Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Maybe Battle for Azeroth....Isn't Bad?

Maybe Battle for Azeroth isn't the worst thing in the world. I honestly feel like I can't tell on these things anymore. I'm definitely not feeling joy when I play, which seems to disqualify it from the description of "great".

I've definitely hated World of Warcraft before. I've definitely found it boring. I've even found it to be the culmination of everything I've disliked in a hobby before. I'm definitely not feeling any of that, which seems to disqualify it from the description of "bad".

So what is it? At this point it's something to do, but I have a lot of things I could be doing. We've went over my stupidly large backlog in previous posts, there's no reason I need to spend this much time on one game that I have to pay a subscription for. So what's gripping me to it? At this point, none of my friends or family are really playing the game (although that might change in less than a month with the release of Classic).

It's certainly familiar. In the past year I've moved several states away from friends and family for the first time in 30 years. I've bought a house and fundamentally started a new life. Azeroth, no matter what new lands they add or features they bring out, is fundamentally the same game that I've been playing for about 15 years.

I don't know if that's a very good reason to bring a game. It certainly lacks a sense of mindfulness.

Battle for Azeroth is a very mediocre experience. But I think it was the right experience at the right time.

This is Blaugust 2019 Post #6. I felt like I should probably start labeling these things for whatever reason.


  1. I go back and forth on this point as well. I know it isn't greatness and it doesn't really inspire me to play, but it is probably objectively better than a lot of the earlier World of Warcraft content? I think for me it boils down to a few things. Firstly Legion was a high point for me, and finally toppled Wrath of the Lich king as my favorite expansion. Secondly I hate the Red vs Blue storyline and sorta wish that all of my friends could play together regardless of faction. For that specifically Battle for Azeroth seemed to be doubling down on all of the aspects of World of Warcraft storytelling that I just wish they would move past. However the moment to moment story telling in zone was overall good.

    The problem with World Quests is that it felt like we reached a pinnacle with those in Legion as well... and what we got was instead a watered down version. I also deeply enjoyed the chance for the Artifact weapons, and the one size fits all necklace just became something I didn't care about chasing on any level.

    Please note that I checked out before the first major patch and have not really returned, so maybe things got spectacularly better but across the board Battle for Azeroth felt regurgitated? It was a sort of recycled feeling amalgam of a bunch of things we had already seen and felt thoroughly uninspired?

    1. I actually played during the first month of BfA and checked out as well. Same thing happened to me for WoD and Legion.

      For me, it seems that patch X.2 has become the sweet spot for where returning actually gives me enough content to keep entertained for a little while.

      I agree that I'm also very over World Quests at this point. It's better than the "stay in the capital city and only queuing for things" that we've had in the past. But at this point it feels like busy work in a way that feels nakedly gross even for an MMO.