World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth|OT| War Mode Enabled!

Finaj · Oct 15, 2018

Now that I think about it, Blizzard didn't have to address the criticism of Warlords of Draenor (the roaring dumpster fire that it is) because it came out after Blizzcon 2014. Their next big event was Gamescom 2015, which is where they announced Legion.

It's going to be interesting to see how Blizzard responds now that they're in a position where they have to address the state of the game at Blizzcon.

Anoregon · Oct 15, 2018

Finaj said:
Now that I think about it, Blizzard didn't have to address the criticism of Warlords of Draenor (the roaring dumpster fire that it is) because it came out after Blizzcon 2014. Their next big event was Gamescom 2015, which is where they announced Legion.

It's going to be interesting to see how Blizzard responds now that they're in a position where they have to address the state of the game at Blizzcon.

They won't. They will tout "improvements" they are making in 8.1 and perhaps future patches, but not in a way that actually admits that BfA launched with a pretty broken, poorly designed end-game gameplay loop.

TheYanger · Oct 15, 2018

cdyhybrid said:
They don't take effort. You plug your gear into a bot and it spits out the answer. They just keep you from equipping upgrades because of arbitrary stat caps after which they become useless.

There's always a mathematical best answer to gearing. That doesn't change with the absence of these stats. Stats that perform differently depending on breakpoints create gearing that actually makes it so that your best setup might take some effort beyond "Just equip whatever" which is how the game has felt since their absence for most classes. Like, yeah you have weights, but only the most broken weights tend to favor secondaries over ilevels for most classes in most situations. That's boring. I honestly don't even see the point of gear with the current system. aside from trinkets and such of course.

Deleted member 29660 · Oct 15, 2018

Came across a Blingtron someone had put down, was excited thinking it was a new version but wasn't, same Legion one. Got Legion legandary ring. Go figure. Are there even BFA Blings out there, yet to see one.

Atlantis · Oct 15, 2018

I know Blizzard intended the Hall of Fame to combat the incredible faction imbalance, but it's a pretty crappy band aid for a wound that's several years old. If anything it just more clearly shows how bad things have become. I greatly prefer Alliance, but I guess it's time to focus on Horde.

Sax · Oct 15, 2018

Atlantis said:
I know Blizzard intended the Hall of Fame to combat the incredible faction imbalance, but it's a pretty crappy band aid for a wound that's several years old. If anything it just more clearly shows how bad things have become. I greatly prefer Alliance, but I guess it's time to focus on Horde.

One Alliance guild has gotten a kill for the last 30 or so Horde guilds, \o/

Don't worry, we'll merge into one faction in an expansion or two. Eventually =P

Orochinagis · Oct 16, 2018

Savitar said:
Came across a Blingtron someone had put down, was excited thinking it was a new version but wasn't, same Legion one. Got Legion legandary ring. Go figure. Are there even BFA Blings out there, yet to see one.

There is a quest of reading all its decrypted messages

There is something happening underneath

Mobius and Pet Octopus · Oct 16, 2018

data west said:
How pissed are people going to be at Blizzcon when they announce classic requires a base subscription with a premium?

That's how EQ does their time gated servers

I doubt it'll be that. They should do a separate subscription though. I don't want my sub money paying for that.

MetroidPrimeRib · Oct 16, 2018

Soda said:
Are any of the Vanilla Collector's Edition pets particularly good? I've always wondered.

idk. probably not but are worth cold hard cash. i think the blizzcon murloc pets are generally pretty decent.

TheYanger · Oct 16, 2018

Mobius and Pet Octopus said:
I doubt it'll be that. They should do a separate subscription though. I don't want my sub money paying for that.

Your sub money is already paying for it. There's no work to be done after it comes out.

Also, there's a 0% chance they don't just havev it as a single sub, as I've said before, it then exists as a way to onboard people to normal wow, and offboard live wow people onto classic when they get bored. Increasing retention all around

MirVie · Oct 16, 2018

TheYanger said:
Your sub money is already paying for it. There's no work to be done after it comes out.

Also, there's a 0% chance they don't just havev it as a single sub, as I've said before, it then exists as a way to onboard people to normal wow, and offboard live wow people onto classic when they get bored. Increasing retention all around

I think you are going to be right. Anything else but one sub for both versions would be cannibalizing their own base.

Bhonar · Oct 16, 2018

there's no way it's going to be an additional second sub

RoninChaos · Oct 16, 2018

Guys, the leveling is killing me. I've hit level cap every expansion except this one. It's just NOT fun. I don't know if it's because it's not challenging or what the issue is... I'm just bored to fucking tears. I've been playing this game since vanilla and I don't want to log in because I don't want to grind out levels that are uninteresting to me because I'm not engaged.

Is end game good? Is it worth getting to 120? Are the dungeons and raids good?

