World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth

 PC
User Score
2.3

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2487 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 372 out of 2487
  2. Mixed: 177 out of 2487
  3. Negative: 1,938 out of 2487
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  1. Bruuz
    Aug 22, 2018
    6
    Every expansion introduced something new, except for this last one:

    TBC: 2 new races (Bloodelf eand Dranei), flying mounts, new spells (Bloodlust) and talent trees, new profession (Jewelcrafting) WotLK: new hero class (DK), new profession (Inscription), new talents, dual talent spec, heirloom items, heroic dungeons CATA: 2 new races (Worgen and Goblins), changes to existing world,    Every expansion introduced something new, except for this last one:

    TBC: 2 new races (Bloodelf eand Dranei), flying mounts, new spells (Bloodlust) and talent trees, new profession (Jewelcrafting)

    WotLK: new hero class (DK), new profession (Inscription), new talents, dual talent spec, heirloom items, heroic dungeons

    CATA: 2 new races (Worgen and Goblins), changes to existing world, new profession (Archaeology), guild advancement system, reforging

    MoP: new race (Pandaren), new class (Monk), new talent system, scenarios, dungeon challenge mode, pet battles, proving grounds, brawlers guild

    WoD: Garrisson (central to the whole expansion), toy box, adventure guide, new player models

    Legion: new hero class (DH), artifact weapons, order halls

    BfA: The 6 re-skins of existing races? Artifact necklace with passive upgrade and passive skills? Gear with passive skills?

    There's nothing new to this expansion. It feels barebones. Almost as if they needed a filler expansion.    … Expand
  2. Grugmuck33
    Nov 29, 2018
    5
    The reason the critics gave it a 79 and it's got a 3.1 User Score is because the game is like a beautiful model you go out on a date with but underneath that flawless skin lies a nasty mean person. Yes if this game was a single player game of 25-40 hours I'd give it a B+ as well. The lands are gorgeous the leveling activities from 110-120 are enjoyable. But once you get to level 120The reason the critics gave it a 79 and it's got a 3.1 User Score is because the game is like a beautiful model you go out on a date with but underneath that flawless skin lies a nasty mean person. Yes if this game was a single player game of 25-40 hours I'd give it a B+ as well. The lands are gorgeous the leveling activities from 110-120 are enjoyable. But once you get to level 120 (CAP) that is where you leave the CRITICS that reviewed the game behind. The Critics only stuck around to take a tour of the new game and level up. They didn't stick around to have to do hundreds of hours of boring quests on a world map, deal with endless reputation grinding, and warfronts and expeditions that after a few attempts put you to sleep and bored you to no end. Had the critics continued to play the game which few I think do. (Better to have a critic that is an avid WOW gamer) then they'd have seen that once you get past the exterior and basic quests/lands that it is monotonous, repetitive, and boring. There is NOTHING different when you go to level up other character alts. It's the same repetitive, boring, same experience over and over. I'd give this a 3 score myself but because I feel they are at least trying to fix this with patch 8.1 I will give the game a 5. It has promise and it could be a good game. But they released it with way too little content after the leveling phase. An MMO needs to have 90% of it's content available only to max level characters but this it was more like 20%. I have no interest in playing now until the new patch. But that's why the CRITICS love it and the GAMERS playing it do not love it or very few do. There are many other issues too like game balancing, the azerite armor system is broken, the classes are made boring to play compared to earlier expansions with extensive talent trees or the Legions artifact system...just zzzzz. At least in Legions there was different class quests, dozens of cool weapons to unlock with different specs and classes. So this game gets SUPER OLD SUPER FAST in it's current state.… Expand
  3. Grumpygamer9000
    Nov 8, 2018
    6
    I am not going to go into too much detail. I don't even know if I can pinpoint what I don't like about this expansion. It looks like WoW. It feels like WoW. But it just isn't as fun as WoW used to be. I am kind of sad about this really. I have been in love with WoW since before it was released in open beta in 2004. And I feel like this love affair is coming to an end, It's breaking myI am not going to go into too much detail. I don't even know if I can pinpoint what I don't like about this expansion. It looks like WoW. It feels like WoW. But it just isn't as fun as WoW used to be. I am kind of sad about this really. I have been in love with WoW since before it was released in open beta in 2004. And I feel like this love affair is coming to an end, It's breaking my heart. I really loved you WoW. But you changed. It's just not the same anymore. Maybe we can just be friends and I will check in on you once in a while, but I am not spending everyday with you anymore. I'm moving on with my life without you... I'm gonna see other games. Bye. :'(… Expand
  4. Arkelias
    Dec 4, 2018
    5
    I see a few puzzled people wondering why people hate the game so much. They don't understand why someone would rate a game a 0. After all, BfA has some amazing zone stories, and some memorable moments. That's worth something, right?

    No. Not to a lifelong fan who feels betrayed. Not to someone who, for the first time, feels like Blizzard rushed an expansion, and that everything was    I see a few puzzled people wondering why people hate the game so much. They don't understand why someone would rate a game a 0. After all, BfA has some amazing zone stories, and some memorable moments. That's worth something, right?

