BfA is fine because...

[Khandros]

When it was announced BFA was going to release early, that was pretty much the writing on the wall it was a filler expansion. We had a good idea then how bad, boring and grindy it was going to be.

[Zantera]

I think BFA is fine honestly.

There are some issues, personally I feel my class plays less enjoyable than in Legion (removing a core ability and the GCD changes weren't a good choice imo), i enjoy m+ slightly less (because I thought the way the affixes worked before was better with 3 instead of 4 and only fort/tyr on high keys), and I miss tier sets and legendaries, having at least 1 of the 2 would be nice for some more in depth customization of how the character plays. I think these issues are relatively minor in the sense it could all be easily fixed.

On the flip side Uldir is a pretty decent launch raid, probably one of the better ones. I mean EN was way undertuned and Wotlk-Naxx was a joke. The dungeons are pretty good. I think Legion had better ones but BFA is far from the worst (Wotlk urgh). Personally I enjoy islands as relaxing content to do between high keys and mythic raids and I think the patch really improved them from launch, Warfronts do feel a bit lackluster (personally I like the quest-mode more than the scenario) but they're also not regular enough where I find it annoying I have to do them.

There's been moments in the past when I felt really frustrated or bored with the game, like Wotlk, Cata and of course WoD, but currently I always have things to do and I don't find myself standing afk in the capital like those other expansions I listed. I do think some improvements could be made to the gameplay and some are easily done, but if we're talking just CONTENT BFA is head and shoulders above WoD or Wotlk at this stage in the expansion.

[Spiral Mage]

Every expansion is a filler expansion.

[Crudence]

Filler expansions shouldn't be a thing. It is moronic. If you need 1 year more to make a good expansion, then release expansion ever 3 years and sprinkle on some small things to keep players occupied meanwhile. Releasing a bad expansion is the worst thing Blizz can do with WoW. They lose players, their reputation gets a permanent stain and people lose hope in the game. I rather have 1 year more of Legion than getting a filler xpac. Put in things like Mage Tower and small raids like ToV which were fun and actually rather challenging to keep players somewhat happy. Yes, there will be some qq, but I can't imagine 1 year more of Legion would be worse than the awful state of BFA at launch.

[HordeFanboy]

Wod Legion and Bfa are dogshit not filler

[lockblock]

They took away everything that made Legion great. WOD while shit at least had a way to make gold before and after everyone quit. I'll admit that probably was a bad thing in the long run but at least I had a reason to log in daily even if just for a few minutes.

[Thelyron]

Too bad Legion and WoD were trash too. That's 3 expansions in a row.
Content is not the problem. The problem is that they ruined class mechanics, raid mechanics and core gameplay.

theres no such thing as a filler expansion

its dogshit, 3rd dogshit expansion in a row

Damn right son, couldn't agree more. Classes are a shred of what they used to be, and not in a good way...

Wod Legion and Bfa are dogshit not filler

How is it even humanly possible to have such shitty taste? Legion was the best state the game was ever in, period. Class design was at it's best, with all specs being well rounded and fun to play, a shit ton of unique class content (which made alts fun for the first time in a long time, now it's just boring again), artifact system was amazing and it was a failure to remove it (doing a questline or hunting a hidden skin to add new options to your weapon is infinitely more enjoyable than "this boss drops weapon, kill and bonus roll for gold"), the raids were good, suramar is one of the best zones the game ever had. Claiming otherwise is absolutely fucking delusional.

[Kynario]

At this point, every expansion has been called that. WoD was. Mists was. Legion even was, at first.

"Filler expansion" is meaningless. Every expansion is just an expansion.

Agree. "Filler expansion" is just code language for "I don't like it" and is a pointless, meaningless description.

I think there might be such a thing as a filler expansion but it's hard to know until it's all out. As well, if Blizzard is serious about story arcs that stretch over multiple expansions then every expansion will take on that character.

