With Shadowlands, World of Warcraft’s eighth expansion, releasing in the fourth quarter of 2020, new environments, characters, lore, and mechanics have been gradually introduced over the last few months. From the Covenants to the infinite dungeon, Torghast, Shadowlands has, to the surprise of many longtime fans, been looking exceptional, especially when compared to WoW’s current expansion, Battle for Azeroth, which underwhelmed many at launch in 2018. Only in 2020 has Battle for Azeroth improved, and Shadowland’s announcement itself was somewhat overshadowed due to the bad faith accrued by Blizzard. Many feared that this may be Blizzard’s last chance at retaining their fans, but once the alpha launched and hundreds of the assets were data-mined, the veil of relative banality began to lift and the unexpectedly impressive features of Shadowlands caught the eye of playtesters.
Along with a return-to-form in systems design, the plot of Shadowlands continues the story which began in Legion, WoW’s sixth expansion. Sylvanas, the corrupt chieftan of the horde-turned-evil-madwoman has struck a deal with the eponymous Jailer, who holds together the fabric of the Shadowlands and rules over the Maw. The Shadowlands themselves are the worlds one enters after they die. The Arbiter, a mysterious being atop of Oribos, the undying city, sends mortal souls to various covenants based on the actions they took in their lives. For example, the vampire-like Venthyr reside in the gothic landscapes of Revendreth. Sinful souls are sent to Revendreth and are made to be rehabilitated by the venthyr. If the soul is rehabilitated, it can then choose to become a part of the Venthyr or get sent to another realm and serve it for all eternity.
However, once Sylvanas shattered the Helm of Domination (also known as the Lich King’s crown), the veil between life and death lifted and both worlds have begun to collide. The players learn of an epidemic occurring within the Shadowlands where, instead of being allocated properly, every soul is being sent into the Maw. The Maw is the jailer’s domain and the location where the vilest and most irredeemable souls exist. At its center lies Torhast, the infinite dungeons players will scale. The players must figure out the source of this issue and bring balance to the shadowlands whilst also pledging themselves to one of the Covenants for the time being.
How Shadowlands Can Change World Of Warcraft Forever
Perhaps the most exciting element of this entire, expansive universe is the changes it may bring once the players return back to Azeroth, the game’s homeworld. Similar to what happened in WoW‘s fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, where the players traveled back in time, the story itself all takes place within this new world being explored. This means that while players can travel back to Azeroth within the game, the travel itself isn’t considered canon in the lore. The game’s lead developer, Ion Hazzikostas, has been explicit about time operating differently within the Shadowlands, meaning that a year inside could in reality be ten years out in Azeroth. This small, cryptic detail has had many lore fanatics reeling with excitement at the possibilities that would emerge out of a time-skip.
Being WoW’s eighth expansion, Shadowlands utilizes the 9.0 patch cycle. The following expansion will utilize the 10.0 cycle, making it the perfect time for some major changes to occur in Azeroth. This time skip could in fact give Blizzard a reason to enhance the world and make it something a little less outdated. While World of Warcraft has aged remarkably well for an MMO made in 2004, the older zones which saw revamps in 2010s Cataclysm expansion are, understandably, drab by comparison to some of the genuinely breathtaking areas being released with Shadowlands. In Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard recreated two of the many older zones for story reasons with their new design systems and to no ones surprise, breathed new life into the janky textures of old. Combing over the world and creating this kind of monumental change would be understandably difficult and probably require more than the usual two-year expansion cycle, however, it could reinvigorate the game itself.
Why World Of Warcraft Should Move Forward In Time
Shadowlands also sees a level squish, meaning that players no longer have to level a whopping one hundred and twenty times to be able to experience the end-game content. Now, players can venture forth into the game and select an expansion to level within and, once they hit level fifty, they can venture forth into the Shadowlands. This makes the task of leveling up far less tedious. This also gives more reason for players to enter the world itself and, in turn, gives Blizzard reason to restructure the fundamentals of the core world. With this time skip and the truly immense amount of work it’d take to recreate the base world, Blizzard would understandably be incapable of creating brand new zones on top of the old ones. Instead, as proposed by a variety of players, Blizzard could find a way to make every zone in the game an end-game location as well. By recreating the max-level experience, leveling areas could remain relevant through repeatable world quests, bosses, and new dungeons and raids that spring up after this restructuring. By recreating the old world, old and new players receive brand new reasons to go exploring as well as giving the game itself a great jumping-off point for new players.
Suddenly, World of Warcraft’s leveling won’t feel like a strange amalgam of low-res zones populated by high-res characters huddled up to newer high-res zones beside low-res cities. The juxtaposing quality makes for a bizarre leveling experience currently, and while Shadowlands does well to fix a lot of these issues, the main issue of the old world feeling, well, old, will still linger. On top of that, Blizzard has given itself a great reason to do this as well. With over sixteen years of game knowledge, they could make positive improvements to some of the sparser zones in the game while still retaining the sanctity of the first expansions.
But what could happen to cause such drastic changes? Surely ten-or-so years in the future would just have a few vines growing over the major cities, right? Well, not exactly. With the Helm of Domination shattered by Sylvanas, the undead have no master any longer. They do not follow the Lich King and can, in fact, roam free and cause havoc. With the players (and many of the faction’s most prominent leaders) gone, they could wreak chaos across the entirety of Azeroth. Necropolises float across the sky, undead roam the streets of Stormwind, and serene zones such as Winterspring become hotbeds of plague and death. The player’s job, theoretically, would be to save these areas and, in a strange turn of events, find and crown a new Lich King who can rule over the undead, or perhaps even recreating the crown that has wrought so much destruction. This could pose interesting ethical questions while also dosing some older players in heaps of nostalgia.
In reality, all of this is theoretical and could pose an unfathomable amount of issues for Blizzard. It may be more convenient to simply let the old world be and move onto bigger and greater things. It is undeniable that players have an attachment to this world as seen by the success of World of Warcraft: Classic, although the existence of Classic could in fact be reason enough to change the current game. The old Azeroth exists in memories and faithful recreations. It won’t go anywhere. Blizzard, on the other hand, should keep trying to push boundaries and challenge players. Currently, the game rarely provides any surprises for fans of the lore. Every expansion introduces a new villain that gets dealt with in that expansion and then players move on. The players always win, and the powers of evil are squelched for the time being. A change of pace could be healthy, especially nine expansions in, and would undoubtedly give other MMO fans reason to try to enter the World of Warcraft again.
