#voespoilers

I've got mixed feelings to say the least.

First, some positivity:

Vloxx - I'm clearly biased

Map - it feels just right

Secrets and jumping puzzles - I really enjoyed them

Achievements - totally subjective, me likey

Story length - I was really enjoying how long I was able to stay in the instance, while not feeling like the story is stuck in place at the same time. Trial chamber was my favourite part (mostly because I like puzzles), even if some trials were easily cheatable with speed boosts (I wanted the perfect achi, and the color floor trial had me restarting the instance 4 times total. The air hitbox was merciless.)

Boss fight - lowkey it was pretty hard. Died a few times and every enemy had something that kicked by butt, but I did like the challenge. It did feel like a good middle boss fight.

Now something that made me feel disappointed:

Cutscene degrade - this feeling is very personal and something I just wanted to rant about. I'm a 3D animation student and I hold fully animated cutscenes from the first update in high regards. They were beautiful. Camera work, little movements, pacing... But this new update? Nothing like that. We got a static camera shot with two character models talking. And the important scenes did not get the same love in the new update as in the old one. I felt let down after experiencing two fully animated cutscenes in the first patch, and zero in the second, after waiting 6 months. It's like being at a party, seeing two delicious cakes (two patches) and being given two slices of the same cake while being denied to take the other (2 animations in the first patch, 0 in the second). My opinion would be very different if the animations were placed in another way. If we got one high quality cutscene every patch? Wonderful! If we got a cutscene every major story event? Wonderful! (<- in this case that would be the scene after Vloxx ascending. Something like Rytlock/Bengar fist fight in IS.) If we only got a cutscene for the climax of the expac? Great! It's the most important moment! Totally deserves a custom animation! (Like Joko). But we got what we got and I'm salty. Downgrade from 2 to 0 is a big one. I would not be that disappointed if it was either 2 -> 1 or 1 -> 0. But that's just a ramble at this point. I wanted to vent. Badly.

^ still, after being fed a great animation in the first patch, I hope that we at least get one for the climax. Not having that would be very anticlimactic.

And that would be all from me. I still very much enjoyed this update. I had my healthy dose of frustration, but not like I can do anything about it. Cannot cry over the spilled milk.

Story almost not moving - the last chapter of this patch really sums it up well. We still know nothing. Kuda became a director. And what? Does it change anything? Not really. She was already doing what she wanted for the most time behind Vloxx's back. We got rid of Isgarren's tummy ache. Nice. At least he can finally be helpful and explain some stuff. *Proceeds to explain absolutely nothing*

Characters that got forgotten almost as fast as they were introduced - PTM I'm looking at you.