World of Warcraft's developers at Blizzard are currently going through a period of reflection. In tandem with the gender discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, the community has loudly shared its frustrations with many World of Warcraft design decisions and the MMO's future direction. In response, Blizzard's 9.1.5 patch will be addressing some of this feedback, including efforts to address toxicity and quality of life changes for Shadowlands players. One specific change, regarding covenant Anima, is particularly interesting.
Anima in World of Warcraft's Shadowlands expansion is a currency associated with a player's Covenant. Players earn Anima through time-gated quests and then use that to upgrade certain features of their Covenant, though it can also be used to buy mounts, gear for transmogs, and other items. As players finished acquiring everything they wanted with the Anima currency, however, they were left wondering what's next. Blizzard has had to scramble to find an answer for that question.
Blizzard's first answer, released in an update in late July, was to introduce a new Anima vendor for World of Warcraft players. Rather than earned Anima going wasted, players could spend their extra Anima on tradeskill goods. But again, even that outlet for Anima has its limitations. As such, Blizzard is now considering different ways for World of Warcraft players to make use of their Anima.
World of Warcraft Director Ion Hazzikostas acknowledged that the team is currently considering two different possible changes to the Anima system. The first change is removing the current cap on Anima. The cap currently forces players to spend their Anima or have it go to waste. If the cap is lifted, players can save their Anima for when they need it, or when new purchasable items or unlocks are made available. The second option is allowing players to transfer Anima to their alts.
Leveling an alt in Shadowlands, as it has been in previous expansions, is an effort in frustration. World of Warcraft heavily leans on time-gated content for unlocks, meaning alts have to go through identical grinds that players have already done on their main characters. Allowing players to transfer Anima to alts would remove one potential grind that players would have to do all over again.
Obviously, Blizzard is trying to make the best of a bad situation in World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft player frustrations aren't necessarily that systems like Anima aren't player-friendly enough, but that they exist in the first place. Players are getting tired of being time-gated, or that World of Warcraft isn't supportive enough of alts, or new content doesn't come fast enough. Game development takes time, so even if Blizzard wanted to respond to that feedback, it could take months and years. In the meantime, it might change how Anima works.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.