    No. Not to a lifelong fan who feels betrayed. Not to someone who, for the first time, feels like Blizzard rushed an expansion, and that everything was designed to support a drip feed of content. Bolt on monotonous systems that can be run over and over for random loot, and all of a sudden you can see the walls of the maze.

    Let me try to articulate what I mean with some in game examples. When I played the new GW2 expansion I liked the story. I binged the crap out of it until I beat it. I played it at my own pace, and when it was done wow was I hyped. I loved it.

    I started to get the same feeling in WoW. I was getting into the story. Then Blizzard slammed on the brakes. Not because the content hadn't been released yet, but because I needed more rep to continue. I had to run a bunch of world quests for weeks to be able to continue the story. By the time I did I only half remembered the exciting events of the first part of the story, and of course there were multiple rep breaks. Do a few quests, then need to do a few dozen world quests to progress.

    Do you know what it reminded me of? Commercials on cable TV. I only see them in hotel rooms these days, but the idea of being held hostage and having to tolerate things I don't like to get bits of things I do simply doesn't cut it any more.

    I've moved on to the Elder Scrolls Online. Holy crap the difference. I can just...play. The stories are good, but not necessarily better than wow stories. BfA has some bad ones, but it also has some downright amazing moments (Bwonsamdi). But both ESO and GW2 let me just play, and play at my own pace.

    Wow does not. WoW time gates the crap out of everything. Worse, the rewards I'm given aren't tied to my character. They reset every raid tier. If I log into GW2 all my gear is still relevant, a year later. If I log into ESO I keep all the things I've unlocked, because they're a part of my character. If I level in either game I get skill points. In WoW, I lost a LOT from Legion. I gained nothing. Not a new talent tier. I was, quite literally, far weaker at 120 than I was at 110, and I had no abilities I hadn't already had back at level 100.

    In BfA your new abilities are tied to your gear. If you outlevel the gear, you lose the ability. That's bad design. Having core abilities tied to gear is beyond frustrating. Get something you like? Don't get too attached, because soon you'll be vendoring or scrapping it.

    And, of course, this whole expansion suffers from feeling less than Legion. World quests aren't as good. Classes aren't as good. Tanking isn't as fun. The GCD bugged me, right up until I stopped logging in a few weeks ago. Professions? lol

    Blizzard made a bunch of changes that they claim are to make the game more sustainable. Trouble is that it gutted the game. They did a stat squish, took away all your gear and abilities from Legion, and then didn't replace them with anything you cared about.

    Is that enough to give this expansion a 0? No. I think a 5 is fair. But I understand the people who gave it a zero. They aren't trolling. They aren't review bombing. They're angry. They feel betrayed, because the company that used to be by gamers, for gamers, has proven they aren't any more.

    They're here to make money, and they're going to do it on a shoe string budget. Everything in BfA is a recycled Legion system, except for Warfronts and Island Expeditions. Try both, and tell me how excited you are about doing either. They miss the mark in such a fundamental way, and it shows that Blizzard really doesn't understand what we want from them any more.

    It feels like WoW has finally been put into sunset mode, and it makes me a little sad. I left the game for a lot of years and came back for legion. I was so excited about BfA coming out, and I feel so let down.

    To those conspiracy theorists who argue that these reviews have no merit because of score I'd ask you to consider this. When were these reviews posted? It didn't come in a 48 hour window. It's a trickle of simmering discontent that's been building for months.

    Players are angry, and you can see it reflected here, the forums, Amazon reviews, YouTube, and anywhere else people talk about WoW. Blizzard screwed up bad, and nothing they're currently developing has the slightest chance of drawing me back.

