With the announcement of the physical copies of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands collectors editions I know that BFA is finally coming to a close. It’s time for my final review of the expansion and my hopes for the new one in several months.
So, I had already done my first review a few years ago. You can read it here. At the time, BFA was just here for me. There was a lot going on and a lot of gray areas in the story line. The slaughter of thousands of innocents, the betrayals…everything just made me feel unheroic. I’m sure you’re probably thinking.
“But Lily….you’ve been streaming BFA all the time why are you still sad?” Well let me tell you. To be honest with you guys, this expansion had a lot of promise. I finally felt like maybe, just maybe, the game was going to go back to it’s glory days. In some aspects it did. At the very same time though, it left my wanting more. I wanted to feel redeemed as the Champion of Azeroth. I wanted to really save her. I don’t feel like I did.
I know it seems crazy to care so much about an internet world so much but when you spend 15+ years in this universe it starts to grow on you. I digress though. The whole plot of this expansion made it seem like Lady Sylvanas was supposed to be a Garrosh 2.0. In fact she seemed slightly batshit. Now I want to add, I also read the books that are the intro to the expansions so I read about Arathi. It was heartbreaking, but that’s another story.
They really made her out to be a pawn of sorts. To be this character we are either to love or hate. She quite literally flew the bird at the Horde and even her own race. The same race that she had been working so hard to save. And for what….? What did she really accomplish? Not a lot if you ask me.
To be fair…the WTF face that forsaken guard made when she confessed that nobody meant anything to her anymore was pretty great. Gave me a good chuckle. But that was about it. There were so many wtf moments it’s hard to pick my favorite one, but this one is one of the good ones.
The real question I have for you guys was, do you even know what the whole reason of this expansion was? Because I seemed to have lost it. With a PvP mode that wasn’t ever watched or controlled by Blizz to the lack luster storyline they created it really makes me wonder, what exactly was the point of the “Battle for Azeroth”? Like was there a real point to anything?
I don’t even feel like a hero this time. The intro to this expansion was amazing and it really hit me in the feels, but now…I don’t feel anything. I feel like they just kind of tossed a lot out, retconned and lacked empathy for a lot of stuff. Personally, nothing really felt connected. What is the point of N’Zoth really? It felt like this was another fight that the Hero has to do to “save the world” in one way or another.
Don’t even get me started on War Mode. I know what you’re thinking “If you don’t like it turn it off” I get that. But, hear me out here. The lack of regulation there was made War Mode a nightmare. Literally, the opposite faction could do whatever they wanted (botting included kthx) and got away with it. There should still be some set of rules for this mode, but I feel there just wasn’t. War is cruel I suppose.
All in all, this was an expansion. It isn’t one of my favorite expansions, but it’s not my most hated expansion. The over simplifying of classes, the lack of any fun new mechanics and a broken part of the game doesn’t put it in my favor.
BFA is a solid 6/10 for me. In the beginning it was fun. At the same time, it got equally boring after some time. New patches and new content was fun, but in the end it lacked the ingredients to make it long lasting. I’m fairly disappointed by BFA…but at least I am not the only one.
But what does this mean?
I can’t wait for it to be over…and I hope that Shadowlands is better. The things I have seen so far have seemed to make it more favorable for me. However, time will tell what mysteries await us in the new lands. So until then, I will just keep running for mounts and trying to figure out what I am going to main. What will you be maining?