So, I wanted to ask others this because since Legion was my first expansion ever, I might look at it through rose-colored glasses, but I don’t know, I was so invested in the story, even if I was a completely newbie at the game and barely did any end game content. I mean, Dalaran was the coolest thing I ever seen, “A magical kingdom ruled by a council of mages? This is amazing!” At that point I was still a Paladin, but then, when I was half-way through Suramar I just fell in love with mages all around, I loved everything about the class fantasy at that point. Suramar also was one of the coolest storylines I’ve ever seen. It felt for me like how Knights of the Fallen/Eternal Empire/Throne felt in SWTOR, it really felt story-driven and I loved every piece of it.
Then, Demons were everywhere! Even inside cities if your class could see them, Azeroth was flooded in Fel(Even if those lakes were fairly annoying to transverse by) and it really felt like a world ending situation where you were fighting against time. By the time we got to Argus, everything was so interesting. Void being used as a weapon for good? I know Shadow Priests did that, but it was really interesting seeing a Main Character master it. The Army of the Light and for the first time seeing that the Light can be quite tyrannical? I mean, at that point I was still playing my Paladin(My first character) even if it as an alt and it was so interesting that for me, something that has always been a force of good in the lore show it’s dark side.
But the best part is how hopeless things felt. I can’t quite put it, but it really felt like Sargeras was always one minute away from raining down destruction upon Azeroth while we, mere mortals, did everything we could to stop him.
Now, in Shadowlands? I don’t know, I am not exactly feeling anything towards our enemies. Don’t get me wrong, you get some really nice details like Tyrande calling you “Child of Teldrassil” if you are a Night Elf, Kael’thas saying “Our kingdom. Our people” if you are a Blood/Void Elf, I am sure Vol’jin in the Maw quest had special things to say for the Horde for killing that bat Loa and perhaps something else for Trolls(I am not sure though).
Still, the Jailer? He doesn’t feel like a world ending threat looming at the horizon waiting for us to do a single wrong move despite that being exactly what he is doing… I don’t know how to explain but Legion started off with things already being terrible for us, many dying in the Broken Shore(Still one of the coolest scenarios where the Horde and Alliance could see each other… How come they never did this again?) and then demons were everywhere in the Broken Shores. But in Shadowlands, it feels like the Jailer doesn’t even care about anything, he is just there swirling his villain mustache and cackling at us.
Another thing is just how… Physical the Shadowlands feel. It certainly surprised me, I just expected it to be more magical I guess. But no, you die, you get a whole new body that makes you look almost identical to everyone else and you just keep working someway or another… I mean, it really doesn’t feel that peaceful and it really bothers me how even though mortals were never supposed to cross the veil, there is an influx of Azerothians just walking around like it’s nothing… Again, there is no mystique left in the Shadowlands, in the afterlife.
I don’t know, just some thoughts, I am really sorry for the wall of text.
I know many of you won’t read everything so the TL;DR is -
I was more hooked in Legion’s story though might be because of nostalgia, it truly felt like Azeroth could be destroyed at any second and had great storylines like Suramar, in Shadowlands it just feels like the Jailer doesn’t even care about anything.