I’m a pretty new player. I’ve been playing extremely actively for almost two months putting in around 4 - 12 hours per day. So keep in mind that I don’t really know what a “good” expansion looks like.
I’ve finished all the BFA storyline quests and they seemed pretty entertaining. I didn’t have much complaints. I also just recently finished the Visions of Nzoth questline and really enjoyed how challenging it was. So I personally have no complaints about the quests.
I find the Azerite gear pretty cool how it gives you certain options for what you’d like to focus on and I personally enjoy levelling up my Heart of Azeroth pendant. The levels go fast and give me just a little bit of the dopamine I like since EXP is no longer a thing. Also, after I found out about infusing your Heart of Azeroth with different abilities, I can confidently say I’m enjoying the experience.
The visions of Nzoth dailies give me something to do everyday and the World Quests in BFA are a good time killer if I just want to grind ilvl 420 gear and disenchant them for mats.
I’ve done a few of the LFR raids for BFA as well and I think they’re awesome. The Jaina fight is my favourite by far.
Whenever I log in, I see people spewing about how terrible BFA is, but I’ve found it pretty fun and enjoyable for the most part. Especially since early levelling through classic content is pretty stale since there isn’t really any story to follow or any side goals to work on.
So is BFA worse than I think? Are there things I’ll begin to realize are bad as I continue? Or is the “BFA BAD” thing almost a meme at this point?
Thanks!
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As a brand new player I could see how you’re confused, the reason a lot of us are salty is we know what it used to be like.
The strong points of current blizz is raid design, zones, music and art.
Unfortunately BFA seems to be an expansion with an aggressive tactic of keep you logged in no matter what with zero hint of fun involved. Another poster put it best by saying logging in for 8.3 content feels like punching in at work.
If you’re enjoying LFR i beg you to try out raiding Normal, Heroic or Mythic even. It’s the best content the game has to offer currently and by joining a guild to do this content you’ll meet a lot of great people.
Almost every system BFA has introduced has been awfully bungled or completely broken.
Blizzard gutted a bunch of classes and did a whole bunch of questionable things too.
We still don’t have account bound essences yet either.
Here is a bunch of free goals Blizzard could implement very easily right now to help us ride into the sunset with this awful expansion:
- Account bound essences
- Account bound neck level
- Account bound cloak level
- Revert GCD change
- Bring back PvP Vendor
- Make corrupted items way more accessible, I’m talking every piece of gear corrupt or at the very least every raid/vision loot piece corrupt
- Bring back master looter.
- Implement the cache system of Shadowlands now (selecting a piece from a list)
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It’s a beautifully designed set of zones with solid music, but man if the expansions gimmick systems didn’t stink to highmountain. Also the narrative was a huge fumble that was all over the place, doubly so for the horde.
I will be happy to be done with Azerite traits and corruption in a few months that’s for sure.
Edit: I was reminded by another comment, yeah this expansion also had my least favorite dungeons over all collectively.
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I really want to try the raids but I’m nervous to ask my guild to join in. My currently ilvl is only 435 and I was hoping to get it around 445 before I inquired about raiding.
My guild is really cool but it seems they take the raids very seriously, so I don’t want to join in being the weakest member with no experience and not do the boss mechanics properly.
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I wouldn’t say it’s “bad”. BFA feels like the bare minimum of what one should expect. Also, 8.0 felt reeeeally bad. Partially because we just came out of an amazing expansion (legion) and were losing all of the amazing legion abilities without the relacement abilities that didn’t come until later. Partially because they slowed the pace of the game down with GCD changes and partially because they pruned/simplified almost all of the specs into more boring versions. The specs all felt weird and in an awkward state. They still don’t feel at good as legion.
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Yeah its really bad
The character power is absurdly dependent on RNG compared to before: Getting the correct Azerite traits, the Gem Socket, A good corruption (previously a Forged), etc
Borrowed power from both the Cape and the Heart of Azeroth which you have to level up
The Essences being time gated and mandatory for the most part
Alts have just sucked this expansion
The story is god awful
The Dungeons are… meh, not good, but not bad either
Raids are decent
PvP is a mess
Big amount of chores (Dailies and WQs) that are pretty much mandatory to do for several stuff, such has Pathfinder or Essences
Reputations have been really bad
Class design is horrible
Professions are borderline useless outside of a few exceptions
Its just been really bad
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Good news is theres only one way to learn!
Why don’t you join some normal pugs in Raid Finder? Normal (in my opinion) is easier than LFR as everyone who is there is focusing for the same objective.
Icyveins has a tonne of guides.
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I’m finding BFA overall and current content fun. I enjoy the quintet content of mythic plus and find this season’s Awakening affix to be great for opening up the meta - at least from what I’ve done.
I’ve been playing since 2008.
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Nah. It’s pretty good.
People will complain endlessly about anything and everything. They have done this throughout the entire history of the game.
It’s a large and complex game. There is a large and diverse player base. They value different things, depending on their playstyle. Various aspects of the game have been better or worse for those groups as the game has evolved, but nothing is ever perfect for anyone (i.e. there will always be something to complain about).
You will notice one thing about all of the people complaining though. They’re still playing. Make what you want of that. 
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This is one that is very revealing… It’s hilariously bad, like the kinda of “not up for debate” sort of bad.
How is it that herbalism just rakes in the cash, potions and flasks are 200/800g apiece, people buy oceans and oceans of them daiiy, and then the other professions basically make sht. The solutions are brain-dead easy too… 8.2 or 8.3 could have done something, like, make some of the materials for potions or flasks take elements of other professions.
Like, how about, agility potions/flasks take leather, strength take blacksmithing, intellect takes clothiers, jewelcrafters make flask containers, engineers make an item that extends the duration of flasks by 100%, and enchanters make an item that increases the potency of potions by 20%. There, solved.
But the game has really gone in a bad direction, and people still play for various reasons, usually they have played for a LONG time and they cant just abandon it despite how horrible the expansion is
au contrair mein freund… menu > exit game
It’s that easy. This is entertainment. You stop if you’re not having fun. The end.
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What are these “essences” everyone is talking about? Maybe I refer to them differently or maybe I just haven’t gotten to them yet?
Oh yeah… i game you have played for ages…
Its not that simple mate, thats why they complain so much, they want the game that they have played for years to be good again
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I’m not trying to start an argument but I’m genuinely interested what parts of the game at the moment you are finding enjoyable or “pretty good”
The thingymabobs that go into your neck. You have two currently (Breath of the dying) and (Crucible of Flame)
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They were introduced in 8.2, they give you new abilities, some of them are really strong and usually time gated af
An example is Lucid Dreams which is one of the most used, it boost your resource regeneration (such has Mana)
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Not really the case for many people and MMO’S. The social aspects are often hard to walk away from. It’s why you will see that when people are finally able to drop it its because their friends quit or their guild split up.
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You may not have gotten there yet. They are abilities you equip to your Heart of Azeroth
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Was having a conversation today with a long time player and friend (we go back to Ultimate Online days and know each other IRL). We were discussing how good BFA has been, where it fell short and just reflecting on the game while doing Island expeditions.
The short: we still enjoy playing the same game together 14 years later and are looking forward to the next expac. Hopefully you will be saying the same years from now with a long time friend. 
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