If you quit WoW back during the Shadowlands expansion burnout, or have never picked up the game at all, you’ve almost certainly asked how is world of warcraft now at some point. I’ve been playing the game on and off since Wrath of the Lich King launched back in 2008, and I currently have three max-level characters in the latest expansion, with hours logged across mythic+, casual raiding, and open world collectible grinding. A lot has changed in the last few expansions, and not all of the old complaints about mandatory grind and unbalanced classes still hold true. We’ll break down exactly what the current state of the game looks like for every type of player, so you can decide if it’s time to log back in or make your first character.
How Is World of Warcraft Now for Core Endgame Players?
For players who care most about endgame progression, the current WoW landscape is far more accessible and rewarding than it’s been in years. The latest mythic+ season has a balanced set of affixes that don’t feel like they’re designed to punish groups for small mistakes, and weekly chest rewards scale directly with the highest level key you complete, so you don’t have to run 10+ keys a week to get top tier gear. Raids have four difficulty levels, from the super casual Looking For Raid queue that lets you jump in with random players, to mythic raiding for hardcore groups that want to compete for world first kills. PvP also got a major overhaul recently, with tier sets that work both in arenas and battlegrounds, and a ranked system that rewards you for consistent play instead of just one lucky win streak. But there are still small frustrations: DPS players can wait 20+ minutes for random dungeon or LFR queues, and some high-end mythic+ groups are still extremely strict about item level requirements even for lower keys. If you’re new to endgame, start with mythic 0 dungeons first to learn mechanics before jumping into higher level keys, and you’ll have a far better time.
Class Balance and Gameplay Feel for All Playstyles
One of the biggest complaints about WoW in past expansions was that only a handful of class specs were viable for high-end content, forcing players to swap to meta specs even if they didn’t enjoy the gameplay. That’s no longer the case today, thanks to the talent tree overhauls that rolled out a couple of years ago. Every class now has a fully customizable talent tree that lets you tweak your playstyle to fit your preferences, whether you want to focus on single target damage for raiding, AoE damage for mythic+, or utility to help your group. Most specs are viable for all content up to the very highest tiers of mythic raiding, and the dev team pushes small balance patches every 4 to 6 weeks to fix any specs that are falling too far behind. That said, a small number of niche specs are still underperforming in high end content, so if you’re dead set on pushing world first kills, you’ll still want to check the latest meta reports before picking your main. For 90% of players though, you can play whatever class you find the most fun without worrying about being locked out of groups.
Quality of Life Updates That Make Daily Play Far Less Grindy
The single biggest improvement to WoW in recent years is the number of quality of life updates that have cut out almost all of the mandatory grind players used to deal with. You no longer have to log in every single day to complete daily quests to keep up with progression, and catch-up gear systems let new alts hit the current item level cap in as little as 2 to 3 hours of play, instead of the weeks of grinding you used to have to do. Shared flying unlocks across all characters mean you don’t have to grind reputation or complete tedious achievement lines for every alt you make, and all mount, pet, and transmog collections are shared across your entire account too. Some of the most useful recent QoL updates include:
- Automatic quest turn-ins for most open world content, so you don’t have to run all the way back to an NPC every time you finish a task
- Shared bank space for all crafting materials and battle pets across every character on your server, so you don’t have to mail items between alts anymore
- Flexible raid lockouts that let you join multiple groups for the same raid in one week, so you don’t lose progress if you can’t make your regular guild raid night
Current Community Vibe and In-Game Social Features
After the low point of the Shadowlands expansion, the WoW community has bounced back in a big way, and most players are far friendlier and more welcoming to new and returning players than they used to be. Improved guild search tools let you filter for guilds based on playstyle, from casual social guilds that just run old content and hang out, to hardcore mythic raiding and PvP guilds that have scheduled raid nights. Cross-realm grouping works for almost all content now, so you don’t have to pay to transfer servers to play with friends who are on a different realm, and cross-realm guilds are currently in testing too, so you’ll be able to join a guild with friends on any server soon. You’ll still run into the occasional toxic player in random mythic+ groups or battlegrounds, but the updated report system actually takes action now, and most players will kick toxic members from groups immediately. There are also new in-game events running almost every month, from legacy content runs for rare mounts, to holiday events with exclusive rewards, so there’s always something new to do even if you don’t care about endgame progression.
If you’ve been curious about how is world of warcraft now, you’ll be happy to hear it’s in one of the healthiest states it’s been in for the last decade. It’s no longer the grind-heavy, unbalanced game it was a few expansions ago, and there’s content for every type of player, from casual collectors who want to hunt for mounts and transmogs, to hardcore players who want to push high end mythic+ and raiding. If you’re a returning player, take a few hours to level a new character first to get used to the new talent systems and controls, instead of jumping straight into endgame on your old main. If you’re a brand new player, take your time with the story, there’s decades of incredible lore to explore, and you don’t have to rush to endgame to have fun.
