I do appreciate the correspondence from the company and it is nice to know someone is reading these. Feels an awful lot like we’re shouting in the dark out here.
You mentioned a short story that will expand on the lore but not be required reading. I applaud this as I firmly believe the purpose of multimedia should be to flesh out aspects of a world the core product simply doesn’t have the time to. Star Wars springs to mind. There’s a comic or book or video game going over every random alien or item or planet in frequently exhausting detail but none of that is remotely necessary to understand the story.
What I’d recommend, if feasible, would be a series of optional questlines or perhaps even just text dialogue with NPCs who can shed some light on their personal experiences in the intervening years.
For the quests I’d suggest they’re totally optional, even somewhat dry affairs that rely on character to be interesting. Gretchin Dedmar’s rather dramatically named ‘The Chill of Death’ quest comes to mind. You’re doing nothing but helping a clearly senile old undead women knit sweaters for the Forsaken’s soldiers. She appears to think herself near death and believes knitting sweaters (or I think cloaks actually) will be helpful for people at least physically immune to being chilly.
And I do so love that quest. Because it shows a softer side to the Forsaken. They don’t do away with this clearly out of it old woman, they totally accept her and even humor her extremely pointless requests. And in her own way maybe she is helping. Perhaps a Deathguard who’s lost everyone and truly feels alone might feel a bit of an emotional warmth at a nice lady being concerned about him. A sweater is of course useless to him but as the old adage goes; it’s the thought that counts.
That’s the part of WoW’s world building I’ve always adored. Killing demon kings and demi gods and dire dragons might be more interesting in the moment. But for me it’s learning about the minutia and mundane aspects of these fantastical nations and the denizens therein that set my imagination on fire.
Perhaps that’s a bit too much to ask for though. Obviously the Dragonflight expansion is the primary resource focus at this time and I completely understand as I can’t imagine ‘helping undead grandma enthusiasts’ make up a sizeable portion of paying customers. No accounting for taste in this world, tragically.
But I’d point to a more recent moment from BFA as an alternative. Stumbling upon the Unshackled characters from 8.2 was simply delightful. I can’t remember when precisely I did. But I was so excited to see them. They’d been stapled to my character’s leg for the better part of months afterall and I had wondered what had become of them.
Simply seeing them and getting a post script of “Yeah thanks for the help we’re just vibing on the Durotar beach and doing great” was all I needed, really. I wouldnt have wanted a huge questline for it. Just some indication the story has moved on and an illusion that the non playerable characters are - well, characters- who move on and do other stuff after you’ve sorted out their ! dandruff is quite nice.
Obviously for things like reclaiming Gilneas you absolutely want that to be an on screen affair. But please do remember you are Dungeon Masters, not Movie Directors. A little can go a long way if you let our imaginations run with it.
