Battle for Azeroth’s Time Investment: Is it Worth It?

I had high hopes for Battle of Azeroth. Unfortunately, the expansion has problems.

I was excited about the Battle for Azeroth (BfA) expansion, for World of Warcraft (WoW), as I had hoped it would address the issues I had encountered in Legion. However, after playing the beta and experiencing the launch, I am not enjoying the expansion. There is a major underlying problem for me: the time spent completing objectives in the game is not worth the reward for completing them.

Boring Questing

The repetitive nature of the questing, where I am asked to kill the same mobs over and over again, is unengaging. While the developers have attempted to add variety by having players control objects to kill mobs, I prefer a more streamlined approach. Give players all the quests in an area at once, allowing them to move on to the next area.

Additionally, the rewards for completing these quests are lackluster, often leading to a sense of a “drop drought” compared to the days when my bags would be filled with loot from questing and killing mobs.

Reputation Grinds

The disappointment doesn’t end with just the leveling grind in World of Warcraft (WoW). Once the initial leveling is completed, the game then shifts to a series of reputation grinds, with an abundance of world quests and the command table. While I don’t mind sending NPCs out on quests via the command table, that is not really content, is it? It has the feel of a mobile game. Do something very quickly and log back in to repeat it.

I find that relying heavily on world quests to advance in the game is unenjoyable. In my opinion, world quests should be supplementary events rather than a constant requirement to complete reputation grinds.

Artifact Weapon Withdrawal

In the previous expansion of World of Warcraft, players were bestowed with artifact weapons for each specialization of their class. These artifact weapons granted players a level of flexibility in their play styles, making combat more engaging. From a lore perspective, wielding these epic weapons added an extra layer of immersion for the players.

However, in Battle for Azeroth, the artifact weapons were removed and replaced with Azerite armor. Unfortunately, this new armor is not an adequate replacement. It lacks the flexibility that the artifact weapons provided, and also lacks the set bonuses that players received when they unlocked a full set of raid armor. As a result, the time and effort invested in obtaining Azerite armor is not worth the reward.

About the Lore

World of Warcraft (WoW) has never been known for its captivating quests, but for me, they were bearable in the pursuit of uncovering the game’s rich lore. Historically, WoW has excelled in its storytelling. However, with the release of BfA, the story has become tedious and unengaging for me. Without revealing too much, the story seems to be heading in a direction where one faction is portrayed as truly evil. My issue with this is that the writers have not fully considered the ramifications of this decision. A hasty “oops, sorry we did that” retcon is not an optimal solution, and I fear that this is the direction the story is headed. This is because players will not want to play characters on a faction that is portrayed as truly evil.

With so many other games that I am eager to explore, it would be pointless to force myself to play something that isn’t working for me. I’ll check in again with WoW on the next patch, but I’m aware that the issues I’ve brought up will not be fixed quickly.

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