I would love to see a time skip but it would have to be done right as others have already said. I almost feel like we need a time skip so that the narrative can see some sort of “soft reset” just so we can move on from the current dumpster fire that the story has been the last few years.
Should blizzard put real effort into a true time skip with visible changes to the overworld and world map, meaningful character developments, a conclusion or new paradigm in regards to the faction conflict, etc? Absolutely yes, imo.
Will they? no. What we’ll most likely get is mentions in dialogue of “several years” having passed but very little tangible evidence of said passing of time with Anduin, Thrall, Jaina, and Genn getting new character models and being as annoying as ever.
As long as they use this timeskip as an opportunity to launch the story forward and possibly as an excuse to update some much needed old world content then I’m fine with it.
I’m not setting my expectations high at all. But at the VERY least, with a timeskip they should be fixing some of the CATA damage. Like can we repair Menethil Harbor? You really don’t need to change the questing (Even though they should.) Just get the water out and fix the buildings/ships. It’s obnoxious to still see these eyesores at this point. And it’s going to be even more so if it’s still there after a timeskip.
I wouldn’t mind a timeskip but the world should reflect it. How many years as Moira’s kid being a baby? He was born sometime during Vanilla - TBC but was still a “baby” during Cata.
The problem is, that would never happen unless blizzard has plans to use them. Such as them aging up Salandria for the blood elf scourge epilogue.
I agree. We need to experience the wedding of Thalyssra and Lor’themar as a fully fleshed out flashback quest in order to grasp the full weight and implications of the time skip. Then, and only then, will we be fully ready to head into the events of Dragonflight.
In theory I’m in favor of this. I also think WoW should jump ahead and then stick with real spacetime.
I find it very stupid WoW exists in some other flow of time where the entireity of the game’s events have happened over like 12 rather than 17 years. Because it’s needlessly confusing and purely in service of keeping characters like Anduin boyishly young.
But I’m kinda disinterested in it unless they move the plot forward in Azeroth. They dont have to do a Cata thing where they update the whole of Azeroth. But at the bare minimum there needs to be questlines showing how things have advanced over the years for every playable faction.
Theres tonnes of fertile fields for stories there. How have our Orcs acclimated to absorbing their AU cousins into the population? Have the Shaldorei helped the Sindorei rebuild Silvermoon and incorporated their own architecture and sensibilities? How about the Forsaken and Worgen? The last quest hinted at a normalization of relations and call me crazy but I think it’d make sense for the Halloween monsters to find some common ground and try to share the Haunted Acre Wood as it were.
What about the disparate Troll tribes? Have the Zandalari been able to broker peace between the Horde and the innumerable number of hostile tribes?
Hows Gazlowe getting along with being a head of state? He’s only been a mayor before. Being governor general of an outright nation has to be a bit of a shift.
Have 90% of the Horde’s mounts stopped trying to eat the vulpera? Do mechagnomes dream of electric sheep? Have the Kul Tirans influenced Stormwindian culture after punching everyone who sounded too chipper?
I demand answers to at least most of these questions!
Time being loose in the shadowlands means Sylvanas could potentially return whenever the writers want and just handwave it away saying that from her POV she spent thousands of years cleaning up the Maw.
“Liiiiiiiife…. Is regreeet, and learning from your mistaaaakes. Not alllllll, are fortunate enough to get this chance.” -Blizzard entertainment presents-
They had an opportunity for a massive time skip with ‘time works different in the Shadowlands’ but they didn’t actually go through with it. Instead time flowed just perfectly fine as it normally does, and several years will have passed since when we got back and when Dragonflight starts.
Frankly I want the Forsaken’s society to advance somewhat. I’ve admired the subtle hints to stuff like the American Gothic parody picture.
Personally I’d love for them to have that unnerving 1930s-50s consumerism vibe. What the hell are the Forsaken supposed to do in peacetime other than distract themselves with meaningless?
Seriously am I the only one curious what their version of TV shows and commercials would look like? How weird would ish get if they were left alone and allowed to develop their own society?
First as a Role player, it will make a mess in the story of our characters.
More importantly, it will be a way for the (extremly lazy) writers to not do many event like the wedding of Lor’themar and Thalyssra, the Forsaken at Lordaeron, the return of the worgens to Gilneas (that should mark the ending of our story arc by the way), Gnomeregan etc…
It’s obvious that the writing team will say: “This and that happened” without any change in the world or working on a a contextualisation of said event.
I bet that we will have a (badly written) book from Danuser and Copeland to tell us what they refuse to put ingame…