    I hate the go go go of Mythic +. I hate that my main from Legion isn't viable, and is sitting on a shelf. I hate that the class balance is so bad this expansion, and that my DH is the best at every part of the game, while my shaman can't get a group for anything. I hate that no gear I get matters, because a random pvp match can invalidate the drop from Heroic G'huun that took my guild a month of hard work to do    … Expand
  5. Eveless
    Nov 5, 2018
    5
    Instead of a new expansion we get a Legion 0.5. New zones look great, but thats about it. Class balance and gameplay is made worse, some dumbed down to the point where you dont feel like you are playing different class at all. Story is made of plotholes and questionable decisions, no new endgame content e.t.c. It feels like Blizzard hired an entire cast of college students to make theirInstead of a new expansion we get a Legion 0.5. New zones look great, but thats about it. Class balance and gameplay is made worse, some dumbed down to the point where you dont feel like you are playing different class at all. Story is made of plotholes and questionable decisions, no new endgame content e.t.c. It feels like Blizzard hired an entire cast of college students to make their new expansion. If it is so - they did a good job. But i`m afraid we need a different level of quality from a company with this name.… Expand
  6. pokegod11
    Jul 24, 2020
    5
    Without a doubt the weakest expansion to date, battle for azeroth makes the game worse
  7. barawekek
    Dec 2, 2018
    6
    Как только близзард выпустили Легион, комьюнити резко ожило. На протяжении всего легиона близзард умело кормили игроков новыми патчами, механиками и т.д. Но вот, на закате аддона они анонсируют БФА, обещая, что это будет лучше Легиона.
    Разработчики дают нам понять, что островные экспедиции и фронты будут той самой вишенкой на торте.Однако, что фронты что экспедиции оказываются обычной    Как только близзард выпустили Легион, комьюнити резко ожило. На протяжении всего легиона близзард умело кормили игроков новыми патчами, механиками и т.д. Но вот, на закате аддона они анонсируют БФА, обещая, что это будет лучше Легиона.
    Разработчики дают нам понять, что островные экспедиции и фронты будут той самой вишенкой на торте.Однако, что фронты что экспедиции оказываются обычной рутиной, проходить которую нет абсолютно никакого желания, кроме получения гира. Если не брать это во внимание, то БФА был бы вполне годным аддоном: локации и инсты проработаны хорошо, да и рейд вроде как тоже неплохой. Но люди ожидали совсем другого. Весь негатив со стороны комьюнити подогревается новой системой дропа, и отсутствием способов голдфарма с прошлых аддонов, когда с оплота и гарнизона ты получал деньги на ежемесячную подписку.
    Подытожив, сам по себе БФА является неплохим аддоном, если не брать во внимание провал новых механик, которые так нахваливали близзы.    … Expand
  8. Namloc
    Aug 25, 2018
    5
    If you don't already play WoW this is most likely not going to suddenly make you love it.
    Found myself bored in less than a month.
  9. Danomolis
    Aug 24, 2018
    5
    There is absolutely nothing really new or revolutionary here. It's a very short expansion (Took 10 hours to reach 120). I'm not even sure I get the point of leveling anymore. Can't they come up with a way to release new content that doesn't rely on the crutches of grind, grind,, grin, and more grind? There's no fun here unless you're a major fan of monotony. I've been around sinceThere is absolutely nothing really new or revolutionary here. It's a very short expansion (Took 10 hours to reach 120). I'm not even sure I get the point of leveling anymore. Can't they come up with a way to release new content that doesn't rely on the crutches of grind, grind,, grin, and more grind? There's no fun here unless you're a major fan of monotony. I've been around since Vanilla Beta but it looks like I'm just about done with this series as it crawls along.… Expand
  10. Manzanetti
    Aug 10, 2020
    5
    Pros: art, soundtrack and new zones are awesome. The rest is... well, lackluster. Enjoyed it for a while, but felt uninspired all the way.
  11. Hack
    Dec 23, 2018
    5
    Art, sound and design did a great job, it's a beautiful expansion with great zones but it's just so grindy, and the Azerite system is a massive failure, you can get a 370 item that's worse than a 340 piece because of trait imbalance. The traits are very boring and add nothing to gameplay, they're just passive number increases. The expansion added barely any new features and what they didArt, sound and design did a great job, it's a beautiful expansion with great zones but it's just so grindy, and the Azerite system is a massive failure, you can get a 370 item that's worse than a 340 piece because of trait imbalance. The traits are very boring and add nothing to gameplay, they're just passive number increases. The expansion added barely any new features and what they did add turned out to be tedious and unrewarding (Warfronts and Island Expedition).… Expand
  12. Aelfscyne
    Sep 3, 2018
    5
    The game deserves two ratings. The initial leveling up experience through your faction's zones to 120 and your initial foray into the opposing faction's zones is a 8-9 score experience. The craftmanship and artistry of the zones is unparalleled and absolutely stunning. However, once you get past this initial 50-75 hours of gameplay you will enter the "WOW grind" where you are forced byThe game deserves two ratings. The initial leveling up experience through your faction's zones to 120 and your initial foray into the opposing faction's zones is a 8-9 score experience. The craftmanship and artistry of the zones is unparalleled and absolutely stunning. However, once you get past this initial 50-75 hours of gameplay you will enter the "WOW grind" where you are forced by the game to run through the same content over and over again for microscopic progressions toward incrementally powerful gear and various collectible items. And that experience deserves a 2-3 score. If you like WOW I'd recommend it just for that initial experience but after that I'd recommend finding something else to play until the next expansion in a couple of years.… Expand
  13. Rawrbawr
    Jan 20, 2019
    6
    EDIT:
    The game has been improved over the last few updates. Azerite has been improved (I mean, It had to really, they really couldn't leave it as it was), there have been additions to Warfronts and Island Expeditions to make them a bit more fun and beneficial. The classes have received some improvements and balancing as to have been expected. The new raids and zones added have all    EDIT:
    The game has been improved over the last few updates. Azerite has been improved (I mean, It had to really, they really couldn't leave it as it was), there have been additions to Warfronts and Island Expeditions to make them a bit more fun and beneficial. The classes have received some improvements and balancing as to have been expected. The new raids and zones added have all continued to be superb.

    Overall my rating remains the same mainly because Azerite is still a pretty **** system and classes haven't received much other than some token Azerite "essence" abilities and balancing.

    Here's hoping that they focus on important **** next expansion instead of shoe-horning in half baked gimmicks.
    /EDIT

    I can't help but feel like most of this expansion is attempting (and failing) to replace what we had in Legion. As others have stated, the art and raids have all taken a leap forward from Legion, but everything else has taken 3 steps backwards.

    Arguably the overall worst part of this expansion has been the changes made to classes. They have been gutted from Legion without anything added to replace what was lost. Every spec feels less fun to play and less powerful and I'm still not sure what all this was for. Classes were released in an unbalanced mess and months later they are still unbalanced. Then there was the whole debacle about Shamans and Shadow Priests being released in completely broken states because of lack of time before release. In fact the entire expansion feels rushed. "Beta for Azeroth" indeed.

