Could you expand on why you don’t think this is the case, becasue it is for every major content type
Although there’s the option of doing an easier more casual version without a premade (lfr, lfd, solo shuffle, etc)
WotLK and WoD are my worst two. Others are pretty negligible in my ranking.
I am a 2004 Collector’s Edition player. I have played on and off over the past 20 years, and every expansion had something that was charming. But most were not great.
Cataclysm was my favorite for several reasons. It was effectively WoW 2.0. In some ways, that made the game better. In other ways, it deprived WoW of the early charms that made it an MMORPG instead of a mobile game microcosm. I also had a lot of great things happening in my life which could have been part of my bias, but realistically, Goblins were probably the greatest. The type of content a Blizzard Employee would get Fired over–top tier.
Mists of Pandaria was also a lot of fun for me, but the cracks began to show. The encumbrance of daily quests and the “chore grind” was starting to become apparent. A lot of friends already quit WoW over Pandaren, so it was pretty much me and my baubles. Monk was novel and challenging, which also promoted my interest for a little while.
It’s safe to assume everything not listed to here was fine enough, and lands squarely in the ambiguous “mid”. The next expansion was an absolute disaster to me though, and was the single worst World of Warcraft experience I ever had. One of my closest friends had that experience in Shadowlands, and I jokingly refer to Warlords of Draenor as my “Shadowlands Moment”.
Garrisons were the only redeeming factor but it was fully apparent that the mobile game microcosm–the “efficiency” stage set by Cataclysm into daily engagement metrics carried forward in Pandaria–had killed Azeroth. The “ret-con” time magic, wishy washy story telling, and the execution of Garrosh are the absolute worst moments in the game for me. Because of that, I never will look at Warcraft the same way. In many ways, I saw it as a metaphor for Activision placing the final nail in the coffin for the old Blizzard I knew.
I quit during Warlords. Came back at the start of Legion, with some friends renewed interest. But it was nothing special and quit again. Legion did end up having a righteous redemption in 7.2 (though I like to joke that it was 7.2.5, with the free Artifact Knowledge and Rogue Pickpocketing weekly that “saved” the game), and I found myself re-enchanted by the breadth and depth of the class order halls, the class fantasy, the dungeons and raids, and even new world content with Broken Isles (Mage Tower, anyone?) and Argus. It was all obviously a painstaking labor of love.
And then we got BFA and Shadowlands. (trombone.wav)
… Dragonflight has been a nice surprise but there’s no reprisal. And there’s still some obvious gaps between the machinations of Dragonflight and late-stage Legion. Class fantasy is in focus and that’s great but there’s a lot more work that needs to happen. Following the four new zones approach with new areas unlocked in x.2, x.3 just leaves a lot to be wanted from a box fee–almost like development is being intentionally deprived to save the “better parts” for later… even after already paid. And with the acceleratory nature of announcing 3 “micro-expansions”, it makes me worry all the more that possibilities are being sold instead of products.