Is BFA as bad as people say?

Community General Discussion
41

I didn’t like Legion at all, it was one of my least favorite expansions so far. BfA is something that did try to move on from some of the things I disliked most in Legion, but it never went far enough, and in the end it feels like a Legion 2.0. I especially resent the pruned classes that bore me to tears, the scaling systems that are so opaque nobody understands how exactly they work, the RNG fiesta of the random itemlevel upgrades and random sockets, the removal of pvp specific gear that is BiS in pvp and of the pvp vendors, the whole Azerite armor system, as well as the appalling system that has us farming some meaningless currency the whole expansion (call it artifact power, azerite power, whatever - I don’t like it one bit). I also dearly miss my class from older and better times, as well as my favorite alts’ classes that became some unrecognizable crap.

I can see a few upsides - I liked most of the story (except for Sylvanas), the zone stories (especially Drustvar, the thing with the little girl witch was pretty epic), most of the main characters of the expansion (Jaina, Talanji, etc.), the level design, the fact that they at least tried a bit to bring more equity between pve and pvp efficiency of gearing (they failed, but at least they tried)… But I can say that the flaws are deal breakers for me, while the upsides are simply little perks I can very well do without if the flaws would be addressed. So overall, the expansion is still a big NO for me, I don’t see why I should waste my time and money for this.

4 Likes
42

BFA suits me pretty well. I am raiding casually and doing a few m+ per week with friends. Sometimes I do some world quests or transmog hunting. That keeps me busy enough. And I like not feeling any pressure, like I have to farm nonstop for whatever reason. It’s there if I want to I guess, like getting AP, but it doesn’t feel terribly important.

The main mistake I think Blizzard did was removing artifact abilities and some of the traits from Legion. I also think they could’ve baked some of the fun leggos into specs. The switch from Legion to BFA was rather brutal.

43

It’s not a “bad” expansion. You have to remember that when people get annoyed by one particular mechanic that ruins their fun, they will make hyperbolic statements about the entire expansion while going on the play the game and find enjoyment from parts the expansion did right. Folks on the forums and Reddit will use colorful adjectives to describe anything that annoys them and they will throw the entire game under the bus for it.

However, objectively speaking, this expansion did fall short on some fronts. While it is certainly true that the zone design and even many quests were done with heart, Mythic+ was done well, and the Dazar’Alore raid is excellent, many core mechanics (such as the whole Azerite system) failed to deliver on the intended fantasies and did not live up to the same fantasy artifact weapons had in Legion (which is what they advertised it as). This might be corrected in 8.2, but this is almost a year later. Additionally, the new invasions are very lackluster and became stale far too quickly. They felt like a rush-job.

I think Blizzard learned some important lessons from BfA. Whether they’ll put those lessons into practice, time will tell.

3 Likes
44

BFA’s problem is that it comes right on the heels of Legion, which is viewed as one of the greats, up there with MoP and Wrath.

If BFA came after WoD and before Legion, people would be singing it’s praises.
If BFA’s core features of Islands and Warfronts weren’t boring after the first couple of runs, it may have kept more player traction.

The re-hashed faction war storyline doesn’t help it’s cause either, with one side being undeniably evil while the other is undeniable stupid.

TLDR - BFA’s problem is it has to compete against Legion and not WoD.

1 Like
45

Trying to grasp at straws to justify why you believe BFA has been so negatively received means you’re part of the problem. BFA isn’t the worst expansion by any means but it has problems and bad gameplay philosophy. If you enjoy BFA nonetheless good for you, but don’t sugarcoat the genuine criticism this expansion has warranted.

2 Likes
46

I don’t know if it is as bad as people say but for me it is the worst expansion this far. This might ofc change depending what the future patches still hold for us.