    The zones are very pretty, and a players experiencing them while questing from 110 to 120 will enjoy the time up until max level content. The first raid is also good although the abolition of raid sets is awful. The two new cities are huge and feel epic.

    Warmode is the only reason I haven't slated this game with a largely negative score. World PvP has been in complete disrepair for many expansions, but Warmode is the best thing added to this game in since Mythic Keystones (*if you're into PvP). Some of my only good memories of this expansion are PvP brawls in the open world. Players fight to complete world quests and kill rares. The best part being that you can opt in or out of PvP at a moments notice if you just want to do Mythic dungeons or world quests in peace.

    Azerite gear is the new "gimmick" of this expansion and dreadful in its design. Nobody asked for it and nobody likes it. This is paired hand in hand with the "artifact power" grind of Legion returning in the form of "azerite power". However, it's now even worse as it's only purpose is to make players grind to get back the Azerite traits they already had. It's such a poorly designed system I don't think Blizzard even knows what to do with it at this point, and I feel most of the playerbase would see it scrapped entirely. To me it's something that was added for the sake of having a replacement to Legion legendaries, but just fell flat so hard.

    The other two new features, Island Expeditions and Warfronts, are a fantastic examples of "good idea, poor execution". Once you hit 120, both become utterly useless and mundane. Island expeditions can be a fun break when leveling as they can give you vanity items and help catch up alts with the depressing Azerite grind, and provide decent experience to boot. They also change on a weekly basis and different scenarios happen each time to keep things interesting. However, there's very little reason to do them at max level.

    Warfonts... I just don't understand the point? You sit there killing NPCs for 30 minutes and always win? You get some low gear from doing this but it quickly becomes another useless feature that the game has to coerce you to participate in every week by giving you a very good reward.

    There are new "sub-races", and quite a few, which in a way are more like fully fledged races with their own racial bonuses and abilities. I like that more is being done to allow players to customise their characters even if I feel that some of the sub-races could've just been different appearance options on the standard races. The only issue with these are that most players agree that the requirements to unlock them should be lowered or removed entirely. These requirement involve grinding old Legion reputations and new BFA reputations.

    Mythic dungeons haven't really improved or worsened. The dungeons are fine and other than a few specs being completely shunned from participating due to the class balancing issue discussed earlier, they are still a fantastic PvE activity to do when not raiding. Other than that, everything just feels slightly worse. Professions: worse. Story: worse. Gear: worse. Character customization: worse. World quests: worse. PvP (other than Warmode): worse. Blizzard: worse.    … Expand
  14. Idling
    Dec 1, 2018
    7
    This is by no means a perfect game. There are some issues with it. However, I believe that the pro's most definitely outweigh the cons. I am still enjoying the game, and have been playing since the launch. If blizzard fixes the larger issues, then this expansion could easily be a 9/10.
  15. withpuppys
    Dec 1, 2018
    7
    pros:
    the music is good
    the questlines are fun
    the zones look great
    the raiding is fun
    mythic+ is decent

    cons:
    class design is a bit rubbish especially for shadow priests and shamans
    azerite system is unremarkable
    warfronts and islands are boring (though they are supposedly adding heroic warfronts which are actually losable)
    and the story is suspiciously similar to mop
  16. Anfraxx_
    Sep 8, 2018
    7
    I have been playing WoW since TBC, I've seen all the good and bad to come from each expansion and can honestly say, this is one the better expansions to come in recent years.

    Yes there is a grind to unlock the new races, and yes before you didn't have to do this the races just unlocked (goblins/worgens/pandas/blood elf/dranei) and the new races are just re-skins of current races, but if    I have been playing WoW since TBC, I've seen all the good and bad to come from each expansion and can honestly say, this is one the better expansions to come in recent years.

    Yes there is a grind to unlock the new races, and yes before you didn't have to do this the races just unlocked (goblins/worgens/pandas/blood elf/dranei) and the new races are just re-skins of current races, but if they just gave us these races from the start, everyone would complain they had nothing to do at all, you cannot please everyone.

    My main issue with the re-skins is they look miles better than the originals, new customisation like hair styles, that they didn't bother adding to the previous races. Not the worst thing but I was planning a race change from the standard Orc to the new one, but found that they cannot be my class, so I won't be getting to have a nicer appearance.

    The zones are fantastic, with war mode I happily run about getting in to fights for some boredom busting.

    New dungeons are solid and mostly, well thought out, the first raid is a little disappointing unfortunately, with fights having little mechanics.

    All in all this isn't the worst expansion released, but it isn't as deep as Legion.    … Expand
  17. Sethland
    Aug 22, 2018
    5
    Alliance specific leveling and overall 'feel' review.

    Started so well with the awesome zone of Drustvar. A zone that takes you back to the feel of old-school Duskwood with its eerie, supra-natural ambiance and creepy NPCs. The sound score was also excellent for this zone. Coming out of that and hitting Tiragarde Sound I thought the expansion was still going fairly strong, albeit not    Alliance specific leveling and overall 'feel' review.

