Blizzard's Stepping Up Their Game in World of Warcraft 8.1 - MMORPG.com

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Blizzard's Stepping Up Their Game in World of Warcraft 8.1 - MMORPG.com

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth has been plagued with bugs and issues since launching in mid-August. With the first raid open and groups working their way through mythic, Blizzard has unveiled what is coming in the first significant update since BfA launched. The patch is bringing the faction war back into focus and some big improvements to core systems are coming along too. Is it enough to bring back players who came back for BfA, spent their obligatory month and moved on to the next game? Let's find out.

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Xingbairong

Sadly for me this expansion is Legion 2.0 which in my eyes wasn't that great because it limited players a lot due to Artifacts and Legendaries and in this case it's Azerite level and Azerite gear with the right traits.
Sure if you play some of the top specs you might have good experience, but if you are like me and play some of the overlooked classes/specs(Ele in my case) you can guess what my experience has been.
I get declined about 29/30 dungeons, even guild mates look for excuses not to take me to raids with them, PvP is the only place where I don't get as much discriminated cause of my choice of spec.
The bad thing is that while it's true that Ele shamans aren't in a great spot, good players can still outperform other specs at the same ilvl. In my cases there's been only 2 mythic + where I wasn't top performance, but of course that doesn't matter when people are asking for 560 ilvl to do a mythic + that drops 550.

Decided to level a priest and rogue as alts(maybe even main one of them) in hopes of being able to experience the game in a better light, problem is that I don't have as much time, so while I can catch up ilvl wise, the level of my Heart of Azeroth will be pathetically low, which again makes for a not so great experience.

Basically this expansion will be yet again a casual experience for me. People complain that WoD was bad, but in WoD I could play any class whenever I felt like and never felt like it's pointless "because I can't catch up".

There are a lot of things I do like in the expansion, but only if they are reworked properly and sadly there are indeed too many bugs and overlooked stuff. Not being able to earn vicious saddle just shows how much attention they put into casual PvP. Literally none

malroth67

Too little to late for a lot of people, many have already left the game with all the F'ups that as happened! I'm sure some people will come back when 8.1 hits, but considering Blizz's track record as of late, I can't see anything being any better, the dev's (especially Ion) have no clue what made WoW great to begin with. This info is nothing more than trying to keep people subbed until the 8.1 promise, then it will be some other promise to try and keep people subbed instead of you know, fun stuff to do!

ScottJeslis

I find some of the rep grind drawn out given my limited play time everyday. I'm not too big on BIS gear, etc., even though I am iLevel 340. I do mainly emissary and world quests and some dungeons in BfA, so I enjoy what time I put into it.

JeffSpicoli

I'm actually sad BFA didn't captivate or hook me the way i had hoped it would. It's getting to a point where how many times can i strike out before i walk away for good (Not that blizzard or anyone here cares). Honestly the last expansion i really enjoyed and felt immersed in was MOP, How many years ago was that ?

Still looking forward to Classic though

BeansnBread

thunderC said:

I'm actually sad BFA didn't captivate or hook me the way i had hoped it would. It's getting to a point where how many times can i strike out before i walk away for good (Not that blizzard or anyone here cares). Honestly the last expansion i really enjoyed and felt immersed in was MOP, How many years ago was that ?

Still looking forward to Classic though

I personally loved WoD and Legion, but despised Pandaria. My favorite was Wrath. BfA is my least favorite, but they still have time to make things more interesting.

This expansion does feel underdeveloped at this point IMO. They have had a great track record, but this one feels flat to me. Empty in comparison to others.

MadFrenchie

Blizzard really needs to work on the Mythic dungeon system.  There should never be a time where folks demand iLvls higher than the items dropped, yet I've seen multiple examples offered.

Is it tuning?  Elitism?  I dunno.  Either way, it's ass backwards and counterproductive to the treadmill Blizzard is maintaining.

BeansnBread

MadFrenchie said:

Blizzard really needs to work on the Mythic dungeon system.  There should never be a time where folks demand iLvls higher than the items dropped, yet I've seen multiple examples offered.

Is it tuning?  Elitism?  I dunno.  Either way, it's ass backwards and counterproductive to the treadmill Blizzard is maintaining.

