Linear, linear, linear

[Shurrikhan]

<snip>

So, the problem of Blizzard's modern dungeons is that "stopped" having multiple paths... despite their coming to actually have more and freer paths (up to and including being a literal whole zone) and being better able to select which mobs one actually wants to fight...

...and even the old pre-ruined dungeons were also not enough, because they weren't Variant (gimmicky overstuffed combat hallways with regularly placed forks with less aesthetic identity than most games' procedurally generated instance environments)?

There's no point in making multi-path dungeons if the choice of route doesn't have the potential to impact the overall experience in some meaningful way.

Honestly, I could agree with this. But that's just the thing: I absolutely feel like M+ pathing choice in De Other Side (especially under Prideful), Siege of Boralus (especially under Nzoth affix), Azure Vault, Brakenhide, etc. still allowed for far more impact on the overall experience than did hitting the Left/Right switch in X particular combination in Variant dungeons.

To me, you're pointing at some fresh woodwork and calling it stinky only to stick your nose in some dank mold and declare "Ahh, yes, this would be better."

Your preferring every pathing option to solely be a choice marked by an external mechanic, over any of various granular-but-cumulative differences is... a preference. Subjective. It's not something objectively superior.


Edit:

Again, I don't think making each and every dungeon especially allow for multiple paths is likely to be a worthwhile expense and my main concern is in ways of just at least feeling less linear and feeling like a novel experience... but for dungeons to feel diverse and fleshed out, even just along that primary route, it will often be worthwhile for the art to at least hint at other routes and to flesh out more than just the pathable hallway... at which point particularly pretty dungeons are very likely to be worth adding additional pathing options to, which might in turn incentivize other little additions that would from there seem like low-hanging fruit.

The main thing for me isn't whether they're linear or not --that's just a iconic characteristic that's synecdochal for so many other problems, too-- but rather that they're so unambitious and unvaried in their mechanics and especially their layouts, practically wasting their differences in the art itself. I really want more (and more engaging) light party content, rather than just to feel like I'm getting reskins of the same things that's been run 1000 times instead of actually new dungeons.