imagine paying a monthly fee to work for the opportunity to pull a slot machine with the hope it lets you do the stuff you're actually paying for. would say this couldn't be me but alas, once again

i always thought i was an outlier here, in that i never enjoyed the gear grind that mmo players assume is there to "get your money's worth" (i could not believe my eyes when i saw people clamoring for the return of daily quests over weeklies,) but i'm realizing these people are broken and this design is prohibiting a different audience from forming, for reasons that anyone who's been turned off from playing one already understands

these games feature genuinely interesting blends of cooperative puzzle solving and choreography you can't get elsewhere, and it's all locked behind the most bloated tedium you could possibly imagine. it's so frustrating to not be able to share this kind of experience with others. once again asking for a saint to prove you can do it without the trappings of this garbage

impressions of WoW expansions this early on mean very little overall because what really matters is the long term support and patch cadence, but as it stands I'm actually having fun at every turn and cannot put it down which is simply something I could not say for the last two expansions whatsoever. It's easily the best since Legion and even then there's many aspects of this in its current state that completely outpace even that so far.

The Art team never misses a beat where WoW is concerned, but everything else has finally risen to meet the phenomenal quality of their work for the first time in years. Zone layouts are leaps and bounds above their Shadowlands counterparts thanks to everything being built around dragonriding which is itself one of the most compelling new features to date. The open world content is so vastly improved and legitimately engaging it hardly even feels like the same game, and the profession overhaul is an absolute delight. Narratively things are infinitely more interesting as well down to completely inconsequential side quests having more flavor than entire previous campaign chapters.

As apprehensive as I've been given the state of the game in recent years as well as the completely reprehensible garbage fire that is Blizzard as a company it's honestly just nice to see a game you used to love living up to its true potential again. There's a ton of promise across each and every inch of the Dragon Isles and if the consistency is there throughout the full expansion cycle it'll be a tremendous step in the right direction.

This really is a weird one, cause while I don't think it's terrible like Shadowlands it's certainly not that good either.

Dragonriding is ok, but it's just a poor man's version of something they ripped off from Guild Wars 2. The new talent system is an improvement, but so many talents on the classes I play feel so pointless they might as well not even exist.

Otherwise, the game is basically just more of the same and unfortunately it's still a game pretty much entirely focused on M+ and raiding while everything else is an afterthought, so if you don't do either of those your time is better spent on something else.

This expansion was exceptional, Blizzard is clearly finally listening to our feedback loud and clear. From a gameplay standpoint, this is the single best modern wow expansion to date. Without a doubt. You were free to focus on the content you wanted to do without boundries, the raids were great, mythic plus has been a blast, and PvP has been so fun with solo shuffle being the new main arena mode.

The story on the other hand... left a lot to be desired. This expansion was waaaay too "family friendly" or "Wholesome" it missed what WARCRAFT is supposed to be completely. I miss demons, bloodthirsty orcs, lightbound human knights, and WAR. I dont give a rats ass about the emerald dream or the aspects to be honest.

But nevertheless, my death knight has been a joy to main this expansion, but otherwise I am going to be taking a break until War within for now. I may come back for season 4 again but we will see. Keep up the amazing work Blizzard.

with the last two xpaks being mid (BFA) and terrible (SL), we were bound for a "good" one eventually. probably a little early to rate this, but so far i'm pleasantly surprised with what dragonflight's delivered so far, especially after the stinker that was shadowlands. getting a lot of vibes i haven't felt since legion and pandaria, let's hope that momentum's kept in later patches!

probably might rate this half a star higher once more content comes out (and i get a computer that's actually capable of dragonriding at a framerate above single digits).

2/12/2023 EDIT: still a bit early to rate higher but now that i've gotten a better computer, yeah dragonriding's a blast and the trading post is a cute addition even if i'm not a huge fan of battlepass-like systems.

overall a very good and solid expansion so far, probably might be on par with legion once more content comes out. only real flaw imo is that the primalists kinda suck as antags. oh boy i always wanted the twilight's hammer again but lamer

7/13/23 EDIT: extra half-star coz yeah i think at this point i can safely say this is probably the best modern wow xpak. not sure how many major patches till we reach the end of this xpak, but there's a lot to enjoy as there is atm, and i honestly cannot see blizzard topping this in the next xpak.

this is the only modern wow expansion. is it "warcraft" at this point? hard to really say at this point in all honesty. but dragonflight is something that wow hasn't been since legion, and that is fun.

2/27/24 EDIT: yeah even with the TWW announcement, i can't see blizz topping this. sucks that we aren't getting a 10.3, but i still stand by this being the best modern wow xpak. genuinely the most fun i've had with WoW since legion. :D

Warcraft is too big and my relationship is too complicated to properly put into a concise review, but let me say this as a Retail hater for nearly 8 years:

This is the best Retail expansion in a post-Wrath world IMO. Best gameplay, best progression, and best end-game the game has been in a long, long, long time. Story and lore are very Warcraft without the edgelord shite we've had for a few years, and it's the healthiest the game has felt in a long, long time. This is hands down my favorite expansion outside of the Classic era.