I'm still wondering why there isn't a group finder for like mythic 1-5 at the very least. Just make ilvl requirements for them since you already have ilvl requirements for base mythics.

Binetic

Patch 1.12.0 “Drums of War” is the last time Azeroth was alive.

BillMurphy

This expansion was the first time in a while where I hit the level cap and went... "now what"? It all felt like such a long grind, to get any of what I wanted done, and I just have too many other better games to play anymore. It's not 2004/05 sadly. 

MadFrenchie

BeansnBread said:

MadFrenchie said:

Blizzard really needs to work on the Mythic dungeon system.  There should never be a time where folks demand iLvls higher than the items dropped, yet I've seen multiple examples offered.

Is it tuning?  Elitism?  I dunno.  Either way, it's ass backwards and counterproductive to the treadmill Blizzard is maintaining.

I'm still wondering why there isn't a group finder for like mythic 1-5 at the very least. Just make ilvl requirements for them since you already have ilvl requirements for base mythics.

I was thinking the same.  The LFG boc has been opened, and Mythic presents a wide spread of dungeon difficulties.  At this point, I see little detriment to putting an iLvl req on the low end and just sorting players.

I would prefer a more organic fix to players thinking they need ridiculous iLvls to clear the dungeons, but that may not be workable due to human psychology.

JeffSpicoli

BillMurphy said:

This expansion was the first time in a while where I hit the level cap and went... "now what"? It all felt like such a long grind, to get any of what I wanted done, and I just have too many other better games to play anymore. It's not 2004/05 sadly. 

Pretty much this, Its not even a matter of the game being "bad" its just like bill said "now what ?" And i agree i have too many other games that are better and more fun to play.

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MadFrenchie

thunderC said:

BillMurphy said:

This expansion was the first time in a while where I hit the level cap and went... "now what"? It all felt like such a long grind, to get any of what I wanted done, and I just have too many other better games to play anymore. It's not 2004/05 sadly. 

Pretty much this, Its not even a matter of the game being "bad" its just like bill said "now what ?" And i agree i have too many other games that are better and more fun to play.

There isn't a very compelling reason to engage in those grinds.  HoA is fairly boring, Azerite Armor traits are currently too basic to be much fun to play around with.

I've just been leveling multiple toons and doing PvP.  But then, even PvP is ridiculously gated- afaik, you can only reliably progress towards PvP gear through doing rated battlegrounds, which require premade groups.  Not sure why Blizzard thinks that should be a requirement, MOBAs in general prove you don't need to force premade groups to have a fun, competitive PvP system.

Utinni

Just like any MMO I've ever played the game is still much better with a group of friends. If you're trying to pug dungeons with random folks you're usually going to run into some issues. I think the fact that there is so much solo content and then queue-type grouping that people forget their own MMO roots.

As for the grind, I haven't felt it too much as most factions are advanced quite quickly. I also still play EQ/SWG so perhaps I'm a bit jaded to grinding. I still spend more time in my hydro lab on SWG than I do grinding rep on alts.

NoxiousBass

Not gonna say anything bad about WoW, but tbh, I just can't do it anymore. Gave the expansion a spin, but I just feel kinda "out-WoWed", if that makes any sense. Played since launch, back in 2004, so I cannot help to feel that "mmo void", since there is no other title out there yet that I can sink my teeth into. Maybe, Crowfall or Ashes of Creation can eventually meet the high expectations? We can only hope...

Soki123

Wife and I are taking our time, and were loving it. Haven t had a now what do I do moment at all. I m enjoying BFA way more then the last 2 x pacs by a long shot.

Theocritus

Utinni said:

Just like any MMO I've ever played the game is still much better with a group of friends. If you're trying to pug dungeons with random folks you're usually going to run into some issues. I think the fact that there is so much solo content and then queue-type grouping that people forget their own MMO roots.

As for the grind, I haven't felt it too much as most factions are advanced quite quickly. I also still play EQ/SWG so perhaps I'm a bit jaded to grinding. I still spend more time in my hydro lab on SWG than I do grinding rep on alts.

