I stopped playing wow retail in november 2020, when Shadowlands came out, I was pretty burned out of the game and wanted to take a break to rest a little, I turned back one month ago and found dozens of forum posts criticizing shadowlands story and how its just trash and nothing is actually good. (I wish I was exageratting).
But I still gave it a chance, I leveled my Frost DK to 60 and enjoyed all the new regions, I liked their characters, plot and their themes, Bastion is the most “bad” one (Its not bad tough) but Maldraxxus, Revendreth and Nightfae are so interesting and they do such a good job of telling the story and building new and old characters, It was amazing to see Draka, Alexander Mograine and Lady Vah’j again.
Another thing that people seem to hate are Covenants, because 90% of the time you pick them up for gameplay and not story, sadly (or thankfully) Frost DK best covenants are the necrolords and they are my favorite aswell, so I didnt mind. I’m currently playing throughout the Necrolords campaign and I’m enjoying it aswell.
Shadowlands has a lot of problems, some points in the main history are not very good aswell but there are so many things that I just loved it, Idk, maybe its just me.
Thank you for reading until here if you did, feel free to insult me or say your opinion here, Wow community is very over the edge latelly I dont know what to expect tbh.
Eh, I personally am because they basically took everything from the Night Elves in BfA and then ignored them…then told us that we’d get our resolution in Shadowlands and then we also got nothing in Shadowlands.
The main plot revolving around Sylvanas has been really really bad for a long time. From her having entirely different motives every patch to Blizzard destroying everything people liked just for Sylvanas, it’s just all around awful.
Characters are also acting in inconsistent ways, good story opportunities aren’t being used and the main plot has generally just been a pile of nonsense.
Characters forget about things or completely change their mind in a 180 turn over the course of a single patch or act irrationally just so that it fits the plot.
You also never know if the villain is going to face justice or if you’re suddenly the evil one for trying to bring the villain to justice. With Sylvanas, the latter seems to be the case.
In short, the side stories with the quests aren’t as problematic as the main plot. Much of Shadowland’s story is also still tainted with the absolute atrocity BfA’s story was and the fact that it still lacks resolution in many aspects.
The main plot seems to be a bad fan fiction from someone that just wants his little pet characters to succeed while screwing over everyone else and then ignoring them later.
I get it why you think like that, Sylvanas is really incosistent sometimes, I dont know what to expect of her and think of her with the way Blizzard is writting her.
But I still think Shadowlands isnt just Sylvanas and Anduin, there is a lot more you know. Draka is still Draka, we are getting more about Alexander Mograine, We get Ysera again and there are some new characters appearing, Nightfae has some pretty neat new content aswell.
Who knows, maybe in 9.1 we get an end to Sylvanas debauchery with her being a new boss eh? Who knows, i’m probably just optimistic.
And yeah, I want Night Elves retribuition aswell lol
You don’t really need to expect anything. Different people are different. I encountered some who liked the BfA story, and there is nothing unusual if somebody had a specific character or a plot line, or a place, resonating with their preferences.
When it comes to the Shadowlands story, to me it was like “ok, Afrasiabi is out, let’s take a look if his leadership was a problem, and if the team are slaves to rool of cool™, etc.”.
What do I see as we approach 9.1? Inconsistencies with older lore, both from 9.0, as well as the older one. Ease with which the devs approach retcons. No desire to take the player experience into account. And really thematically it’s odd.
Like, it supposed to make me think about Sylvanas hesitating, but why would I care when she went full Arthas with Delaryn? The moment where it could catch my attention is long gone. This story so far seems like a mimic of the Lady Waycrest story. There is the whole zone depicting horrors which she unleashed, all the way to murded prior to her being involved with the drust. And in the end the story goes like “oh, she actually is a tragic character!” To which my only reaction was “it’s too late to try to make me care”.
Or with the whole meta-narrative about “cycle of hatred”, whatever it means in the eyes of the devs. What is the game telling about going out of this “cycle”? Revenge for fungarians. Revenge for the Ebon Blade members. Revenge for Bastion. Revenge for a tortured soul in Perdition Hold. So, how am I supposed to look at the story about whatever cycle the devs imagine, when the game hammers in the theme that yeah, outright vengeance is fine! (except for the selected cases where the devs say “not for these characters though”)
And list goes on and on. It messed up and gave about no follow up to loyalists, which is a clear verdict to how the devs treat player choices. It does not seem to follow Tyrande’s motivation, turning away from the very reasons she jumped in to begin with. It invalidates the believes and afterlife concepts of variety of cultures in the game. Etc.
