(TL;DR: The current expansion is a mash of two different ones, essentially retreads of Cataclysm, and MoP.)
So, there’s been some statements floating around the forums (I’ve said so as well) that, as the way too long didn’t read statement says above, BfA is made up of two different expansions that were blended together in a somewhat haphazard way. Because I have too much free time, I thought I would lay out my theories, thoughts, and the evidence regarding this.
Firstly, in order to better see the viewpoint of this theory, we need to discard the idea of linear development for WoW content, and instead take on the mindset that this ‘much larger team’ that was boasted about some time ago isn’t unified in their work. Instead, consider the idea that multiple expansions and features are being worked on at the same time, at any given time. Ergo, a Cataclysm 2.0, an MoP 2.0, and Shadowlands, were all being worked on to some extent concurrently, as opposed to one after the other.
Next, and this one is a little more tinfoil hat (maybe an entire tinfoil suit), take into account that the direction of the latter half of the expansion flies in the face of Blizzard’s pattern that they’ve had in terms of story for quite some time, at least until Legion. That is, one expansion tackles more abstract, high concept fantasy threats, and the following one brings it down a bit by tackling more grounded, visceral threats. You’ll see what I mean by comparing The Burning Crusade with Wrath of the Lich King in terms of story beats and themes. One is extremely high fantasy, bordering on sci-fi, while the other is more grounded, gothic fantasy. WotLK was followed by Cataclysm, which dealt with alternate planes of elemental lords, collecting pieces of a ‘world pillar’ and nuking a giant dragon before he causes the end times. Followed by the more exotic but still somewhat more grounded MoP, followed by WoD, aka alternate reality time travel with demons. Now, at this point, I’m sure you’ll point out that Legion breaks this pattern, and you’d be right, but here’s the thing:
Legion was a mashed together expansion hybrid too.
The first arc of Legion is in keeping with the pattern. Yes the demons are a threat, but we’re exploring the Broken Isles, dealing with much more grounded problems. The demons are there, but we’re still within the realm of Warcraft, of Azeroth, much like MoP. A year later? And we’re on a different planet dodging fire from literal starships before we rescue the spirits of nearly omnipotent gods. If you look at Legion as the combination of an expansion dealing with the Legion threat on Azeroth, and a later expansion where we go to Argus, and several other planets, rooting out the Legion there, the disjointed aspect makes more sense. 7.2 was considered lackluster compared to 7.0, .1, and .3, and that’s because it was made to link the pieces of the two expansions together. The reason Legion did better in terms of both story and content? They sacrificed development on WoD to have more time for it.
So, accepting those ideas, what was the original plan and where’s the evidence for it? I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!
Imagine this, if you will: Blizzard has been working on five different expansions at once, and they have a loose plan for them in terms of order. Legion Invasion(Middle fantasy), Argus(High Fantasy/Scifi), Azerite and faction war(Middle Fantasy), Azshara and N’zoth(High Fantasy), and what will become Shadowlands. They get Legion out, mashing both together, and it manages to go well, great! But what about the next few expansions? Well, we have a faction war expansion, but no pre-order bonus, no cinematic, and nothing planned or even partially developed beyond the first content patch. Meanwhile, the guys working on the Old God stuff have several Saurfang cinematics, a cool Siege of Lordaeron cinematic, some designs for Naz’jatar, lots of Old God designs, and so on. There’s also some new customization options for that big overhaul lying around as well. Shadowlands is a really cool concept, and calls back to the most popular and beloved expansion, so let’s take a shortcut through this faction war and Old God stuff and sprint to that!
Tada, we have BfA. Now, as for what the two expansions would have been, well, it’s not as simple as one expac making up the first portion, and the other making up the second. Instead, we have an almost haphazard sprinkling of stuff all over, some of which is Blizzard level high quality in terms of story and polish, and others seemingly tossed together. But I’ll lay out what sort of clues we have, and try to argue the original path meant to be taken.
