I just completed my first Horrific Vision and I have regrets

Battle for Azeroth is definitely in its twilight, with Blizzard even issuing a list of things to complete before Shadowlands is released. Honestly, I’m starting to feel a little like a kid on a long car trip — is Shadowlands here yet? (Please don’t turn this expansion around and head right back to BFA.) And this new list got me thinking about the things I wanted to complete. The surprising first item on my list? A Horrific Vision.

Now, an important disclaimer: I completed the questline for the Cloak of Ashjra’kamas when patch 8.3 dropped, and I was seriously frustrated by the end of it. I’ve played a paladin as my main since Burning Crusade, so I like to pretend I know my class reasonably well by this point, but I felt like the process took forever. Then, I compounded my frustration by trying — and failing at — the Horrific Vision of Orgrimmar twice, and subsequently threw in the towel. A successful kill was not happening. It turns out that this was a pretty foolish move.

We, as the player, have to take out Alleria or Thrall, depending on whether the week is Stormwind or Orgrimmar. As noted, my first attempt was Orgrimmar, and I didn’t make it anywhere near Thrall. I think I got taken out by a shadow, or perhaps a smudge on my screen (it didn’t make an impression on my memory). But within the same number of tries in Stormwind, I had taken down Alleria. What gives? What did I do wrong? And more importantly, what are my regrets?

Well, first, I should have tried the very next week when the location changed. I should not have waited as long as I did, although I benefited from my increased item level between the tries. And on this front, I should have focused on gearing up more. This approach would have boosted what I could rather than getting demoralized and not enjoying new experiences. Instead, I did the same old grind-y stuff and got massively irritated with the game as a whole instead of approaching the new content as precisely that.

Now, from a more tactical approach, what took me down was mainly trash. And I should have remembered one of my first lessons; if a group of trash mobs is taking me down, try separating them. This tactic also seemed to be a lot easier in the Stormwind encounter. I won’t speak to other classes and their toolkits, but I could have done a taunt, I could have burned cooldowns; basically, I had options I didn’t exercise. Worse, I didn’t do my homework. There are plenty of useful resources for knocking out Horrific Visions, even at the patch release.

On the other side of the coin, I honestly regret burning any amount of time being frustrated with this. There is plenty of other content I could work on in BFA. Blizzard has a killer experience buff in-game right now that I could make better use of to level up some alts — don’t worry, I’ve already knocked out two, but there are always more. There’s a bunch of other things I could grind out, because — surprise! Horrific Visions are most certainly a grind. The new areas unlock over time as you level up your cloak, but you’re not doing anything wildly new in between. Enter Horrific Vision, kill trash, kill Thrall or Alleria, done. Repeat five times. Return to Horrific Vision, kill trash, kill small boss, kill more trash, kill Thrall/Alleria. Repeat more times.

If you’re raiding, this is a necessary process. But I’m not a raider right now; I’m much more casual of a player, and there are many other things I would prefer to do in-game. So, good night, Horrific Visions. Sweet dreams. I’m not killing your end bosses in the morning.