Pig & Whistle Tales - A World of Warcraft Podcast

Is the Drive System Driving You Crazy? Let's Find Out!

• Gabriel • Season 4 • Episode 92

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The latest patch introduces the Drive System, which aims to transform movement in WoW. While there are exciting changes, challenges remain with navigating the new mechanics.

• Overview of the new Drive System mechanics and their effects 
• Highlights from the weekly news in World of Warcraft 
• Discussion on the recent balance changes affecting various classes 
• Insight into the questing experience introduced in the latest patch 
• Exploration of player feedback regarding the new movement dynamics 
• Final thoughts on the overall impact of the patch on gameplay  


Hope you all enjoy and hope you relate to any of these stories. And I will speak to you all in the next episode!

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Speaker 1:

Music. Thank you, hello and welcome to the Pig and Whistle Tales from Azeroth. As always here at the Pig and Whistle Inn in Stormwind, I go for a variety of subjects with regards to World of Warcraft. A bottle or a pint, sit back and enjoy this episode. We'll be looking at the latest patch in World of Warcraft. We're going to be looking at 11.1. I've already forgotten the name of it the Undermined. That's the one.

Speaker 1:

Now we're going to be diving into essentially what the drive system's like questing, the feel of the zone, balance changes all of them different bits and bobs. But, as always, we'll start off with the weekly news. We have Aggregation of Horror as your world boss for the week. This can be located within the Ringing Deeps, the very southern part of the Ringing Deeps. World quests are your bonus event for the week. This is essentially you get more reputation for completing world quests, very simple. So if you're looking to farm anything from old content, please do it via world quest. They do give you a decent amount of reputation.

Speaker 1:

At the moment, warsong scramble is your brawl for the week. This is essentially warsong gulch, but you have three different flags. Each of these flags can be picked up, taken back to your base and you need a total of 10 flags to win. Very simple, very decent. Well, I say decent, this is probably one of the better battlegrounds. To be honest, I very much enjoy this battleground, so do test it out if you want to. You can test out all of the balance changes, different class stuff that's happened the changes to marksmanship, hunter to enhance shamans, wind walkers, all of that. Um, yeah, it's, it's a very good spot to test out these bits and bobs, so please do so and please make use of it.

Speaker 1:

But we will start off with the drive system. This is the biggest part of the patch, in my honest opinion, and this is something that is going to be looking, um, to go forward in world of warcraft from here on out. The drive system, or the drive system as it's more actually known as, because it's, you know, a full stop in between every, or an, not an ellipsis, I forget the name of the word, the technical name for it, but it's a full stop essentially in between every single letter. So D-R-I-V-E. This is a system that is the same as dragon riding for your ground mounts. So the idea is that you can drift within these cars and drifting will give you back some boost.

Speaker 1:

Now. For people, this can be quite tough because people don't like the drifting idea. The problem that I have with it is that I get that it might feel like it's built for the drifting system, like the zone itself, but at the same time, it feels like it's a bit too tight around some corners. Okay, now, what I mean by this is that you're going to be comparing this to dragon riding. Yeah, because this is essentially the equivalent of you go from normal flying mounts as a burning crusade version, where you just go in a straight line, to dragon riding when it's very free, flowing and, you know, very open, and you're going from ground mounts, which again go in a straight line, to something that is very fast but can only still go on the ground. So what I mean by this is you, instead of having the entire open sky, you have buildings that you've got to contend with. You have turns, twists and turns that you have to contend with. You have turns, twists and turns that you have to contend with.

Speaker 1:

This is the problem with drive at the moment. It feels like you almost have not a lot of control, and I get that the drifting, you can alter how quickly you drift and stuff. But honestly I think you can do it via a your where you're pointing your mouse. If that makes sense, you can me it could be a bit more responsive. Uh, the drifting um, and I feel like the zone isn't actually built for the drive system. Like am I crazy? Like I get that there are these main roads and these are the main roads that you're meant to be kind of sticking into um or sticking to, and then obviously you get off your mount or you take it a bit slower when you're going off road and stuff, but I don't know, it feels like it isn't as clean as it could be. And I get that. This is the first zone that they've done it in and there's obviously will be improvements going forward and bits and bobs and kinks that they have to figure out and stuff.