My wife loves the expansion so I want to level up so I can play it with her too, but man, it's fucking hard to give a shit and I don't know why. Maybe it's azerite? I know I found the engagement through class halls really, really cool. I found leveling up my weapon really really cool. The necklace just seems fucking stupid.

It feels like they didn't know what to do after legion, so everything is paired back. Is that accurate or am I crazy?

HarryDemeanor · Oct 16, 2018

Anoregon said:
I would like to amend my earlier skepticism regarding the Blizzcon floor plan - the large empty area next to the Diablo 3 demo stage could very likely be where they will have a demo station for a new game.

They even changed the layout for Hall D to accommodate this. It's there for sure.

Comparison to last year:

AcidCat · Oct 16, 2018

RoninChaos said:
Guys, the leveling is killing me. I've hit level cap every expansion except this one. It's just NOT fun. I don't know if it's because it's not challenging or what the issue is... I'm just bored to fucking tears. I've been playing this game since vanilla and I don't want to log in because I don't want to grind out levels that are uninteresting to me because I'm not engaged.

Is end game good? Is it worth getting to 120? Are the dungeons and raids good?

The leveling in BfA is the best part of the expansion, so if you don't like that, man I don't know what to tell you. You're obviously burnt out, time to take a break. Your wife will manage without you.

Twig · Oct 16, 2018

You can get to 120 before completing a second zone if you do every quest. It ain't that bad. >_> Real smooth experience!

RoninChaos · Oct 16, 2018

What are the good zones for alliance? Drustvar makes me want to kill myself.

Lanf · Oct 16, 2018

RoninChaos said:
What are the good zones for alliance? Drustvar makes me want to kill myself.

That's unfortunate, in my opinion Drustvar is the best zone on Alliance side, perhaps even the best zone all around. But I like the moody/Witchery atmosphere.

The other zones then:
Stormsong: Very pretty, Shire aesthetics. You go there to find out what happened to the fleet, also some Horde shenanigans going on. Shame that the main story is over before the zone is even half. Rest isn't nearly that impressive. Taelia hikes along, best part of the zone probably.

Tirigarde: Pirates and politics. Investigate what the Ashvane comany is up to, meet some pirates on the way. Decent zone except for the Disney villain, but then again you probably don't play WoW for it's thought out story. Taelia & Flynn also join the fray during certain parts, improving the those parts dramatically.

Anoregon · Oct 16, 2018

There seems to be a large disconnect between H and A when it comes to Drustvar, from my experience. It's apparently not great to actually quest through as an alliance character, but for Horde all you really get is the atmosphere, which is superb.

Strafer · Oct 16, 2018

#TeamBoreanTundra

Prophet Five · Oct 16, 2018

I stepped away from this topic during launch when it got moved to the main gaming side (plus I wanted to separate myself as far as I could from some posters) and now it seems like it's calmed down a bit.

I really hope 8.1 patches up some of the rougher spots of BfA. On paper it's looking okay but I never touch PTR so idk if it feels any better yet. I'm not even sure they're far enough along in testing for it to be able to.

Mobius and Pet Octopus · Oct 16, 2018

Anoregon said:
There seems to be a large disconnect between H and A when it comes to Drustvar, from my experience. It's apparently not great to actually quest through as an alliance character, but for Horde all you really get is the atmosphere, which is superb.

It's a great quest zone for alliance.

Twig · Oct 16, 2018

Yeah alliance questing in drust is fantastic. Also tiragarde.

..stormsong fucking blows

Berordn · Oct 16, 2018

Drustvar is probably one of the best realized zones in the entire game, both aesthetically and storywise.

Pog · Oct 16, 2018

RoninChaos said:
Guys, the leveling is killing me. I've hit level cap every expansion except this one. It's just NOT fun. I don't know if it's because it's not challenging or what the issue is... I'm just bored to fucking tears. I've been playing this game since vanilla and I don't want to log in because I don't want to grind out levels that are uninteresting to me because I'm not engaged.

Is end game good? Is it worth getting to 120? Are the dungeons and raids good?

My wife loves the expansion so I want to level up so I can play it with her too, but man, it's fucking hard to give a shit and I don't know why. Maybe it's azerite? I know I found the engagement through class halls really, really cool. I found leveling up my weapon really really cool. The necklace just seems fucking stupid.

It feels like they didn't know what to do after legion, so everything is paired back. Is that accurate or am I crazy?

It does not help that the environments are so boring. It's tough going from leveling in magic stricken crystal landscapes, lush fantasy gardens, humongous tall vertical mountains in the sky, to 3 zones of boring flat swamp/desert and boring flat fields/lakes. Same problem WOD had but at least you can skip it with treasure farming and flying. Faction invasions for leveling cannot get here soon enough.

