Not everything runs smoothly in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. We show you which 5 things Blizzard definitely needs to improve.
If reports from Superdata are to be believed, World of Warcraft is doing better than it has in a long time. Many players are satisfied and are having a lot of fun in Kul Tiras and Zandalar. But as often, not everything can be perfect. We have listed the five biggest criticisms from Reddit and the official forums that Blizzard should address promptly to avoid alienating the player base.
The Azerite System
The Azerite system with the Heart of Azeroth and the unlockable bonuses on certain armor items (head, chest, and shoulders) was one of the major features of Battle for Azeroth. However, it was not well received by players for several reasons.
What is the problem? Azerite armor is too rare. High-quality Azerite armor is hard to obtain. Although Blizzard has already made adjustments and added new sources for the armor via hotfix, it is still difficult to specifically obtain the right item.
The second major criticism is the boredom that arises when viewing the Azerite traits.
Players find it particularly annoying that they have to unlock the same monotonous bonuses repeatedly. For example, when an item of item level 325 is replaced by one of level 340, it is likely that a large part of the same traits, with slightly larger numbers, will have to be unlocked again.
What should Blizzard change? Players do not want to unlock the same bonuses all the time. More variety in the bonuses or a way to keep old bonuses so that one does not always start from scratch.
Whether Blizzard will “simply stick with” this system until the end of Battle for Azeroth or heed and implement player feedback remains to be seen.
Unlocking Allied Races
Allied races, another major feature of the BfA expansion, are also met with little enthusiasm. Especially newcomers and returning players who have only started with Battle for Azeroth are frustrated with the allied races.
What is the problem? New players have to struggle through outdated content. Those who started with BfA have to complete several weeks of quests in Argus to unlock the Void Elves or Lightforged Draenei – an old area with no relevance to the current content. The quests there offer no meaningful items, no useful resources, and only reward reputation for the corresponding factions.
What would be the solution? Some fans demand that allied races should be playable immediately when players need to farm old content. Then Void Elves, Lightforged Draenei, Highmountain Tauren, and Nightborne would be available right away. Others at least wish for a significant reputation bonus for old content.
If quests awarded double or triple the reputation, players could complete the grind in just a few days instead of repeating old content for several weeks. Exactly this wish has been heeded by Blizzard and will be implemented with Patch 8.1!
The “Old” Leveling Phase
Another thorn in the side of many players is leveling alt characters. These “twinks” or “alts” have to struggle through old areas. Those who want to “quickly” play a new character in the end game have to invest several weeks in leveling a character – or buy a boost from the cash shop.
What is the problem? Leveling in the areas from levels 1 to 100 feels slow and is not fun. Numerous enemies still have too many health points, leveling takes a long time, and some abilities still deal “one-hit” damage while leveling.
Players are particularly angry that Blizzard said they did not want to make leveling more difficult or longer and would fix it if it were the case. Since those statements, there has only been a small adjustment to the XP curve that has only slightly eased the range from levels 60 to 80. Players are still far from satisfied with it.
Where leveling is still enjoyable, these two articles reveal:
What should Blizzard change? Leveling should be easier. Players wish for more XP bonuses that work account-wide. One idea would be to receive a 20% bonus on gained XP for each character that has already reached the maximum level. This way, twinks could be caught up more easily, and frequent players would be rewarded.
Alternatively, Blizzard should lower the necessary XP across all levels or ensure that absolutely every area in WoW scales with every level. For example, one could start questing in Pandaria at level 60 instead of having to quest in Northrend or Outland.
The Timegating on Rewards
The timegating in Battle for Azeroth is also heavily criticized.
What is the problem? Many contents in BfA are only available at certain times (such as the warfront) or have such diminished usefulness that prolonged play is not rewarded (farming artifact power).
The issue is also evident with artifact power and the Heart of Azeroth. With each level of the Heart of Azeroth, the amount of artifact power needed for another level-up increases exponentially. At the same time, every week the amount of artifact power required is reduced through “artifact knowledge”.
This results in players typically achieving one level per week now – the difference between casual players and hardcore fans who play for several hours every day is hardly noticeable.
What should Blizzard change? Prolonged play should be rewarding, and additional incentives should make that possible. At the same time, timegating should be removed. Players want to participate in warfronts when they feel like it and have the time to do so, not just when the three-week cycle allows them to.
In general, timegating should be abolished and give players more freedom to engage with content whenever they choose to.
The Lack of “Token Vendors”
The exchange of tokens, currencies, and badges for specific rewards has long been a fixed part of World of Warcraft. In recent expansions, developers have increasingly distanced themselves from this.
What is the problem? Players’ equipment is largely dependent on chance (“RNG”). This has always been at the heart of gear acquisition in PvE. However, the biggest criticism comes from PvP players who have been accustomed to “purchaseable” items for many years. They are particularly frustrated to receive duplicate items after hard-won PvP matches while some gear slots remain unfilled.
What should Blizzard change? Many players are calling for the return of token vendors for PvE and PvP. This way, players who have bad luck can at least work towards guaranteeing one or two items without being completely dependent on drop luck. Especially PvP fans are wishing for the return of a proper honor and conquest currency, as it was the case in earlier expansions.
Do you find your opinion reflected in these criticisms? Or do you not see the 5 mentioned things as that significant?
