BFA: the longest lasting xpac in the history of WoW

[Soluna]

What are you basing this on?

BC was pretty much entirely concept art at announcement, and they literally didn't have Draenei developed firmly enough to even announce them as the Alliance race until 6 months after Blizzcon.

Cata's presentation had Archaeology as a profession based around the Path of the Titans, a system that did not make it past the concept stage. Uldum, Hyjal and Deepholme were not fleshed out enough to show outside of concept art and maps and Twilight Highlands was only conceptual.

MoP's scenario and challenge mode explanations were significantly shorter and less fleshed out than Torghast's.

I started playing in Cata, so MoP announcement was the first time I watched blizzcon. I should have been a bit more clear that from MoP and onwards things seemed a lot more fleshed out. Also, I do not think that scenarios were a significant addition to the game in MoP, to the point where it needed a lot of emphasis on, or fleshing it out early, considering how little they did with the system. Regarding challenge mode, yes, they were awesome, but it's was hardly the central part of the expansion.

Here we had soulbinds, soul conduits, and literally everything that had to do with covenants aside from their cosmetics being completely absent from the presentation aside from a small UI of a soulbind. The single biggest core of the system, same with torghast, which ended up being such a watered down concept compared to what it seemed like potentially, and last but not least, literally 0 clue on what to do with classes other than bring a few things back.

So much for Holinka's post before blizzcon saying 'I am especially proud of the work the class design team has done, can't wait to show you on blizzcon', and then we got mostly stupid shit back that is so situational that yes, it will feel good that you will use it once in a blue moon, but the immediate gameplay was completely unaffected, and had it not been for the amazing testers, blizzard would have no clue on how to make some classes better...

Still hyped for shadowlands, but saying that the game got a lot of dev time, when I play it daily with friends to test m+, and to this day, there are entire dungeons (theater of pain), which as of the most recent build, has like 90% of its mobs constantly evading, and the beta having soulbind trees breaking and not working, not letting us test them for a month or two now, when the game is 1.5 months away from release, is absolutely ridiculous.

[Ielenia]

You are projecting. Expansion does not equal only the last content patch. The OP doesn't mention mists at all and in fact you are the first one to do so. Odd huh? Also the time between 5.4 and WoD launch was 14 months, 9-10-2013 to 11-13-14. The OP wasn't just talking about the last content patch but the entire length of the expansion and BFA will have lasted 26 months by the time Shadowlands launches. 8.3 will have lasted 9 months, not 10 as well. 1-14-2020 to 10-27-2020 is 1 month and 9.

26 months is the longest expansion to date. Not by much since both Wrath and Mists lasted 25 months and Vanilla to TBC lasted 26 months but is excluded on the technicality that Vanilla wasn't an expansion. Though depending on how you round it you could round Mists up to 26 but SL would still be longer.

Of all the 26 months of MoP's life, the expansion was "over" in a few days short of a whole year after its launch, and then "dragged on" for a whole year and two months. (yes, my initial math was wrong)
Of all the 26 months of BfA's life, the expansion was "over" in over a year and a half after its launch (50% longer "life" more than MoP), with only ten months of the expansion "dragging on" before Shadowlands.

MoP "dragged on" more than BfA did.

[deenman]

Not entirely true. I have been playing WoW since 2006 and don't really have any plans to stop. Even if SL is bad, it can't be any worse than WoD. I took the most break ever in WoD, but still played it for the majority of the time it was current. I will play SL even if it turns out to be complete trash. Maybe I am no longer the typical WoW player.

WoW is just the game I play. I see it as spending money on something i enjoy most of the time, instead of buying a few games at full price, and getting nowhere near the same enjoyment out of them.

wod was masterclass in quality compared to bfa and shadowlands,wod had no bullshit systems,no infinite grinds,no borrowed power,warforge was awsome just +6,class design was very good similar almost to mop in quality,raids were proly among the best they have ever been,the world felt raw and untamed,heck it even had proly the best cinematic ever

[Nyel]

all hope for shadowlands went up in smoke with its release date, class revamp is a joke, still world of systems quecraft with borrowed powers on top of borrowed powers. Shadowlands will be another round of Beta for Azeroth its needs months of work and testing.

Would one additional month have changed much though? The release was either mid/end of November or end of October. I don't think one additional month would have done anything. Their commitment on changing or improving classes wasn't there from the beginning, I am still surprised they reworked Shadow (and eventually did a good job).

My biggest problem with Shadowlands, next to the bare bones class design, is the lack of interesting features. Covenants alone just isn't it. Every expansion offered more than that (okay, WoD didn't, but do we want that as comparison?). Plus only 4+1 zones at launch which feels lacking (granted, this time at least an endgame zone). The new cosmetical options are nice but nothing that can be advertised as a feature. Torghast as a feature sounds kinda weak as well. So the entire expansion boils down to Covenants - if they'd be well implemented it would be less of a problem but... there are so many issues attached to it.

