BFA is done. Time for your official review

[dreamdaddy]

I voted worst.

WoD. Mostly fun specs/classes. Bad central expansion feature - but otherwise good content(although there was very little of it).

BfA. Mostly cumbersome specs/classes that don't feel good. Bad central expansion features(Islands/Warfronts). Overly complicated gearing/reward systems that detract from the game(Azerite gear, Heart of Azeroth, Essences, TF/WF, Benthic gear, Corrupted gear, Legendary cloak upgrade system etc.) replacing what was the best part of raiding to me(tier sets and spec trinkets). Also I found most of the raids meh(except battle of dazar'alor)

This is how I feel. WoD had a lack of content but all of the raids were some of the best in WoW's history. Classes felt unique, and even though I played a Boomkin and WoD balance druid was frustrating quite often, there were encounters where I shined and there were some key pieces of gear that felt momentous. Tier sets were mostly mandatory but they had some creative effects and procs (I miss the fae dragonkin from balance's HFC tier).

I have no idea why they abandoned all of the spec abilities/flavor from legendaries going into BFA. Sure, some were added to talents and base abilities but only at the expense of other options. There should have been a new talent tier that let us pic from 3 of the most creative legendary or artifact weapon skills. Many specs felt and still feel so underwhelming.

[Beefkow]

I'll say this. The gear and weapon models that came out of WoD endgame, were pretty cool looking. The design team did a great job. Bfa models look like they were done half-assed. *but that's my opinion*

Dude, elite primal gladiator was just badass.

Especially DK and warrior, thank god I played WOD.

- - - Updated - - -

This is how I feel. WoD had a lack of content but all of the raids were some of the best in WoW's history. Classes felt unique, and even though I played a Boomkin and WoD balance druid was frustrating quite often, there were encounters where I shined and there were some key pieces of gear that felt momentous. Tier sets were mostly mandatory but they had some creative effects and procs (I miss the fae dragonkin from balance's HFC tier).

I have no idea why they abandoned all of the spec abilities/flavor from legendaries going into BFA. Sure, some were added to talents and base abilities but only at the expense of other options. There should have been a new talent tier that let us pic from 3 of the most creative legendary or artifact weapon skills. Many specs felt and still feel so underwhelming.

Imagine paying $50 to have blizzard remove stuff, nerf your character, and make leveling a nightmare. You don't get anything from level 110-120, that's ludicrous!

Also, some people enjoy BFA class design and having their shit removed, which I find hard to believe, but who cares I guess?

[bloomy]

since the changes with the end of MoP the game has been terrible and that fact can only be somewhat hidden at times with new systems that are actually executed properly such as WQ's, m+, artifact weapons, and legendaries... you might notice everything i just listed was introduced in legion and they were all amazing with the exception of legendaries which had a rocky start but still added a lot of flavor to the game even early on. those systems all being new to the game hid the fact that at it's core, the game was still just as bad as it was in wod, and just as bad as it was after in bfa.

major class changes need to happen to make the way we interact with the game fun again, and they have talked about this being important but the classes i played in mop and prior expansions were all dot classes and i had a ton of fun min/maxing snapshotting to squeeze out more damage and outperform others who didn't have as much awareness as me. dots are a massive part of the game, and that part becomes 10 times more interesting and engaging as a player with snapshotting. they removed it because they said it was a challenge to balance dot classes... so our fun wasn't as important as making their job easy. and on that note, balancing 10 man heroic was also getting too hard, and even though it was the gateway that allowed more 25 man guilds to form and got a lot of people into raiding, it was too much work so again our fun doesn't matter. it become glaringly obvious to me at the end of mop that our fun was taking a massive backseat to easing their workload, call me crazy but i tend to think the company making billions of dollars should put in the extra work so we can have fun with the game we pay for monthly.

they can hide these facts for brief moments with new systems or new classes/races, but until they make specs fun, make the rotations complex enough to keep our attention with snapshotting or something similar, and allow smaller groups to tackle the hardest content, this game will slowly be squeezed to death. the game has been awful since the changes at the end of mop, and it's not a coincidence, and while spec overhauls and adding back some buttons will help for a shot while... you will be forced to play in 20 man groups if you want to play challenging content and you will still refresh your dots at the same time without even thinking about it, like some kind of zombie bot just pressing buttons with 0 thought put into it.

so to answer your question, the core of this game has been a 2/10 since those changes, but i give legion a 5/10 because at least it had some new systems that distracted us from how bored we were for a while.

oh and i've seen people talking about mythic and how it's too hard and precise these days and people are correct, you used to have to strike a balance because your rotation took thought and effort to play correctly so the bosses were hard and many dps checks required you to play the hard mechanics while performing your rotation correctly. in this game post-mop your rotation will play correctly for you, so to make the raids hard they put all the difficulty into the tuning of the fight. yet another thing people instinctively feel but many of them can't quite put their finger on it.

if you started after mop or weren't good at the game in mop yet, just take my word for it, this game can be amazing, but it hasn't been for a very long time.

