I've been playing WoW since 2005; a year into vanilla. I've played every expansion since - multiple characters to max level in every one. I'm super jaded when it comes to the modern game - the last time I really put endgame effort in was WoD. I haven't raided or done anything seriously ever since, and that was back in 2014.
I'm a couple weeks into Dragonflight, and I can honestly say that, so far,
it's the best expansion since WotLK. For reference, my favorite time period of the game was late BC through mid-WotLK.
I feel that every expansion post Cataclysm has been destroying the game piece by piece. Thankfully, DF has ripped out nearly all of the problems I've had with the game since post-Cata.
- Borrowed power aka "SYSTEMS" that have been killing the game since Legion are now gone. It's now just your character and the gear you equip... just like Classic / BC / Wrath / Cataclysm / MoP. Log in, kill stuff, equip loot, and you are more powerful. No more convoluted menus and grinds that will invalidate themselves every patch.
- Classes are all about customization again. The classic style talent trees are back, and they're bigger than ever, with more customization/hybridization than even the originals. Viability of choices will forever be a balancing act, but at least you have the choice to pick up what you want again - and there are a ton of choices.
- Professions have received the most massive overhaul they've ever gotten. They've taken a page out of FF14's book, and included profession equipment in the game - each profession has a few slots in its main window where you can equip tools and accessories, which boost profession stats, which affect the quality, speed, and efficiency of your crafting. There are now also talent trees tied to each profession, allowing you to level up in different sub-categories of your profession - allowing you to focus on the type of Jewelcrafter, Enchanter, etc. you want to be.
- Flying is available minutes into the expansion via Dragonriding. You get special dragon mounts really early which utilize actual momentum and slight physics controls to stay in the air - they don't magically float like current flying mounts. Your dragon mounts all share a mini-talent tree, in which you collect magical mario coins throughout the world by flying into them, to level them up with more stamina, speed, and abilities. This is account-wide, super alt friendly. Dragonriding is satisfying and fun. I actually look forward to manually travelling to my next objective because it's a game within itself. There are also race courses scattered around the isles that let you test your flying abilities to earn rewards, and even race against other players.
- The Dragon Isles are packed full of content everywhere you look. Tons of optional side stuff to do, including random exploration with cool rewards. WoW's zones have felt dull and lifeless to me for a very long time, which is why I was so shocked to find DF's zones packed with life and energy. There's always something to do, I always feel like logging on to find more things to do, and I'm always rewarded meaningfully for what I do.
- Art, music, design, everything is just on point. It feels like a completely different team made this than the ones that made BFA and Shadowlands. I love it.