I think there really are filler expansions at least partially (or is percievably a better word to use?) and also in terms of the structure of game systems and how Blizzard chooses to “innovate” the game each expansion. Due to these fundamental reasons, feel free to critique them:

1. If an expansion has been relatively sucessful, the next expansion will be a filler expansion, simply due to the fact that Blizzard won’t risk developing anything fundamentally new. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s what happened with Legion systems being carried over to BfA (like Artifact Power, Missions Table, Mythic Dungeons, World Quests, Zone Scaling & Questing Systems etc.)

Thus expansions that do well tend to have systems that’ll carry over to subsequent expansions making them feel like filler expansions i.e. expansions that extend the life of the systems introduced in the previous expansion. The next expansion, after a so-called filler expansion, tends to always be more innovative and perceived as if more work was put into it: innovative gameplay systems, major class and talent changes and other new systems that indeed try to reinvent the wheel and push the game into perhaps something it’s never been before. Legion, MoP, & WoTLK did this really well, admitting that’s subjective.

2. If an expansion doesn’t do well (like WoD), the development teams are really pushed to create something more unique and engaging. It’s a new creative challenge for them, because they don’t want the game to ultimately fail. It’s like studying for an exam because you’re motivated to do well compared to studying for an exam because you HAVE TO pass otherwise you’re out. Motivation vs. fear.

What do you think?

[Malka]

After combing through all the game credits for Vanilla through Wrath… it seems like many of those devs have moved on to Overwatch. It definitely shows. Overwatch has way more heart… Jeff Kaplan, John Cash, Bill Petras, Michael Chu, Mike Elliott, Geoff Goodman, David M. Adams, Michael Heiberg, etc. They won't be returning to WoW... that's for sure.

[Yoshimiko]

It isnt 'fine' but it isn't the disaster people are claiming either. It's a very middle of the road expansion. It most certainly isn't as bad as WoD, as much as people want it to be, anyone thinking it is must be hype extending. So far very average. :P

I think this is the worst expansion we've had by a very large margin. There is nothing I like about this expansion outside of a single character and so much I dislike. Outside of playing with my sick mother, I don't even log in. I don't care to play this and if she didn't need escapism, I wouldn't touch it.

[MoanaLisa]

What do you think?

I think that's exactly right for why expansions tend to bounce back and forth between better and less good. I proposed much the same explanation in one of those threads where people were complaining about "A" and "B" teams. Management stays the same for both expansions so "A" and "B" doesn't cover it. I don't know that qualifies as a filler expansion but people have their own definition of the phrase. Most of the time when I see it used the clear context is "I don't like this expansion" which is sort of pointless. It would be clearer if they just said that instead of using catch phrases.

[Appelgren]

We need a megathread or a BfA whining subsection already.

And for the record: I think BfA is lackluster too, but come on it's done, we're in hell so let's enjoy it!

There should be a section on the forum where we can collect all threads like this. Something called like... Trash Bin or Trash Can...

[Jibjub]

Doing a great expansion every other time makes a lot of business sense, imo. It sucks for the player, but I bet they have all this stuff down to a science. They know how many will buy the box and they know how long each "type" of subscription will stay (I guarantee you they have their players in buckets). And I bet they know that making every expansion super content rich would be a waste of resources... so they do every other. Basically, they get an extra $50 bucks for a mediocre expansion (or, for really good patches) and then have the time and $$$ to make a better expansion.

Every other.

It makes sense.

[Necroxis]

stage 4: bargaining.

Seems more like Denial still, honestly.

[Kynario]

I think that's exactly right for why expansions tend to bounce back and forth between better and less good. I proposed much the same explanation in one of those threads where people were complaining about "A" and "B" teams. Management stays the same for both expansions so "A" and "B" doesn't cover it. I don't know that qualifies as a filler expansion but people have their own definition of the phrase. Most of the time when I see it used the clear context is "I don't like this expansion" which is sort of pointless. It would be clearer if they just said that instead of using catch phrases.

Yes exactly, I couldn't agree more. Well said as always.

[Huntermyth]

... because there are tons and tons of new battle pets. (daddy is a collector)

... because game is full of bugs (pun intended i guess )

[Terranoise]

How is it even humanly possible to have such shitty taste? Legion was the best state the game was ever in, period. Class design was at it's best, with all specs being well rounded and fun to play, a shit ton of unique class content (which made alts fun for the first time in a long time, now it's just boring again), artifact system was amazing and it was a failure to remove it (doing a questline or hunting a hidden skin to add new options to your weapon is infinitely more enjoyable than "this boss drops weapon, kill and bonus roll for gold"), the raids were good, suramar is one of the best zones the game ever had. Claiming otherwise is absolutely fucking delusional.

