BFA vs Shadowlands - My Personal Opinion (Not super negative)

[Northelim]

Believe it or not, I have a soft spot for BfA and there are multiple reasons why. I think it mostly had to do with the incredible dungeons. In my humble opinion I think Battle for Azeorth had THE best dungeons across the board compared to previous expansions.

I really loved Siege of Bolarus, Shrine of Storms, Waycrest Manor, Atal'Dazal and Underrot were a ton of fun in Mythics +

The zones such as Zuldazar, Nazmir, Drustvar and my most favorite Stormsong Valley were incredible.

Now as far as the systems go, yes corrupted gear, the artifact necklace and the azerite armor really did blow big hairy donkey nuts and in my opinion is mainly what ruined majority of the expansion.

However, I really miss running those dungeons and spending time in those zones.

Content wise, I think Shadowlands is better and has much more to do thanks to Conevenants.

However, Covenants are filled with their own issues, such as the forced choice to something you don't want because its asthetically not pleasing but forced because its the best for spec/type of content.

What I dislike mostly about Shadowlands are the zones and its setup. All the zones are seperate because its in the realm of the dead and every zone is like its own super tiny continent which I really dislike.

Also, Bastion and Ardenweld are some of the most boring, annoying zones I've ever played in WoW. Ravendreth thankfully is the only saving grace and Maldraxxus is not bad because its full of Lich King Northrend nostalgia and looks.

I am hoping the next expansion thematically is more interesting than Shadowlands and more similar to BFA, BUT has better content and systems in terms of things that you do THAN BFA and
Shadowlands combined.

As far as dungeons go in Shadowlands, I think Halls of Atonement, Sunguine Depths, Theater of Pain are very solid dungeons.

However, I do not think they are better than BFA's dungeons, but this is very subjective. I think Mists is a horrendous dungeon with the most annoying, stupid and obnoxious boss in the game, the fucking shit ass Butterfly. I hate it so much lol.

Overall, Shadowlands already has better systems than BFA ever did, but the forced choice and a few other things need fixing and I think it would be perfect.

I am enjoying the 9.1 patch more than I did BFA's 8.1. I am hoping 9.2 is as substantial as 8.2 was, because that was a very large patch and quite good imo.

Thoughts?

[Pheraz]

Yes. Bfa has better zones, better themes, better patches and better Dungeons. But the azerite thing was really annoying and it was a shame that they didn't go full in on islands and warfronts which were awesome casual content in theory. Also the elite transmog in both warfronts are freaking awesome on the alliance side and I have all of them xD
Let's see what the last patch brings. The disconnected zones are indeed ultra annoying. I disagree on the theme though. For me ardenweald and bastion make sense but maldraxxus is just weird (flesh, bones and necromancy in the realm of the dead?)

[dacoolist]

Believe it or not, I have a soft spot for BfA and there are multiple reasons why. I think it mostly had to do with the incredible dungeons. In my humble opinion I think Battle for Azeorth had THE best dungeons across the board compared to previous expansions.

I really loved Siege of Bolarus, Shrine of Storms, Waycrest Manor, Atal'Dazal and Underrot were a ton of fun in Mythics +

The zones such as Zuldazar, Nazmir, Drustvar and my most favorite Stormsong Valley were incredible.

Now as far as the systems go, yes corrupted gear, the artifact necklace and the azerite armor really did blow big hairy donkey nuts and in my opinion is mainly what ruined majority of the expansion.

However, I really miss running those dungeons and spending time in those zones.

Content wise, I think Shadowlands is better and has much more to do thanks to Conevenants.

However, Covenants are filled with their own issues, such as the forced choice to something you don't want because its asthetically not pleasing but forced because its the best for spec/type of content.

What I dislike mostly about Shadowlands are the zones and its setup. All the zones are seperate because its in the realm of the dead and every zone is like its own super tiny continent which I really dislike.

Also, Bastion and Ardenweld are some of the most boring, annoying zones I've ever played in WoW. Ravendreth thankfully is the only saving grace and Maldraxxus is not bad because its full of Lich King Northrend nostalgia and looks.

I am hoping the next expansion thematically is more interesting than Shadowlands and more similar to BFA, BUT has better content and systems in terms of things that you do THAN BFA and
Shadowlands combined.

As far as dungeons go in Shadowlands, I think Halls of Atonement, Sunguine Depths, Theater of Pain are very solid dungeons.