Overall, to me so far it’s the expansion where the devs go like “we will replace what you knew with different things and you’ll like it! Just wait and see!” And to me it just removes the interest from playing the game, I did not even bother unlocking more than 1 allied race, as the story in general just makes me think “why even bother”.
Idk, I’ll take a look at how the story shapes up in 9.2, and maybe will take another 7 year break lol.
gl hf
You make some valid points about the loyalists and some of blizzard decisions about the lore in general, Yeah I can definetely see why there is so much discontent in a lot of regards.
I still havent finished 9.0.5 story so I still need to see a lot of stuff to form a solid opinion, so I will take what you said in consideration for the future.
There’s a lot of problems that stem over from BFA’s atrocious story and the lack of resolution to the main theme. The War between the Alliance and Horde. Neither side got satisfactory endings or resolutions to the crimes committed or the damages done. Tack this on top of a plotline that deals with such unrelatable themes and answers to a system nobody really cared for or had any purpose going to.
None of the characters at hand can even relate to the “Afterlife” theme beyond cliche story moments such as Thrall meeting his mother’s ghost. Or us travelling with old familiar faces we slew in raids or lost along the Warcraft story. Characters who would be better suited for an Afterlife expansion are not here or have any involvement. And the ones who are have absolutely no reason to be there in the first place.
The Night Elves have taken a huge blow and were written into a narrative hole that Blizzard continues to dig deeper, rather than resolving. No matter what happens, or what we do. The Night Elves are still dead, are still homeless, and majority of their lands are left up in the air of what is even left for them. Darkshore may be reclaimed; but Ashenvale was once the focal point of the Horde’s war is still presumably under Horde Command now.
The Undead are left with not a leader, are homeless, have lost their valkyr reproduction for undead forces. They have been just as similarly gutted as the Night Elves without not even so much a hint for suitable recovery. There’s hints that Calia Menithel; a rumored name and underdeveloped undead is trying to be built for the role. But has absolutely nothing to show or prove her worth to lead the Forsaken.
The game wants to invoke a story of war; but retroactively expect us to want peace with one another. Scolding us for a war we didn’t start. Expecting us to get along while allowing one side to start the conflict intentionally or accidently. (Almost always the Horde, surprise for nobody) Now they made very real reasons to want war and have nothing to show for it.
In short - BFA’s aftermath has tainted everything from here on out. The Shadowlands is completely unrelatable and worst off; we have no clue what to expect or what to care for. So far, people could be in agreement the Afterlife sucks 
and is better off changed, destroyed, or left behind. There’s nothing for us to bring back to Azeroth. With further conflicts such as what is the Light Fatih supposed to enjoy now that the Afterlife has proven there’s no afterlife in the Light?
How do we go on from here? We’re so cosmic that anything we go back to in Azeroth feels hollow, unrelatable to the character’s strengths, and worst of all… nothing is coming back home once we’re done here.
I agree with some of your points and disagree with others.
I agree, the horde and the alliance did not ‘finish’ the war in BFA, Sylvanas crime were not punished yet. Will she die or pay for her crimes? I dont know, I dont want Blizzard to redeem her, if she is hesitant fine, but lets not forget everything she has done and did in the past.
Night elves are fighting for revenge, for retribuition for Teldrassil, I hope they get it because its pretty realistic and understandable why they want revenge, It would not be a good decision if Blizzard denies Tyrande’s justice.
I’m going to be honest with you here, i dont agree with your view on the characters that we meet in the afterlife and I dont think Thrall reunion with draka is “cliche”, I think they are doing a pretty solid job in shwoing what the afterlife is and the way people treat it. But I will say that I understand your view on the “future”, where do we go from here? I dont know aswel man, I dont know.
