We’re almost two months into the patch, so I thought I’d talk about some of the content. When the Timeless Isle was released, I was pretty excited. It was largely free-form content. In many ways, it mirrored the feeling of World of Warcraft when it was first released. I didn’t have particular expectations. There were no grinds of dailies. I was just able to explore and find things to do. I talked to Wrathion and his friends, got sent around the island, and met the Emperor. I killed some random monsters and did some platforming to find some treasure chests. I even bested the Celestials in battle, earned by legendary cloak, and fought Ordos. I was excited and incredibly happy with the Timeless Isle. I loved platforming to reach chests, and I particularly enjoyed getting carried by a bird to the top of a mountain.
Soon I began working on it a bit more. I wanted to complete the weekly so I could see the vision. I wanted to kill Yaungol so I could earn reputation with Emperor Shaohao. I wanted to get more armor from the island so I could use Burdens of Eternity on them, even if they’d only provide a small upgrade.
Soon I realized that there wasn’t an abundance of fun to reach chests. Platforming was very limited. The second week on the Timeless Isle, I didn’t quite finish gathering enough Epoch Stones to complete my quest and earn a vision. The next week I still hadn’t finished it. Fast-forward until today, and I’ve still only turned in the quest once and currently have 27/50 Epoch Stones.
Looking at my quest log, I see that I’m supposed to kill Yaungol for Emperor Shaohao, kill Elite creatures for Emperor Shaohao, kill Rare or Rare Elite creatures for Kairoz, and kill everything for Epoch Stones for Kairoz. These don’t scream fun to me. In fact, they seem pretty terrible. At least the Isle of Giant was even looser. This just feels fake. I have a few different quests, but really I’m just so run around killing things haphazardly. I primarily play to experience the content, see the story, and challenge myself. Challenge doesn’t really apply to this type of content, so let’s disregard that. I’ve already experienced the content. The Timeless Isle is now asking me to experience the same content again and again. I’m missing some story, but I feel like I’d be better off watching the visions on YouTube than continuing.
I do like PVPing, and I purchased the Censer of Eternal Agony, but I’ve never even used it honestly. I don’t really want to screw with people who are trying to get things done. I’d rather go do some battlegrounds. The Burdens of Eternity could provide me with some minor upgrades, but they’re not enough to really motivate me.
It’s really too bad. I’m not trying to say that the Timeless Isle is bad. A lot of people enjoy it, and that’s great. Unfortunately, it’s just not for me I suppose. When I first explored the island, it reminded me of the way exploring World of Warcraft felt for the first time. In many ways, it mirrored the experience of the game. That exploration is much more limited than implied. I understand what it wants and requires, and it offers a lot less than I originally thought. Perspective changes.
For now, I’ll fly out to the Isle once per week to spam smite at Ordos and to tag a Celestial right before the kill.
earthwormgem
Peter (Devee)
Kor'kron 501st 
I think the important thing here is that Blizzard is trying to give you choices. So you need Epoch Stones. Do you…
1, go hunt rares?
2, group up and kill the Ordos elites?
3, go slaughter poor frogs?
4, something else?
You’re given an objective and can pick your favorite way to accomplish it instead of “Go kill 10 Mogu, then go kill 10 Mantid, then go kill 10 Zandalari.”
In general, it’s supposed to feel more organic (which is why 2/3 of the quests are weekly rather than daily) — go there when you want, help kill a few rares, kill some elites between the rares, and make some progress on all the quests. Can spend as much time or as little time as desired (in stark contrast to dailies where you need to do X amount every day or fall behind and can’t do more than X amount).
“Challenge doesn’t really apply to this type of content”
Eh. You tried soloing the elites in the Ordos Sanctuary?
“Poor” frogs? Those frogs are evil.
You make it sound like I’ve done something wrong. Lots of people enjoy it, but I find it boring. Yes, I have tried that. Atonement is only so powerful, and I don’t last very long. I didn’t say that there wasn’t difficult content there. The challenge in WoW that I enjoy is that from battlegrounds and from raid progression. Killing mobs on the Timeless Isle isn’t fun, so I stopped. The alternative for Blizzard would be for me to continue doing things I hate until I quit the game, which I think is much worse. Players who partake in content they don’t enjoy are wasting their time.
The Timeless Isle is a lot like most other zones, honestly. I liked the Jade Forest, but I don’t go back there. I liked every zone in Mists of Pandaria actually, but the Timeless Isle has an expectation that you’re going to come back. I enjoyed it, and now I’m done with it.
I think I come off more negative than I intend. I don’t think it was a mistake. I think it was cool and an improvement over the Isle of Thunder (which I also enjoyed but then stopped visiting). I’m just explaining why I’m done with it.
“I think I come off more negative than I intend. I don’t think it was a mistake. I think it was cool and an improvement over the Isle of Thunder (which I also enjoyed but then stopped visiting)”
Yeah, that definitely didn’t come across :)
It sounded to me like you were saying you liked the dailies of 5.0 and 5.2 over the Timeless Isle which very much confused me (I definitely liked the 5.1 dailies, though).
“You make it sound like I’ve done something wrong.”
More that you seemed inconsistent. Sounded like you were saying “I HATE KILLING THE SAME MOBS AND DOING THE SAME QUESTS OVER AND OVER AND OVER but normal dailies are cool with me.”
“Atonement is only so powerful, and I don’t last very long.”
Just due to not being able to dodge for an extended period of time? Shadow would definitely help — another trick is that you can Void Tendril them as a priest which helps.
“I liked every zone in Mists of Pandaria actually, but the Timeless Isle has an expectation that you’re going to come back”
Fair enough. The main part of “coming back” for Timeless Isle is for achievement hunters, pet collectors, mount chasers, or people going after 535 items. If you don’t care about any of those, then yeah, there’s not much to do. Which I don’t think is a bad thing since those people have raids and PvP.
Definitely my mistake. To summarize, I thought 5.0 dailies and reputation were horrible. I enjoyed the 5.1 daily system; I still got bored of the dailies, but the regular quests that were sprinkled into the system helped. The Isle of Thunder was interesting. I loved the story and the use of scenarios. Eventually I started getting tired of the dailies. After an unlock, I would usually do the dailies once and then wait for the next unlock. Considering all the systems as a whole, however, I’d say I loved the diversity. I’d rather have an expansion of various systems so that when I get bored, I can choose to stop and wait to see the next patch’s systems. Oh, and I didn’t even think of Battlefield: Barrens. Obviously, that’s very different but another interesting choice.
“Considering all the systems as a whole, however, I’d say I loved the diversity.”
Well…I still think we should avoid the 5.0 situation again.
Battlefield: Barrens and Timeless Isle are effectively equivalent — if anything Timeless Isle is simple Barrens with far more stuff to do. I mean, ideally, we’d have progressive unlocking with regular quests and the exploration of Timeless Isle, but I’d settle for a mix of 5.1/5.2/5.4.
“I particularly enjoyed getting carried by a bird to the top of a mountain.”
I STILL have not seen one freaking live bird.
I still see them on Kil’jaeden when I fight the world bosses. When I used one, which was during the first week, I found the best place to try was to the west of the lake that’s north of the Celestial Court.