[Drewbabyy18]

This expansion rates about a 7/10 for me. I'm a casual player who consumes content slowly.

Imo, the goods about it were as follows:

Invasions
Assaults
Islands
Azzy Traits
Story/War campaign
Visions
Raids/dungeons

Bads:
Warfronts
Rep
Essences

Invasions for me were a highlight because I love open world PVP. That brought just that! Until flying of course killed it like everything else flying does. Assaults have been pretty fun as well. I love a game where the world changes or has random events pop up. Makes the world feel alive. Islands, while many hate them, were really fun for me. I play with my girlfriend who is also a casual/new player and it's her small instance content where she learns to tank and play the game. For me, it's just a big gather em up and burn em down. I love seeing big numbers and chasing the carrot on the stick I guess you could say? Azzy traits have been awesome. Comparing them to tier sets, they blow them out of the water. Tier set bonuses were extremely boring. They maybe had one bonus addition that was kinda cool.. whereas azzy traits have a number of different choices that affect your character. The story for me has been great. I know so many people cannot stand how confusing it is but I think blizz did a great job. I knew from the start the expansion wasn't just about Ally vs. Horde, I knew there were more to it and I'm glad it panned out somehow the way I wanted it to. Visions are fresh but I love the challenge they bring. Can't wait to do more. As usual, dungeons and raids continue to be amazing. Thanks for that blizz.

Warfronts, to me, were really boring. I get what blizz was going for but they def. dropped the ball. Rep was alright but I really wish they'd make the recipes you can get account wide. I hate grinding a new alt hours and hours of rep farming just to get a rank 3. Stupid! Essences the same thing. BFA isn't very alt friendly and that's why I rated it meh. I wish they'd go back to making it alt friendly but know knows. I have hope for SL tho as it looks great but time will tell!

Also, I know many won't share my opinion.. we're all different in our own way. Have a great day!

[Maquegyver]

Small sample size but 90% at mediocre or worse is pretty telling.

[JJShadoe]

Been waiting for an Old God/Black Empire/N'zoth patch or expansion since AQ came out in Classic.

I'm sorely disappointed in how the N'zoth storyline has played out. He was better off imprisoned, apparently? He had the dagger that could do him in, gave it to us to give to Sylvanas to give to Azshara who he knew would betray him so that... he could be beaten by us by another plan he was aware of? Zap and The Black Empire is over?!? Why didn't the Titans do that in the first place? Yay we win but by the way Azeroth still has a giant sword stuck in her face?

The only way it all makes sense is if 8.3 turns out to have been a ruse by N'zoth to get us off his trail, and he's still lurking out there gathering his strength now that he's free and off the radar.

Fingers crossed.

If that's not the case, then it's lousy storytelling and a waste of a storyline and villain they've been building up to for years. The raid looks amazing, and I've really enjoyed the encounter design. I'm stoked to finally get some pets, titles, and mounts that I've hoped would come for so long. But "visions" that come and go are the only threat? Two old zones (one of them incredibly small and boring) with some tentacles and obelisks slapped on them every other week is all we get of the great Black Empire that used to cover the world?

What a shame. What a letdown.

[czarek]

Yeah Blizzard is goin straight to kill them self. They failed on diablo now they cut out half of BfA and story for shadowlands and whats after. They burning the floor they are standing on. This is ridicolous.

[ercarp]

Current average rating (based on poll): 2.58 out of 7, AKA 36.9%.

Yeah, it sucked. There isn't a single expansion that I've cared about less. I didn't even bother raiding or pushing M+ this time around. When the gameplay systems and classes feel like trash, there's very little reason for me to play.

I miss Legion so much.

[Ardenaso]

The writing was so shit I decided to be a Warcraft 3 purist

[Soon-TM]

I can stand a somewhat dull gameplay if its story is compelling enough, e.g. Vanilla/Classic. Conversely, I can let a silly story go if the actual gameplay is great, e.g. BC. The problem (for me) is that BfA fails in both fronts.

[Phuongvi]

I didnt have high expectation for this expansion,

A step down from legion, a boring story in a land of Troll, not appealing at all.

For content ... blah, it's wow.

But The last patch is the worst shit I have ever seen, they had the chance to make something good and we though they learned from the past, they keep of putting some terrible shit because ¨ they are testing and trying some new shit¨

It's juste terrible.

[Fkiolaris]

Story, classes, new systems- all a complete failure. At least WoD had some classes/specs that were still pretty fun to play, while their pvp gearing systems were the best they ever had in the game. However, based on what we are seeing from the current devs, expect more of the same in Shadowlands.

