World of Warcraft Players With Anxiety Find Relief With New Follower Dungeons and Raid Story Mode

Next year will be my 20th anniversary playing World of Warcraft. Time sure flies when you’re having fun in Azeroth. I’ve played most classes at least once, but didn’t roll warrior or paladin until Wrath of the Lich King. I started playing with a friend who introduced me to tanking dungeons. Collaborating with a buddy healer over a headset with pick-up DPS players worked out well and was an enjoyable experience. However, my anxiety came out when I was playing solo and tried tank a full pick-up group. Clicking to find a group made my breathing short and fast, my mouth dry, and my chest tighten as if in a vice. How can such simple actions nearly trigger a panic attack, and how can Follower Dungeons and upcoming Raid Story Mode help?

We all feel nervous, uncertain, and anxious from time to time. Having Social Anxiety Disorder means turning those feelings up to eleven. When tanking, mine manifested as a dread that I would move too slow, not pull enough trash, lose aggro, and wipe the whole party. This would result in disappointment by people I didn’t know and will never interact with again. Hey, if it made sense, it wouldn’t a disorder. The situation improved a bit through medication and cultivating a just-get-through-it attitude, but I still rarely tank. It’s just not comfortable. But now World of Warcraft has changed the game.

FOLLOW ME FOLLOW YOU

World of Warcraft added Follower Dungeons in The Seeds of Renewal, Patch 10.2.5, on January 16, 2024. This feature allowed solo players to run a dungeon with a set team of 5 NPCs, in the roles of healer, damage, and tank. When you enter the dungeon, the mage conjures a Mage Table and the druid buffs the party. What’s nice is the ability to change leadership of the party to a follower and back at any time. Let them lead to learn a new boss fight, or take over to step away the keyboard for a bit. Your faithful party will be waiting there, without a negative word between them, when you return.

Blizzard announced Follower Dungeons as a low-stress way to learn a dungeon’s flow before venturing in with a real party. It is a great educational tool, and equally great option for players who find the notion of running a dungeon with players unbearable. There is no real downside to sticking with Follower Dungeons. They do only provide the same experience and loot levels as normal dungeons. This isn’t a major issue with the myriad of ways for casual end-game acquisition of loot and flightstones.

Since Follower Dungeons are intended to be educational, Heroic Follower Dungeons would be helpful. It will be helpful to illustrate the difficulty and reward difference from normal dungeons. With the introduction of Warbands in The War Within, maybe we will eventually be able to assign alt characters as followers. This is something I can see happening later in the expansion.

A CASUAL WAY TO RAID?

Story mode is a new raid difficulty announced for The War Within‘s Nerub-ar Palace. The mode supports 1-5 players and will be limited to the final boss, Queen Ansurek. We don’t yet know how loot will work or if the feature will allow a complete solo run. Regardless, just being able to take down the final boss myself and experience the end cinematic, for real time story advancement, and obtain the raid quest rewards is a great start. I’m looking forward to trying it out this fall.

PLAYER FOCUSED CHANGE

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight was very big on player customization. Blizzard made clear their plan to give the player have far more agency with their characters than ever before. Follower Dungeons and raid story mode are significant improvements for socially anxious players who love the game, except for the social requirements of those features. By offering solo friendly pathways to experience this content, Blizzard continues to recognize and support the diversity of its player base. Let’s hope this trend continues for the Worldsoul Saga and beyond.