However, I do not think they are better than BFA's dungeons, but this is very subjective. I think Mists is a horrendous dungeon with the most annoying, stupid and obnoxious boss in the game, the fucking shit ass Butterfly. I hate it so much lol.

Overall, Shadowlands already has better systems than BFA ever did, but the forced choice and a few other things need fixing and I think it would be perfect.

I am enjoying the 9.1 patch more than I did BFA's 8.1. I am hoping 9.2 is as substantial as 8.2 was, because that was a very large patch and quite good imo.

Thoughts?

I think a lot of people strongly dislike BFA, but for someone who mostly does content at a low low level, M+ and Arena were totally fine IMO in BFA.

Shadowlands to me is a better xpac, but the systems really need to be looked at better - in BFA at least they tried to fix the systems where as in SLS it seems like they kind of just wing it lol

[Myradin]

I joined during the shadowlands prepatch due to a friend, so I didn't really experience the warts of BFA though I heard extensively of them.

I will agree the dungeons in BFA did seem pretty good. There were some I wasn't a huge fan of, but the dungeons and raids all seemed pretty solid in design, art, and immersion. The zones themselves also seem really well done. The leveling content was pretty nice too.

Shadowlands dungeons feel rather lifeless. Story integration is weird as a lot of things are locked behind weekly story progression. I don't mind weekly story progression, i actually like the idea of it. But dungeons and such shouldn't have to wait a month or so to make sense.

De Other Side is the only dungeon I kinda liked and I still feel odd it isn't more...troll-filled. Its already a small dungeon so it seems weird to go off theme. Tir Na Scythe is another one that feels like its meant to be a drust dungeon (or rather, THE drust dungen), but only has 1 drust boss. Then you go fight a random fairy for some reason. Then you go fight a giant bug for some reason. I dont get the impression any of the bosses are working together.

Its pretty much why I was done once I realized my friends' raiding schedule didnt line up with mine. IF the dungeons were good I could have maybe just done mythics all expac. But they're not.

I feel like if BFA had better plot and its systems were more like SL's it'd be hated less. The dungeon, raid, and zone design are spot on.

[StillMcfuu]

I flatout think BFA is better, but I'll caveat that with BFA is a full expansion and we are only on 9.1.

I think BFAs biggest strengths are in the world, art, characters, and story. Regardless of the issues with systems or content not hitting (islands/warfronts), I was heavily invested in the multiple storylines going on.
SL doesn't enjoy that kind of engagement, Jailor is boring, the zones are boring, they don't really have their own important stories going on that allow you to separately get invested. New characters aren't interesting... and yeah, at this point the dungeons and raids aren't anywhere near BFA quality.

[Malania]

I wasn't a big fan of BfA's dungeons. They all seemed to be just a bit too long to run comfortably.

[Zyrinx]

Kinda hated the systems, very much hated the theme, but the environments were great. Especially Borealus, which felt like an actual port town.

SL on the other hand lacks any charm at all. Revendreth has potential but the other zones suck, imo.

[McNeil]

BFA heavily wins out from SL for its theming, but gameplay wise I prefer Shadowlands.

[Soon-TM]

To me, BfA winds hands down over SL when it comes to production. All zones felt cool, each in its own way - and yes, that includes the @#$&hole that was otherwise Nazjatar. Dungeons were also nice from a thematic PoV, but some were just randomly harder (Shrine) or bugged and never fixed (e.g. second boss at Sethraliss randomly resetting, trash in Tol Dagor), and overall filled to the brim with trash, to the point that Rogues' mass stealth felt almost mandatory in high keys - it was even made a core mechanic in 8.3, go figure.

Too bad that the systems overdrive in BfA (crappy Azerite, grindy af Essences, lolcorruptions) killed a great deal of the fun. But still not as much as the nonsensical, mORaLLy gReY, preachy plot.

[Johnjohn]

I rate BFA above Shadowlands as there was more for a casual player to do. But both to me are a 3 or 4 out of 10 overall. I would not rank any expansion under a 7/10 (including WoD) before them.

I just hate the direction the game has gone. Game is basically for the hardcore player now. BFA hid it a little, but Shadowlands did not even attempt to hide it. I was out of things to do as a casual player after one month of SL. I heard 9.1 has some casual stuff, but its not enough for me to be honest.

BFA was better, and I cannot believe I am saying that as I found BFA pretty bad.

[I HATE CHAOS]

Shadow lands has a whole bunch of small, tedious ,and unneeded systems. BFA had game breaking your as is now 80% of your DMG systems.