    Started so well with the awesome zone of Drustvar. A zone that takes you back to the feel of old-school Duskwood with its eerie, supra-natural ambiance and creepy NPCs. The sound score was also excellent for this zone.
    Coming out of that and hitting Tiragarde Sound I thought the expansion was still going fairly strong, albeit not to the standard of Drustvar. However once I got to Stormsong Valley my experience took a nosedive; That Quillboar den, Briarback Kraul - I'd rather try to solve a rubix cube with my feet than trying to navigate that mess. Expect to slay like 200 quillboars while running around in circles trying to find your objective. Probably the worst game design of any map I've ever seen. I've even had to log out in frustration because I couldn't take it anymore.
    My main issue though was hitting 120 while leveling through Stormsong valley. Let me tell you how hitting 120 feels like with quest gear in this expansion; You'll breeze through 110-119 feeling powerful, mobs dying quickly and you rarely taking a dent. Hit 120 and this changes remarkably. From one moment to the next you're suddenly taking twice as long to kill mobs and you'll take tons more damage - even to the point that I as a retri Paladin died to a pair of bees because my cooldowns were recharging. C'mon, bees hitting for 6k a hit! Really? Say welcome to Blizzards new scaling system, where mobs scale to your ilvl - or so someone mentioned.
    My final pet peeve at this stage of the expansion is that pretty much everything is gated behind group content. Wanna finish a zone? Need to group. Wanna unlock your new class research tree? Need to group. Not a deal-breaker for me, but annoying nonetheless.
    Not stopping my sub just yet, but (very) early indications are that this is nowhere near a great expansion in my opinion.    … Expand
  18. ryant
    Sep 11, 2018
    7
    TLDR: Great expansion at first, but minimal and somewhat pointless endgame content leaves you bored after a few weeks. My suggestion, get it and sub for one month. Come back when there's more content. For the first time ever, questing is the more interesting part of wow.

    ---------------------------------------------------- It's a difficult one to rate. There's many good and bad    TLDR: Great expansion at first, but minimal and somewhat pointless endgame content leaves you bored after a few weeks. My suggestion, get it and sub for one month. Come back when there's more content. For the first time ever, questing is the more interesting part of wow.

    ----------------------------------------------------

    It's a difficult one to rate. There's many good and bad aspects. The new areas are beautiful and detailed, interesting to explore. The expansion focuses more on story than most previous expansions and playing those story scenarios have been a big plus for me.

    Horde is heavily favored in this expansion, from story, to areas, and even items and mounts, all are more detailed and varied for the horde. Alliances experience is a bit more bland, and somewhat cartoony in areas such as Stormsong valley.

    Dungeons have been varied, and they are trying to incorporate more raid mechanics into the dungeon boss fights. This makes it great as practice for upcoming raids if you've been away from wow for a few months or years. But there's one big issue with the dungeons, the balancing between normal, heroic and mythic is completely off. You can spend days/weeks in normals, while leveling, once you're 120, you'll spend maybe a day on heroics and then there's no incentive to ever do heroics again. The dungeon finder becomes completely useless, since you'll only be interested in mythics, which don't use the raid finder. So you'll need a group of friends, fly to the dungeon, and pretend it's a raid. This removes all quality of life they've introduced since WotLK. Right now, only a few weeks after release, mythics are easy with all the gear thrown at us, so a random group with the right ilevel is easily possible. So this restriction is really just an inconvenience.

    Only one raid has released so far, but we flew through it with relative ease. And unfortunately, unlike everything else so far, has had very little storytelling (without reading up outside of the game). The boss encounters are hit or miss, some are great and require a well coordinated team, but some clearly had no thought put into them. Heroic was a little more interesting, and was somewhat of a challenge, but we did it in the first week of release. The raid itself seems somewhat bland in comparison to the detailed areas we explored in the new areas of Zandalar. I find myself not interested in running the raid again, the ease with which we ran through it ruined the experience.

    Island expeditions are introduced as a pve(simulated pvp) or pvp, offering very little outside of leveling your necklace for the first week or two.

    The new war campaign instance is practically pvp but for some reason is pve only. Similar to alterac valley but pve only. It's extremely drawn out, taking up to 40min. There is very little reason to do this more than once, to get your 370 ilvl cache. And worst of all, in order to access it, players need to give up their hard earned crafting materials.

    This is the quickest I've become bored after doing all end game content. Very little left to do until new raids are out (and hopefully new questing areas). The only thing left to do is run higher and higher mythic+ dungeons and I've run those instances more than enough now.

    Despite the new warmode, which turns any area into PVP

    World quests started off interesting, and the rewards scaled for a short period. But they quickly become a means of grinding rep and nothing more. The mission table gives such menial rewards that it's not worth doing either, and is so awkwardly placed that you can get the same amount of rep that an 8hour mission would take, in the time it would take to get to the table by doing a world quest.

