With affixes in Mythic+ dungeons, there’s no middle ground. Either they are wholeheartedly hated by the entirety of the World of Warcraft community, or they are the best thing since Wrath of the Lich King. Although players love to complain on Reddit and the official Blizzard forum about the state of the affixes, no one dares to break down what exactly makes them unfun. WoW content creator, streamer, and caster Tristan “Dratnos” Killeen took this task upon himself and outlined what it takes for an affix to be enjoyable.
In an interview with Dot Esports on April 6, Dratnos got into the meat of what would make one Mythic+ affix better than the others. According to him, the main criteria for an affix to be fun and enjoyable is for it not to take over the entire dungeon.
“Some of the affixes that failed this test are Thundering in some cases, but also Prideful and Beguiling… Usually, the affixes that when affix happens, and it’s all about the affix now, and it’s not so much about the dungeon mechanics, and you’re trying to minimize how bad the affix is,” he explained.
Other notable mentions of poorly-designed affixes were Necrotic, Bolstering, and even Sanguine, as all of these would completely shift your attention away from dungeon mechanics and have you shaking for your life and hoping you’ll make it.
On the other hand, the well-designed affixes would give you options to deal with a dungeon in a new and creative way. Most seasonal affixes like Encrypted and Awakened fall into this category, changing the way you approach the dungeon entirely.
In conclusion, Dratnos doesn’t see any regular affixes as being “excellent” or praiseworthy, but they do make dungeons different from week to week.
Dragonflight season two will bring three new affixes—Incorporeal, Entangling, and Afflicted—to replace Volcanic, Quaking, and Grievous, so it will be interesting to see how these affixes fit into the new Mythic+ dungeon pool and Dragonflight in general.
