WotLK for me was the pinnacle, I just feel the newer expansions lacked the “oomph” of WotLK but to be fair, they didn’t have the iconic villain.
As for Shadowlands… It could have been great. Should have been great. So much potential thrown away to give Sylvanas her final hurrah. And the least said about Zovaal the better.
He is the best villain and what they did to him in SL was a tragedy.
Legion had second best because they had been plaguing us since the start - also Illidan’s return was excellent.
I do love Cata and it was my favourite but Legion took its spot.
For me the reason for BfA was just hard to swallow. They just seemed to need the Horde to go to War with the Alliance but couldn’t come up with a good story to match. Then the whole stupid storyline with Sylvanas throughout just didn’t work. It was a nice thing to try with the choices we got and I was a Loyalist but the way it all unfolded made no sense.
Oh these people are plotting behind your back. Thank you for letting me know but nah we’re just gonna let them.
Having said that I adored getting to side with Sylvanas and do her bidding.
I enjoyed Cata’s storyline to be honest, Deathwing when he featured was quite the dominating threat you assume the Aspect of the Earth to be.
But again… reduced to a tiny poof of sparkles as a death.
And for legion.
Yeah I think we all enjoyed watching Gul’Dan get his comeuppance on top of the tower from a certain Stormrage.
(Interesting Note. The voice actor for Illidan also voices War from Darksiders. he even uses the same long drawn out drawl which suits both Illidan and War)
Hmm. Depends which part. I would say the Inferno doesn’t make any real comparison to The Inferno because the structure of the Inferno is that is for those who wanted to be there. Hell is their deliberate choice and their punishments reflect the sin they are in what circle for. It should be remembered that one of the ingenious punishments inflicted on the Damned in Hell is that they can see the future but have no memory of the past or the present. This is also God’s punishment so that when the World ends and all souls goto their final Judgement the minds of the souls will be null because they will have nothing to see. The Venthry actively encourage the souls to remember their past deeds and repent. They would not be able to do so if The Inferno was a setting for Revendreth.
I would say that Purgatory is more suitable for the Venthyr as they are concerned with repenting the soul as Purgatory is the Mountain to reach Heaven by purging the soul of your sin after you accept the mercy of Jesus. Souls going through Purgatory have all essentially entered Heaven, they however because of some sin which they have repented and taken Last Rites have to purge their sins before they can enter Paradise/ This is more akin to the Venthyr. It should also be made aware that as a strict Catholic dante believed his faith was the true path to Heaven, so people like me are damned to go straight to the Schismatics to be torn apart by a demon with a sword.
I read that book way too deeply…
Total War wouldn’t personally be my cup of tea but that’s no reason it couldn’t be a thing for those that would love it.
I like those things too.
But not how they were done in Shadowlands. At all. 
Especially the part where “the creators of the universe are robots that program ‘life’”.
When did WoW turn into some big science fiction thing?! That’s not why I became interested in this franchise all those years ago, at all. 
I paid attention to story and cinematics in Legion, I think there were alot good aspects story wise. I also love the concept of class halls and how they add and richen the game story wise, theyre packed with lore if pay attention to the class hall quests 
Mop and legion tbh. I want to say bfa as well but they seriously wasted nzoth. A free old god should’ve been a bigger threat. Plus evil warchief sucks for horde players (imo at least)
Legion
Legion has the best selection of stories in my opinion. I don’t know why people love WotLK so much, maybe because it’s the culmination of WC3. WtoLK on its own is a kinda generic with only some bright spots.
Because it was all Danuser’s “wait and see” nonsense.
The Loyalist questline unfolded to nothing because it was never supposed to be there in the first place, otherwise I should have been given the choice to be a total Lor’themar and Thalyssra Loyalist because they were the only decent characters in BFA.
EDIT:
Accolon made a very good point of which most of Danuser’s work were last minute re-writes for Shadowlands. Literally, the only thing that wasn’t changed was Tyrande vs Sylvanas.