    On the one hand I feel like Blizzard are trying to drag things out so that you will subscribe for longer, but those efforts are also undermined by the various ways to overcome it, which also ruins the usefulness of the new endgame content they've provided. It contradicts itself. The longer you wait to play it, the easier it will become to level and breeze through end game content.    … Expand
  19. Nekrod19rus
    Jan 30, 2020
    7
    Ну, в начале адоны было затишье по контенту, вот и вышел низкий балл, теперь же на момент патча 8,3, контента в игре куча, и балл можно смело повышать, близы конечно гении маркетинга :/
  20. Horroriam
    Sep 10, 2018
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This expansion is not ideal, but also it does not deserve red marks from dissatisfied troll army (not Horde, just trolls).
    Things, that Legion was criticized for, were corrected in one way or another. Omnipresent random in looting legendaries was replaced by azerit armor and traits.
    World Quest system and Mythic+ dungeons were saved almost unchanged as they were quite well received by the audience.
    Storyline has divided big part of players into the Alliance or Horde fans, and what is good for first ones also is absolutely unacceptable for another part. And this is normal, WoW always was a story about war, opposition and competition, not friendship, peace or pacifism.

    What do we have now, except M+ and WQ? Very strange Islands system, which has lots of rewards, but no chance to get them (only reputation items and doubloons for 50+ expeditions).
    Dungeons, were trash is much more dangerous, than bosses themselves (Shrine and Underrot for example).
    Broken crafting system, that forces players to take crafting for their own type of armor, which is strange at least.
    Disappointing fronts, which are not competitive, just long scenario with pathetic realization and free epics for one of sides.
    Warmode system with really bad phasing and balancing, so there is very often situation, were you just one against army of other side, which leads to respkill and other FUNNY game-play. Or not?

    Also we have a lot of content (also divided for fraction, so Uldir Raid has no prerequisites for Alliance) on leveling, but on cap there is not so much what to do. No content for passive playstyle players (like it was with fishing or cooking earlier), just lots of grind and farm.

    Hope, developers can fix bugs, exploits and glitches, so biggest part of the expansion is in the future. Only because of that mark is not 4 or 5, Blizzard can rework really much, like it was in WoD with very bad start. WoW is not dead, but it needs us and more our support, not only criticism.    … Expand
  21. rfz88
    Nov 18, 2018
    7
    While not great, it's not terrible either. I would've preferred an overall darker atmosphere & theme, with a more lovecraftian story. This does it partially, but doenst deliver the entire way.

    Don't let yourselves be fooled however, by the people comparing this to WOD. This is better than WOD, while I still understand that people hate A-Blizzard these days (and understandably so).    While not great, it's not terrible either. I would've preferred an overall darker atmosphere & theme, with a more lovecraftian story. This does it partially, but doenst deliver the entire way.

    Don't let yourselves be fooled however, by the people comparing this to WOD. This is better than WOD, while I still understand that people hate A-Blizzard these days (and understandably so).

    TL;DR- Get this if you've enjoyed WOW in the past.    … Expand
  22. Brainstrain
    Dec 12, 2019
    7
    A redemption story that isn't quite finished being written.

    BFA at launch was bad. Questing was fun, as always, but the new endgame systems were terrible. And the returning endgame systems had not been changed or innovated in the slightest. Even the War Campaign, which Blizz described as Suramar-like story progression, was horribly disappointing and clearly rushed. Even if the War    A redemption story that isn't quite finished being written.

    BFA at launch was bad. Questing was fun, as always, but the new endgame systems were terrible. And the returning endgame systems had not been changed or innovated in the slightest. Even the War Campaign, which Blizz described as Suramar-like story progression, was horribly disappointing and clearly rushed.

    Even if the War Campaign had been given the time it needed, the story itself was frustrating from the start. No one wanted another expac with the Horde as the villain. It doesn't matter that they had lots of pretty cinematics planned, or a fist-pumping twist - no one wanted this!

    In patches, however, Blizz has done their best to redeem that terribly rocky start. By now, in 8.2.5, the game feels pretty good to play. Island expeditions are actually fun. Azerite armor is.... less terrible. The Essence system is fun, although a nightmare for alts. And 8.3 looks to be even better.

    This expansion shook players confidence in Blizzard's ability to learn from the past. No one expected such a massive regression. But in the time since, Blizz has shown they can, sometimes, just a little, learn from their mistakes.

    Only time will tell if we remember this as the expansion where WoW finally jumped the shark. But for the moment, I'm having fun.    … Expand
  23. Zemerax
    Sep 17, 2018
    7
    BfA has more negative reviews than necessary. The game has its issues but the core of WoW is still very much alive, Raiding, Dungeons and PvP.

    Cons: GCD & Changes made to gear scaling to slow down gameplay. Forced Loot Rules. Removal of World quest addons and features, making WQ more of a chore and less social. Professions have been either made worthless or an absolute chore. PvP    BfA has more negative reviews than necessary. The game has its issues but the core of WoW is still very much alive, Raiding, Dungeons and PvP.

    Cons:
    GCD & Changes made to gear scaling to slow down gameplay.
    Forced Loot Rules.
    Removal of World quest addons and features, making WQ more of a chore and less social.
    Professions have been either made worthless or an absolute chore.
    PvP gear is yet again not buyable.
    RNG on RNG.
    Azerite Armor.

    Pros:
    Communities - New social feature.
    Raiding.
    Mythic Plus.

