The time is almost upon us, another WoW expansion looms on the horizon and my calendar stretches like a barren wasteland around the launch date. This time vampire has claimed hundreds of hours of my life over the last 14 years and I don't anticipate that will change much over the next few years, but I have a problem. I'm not sure if it's me or WoW but this expansion just isn't very exciting to me this time around. I don't feel the hype I usually feel at a WoW expansion and it's kind of bothering me. I mean we can pretty much expect the faction conflict to last 1 or 2 patches maximum before the real big bad(most likely N'zoth) shows himself. I guess I feel like there is really no reason to dive right in at the beginning because most of story is going to be after they drop the pretense of Horde vs. Alliance. With the new catch-up mechanics Blizzard has implemented there is really no penalty for starting late and not much point to grinding AP(Azerite Power this time lol) past a certain point because of punishing diminishing returns.
I think the real reason this bothers me is because I've been playing for so long. I started playing in middle-school in vanilla and I've played every expansion. Don't get me wrong I've taken time off to recharge but I've always eventually wanted to come back. This time, I just don't feel like it would be a big deal if I just waited a year or so after launch and started in say patch 8.2. Has WoW lost it's luster or have I just finally burned out for good? It really is a brilliant marketing strategy on Blizzard's part, so many people have so much invested in this game it feels like an important choice to play or not. I just am not interested in BFA, Sylvanas and Anduin are bland and boring to me, Allied races are cool but at the end of the day they are just reskins, and I have to say I've never been much of a Jaina Proudmoore fan either. I've always played primarily Horde and I'm firmly in the Garrosh did nothing wrong camp by the way (it was war, he bombed a military target too bad so sad, then his allies betrayed him forcing him to use the power of the old gods). With that said, the Horde is in bad shape going into BFA. Sylvanas was fine as leader of the Forsaken but she is no Warchief. She primarily serves her own people, which is exactly the opposite of the kind of leader the Horde needs and most importantly she has no honor. I know the Horde isn't Klingon but still, a respectable leader has to have the trust of the people and the only thing I trust about her is that she will betray the other races as soon as it suits her. Not to mention her use of the Plague of Undeath at a moment's notice, for all his "evil" not even Garrosh stooped that low. I guess maybe that's what is making me so unenthusiastic about this expansion. I just fundamentally disagree with the direction that Blizzard has taken with the faction I've spent so long with and it's draining my will to play.
At the end of the day games are supposed to be enjoyed, I'll give BFA a try on August 14th but I really don't think I'll be hanging around too long. Let me know if any of you feel the same way or if any of you have a different perspective feel free to share it. Thanks for reading!