That is what they decided.
Again, this is not because of the developers. The fault lies with management.
Blizzard’s game design runs on iteration. But iteration takes time. The developers don’t get time when deadlines are rushed internally. So that’s why players get flawed gameplay design.
Bad writing is the result of the budget for a WoW expansion being heavily decreased as a result of financial forecasts, and subsequently having to retro-fit the writing to a whole new content plan.
There is a leak floating around on the initial story for Shadowlands before it was re-written, and it’s honestly really cool. The writers know how to write. They just don’t get the opportunity to carry their writing out as they intend it.
And excessive timegating is sheer business strategy. It’s also not the developers who decide that store mounts are a great idea.
Watch this:
Or read that whole Primus-is-the-villain theory that’s looming around as well.
From what we can gather so far, then the initial story for The Shadowlands was pretty amazing. But because the whole project got haywired and the scope was diminished, the time was limited, and the budget was decreased, it turned into a mess.
I give the developers some credit for managing to salvage the pieces and make it somewhat coherent. It doesn’t fall through as much as WoD did, but it’t the same underlying management decision that’s responsible for it.
Blizzard have a history of doing this. Usually we don’t see it because it happens before their games ever get announced. Once they are announced it’s usually smooth sailing, but not always.
WoD got axed and the developers basically just had to finish it quickly and move on to Legion.
And it’s the same with Shadowlands. Wrap it up and get to work on 10.0.
Diablo III got it for its second expansion that got canned and turned into some patch content and a DLC.
Titan became Overwatch.
Various StarCraft games.
And so on.
Blizzard’s management axes projects that don’t have strong financial forecasts, because they would rather move a team onto a new task with new potential than have them slug away at something that cannot be salvaged.
And in the case of WoD and Shadowlands, then once the forecasted player retention took a nosedive - and that was prior to the games even being released! - then management brings out the axe.
And neither Hazziostas or Danuser or any other director or developer at any of Blizzard’s team have any power over that.
It is pure business. Not always very good business, but the decsion-making is pure business. There are zero f’s given about the consequences for WoW’s lore and worldbuilding by gutting Shadowlands as a project. If the expansion doesn’t look like it’ll be a roaring success, then it gets the axe.
And that will also hold true for 10.0.