This is why I’m over the moon that he’s gone. I dread to think what he’d be bringing to the table for this World Soul Saga and those future stories he spoke about for that dreadful 9.2 press release…I truly hope they’ve been shelved.
I saw all of it reflected in the name of the main hub, Oribos, which most certainly was an allusion to Ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail (cyclical nature of time, as above so below, eternal recurrence etc). In that context it makes a lot of sense why there was a certain sense of discontinuity and why the city felt like an annoying airport that we always had to pass through etc. I think that was done on purpose 
I saw the First Ones as a nod to that, mostly through the zone Zereth Mortis where organic and machine life co-exist. Deus ex machina! Not only that, I think they dared venture even further with the story and the zone, but Ill get to that.
Now this is where it might get fuzzy, but I thought I would not go to sleep and plant the seeds at least
In transhumanism, there’s an interesting theory that computers are modeled after the brain and vice versa. It is human to view the brain (or human) and computer (or machine) as different, right, but Pelagos transcends this binary, as well as all other binaries. By evolving into a Paragon, Pelagos embodies a fusion of organic and artificial elements, symbolizing a convergence of human and machine. The human understanding merged with cosmic order. To me that cinematic was breathtaking because right now in scientific circles there is a looot of talk about biodigital convergence, where the integration of biological and digital elements would reflect a more unified experience for everyone, i.e Internet of Bodies, Internet of Things and Internet of Everything.
So where the First Ones come in in all of this is that the cyclical nature of cosmos aligns with the notion that perhaps our future selves could be responsible for designing our current state of being! So the First Ones… are us? Maybe? 
There is so much more to talk about here But getting tired.
First of all, well written! For sure the Purgatory comes more to mind when I think of the zone but Inferno as well. I would have to play through the zone again to give you a better response but I guess just the overall theme of agony and wailing and withering, and the focus on reflection of your sins, and the different Sincallers (I believe they were called thus?) drawing inspiration from the different circles of hell.
The particular punishment where you lose track of the past and present, are you sure that was part of Inferno? I remember the opposite, where some souls could only see behind them and where unable to change their fate, but not what you pointed out.
You’re obviously very interested in the topic and those themes and I can appreciate that. But I’ve grown tired of most science fiction (I used to love it).
And so I don’t want it in a (mostly) fantasy franchise. I can go for steampunk-esque or diesel-esque elements ala gnomes and goblins, but that’s pretty much where I draw the line.
It is one of the reasons why I dislike the Draenei; their ‘tech’ annoys me.
But those elements weren’t the only thing I disliked about Shadowlands; a lot of why I disliked it was the aesthetics. It was all so dreary and depressing.
Ah well. It’s interesting to read how differently someone can experience things I flat out loathed. So cheers for that. Your passion shows. 
Legion, because of Suramar. I periodically replay that Questline as it’s my favourite in the whole game (and also the one that’s convinced me to finally get a retail account after following and playing elsewhere since TBC).
Then comes BFA as a close second, but not due to the faction conflict, just due to world content and questing around. The zones had the most character and I really enjoyed each and every one of them. I also liked the whole N’zoth thing, even if a bit rushed, but it’s just because I like Lovecraftian stories. The whole sylvanas and saurfang plot on the other hand, I didn’t really like it.
I would say storytelling wise Warlords of Draenor for sure (That was killer linear storytelling)
But certainly honor mention of Legion, that was really nice too.
Mist of Panadaria and Legion
Dragonflight is a close second
Wotlk. It finished what w3 begun.
And pandaria: garrosh arc was enjoable.
Legion was good till argus.
Loved legion so n1for me! Did wotlk classic and loved it aswell so wotlk n2, loved em’ both
Looking purely at story, not gameplay/atmosphere etc I’d rank my top 3:
1: Wrath
2: Legion
3: TBC
Legion for many reasons, but if I had to choose one that stands out it would be the class order hall questlines. Magnificent.