The Island Expeditions are one of the new features of Battle for Azeroth. They take us to new, uncharted areas of World of Warcraft – and are quite annoying.
In the Island Expeditions of Battle for Azeroth, Horde and Alliance explore islands in certain areas to search for the new resource Azerite. They fight against each other – the one who has the required amount first wins.
The Expeditions come in different difficulty levels, which have different requirements:
- Normal: The goal is 6000 Azerite.
- Heroic: The goal is 9000 Azerite, you receive 50% more Azerite, the damage and health of the opponents is increased by up to 100%, requirement is item level 305.
- Mythic: The goal is 12000 Azerite, you receive 100% more Azerite, the damage and health of the opponents is increased by up to 200%, requirement is item level 315 and you must register in a group of three.
- PvP: The goal is 9000 Azerite, you receive 100% more Azerite, the damage and health of the opponents is increased by up to 100%, requirement is item level 295 and you must register in a group of three. You play against real players and have access to PvP talents.
Everything is different yet always the same
The Island Expeditions were supposed to provide a different experience every time. In the announcement at Blizzcon, it was said that the islands change as you explore them and are randomly generated.
It reminded me of Diablo, where I also enjoyed running through randomly created maps and defeating enemies. Although it was simple, I could spend hours doing that.
In the Island Expeditions, it is different. Each week there are three different islands, but they hardly differ from each other. The enemies look different, and there are some differences, yes. But in the end, I grind through a small area and occasionally take down horde players.
The biggest criticism here is that everything feels the same. Even though it looks different – the fights usually unfold the same way, the island is captured in the same manner. It lacks variety.
The design is beautiful, but the development is lacking
Traveling between the islands is definitely nice. They offer a great environment that I can easily imagine as a kind of holiday resort with exciting resort quests from animator NPCs. Here Blizzard really put effort into the design.
However, the “development” is missing – at least that was the case for me. In an earlier video, it was said that suddenly the whole island could shake and be filled with fire elementals and flames.
The changes I noticed are moving rocks with Azerite pickaxes that chase my group as we approach. They remind me too much of random, stronger enemies that I can encounter around every corner while questing.
The rewards are not enticing
I undertake the entire expedition for a handful of Azerite that hardly moves the artifact power bar for my necklace. The reward for gathering over 10,000 units of Azerite for up to half an hour is too low.
In the open world, I find world quests that offer a similar reward, and here even in war mode, there are rarely opponents who knock me out at the first opportunity. And if they do, I can still do the world quest afterward without the chance of losing it.
The rewards for the Island Expeditions are too low to provide the incentive to visit them more often.
All this causes frustration
Collecting such a large amount of Azerite while leaving personal progress far behind just feels bad. It is frustrating. The weekly bonus of several thousand units of artifact power does not help much.
Sure, the number of people who really want to progress quickly is low. But there are indeed players who play for progress, and I am one of them. Therefore, I also want to be rewarded when I decide to invest time.
In the Island Expeditions, that is definitely not the case. I understand that the aim is to prevent players from finishing endgame content too early. But letting them run into a wall is not the solution.
If a player wants to finish faster, that is their decision. If they then have nothing left to do, that is their fault, not Blizzard’s. There is plenty to do at level 120 – but much of it is currently not enticing with rewards.
What do you think? Do you find the Island Expeditions frustrating as well, or do you enjoy them? Leave us a comment!
Cortyn has a completely different opinion. She enjoys the Island Expeditions a lot.
