The setting, while super cool from what they’ve shown so far, is a really risky move.
First, because it is set underground. This will immediately make some people feel claustrophobic, and it puts lots of restraints on which types of biomes and cool landscapes Blizzard is able to create for the expansion.
Second, because of its unique setting, its creatures and architecture are also rather unique. Look at the Arathi in Hallowfall, for example. Sure, they (mostly) look like regular humans, living in buildings you might find on the surface as well. But they’re still surrounded by bizarre flora and fauna, and the architecture is also rather shaped by its location.
Why is that a risk, you ask? Well, think of the Shadowlands, and the Dragon Isles. When things feel too unfamiliar, and too one-dimensional, people are generally put off. Shadowlands looks mostly the same everywhere you go, with subtle differences depending on the zone (our flavours are: vampire death, heaven death, skeleton death, depressing death, and nature death). Let’s not even mention Oribos, where everyone’s effectively a robot or has their face covered. The Dragon Isles suffer in the same way, with everyone being a dragon or dragonkin, and every zone being a flavour of “Dragon stuff”.
You can tell Blizzard has thought about this, and preemptively sought to address it before it became apparent.
For example, the Isle of Dorn is a hugely important zone in my opinion, and the fact that our hub is situated there. It lets people frequently take a break, see the open sky, and hang out in some more natural landscapes.
Another example would be the Arathi themselves. While I’m sure there are many reasons they’re part of this story, and that they’re part of an upcoming and overarching narrative in the Worldsoul Saga, I also think they’re in Khaz Algar in part because they offer some familiarity. They’re Humans at the end of the day, with buildings we sort of recognize, transmog that doesn’t look too outlandish, etc.
Had it just been “Subterranean Species 1, 2, and 3” then the expansion would likely be recieved very poorly after a while.
So, with this wall of text out of the way, I just think it’ll be very important for Blizzard to keep this in mind for TWW’s patch cycle, and Midnight.
Some are already speculating about additional underground locations for the patches, which is fine. But I think Blizzard ought to use some of those smaller patches for “breather” content, perhaps set somewhere else entirely. If we do end up going to Undermine for a patch, then maybe the patch preceding it could be set on its surface, or even on the ocean? Getting some tropical island action would feel great.
Similarly, for Midnight, they should capitalise on the fact that we’re going back to a more natural setting with Quel’thalas.
Quel’thalas itself will obviously feature lush forests, as well as some nice coastal areas and grasslands. Not to mention Silvermoon itself, which might give off a cool Suramar-esque vibe.
But there’s also plenty of potential for Zul’Aman to be turned into a massive forest or jungle, perhaps featuring some mountains or a swamp.
K’aresh, whether we go there during TWW or Midnight, could have a massive desert.
It’ll be exciting to see how things end up!
TL;DR
Blizzard needs to ensure TWW and Midnight features some natural landscapes and traditional RPG biomes, so it doesn’t feel too one-dimensional, outlandish, or claustrophobic.