A minor addition. I think that this post summarizes rather well the feel for the story at the moment:
gl hf
Shadowlands is literally hell, my guy. If you like the characters they’re using, pretty much every single one of them gets shafted somehow, or sidelined for literally 8 months. I personally really like Anduin, so you can imagine how I’m taking the xpac. I want it to be over.
Personally I did care about the Shadowlands because I heard about it in Nobbel videos some years ago, I was curious about it so I get that most people didnt knew nothing about it.
And yes, I agree with Sylvanas and Anduin Melodrama, about the new villain I dont think thats a bad thing, we needed a new villain afterall the old ones where all defeated (except VoidLords).
I also quit the game back before Shadowlands launch, but for me it was before the N’zoth raid as my guild had pretty much quit during Azshara’s Palace to go play Classic and I was fed up with BFA’s story. I skipped Shadowlands launch but started playing again in the spring.
Like you I mostly enjoyed the story in Shadowlands. I live Revendreth and everything there is to it, Maldraxxus is interesting and the other two zones are pretty. The Maw kind of sucks but everyone thinks the Maw kind of sucks so no surprises there. Overall though, it’s been a nice break for me from Azeroth and all the drama that BFA stirred up.
Part of why some people hate the story in Shadowlands is becaus e hey don’t think it adequately follows up the story of BFA. Also part of the reason some people hate Shadowlans story is because it does try, and they would rather just forget about the whole thing and start over fresh.
Me, my main complaint is just that it feels like the story is moving way too slow, largely thanks to the delayed schedule. It ends up feeling like we are picking at old wounds instead of fully addressing them or moving past them. The new plotline s are neither plentiful enough or interesting enough at this stage to serve as a proper distraction either, and I’m not sure they can release enough new content in a single pitch to make up for that.
There is a a reason, at this point, why some fans are hopeful that 9.2 will be the last patch and we’ll move on to the next expansion.
There wont be a 9.3, I’m pretty confident of that too lol
It there is a 9.3 wow will lose many more players
I think the main issue is that for players who are burned out with Sylvanas, and/or didn’t care for Anduin, then the entire main plot has withered right out of the gate. This has been exacerbated by the 9.0 patch taking sooooo long to move past (in any other expansion, we’d either be in x.2 by now or ready for it to land).
The jailer’s personality also doesn’t seem to be clicking with anyone. Denathrius similarly didn’t have any build-up but the character’s personality carries him hard so players are willing to ignore that, but with the jailer, he’s just…eh.
And I don’t think the game mechanics help with this much. It’s one thing if the story sucks as long as the game is fun, but we’re essentially repeating MoP’s “Dailygate” criticism with the anima grinding, which is somewhat strangling people’s ability to collect cosmetics. And there’s also a clash between what covenants a player might find interesting VS what would actually be best for them. Like you pointed out, you felt lucky because Necrolords lined up with your preference. But for someone who, say, likes one covenant’s story but prefers a second covenant’s abilities yet a third covenant has the most interesting transmog options, you’re screwed (I forgot who, but I read about this exact anecdote right before Shadowlands launched). Couple that with Nathria apparently chewing through raid groups and m+ hyperfocusing on certain class combos harder than ever, and there’s a lot less balm to go over disliked story beats.
I dislike the story for the same reason most have pointed out, it’s unknown “big bads” and feels extremely unfinished or thoughtout.
The Sylvanas storyline in BfA was just not needed at the time, when BfA launched. Her story in Legion, with behind the scene deals and what-have-you were great is alluding to the mystery of her character and her motivates.
Since MoP, with Garrosh, Slyvanas always appeared to be up to something.
BfA would have been a much better story if it simply revolved around Anduin and/or Jania being corrupted by N’zoth and attacking the Horde.
Imagine UC was attacked because Greymane was whispering into the ear of Anduin, that it was time to seek revenge for leaving his father to die.
99% of BfA’s story could have been justified as Old God influence some way or another and would have removed the pointless acts of burning Tedrassil.
But now this has forced us into Shadowlands verus an seemingly unknown “big bad” that every single covenant leader knows.
We know nothing about them, but yet they have been siblings for eons, they were the ones to imprison him, and yet none of that knowledge is rallied to the Champions of Azeroth?
Who he is- is unknown.
What he wants- is unknown.
Where he is going- is unknown.
Why any of all that he’s doing- is unknown.