Prophet Five · Oct 16, 2018

I haven't leveled an Alliance character yet but I love the look of Drustvar and the music in Tiragarde. After I level my shaman (3rd horde) I'll work on my alliance mage for a change of pace.

AcidCat · Oct 16, 2018

Pog said:
It does not help that the environments are so boring. It's tough going from leveling in magic stricken crystal landscapes, lush fantasy gardens, humongous tall vertical mountains in the sky, to 3 zones of boring flat swamp/desert and boring flat fields/lakes. Same problem WOD had but at least you can skip it with treasure farming and flying. Faction invasions for leveling cannot get here soon enough.

Disagree, I much prefer the return to more grounded zones in BfA, especially after those last Argus zones from Legion, which really grew tiresome IMO. I prefer these zones that actually feel like they could be a real place.

ShadowSwordmaster · Oct 16, 2018

Twig said:
Yeah alliance questing in drust is fantastic. Also tiragarde.

..stormsong fucking blows

Stormsong is so fucking weird.

MirVie · Oct 16, 2018

I liked questing in Drustvar too, on the Alliance side. The zone has a great atmosphere and a strong story line.

Stormsong valley was good right up until I finished the main quest. The rest was awful, disjointed and no fun. Especially the quillboar area was unpleasant to play in.

Tiragarde Sound was the zone I did first and I found it great fun, a breath of fresh air after The Broken Shore and Argus. I really felt like my character returned to her roots as an adventurer there. The NPcs were great too, especially Flinn and Talia.

Overall, for me questing and levelling from 110 to 120 was the best part of BFA. After that the grind is just a bit too blatantly obvious.

ShadowSwordmaster · Oct 16, 2018

Yep. Stormsong suffers from the disjointed area because of naga, quillboars, and Horde.

ShadowSwordmaster · Oct 16, 2018

Clawbvious · Oct 16, 2018

Pog said:
It does not help that the environments are so boring. It's tough going from leveling in magic stricken crystal landscapes, lush fantasy gardens, humongous tall vertical mountains in the sky, to 3 zones of boring flat swamp/desert and boring flat fields/lakes. Same problem WOD had but at least you can skip it with treasure farming and flying. Faction invasions for leveling cannot get here soon enough.

Yeah, opinions and all that, but I don't find these zones boring at all. BFA zone design is the best Blizzard has done yet. The other stuff has problems, but all the zones are packed with hidden quests, biomes and mobs, they've been fun to explore and tromp through on each character I've brought up to 120.

That's not to say that Legion was bad, quite the opposite, but all the good zone design has been carried through and improved on. BFA zones are beautiful, broad, and complex.

Prophet Five · Oct 16, 2018

I think it helps too that these zones are like two legion zones in size but ALSO filled to the brim. If it were just double the size with the same amount of quests as one zone it would feel worse but these zones as they are designed seem "livable" as much as a fantasy game zone possibly can.

wyndhamprice · Oct 16, 2018

The weirdest thing about Stormsong as Alliance is that you can finish all the main story stuff and still have 4 chapters left to complete, whereas the other two Kul'Tiran zones take you through basically everything with only side stories left to do, IIRC. It just leaves you with a lot of extra stuff to do but little incentive to get through it.

Deleted member 29660 · Oct 16, 2018

Reven Wolf · Oct 16, 2018

Savitar said:

Yo no spoilers for the next time travel expansion!

Moff · Oct 16, 2018

drustvar and nazmir are the best leveling zones in BFA because of story and atmosphere, but very annoying after that because of mob density.
it's the other way around for voldun and stormsong.

Atlantis · Oct 16, 2018

wyndhamprice said:
The weirdest thing about Stormsong as Alliance is that you can finish all the main story stuff and still have 4 chapters left to complete, whereas the other two Kul'Tiran zones take you through basically everything with only side stories left to do, IIRC. It just leaves you with a lot of extra stuff to do but little incentive to get through it.

Add onto that once you finish the four extra chapters, you'll probably still have five or so breadcrumbs toward side content. (Which is where I currently am.)

Just a very strange zone all around. I'm kind of at terms with the fact I'll probably be long Exalted from Mission Tables and World Quests before I ever find the will to finish the side questing for rep.

dimb · Oct 16, 2018

wyndhamprice said:
The weirdest thing about Stormsong as Alliance is that you can finish all the main story stuff and still have 4 chapters left to complete, whereas the other two Kul'Tiran zones take you through basically everything with only side stories left to do, IIRC. It just leaves you with a lot of extra stuff to do but little incentive to get through it.

Most of Tiragarde Sound is not used for the main questline...which follows the pirate invasion to the south and lead to Freehold. While the northern sections are required for achievements they only breadcrumb you up there and it's not really connected to the central storyline, so all the stuff around Norwington Estate and Anglepoint Wharf are easy for players to miss.

wyndhamprice · Oct 16, 2018

dimb said:
Most of Tiragarde Sound is not used for the main questline...which follows the pirate invasion to the south and lead to Freehold. While the northern sections are required for achievements they only breadcrumb you up there and it's not really connected to the central storyline, so all the stuff around Norwington Estate and Anglepoint Wharf are easy for players to miss.