Speaker 1:

But it's a bit of an annoyance sometimes but at the same time it's also a very new system. It's a brand new system that people need to get used to and this includes myself, because I'm certainly not used to this system. So it's tough. It's tough to get a gauge on it. I don't think it's as accepted as what Dragon Riding was or, honestly, just complete almost. I feel like there are a bit more things that you could do to help it, um, but I at the same time think that it does need a bit more time to grow because obviously, making ground sort of mounts that go at this speed are going to be a lot more difficult to approach because you don't have the openness of the sky, essentially in comparison to Dragon Riding mounts. Now, I think that Drive will still be very good. I think this is the patch where it will be a bit rusty, same with this expansion.

Speaker 1:

I think that this expansion, the Drive will be a bit rusty In Midnight. I think it will be a lot better. What I would like them to do is have sort of a area with player housing in midnight where you can test out the drive system, test out dragon riding, get used to it, maybe have like a course in the back or like around in one of these neighborhoods that they're planning to put into the game, like when the housing system comes out, where you can test drive and make races yourselves, like you just have an open plane of like land essentially, and you can make races yourself so that you can race people in your neighborhood for gold or something. Honestly, I'm, I'm, I'm not against that idea. I came up with that at the top of my head. I really hope that they put that in, because that'd be a good way of making gold just doing the races, um, but that's besides the point. I think that the drive system will be good.

Speaker 1:

I think that it will need an expansion, though I don't think it's going to be. Now that I've been able to test it more, it's not as good as what dragon riding was, and that's a shame because I think that it's actually an enjoyable thing. But I how do I say this? When I get to the top speed of my car, I love it. I love it and I love being able to do the drift, the big turns around the incontinental hotel and stuff. I love that open area, but when it gets to, I have to slow down in order to make this turn. It's kind of like not great, because you'll feel like you're not going as fast as you can or you're not getting that sort of rush, because in dragon riding you have to be going as fast as you can to restore your vigor. Now, the vigor is obviously what you use in order to propel yourself forward. Use your dragon riding abilities, but in order for you to get your boost in the drive system you have to drift and there is simply not enough turns to drift or you don't get it back at a very good rate. It is relatively slow the rate in which you get this boost meter back. So you know there's pros and cons to it, but I think it will need a another sort of several months to get used to and I think blizzard will accommodate the next zones that they make to have the drive system and I think it will be better because of this.

Speaker 1:

I think if you slap the drive system into something like let's let's say, dawn a goal, I think that it is a instant 10 out of 10. I think it's an instant hit because dawn a goal is very blocky is the best way that I can describe it. Um, there's no twisting and turning. There's very much much. This is a hexagon. There you slap the hexagon. This is a square. Here you just slap the square.

Speaker 1:

You know, what I would like is to be able to ride these mounts in Dorna Gold, because I can sit there around my PVP vendor and just do donuts around this middle part, this like hammer statue outside the PVPp vendor. That's more entertaining than just standing there. So imagine, oh my god, when we were playing shadowlands and everyone was in oribos. Imagine having the drive system. Imagine that everyone's just tokyo, drifting around the middle of this like city center. How fun would that be like? That's what this is used for, in my opinion, this is what that is going to be used for, and I don't think that that's a bad thing. I genuinely don't.

Speaker 1:

I think Dorna Goal and, like most of the zones, are accommodated to actually incorporate this drive system. So I would like to see them test out the drive system outside of the Undermine. I genuinely would. I think that it would be a massive success. I think it would be more of a success doing that in any other zone apart from the Undermine right now. I genuinely do, and that's the weird thing. It's like they built it for this patch, but the previous patch in 9.0 is the perfect patch for this drive system, which doesn't make any sense. Um, so I really want them to enable it, just so that we can try it, test it out. People in the cities might enjoy it, who knows? We'll figure all of that out, but they need to change the drift system in terms of how much boost you get for doing the drifting. Okay, that's what they need to change, I think, and I think that that's all it needs really. Maybe if you want something else like um, like a super jump, like or something kind of deal you know, ability, something like that um, you need ways to knock people off of their mounts, maybe for world pvp. You know there's many different ways in which you can go about this, but I think that it'll be good, it just needs time. Okay, that's my sort of analysis on that drive system, the quests in the undermine now I've done everything that I can in terms of the main storyline quests and I would say that it's been very successful.

