Article is dancing around how exploitative certain abilities are. Shadowmeld and Cloak literally ruin the strategy and balance of these dungeons.
As a pug tank player i dont see why the hate the awakened.The possibility of routes is incredible and helps a lot on runs,kills the overcap and can be adapted for the affixes of the weeki got +15 on every dungeon except tol dagor (im going to try next week since sanguine f a lot the dg) and it has been a nice journey.i got flamed 2 or one time and i got actually help on route in ataldazar that make us complete on time.it IS a incredible affix that balance very well all the dg
It would be nice if some dungeons had alternative affixes when certain combinations are in play. I have run Waycrest Manor and Mechagon Junkyard this week. Waycrest was horrible because of Sanguine and Quaking together. Half the time it felt like we were fighting inside a phone booth that was rapidly filling with water. Maneuvering options became more limited over time, and as a melee DPS it was brutal to try to stay on target while the floor was basically lava. Mechagon Junkyard was actually fun, because Sanguine and Quaking felt challenging rather than punishing.
I think this was super cool, but there were a couple of weird aspects about it. Some were a lot more fun then others. Awakened and Reaping are super fun, but the Azshara one was kinda annoying, IMO.The problem with that is that if you don't like a particular one, there's nothing you can do about it for a whole season.Sometimes there's a certain modifier combination that's horrible for one specific dungeon, but you wait a few days and they change, but these ones, you have to endure them for several months. And at the same time, when one is super cool and the season ends, you're never getting that mechanic back.I really hope they add a variation of Reaping (and I think it would be very thematic for Shadowlands) as part of the non-seasonal ones.
I actually thought awakened puts to much pressure on the tank. Tanks already have a lot of work to do in a dungeon and the awakened affix added another knowledge level that I have seen burned quite a few of our guild tanks out. Like the idea, I just dislike putting more responsibility on the tanks shoulders.
I really don't understand the hate towards Awakened. This has been hands down the most fun affix I've ever experienced. The possibilities are nearly endless on how you do your dungeon, who you fight where, and how you time it. I PUG almost every single one of my M+ runs, Tank and Healer, and Awakened is simple and even if you're not sure a direction, it helps to be honest and let them know "hey, i'm not familiar with the best route but let me know at any time advice you guys have!". Maybe players are forgetting the MMO and social aspect of M+? Does it hurt to be vulnerable and ask them to give pointers on their best route? When I first tanked them, I told every group that "i don't know the optimal route, so shout whenever you want what you think works better". Guess what happened? I didn't get kicked once and i timed every single one of those 10+ runs. Awakened stands to be hands down my favorite. I really hope we see something similar to a degree in SL to enjoy. I'm gonna have to watch a video of those players fighting every obi at the end cuz that sounds amazing.
As a mostly PuG tank as well, I really disliked Awakened for the same reasons. I just want to get my weekly 10-15s done, and I didn't want to have to think too hard about the route I took to finish it. All the previous seasonal affixes didn't require excessive planning in PuGs. You just dealt with them as they came along and it worked fine.But for Awakened, everyone expects the tank to have an elaborate route planned beforehand (that doesn't also involve them having to do something fancy like kiting mobs away from obelisks and dropping aggro because they just want to blindly DPS while you do all the heavy lifting/planning). Saying upfront you're not doing skips is a one-way ticket to getting kicked (even as a tank).Recently I've cautiously started to do +10s, and coming up with generic PuG routes that can be done regardless of group composition or affixes so that, once again, I don't have to think so hard about where to go every time I pug an M+. I can certainly see the appeal for premades pushing high keys. Awakened gives them a level of control over the route they take through the dungeon that was never really there with the previous seasonal affixes. It's something I would certainly do as well if I ever get into a premade team myself.But right now in PuGs? Awakened just causes more grief when you encounter egotistical DPS who think they know a better route, but don't want to take the responsibility of planning or leading the group through it.
Reaping was and Awakened is fun. Infested and Beguiling were horrible. However the seasonal affixes could be reitterated upon. However the base affixes really need to be looked at and several redesigned.
What I'd like to see :