So I bought Shadowlands today. Started in the ICC, then I frolicked with Thrall and Jaina through some dreary zone full of misery and despair to rescue Anduin, and I thought to myself: “This is nice, why so many people dislike it?”
I escaped the zone and left everyone behind (because I am the Legendary Chosen Hero Champion, obviously) and got into Oribos, inhabited by Tiki masks and characters from Dead Cells, and I thought to myself: “Well, the hub could’ve been better.”
So I opened the portal hopped on a flyer and went through the hyperspace to Bastion. The lush, pristine world of ancient Greece, with adorable little owl slaves. Went through the motions for about two hours, increasingly growing more unease, but I couldn’t tell why. Then it hit me: "This isn’t the World of Warcraft!"
This is a World of Some Generic MMO. There is nothing from the Warcraft setting, not a damn thing!
Now I’m not of the most serious of character, you can tell by the fact that I’m a Pandaren monk drunk driving the flying piggy bank, but this realization was sobering. Up until now, every expansion took the place in a setting with Warcraft things and characters, and this one just doesn’t.
I wonder what they’ll have in store for us next, but whatever it is, I hope it takes place on Azeroth.
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So many zones have been “discovered” in Azeroth, it became ridiculous at one point.
You need to have some spatial setting that isn’t one more discovered island no one saw ever before.
It’s multiplanar warcraft!
Maybe because the original Blizzard team have gone and Activision investors and shareholders are running the show.
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Not necessarily. They could introduce a new world revamp in the next expansion. I’d say it’s long overdue.
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Look, mate, I am all for hating on investors and capitalism, but at some point it becomes completely stupid. What do the investors have to do with where WoW takes place? Investors cannot take decisions for the company. They are the company’s main audience, as pleasing them is the only thing that truly matters.
Have you ever noticed how all gamers are communist? They don’t realize it, but they hate the core concepts of western capitalism - the fact that executives take decisions over creative people, that money is all that matters to everyone, that we’re all small-minded profit-chasers, that our humanity and spirituality has been destroyed by the materialist pursuit of money and validation in this system.
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As crazy as its gone,there is some reasoning to this direction - players are often hostile to changes in old zones, even when done with the phasing that keeps the old version available on request by talking to an npc. I personally have no issue with it but often people are in a mixed feeling of being nostalgic about the older version of the zone or brand the new one as lazy for “recycling” old settings.
WoW have had a generic fantasy setting from its very beginning.
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That’s not the point though. The point is that nothing in the Shadowlands feels like it’s part of the Warcraft Franchise, aside from some dead characters being brought back for the sake of nostalgia.
I personally don’t even think the zones are the issue. The issue is that we’re the only person from Azeroth in those zones. Well, the only one that’s not dead anyway. Where are the Ebon Blade forces? Where are the reinforcements from Azeroth? There’s a portal in Oribos connecting it to Stormwind and Orgrimmar.
I guess one could argue that the forces of Azeroth are busy dealing with the Scourge, but the Ebon Blade are just AFKing in Oribos.
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You are correct. I have been screaming this at the top of my lungs since the expansion came out.
Its a fun game, it’s a good story… BUT IT’S NOT WORLD OF WARCRAFT!.
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I don’t like the Shadowlands setting, but the point you’re making there is kind of silly; it’s there for us PLAYERS. Heck; it might not even be there in a pure ‘lore’ sense. I think we (and the non-dead npcs) are supposed to be trapped here - probably until the jailer’s dealt with.
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They could but Azeroth is so huge I am not sure how much effort it really takes them to revamp it.
I definitely agree it could use some make up, I was flying yesterday over Kalimdor and all I was thinking about is how epic Azeroth is but old graphics and textures aren’t doing any favours to it.
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If only it were like that. Alas, the portals are canon, and we’ve seen people from Azeroth just entering Oribos through it like it was nothing. Calia is the perfect example.
Well, you have a little of that Light (Revendreth) and Void (Bastion) stuff; and Maldraxxus feels quite familiar with the Scourge look. Ardenweald is more or less our usual “druid zone” with the Drust from BfA on top of it.
Lore wise if makes sense to me, that there isn’t much more feeling familiar, since those are seperate worlds (afterlifes) who have to welcome souls from infinite other worlds; if it was a good or bad idea to bring us there this expansion is a whole different question.
Basically Cata 2.0?? Yeah, could be interesting
Well, most of the Ebon Blade seem to be still trapped down in the Maw, all of those who entered with the player hero at least, since we only brought Mograine back later on. Those few in Oribos are Bolvars bodyguard and came directly from Acherus/ICC. I guess as long as there is no public way to enter the maw AND get out again, they and also Azeroth’s armies don’t see the point to intervene in SL politics. Only volunteers (like “us” and those coming through the portals) are free to help the Shadowlands.
I’m not even sure how much the common folk of Azeroth knows about the Shadowlands. Just imagine the panic that would be caused, if it was widely known, that all souls currently end up in “hell”; or that the afterlife is nothing but a second life full of work until you really perish.
Apart from the faction leaders, Bolvar and the PC, there aren’t a lot of people who even know what’s up in the Shadowlands.
And they screwed up Kil’Jaeden, Sargeras, Aszhara, Zul, Rastakhan, Xavius and N’zoth to get here…
That’s a good point. Still, it only makes me like the premise of this expansion even less. I firmly believe it was a huge mistake. They’ve basically opened the Pandora’s Box.
Nothing short of “It was only a dream.” Retcon will salvage this disaster in my opinion.
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WoD might have been time-travel, but at least it didn’t make me feel detached from the overall world of warcraft. Only SL zone that feels warcrafty is ardenweald because it is what an emerald dream expansion could have been. The other zones on the other hand just are there… belonging to something… and they have somehow gotten a handful of random warcraft npc’s in it.
Would probably have felt better to just be sent to another planet instead.