Both sucked BFA sucked more.

[Magnagarde]

BfA tried to do a lot and you have to give them credit for trying. There should never be fear of innovation in the genre. The Shadowlands have a mutant system that floats between Legion's legendaries/order halls and BfA's HoA/Azerite traits. They haven't tried anything with the Shadowlands; Torghast may seem like it did try to innovate and that point stood untill we got the release version of it.

The story of BfA managed to entice a lot of players to play, pick their favoured side and join the fray; it could've and should've been pulled off a lot better, but unlike BfA, the Shadowlands are anticlimactic already in 9.1.

[Pakheth]

My biggest problem with BfA was that classes felt clunky to play and that the two continents felt very disconnected and if you didn't play both factions you had no idea what was going on on the other continent. It felt very hollow going to Drustvar as Horde and only doing WQs there. I really missed out not playing Alliance but I didn't feel like leveling up one at all due to how much I disliked feeling powerless as you lost your legendaries and artifact.

I wasn't a super fan of the dungeons, finding them very brown and grey, making it very dull for me, and the mob density was very high, not leaving much room for error which often resulted in toxicity.
Nazjatar was flawed, being too large and very grey. Not the brilliant sea floor we experienced in Vasjh'ir. Mechagon while much more compact and fun was also very brown. If you haven't guessed alread zone visuals mean a lot to me.


I liked the Allied races and armor sets, the Zandalari were cool and the zones while small had great art and good music mostly.
I liked returning to Uldum and seeing the Vale restored at last. Horrific Visions were entertaining although frustrating at times due to bugs.

There are more things I can nitpick on but these mattered the most for me.

BfA wasn't the greatest expansion for me, it is far from my favourite, but it wasn't the worst as some claim.

[Bakis]

BFA for me as well, wasnt good but I didnt unsub after 2,5 months like Shadowlands

[muto]

The shittiest part about BFA was Visions of N’Zoth. I lived in there until I had a socket on every piece.

I did enjoy being overpowered though. It was strongest Shadow ever was I think outside cheese talents like Surrender to Madness in EN.


I had like 60% crit and 50% haste baseline if I remember right.

I remember using Focused Azerite Beam in keys and critting everything like Eye Beam.

I also agree that BFA dungeons > SL dungeons only BFA dungeon I despised was King’s Rest.

[Divada]

Yeah, I'm another person that thinks BFA was better than SL. Not to say that BFA was great or anything, it was a mixed bag of poorly developed story, a terrible Azerite system and clunky class design. But compared to SL it had better zones, questing, music, art, dungeons and crucially -- still felt like WoW. If SL was a movie it would be a cheap sequel that would premiere on the SYFY channel.

[Itisamuh]

Pretty much the only redeeming qualities about BFA in my mind were Drustvar and Waycrest Manor, otherwise it was down there as one of the worst expansions ever. The Visions of Nzoth would have been cool if not for the timer aspect, something I despise in pretty much any content (and the reason I hate the changes to Torghast this patch.) I like basically every aspect of Shadowlands much more than BFA, although I have to admit stacking up absurd amounts of haste with Azerite traits was pretty fun sometimes.

[Gaidax]

Whoa man you're a year or two too soon with this thread. It's still too fresh, we're not quite at "remember that X expansion that everyone hated when it was live, man it was good" phase.

[Doffen]

8.3 was awful and destroyed, for me, the whole end patch expansion thing I enjoy so much, with a raid that wasnt good, and just stupid system decisions from start to finish.

8.2 was really good, and BoD raid was great. The zones, Drustvar in particular was great, and Waycrest Manor really deserved to be a raid imo. The music was great in BfA. Classes were bad overall, sorry to say.

I got tired of the game during the first long patch in SL, but I have enjoyed Covenants, the dungeons and Castle Nathria was really cool.

But 9.1 revitalized my interested in WoW again, and seeing you can farm stuff at your speed, all is just optional stuff you can decide to do or not, and that is nice. I am atm farming covenant tmog stuff on different alts, and have a good time now doing so.

Sanctum is an awesome raid. I am having so much fun in there, not had this fun since BoD. Classes plays nice, Covenants still cool, and I overall just enjoy this expansion.

[Gaidax]

I do have to say that 8.2 was probably the best or at the very least in top 3 patches WoW ever got. 2 Areas, good raid, Megadungeon, good system. I really hope 9.2 matches it.