Category: World of Warcraft Columns

Recently my guild was talking about all the things in World of Warcraft which have been frustrating us in BfA and the comment “it should get better in 8.2” was made. It seems like many of us are looking forward to the next major patch to improve the game substantially. Plus with 8.1.5 out and Crucible of Storms on the horizon, it seemed like an excellent point to recap some of the things which will have the biggest impact in the 8.2 Rise of Azshara patch.

Hello! My name is Robin Baird, and I’ll be writing the World of Warcraft Column every other week. Since I’ve mostly written about other MMOs on MMORPG, I thought it would be a good idea to give everyone a brief outline of my history in WoW so you can better understand the perspective I have on the game and where I come from on things. Let’s step into the time machine.

Next week is a big deal for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth with the forthcoming release of patch 8.1.5. Generally, “half patches”, those smaller updates that arrive between major content patches, aren’t a big deal, but 8.1.5 is a bit different. It brings a number of new features to the game and finally sees the release of the Kul Tiran Humans and Zandalari Troll Allied Races, something players have been looking forward to since the expansion’s announcement.

Many World of Warcraft players have stopped running expeditions since the launch of Battle for Azeroth. As a result, they are not picking up the special quest items that can be dropped that lead to some pretty fascinating lore taking place “offscreen”. We have collected the most interesting ones that provide interesting tidbits of lore that may (or may not) have an impact on the WoW story at a later point.

World of Warcraft is an epic tale of the struggle between two superpowers, each one wanting to dominate the other. On its surface, the story of war is “heroic” and one filled with the “courageous” actions of armies and mighty generals. What is often overlooked, however, are the effects of war on the “little people”, the countless, faceless millions who try to survive the ongoing divide.

Blizzard is getting prepared to launch v8.1 “Tides of Vengeance” into World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. While players will find a lot of content in the first part of 8.1, many may also be expecting the usual raids, dungeons, higher iLevel loot and more, they may be disappointed to find that many of the “big ticket” items from 8.1 won’t actually be launching on December 11th.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is struggling after stellar sales and glowing early reports about the story and the beauty of the expansion design. However, success for an expansion means more than the number of “day one” sales and more than the first two weeks of excitement over new content. Success is measured in the longevity of the expansion and in how players remain involved and interested over the long haul. So, what does BfA need to become a success? We have a few ideas.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth has been plagued with bugs and issues since launching in mid-August. With the first raid open and groups working their way through mythic, Blizzard has unveiled what is coming in the first significant update since BfA launched. The patch is bringing the faction war back into focus and some big improvements to core systems are coming along too. Is it enough to bring back players who came back for BfA, spent their obligatory month and moved on to the next game

I have to be honest. I didn’t play as much World of Warcraft this week due to swinging wildly through New York City in glorious 30fps. (Spider-Man. I was playing Spider-Man). However, I did manage to traipse through Azeroth this week. I finally — FINALLY — completed the Siege of Boralus mythic dungeon with the help of my buddy and MacWorld Editor, Leif Johnson, who kept us all healed.

The latest World of Warcraft expansion has been out since August 14th and while it has garnered decent praise for its story and excellent level design, Battle for Azeroth has simultaneously been plagued by more than a few major technical issues, not to mention a -legion- of smaller woes. After the stellar launch of Legion and other past expansions, players are left wondering if Battle for Azeroth was taken out of the oven just a bit too early.