[Wakozi123]

I honestly don't think the expansion was as bad as most people say it was.

Obviously, the essence system is partially flawed. Many people complain that they need to be account-wide, and I agree with that. But there are also people who complain that they can't keep up with other players, if they don't have x-essence... I mean what do you expect a progression system to be like? You can't join a game x-months after its release and expect to be just as strong as someone who has been playing the entire time. Not to mention that some people don't even want to invest the time into getting the essences, but still complain about how strong they are.

Regarding the story: If it turns out that the entirety of 8.3 was nothing but an illusion (like the Wrathion fight), then we have perfect writing. If that is not the case, it feels kinda weird to deal with an old god, who has been scheming in the shadows for the entirety of the Warcraft history, within a single patch. In my opinion, N'zoth is worthy of having his own expansion. But at the moment, I will just wait and see what they do.

Islands, Warfronts, Assaults, Invasions... Are all fun in their own way. Warfronts are flawed, I agree with that. But Assaults, Islands and Invasions are ok. The problem with Islands is that we as a community turned them into trash due to the way we play it. A mythic run for example should not be longer than 4 minutes, right? That is a player problem, not a developer problem. The same goes for Warmode. Yes, it is annoying if 5 Alliance players come at you and gank the shit out of you, but that is not Blizzards fault. It is the way we play it. I think it is important to be aware of that. To make a difference between a developer problem and a problem that is created by the player base.

When it comes to raids: Top raids. Every single one was good and all those that don't think so... Dunno what you expect a raid to be like, for you to like it.

Overall, I would say nowadays hate culture it is impossible for Blizzard to make a good WoW Expansion. People will always complain. And I don't think it will get any better when it comes to that. So just enjoy the game as long as you like it and when it is time start playing something else.

[Soon-TM]

Overall, I would say nowadays hate culture it is impossible for Blizzard to make a good WoW Expansion. People will always complain. And I don't think it will get any better when it comes to that. So just enjoy the game as long as you like it and when it is time start playing something else.

Yeah poor Blizzard, how dare people criticise them, thus preventing them from making a decent xpac. Oh wait, they managed quite well with MoP, or even Legion.

[probert]

1) World of Warcraft Vanilla. The classic experience has reinforced its excellence in my mind and brought it back to #1 for me, they really nailed the experience down perfectly. Less regulation of itemization and more class identity and RPG elements were features not mistakes. 40 man raids *do* feel more epic, and thankfully with modern collaboration tools (youtube, discord) and theorycrafting what used to be difficult is now just moderately challenging at best. Being able to target gear for specific upgrades, having encounters that specifically require class abilities, the importance of crafting and the economy and consumables... its a living world. Unlike later expansions you're experiencing the content and participating; the game design doesn't egotistically center you as the hero of the story.

2) The Burning Crusade. Basically optimized Vanilla in space, with memorable raids and villains throughout. More tanking options, more dps balance, but at the cost of more regulated gear and stats. Each zone was fun to level in, lots of challenge and it was a step above any MMO to that point. The last Matt Uleman soundtrack by Blizzard. They killed off 3 major lore characters in one expansion, although the lack of consequence in the blizzard universe meant they kept coming back in various ways. EVERY raid was memorable. The first reputation grinds were introduced, a sign of things to come. Crafting was still valuable, and had many BiS items until well into late tier 5 gear. I could easily argue TBC is the #1 choice, but Classic's scope was bigger and more revolutionary.

3) Wrath of the Lich King. The dawn of some recycling (Naxx 2.0; 10 and 25 man raids with varying difficulties) but a worthy end to the original trilogy of releases. Was decently challenging for the first ~3 months until gear inflation made heroic dungeons a joke. The filler raid tier was wedged between two of the best raids ever -- Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel. The last release of 3 uber-hard heroics was and nice tough and kept the challenge up well into the 2nd year at which point the content drought began. Ruby Sanctum was a throw away filler raid, while the devs tried to rescue the overly ambitious Cataclysm. The introduction of the voiced Sylvannas character who became Blizzard's mary sue. Started to move away from class sets for tier gear (due to race and class inflation) further watering down class identity.

4) Mists of Pandaria. Garrosh plotline notwithstanding, the Pandaria elements were a nice change of pace and there was a focus on class identity and RPG elements again. The 'dead cat bounce' expansion. The legendary cloak was a nice character plotline that had to be earned through play commitment. Raids were all good. Wasn't a huge fan of Pandaren becoming a neutral character race, but did like the monk class. Farmville inclusion is a sign of bad things to come though.

5) Legion. Its pretty clear to me that this was the swan song for the remaining elements of old blizzard. They tied up most of the loose ends from previous plotlines -- Xavarius, Sargeras, Titans -- and threw everything but the kitchen sink at the player to cement them as the heroes of the story. Its part of the reason why BFA feels so hollow...there's no more worlds left to conquer. Shortly after Legion launched we saw numerous long time veterans at Blizzard announce their retirements (well deserved). The absorption by Activision was complete.

