The new direction for Mythic Keystones in Dragonflight Season 2 has caused great concern among fans in the World of Warcraft community. Ever since their inception in Legion, Mythic Keystone dungeons in World of Warcraft were accompanied by affixes, with Battle for Azeroth introducing seasonal affixes to the mix. As seasons and expansions went by, the development team attempted several reworks to affixes based on player feedback, and the overhaul in Embers of Neltharion is their latest, and perhaps most radical, attempt yet.
Embers of Neltharion is removing seasonal affixes in World of Warcraft, but also adding three new ones to fill the void: Entangling, Accursed, and Incorporeal. In addition to the newcomers, players can expect to tackle a revamped Explosive affix, where its health pools have significantly increased at the expense of reducing their spawn rate. While the Public Test Realms allow Blizzard to collect valuable feedback and make changes before a patch hits live servers, the initial reaction to the new affixes has largely been negative.
From the official forums to Twitter, the World of Warcraft community has been outspoken about its dissatisfaction with the upcoming changes to the Mythic Keystone experience. Threads on Reddit such as the ones made by Nora the Destroyer or Strong_Mode perfectly encapsulate the current divide between player and developer vision. World of Warcraft players yearn for a system of affixes that provide boons or buffs to Mythic groups who manage to solve the mechanics, as opposed to being punished for failing them. The Explosive rework in particular has caused the deepest frustration from the Mythic community, as the larger health pools make an already tedious mechanic even more annoying to deal with.
While the numbers can still be adjusted before Embers of Neltharion presumably launches in late May, the reaction from the community has opened up a deeper discussion on whether affixes should even be a part of Mythic Keystones to begin with. Though affixes can certainly be a fun way to enhance a World of Warcraft dungeon run with challenges and rewards (as was the case with Prideful in Shadowlands), it would seem that players are becoming fed up with the current affix format, and see Blizzard's latest attempt as doubling down on an inherently flawed design philosophy.
Regardless of Mythic's ultimate direction in Dragonflight, World of Warcraft players will be able to try out the affixes ahead of launch on the Public Test Realms. In addition to an overhaul on Mythic Keystones, Patch 10.1 for World of Warcraft will also feature a new zone, new dragonriding glyphs, a new raid, a gearing system inspired by Timeless Isle, and several new cosmetics coming to the Trading Post when the patch launches.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now for PC.