I like DF… but it might be my least favorite expansion. Yes, lower than Shadowlands (by a good bit actually).
The good things about DF for me are the quality-of-life and functionality stuff: Talents are great, UI overhaul took some playing around with but now I really like it.
The bad:
There is nothing to do outside of instances. I have no reason to go out into the world and do anything because it’s all just cosmetic (this is very related to number 2 below). I never “raid-logged” before, but now I know what people meant all along… I get on, look for a PUG, and if I can’t find one I sign off.
The community is partly to blame for this lol. Everyone was whining about “No borrowed power!” “No more chores!” “No more checklists!” … uhhhh… You mean content? Wish granted. Bliz has removed any non-cosmetic reason to do anything outside of an instance. No more things you “have” to do, i.e. content. Yay! I guess.
Not much variety in terms of aesthetic. Even if you are the type of person that plays solely to get cosmetics, you don’t have many options. It’s a great time to be a Shaman, sure. Lots of rocks and glowing rocks. But I play Paladin, Mage, and Warlock, and I struggle to find anything I feel like farming. Shadowlands at least had a lot of great different appearances to collect, whatever your taste was. Same with mounts.
Leveling is more tedious than in the past, because it truly feels exactly the same every time. Whether you are horde or alliance, it is the same. Nothing like covenants, or order halls that made leveling a varied experience in the past. And, you can easily finish every zone’s story on the way to 70 these days. Back in the day, like Wrath and such, the zones were so long that you dinged 80 with a lot of stuff you didn’t go see. That was fine because you could go do the stuff you missed when you leveled an alt.
Completely subjective, but the game is sort of starting to lose its soul with the horde and alliance being scrapped and blizzard taking more of a “just let everyone do everything” attitude when it comes to class/race combos and the rest. I’ve never been a lore-buff. I click through quest text and have for years. But I do care about setting and rich world building. Why else would someone play an MMO? It’s supposed to be a living breathing world where you feel like you’re on a grand adventure. But there is no faction warfare anymore. Thrall who? It’s becoming a sandbox do-anything game rather than an immersion in a fantasy land. Cross-faction guilds now and the distinction between horde and alliance is meaningless. A mainstay of this game, the most popular MMO of all time, gone.
I just can’t stand the whole Scaly/Dragon theme anymore. I’m tired at looking at uncanny valley looking dragon people. I just want a new theme and we’re not even far in.
I love this expansion. Especially dragon riding. I never have more than 1 max level toon until the first major patch. I have 4 with a 5th at 65 currently. It’s cool that you don’t enjoy it though.
Devs have openly admitted that they want to encourage solo players to group up in DF. So the most rewarding world quests and rares are tuned for parties and raids.
The open world is not for solo players anymore, except for world quests and side activities that don’t involve much combat. Bad move after most world content was so solo friendly for years.