For me what makes it’s worst (this far) is scaling (how you get weaker after lvl 111 and ilvl scaling), long wait for flying and just not so many things (than before) to do i find fun. I still play it and haven’t quit so look this as comparison to other expansions not as “i hate wow” post. :smile:

1 Like
47

I don’t know, I liked WoD more than Legion tbh.

48

Judging from your profile, you do a moderate amount of PVP. In WoD, I didn’t do PVP, so I didn’t touch Ashran.
I would only log in once a day to check my table and then I would log out.

Outside of raiding, there was little the interested me in the game. Dungeons were obsolete when you got to a certain gear level, so if you didn’t like PVP or pet battles, there was nothing outside of raids to log in for.
Challenge mode was something, but it lacked the refinement to make it as compelling.

Legion gave you more to do in the form of M+, artefact finding and later mage tower.

49

I didn’t like WoD or Legion but I like BFA. :crazy_face:

50

I’m enjoying myself more than in legion anyway. But it is true that content pages seem to take longer to arrive. I would have loved to have something like suramar by now. One long good quest chain in a big zone. Instead of this warcampaign.

I get that they want to focus on the factions, but as Alliance i would have loved some quest chains in zandalaari as well. Atleast some leading up to the raid. Even if it would just be a neutral bronzebeard q chain.

Same with the champions of azeroth. The planet is dying due to the sword, yet you dont hear anything of it anymore after the beginning of the expansion. It could have used a proper quest chain.

I hate the neutrality in legion, but the 2 islands of this expansion just feel barren and pointless for the other faction besides world quests.

I’m curious if the horde will get no quest leading up to the new raid just like the Alliance had nothing leading to the first raid

51

I play solo mostly - (object to “casual” though as I play a lot !) - and I like BfA - always plenty to do - some great areas with different atmospheres - I DO have a lot of alts to play though, but am still enjoying it

a LITTLE disappointed that mobs scale with your ilev, so if you improve gear so do they !

I seem to be the only player who actually likes the island instances - good quick pirate type fun!

anyway - theres more to come from BfA so shouldn’t judge it TOO much yet

52

I wouldn’t count on it. Nazjatar is a large zone which will probably have shared questing similar to BS or Argus.
They might not get built up to the Mecha Dungeon, but when has dungeon build up every really mattered?

53

I mean… there are reasons to play, but people who focus on endgame are having a particularly rough time. De-powering, pruning, scaling preventing you from feeling stronger, inability to find the PvP vendor, resource scarcity, and such a focus on ilvl and curves that boost selling is now just an accepted part of the game… these things aren’t great.

But. The new zones are really pretty, the recent increase to levelling speed is beneficial for alt-armies, and if you’re not into raiding and are willing to gather and sell materials, you can make a fair chunk of cash out of your casual life. Indeed, for those not interested in mythic raiding or high end M+, times have rarely been better - by the metrics, at least. The power gap between a normal-raider and a mythic-raider is surprisingly small, and feels even less in the open world.

The new raid meanwhile, is being spoken of very favourably by all who run it, 8.1.5 brings us new races, and a new mini-raid with some very interesting gear. Plans for 8.2+ seem to include more zones, some race revamps, and we can assume another raid at some point.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Skies are kind of cloudy for many, and it’s been sufficiently rainy to drive some players away (at least for a while), but there are small hints of sunshine in the future. If Blizz can learn some lessons from the most disliked points of 8.0 and work out why the current raid is so praised, and ideally give us back the PvP vendor… things could turn around.

Let’s remember that a lot of people hated MoP for the first season, but now many are looking back on it as being one of the best expansions.

54

I’m not talking about nazjatar but the raid in 1.5 that is based in the shrine of storms. the crucible of storms. Since its in kulthiras i kind of expect the same follow up like the alliance had with the first raid.