    About BfA: The core experience can be saved with future patches. The ideas Blizzard made in BfA are great on paper, but didn't work out in practice. Islands are ment to be a 1 stop shop for Azerite power and with a weekly limit so you don't feel forced to grind. Yet it's a boring feature that offers nothing but repetitive gameplay. Warfronts are a missed opportunity. Azerite armor was made to keep the end game progression alive outside gearing but turned out to be a headache of chasing the best traits with limited sources & ways of doing so.

    Like all MMO's you can't judge an expansion this early on, I'm sure BfA with its 77 patch day cycle will be a good expansion at the end just like Legion. Sadly the early days have been a cluster with bugs and terrible systems.    … Expand
  24. Nerliss
    Oct 26, 2018
    7
    There were a lot of problems when pre-patch came out. Plenty of them were fixed after few weeks summary. When the new addon came out, i saw no problem. Yes, first month of BfA was very specific(monotonous), but it happens when any new addon came out. After Uldir release, we've got few things to do: m+ keys, raid, world bosses, warfronts, but still is it not enough? No, i think its enoughThere were a lot of problems when pre-patch came out. Plenty of them were fixed after few weeks summary. When the new addon came out, i saw no problem. Yes, first month of BfA was very specific(monotonous), but it happens when any new addon came out. After Uldir release, we've got few things to do: m+ keys, raid, world bosses, warfronts, but still is it not enough? No, i think its enough and more will come with 8.1. I like this new addon, but it brought a lot of technical problems(the greatest problem-creator is WarMode system which brings us a lot of people at the same place, and makes us lag and "spike"). My estimation mark is 7 because of that lags. It pisses me of, especially in raid.… Expand
  25. curzon_dax
    Dec 4, 2020
    6
    The game had reached a point that it could only offer very small iterative improvements in subsystems that were almost perfected many expansions ago (mainly TBC and WotLK). As a result someone new or someone from a long break would find the new content and systems fine but it was nothing revolutionary. The end game content was fine but as always beyond this point the game needs quitting itThe game had reached a point that it could only offer very small iterative improvements in subsystems that were almost perfected many expansions ago (mainly TBC and WotLK). As a result someone new or someone from a long break would find the new content and systems fine but it was nothing revolutionary. The end game content was fine but as always beyond this point the game needs quitting it after a few days since to have any real challenge (for most people) you have to delve into an extreme time investment and work a second job for a guild.… Expand
  26. donanja
    Oct 9, 2021
    5
    In hindsight, Battle for Azeroth was nowhere near as lackluster as Shadowlands, the expansion that followed it. At the very least, the writing was tolerable and the worldbuilding aspects were on point; zones like Vol'dun and Stormsong Valley are some of the best in the game.

    However, when it comes to gameplay, the expansion was very rough around the edges until it was almost over. The    In hindsight, Battle for Azeroth was nowhere near as lackluster as Shadowlands, the expansion that followed it. At the very least, the writing was tolerable and the worldbuilding aspects were on point; zones like Vol'dun and Stormsong Valley are some of the best in the game.

    However, when it comes to gameplay, the expansion was very rough around the edges until it was almost over. The final season of Mythic Plus introduced one of the most enjoyable seasonal affixes in the form of Awakened, and as much as some people dislike the random procs, it was a great feeling when your Twilight Devastation went off on a particularly rough pack of enemies.

    I think some people were unreasonably harsh on Battle for Azeroth. It was by no means worse than Shadowlands currently is, and it definitely wasn't worse than Warlords of Draenor.    … Expand
  27. Sethorus
    Jul 30, 2019
    6
    Although it possesses a great soundtrack and art design, this expansion feels lackluster on all possible paths it can offer. Gameplay was prunned, content rewards were prunned, the story feels very bland and predictable, tying to an old subject the majority of the playerbase is already tired off.

    Sadly, World of Warcraft is a game where the word Expansion does not fully carry the    Although it possesses a great soundtrack and art design, this expansion feels lackluster on all possible paths it can offer. Gameplay was prunned, content rewards were prunned, the story feels very bland and predictable, tying to an old subject the majority of the playerbase is already tired off.

    Sadly, World of Warcraft is a game where the word Expansion does not fully carry the meaning of the word. Every expansion is another dart throw on what can change the game and make it fresh, sadly this also means working gameplay mechanisms might be scrapped in exchange for a simplified version of it, or a different thing altogether.