First expansion: Cataclysm style pre-patch, no Siege, no Burning. No one actually knows what Azerite does, other that it’s popping up all over the place, and crazy Azerite elementals are attacking major cities. Tensions run high, and due to the underlying machinations of N’zoth, we get war. This time, the Alliance is on the offensive first, with two warfronts, Arathi aaaaand… Silvermoon. Much of the other content is the same in the first bit, with Zandalar and Kul Tiras, and trying to get the fleets. Horde is losing on several fronts, the whole path of the expansion is focused on locking down Zandalar and Kul Tiras from the various major threats, with a much bigger central focus on both Azerite, and the various threats therein, with raids focusing on those local threats. No war campaign, no Saurfang arc, though he’s certainly present. The expansion ends with Azeroth’s wounds being mostly healed, and Azerite starts to slowly vanish.
Evidence/Clues: The pre-patch for BfA is very disjointed from the expansion later. Even with context, it makes little sense, and both factions once the expansion launches are scrambling for it immediately in the war campaign, even as at the same time we have an entire chain in Tirisgarde trying to figure out what the stuff is and what it can do. Characters often act as if they know exactly what Azerite is capable of, meanwhile the pre-patch events are rarely mentioned at all for much of it. As for the warfronts, a Silvermoon Warfront was conceptually datamined way back, but there’s a more obvious clue, that being the upgraded armor/weapons of the Silvermoon Guards, and more glaringly, Lady Liadrin’s new weapons. She’s running around with a sword and shield that don’t match her armor at all, the models screaming Blood Elf, almost as if they were made as a weapon model for a warfront. The first season of BfA is littered with this, designs and assets that seem more suited for raids but are then rushed past in favor of Naz’jatar. Major characters who are supposed to be central to the expansion fade out, and there’s not a single cinematic featuring them.
Second Expansion: Pre-patch event is what we got in BfA, but reversed. Azerite is scarce now, Alliance is winning on all fronts. Alliance pushes to Undercity, because there’s supposed to be a big war machine there… same thing plays out, with Undercity blighted and abandoned, which pushes the Horde to Kalimdor. At which point, there’s a feint made as if the Horde is marching to take Silithus, the last major area with Azerite. War of Thorns happens, Teldrassil burns, Saurfang, who has been slowly exhausted by the war, abandons the Horde and surrenders. He knows something isn’t right, and has for a while. The rest of the expansion is much the same as the latter half of BfA, but with Naz’jatar first, and N’zoth being released. Middle patch is corrupted visions, Nyalotha the third patch. Warfronts are Barrens and Darkshore. Saurfang’s arc is much the same, with Sylvanas finally snapping and leaving the Horde. Horde and Alliance forge a tentative peace by then, followed immediately by N’zoth making his move in full, as seen in the current patch.
Evidence: Metzen wrote the BfA cinematic years ago, and was surprised when he learned it was the Horde who attacked first. We have multiple mentions of Sylvanas being a tactical genius, but we never see it, and her turning against the Horde is very rushed, with little reason as to why the other leaders are slow to turn on her. A lot of her voice lines, especially for the last bit, were recorded very late (per her VA’s tweet about recording those final lines). Yet more evidence, the Darkshore Warfront isn’t nearly as polished as the Arathi one (Kaldorei armor in particular is very rushed, and some sets are literally missing effects), and instead of having one Warfront the Alliance wins, and one the Horde does, we have two where the Horde loses. The war campaign, and even stuff to do with Saurfang, all seems like it was tossed together very quickly. The former isn’t even voice acted, and has no cutscenes, despite being a major part of the expansion, and Saurfang being captured by Tyrande at Teldrassil could easily have been the initial plan, because the scene of him being captured at Lordaeron, a major event, is one of those pseudo-cutscenes, machinima style, whereas almost everything else is a cinematic.
If you’ve read this far, I have two questions. First, what the hell is wrong with you? And second, what are your thoughts on this? Are there any other clues or pieces of evidence you feel support this theory, or do you feel as though it’s far too tinfoil hat and there’s a plethora of other reasons BfA’s story, and content, is so out of whack?
Either way, thank you for reading my word vomit and haphazard brainstorming.