Blizzard Entertainment is shutting down its long-running Shards of Domination World of Warcraft PvP battleground. The company has announced that the decision was made because it became clear in recent months that players were not interested, and time to retire old content had come.
We hope you didn’t waste too much time in World of Warcraft cultivating Shards of Domination in the hopes of future-proofing yourself against increasingly tough content. According to a post on the game’s official forums, Shards of Domination will not operate in any of the game’s patch 9.2 content, including the new raid (Sepulcher of the First Ones), the new zone (Zereth Mortis), and all existing dungeons and PvP. (that one is self-explanatory).
The Shards will still be switched on in the Maw, Torghast, and Sanctum of Domination raids, making this a strange mid-expansion type of borrowed power that didn’t even endure the full expansion, as players have previously pointed out. So, if you opted out of this system when it was first launched, you’ll probably feel justified; if you spent a lot of time mining these shards, you’ll probably be a bit irritated.
Due to a lengthy run of controversies in the MMO and gaming field over the past several years, including the Blitzchung boycott, huge layoffs, labor issues, and executive pay controversy, Activision-Blizzard is regarded a problematic corporation in the MMO and gaming industry. The company was sued by the state of California last summer for fostering a work environment that was riddled with sexual harassment and discrimination, and the company’s disastrous response has only added to Blizzard’s ongoing pipeline issues and the widespread perception that its online games are on the decline. Employees are on strike and demanding Bobby Kotick’s resignation, prompting many state and federal organizations to investigate the corporation.
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