Speaker 1:

I would say that it's a very successful sort of story mission so far. You kind of get the idea that some shit's happening, you get where the story is going and that it will eventually lead you into the Galagio, which is the next raid of the expansion, and it's a solid questing experience. Okay, you cannot do the entire thing yet. You have to wait a couple of weeks until you can do the last two chapters, but I think that it is a solid experience. But I think it's a little bit underwhelming because of the drive system and trying to get to the places where the quests are using this drive system. That's kind of how I feel, because it's like, oh, it's in a very cramped part of town where there's not really any roads, I'm just going to be bumper-carring myself all the way there and it's not really fun when you do that. I'm not going to lie. So the quests are good. I think they're very solid. They lead the story forward a bit more, which is what they want to do, because obviously the War Within is the starting point of a trilogy of storytelling expansions. People need to remember this. They are going for story and longevity here, not just everything's got to be done within the war, within OK, so you have to keep that in mind. Please keep that in mind. Mind, please keep that in mind.

Speaker 1:

The feel of the zone honestly, the jazz is annoying, but at the same time I love it and I don't know how to describe that. So when I loaded into the zone, I immediately didn't like the sort of music taste that, anything like that. And then I got a. I spent a little bit more time in the zone and then it clicked. Something clicked inside my brain and it's like this is like 1930s detective Like. If you've ever played the game LA Noire, that is what this entire zone reminds me of. It's like criminal gangs, these cartels and stuff, and the music is very 1930s jazz kind of deal and once it clicked for me that was the sort of thing that they wanted. Then I understood the zone and I was a bit more happy with the music.

Speaker 1:

And look, the arena itself that was added in this patch. I don't like it. I don't like the arena map, the music in the starting room. I think that's good and you're gonna say, well, that's just jazz, yes, but it's, it was different. It was a different tone. Almost it was more upbeat rather than, um, criminal, underworldy sort of jazz is the best way that I can describe it. I really don't know how to describe that.

Speaker 1:

But the zone itself does feel like a goblin zone. It feels like you've made a goblin. You've made a goblin and you're in the goblin starter zone. And I'm not going to lie, I get that it is a goblin zone, but I just never liked it and I think that my judgment is going to be very biased on the basis of I just don't like goblin stuff in World of Warcraft. I really don't. The only goblin sort of place that I've enjoyed in World of Warcraft is Booty Bay. That is the only place I've ever enjoyed in World of Warcraft and it's kind of upsetting because I think that they've done a decent job with the layout of the map, with how it looks, with what's there. You obviously have a golf course, you have a dump, you have like pool, like a makeshift beach, essentially. So it's very goblin orientated, which it obviously is. It's going to be a goblin patch, but I think that they have nailed the goblin. Look for it as sort of a major city for goblins. I think that they did very well and I think that it's not the best 0.1 patch. It really really isn't, and I'm sorry to say it, but it isn't.

Speaker 1:

0.1 patches are there to introduce big mechanics that might have a big defining, like longevity, like life in the game itself. So, for example, you obviously had the drive system. Um, for example, back in, mr pandaria, timeless isles was obviously the not or the 0.1 patch, and timeless isles has always been iconic as being one of the better 0.1 patches because it was the first to introduce this like daily hub thing, essentially this island of daily hub where you can like get uh currencies, get reputations and stuff like that, and that has been a sort of long-standing thing in world of warcraft ever since, kind of deal. Um, this is the same with, like shadowlands. When they brought in zareth mortis with bfa. When they brought in, I can't remember what the point one patch was.

Speaker 1:

Was it mechagon? I think it was mechagon. Um, so these have been like all throughout. Wow, in legion, it was the broken shore. Um, in warlords of draenor, I think it was. Oh god, actually warlords of draenor probably got nothing because it was so much cut content. So, yeah, I don't think warlords of draenor got anything. No, it was tanan jungle. It was tanan jungle where you got a questing hub there, I believe. Um, but yeah, a lot of content was cut in Warlords of Draenor. So I just disregard that point.

Speaker 1:

But I think that them introducing the drive mechanic is the main focus of the patch and I think that as long as they can say, yep, the drive mechanic was a success or it wasn't a success because of these reasons, let's work on these reasons and this can be something going forward in the game as a longevity sort of thing, I think that they'll see that as a success. I I genuinely would. So the feel is very good and the idea of a 0.1 patch, yet again I would say, is very good. I I would say it's a very solid, like solid patch, but again it's. It's tough to compare it when you're not being, or you're trying so hard not to be biased, because I really don't like goblin stuff in wow and it's tough to like oversee that.