[Veliarne]

wod was masterclass in quality compared to bfa and shadowlands,wod had no bullshit systems,no infinite grinds,no borrowed power,warforge was awsome just +6,class design was very good similar almost to mop in quality,raids were proly among the best they have ever been,the world felt raw and untamed,heck it even had proly the best cinematic ever

I can't believe you are using the expansion that is widely agreed as being the worst just to not concede a point. "no bullshit systems". What about garrison? "no borrowed power". I would argue armor sets are exactly that. Also, legendary ring. "warforge was awsome". Warforging and titanforging is bad design.That is why it's been slowly removed from the game. "raids were proly among the best they have ever been" Raids have been good and still are. "heck it even had proly the best cinematic ever" The cinematic/art team has been doing their best work in the past xpacs, surely you have to agree on that. no infinite grinds and class design, i will give you those. (although i am sure some will say that x class or y spec was bad in wod. i just haven't played them all to comment). And yes, the world did feel good, i really enjoyed the questing in WoD (but i enjoyed it in all xpacs)

[Mafic]

So a new boss to kill doesnt end the drought of bosses to kill? What a strange thought process...

- - - Updated - - -



Yeah i mean i hated RS - but it was something new to do after not having anything new to do......

I went and looked up the patch and while it added RS it also introduced real ID which has been a pillar of WoW for some time. So I have to agree it was a patch that added something relevant for the expansion while adding a system that is still in use today aka real ID.

[Ielenia]

wod was masterclass in quality compared to bfa and shadowlands,wod had no bullshit systems,no infinite grinds,no borrowed power,warforge was awsome just +6,class design was very good similar almost to mop in quality,raids were proly among the best they have ever been,the world felt raw and untamed,heck it even had proly the best cinematic ever

WoD had "Draenor perks", like 2 or 3 per spec, with most being purged out of the game when WoD ended and Legion started, with only a few being added back as passives, like giving WW monks an extra Chi point. So, yeah, WoD had "borrowed power", just no active "borrowed power" like BfA essences.

[Nnyco]

I dont care how long an expansion is, what usually bothers me are this forever long final patches.

[josykay]

I logged in ready to debunk the OP saying BfA is the longest expansion to date, but they're actually correct. The only other time the game went 26 months until the new expansion was vanilla to BC. everything in between has been anywhere from 22-25 months

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Expansion

Interestingly, the gap between last patch and new addon is actually the third shortest, with 9 months. Which is, clearly, a positive mark. The 14 months at the end of MOP and WoD were just unacceptable.. and it didn't help, that WoD in particular was a rather ill addon. MOP was a okish addon, but there were patches that were absolutely Meh. Thunderking was one of the bast patches ever, but on the same time you get 5.1 and 5.3... which was kind of nothing.
And WoD... well, unfortunatly kind of got the short end of the stick everywhere. Less patches, cut content. And players literally do not move out, aside of being summoned to the raid.
BFA's story sucked, but the overall addon's stucture and schedule was suprisingly not one of it's issues, but the confusing mess of a story, and having annoying crap. that is mandatory to do. Essence unlocking and upgrading sucked, heroic visions sucked...
I think, the 9-11 months are just about right: Enough time, to get everything done, but without the long content drought.

[Queen of Hamsters]

So. You people count expansions as "dragging on" from start to finish...? What is the point of playing then?

No, it counts from the final patch. BFA has not had the longest drought.

As for SL, I will judge it when I have played it enough to form an opinion.

[deenman]

WoD had "Draenor perks", like 2 or 3 per spec, with most being purged out of the game when WoD ended and Legion started, with only a few being added back as passives, like giving WW monks an extra Chi point. So, yeah, WoD had "borrowed power", just no active "borrowed power" like BfA essences.

well tehnicaly those perks still exist,just not the same ones,but the system is still ingame,many abilities get upgraded when you hit a certain lvl

[deenman]

I can't believe you are using the expansion that is widely agreed as being the worst just to not concede a point. "no bullshit systems". What about garrison? "no borrowed power". I would argue armor sets are exactly that. Also, legendary ring. "warforge was awsome". Warforging and titanforging is bad design.That is why it's been slowly removed from the game. "raids were proly among the best they have ever been" Raids have been good and still are. "heck it even had proly the best cinematic ever" The cinematic/art team has been doing their best work in the past xpacs, surely you have to agree on that. no infinite grinds and class design, i will give you those. (although i am sure some will say that x class or y spec was bad in wod. i just haven't played them all to comment). And yes, the world did feel good, i really enjoyed the questing in WoD (but i enjoyed it in all xpacs)

garrisons werent a system in the same way azerite or covenants are something essential and constant to your progression,they had no must have power gains,just a few story quests and decent gold making

yeah,i agree armor sets are ''borrowed power'',but most people dont rly count those

legendery ring was kinda bad i agree,it was far to strong and nerfed hellfire extremly

yeah warforge in wod was good,it was onlt +6,not +70 like in legion...

