Everything directly after ggo (phantom bullet arc) was absolute ****.

I found the Alfeim arc to be okay, actually. It was worse than both the phantom bullet and the original aincrad arc, but it sufficed and I enjoyed watching it.

SAO should had spent most of their episodes exploring aincrad and explaining more of what happened. It happened so quickly and it cant be on the same level as the new arcs.

First arc drama= Die in the game die in real life
Second arc drama= Save the girl, become her hero
Third arc drama= Hunt down a psychopathic killer and overcome past fears.
All the other new arcs= Hunt for special in-game items that kirito had spawned earlier in the anime at the ease of a simple voice command, and pretend like they even matter.