How long were we in the Shadowlands?

[Endovdays-emerald-dream]

So were we gone a matter of seconds or were we gone for years? Was this ever explained? I thought we were going to get back and everyone was old or something!

[Mythosaur-frostwolf]

well if its like the dk version a few hrs in Azeroth is like weeks in SL
but that might have been retconned

[Kanamë-dreadmaul]

npc’s near the zep stated its been at least a few years a buddy said while he was waiting for the zeppelin

[Thallia-sentinels (Thallia)]

@Endovdays-emerald-dream

So were we gone a matter of seconds or were we gone for years? Was this ever explained?

It was absolutely explained here:

@Erudician-1641

Hello friends,

I wanted to take a moment to address the topic of time passage between Shadowlands and Dragonflight.

There has always been some amount of time passing between expansions, though rarely has it been called out in game. We maintain an internal timeline of what year each expansion begins, and the gap between them has either been one year (as with earlier expansions) or two years (as with most of the later ones). But NPCs in the world don’t talk about how the Burning Crusade took place in the year 26 after the Dark Portal opened, or how we rediscovered Pandaria in the year 30.

When you look back at the Warcraft timeline, one of the things you’ll notice is that a lot of massive, world-changing events were tightly clustered together. This is especially true for WoW, which since launch has seen a multitude of invasions and catastrophes back-to-back in the chronology.

With Shadowlands representing the closing of one book in the Warcraft saga (as we mentioned in interviews around the release of our Eternity’s End update), it felt like an opportunity to give Azeroth and its inhabitants a bit of breathing room before Dragonflight ushers in the start of our next major storyline.

Shadowlands began in the year 35 after the opening of the Dark Portal, and Dragonflight will begin in the year 40.

Given that the events of Shadowlands took place over the course of two years, that leaves a few additional years that we are fast-forwarding through. Our purpose here is not to have a litany of events take place outside the game that you need to read about in a novel or other media to understand the state of the world. The goal of the fast-forward is to provide the people of Azeroth with a slice of “normal” life without a major threat looming over their heads.

When our heroes return from the Realms of Death, you can imagine them easing back into their lives and duties without an immediate crisis to address or enemy to fight. With the Alliance and Horde honoring the truce signed after the Fourth War, the average Azerothian citizen will be able to enjoy a time of stability and reflection.

That said, we plan to offer a digital short story on our website that details one particularly joyous occasion which has been referenced in the alpha build. It’s going to be a fun and charming read, but it won’t be necessary in order to understand the events of Dragonflight.

Besides stretching out the WoW timeline a bit, another benefit of this fast-forward is that it will let our younger characters get a little older, allowing some of them to take a larger role in future storylines. Yet not so much time will be passing that you’d expect characters who are already adults to look significantly different.

As for changes to the world that have been discussed or foreshadowed, such as the resettlement of Gilneas, those will not be happening during the fast-forward. As cool as it is to show locations and populations evolving because of story progression, we want events of this importance to be in-game questing that our players experience for themselves (as with the reclaiming of the Ruins of Lordaeron in the 9.2.5 update) rather than having it happen off-camera.

For your player characters, it has always been left to your own interpretation how much time had passed when they log in after the arrival of a major update or new expansion. Dragonflight is no exception. You are free to imagine what your characters have been doing in that time of respite as you look forward to the arrival of the Dragonflight pre-patch.

Hopefully this post helps clear up confusion about the timeline and explains our goals for having a few more years pass than we normally would.

–Steve Danuser, Narrative Lead

[Vênom-sargeras]

Felt like i was there for 10 years… i thought the horror would never end

[Volley-khadgar (Volley)]

A few years in the Shadowlands, and a few years of peace afterwards leading up into Dragonflight, which is technically still peacetime.

[Dreadmoon-saurfang (Dreadmoon)]

I felt like Gilligan from Gilligan’s Island.

I only signed up for a 3 hour tour, but it took a whole lot longer

[Evani-arugal]

Too long
Now lets never speak of it again

[Anthalaria-sargeras]

We never defeated N’zoth. It was all some horrible nightmare.
“You’re finally awake!
death expansion? Tyrande doing WHAT? The Maw?
What are you talking about?
We’re in grizzly hills collecting mojo from trolls!”

[Nicholasfury-dalaran]

@Endovdays-emerald-dream

I thought we were going to get back and everyone was old or something!

That, in my opinion, would have been a bit cooler- but they would have had to revamp azeroth and I don’t think they have the budget for that.

[Souldemon-gurubashi]

Long enough that most of us developed ptsd

[Sasarai-blades-edge]

/suddenly old and shaky

Too long… too … long

[Buttercleave-moon-guard]

@Anthalaria-sargeras

We never defeated N’zoth. It was all some horrible nightmare.
“You’re finally awake!
death expansion? Tyrande doing WHAT? The Maw?
What are you talking about?
We’re in grizzly hills collecting mojo from trolls!”

Don't give me hope - Memes in HD

[Anthalaria-sargeras]

…that movie was so sad

[Buttercleave-moon-guard]

What came after it was even more so.

[Skarm-sentinels (Skarm)]

@Erudician-1641

With Shadowlands representing the closing of one book in the Warcraft saga (as we mentioned in interviews around the release of our Eternity’s End update)

I wish they wouldn’t keep trying to lie to themselves that SL was ever a ‘chapter’ in anything. It clearly represented nothing other than a meta narrative attempt to tell that old ‘The Aristocrats!’ joke.

[Zemus-hyjal]

The only correct answer is: too long.

[Anthalaria-sargeras]

I had to hold back tears for like 85% of the movie scenes. Especially the death ones.