    Compared to the previous expansion, Legion, Battle for Azeroth feels like a step back and with the developers refusal to listen to the community feedback about the newly introduced mechanics, it stands as one of the worst expansions for this game.    … Expand
  28. iAmKindler
    Feb 25, 2019
    7
    After the heights of Legion, BfA feels like a filler expansion with a lot to love but a lot more to hate.
    Questing is better than ever, zone design is top notch (big props to the art team) and the music is on point as usual, but the story feels really lackluster, specs suck and the azerite system was a big miss.
    Overall this xpac feels rushed out the door, hope Blizz get it together for    After the heights of Legion, BfA feels like a filler expansion with a lot to love but a lot more to hate.
    Questing is better than ever, zone design is top notch (big props to the art team) and the music is on point as usual, but the story feels really lackluster, specs suck and the azerite system was a big miss.
    Overall this xpac feels rushed out the door, hope Blizz get it together for the next one, not much opportunity left for fillers and errors.    … Expand
  29. XredeemerX
    Jul 28, 2020
    7
    it is a solid expansion for the best MMO yes the story was as cheesy as ever and yes the expansion feature mods pale in comparison with legion, but it is still the best MMO we have out there and compared to Pandaria BFA is a masterpiece
  30. MrFoster
    Jul 30, 2019
    6
    Not the worst expansion, but not one of the best either Azerite armor was one of the worst ideas they ever had in this game. Most allied races are just recolor of races that already existed, the way to get the new races is boring and exhausting, you need to spend several days farming reputation to unlock the race and still need to raise 100 levels to start the new expansion. Nothing inNot the worst expansion, but not one of the best either Azerite armor was one of the worst ideas they ever had in this game. Most allied races are just recolor of races that already existed, the way to get the new races is boring and exhausting, you need to spend several days farming reputation to unlock the race and still need to raise 100 levels to start the new expansion. Nothing in this expansion was better than the previous one, some features got worse, and there is no feel of progression in the expansion
    The developers failed to make a coherent and concrete story of the expansion, there are several gaps and holes in the story that make no sense. Things just happen, because yes.

    And I'm taking away the fact that the expansion was released unfinished and buggy, otherwise the score would be even lower.    … Expand
  31. Geramart
    Feb 1, 2020
    5
    Mal final mal final mal final mal final mal final mal final mal final mal final mal final mal final
  32. Horlthas
    Feb 4, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The only reason for me giving 5 is the lack of alt friendly mechanics for essence and the grind required to get to 80 neck level.
    There are still some positive aspect like mithic+ beeing much more different with seasonal affix and the old good raid content.
    Big flops are warfront and island expedition which btw are skippable.    … Expand
  33. Artexx
    Jul 9, 2020
    5
    World of Warcraft is a good game, no question. But Battle for Azeroth is one of the worst expansions. BfA had many plans. And a huge potential but it was not used. This expansion is embarrassing. Endless world quest grind and the island expeditions are boring. The warfronts aren't particularly entertaining either. Better luck next time.
  34. Alvelian
    Dec 16, 2022
    6
    Все новинки предоставленные близами не нашли отклика у комьюнити. Фронты и экспедиции полностью провалились. Локалки уже начали поднадоедать, а система азерита опять вставляла палки в колеса любителям поальтоводить.
    В аддоне крайне приятные локации, и две сюжетные ветки отдельные для орды и альянса, что наконец-то заставило меня прокачать себе альта за алых. И в целом это единственный    Все новинки предоставленные близами не нашли отклика у комьюнити. Фронты и экспедиции полностью провалились. Локалки уже начали поднадоедать, а система азерита опять вставляла палки в колеса любителям поальтоводить.
    В аддоне крайне приятные локации, и две сюжетные ветки отдельные для орды и альянса, что наконец-то заставило меня прокачать себе альта за алых. И в целом это единственный глобальный плюс аддона.
    Аддон явно не заслужывает 0 , но после легиона он выглядет крайне слабо.    … Expand
  35. Onlyclassicvg1
    Dec 20, 2020
    7
    Azeroth paid a terrible price to end the apocalyptic march of the Legion's crusadebut even as the world's wounds are tended, it is the shattered trust between the Alliance and Horde that may prove hardest to mend. As this age-old conflict reignites, join your alli
  36. Fallconex
    Dec 17, 2020
    6
    Weak expansion, not very interesting plot, too much grind, boring dungeons/raids.
  37. jcyphmr
    Jun 14, 2023
    5
    Early bfa was amazing for me. I play for pvp and pvp was fun , my class was fun. (rogue) I thought the story was Epic and the zones were really cool to level in. However later in the life cycle of this expansion Ion or blizzard made a very bad move. They did corrupted pve gear that became mandatory for Arenas. You had to get a legendary cloak that would offset some of the corruptedEarly bfa was amazing for me. I play for pvp and pvp was fun , my class was fun. (rogue) I thought the story was Epic and the zones were really cool to level in. However later in the life cycle of this expansion Ion or blizzard made a very bad move. They did corrupted pve gear that became mandatory for Arenas. You had to get a legendary cloak that would offset some of the corrupted negative effects. Pvp and gearing became a nightmare and I had to avoid end game at all costs. I stayed subscribed no idea why just for low level pvp and leveling on alt low level characters.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

72
#72 Best PC Game of 2018
5
#5 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
16
#16 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 39
  3. Negative: 0 out of 39
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Dec 31, 2018
    60
    A quite well-made expansion, but not without flaws. If they get removed by the creators, the rating will improve. However, you won’t regret buying it. [Issue#290]
  2. CD-Action
    Dec 4, 2018
    70
    Battle for Azeroth offers everything you could expect from a World of Warcraft expansion, but its scale is visibly smaller than Legion’s and there’s no truly new quality here. All that doesn’t change the fact that the charm of this extraordinary MMORPG appeals to me almost as strongly as 13 years ago. [10/2018, p.42]
  3. Ragequit.gr
    Oct 12, 2018
    82
    Blizzard plays it safe, incorporating few innovations while trying to salvage the lore situation of Warcraft due to its constant escalation. Despite all this, BfA remains an entertaining expansion with a lot to offer in endgame for a casual player.
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