I completely stopped playing the game middle BfA and came back to WoW just now in the end of Dragonflight, some of the reason i left was the story and this problem drags on. The places are pretty and dragonflight is the best thing on this expansion. Leveling up was really boring tho and i found the story lacking, the reputations are bad, nothing worth to gain in long levels to make us grind even more then was before. Why is the reputation not shared with accounts like legion and bfa? That change was good. Characters boring except the dwarf dragon sitting in contemplation, that guy was cool.
Overall i'm playing and trying to go back to end-game content to warm myself back for the next expansion, but it lacks so much, the magic is fading and only a illusion of pretty exist. I'm having more fun in wrath classic or privates TBC/WTLK servers, hoping the next one bring it one step closer to the good old days.
Can we please kill chromie btw? Always hated her and now she has so much focus

Honestly? So far, this expansion has been pretty darn good. The new Evoker class is really good and the Dracthyr's a fun race. (Though I find they take damage way too easily.)

The story's...better this time. There's still a few plot points that aren't great but most of it is pretty solid. Especially with Metzen coming back. (GREEN JESUS!)

I love the new zones. The levelling was so much fun and the ambience from each zone made it really good. The Primalist enemies are tough to fight but that shows how threatening they are.

As for the instances. They're good. Though most of the ones I do, people just rush through them like they're speedrunning this bitch. Gotta keep up. Kek.

Dragonriding is epic. The courses are so much fun and very enjoyable. Very dope.

So yeah. This expansion is good so far. Fingers crossed now the endgame delivers when it wraps up. Hopefully, this is the expansion that brings WoW back from the ashes.


I hope...

Having returned to playing WoW again since Legion, this expansion feels like a breath of fresh air. Although I wasn't initially familiar with many changes in the game, my years of experience helped me catch up.

The reintroduction of the old talent tree was a significant improvement, offering diverse playstyle choices for different players. While the Dragon Isles is a decent zone, it may be more appreciated by new players; for seasoned players, it doesn't stand out compared to other amazing places in Warcraft.

The only downside is the repetitive open-world content, with the usual world bosses that everyone flies around to kill. It would have been more exciting if there was only one World Boss and the rest were daily interesting objectives, rather than just high HP NPCs to slay.

Renown Factions was quite fun, but only around the first 2 months, once completed, it doesn't offer anything relevant to the game.

PvP has been disappointing, despite the helpful addition of Solo Shuffle for both old and new players. The class balance and the lack of fun in PvP make it a horrible experience, and the reward system is one of the worst in the game.

Mythic+ and Raiding seem okay, with two seasons already passed, offering interesting loot upgrades and well-designed Tier Sets that players can look forward to. Vault of the Incarnates was particularly exceptional, featuring enjoyable boss fights and engaging lore. Aberrus the Shadowed Crucible was so good on paper and the hype build around it. If not for the upgrade system changes, its loot distribution between bosses makes players leave and nitpick which part of the raid they want to join, it had very boring bosses with horrible fight mechanics.

After two seasons, the game feels good but not enjoyable. In the future, I hope Blizzard focuses on making the game more accessible to everyone; currently, WoW feels more like a job. Many hidden details in the game are inaccessible to casual players who don't search for guides or have experienced friends. It seems impossible for this game to be played by non-avid WoW fans, and even some loyal fans are giving up. The game's demands to play every day create the feeling of a job rather than an enjoyable experience.

Currently, World of Warcraft is running Cosmetics Giveaway, which is quite different from the MMORPG we used to love.

probably the best expansion we've had since legion!!! seriously, i haven't been this excited about wow in a long time

as always the sound and art teams carried, but the leveling is probably the most fun i've had in any expansion, dragonriding feels absolutely incredible too. honest to god i want to be able to ride my dragon isles dragons everywhere else.

it's too early to say how the story's gonna be, but so far i have hope! i'm really liking how they're handling wrathion so far in particular. there's clearly tons of thought put into the worldbuilding, you can ask just about every named npc questions about their own personal history, like the meaning of their name and whatnot!

overall this expansion just feels like blizz is finally listening? sorry, this is just one big word vomit, but my patch 10.0 takeaway is that it's so refreshing.

Is this Zoomer lore?

After Shadowlands it's hard to get invested into the world. The current game is so far removed from what it was, even if it's an improvement over Shadowlands, that magic of what made WoW for me is just gone (and not coming back).

Levelling is also entierly butchered and there's no balance to it outside of the BFA zone or Chromie Time (which new accounts can't do*). You level so fast you jump entire continents worth of levelling before finishing a zone. Grouping up and syncing with friends makes this even more strange. The new talents are nice, but it seems odd that they are even set up in such a way when you blast through levelling anyway so the reward of unlocking one at each level feels largely redundant. Genuinely, I understand the argument that they may as well just remove character levels at this point.

*Update: They removed this restriction, but it doesn't change my rating of the expansion. Current WoW is still like going back to a childhood theme park only to find every ride you liked has been replaced.

