Does anyone else just completely disregard the canon timeline?

Lore Story Forum
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I refuse to accept the timeline introduced in Chronicle 3. I refuse to believe that all of the events of all of the expansions have occurred in only eight years.
I refuse to believe that the war in Northrend only lasted less than a year. I refuse to believe that Garrosh’s reign as Warchief was less than 3 years long.

It’s seems insane that the people of Azeroth could see so much turmoil in such a short span of time and still exist. Especially when there was so much time between the Second and Third Wars.
In my headcanon time in WoW moves the same as real world time. So it’s been seventeen years not eight.

/endrant

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Blizzard disregards Chronicle so you should feel free to.

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I mean, you can feel free to headcannon whatever you want - but if you roleplay with others you need -some- form consistency between characters to maintain any sort of immersion; and the easiest thing to generally agree upon with the least nonsense is whatever Blizzard has made up most recently.

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I refuse to believe the Horde could march an army over half a continent of mountainous/forested (and CONTESTED) terrain in two weeks.

So yeah, I pretty much ignore the canon timeline in favor of something more sensible.

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Most people here have their own headcanons formed and loathe Blizzard for messing with that. So… go for it, chief.

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I mean, for RP or solo play or for living out unrelated fantasies, I suppose people could do as they wish. (I once pugged into a Group from an RP realm that gave bosses different names and invented stories for them before each pull - I just remained quiet and played). However, in a discussion of the lore, there would need to be some sort of agreed upon basis, and that seems to usually be along the lines of:

“What Blizzard has deemed as canon at present is canon. If an event occured and has not been retconned, it is most likely still canon.”

So, for World’s End Tavern, or on an RP realm, or even just quietly in their head as one plays alone, I am sure people can invent what ever they please. As far as discussing the lore that is actually there to discuss, that seems a different story.

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I don’t know why they’d be in this forum if they did.

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You know a lot of countries in the world have been either invaded, conquered, colonized, or had civil war basically 90% of their modern (read: past 500 years) history?

It’s not that wild.

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I honestly have no idea why they did this, when WoW just flowing in real time would work better. The events of WoW happening over 15 years feels about right and more importantly would give more than enough time for a new generation to mature.

Seriously I just assumed Anduin must be in his mid to late 20s, as I started playing Vanilla when I was 12, he was presumably about the same age then, and its been 15 years. Now that’s not exactly old but he’d be an adult with presumably a lot of education in and experience at governing. So I could see why he would be High King.

But then I find out he’s like 19. Supreme Executive Authority of the Alliance falls on the shoulders of someone who can’t walk into a beer tent without showing an ID. Which to be fair has happened many times IRL in times of crisis, and there are some 16 year olds better at managment than 36 year olds, but when there’s people with decades to millenia of more experience under their belt standing right there it comes off as some silly YA novel bull.

Personally I disregard the official timeline and encourage other RPers to as well. It just feels weird and makes the threats feel so easily thwarted. Like by that time scale how long did N’Zoth’s Black Empire invasion last? A week if that? Christ imagine scheming for untold millenia in the darkest depths only to get your ish completely pushed in over a 3 day weekend by some dorks with gaudy jewelry.

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That’s why having a World Ending Mega Doomsday Threat of so much Evil that you can’t possible comprehend threats every expansion is starting to loose it’s luster. How we are supposed to take these threat serious when we beat most of them in the same patch they appear in? And that’s why I’m looking forward to Shadowlands and getting away from Azeroth and it’s constant doomsday threats.

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The WoW Story could use a stat and level squish aswell …
So we can get away from apocalypse every tuesday and back to hunting tiger teeth and troll bladders.

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i liked the first timeline, it was a good one, but since classic/bc, its get worse.

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I think you’re underestimating how powerful the player character is. A group of us is stronger than any army. A group of final fantasy characters can save the world in about the same time.