Speaker 1:

Essentially now, the balance changes in wow obviously come through with these major patches. There were multitudes of balance changes. There were entire reworks for enhanced shaman, for mm hunters, um, loads of different small balance changes, but the biggest one that I am concerned with is Arms Warrior firstly, and Wind Walker Monks. Okay, now I know that this is going to change when we get gear PvE and PvP gear. I know that this is going to change. Um, the numbers obviously are going to be scaled for that maximum level, but we will see um.

Speaker 1:

So far, if anyone's gone up against windwalker monks, you'll be noticing that they are doing a substantial amount of damage, a ridiculous amount of damage, some might say, and this is because of slicing winds. Slicing winds was an ability that was brought over from plunder storm that you can use as a wind walker monk. Now it hits me for about 3.3 mil on a crit. Okay, there's a 30 second cooldown and it's critting me for that. Imagine that burst window when it's doing half of my health as one hit. It's pretty crazy, isn't it? Um, not many things can keep up with that damage output genuinely not many things. So the numbers are obviously going to be a bit buggy and fried at the moment, but you just have to deal with it, because once gear starts to come out and people are gearing their characters, the damage isn't going to move that much, but your health bar certainly will go up. Okay, so you do have to take this into account and please make sure that you aren't going crazy on the forums and being like oh my God, this is so overtuned at the moment it's ridiculous. The numbers are going to be quirky. Okay, they just will be.

Speaker 1:

It's the way that the game is and the way that they've, you know, done the patch and done all the balance changes and stuff they could have definitely looked into, maybe testing out some of the PvP gear, maybe some of the raiding gear. Actually, I think they did the raiding gear, more PvP gear, but that's besides the point. It is what it is, I'm afraid. Look overall, I would say that the patch is not the best. Obviously it's not going to be the best. The best is very tough to beat when it comes to a 0.1 patch. You're probably looking towards Legion and the Broken Shore patch for that Something along them lines. But I think that the drive system is going to be a very longevity thing and I think that it will turn out good. I think that the zone is a perfect feel for what they're going for and I think that they have nailed it. Even though I don't personally enjoy it, I think that they have nailed it.

Speaker 1:

The quests are good. They're somewhat engaging, but sometimes because you can't fly to them, you only have the drive system or normal mount, you obviously have a bit more of a tedious time getting to them. So again, it's great that they are very simple quests and you know, quite easy to keep with and see what's happening and stuff, but at the same time just annoying to get to because of the drive system. You want to test out the drive system but down where some of the quests are, you can't really get there in a very clean manner, not unless you're taking it very slow driving, but who's going to do that? All right, if you want to play some bumper cars, let's just play bumper cars. It is quite funny. When you slam into a wall at very high speed, you just bounce back. It's like your car's made of rubber. It's actually amazing, by the way, um, you should try it. But look, I think that it's going to be a decent patch. I don't think it's going to be a make or break one. I think what will make or break it is how quickly they get out the next patch genuinely, and I think that they are going to be very quick with getting out the next patch, as I believe that there was an encrypted one that was already put up onto their sort of um testing, their internal testing. So we'll see who knows, but I love it so far.

Speaker 1:

I want to see the changes actually take motion. I want to see what matters come out of it when it comes down to pvp, pve the raiding, race to world first we have to look forward to. I want to see the raid itself. I don't raid personally, but I love watching the race to world first, so there's many different things to look forward to. Just have a chilled week or two from wow. You have no reason to rush gearing. Gearing isn't even possible right now. So it's time to just take in the new mechanics, the new zone and have some fun with it. Do some some do something that you might not have done before in wow. Do some pet battles, do some old raids, do some pvp wars on scramble, you know, have some fun in it and just explore. Next week you can go like all out trying to gear and all that stuff, like you usually do. But that is where I will end it for this episode.

Speaker 1:

Thank you all very much for listening. Do check out all of the socials down below constant stuff happening, as well as on the etsy shop multiple things going up there every single well day. I try to, but obviously some things take a bit longer. Uh, helmet domination has just gone up. I am in the works of making something that a lot of people will like, so please stay tuned for that. It's, um, something to do with this current expansion, but it's also to do with legion, so you know there's a little bit of a teaser for you. But do check out the az stuff constant stuff on there, like for wow players, dnd, everything. Thank you all very much once again and go with valor friend. Goodbye all, thank you.