Alexstrasza is our new queen.
+The story was pretty good in comparison with older expansions.
+New dragon-riding mechanics improved the exploring and made it a lot of fun.
+Timewalking was necessary for newer players and they added it.
+New profession system works well. Though it seems likely that they will abandon it when the next expansion is out.
+Dragon Isles are full of side-quests and world-quests. Which makes it fun to explore.
-Faction renown system takes too much time. I don't have time for farming endlessly for just renown.
-It's too expensive. Just like any other WoW expansion.

A well-needed pallet cleanser after years of mediocrity. It feels fun to finally play an expansion that values your time and feels like a game more than a mandatory job. That being said, the in-game narrative direction and presentation are still pretty poor despite having very well-done side quests and an expanding lore that only grows more intriguing. I think viewing DF as the foundation for a future of WoW that's more grounded and is a return to form allows me to appreciate it a lot more than something that attempts to rectify what came before.

I really love WoW, but fell big time after Battle for Azeroth. Dragonflight streamlines so much bullshit that is outdated, and also is really forgiving with catchup mechanics.

Playing a dungeon or raid with friends is maybe one of a kind experience on gaming today, but it still gives me the FOMO pretty hard.

I will always have a soft spot for WoW and everything I did on this game (playing since 2008). But it is kinda hard juggle adult life and this game.

I'm still playing it, leveling up alts and trying out some Mythic dungeons. It's better than Shadowlands, but anything would be better than Shadowlands, I think. On a side note, when are they just going to say 'fuck it' and retcon that entire expansion?

Regardless, Dragonflight has some cool new features, but it's still got that good ol' jank and general lack-of-polish that I've come to expect from modern day Blizzard. The main story is entirely nonsensical, as per usual, but I like some of the zones and side stories. My main class, Priest, feels pretty good to play too.

We'll see where it goes. I probably won't play for too long.

As vezes eu sinto saudades de só chegar numa área fazer as quest tudo por mais bobas que fossem e ir direto pra próxima.

A campanha obrigatória torna um pouco maçante e o Dragonriding no inicio também não é muito divertido de voar a não ser quanto tu pula de cabeça de uma montanha.

De resto eu gostei, mapa é bonito, as quests opcionais são o que se espera, só a campanha obrigatória é um ponto negativo pra mim, mesmo jogando Final Fantasy XIV penso que isso não combina no WoW.

nota: shaman enhancement ta mto bom de jogar

A bittersweet moment - the marking point of my end with World of Warcraft. I have finished what I set out to do and prove myself as a competent PvPer. After gaining an elite set for each of my classes in Solo Shuffle now that I don't need to queue up with retards (like 9 or 10 classes, don't remember), I've completely lost the drive to keep going. That sense of needing to prove myself has completely gone.

I always thought it was about the FOMO, but it was always about that underlying desire to be good.

I don't think I will ever come back to WoW, I think the Chapter has closed. I have zero interest in the new expansions already announced, and if I ever come back it won't be for new content, it will be to replay old stuff or roleplay.

The best state WoW has been in a really long time.

This is the second expansion since i started playing at WotLK that i didn't buy at launch, previous being Battle for Azeroth. But ever since coming back to WoW few weeks into this expansions life-cycle i've been having the best time in this game, a feeling that used to wear off pretty quickly in several of the previous expansions.

So far there have been no necessary grinds to do weekly (apart from running raid and M+ content but duh), you just get your gear and upgrade it with currency you get from those same activities as said gear. The new Dragonriding system has made travelling a joy again, going back to old world and flying like it's 2007 again feels extra outdated now that they implemented this system. Seasonally rotating Mythic dungeons are awesome, it keeps that part of endgame at the same freshness as raiding.

Leveling alts to maximum is better than ever, since you get weekly quests right from the get go when you enter the new zone. That was implemented back in Shadowlands but has now been available from the get-go. It still gets a bit stale after a few characters but this is still the best system to date.

I'd say it is a good mix of old-school style end-game progression with new stuff to do besides just raiding and Mythics (or PvP) if you feel like it. So far the rapid flow of patches compared to couple of previous expansions has you waiting less on them and playing more, if they keep this pace on releasing content i dare to say that this will be the first time in ages that i'll be subbed from (almost) beginning to the end of an expansion.

pros:
- the raids are cool
- warlock is meta
- REALLY alt friendly, incredibly so. best expansion in that department
- rep system
- dragonriding is fun as fuck, even in azeroth despite azeroth clearly not being made for that.
- most of the zones are really good
- talent tree

mixed:
- the main story is geniunely ass for the most part but the story has its moments.

con:
- avengers assemble cutscene ass cutscene
- the healing nowadays is mid
- they still haven't rehired Xelnath to make warlock actually fun to play
- new crafting system, while decent on paper, sucks absolute dick in reality in part due to lack of any decent catchup mechanics, the crafting itself being quite complicated for a lot of people, making the crafter's life absolutely miserable and public order being a complete, unfiltered mess without addons.
- making auction houses regional was an absolutely dogshit idea. made gathering gold making unfeasable due to horrid amount of bots.
- 3000% price increase for argentina, what the fuck blizzard? you might as well tell them to go play on private servers lmao