World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth

The World of Warcraft manages to hold up even 14 years later and it’s an impressive feat considering it looks like WoW and Final Fantasy Online will be the only MMOs to survive over other games like Wildstar. If you’re looking to get back into WoW you will be impressed by the presentation, the music, story and writing . They all come together beautifully and await you, young adventurer, to experience them.

In the end, Battle for Azeroth makes some great improvements in the levelling experience, but faults in its class design and the less rewarding Azerite system mean that overall, it takes too many steps back from Legion. It’s clear that Battle for Azeroth is an expansion that’s had a relatively short beta period, and many players find themselves unhappy – the messy Warfront launch typified this.

It's clear that Battle for Azeroth tries very hard to balance the needs of new players with those of long-time fans, and as was the case in Legion, it demonstrates that the line between refinement and oversimplification can feel very thin. It's an overall good addition to World of Warcraft's current state, but it's a gamble as to whether its upcoming content will make it truly special.

Battle for Azeroth launches strong by renewing the conflict between the Horde and Alliance. Blizzard offers two very different experiences this expansion with each faction having their own storyline on unique island nations. It's an enjoyable expansion during the leveling experience, but endgame currently has some issues with sparse weapon drops and clutter stemming from the new Azerite gear system.

What Battle for Azeroth accomplishes better than any other expansion besides perhaps Wrath of the Lich King is creating a sense of a real place steeped in history, and delivering it in a cinematic and exciting way. Having a second island filled with hostiles, that you don’t explore significantly until the highest level, is a stroke of genius.

The environment design is among the best in the game, the questlines are largely very good, and Island Expeditions are a welcome addition. But Azerite Armor seems undercooked, the zone pacing is hit and miss, and there are a number of lingering issues with class balance. Battle for Azeroth is a solid expansion so far and Blizzard has made it clear that they’re in it for the long haul. They’ll just need to do a little more if they want to win the war.