And after the Shadowlands.?

Community General Discussion
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So I have been thinking after the Shadowlands expansion where we going to all the death and beyond life stuff what happens after that? Do we just sit around in the sunshine and everything‘s normal and happy again? Each expansion keeps building or trying to do something mightier. But at what point do we have to stop because the bubble bursts.

I remember the comments of many people at the beginning of BFA after fighting the Legion and the huge scenario that ensued with the Titans, they were not happy to be just common plebs again, doing mundane things. I am really unsure were future expansions will go from here it will be interesting to see what they dream up, there is a lot of material but I feel that some of the really interesting things were passed over as a mere accessory in a patch.

I personally am not sold 100% on the Shadowlands it feels like something that could happen at the very end of world of Warcraft, how many other people here feel the same?

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As Blizzard said on Blizzcon, Shadowlands is the very first step on the exploration of WoW’s cosmology.

I would imagine the last step is going into the Void Realm and murderizing the Void Lords.

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Well yes i guess, because i feel pretty sure we are going to have to go some strange places beyond this one we are about to set foot in.

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Considering their discussion on supported technology it could be a play into whatever becomes “Wow II”

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This is the correct answer. There is quite a bit of cosmology we can go over.

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Yes it well could.

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I support this to be honest. Imagine a Light themed expansion where we have to stop the Light from doing terrible things, and Yrel is like Draenic Crusade mode. It would be pretty cool, as would Karesh and the Ethereals.

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I actually like the thought of that one alot.

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Another thing they mentioned is Point of View. What if the Mag’har stuff is just a super messed up POV of the Light that only they see? How might things look through Yrel’s eyes that the Mag’har are ignoring or don’t understand? Blizz has lots of options really with where they can take the story.

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If the universe is finite, eventually $stakes++; will result in an integer overflow and we’ll wake up as farmhands.

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Lol im a farmer in real life now i like it but that would be a tad disappointing lol

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My biggest concern about how we’re dabbling with cosmic powers like titans and the afterlife is that it’s going to destroy the integrity of the game world. I didn’t start playing WoW for a cosmos-spanning romp with literal gods, but we’re reaching the point where I don’t think we can turn back to just adventuring in a real-ish world, because they’ve thrown too much metaphysical stuff at us now.

I don’t hate Shadowlands, but I do think we’re reaching a point of no return where the only options are change the game fundamentally, or end it and move on. And it makes me a little sad.

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Problem is, going there makes it not strange.

Previously, the description in various places, made the Shadowlands sound like a place of terror and horror. Being able to go there make friends and punch fools in the face makes it just another set of islands, indistinguishable from the last few expansions.

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Yes i have to fully agree with this, and it bothers me as well.

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Yep and it could create some amazing stuff, especially if it included Cross Faction grouping etc.

A Massive Light Beast attacks and the Dwarf and Orc are like. “…” Salty glares exchanged.

-after several wary looks at eachother, the two group up to take it down because the alternative is oblivion. After the mob is dead they walk off. Later find themselves on opposite battlefronts as the Dwarf is allied to the Draenei while the Orc is with the Mag’har-

Do you guys see how this preserves Factions while at the same time allowing players to form third party collectives ala the Argent Crusade to tackle bigger threats? IMHO such a thing enriches Warcraft, and does not as PVPers say make for “Peace-Craft”.

But then, seems like PVPers will use any excuse to keep their ability to gank.

Even if it doesn’t concern them as it’d only exist outside War-Mode.

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Remember all those EQ xpacs where we went through the planes murdering gods? We are taking murder hoboing to the next logical step.

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Here is a bombshell of an idea.

What if Xe’ra was actually right and with the way the situation was handled by everybody is going to lead to a far greater problem that we just don’t see right now? I wouldn’t put it past Blizz to dig that whole thing from it’s grave and lead us to an “oooh crap” moment while the Void Lords are going “oooooh yea, that is just awesome!”

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I think whether we like it or not, that’s what we’re going to see with Sylvanas.

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You mean the inevitable return of Sargeras after he’s fused with Illidan and riding him like a puppet?

Sure, that can happen. I’d rather not see the stupid ‘both sides are equally evil’ thing they set up with Yrel and the light. Its hamfisted, simplistic nonsense. Positive characters don’t randomly slide into genocide ‘because reasons,’ not even ‘cosmic balance’ reasons.

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Presumably we repair the veil or whatever they’re calling it by the end of the expansion.

What I’m more worried about after Shadowlands is just the general health of the game.

If you believe in the “pattern” of good xpack - bad xpack starting with WotLK, as many do, then that means:

WotLK - good
Cata - bad
MoP - good
WoD - bad
Legion - good
BfA - bad
Shadowlands - good
10.0 - bad

But in WoD, they started pulling heavy nostalgia marketing. They used Grom, they used Gul’dan, they used all the Orc Warlords, they used Khadgar.

Then Legion comes and they kept the train rolling. They revive and redeem Illidan, they pull back Turalyon and Aleria, we kill Mannoroth again, and ultimately they exhausted the “Burning Legion” as a plot point.

BfA didn’t have anything super major, but it DID exhaust the “South Seas” expansion idea, as well as what I would consider the last 2 “big name” villains the game needed to wrap up – Azshara and N’zoth.

Now Shadowlands is (kinda-sorta) bringing back Kael’thas and Uther (along with a couple other more minor names), as well as exhausting the “Lich King 2” plotline a lot of people were expecting (even if the story isn’t exactly what was expected).

What are they going to fall back on if the “pattern” is right? 10.0 is bad, but then what? All of the big “location” expansion ideas that come from old lore are used up. All of the big name hero characters and villains are used up. Anything they draw from at this point will be older characters in WoW, but it won’t have the level of draw this other stuff they’ve been pulling does.

So will the pattern break at that point? Will 11.0 be bad right after 10.0 finishes being bad? Is that how WoW dies?

Anyway. Yeah. That’s a lot of speculation reaching too far out to be reasonable, I know, but I’ve been thinking about it regardless. It’s just been feeling like they’ve been padding their numbers by relying on “HEY LOOK AT THIS” plot threads and characters, and I feel like they’re running out of those.

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