Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth – Review
They finally did it, World of Warcraft’s developer Blizzard Entertainment released an expansion where the battle between the Alliance and the Horde will get a lot more heated than it already was. Battle for Azeroth will put players from the beginning in the eye of the war for Azeroth. Secret weapons will be used, sacrifices will be made, allies will appear and plot twists will bring you to the edge of your seat.
Story
You, one of the champions of the Horde or the Alliance, start off Battle for Azeroth by taking your position at the battlefield for Lordaeron’s Keep. This story is faction based and thereby split into two different storylines.
The Horde
You start off in the Undercity, where many civilians are left unable to defend themselves. Your job is to get them to safety and defeat the SI:7 NPCs. After you secured the undercity with your teammates, you’ll teleport to the ground above. There are three generals who lead the battle under the command of their leader: Varok Saurfang, Baine Bloodhoof, and Nathanos Blightcaller. With orders to get to the battlefield with the champions of the horde, Sylvanas Windrunner prepares her next battle phases. Despite her own army, she commands blighting the battlefield. With this, she angers one of her own generals, Varok Saurfang. In his opinion, it isn’t honourable to win a war by sacrificing your own. This leads to him being abandoned by Sylvanas when she calls upon a retreat. Blinded by anger and rage she destroys Lordaeron’s Keep, to keep it out of the hands of the Alliance.
The Alliance
The battle starts with your King Anduin Wrynn and his general Genn Greymane, who leads the Third Fleet to Lordaeron’s Keep. You and your fellow Alliance champions help out your army wherever you can until the blight spreads. When all seems lost, Jaina Proudmoore appears from the skies with her ship and removes the blight with her magic. When the Horde retreats they are in the advantage again, until Alleria Windrunner evens the playfield. When they are at the gates of the keep they find one of the enemies generals, Varok Saurfang, and take him captive. Once Anduin Wrynn and his fellow generals enter the Keep, they find Sylvanas, waiting on the throne. Offering her a chance to surrender, which of course she won’t abide to. Instead, she detonates a massive amount of blight which would’ve killed them all, if it weren’t for Jaina Proudmoore who teleports them to her ship.
Graphics
Over the years many players called the art style of World of Warcraft and its expansions outdated. Our opinion is slightly different, yes the graphics are rather cartoony, but every art style in video games has its charm. Also if you would make World of Warcraft in any other style, it would not feel like the same game anymore. The design of the Battle for Azeroth expansion is a mixture between Jurassic World and the Maya civilization with a few Voodoo elements. The part where Battle of Azeroth shines the most in our opinion is the making of the scenery. Wherever you are in the game, just stop for a moment and look around, it is absolutely astonishing. The other noteworthy achievement is the look of the dinosaurs, which were made with great care. Sadly, to all good things comes an end, and this translates itself with the recycled textures that are used over and over again. It would have been nice to see some next textures hither and thither to spice things up.
Sound
For everyone who already played the previous expansions, the sound system hasn’t changed. We have our hero with his few battle cries and grunts, which you’ll probably hear the most in the game because fighting is the biggest part of this expansion. Also, your opponents have their unique noises when you are slaughtering them or when they get killed, some of them even have a few final words for you in store. The music in this game is very subtle and not present in every area of the game. The developers behind World of Warcraft reached a perfect balance and this only adds to the immersion. What they do not do is voice act every part of a quest explanation, this is, of course, a good thing, otherwise you would be spending more time to listen to what assignment you get than actually playing. They only have a short version voice acted and each NPC has a few lines they have to offer. The most impressive part both visually and audible are the cutscenes, they are fully voice acted and are frequently seen in this expansion.
Gameplay
The World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth expansion can be best described as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, which allows gamers to interact with thousands of other gamers in-game. Although there isn’t much added to the gameplay mechanics in this expansion, every expansion feels like a new chapter in your story, aiding as a champion of the Alliance or the Horde.
Quests are in general fairly easy to understand, you get an objective and you need to reach it and turn it in. This can be redeemed by your quest giver, the person you need to talk to or sometimes in your quest hub. Each quest has a different amount of loot you receive. You can get armour or weapons, items, money and experience.
Besides the quests, you’ll be able to choose and activate two different main skills. Keep in mind some make more money than others. You can also have three secondary skills, those are available to everyone and they all need to be activated. (Fishing, Cooking and Archeology)
We are not done yet, there is also a lot of side content, which isn’t really story related. If you are in favour of PVP Mini-games, you can take part in PVP Battlegrounds and in the PVP Arenas. But if you rather play PVE, there are raids, dungeons and keystones available to you. You can also try to obtain all the achievements and mounts in the game, this will take you years, so don’t set your goals too high at the beginning or you will come out very disappointed, this game is all about the grind.
PVP battlegrounds and normal dungeons can be accessed without reaching the maximum level of your character. Raids and keystones are only available after you reach the maximum cap.
Combat wise you have passive and active skills which can be placed on your action bar below. Each action can be triggered with the correct key bind. The class you take will influence the combat style you will be pursuing. The Alliance and the Horde have different races available and each race can be a certain amount of classes, so not each class is available for every race. If you are searching for the class that suits you, just try out a bunch of them and look at which one you enjoy most. Sadly, in this expansion there isn’t a new class or race that has been released. There are also different combat roles available to you, you can go as a DPS, Tank or a Healer. Pick wisely, because every role is needed so badly in this game.
Conclusion
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is a worthy successor to the last expansion. Although it stays the same game, the new story related content and the many quests bring a lot of new and exciting content to explore. The war between the Alliance and the Horde is for the first time the main theme of this expansion which makes us incredibly happy, because of the fact they never addressed it properly before. Hopefully, many great additions, like this expansion, will keep coming to World of Warcraft!
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