What would you say is the most enjoyable of the 3: BFA, SL, or WoD?

[Zantera]

I would probably rate them BFA > SL > WoD. Neither of the 3 are my least favorite expansions though.

[Tikishock]

At least WOD had interesting class mechanics and playstyles.

[DechCJC]

Out of the three, it's between SL and BFA. Despite their flaws, you can't really compare them with WoD, where the flaw was that there was nothing to do unless you raided.

[Hitei]

A lot of people are apparently willing to overlook these things because they ultimately matter less to them than the fundamental design shift that occured around Legion i.e. the Diablofication of WoW.

Please explain this design shift.

[MoanaLisa]

First three months of Warlords.

After that there's not a lot to like.

[Tyris Flare]

WoD didn't have m+ so BFA - SL - WOD

[exochaft]

Please explain this design shift.

There were a couple design shifts, but there's two that stick out in my mind.

First was the shift towards content being an endless grind, or rather creating artificial means to make players feel like they needed to be logged in at all times. Legion was the first heavy shift towards this model, where content was designed around keeping players subscribed and not necessarily because it was fun for the players. While there was some level of it prior to WoD, most of the shift occurred after WoD.

Second was starting from a fresh slate every expansion. While the start of BfA was the first time most players noticed this change, it actually start (again) in Legion. In Legion, a LOT of your player power and design was based around your artifact weapon... which was promptly removed at the end of the expansion. However, in order to facilitate artifact weapons, the classes were severely stripped down (even a lot of abilities/spells were moved to or created only for PvP talent trees). I can 100% guarantee the reason for this shift was because the devs wanted to make their lives easier on themselves: if you start every expansion at the same base state, it's easier to balance stuff that you add (then remove at the end of) the next expansion. BfA extended this concept to levels where most people suddenly noticed it, despite it being started in Legion.

That's only two, but there's a bunch more that has occurred.

*edit* - Wanted to add a third, since it's one that has bothered many people: The game has become more and more of a 'paid beta' as time goes on. To be fair, I feel like this started towards the end of WoD, but it's really come to the forefront in Shadowlands. How is this a design philosophy? If I had to give it a label, it was a shift away from 'Blizzard polish' to... not sure how to describe it without sounding nasty. They've shifted towards the design philosophy of your average AAA gaming company, and even embraced some of their social/behavior issues, as well.

[Sondrelk]

Rose-tinted glasses hard at work for WoD I see.
I don't care how much I enjoyed the raids and how well designed the world was. In terms of actual content outside raids I can replicate the essential WoD experience by going on a ground mounts and running circles around Talador out of boredom.

I would say BfA was the most enjoyable for me overall. I really liked the theme, and stuff like Azerite never really bothered me at all. Sure, it wasnt great, and Warfronts were tedious, but I had a much better time in BfA with a steady stream of content compared to SL, and I was far more engaged with the lore, which to me is important.
The last patch of BfA was an absolute flaming pile of shit though. The highlight of that was the elusive concept of Blizzard reusing zones, not anything actually tangible they did with them.

Of course, I imagine this is only because we are in the eye of the shit right now. Once SL is over and we are well into 10.0 I imagine I will look back at SL as a high-water mark for cosmetic content. The sheer amount and quality of stuff that can be collected is staggering. And compared to BfA the transmog sets are not awful, I even feel a distinct feeling that I want to level alts to gather stuff, which I never really felt in BfA.

[Echo of Soul]

WoD didn't have m+ so BFA - SL - WOD

WoD didn't have m+ so WOD - BFA - SL

[Sondrelk]

At least WOD had interesting class mechanics and playstyles.

Well so long as you didnt play one of the classes Blizzard abandoned to prepare for the drastic rethink they were planning for Legion... *cough*demonology*cough*

[unbound]

Of these 3 rotten tomatoes, which one gave you the least food poisoning?

Sorry...I will not be voting in your pain poll.

[Tikishock]

Well so long as you didnt play one of the classes Blizzard abandoned to prepare for the drastic rethink they were planning for Legion... *cough*demonology*cough*

LOL I actually did but switched to Aff. I ended up liking Aff much better so it was all good for me but I understand how that could be frustrating.

[arkanon]

Please explain this design shift.