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Ehm… you are an RPer the lore/timeline is there for you to use.

beside from that we dont know how long a year is in azeroth/outlands. etc etc

Sorry but you cant decide what the lore is.

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current decade is @#%in crazy

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WoW in general is weird with years. Like correct me if I’m wrong but the natutal lifespan for Draenei is twenty thousand years. That’s longer than human civilization has existed.

The idea this space fairing species with a lifespan eclipsed only by stars got completely bodied by some rowdy green bois, that feudal humans managed to sort out twice, remains one of the most bizarre things in this setting.

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The lifespan for draenei is kind of… up in the air, actually, as is the timeline of when they were around on Argus. Specifically, the original lore for them (original retcon lore in BC), stated that the draenei race rose on Argus 25k years ago, ergo they became a civilization at that point. The only other date we have regarding them is when Velen’s son was taken, which was supposed to be when Argus fell, which was stated to have been 13k years ago.

So going by that, the eredar could have been trucking along as a society for 12k years before Sargeras came knocking. As for their age, that in and of itself is also, now, weirdly up in the air because we now know that time passes weirdly in the Nether, which is how Turalyon is 1000 years old at this point. The naaru ships are all dimensional ships, which means they travel through the Twisting Nether to get to places. Meaning that the age of draenei might be inflated due to this, coupled with them also being in stasis during parts of the journey. The final implication of this is that draenei are like, 13k at most, and don’t actually live that long naturally. Long lived, yes, but not actually immortal.

In terms of how the orcs beat them and then the humans beat the orcs, there are actually some reasons the that, the first of which is that the orcs outnumbered the draenei massively. There were no non-combatants in the First Horde ranks, and they also had the ogres with them, demons, Fel-enslaved elementals, the Dark Star, literal biological agents in the form of the Red Mist, etc. It was basically an entire planet gone rabid against an army of defenders that maybe numbered a handful of thousands, and the last stand of the draenei still lasted for an entire day and night.

And that was the last time the Horde was ever actually at full strength. Some clans were left behind, for instance, when they crossed to Azeroth, while one clan was banished. Moreover, there were serious divisions in the Old Horde, and infighting almost immediately once they’d apparently finished off the draenei. Many of the Horde’s setbacks were basically due to their own leaders (Gul’dan) shooting themselves in the foot over and over.

So yeah, it does make some measure of sense.

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I still don’t get that. Time passes weirdly in the Nether, sure, but why would Turalyon age in reference to “our” time, rather than in reference to time as he was experiencing it? Shouldn’t the time passage just mean he aged and died 950 years ago for the others in the Nether, but within a few years from an Azerothian perspective?

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It’s newish lore in regards to the Twisting Nether and it’s all kinds of weird, but it can basically be summed up as the Nether being a place of chaos and upheaval not govered by normal rules.

Basically, a wizard did it.

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The problem is Blizzard’s retcon of the Draenei exile on Draenor with WoD.

Under the old lore (that TBC adhered to), the story of the draenei is a plausible sell. That is, the draenei arrive on Outland, their machinery basically all but fails, causing them to enter a stone age of sorts that puts them (mostly) on even footing with the denizens of outland, many millenia go by until the draenei are considered natives to draenor, some even (d)evolve to Broken, adopt shamanism, etc.

Under this model, everything, I repeat, everything about them makes sense.

Auchindoun, a mausoleum where their souls are interred for thousands of years? Makes sense. Broken? Makes sense. Massive edifices like Karabor, Shattrath built? Makes sense. Frenemy rivalry with orcs, name of Draenor, shamanism, Velen considering Outland their first true refuge from the Legion, KJ not finding draenei for a while etc all makes sense.

I can’t believe people find this IP’s series of events remotely plausible, frankly. OP is on the right track to fudge the lore so that the timeline, and magnitude of events feels appropriate. Basically, how I see it, Blizzard is a painter with the most exquisite colours and brushes… and bad execution.

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