Legion content-wise was pretty good. But Legiondaries were a mess almost the entire expansion; while the artifact weapons were nice, the AP grind was bad; PvP was never as bad as in Legion; class design is subjective and many agree that MoP had the best class design the game has ever seen both PvE and PvP; "raids were good" = opinion; Suramar indeed was amazing and one of the few gems of the expansion. So yeah, you just listed opinions and said "Claiming otherwise is absolutely fucking delusional" when the same could be said about your own opinion. There were merits and failures in Legion.

[Aggrophobic]

...It is a filler expansion.

Now, hate as much as you wish, but we all knew this. BfA was always going to be a small content expansion, pretty much filling between Legion and what will come afterwards.

I wouldn´t make a pointless threat like this, but lately, people keep complaining and complaining and expecting things to be fixed... well, BfA will never get things fixed because they are, most likely, not working on it anymore other than the incoming raid and, MAYBE, another not too big one afterwards with some sort of new daily quest´s pack and event. Period.

Consider this one a break, a chance to play around with all the alts, whatever. Go out and get some fresh air... most likely the next expansion will be much bigger and time consuming again.

The majority of the devs are never working on the "current" expansion. Thats not how they work.
What you play now was done and pushed out long befor you got it.

There is also no such thing as a "filler expansion". Thats just silly.

[HordeFanboy]

How is it even humanly possible to have such shitty taste? Legion was the best state the game was ever in, period. Class design was at it's best, with all specs being well rounded and fun to play, a shit ton of unique class content (which made alts fun for the first time in a long time, now it's just boring again), artifact system was amazing and it was a failure to remove it (doing a questline or hunting a hidden skin to add new options to your weapon is infinitely more enjoyable than "this boss drops weapon, kill and bonus roll for gold"), the raids were good, suramar is one of the best zones the game ever had. Claiming otherwise is absolutely fucking delusional.

When did you start playing, in WoD? Legion was the best state the game ever was? Delusion or trolling?

[Craaazyyy]

How is it even humanly possible to have such shitty taste? Legion was the best state the game was ever in, period. Class design was at it's best, with all specs being well rounded and fun to play, a shit ton of unique class content (which made alts fun for the first time in a long time, now it's just boring again), artifact system was amazing and it was a failure to remove it (doing a questline or hunting a hidden skin to add new options to your weapon is infinitely more enjoyable than "this boss drops weapon, kill and bonus roll for gold"), the raids were good, suramar is one of the best zones the game ever had. Claiming otherwise is absolutely fucking delusional.

Legion class design was(at the time, cuz well in BFA its worse) the worst its ever been, cuz they pruned all the fun from the game, artifact system wasnt that good because you just learned all the traits and a couple of months into the game you were doing that instantly and the infamous "paragon grind" similar to d3 "+5 main stat" was dogshit, also many artifact weapons had shitty traits as well(i'll give you that some of them were cool), legendary rng was a fucking joke, just like whole rng in general with gearing system, class quest chains were cool, but still if you did every single one of them you saw how fucking similar many of them were and it felt super lazy and cheap, first couple of raids were shit, Nighthold was good after that it was green themed demon dogshit, even tho again some bosses were quite fun(but the fun was significantly reduced because of dogshit class design), Suramar quest chain was good, but it being gated behind rep wasnt good, also other zones were fucking awful.. M+ was the best addition to the game since forever, but i still prefer heroic dungeons from TBC/Cata, because at least you didnt have the stupid timer that basically made it so you had to just AOE everything as fast as possible and that was the main strategy, i couldnt care less about these hidden things if the gameplay itself is lacking, just like i dont give a fuck about all that extra boring content because trash gameplay is making it even more unbearable

what i dont know is how the fuck is it possible to call Legion class design not only good, but the best its ever been, when it was fucking awful