons, which I sometimes play enthusiastically for the entire weekend and sometimes visit for weeks just to get the 15 stone I need.
But what's your opinion - based on what you know about Torghast so far, are you looking forward to trying it out or is the endless dungeon not really blowing you away?
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