The best casual version of Azeroth in years

Full review

I play mainly for collecting, professions and story, and the current version finally respects that style of play. There are useful goals that do not require a raid schedule, and world events are short enough to fit around real life. Flying through older zones to finish collections still produces wonderful little discoveries.

The art team carries enormous weight. New environments use color and scale beautifully, while music changes subtly between settlements and wilderness. Combat remains approachable on the surface, although every class offers enough optimization for players who want it.

The subscription is difficult to recommend if you only log in occasionally, and some narrative moments lose impact when key context lives in books or discontinued quest lines. Nevertheless, few games provide this much variety in one coherent world.