It’s totally fair to say that Blizzard jumped the gun by introducing two of Warcraft’s all-time biggest villains in back-to-back patches. Up until Battle for Azeroth, we had only seen glimpses of N’Zoth and Azshara, as the two were ominous figures that we knew would play a role down the line through a carefully crafted, and seriously lengthy storyline.
However, when they finally entered the fray in BfA, what we got was a haphazard story that was clearly thrown together in an effort to play catch-up with an expansion that was very obviously way too far out ahead of itself.
Of course, this is all my opinion, but the real intriguing story that BfA brought forth was the conflict between the Alliance and Horde – not the denizens of Azeroth vs. the Old Gods. Magni and the Champions of Azeroth felt like a side plot in the beginning of the expansion that was strangely elevated to the main plot by the end. If Blizzard was to just dedicate an expansion to one of these conflicts, the story would have ended up more focused. But, when you’re split too thin and the story is trying to balance out two massive plotlines, the waters get muddied on both ends.
If we could go back in time, I would have loved to see Blizzard focus entirely on the Alliance and Horde in BfA. The origins of the expansion were solid, and characters like Jaina, Saurfang, Anduin, and even Talanji and Zekhan were getting serious time in the spotlight – and it was paying off. However, when Azshara was introduced to the game halfway through around June of last year, the narrative of BfA really took a hard left turn and never recovered.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I ended up loving Nazjatar. I would even go as far as saying it was my favorite zone from BfA. However, I can’t help but feel like the zone would have been a lot more “at home” in a different expansion – one that focused entirely on Azshara and her connection to the Black Empire.
And while we’re on the subject of characters that relate strongly to the Black Empire, I can’t help but lump Wrathion onto the roster of “Team Wasted Potential”. Instead of having his grand return to center stage take place at the back-end of the expansion’s story, it would have been so much more satisfying to see Wrathion play a major part in a N’Zoth-focused xpac down the line straight from the beginning in a similar vein to characters like Khadgar in WoD and Illidan in Legion.
Frankly, I would have been totally satisfied and pretty unbothered if Azshara and N’Zoth (and even Wrathion) were placed on the back burner and introduced at a later date – perhaps even after we leave Shadowlands in a few years from now.
When Sylvanas and Saurfang battled outside the gates of Orgrimmar, it felt like Battle for Azeroth was getting a genuinely proper sendoff after a relatively tumultuous run. I can’t say I felt that same sort of emotion or connection to the expansion in Ny’Alotha or in Nazjatar. Towards the back end of BfA, the content felt out of place and not on the same page as the tone of the expansion’s launch or first few months. The noble and humble stories of Kul Tiras and Zandalar were almost instantly dwarfed by Queen Azshara, N’Zoth, and the invasion of the Black Empire.
Regardless of how BfA played out, it would have been great to see Sylvanas’ story wrapped up tightly while otherworldly, omnipotent forces like Azshara and N’zoth continued to loom on the horizon. The rush to tie things up and force storylines where they clearly didn’t need to be was one of the ultimate downfalls of BfA, and I’m sincerely hoping that the overarching story of the game’s upcoming expansion is far more tight-knit and focused. But most importantly, I hope the story to be told in the immediate future learns from the mistakes of its immediate predecessor.
Daily Quest is Michael Kelly’s daily World of Warcraft column on picksandbans.net. You can follow him on Twitter, WordPress, and Youtube for more content, opinions, and musings.
Featured image via Blizzard Entertainment.
Def your opinion. As I wasted 1 min reading your teribble opinion piece.
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This is an A+ take.
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Imagine writing about how much you liked Sylvanas’ story as well as the horde/alliance conflict and failing to grasp that the only reason any of it happened was N’zoth twisting Sylvanas’ mind for the entirety of the story.
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N’Zoth had nothing to do with that as everything about Sylvanas relates to the plot of Shadowlands and her working with the Jailer
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I think it’s from a generally haphazard vision of the game rather than a distinct idea that works. There’s a lot of experimentation in BFA that doesnt pay off. You’ve War Mode which is strongly reminiscent of The Division’s Dark Zone – flagging hostile players and supply drops. Along with enough subcurrencies and arbitrary achievements to make your head spin. Playing through the Alliance main narrative quest provides an on-rails experience that devolves the “World” of Warcraft into a single player experience in a sandbox, building on the Argus patch from Legion.
There’s more to mention but suffice it to say that along with an antiquated combat and telegraphing system, it would have been prudent to develop a worthy successor. Unfortunately, with the current CEO, J. Allan Brack, being invested in Warcraft and having the mindset of a company mand, you’re going to see a lot of hum drum product sans outliers from existing long time developers leading 1 or 2 teams that could put out a good product regardless of where they work.
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Hey I’m not sure if you paid attention in game but Wrathion is still alive and story relevant, Azshara is still alive and relevant, and lastly N’zoth and other old gods are notoriously hard to get rid of. Title seems misleading.
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They’re not hard to get rid of. They just taint the land where their corpses are. They’re all dead now.
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Azshara is still around. You might be the first person though who actually liked the Horde vs. Alliance story of BfA, and definitely the first person to like Sylvanas’ story.
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I mean as it stands she needs to find a massive source of power just to not become wretched or whatever she’d become. With her level of use and addiction to the well nzoth had to be the only thing sustaining her. Also without the well she’s barely a mage on par with jaina or khadgar.
Nzoth got exactly what he deserved and actually more considering yogg and cthun who were more powerful for side raids of vanilla and wrath. Azshara should have gotten the ysera treatment.
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I can’t agree. Focusing on the Horde vs Alliance may have been neat for the miscreants that are PvP players, but as a PvE storytelling point, it was terrible. Horde vs Alliance hasn’t been relevant since the end or Warcraft 3 and Blizzard’s attempts to make it relevant again have fallen flat. Especially with their clear Horde bias. Horde vs. Alliance is old and tired and needs to be retired. PvP should remain the side game that it is forevermore.
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I feel like a majority of people relate to this. I, personally, was always a big fan of Azshara and the Old Gods as I absolutely love Lovecraft. I was thrilled when it became official that she was working for N’zoth. BfA was already so soul-crushing, the Old God route hurt with how bad it was, and just stamped out any fire I had left burning for WoW.
I miss it, a little, but I feel like I’ve been doing so much more with my time since I left. Maybe it’s for the best that they finally crossed the line for me after 15 yrs. Oh well.
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After your brief assessment I agree. Although I haven’t played since the beginning of WoD I’ve been following the story. It seems BfA sits in the same boat as MOP in my opinion. I felt Garrosh should have been the middle boss and The Thunder King would have been a better finale story wise. Not surprising Blizz have always had issues telling stories. It was definitely a push to get a larger player base rather than tell a cohesive story. If TV, Movies and Games could comprehend that, our entertainment businesses would flourish without even trying too hard. Albeit the mighty dollar is the downfall every time.
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