Those still felt like World of Warcraft.
Shadowlands doesn’t.
At. All.
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Bolvar did say be wary with shadowlands. Maybe what we are seeing is vastly different then what the dead are seeing.
Watch out for the flying-motorcycle riding Super Jailer.
its going to be either light crystals everywhere or old god goo we probably will never see the pre cata world in retail again
Its explained pretty well that if we don’t contain and close the rift between Azeroth and the Shadowlands that the maw will end up to consume Azeroth.
So once we jump into the Shadowlands to rescue our leaders we find out things are more dire than what was once thought. Also the afterlife or Shadowlands is pretty connected to all worlds as explained since all dead souls end up there.
As far as how the main hub city of Oribos plays out, well its treated like most main city hubs in any xpac, you go there to use what ever you need and you leave most the time you fly through it on your way to some where else, like doing world quest without as much as a care. Its a lag fast to hang out in because of so many NPC’s and players parking in it. The fact its a floating city in the sky, pretty much been used before with Dalaran, a big round city in the sky where you can ride around and around in circles to hit the shops and quest givers, and banks.
9.0 outside of leveling and the 1st raid, and the normal mythic + runs, didn’t offer much beyond that, but that is pretty normal for the 1st installment of a xpac. If your not into doing other things to keep you busy, you hit a brick wall once you level up until the next major patch comes out. Its one reason I keep raiding, it expands beyond just level to max, getting your ilvl up a bit then poof, your done for now. While the same thing happens even with raiding, you can only go so far before you hit your brick wall there too. Then you have to wait for the next patch of content.
I think a lot of people burn through content, I feel a lot of people paint themselves into the corner of very narrow style of play. Once they play that out, then they become very bored and upset that WoW doesnt cater to them and offer more.
But to get back to the subject Oribos feels to me just like any other hub city, you drop in do your business then leave or stand around like a dope and waste time.
I enjoy Shadowlands, and given that I been playing it way back in beta and I still find it worth to keep my attention and still leveling my 40 toons to max level, while raiding 9 hours per week on my main when I am not feeling sick. I see it as any other xpac and story line.
Dalaran was always connected directly to whatever expansion it was in. In WoTLK, it was in Crystalsong Forest. You could see Icecrown in the distance. It was immersed in the zones. In Legion, you could see the broken shore from Dalaran. If felt right at the edge of the expansion.
All major cities are hubs, but Oribos feels, to me just removed. The zones feel removed from each other as well. I understand the story, and where the threat is coming from. I understand lore wise how the shadowlands are linked to Azeroth. However, to me, it just feels that everything feels so far removed from Warcraft.
I havent come close to running out of things to do yet. Im 9/10H for my AoTC on my main. I have alts to level. Im not bored with the expac. Im not upset WoW isnt catering to me personally. Its still worth my sub. It still doesnt change that I feel, when playing Shadowlands, similar to reading a Stand Alone Novel, attached to a series that I am reading. Its good, entertaining and a great filler till the next book in the series comes out.
#humblebrag
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Hmmm … I don’t know about that. The Pandaren Brewmaster was in Warcraft 3 as a neutral hero and that pre-dates World of Warcraft. Yeah, I know it started out as an April Fool’s joke but after it was put into the Warcraft 3 game Pandarens became part of Warcraft canon. I totally felt like they belonged by the time Mists of Pandaria came out having been a huge Warcraft 3 fan back in the day.
Bro, it’s the friggin afterlife LOL.
What the hell did you expect? Highly doubt we saw this much crying over Argos.
I for one enjoy the aesthetics of the Shadowlands. Coming from ESO where literally every zone looks the samey less some architectural difference, Shadowlands has been a breath of fresh air. The 3 main zones we got in BFA were also very samey with just slight variations in the atmosphere.
I just don’t think you enjoy high fantasy, in which case, Black Desert and ESO exist.
They’ve just had the game going on too long. It’s pretty obvious that they’re running out of ideas, and needing to up the ante each expansion is creating problems. We are a small step away from living gods at this point.
They should have made a WoW2 at end of cata. Push the timeline forward some, could me up with new characters to create a story with, and keep “power levels” semi sane.
Not holding my breath though, and fully expect we will just be fighting the universe itself in the next expansion.
The Shadowlands have been in the lore since the beginning of time.
They didn’t just make it up. I’m glad we are adventuring outside of Azeroth.
It will make the return that much more welcoming. After BFA, it was time to get some fresh atmospheres.
Probably bring back subs
Maybe over time, the Jailer will just pull each zone to the maw. Yay!
Opinion. Subjective opinion.
I played through BFA and Shadowlands feels like the same game to me just with a different atmosphere (which I prefer versus the samey BFA alliance zones).
Edit: also, I absolutely LOVE the Maw aesthetics. Seriously, it gives me some Doom/Mordor vibes. That ESO is releasing Oblivion, it’s going to be great seeing how those two iterations of “hell” compare. But aesthetically, the Maw is great.
At least Draenor felt like WarCraft, if it wasn’t entirely derivative.
Shadowlands has gorgeous, beautiful worlds that I feel entirely disconnected from, and lays bare these involved, deep systems that will also be staying put in this expansion.
It doesn’t feel like anything will be “brought forward.”
As much as you can summarize WoD as “Gul’dan resurrected” and ignore the rest with very little incongruity in the ongoing narrative, I have a feeling we’ll be able to summarize Shadowlands as “Sylvanus (died/redeemed/both),” and nothing else will matter.
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That’s part of the problem in that, we’re not.
We slay universe-level threats with one patch and help a farmer harvest carrots in the next. There is no consistency with our role in this world.
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Shadowlands is pretty important to the overall story of WoW.
Shadowlands delves into:
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The origins of the Spirit Healers and their purpose.
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The Dreadlords and their motives
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The origins of the Helm of Domination, Frostmourne, and the Frozen Throne and why it’s located where it is.
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The origin of Necromancy
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The creation of our entire cosmology
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Azeroth’s place in the cosmos.
Yes, it’s a more grand story than those of Pandaland or BFA, but it’s definitely not disconnected from WoW’s story.
Garrosh Hellscream, Garrosh Hellscream please come to the white courtesy telephone, there is a message waiting for you
Seriously… Oribos is so… bland it’s less interesting than the Atlanta Airport. It’s too clean and orderly for a city… even Singapore has more residue on the streets than this.
Who says everyone didn’t?
…
The existence of a comic relief character does not naturally lead into doing an entire ZONE of content where we fight giant dopey rabbits, getting hammered, ooking monkeys in the dooker, and stealing fizzy lifting drink. Like, come on bro. Valley of the Four Winds has to be the absolute most disjointed WoW has ever been with its own roots. Warcraft has a style of humor but that was NOT it.
Blizzard has done comic relief style zones at this point. Mechagon is essentially one giant comic relief to the horrors of the Fourth War and Nazjatar but it also fits the style of WoW. It didn’t just decide to put Bugs Bunny / Big Chungus into World of Warcraft.
Because despite the name it’s not really a city. It’s a machine built by the First Ones for the Arbiter and her Attendants.
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