Azerite Armor

World of Warcraft has embraced Borrowed Power systems repeatedly since 2016's Legion expansion, to the point where both Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands have had multiple such systems within them.

Borrowed power systems have been a staple of World of Warcraft since the Legion expansion.

In a recent interview with Preach, Ion Hazzikostas, the Game Director on World of Warcraft, talked about Borrowed Power systems like Azerite Armor, Covenant Powers, and Artifacts that have been a big part of World of Warcraft's last three expansions.

Leveling in World of Warcraft changed with the introduction of Artifacts in Legion, which were a self-contained system of power acquisition that was confined entirely to that expansion.

If you've been keeping up with the Shadowlands expansion -- and trying to understand all of its systems -- you might be finding yourself slightly overwhelmed.

Remember when Legion was first announced, and we World of Warcraft players were first tantalized with the features that would end up dominating the expansion?

After getting a first look at the Soulbind and Conduit system in Shadowlands, I had some apprehensions, because it shares many of the same mechanics that plagued Battle for Azeroth's Azerite Armor.

Corruption was the major gameplay system added to bring more depth and choices to itemization in Battle for Azeroth's patch 8.3, and it's seen a lot of updates, hotfixes, and changes since it went live.

If you remember Azerite Armor -- which you should if you're currently playing Battle for Azeroth -- then you'll remember Azerite Reforging.

I've been pretty blatant about my dislike for Azerite Armor this expansion, to the point where I worry at times that I'm too hard on it.