I would find it odd if the horde gets a quest line to this old god danger in kulthiras while the allies didnt get a cookie crumb questline leading to the one in nazmir

55

I am not even 120 yet but I am enjoying it, only done BFA normal dungeons and only just started in first BFA zone, I like it so far, not really a aztec/jungle person so not sure if I would like it but the zone looks amazing so far with good content. Loads to do. Music is AMAZING, whoever did the music in BFA did a really good job on atmosphere, just fantastic. The zones look awesome as well, you can see someone put a crap ton of effort into them, the detail and time alone taken on each area is amazing.

I can see why people don’t like it though if not a new player, professions have been done very badly.

As a new player I am already frustrated with BFA professions, why? Everything needed is bloody SOULBOUND, it’s the worst idea ever, not just one item either, multiple different items even professions specific items are SOULBOUND and you can not even transfer them between YOUR OWN CHARACTERS…

I hate the BFA profession system, it’s just not worth the time invested and annoyance so I do it as a side thing. The only good thing in professions right now is gathering…yep gathering…actual crafting is crap and feels unenjoyable, basically too many restrictions.

Gear progression from a new player perspective like me is awesome, im enjoying the dungeons, I like BFA so far, as an older player I can see why you would be annoyed and not like, character feels weaker for ya, lost what you had already only to be spoon fed something new and not as good, on top of that progressions for older players is flat compared to before, you play hard to earn your 400+ only for it to become easier not even a month or so later for newbies so investing time in BFA gear progressions seems pointless to do with catch up anyway. Casuals being rewarded like raiders for barely any of the time or effort compared to before .

Plus many other issues I would not be aware of because noob player and I didn’t know any better, except from what I read, watch and hear. I can see why from an older player BFA would be bad.

Lucky for me it all seems new to me and good but I get why BFA gear progression sucks and with professions being a RESTRICTIVE mess as well it’s like a double whammey sour taste.

This game does need some serious quality of life improvements in my opinion by overall if you can see past all these issues and just enjoy it for what it is, I kinda like BFA a lot, I do understand though why older players can’t see past these issues and struggle to be motivated to push past them when they should not have to in the first place, it feels it’s been forced upon them and far from what they are used to.

TLDR:

  • BFA great for new/casual players, bitter for older/hardcore players

  • Profession system is too restrictive and feels counter productive, bad design, poor reward

  • Gear progression is great for new/casual players, feels flat and trivial to older/vet players

  • Zones looks amazing

  • Music is amazing

  • Content is amazing

  • Design is bad, in terms of the design systems around the content, professions, counter productive, restrictive, bad flow and connectivity, poorly thought out after effects which is a shame because the design lets the content, music, zones, everything else down.

  • In conclusion BFA is awesome in terms of zones, content, music etc etc the problem is not with any of that, the issue is the design systems surrounding the content are not very well thought out and do not flow together very well while being VERY restrictive on the player.

  • Poorly thought out design systems around the content is the problem, feels like BFA content is being choked to death by their own restrictive design choices.

56

Can’t say that it is really bad but it’s just… meh. They could do better.
While locations and music is good, story is meh and professions… I don’t really see any purpose in them. I don’t like their intention to simplify everything. And RNG…

Well, at least I have enough time to do old content I was too lazy to do when it was actual.

57

Ye. You’ve been playing since vanilla alpha and even before that.
True words

58

That’s cool, all likes and dislikes are valid. :slight_smile:

Don’t judge by my profile, I haven’t logged in WoW since October. It’s outdated. I do more than a moderate amount usually, when I feel like playing, but this expansion is a bit of a letdown for me and I stopped.

59

I think it’s the first expansion I quit playing after a month, felt burned out so instantly.

Why grind honor and rep for the vendors if I already got my epics from mythics within a few weeks?

I also really dislike the azurite random crap what’s going on. And farming AP for the neck feels like a big grind that’s just not worth it to me. I got really sucked in with legion weapon traits before tho.

Idk… for me it’s a feel thing and I just can’t seem to feel much joy in it this patch. Have to say I play since vanilla and every patch is getting worse in my experience

1 Like
60

No, since open beta.