One of the most famous computer MMORPGs, Blizzard's World of Warcraft, is almost fourteen years old. On August 14 its premiere had its seventh addition to the game, the Battle for Azeroth. Will the popular WoW satisfy its fans and attract new players?

But it's late

Before the Battle for Azeroth was even released, Blizzard reached the heights of marketing and conducted an incredible campaign promoting the game. As usual it started with a great trailer of the title in which we could see the Horde and the Covenant facing each other again. Sylvanas and Anduin led their troops into battle, and the visual and sound effects were breathtaking. The game in turn featured the War of Thorns event, which divided players. And not into those who said WoW was great or not, but those behind the new Warchief of the Horde and King of the Allied Races and those against them. This only further fueled the anticipation and excitement for the production. The burning of Teldrassil, the return of Jaina, Saurfang's behavior, or the introduction of Zappa Boia influenced fans even more. However, Blizzard still couldn't get enough. There was also a book written by Christie Golden World of Warcraft: The Silence Before the Storm telling about the events between the supplements. No wonder BfA sold over three million copies on day one! And the producers have added more videos, this time telling the story of Azshara, which only attracts more people.

The story's still great

Let's move on to the game itself and its plot summary. Legion ended with the defeat of Sargeras and his demons. However, the fallen titan still managed to thrust his sword into Azeroth. The giant blade plunged into the land of Silithus, severely wounding the world while releasing an unusual substance called azerite. It gives the possessor extraordinary power and can also prove to be a dangerous weapon. The Covenant and the Horde, who so far have been able to work together to defend themselves against the Legion, now no longer trust each other and want the precious mineral for themselves. Thus begins a new conflict. Sylvanas destroys the night elf city, Anduin recaptures Lorderon. Players take part in these events of course, and then help their rulers in the exploration of new lands and search for new allies. And so the Horde will explore the Aztec-looking Zandalar, also called Wakanda by the mischievous. The Covenant, on the other hand, has the coastal Kul Tiras to explore, where, in addition to beaches and palm trees, we also have an unusual witch's forest, and the cities and fields may even bring to mind a Slavic atmosphere.

Nihil Novi (?)

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth like any other expansion introduces a lot of new things to the game. First of all, there are races. If we complete the quests, we have six of them to unlock, three for each faction. The Alliance got Lightforged Draenei, Void Elves and Iron Dwarves. The Horde is joined by Tauren from Highmountain, Nightborne and Orcs Mag'har. What other novelties await the player? I've already mentioned the lands, so I won't return to them (unless in the game). I'll only mention that we will discover new alliances, monsters and treasures. In addition, we no longer have PvP servers. If we want to fight against others, we can choose War Mode. Thanks to it we'll get a few additional talents, which we can use during the adventures. Staying with the fight between the factions, Blizzard took advantage of known from Warcraft 3 Warfronts and now we can go in a group of 20 people to the war front to fight enemies. We can choose to fight against NPCs or other players.

How do I go down now

Game developers have also decided to facilitate contact with their fans in the game. From now on, theoretically, we don't have to use Team Speak or Skype to talk to our friends. We can do it directly in WoW. The same system has already been used in the game Overwatch, where it was accepted quite well. Even before the addition of another chat room, to which we can invite friends and discuss everything.

Cobra - special build

However, the most interesting of the new options seem to be Expeditions. The whole new conflict is based on azerite. Each side wants it for themselves. Therefore, we can set out on a three-person expedition to the islands to collect this precious substance. We have to be careful though, because we will come across an opponent who wants the same thing. And so we fight against NPCs or in player versus player mode. In the first case, we can also choose the level of difficulty - from normal to mythical. In addition to numerous rewards, thanks to Expeditions we'll also improve our items, including the main and legendary necklace.

Christopher, is that you

Changes and additions are a lot, but will the player actually be surprised? Well, the new races are not as fancy as they used to be. Draenei or Pandaren were something more unknown. Iron Dwarfs or Tauren of Highmountain are actually slightly changed existing races. They look nice and interesting, but they are still Dwarves and Tauren. In addition, as in the previous supplement, our task is to develop an artifact. Only that now it's a necklace, not a weapon and we use azurite for this. We are left with the already known World Quests. Expeditions or Warfronts are still a kind of scenario. It's refreshed and interesting, but still a bit old. Zanadalar is a breath of fresh air for me, but Kul Tiras is definitely less surprising. And the introduction of chat rooms is a change that has less impact on the game itself.

Level 120 and go!

Although in fact in Battle for Azeroth we don't get as many new features as it might seem, Blizzard also made sure that we won't get bored. Great advertising campaign did not disappoint. Players again get a meticulously prepared story, interesting scenarios, beautiful world, atmospheric music and adventure to experience. Exploring new islands is fun, but as usual the fun starts when we hit the maximum level, which is 120. There are plenty of new instances and raids, and the PvP mode does not disappoint. Even though no new battlegrounds were added (so far), the modes of fighting against players went forward and I can't complain about it. As a long-time WoW fan, I don't feel disappointed. Quite the contrary. I will gladly continue my adventures in Azeroth and recommend this great MMORPG to everyone. For the... finish it yourself