I literally just came back from slaying a World Soul on a destroyed planet through a portal in the sky.
Who is this “jailer” and why should I care?
Edit:
And the whole Slyvanas story line…
Why there isn’t a frozen path of destruction through the horde via Jania, along with a Elune empowered Tyrande, Void empowered Alliera and Holy empowered Turyalon through the Maw is beyond me…
I don’t like it because I don’t like the super high fantasy stuff. So for example, I liked Legion for the areas that were fighting a bunch of demons and big armies. But I didn’t like Argus because we were off on some other world where we’re fighting Titans and such high power levels.
Compare that with saying Burning Crusade where we’re on another planet, but we’re still more grounded, a cog in a greater machine. Heroic and strong, but only to an extent. Shadowlands really ramps things up again from like Battle for Azeroth levels.
This has nothing to do with your post but why is your troll staring into my soul
He’s a Troll wearing a Troll mask.
I enjoy parts of the Shadowlands story, but for me for the first time there’s just this sense of detachment. The concepts are so high fantasy and abstract that it’s difficult to relate to as well. It also doesn’t help that we’re told this is the afterlife but we’ve really only seen one actual afterlife in the form of Ardenweald, while the rest are the engines that keep those afterlives going.
One of the primary issues I have is that I know the characters we meet generally won’t matter or carry over. I like Kleia, I adore Lady Moonberry and much of the Ardenweald cast, I liked Ysera coming back and portions of that journey as well (Ysera and Alexstrazsa’s relationship as sisters, for instance, was characterized wonderfully). I like that Ardenweald and the Winter Queen give a path to define Elune (because that was inevitable sadly) that isn’t tied to the Light and remains somewhat aligned with night elf themes.
But there’s a lot beholden to BfA in Shadowlands, and it feels extremely detached from the rest of Warcraft beyond some cursory things. The meta narrative is more involved with the leveling story than BfA’s was, at least, but that narrative is both far too huge while also feel inconsequential. We’re at the point where we’re fighting for the afterlives of every single being in the universe, past, present, and future. That’s beyond even what the Legion was, as a threat. The Shadowlands are more removed from Azeroth than WoD was, and WoD was going backwards in time to an alternate timeline!
One major thing I’ve noticed, for me, is that I have very little desire to redo the levelling story, which is usually the best part of an expansion’s story, or at least it has been for the last… three expansions, in my view (with some outliers in Legion). I will replay the hell out of the WoD levelling stories for the most part (Gorgrond and Talador are a bit meh), or Legion’s, or BfA. But even though I appreciate some of the characters in Shadowlands, as I said, beyond maybe Ardenweald I have very little attachment to those arcs.
This is also a big part of it, imo.
Titans and Pantheon were better when they were cosmic forces that had influence on the worlds, but weren’t something the players could defeat.
They should have remained Planet Size beings with immense power levels.
Argus and now Shadowlands (Denathrius, Winter Queen, etc) really kill that vibe.
It should have been:
Legion -
- 7.0 - Gul’dan
- 7.1 - Terroblade or Tichondrius
- 7.2 - Kil’Jaden
- 7.3 - Avatar of Sargeras
Legion Ends as Legion Ends, killing the Avatar releases Sargeras, he plunges the sword into Azeroth like he did.
Sword lands into the Ocean, shattering one of the chains that imprisoned N’zoth. Cinematic ends with N’zoth’s eye opening…
BfA -
- 8.0 - UC Raid - Battle for Lordaeron (Slyvanas’ Abandonment)
- 8.1 - Battle of Dazar’alor - Wrath of Jania (Zol’jin telling the horde to enlist the aid of Zandalari)
- 8.2 - Uldir - Old God’s Awakening
- 8.3 - Eternal Palace - Queen Azshara
Black Empire -
- 9.0 - Rise of Ny’alotha - Cho’gall/ C’thun
- 9.1 - Sword of Sargeras - Madness of Magni
- 9.2 - Return of Xal’atath
- 9.3 - N’Zoth the Corruptor
10.0
- Awakening of Azeroth - A new World
- Dragon Isles - Exploring the cosmos
- Wrath of the Lich Queen - Northrend Revamp
- Servant of the Light - Turyalon
It’s the Story Forums OP
