This expansion feels like a forced fan fiction

Lore Story
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Not gonna lie, there is something behind skimming through quest texts, which is something I’m against. I don’t even like quest markers. But thank god for that this expansion. I’m continuously taking breaks just out if the sheer amount if boredom.

Does anyone really care or feel the need on how much these NPC interact with eachother? To know how they think or feel?

When I first stepped in Ardenwaeld, I felt like those two fairies were Cosmo and Wanda. It felt so out of place. Not to mention the amount of cinematics and RP talk that’s unskippable.

This is legit the first expansion where there are almost zero interesting characters.
There were legit some characters like Thanikos and Krexus. But they’re both killed off. I’m just looking forward to Devos now, she seems interesting.

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The whole thing lacks proper ties with the bits of the setting that we are going to follow in future plots.
The current narrative and its characters, seem contained in a vacuum. We will effectively forget all about them once we exit said realm.

That makes it hard to generate some long-term investment with any of them.

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The zones all look cool, but that’s it. I don’t really care for anything that’s happening, the stakes are so ridiculously high it just feels lame. You just know we are going to win and there won’t be any real consequences for anything. I just hope 10.0 will be happening on Azeroth again.

Also not a fan of how the Jailer is presented. He’s just a big guy (4U) who screams edgy things. “DEATH COMES FOR THE SOUL OF YOUR WORLD”, could you be anymore generic? Hell, they even gave some stuff he could’ve been behind (like trading Odyn’s eye for val’kyrs) to Mueh’zala, making him even less nuanced.

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I mean, I spent 3 evenings stalking Ta’mari in Oribos. It was pretty interesting, given that I stopped paying attention to what’s going on in early MoP, although I leveled up a character in WoD (did not do anything with it at all though, just lvl up, had a sad sigh, and cancelled subscription).

So, it’s a somewhat fresh start for me after almost a 7 year break. It helps to get the idea of what’s going on.

That is really bad IMO. Sadly, this ruins the experience sometimes, especially if a quest is bugged, or there is a disconnect. Might be a valid feedback to ask for an option to skip all of that, at least for alts.

Depends on the definition. Depends on what are you looking for.

I would suggest to look for another character to pay attention to… just saying
:eyes:

Isn’t that what happens with all the expansions? Like, there are some nice NPCs with sometimes tragic sometimes just peculiar stories in WotLK. I barely see any of those reused. We might revisit Shadowlands at some point, I suppose, just like we can any other place.

I guess it depends on how you like this part of the story

An Unknown Voice (Yogg-Saron? - Diamond King quest):
You are a pawn of forces unseen.

Some might not like it. To me, it helps me to see the story as unfolding regardless of my actions. That way I do not feel anything in regards to some stupidity I encounter. My RP approach is to imagine that after usuccessful flirting with a spirit healer I am just stuck between life and death without a way to affect anything.

C’Thun:
You are already dead.

Anduin? Or Khadgar, who is all about “only together…”, “forgiving everything is the only right thing, for the best of our world”, and then running away with the tail between legs (paws?) the moment things do not go that way.

I have no idea what this character is all about. So, IMO there are like no nuances. It’s a bit odd that instead of bit by bit actually explaining what’s the deal with the Jailer the devs seem to just shove in all the explanations into one “plot twist”. Oh well, I guess I can always flirt with spirit healers a bit more.

gl hf

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The main stage of WoW, is Azeroth. We may lose temporarily certain ties with specific zones, but we always have callbacks to them.

Shadowlands is a pocket dimension that guarantees that none of the main cast will interact significantly with the main setting where most of the stories and races, delve.

Once we are done “fixing” it, there is literally no reason for us to delve into it ever again. Which its only natural, as going to the afterlife shouldn’t be a plane ticket away.

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It’s a door to many other places. But it depends on what will be easier to use as a gateway: Shadowlands or the Twisting Nether.

There are already portals in Orgrimmar and Stormwind. We can even see regular sitizens walking in Oribos.
:man_shrugging:

Sorry, I skipped like 3 expansions so I am not aware of any callbacks to what is going on in regular villages of Northrend.

gl hf

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Im still mad they killed off krexus out of the blue like that especially when they hyped him up in the cinematic.

I do agree that this xpac didnt bring a lot of new memorable characters

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He was cool at the start of BfA (and then regressed back into his MoP self, which was sad). He and Genn are also the only Alliance characters ever who said Lordaeron is rightfully Alliance, for that he has a small plus point.

Khadgar is even worse than the Jailer. Not only he’s a basically a comic relief, he’s also a former Alliance character turned neutral for no good reason and now goes around and lectures everyone. It would be much better for Khadgar’s dignity if he died during the explosion of Draenor.

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agreed lothar would be rolling in his grave from Khadgar’s behavior his a disgrace to the alliance and the sons of lothar at least turalyon remembers who he is and didn’t smoke the peace pipe

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My man!

… and if Jaina turns into a drama queen, she can join him, imo.

Don’t get me wrong. Kul’tiras was a nice adventure and I enjoyed all of the Boralus crowd. But the way Thrall waddles after her at the start of the Maw scenario - always in docile and grateful compliance - just did not feel right. Then Baine did his curtsy to Anduin and one could literally hear the human potential bomb detonate all around the player :face_with_head_bandage:

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I think there are individual characters that are interesting (such as the Plague Doctor in Maldraxxus, who seems like comic relief but actually just has massive PTSD) but the wider setting is a bit too detached from the main setting,
In addition I dislike homogenized afterlife by default.

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I was tempted to join Maldraxxus due to that guy and actually felt like I wanted him to succeed rather than just another quest marker, I’d have rather joined the House of Plague than the House of the Chosen.

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Marileth and his slimes are :heart:

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I am still trying to get Melvin over his stress issues, poor little blob…

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He with his survivors guilt (i think) and the mad duke in Revendreth who was basically tortured to madness by Denathrious are the most interesting characters i think.

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Shadowlands definitely feel like a forced fan fiction. Aside from the retcons, it doesn’t feel like Warcraft at all. If we ignore some Azeroth’s characters we met, we might as well have ended up in some other universe or franchise.

I just don’t feel any connection to the Shadowlands story at all, just like I felt no connection to the AU Draenor. And it doesn’t help that we have Sylvanas in the back doing some 4D chess once again. I’m sick of it.

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I have to agree, this addon does feel like terrible bad fan fiction (some can be great sure).

I mean it’s nothing terrible knew with WoW’s lore, compared to what it was back in the RTS days. It was bad from the start with WoW in my view. Or at least not great. They seem to have struggled with telling a compelling story like in WC 3 with the MMO.

It’s getting more ridiculous with every addon though. From WoD, too Legion (again compare it to WC 3), then Shadowlands and beyond.

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Reforged (aka WC4) could have been used as a great medium to actually tell passed WoW storylines and add new from a compelling and realistic RTS setting.

But they lost this opportunity so legendary… damn.
People don’t even mention it anymore.

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To me it just feels like a step forward, stakes aren’t THAT high, it is the usual “end of the world” thing, which honestly we face 7/24.
Wotlk: Oh world would end if we can’t stop Lk
Cata: Hour of twilight world would end
Mop: Sha infested world with garrosh ruling it
Legion: All the reality is in danger
Bfa: Azeroth and all the reality is in danger

Honestly there is not much difference really from the previous expansions.

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If I take off his neck brace will he die?