A focus on bite sized content and seasonal play, with greater rift style content, small incrimental loot increases and variations, drop in drop out / pug centric multiplayer (less guild focused). These are the things many people talk about in this context.

[BeepBoo]

Rose-tinted glasses hard at work for WoD I see.
I don't care how much I enjoyed the raids and how well designed the world was. In terms of actual content outside raids I can replicate the essential WoD experience by going on a ground mounts and running circles around Talador out of boredom.

I honestly only played wow for raids past WOTLK. Anything outside of it was just for fun, or worse.. was to fucking do a chore that gave me power INSIDE of a raid. To that end, if I'm choosing between "A game that had solid content I love, but completed and grew bored" or "Game that had solid content I loved but also tried to get me to 'stay invested' by throwing in a metric fuck ton of chores."

I'd honestly rather just get bored of the game and move on. Neither gives me what I ACTUALLY want (which is big content patches every 2-3 months) and in one instance, I feel like I have to do things I don't have fun doing just to be optimized for things I do have fun doing.

Note: I didn't play WOD or SL, and BFA was horrible outside of raids. Took everything I hated about legion and doubled down. No thanks.

[Itisamuh]

Shadowlands, easily. Despite all the negativity, the only expansion I might have liked more from a PvE perspective was Legion, maybe.

Of course, when one factors PvP into the equation, which I unfortunately always will, the gear situation in Shadowlands is beyond awful.

[arkanon]

Shadowlands, easily. Despite all the negativity, the only expansion I might have liked more from a PvE perspective was Legion, maybe.

Of course, when one factors PvP into the equation, which I unfortunately always will, the gear situation in Shadowlands is beyond awful.

Strange - many people consider the pvp gearing to be one of the few GOOD things about SL. What do you hate about it specifically?

- - - Updated - - -

Of these 3 rotten tomatoes, which one gave you the least food poisoning?

Sorry...I will not be voting in your pain poll.

Although all three are commonly spoken about as the three worst or least popular expansions, WoD is very different to the other two - im interested if you hated the same thing about all 3, or hated different things about them, but hated them equally?

[BeepBoo]

Strange - many people consider the pvp gearing to be one of the few GOOD things about SL. What do you hate about it specifically?

From what I read about it when I was paying attention, PVP gearing was the most efficient way to gear. If you hate PVP, but want to raid, you will do whatever is the most efficient gearing strategy, sacrificing your enjoyment in the process if necessary.

I would have hated that shit with a passion.

[Sondrelk]

I honestly only played wow for raids past WOTLK. Anything outside of it was just for fun, or worse.. was to fucking do a chore that gave me power INSIDE of a raid. To that end, if I'm choosing between "A game that had solid content I love, but completed and grew bored" or "Game that had solid content I loved but also tried to get me to 'stay invested' by throwing in a metric fuck ton of chores."

I'd honestly rather just get bored of the game and move on. Neither gives me what I ACTUALLY want (which is big content patches every 2-3 months) and in one instance, I feel like I have to do things I don't have fun doing just to be optimized for things I do have fun doing.

I guess if your ideal experience of WoW is literally just parking your character in front of the raid and raidlogging exclusively then the expansion was a godsend, but for me at least it seems incredibly regressive to go from what is supposed to be a living, breathing, interractible world to one where the Garrison is essentially a lobby for the multiplayer aspect of raids.

Again, there is of course nothing wrong with wanting to solely raidlog and nothing else, but I cannot in good faith say an expansion is good when that is essentially all the endgame was for WoD.

[McNeil]

The start of WoD was actually amazing (other than the first few days of launch where the EU servers had a lot of issues). Doing quests and dungeons was a lot of fun, building your garrison was kinda fun despite the issues this feature had later on, and my guild was a lot more active. And at least it wasn't overloaded with systems that we got since Legion. It was so much easier to just jump into raiding and PVP without doing a lot of extra chores.

[arkanon]

From what I read about it when I was paying attention, PVP gearing was the most efficient way to gear. If you hate PVP, but want to raid, you will do whatever is the most efficient gearing strategy, sacrificing your enjoyment in the process if necessary.

I would have hated that shit with a passion.

But thats a problem with PvE gearing, not PvP gearing.