I guess for me it didn't seem as egregious because Proudmore Admiralty rep is necessary for story stuff and allied race unlocks down the line so I was more willing to do non-critical questing but Stormsong doesn't have anything like that associated with it. If Exalted rep let me unlock a rideable Bee I'd be all over it!

Barnak · Oct 16, 2018

wyndhamprice said:
I guess for me it didn't seem as egregious because Proudmore Admiralty rep is necessary for story stuff and allied race unlocks down the line so I was more willing to do non-critical questing but Stormsong doesn't have anything like that associated with it. If Exalted rep let me unlock a rideable Bee I'd be all over it!

Blizzard : You're only gonna get horses and you'll like it!

wyndhamprice · Oct 16, 2018

Bisnic said:
Blizzard : You're only gonna get horses and you'll like it!

I'm glad I main Horde because otherwise I'd be way more annoyed about those absurd Exalted rep mounts on the Alliance side...

Deleted member 3058 · Oct 17, 2018

Don't ask why

Twig · Oct 17, 2018

Gattsu25 said:
Don't ask why

I did the same but Alliance side.

Was real mad when I got CoA to exalted and realized there was no further ilvl bump. My fault for not looking into it, but ugh!

(Now I'm working on it Horde side.)

(Account-wide rep please. Willing to settle for faction wide, though.)

Yunsen · Oct 17, 2018

Twig said:
I did the same but Alliance side.

Was real mad when I got CoA to exalted and realized there was no further ilvl bump. My fault for not looking into it, but ugh!

(Now I'm working on it Horde side.)

(Account-wide rep please. Willing to settle for faction wide, though.)

Yeah my reps are spread across a bunch of characters because of how often I've swapped mains. My character with the most exalted reps is my Druid with 42. On my Druid though I don't really have rep from Vanilla (minus playable race factions), half of BC, all of MoP and WoD and everything from 7.2 in Legion to now.

blitzblake · Oct 17, 2018

RoninChaos said:
Guys, the leveling is killing me. I've hit level cap every expansion except this one. It's just NOT fun. I don't know if it's because it's not challenging or what the issue is... I'm just bored to fucking tears. I've been playing this game since vanilla and I don't want to log in because I don't want to grind out levels that are uninteresting to me because I'm not engaged.

Is end game good? Is it worth getting to 120? Are the dungeons and raids good?

My wife loves the expansion so I want to level up so I can play it with her too, but man, it's fucking hard to give a shit and I don't know why. Maybe it's azerite? I know I found the engagement through class halls really, really cool. I found leveling up my weapon really really cool. The necklace just seems fucking stupid.

It feels like they didn't know what to do after legion, so everything is paired back. Is that accurate or am I crazy?

RoninChaos said:
What are the good zones for alliance? Drustvar makes me want to kill myself.

Are you actually reading the quest dialogue? This expansion and that zone have been the best levelling experiences in recent memory.

Napalm_Frank · Oct 17, 2018

Amount of DPS Demon Hunters seem to be able to pull off in M+ seems ridicilous.

Rhaknar · Oct 17, 2018

my caches (I have two up) are finally 370, of course the first gives me a chest, which is my only 370 azerite i ahd lol. RNG!!!!!!!

edit: another chest...

data west · Oct 17, 2018

Napalm_Frank said:
Amount of DPS Demon Hunters seem to be able to pull off in M+ seems ridicilous.

Still not as busted as Blood DKs in M+.

Kind of the issue with balancing when Blizzard spreads itself so thin. Like it wasn't enough when we had to account for raiding and PVP viability now we have to account for raiding, pvp, and m+ viability. It's just too much. It's why I'm never joking when I say I'd be ok with PVP being deleted for the sake of balance and manpower. I get that some people love it and obviously I have no real control over something being removed, and there were times I enjoyed PVP, but I get that same enjoyment(better executed) in MOBAs now. I don't really get that MMO PVE environment anywhere else. I'd have no issue with it being gone if it led to a better focus on balance.

Like imagine if Overwatch had to start seriously balancing the game around Horde mode?

Napalm_Frank · Oct 17, 2018

data west said:
Still not as busted as Blood DKs in M+.

"Let's make a tank that doesn't need a healer, why are the other tanks lagging behind?" Remember when Druids and Paladins were 'self-sustain' healers?

Can't really comment on other tanks tut as a BRM I haven't really had too much of a problem on higher keys (11-13) or problems getting to a group. AFAIK it's especially warriors that are hurting right now.

The real losers here hre Shammys. I feel like nobody invites them for dps or heal.

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