There’s a big lore buff currently in the works with a post from the last I heard! I’m absolutely chiming in on it, or making my own if that post never comes to fruit. I’m the same way; in order for me to truly feel immersed and enjoy a game with any hint of worldbuilding, it’s gotta be good.
Here’s a different forum post of mine re: SL story;
The Shadowlands story in particular feels very frustrating. Like they’re trying to set up a ton of cliffhangers, but it doesn’t translate well. There’s an overarching sense of forced anticipation/climax, but we don’t get to see how it evolves or finishes til the end of the xpac. That’s fair, but the story so far feels like a jumbled mess of retcons, semi-retcons, mary sue-ism, and hints at what’s happening next without ever getting the satisfaction of “aha! so that’s what happens!” Even when there is a decent revelation to be made from an ingame cutscene and such. It’s confusing.
WOTLK felt amazing for the story- everyone knew the Lich King from the Warcraft RTS games, and he was a big baddie built up from a decade prior, but even those who never played the old games knew who he was and what he was about well before ICC released. The storytelling through the Wrathgate and the late heroics featuring the LK were amazing, and he was peppered in through the leveling zones.
Even Deathwing in Cataclysm was the first big bad guy expansion that didn’t have much prior lore, but that storytelling went along quite well with him torching the planet off the rip and so on. It was very straightforward with some nuance if you wanted to look for it.
Contrast those two examples with what happened story and cadence-wise in WoD and Shadowlands…
I haven’t played much of FFXIV, but what I did play, I really truly did enjoy that the game was story-centric with good pacing and compelling story and good PvE content that reinforced that. I think WoW had that for a while, but slippery sloped into something grotesque that made story and the metastory second to gameplay. But really- can you name a game that is genuinely GOOD that you fiercely enjoyed that didn’t have a good story? (Where applicable- I mean hey, even in Super Mario you had the clear goal of rescuing Peach…) The story should be the steering wheel with content being the gas pedal to back it up.
I wish you nothing but the best out there- if there’s anything else in particular you (or anyone else) want me to bring up just give me a holler and I’d love to give it my best shot.
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