World Of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth

- Alan Dexter & Zak Storey

IT’S NOT OFTEN we look at game expansions, but when it comes to the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft, we made an exception. Why? Well, with so many games out there nowadays, it’s rare that two of us here are playing the same title at the same time. And with a combined 27 years’ worth of WoW experience between the two reviewers, we thought it would be worth sharing our views on Blizzard’s latest blockbuster.

WoW is a genre-defining achievement. Surpassing the likes of Everquest, it reimagined what an MMO could be, making it more accessible to the mainstream. Over the years, it reached almost 13 million subscribers (at $10 a month). But it hasn’t been without upset, with many a design decision or lackluster expansion reducing that number cataclysmically.

Battle for Azeroth (or BFA) is the seventh WoW expansion, and marks a return to the original premise of a world at war. Harking back to the conflicts in the original Warcraft strategy games, it looks to rekindle faction pride by pitting Horde and Alliance against each other after the world-scarring events of the last expac. With a redesign to how realms and world PvP works, it’s a far more attractive proposition to spend time smashing enemy players while leveling than ever before. That said, before we delve into our experiences, it’s worth covering what BFA offers. It takes players from level 110 to 120 (with a level boost to 110 included on purchase), there are two new continents (one for each faction), with three new zones each to level up through, ten new five-man dungeons, one new raid, and a ton of class, profession, and gameplay changes.