So bear with me. Nothing happens of import in BFA. Most the villians are still around in one form or another. Legion actually does a better job of building up to Shadowlands than BFA with Sylvanas actions at stormheim and broken shore.
So after WOT which technically was at the end of Legion does anything else happen that couldn’t be ignored? Its not like we resolved that giant sword issue sticking out of the planet.
I think I’m just gonna pretend BFA didn’t happen and my DK is still the Deathlord heading into the shadowlands to chase down Sylvanas.
New races joining the Horde and Alliance, Rastakhan and Saurfang dying, Queen Azshara being beaten, Sylvanas officially saying screw it the Horde and leaving, the return of Wrathion, and N’Zoth being killed are nothing of importance?
Plenty of important things happened in BfA, but I’m not sure they can prevent you from doing exactly that. Like, for me, a Goblin and Shaman main … none of the covenants really call to me. Frankly, it seems like Goblinkind are sort of doomed to end up punished in the afterlife purely due to the nature of their civilization; one heavily reflective of a extremely brutalized ex slave race.
Thus, I’ll be going into SLs with no real consideration for what happened in BfA. Choosing my “For Now” best in slot Covenant, and will be RPing the hell out of the Goblin side of this character for the first time in a long while. We have a bunch of cultists who’s entry fee to Angel-dom is dump statting wisdom and charisma along with their memories? Sounds like they could use some “Ascendance Vouchers”. Simply sign on the dotted line of this special legally binding living world document that transfers all your worldly possessions over to me, and it will take years off your quest for wings. I’m doing them a favor, helping them move on from their mortal lives.
It shouldn’t be entirely ignored, but many parts need serious editing, just from what you listed: There is no motive for most of the Horde to burn Teldrassil and be ok with undead raising and blights( which in the past were shown to be despised), Garrosh already had the precedence of the same storyline and repeating the same story is bad writing, Vol’jin is portrayed as a fool for trusting some random voice he didn’t recognize so any honor he gets just feel undeserved.
Is encouraging retcons really the way to go about it though? The “eh who cares what we write we’ll just retcon it later” approach isn’t exactly going to lead to a good story.
I’m very confused. What exactly does any of this mean?
Like, let’s be hypothetical for a second. Let’s assume everyone reading this thread totally agrees with you and is on-board for it.
What then? Future expansions are still going to operate under the assumption that BfA happened. Teldrassil is still a smoldering stump, Lordaeron is still a stinky ruin, Tyrande still has black eyes and Sylvanas is still a villain. None of this goes away because we choose to pretend it isn’t the case.
Is the point of this just that we all agree to yell at anyone who comes on this forum and references BfA stuff? You want us all to buy into a shared delusion and engage in this wild gatekeeping system to force everyone else to do so as well?
That’s not how stories work. That would be like declaring Fred survived the Battle for Hogwarts because enough people ignored that he died and then J.K. Rowling giving in.
And the AU Mag’har, Zandalari, Vulpera, Dark Irons, Kul Tirans, and Mecha-gnomes joined in BfA.
Per Blizzcon Alliance won both of them, and Shadows Rising confirmed that Danath is in control.
Saurfang’s death help set up Sylvanas leaving and her alliance with Death, the idea of the factions breaking the cycle of war, and paved the way for the Horde Council over a Warchief.
Except these deaths are being used to showcase how Sylvanas, and her allies in the Shadowlands itself have gotten stronger.
Sylvanas only left after Saurfang got her to admit to her seeing the Horde as nothing, which completely undermined her doing everything for the Horde PR. If not for that Sylvanas would have continued to use the Horde until there was nothing left.
Bwonsamdi is the Loa of Kings, which was confirmed outright in Shadows Rising. And the novel is another example of why BfA can’t be ignored.
It revealed that an outside factor wanted Sylvanas to be Warchief and hinted towards the Shadowlands by actually having enemies from the afterlife attacking us.
N’Zoth’s machinations were apart of the troubles on Kul’Tiras, motivated Ashara and Sylvanas with their bargain with the Black Blade, killed Ra-den, and ended the Black Empire/Ny’alotha arc/mystery in WoW.
And other stories in BfA will most likely factor into future expansions. Like Xal’atath being free.
I’d consider the allied races to be BFA content, since you actually needed the expansion in order to access the questlines to unlock them in the first place. Blizzard only let players unlock them a little early to tide over Legion’s downtime. The expansion was already over by then.