I would absolutely NOT want to see more cosmic stuff for a good while if forever.
But some personal examples would be updates on settings and locations. I would like to see how the different factions handles the aftermath of the Fourth War as it was fairly impactful.
It would also be nice to see more exploration on events that have occured. How is Kul Tiras doing after its events, Zandalar aswell? How is Northrend progressing as a whole with Bolvar/with the rampaging Scourge.
More things like that.
Beyond that, perhaps as I said something new I am not expecting. It doesnt have to be a world-ending threat but perhaps a new discovery on Azeroth. Azerite could have been a fun thing to explore here hadn’t it been done as a BfA gimmick.
“Everything” is a little hyperbolic, considering that Raszageth and Sarkareth both had to be slain in combat, who are two out of Dragonflight’s three biggest antagonists, and I’m pretty sure that Fyrakk won’t be talked down at this point either.
The Brackenhide gnolls weren’t convinced to sing Kumbaya with the tuskarr around a campfire, the Djaradin didn’t apologise and leave Neltharus in peace, Clan Nokhud didn’t start braiding the hair of the other centaurs after they were forgiven for siding with the Primalists.
But the single event of Vyranoth having a (certainly rushed) redemption arc seems to be what has triggered the latest batch of “WoW is too peaceful” complaints.
Try telling that to the Twitter crowd who were up in absolute arms over the fact that one (1) NPC suggested the gnolls were savages incapable of reasoning and exist purely to be violent.
Which is true, by the way. The gnolls in that zone were savages incapable of reasoning and were only ever depicted as doing horrendous violent actions to the Tuskarr, player character, and pretty much anything and everything else.
Sarkareth has two successful forgiveness/redemption arcs inside his story. There is the black dracthyr commander who has to learn to let go of hate, learn how it isn’t her place to finish Sarkareth off, and then there is the whole Wrathion and Sabellian arc having to learn to give up their desired role because there’s a guy who is less ambitious/violent/rageful than them right there, and then there is the one moment in the questline where Sarkareth is defeated and everyone’s like, “here, take my hand, I can save you!”.
surely this will not derail anything but I disagree on this. There are some characters like you mentioned where that is the case but others where the flaw (imo) of the forgotten realms comes through, that races and culture don’t matter in the slightest.
What makes Astarion an elf other than his ears for example?
and still both absolutely 100% orc, even thrall with his human “lessons”.
That is what’s missing to make it a “world” of warcraft again. The different cultures and tbf they are able to do that even in df. The Tusskar and centaur on the dragon isles are good examples in that regard and without any bias at all, the orc heritage quest is an absolute treat in that regard.
But they miss the mark for more often than they hit and also they seem to think that more races makes the world grander when we already have enough waiting in line to be properly fleshed out.
No one needs the sniffen when you have so many races that even after years we don’t really know but have to assume half of it.
This is also a thing I want. Not the redemption arc, but I prefer my Warcraft when the bad guys(atleast the main ones) are just unapologetically evil. Not because it makes for an interesting story, but I don’t really trust Blizzard to make nuanced villains.
And cartoonishly evil can also be fun its own way if it’s not done as SL which took stuff way to excessively in detail. (I don’t need to know so specifically how much each victim directly suffered Danuser).
I agree, that would have been great. I think especially when we are in a time of peace now it would be interesting to visit the factions inner struggles and for once without the warchief becoming the next bbeg.
I think it is a bit disingenuous to boil down the issue with warcraft lacking conflict (that doesnt involve quest npcs) to simply people are whining about a single anecdote where big evil frosty dragon becomes big good frosty dragon.
The ‘problem’ really can be represented in people chilling together buying cheese from ‘Gorgonzomu’ in a very wholesome way while conflict that should be there has been written off without a second thought.
Or in Kaitlynnes words: ““Choosing Renewal””
If it is too much, in your opinion, what would have been a more “Warcraft” way of handling the situation? Should Emberthal have pursued vengeance until her dying breath, should Wrathion and Sabellian have eventually fought to the death over the right to become the Black Aspect? Do you think that these would have led to a better story, and if so, why?
It’s the latest major event that has triggered the latest batch of complaints, yes. Also, joke characters aren’t particularly new to WoW, so I don’t really consider that an example of how the game has gotten worse.
Maybe if there was an entire Bronze Dragonflight zone that was all about cheese and Gorgonzomu’s adventures, then maybe that particular example would be as bad as Cataclysm was, with Harrison Jones and Uldum.