6) Warlords of Draenor. "Lets revisit the past to remind people what the upcoming movie is based on!" Good leveling process, and while 'time travel / alternate dimensions' is the ultimate sign that the writers were running out of gas, it was a fun alternate history. The last time class design was good, same with pvp. Dungeons were decent, (although fewer in number) and raids were decent. Expansions' ambitions cut short. Too many orcs, and oddly Draenor felt less compelling that Outland even though its the same land mass and general theme.

7) Cataclysm. They 'streamlined' the vanilla experience and invariably took all the charm and nuance out of the 1-60 experience at the same time. They layered ontop of it the entire Garrosh plotline which still lingers to this day unfortunately. The 5 'new' zones were all pretty weak (Deepholm excepted), and we got rehashed bosses (ragnaros) and the same trope of 'corrupted hero now raid enemy' (Fandral). Last raid was abysmal, probably the worst raid aside from Ruby Sanctum. Tol Barad was fun, although it felt like a lesser Wintergrasp. The 5 level progression instead of 10 was a bad idea. The start of Blizzard's obsession with scripted, tight storylines with cutscenes and events where your character is playing a mini game. The 'refresh' of WoW was worse than what it replaced, and the beginning of a long slow decline. Almost every core design decision was a mistake, the world got smaller and more optimized and it felt more like a themepark than an open world.

8) Battle for Azeroth. Took the Legion mechanics and doubled down on grind. Worst storylines yet. Split zones for leveling make faction alts tedious. Heart of Azeroth something out of a korean grindfest MMO. Everything is cynically designed around keeping the player on a treadmill -- reuse of dungeons through the mythic+ system; the heart of azeroth azerite grind; the world quests stretching out faction unlocks and flying; RNG for gear to force you to keep trying again and again to get optimal pieces. etc. None of the lore characters are engaging, the heel turn of Sylvannas predictable and horribly executed. the game is all but dead lore wise, with no compelling NPCs or storylines coming up. Guilds that survived Cataclysm and Warlords of Draenor have disappeared due to indifference. It was a good run, but BFA's emptiness really cements Legion as the 'end' of WoW from a story / lore / character progression level.


So yes, BFA is the worst expansion in WoW history and I'm expecting more of the same for the next one. For the first time in years retail wow is uninstalled on my PC. I'm still subscribed thanks to Classic, but I can't even be bothered to reinstall to experience 8.3.

[Nak88]

Wow! the people have spoken: BfA is the worst or the second worst expansion ever!

[Otimus]

First WoW expansion since I started playing at the start of BC that I didn't resub to at the end because I just didn't care anymore. Hard pass, and I'm still not sure if I'm going to get the new expansion. I'm definitely waiting for the first patch of that to decide for sure. I think I'm just over MMORPGs, and WoW especially has done a lot to turn me off.

WoD is still worse, though. WoD is where they just gave up. BFA is where they just clearly don't know who the hell their audience is, and they didn't seem to really care to try and figure it out.

MoP is still my favorite expansion, and WotLK is still the "most interesting" expansion. Legion shares a lot of the same problems as BFA, but it masked it a lot better with better and more enjoyable/welcoming content/story. It was like if you stuck WoD, BFA, and MoP in machine, and sucked most of the best parts of MoP out of it, you'd get Legion. I still mostly liked Legion. Cata wasn't very good, for mostly the same reasons as WoD, but not near as bad. BC I feel I can't properly judge, as all I did in it was level and PVP and get really bored. I can at least say that I hate like almost all of the leveling areas in BC.

I only very minimally played classic. I can't judge it because, again, I just played it and got bored with it. I didn't level a character to cap until BC, I don't think. (Though I could be misremembering)
I can say that I tried to play the modern classic, and it was painfully, tremendously unfun. But so is BFA! Just for different reasons. So whatever.

[Dejavuproned]

Wow! the people have spoken: BfA is the worst or the second worst expansion ever!

Honestly this will change. WOD is already starting to be fondly remembered and the flaws glosses over as a "better time" by some. So the cycle continues.

Not saying BFA is good, it's not. But I highly doubt it will be remembered as the worst in a couple years.

That "Honor" is reserved by Cata followed by WOD for me.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

[dreamdaddy]

We haven't seen Mythic Nylotha yet but heroic is a joke. N'Zoth is a boring fight, the Dragonball/Return of the King ending is silly. It's clear that the Activision Blizzard execs told them to wrap it up so a single person storyboarded 8.3 in a day giving zero fucks.

[Tyrilion]

Started out as Hot Garbage and finished as a Polished Turd