Most of the people I ran into WoW was their roots...They didnt know how to play....Most pugs you had DPS just attacking everything at breakneck speed with little regard for anything....It was just simple zerg tactics almost every dungeon except the very hardest.

Deadrites87

You can have all the content that you want but if I don't even want to log in to the game to play because of the state of class design and progression systems in bfa, then you know you got a big problem. Legion was the start of this for me. At least in wod I enjoyed playing my class even though there was a content drought.

ConstantineMerus

blueturtle13 said:

BillMurphy said:

This expansion was the first time in a while where I hit the level cap and went... "now what"? It all felt like such a long grind, to get any of what I wanted done, and I just have too many other better games to play anymore. It's not 2004/05 sadly. 

So Bill, in your professional opinion, do you think Blizz and team will turn this around? What do you feel they need to do for that to happen?

Blizzard has great IPs running on old games. It's simple as that. All these expansions have expanded the game too thin. Time to create something Warcraft from the scratch. 

Gutlard

For the first time, I'm actually consuming the expac content at a reasonable rate, and paying attention to what is going on with the story and I'm enjoying myself much more. Since I started playing in WoTLK, I've only ever just rushed to the end, and I have no idea why. Maybe because my friends did and I leveled with them mostly.

This time, I didn't even start playing with them until I completed the Alliance story with my main. Now I want to go back and do the same with another toon starting at level 1 to 110. I know the 'writing/flow' won't be the same, but I hope I can actually enjoy the journey. Then I hope to do the same with my Horde toon, who's slowly working through the BFA story from that side. Then a new horde from 1 to 110 as well, as I never did pay any attention to that side at all.

If they were going to do the Azerite/armor system, too bad it couldn't be more like Disgaea's system for items, where tuning them up is a journey itself. Maybe even have each piece of gear have it's own spec tree so we could tune it to meet our specific needs, even if it was only 5 or 6 choices like class spec choices....

I'm sorry so many other players are turned off by Bfa, but luckily I dodged that bullet for the first time since WoTLK, tbh....

Gut Out!

JeffSpicoli

Vutar said:

Just isn't fun anymore. I hit max and let sub run out. At this point I am simply tired of the warcraft world. It isn't interesting anymore. Feels like a kids game at this point and I really would like a more grown up MMORPG experience.

I Get a very "kids game" vibe from it as well. I re subbed to FFARR it feels so much better than WOW and is scratching my MMO itch.

Holdslowhope

Best expansion hands down!

Belgaraath

I loved WOW through level 60 and it was my home for a couple of years day in and day out. I've popped back in a few times to see if I get that same magic I once had, but every time I do it just feels like an exercise, not fun and you are basically doing the same thing over and over. Other games temporarily grabbed me, like LOTRO, Vanguard, Age of Conan, GW2, STWOR, ESO, but in the end I'm back to playing games like Divinity Original Sin (just started the first one, such an amazing game :-)...not sure why I waited so long to try it) and I recently finished after 600 hours of playing the Witcher 3. Those games are bringing the magic on. MMOs aren't doing it for me anymore..at least this bunch. Wondering if I'm getting too old :-).

Geddon95405

I only played this game for vendor gear from pvp and pve

unfortunately, Legion and BfA have pretty much removed all vendors and turned all loot into slot machine lootboxes to make it take longer to get gear. RNG kills my progression motivation completely.

PvP no longer has an equal set for all pvp'ers. Raiders and high rated players destroy everyone else now. This is backwards from design iteration of the last 10 years in WoW.

Last time I was massively addicted was MoP. BfA is the FIRST time I'm letting my sub run out within a couple months. The rewards come an an unsatisfying drip instead of a nice flow. Bliz is stretching out their meager content by slowing down all the rewards and increasing grinds.

Just not fun anymore. I play for steady progression in the playstyle I prefer. Right now there are MASSIVE quest and time gates to even participate in expeditions, world bosses (now a WQ instead of a true world boss), world quests, mission tables, warfronts, and tons more.

Just so tedious. The new leadership of WoW is going the opposite direction nowadays.

Arskaaa

Wish they banned addons. addons give too much information in raid and pvp. players should remember and watch more carefull raid boss rotation and in pvp remember players cooldowns.