When we hop back and forth from Orgrimmar or Stormwind back to Shadowlands, story-wise we’re not really doing that? The whole expansion will from a lore perspective take place exclusively in SL?
1 Like
I would argue that the portals exist.
The NPCs about Oribos comment on the recent wave of mortals and the boon to their business and that these mortals wont likely remain long and they should take advantage of the opportunity.
Lore wise its proably only special personal going to and from. But a connection exists.
Edit: The way they talk does not make it sound like just a handful of Dks and the maw walkers, but a much larger profound change with so many mortals.
Spoiler:
We use a piece of the Helm of Domination to open a Death Gate to Azeroth while in Oribos.
1 Like
sits down and stretches the feet
Best to not worry about such things.
That’s just for gameplay purposes.
One of the devs said in an interview that storywise once we’re there, we’re there until the job is done.
I’ll try and find it again. Was in a video somewhere.
Were stuck there for the time being lore-wise, You kinda don’t just casually traverse the realm of death.
1 Like
This happens in the story. Bolvar literally walks out of the gate. Idk what you read but it’s not correct anymore.
What happens in the game isn’t necessarily canon. That’s been shown time and time again.
I’ll post the video if I can find it but it was stated that the heroes of Azeroth are absent during SL’s storyline.
1 Like
The portals exist, as NPCs that didn’t come through with us into the Maw will appear in Oribos, but that being said, I’d imagine the portals are reserved for VIPs and it’s not something that every random Joe will be able to use on a whim due to the nature or Oribos and its inhabitants.
Jailer: NO ONE ESCAPES THE MAW!
Hearthstone
Yes, that’s what I’m assuming according to Ion kind of referred to at Blizzon last year… I think?
This is what I personally want as it possibly leads to a time skip post Shadowlands which I’m all for. 
1 Like
Maybe you unlock the hub city in SL which has everything you need, and then chromie can send you back to “old times” for old content
Once we enter Shadowlands we are stuck there until we either finish the xpac or we get a rez.
Wouldn’t be unprecedented. Generally, unless the storyline specifically has an event that brings you out of there, canonically you spend the entire length of the expansion in the area where it takes place.
Keep in mind, in game a ship from Stormwind to Northrend, or the Eastern Kingdoms to Kalimdor takes about 30 seconds. Canonically, you’d have been at sea for months.
Obviously, from a gameplay standpoint, they aren’t going to make you wait months if you want to take a ship from one place to another, and naturally they aren’t going to lock you out from entire cities and zones. However, as far as the story is concerned, we’re trapped there and will eventually need to find a way home.
Sylvanas will set us free. She’ll return all those portals stolen from us.