Blizz can hit or miss on the characters or having a cohesive story, but the world building in this game is still amazing. Shadowlands is no exception. Walking into each zone and learning the rules they operate under is fantastically immersive, and this is something Blizz does very well very consistently. Sure there are some bad zones, but I can’t think of an expansion that gave us a bad “continent”.
Blizz needs to really hammer on the point that their strength comes from their world building, not particular characters. I keep seeing expansions that clearly want for me to like a certain character and put a ton of focus on them, only for me to be more interested in the lesser characters like the Accuser. And part of the reason she’s great is because she fits so well into the world built around her.
It’s almost like the harder Blizz tries to make us like a character, the less interesting they become. Just focus on the world building and the characters will follow.
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Nah, Shadowlands really was the exception for me. I held no love for whatever the hell it attempted to be based on a simple concept used to explain corpse run.
Also, one of the worst sins in a high fantasy world building is making the afterlife feel so damn… Mundane when you choose to introduce it.
Anyways, even though I hold no nostalgia for old WoW since I was 3 when WoW came out and this game only got introduced to my national currency in Cata, WoW’s world building was much better when the overarching narrative played in the background while you dealt with contained stories in each zone that slowly build up that something larger was going on in the world.
Also, stories like the Sunwell Trilogy, Of Blood and Honor, the Chronicles and the lore exposition in the Warcraft RPG hits just the right spot in a comfy, not over the top, high fantasy world, which is personally how I enjoy it, much different from the post MoP(arguably post Cataclysm) WoW.
I did not think their world building in Shadowlands (with the except of Reven) was very good at all. The zones were bland and the stories were terrible. This was the same in BFA with the exception of Drust and Vol’dun. : /
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I like the visuals. But the world building of the afterlife is so… Arbitrary especially the Kyrians.
Ardenweld was druid lore with rebirth/regenesis.
Maldraxxus was mindless fighting for what?
Revendreth was purgatory I get that… But my God these afterlives are so one dimensional. I would beg for a true death just to get out the boredom.
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I get Valhalla vibes from Maldraxxus. But the zone and surrounding lore is so convoluted and nonsensical.
I mean it’s a bunch of plagues and abominations… what are they fighting for?
The thrill of a fight, Rising up to the challenge of their arrivals and all that other eye of the tiger nonsense…?
OK what purpose do they serve?
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“They’re the army of the afterlife.”
Okay. Why?
“To fend off the Void or the Light.”
Okay. Why?
“Because the Void and Light wanna push into the land of Death…”
Okay. Why?
“Ummmm…”
Why? Why are dead people studying the Plague? For what?
Why do they have spy network and who do they spy on? For what purpose?
“They spy on the Fel.”
Okay. Why?
“Uhhhhh…”
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Uhhhhhh. What world are you living on world building is Blizzard’s weakest point. It’s an inconsistent mess at best and at worst leaves so much that is important to building a world out.