raids are almost always good yes,but wod introduced mythic,and had one of the best opening raids with higmaul,the last boss was awsome,hard and better than most end of expansion bosses,also foundry is proly the best raid in the last decade,had new and interesting mecanics,and it felt badass

yeah cinematics are always good,but that wod orc cinematic was simply the best,the only one even to come close to wrath one

[Ielenia]

well tehnicaly those perks still exist,just not the same ones,but the system is still ingame,many abilities get upgraded when you hit a certain lvl

Yeah, well, that was true for all expansions. Some Legion artifact skills, both passive and active, were baked into the class in the form of passives and talents. For example: Wake of Ashes for paladins. And some BfA azerite traits are also becoming part of the classes' talents and passives.

[deenman]

Yeah, well, that was true for all expansions. Some Legion artifact skills, both passive and active, were baked into the class in the form of passives and talents. For example: Wake of Ashes for paladins. And some BfA azerite traits are also becoming part of the classes' talents and passives.

sure,but im talking about similar wod style upgrades,like hunters when they get to lvl 40 or something their raptor strike just does 40% more dmg

[rhorle]

MoP "dragged on" more than BfA did.

Again. Dragged on does not mean only the last patch. Stop redefining words because of the argument you want to make. You are the first person to bring up MoP. This wasn't exclusively talking about the last content patch. Nothing about the rest of your post even makes sense. Mists of Pandaria was not over a few days short of 1 year. An expansion is not over when the last content patch comes out.

You keep creating special rules in order for you to remain right and allow you to keep arguing an something that you alone have created.

[Themerlin]

OP is a trifle misleading:

Vanilla : 26 months
Burning Crusade : 22 months
Wrath of the Lich King : 25 months
Cataclysm : 22 months
Mists of Pandaria : 26 months
Warlords of Draenor : 26 months
Legion : 24 months
BfA : 26 months

KAPOW! BOOM! BAM! ZOINK!

I just saw those punches impact, and yet the bad guys are still not down?

[unbound]

At 26 months by the time Shadowlands is out. Given how long this expansion has dragged on for, does it give you hope for Shadowlands? They have had by far the most time to work on an expansion, and given it has now been a few years since the dev team has increased dramatically, should we expect an impeccable expansion for Shadowlands?

Historically, the more time Blizz has had to develop an expansion since the previous expansion, the worse it has been.

Wrath took 22 months to develop. Considered the best by most people.
Cata took 25 months to develop. Considered poor.
MoP took 22 months to develop. Considered good by most people.
WoD took 26 months to develop. Considered the worst.
Legion took 21 months to develop. Considered good by most people.
BfA took 24 months to develop. Considered worst or 2nd worst by most people.

That isn't showing promise for SL.

[FelPlague]

I logged in ready to debunk the OP saying BfA is the longest expansion to date, but they're actually correct. The only other time the game went 26 months until the new expansion was vanilla to BC. everything in between has been anywhere from 22-25 months

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Expansion

I mean yeah but not by much... literally same as vanilla to tbc, 1 more then wrath to cata, and 1 more then mists to wod.
but yeah covid has been a fair bit.

[Lochton]

Longest lasting, not alone. At least it didn't have the longest draughts.

[Pawpurr]

I think a lot of the SL hate is made by A) Ultra top tier elitists who will optimize the best choice no matter how well balanced they are and who wish the game to become more "esport like" with no randomized elements -- and B) People who read those opinions and decide they agree/disagree with no actual experience.

I quit right before MOP and came back for BFA, and I have to say, I enjoyed BFA. But I missed Legion, and as I went back to collect achievements there I can see it was the superior piece of content compared to before and after. Tick tock expansions, right? Shadowlands is looking and feeling like Legion to me in terms of its baseline execution (Art, Creativity, Design, Lore) and I think the core game will be high enough quality to be enjoyable before discussing the expansion feature "build around" systems. The question is are those systems "not good" or are they "so bad" they will detract from the base game? OR are they fine and we're all keeping the clickbait industry alive.

Only time will tell, but I really haven't minded the length of BFA, as I had 3 expansions worth of achievements to catch up on. For anyone hardcore for the whole 15 years, Okay, I can see you running out of content, but for the rest of us this "off season" is a great time to go check out the rest of the game.