One month in - BFA impressions

[Tsumecho]

Seriously though, I predict that they'll tie it to another new rep grind instead of an existing one. That'll really be a low blow.

I expect that you are correct there. I was really interested in them because their forms are disgustingly cool.

Generally I've found questing really good, however I can see Stormsong being meh now that I've finished the main questline, and having to go find and help random farmers etc. The other 2 zones the majority of the chain either coincided with the side quests you needed to finish the zone or were pretty close. Also I would generally only get the final dungeon quest near the very end of zone completion. I've only done half of Stormsong and I already have the dungeon quest...

Profs and rep are a pretty shit to me, better than the long quest chains we had in Legion and the non epic gear does come in handy, especially on alts. The mats for epic gear are ridiculous for the ilvl, rep rewards too. I feel like its the Legion class hall set which was suggested for raid/my start gear, but you could get better in a shorter time from other activities. Basically, not worth the time. There are some who will say its all fine, but many of us don't have the time/motivation to dedicate to it.

I've largely ignored islands and war campaign except where there is gear as I have no interest in grinding rep to access new content, that by large people seem disappointed by, so blizzard can go fly. Also largely ignored WQs except where there is gear, due to gearing for raids. I have found the dungeons I've been in fairly cool and interesting, the actual ambience and backdrops have been really cool in many places. Can't attest to the new raid as I haven't been yet, I hope to poke my head in tonight.

I've enabled warmode and been doing a fair bit of pvp when I'm on the last couple weeks, and on an entirely new main, I think were it not for these and wanting to see what the fuck Sylvanas' deal is, I would probably not have bothered continuing. The lead up to the expac seemed very horde/alliance focused but outside of warmode, the odd quests and warfronts I'm seeing very little of that which is a little disappointing.

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed thus far.

[ArrZarr]

My review of the story of BfA is still:
"Would you like to skip this cutscene?"

Uldir is a dark and miserable place currently - there have been times I've felt that I needed to crank the brightness up as I just couldn't see what was going on in my screen in 5 mans, may do it on Taloc and MOTHER too. Also framerate. That is all.

Finding weapon drops. 1) They're a nightmare 2) They're really important 3) If you need two then life is twice as hard

[Elihm]

Wonderful levelling experience again, at least up to WoD and Legion standard plus excellent voice acting. Zandalar story is thin but that highlights all the extra horde content. WQs plus emissaries seem least bad option so far.

Dungeons good with 10 at launch and M+ seasons, but the must-interrupt trash gets wearying.

Extremely OS and alt friendly at this stage of the expac. My guardian is virtually at the same level as resto. For alts one rep to grind seems reasonable, and they have said Champions will get a catch up. Gear wise it's crazy: heroic dungeon and basic crafted gear is already obselete. My monk will probably ding, go to Arathi, do gear WQs and four M0, LFR, done.

Professions are bad: thin (I liked doing the Legion chains once each), too small a barrier to cap, some stuff is way too expensive to make. I really wish they would stick with one good set of mats and professions instead of messing about. Alchemy badly needs an Expulsom to Anchor Weed route. Warfront contributions may give a nice twist to AH/professions.

islands have a lot going on but I haven't felt any need to explore the space so far - just going for easy AP rather than challenge. The new rewards may help. I prefer them to doing a daily heroic. Warfronts may be ok a few months in (30 mins of content popping up every couple of weeks) but the schedule sure looks rough now.

The Azerite trait system is fine by me so far, I prefer it to the all or nothing of tier or BiS legendaries. Might feel different when all the M0 azerite gear is obselete and it comes down to 5 probably heroic raid bosses and the M+ cache for 3 slots. Not being able to warforge means luck in normal won't help, unlike for tier.

Raids seem ok, I haven't thought "oh this boss again" and Easy is already at the sweet spot of downing a boss every 1-3 nights.

Balancing/bugs/changes like CDs on GCD all seems within the normal range to me (but trees are remarkably stable ).

BfA generally feels rich to me which I value i.e. there's more to do if I want but I don't feel I have to. And overall I thought they were screwed after putting everything into Legion so I think Blizzard have nailed the faction-conflict-with-old-gods-lurking theme really well.