As my colleague Justin said in his piece on World of Warcraft‘s recent Undermine(d) patch, comedic content in MMOs can be divisive. I’m someone who usually prefers that things be serious most if not all of the time. Comedic content in otherwise serious games almost always grates on me. Nonetheless, I’ve always had a soft spot for Warcraft‘s Goblins and their zany and often morbid humour.
So it was with cautious optimism and a little trepidation that I headed into the Undermine(d) patch. I needn’t have worried. Like the rest of The War Within to date, this patch is another home run.
The star of the patch is of course Undermine itself, homeland of the Goblins and arguably the last major lore location that wasn’t already represented in the game. No one would call Undermine “pretty,” but the art design is very effective at capturing the ramshackle anarchy you’d expect from a Goblin city. As in most War Within zones, the ambiance is massively enhanced by using an Inky Black Potion, and I strongly recommend doing so, at least on your initial playthrough of the story.
The soundtrack is full of swingin’ old school jazz that ranges from goofy to a more brooding film noire feel. It’s pretty different from WoW‘s usual music, but I think it works here. It really helps reinforce the unique persona of Undermine.
Undermine is a very small zone geographically, but it’s dense and incredibly detailed. Nearly every building can be explored inside and out, as can parts of the sewers, and the level of Easter eggs and cameos from familiar NPCs is absolutely through the roof. I bet you could spend hours just finding all the hidden details of Undermine.
I also noticed several places throughout the story where I had unique dialogue options for playing a Rogue, and it’s my understanding the same is true if you play a Goblin (I’m unsure without playing through it all again on alt whether other races/classes get their own options). This isn’t the first time Blizzard‘s done something like that, but it’s a step the devs rarely take.
I was constantly left with the impression that Undermine was a true labour of love for the developers. There’s a level of depth and detail here that few zones in the game — or any game — can match.
The story is mostly a side arc within the wider Worldsoul Saga, but it does have a bit of a tie-in to the greater struggle against the Void, including some very interesting teases of where the story will be going next.
I remember hearing the developers say they wanted this patch to add some greater depth to the Goblins beyond their usual role of comedy relief, and I’d say they largely succeeded in that. They’re always going to be one of the zanier cultures in the setting, and Undermine(d) still features a lot of the silliness we’ve come to expect, but the story also adds a lot of nuance to the Goblin characters. We see their internal turmoil as they struggle against a corrupt leader and the inherent injustices of their ruthlessly greedy culture.
I won’t get too far into politics, but there are times when the events in Undermine do seem to be mirroring those currently occurring in the real world to an almost uncomfortable degree. A crucial theme is cynicism and how often the greatest struggle is simply bringing yourself to believe that things can get better.
I do have a few small critiques of Undermine and its story. For one thing, the decision to not have voice acting for long-time NPC Renzik “The Shiv” despite his central role is downright bizarre. No, he’s never had a unique voice actor before, but lots of characters in this game started out with generic lines and got their own actors later. It’s a bit distracting when Renzik is having a conversation and every other character is voiced except for him. (Perhaps it’s related to the voice-actors’ strike?)
I also found the quest design a bit repetitive. I suppose it pretty much always is in WoW, but usually Blizzard is better at the window dressing at least. You mostly just fight the same Goblin mooks through almost the entire story, and it does start to feel a little tiresome after a while.
I’m not really sold on the new “D.R.I.V.E.” car mechanic, either. I’ve always sucked at driving in games, and this is no exception. Beyond that, it just kind of feels unnecessary. Was anyone super hungry for a ground mount that’s a little faster and a lot harder to control? I don’t buy the idea that there’s anything that makes Undermine unsuited to flying, either, except perhaps that flight would make it even more obvious how small the zone actually is.
On the plus side, D.R.I.V.E is entirely optional, and you can still use regular ground mounts if you prefer. Overall I think it’s a mildly amusing gimmick, but I definitely wouldn’t want to see it expanded outside of Undermine.
Outside of Undermine proper, this patch also features a new dungeon, a new raid, and delve updates. The new dungeon and raid are… fine. I have no major criticisms of them, but WoW has churned out so many dungeons and raids over the years that it’s damn near impossible for any of them to stand out at this point.
I will say I do enjoy the “giant gorilla versus mecha T-rex” fight, and I am unjustifiably amused by Rik Reverb’s voice lines. GONNA. GROOVE. FOR. GALLY!
I also think it’s interesting that once again the raid mainly reuses assets and environments from the open world. It really seems as if there’s been a shift to prioritize the open world as much or more than raids, which is a huge change compared to how this game once was.
I enjoy the new delves. Excavation Site 9 is visually spectacular, and the one Sidestreet Sluice variant I’ve run so far had some pretty fun environmental puzzling mechanics. Many older delves have also been slightly tweaked to make mechanics less annoying or more interactive.
The swift nerf of Brann Bronzebeard’s new tank spec ruffled some feathers, but as someone who played tank Brann with my holy paladin both before and after the change, I can assure you the nerf was entirely justified and that tank Brann is still an absolute murder machine even after being tuned down.
Undermine(d) probably isn’t going to go down as one of the all time greatest World of Warcraft patches, but it’s very solid, thoroughly enjoyable, and does an admirable job of maintaining the positive momentum from War Within‘s launch. As with the rest of the expansion to date, even its worst elements are merely underwhelming rather than actively unpleasant. I welcome this new era of consistent quality from Blizzard.
