Another one considering a return

[Ravinee-kul-tiras]

Hi All

I played ‘seriously’ from the end of vanilla for a couple of years , then quit for ages (till late in WOD) and came back as super casual. I played until 6 months or so into legion when i just got a bit bored.

Ive considered buying the new xpac and re-subbing, im just curious how the new expansion pack is?

Im not competitive or the sort to take it all seriously, im looking for rich story driven content in the levelling process, interesting class mechanics, some decent class quests etc… and hopefully new / active battlegrounds as i loved them

How is the new Xpac looking? Im assuming artifacts are gone, how is the replacement looking?

Is there plenty of interesting and story driven content? any new interesting mechanics for class play or class quests? Any new battlegrounds?

Thanks

[Gráinne-earthen-ring]

Hai, Ravinee! I remember you.

Ugh, we’re into opinions.

Not a lot of people liking BfA right now, compared to … well, almost anything above a nasty infection. Of course, that’s in WoW terms; compared to other games of the genre, it’s still out in front.

I’d say story is down on Legion. Would be hard to top Illidan’s return and an up close and personal with Sargeras, but they really dropped the ball with the unbelievable (and I don’t mean that in a good way) story of war breaking out with utterly unrealistic (you know what I mean) character and plot decisions.

Zone stories are quite decent, comparable to Legion zones but without the relics capping each. Drustvar (alliance) is nicely atmospheric and spooky with a story of witches in the woods. The story of Jaina’s return to her homeland is nicely done; there just isn’t enough of it. There is nothing like Suramar, alas.

Classes are WAY down on Legion. Moar pruning. No class artefacts to feel good about and provide bonding and class pride. No legendaries to give a boost. I’d say most classes are in their least fun incarnation ever. Most of them are pretty much like Legion, but stripped of the artefact and legendary traits, and they are very, very, very dull. And alow. Gawd, the slo-o-ow!

Replacement for artefacts, legendaries and tier sets is the new Azerite Armour. Everybody gets three slots of it: head, shoulders, chest. No option. I think Azerite Armour was intended to be great, and filling all the gaps left by artefacts, legendaries and tier sets, but it didn’t work out that way. So Blizzard nerfed all the Azerite traits into the dust, and are reworking the whole system for 8.2 (April-ish). I’m kind of hopeful they will come up with something good then.

But they don’t seem to be backing off on RNG at all, which makes it feel like nothing is worth doing for gearing purposes.

No new battlegrounds.

Warfronts are entertaining enough, for a half-hour a month, and they’re great for skipping the start of basic gearing up, but useless after that except for the half-hour a month.

Island expeditions, 3-man scenarios where you run around and kill trash and rares against a timer, can be done forever but don’t make for interesting gameplay and don’t reqard gear, just AP and RNG pets and mounts.

People who like raiding reckon that the upcoming raid will be very cool. People who like M+ are very much down compared to Legion; it’s not clear to me whether that’s because the shiny has worn off or whether the massive increase in trash aimed at making it more “e-sport-y” has made it too much of a chore, but some combination of those.

Day-to-day stuff like WQ are extremely dreary. I never liked WQ as opposed to dailies in the first place, but with the scaling which totally removes all feeling of progression, and the retreads, they are more of a chore than ever.

I really do have hopes for 8.2, so if you’re on the fence, keep that in mind.

[Ravinee-kul-tiras]

Hey Grainne, i actually remember chatting to you too

Thanks for the incredibly detailed response, i really appreciate it. I have no idea why they simplify classes, even as a super casual i dont want to button mash? i dont think anyone does. And sorry to hear no suramar equivalent (that was by far my fave area, i absoloutely loved it). But maybe something like that will come into a later patch.

As for WQ, i didnt mind them when reasonably designed, but wasnt a fan of the RNG on top of RNG (i prefer small incremental gains when i login, such as with vendors). Disappointing to hear that hasnt been scaled back

Shame about Battlegrounds, but i guess it is a minority activity nowadays (you would not believe how many hours i wasted in massive battles on the old alterec valley!!)

Think ill get it, but wait till 8.2, if not competitive there is a lot to be said for waiting for patches i guess…

[Wickedwilly-silvermoon]

It’s ok. Not great but not terrible either.It feels to myself and many that BFA was rushed out the door without being ready and what they did have they decided to split and timegate. A few months content tbh with another terrible grind for Azerite Power this time round.

[Dorethien-darkmoon-faire (Dorethien)]

I think people mostly like to complain, BfA isn’t as bad as they claim it to be, surely has its lacking things but I’m enjoying it.

So I guess my two cents about BfA, obviously according to my opinion.

Pros:
I love both Zandalar and Kul’tiras in enviromental design, I really love the golden city and the dinosaurs ( even took courses in Paleontology and goes wild for dino skeletons IRL so man I love the dinos in WoW ), and for Kul’tiras I really love the old fashioned, gritty, “Kraken” inspired looks and folklore-y creatures in the woods, it always feels like something is watching you when you run through, very good design.

I really enjoy the quests and story ( also the story in the collectors edition book that adds to the games story, I can really recommend it ), well can’t say to much without maybe giving spoilers, don’t know what you know, but I am really enjoying it.

Bwon’samdi, love, and I really like Talanji. ( but I love trolls, could you tell? )

I really enjoy how they go into more depth with specific quests around characters, like theres a quest around Saurfang ( and his nr1 fan Zappyboooi <3 )

Cons:

It’s mostly people, but if you’re planning on kinda go singleplayer, then it’s all fine. As usual people require higher gear then the raids drops and Curve even for Normal Uldir, so if you want to play for mostly story, LFR is pretty much the only way to go to just get cutscenes.

Hm, well not many cons really.

Neutral:
Warfronts and Island expiditions, I find them a bit to easy and dumbed down but I find it fun in between if I feel like chill playing.

Classes being dumbed down, yeah sure they are, I still miss the times when DK actually required skill to play, but I can’t say I don’t enjoy it, theres still some things you can figure out on your own like what Azerite powers to pick to make yourself as strong as possible and so on, so kinda neutral to the classes being easier nowadays.

The Azerite neck, since it goes with the story, I don’t mind it, would be fun to be able to change neck like any other piece of gear, but yeah, I still like it in a way.

But overall, if you’re mainly looking for story, then I do recommend BfA And BGs are very active, at least when I’ve been queuing.