Opinion: The Void sucks

[TriHard]

Is the void a thing in game or is it some new fancy thingy?

It's new, came with Chronicles vol 1. Therefore I don't see it as canon because it does not have a well established lore like the four big baddies we have left (Sargeras, Zul, Azshara and N'zoth)
I'm disappointed that they took WoW in this direction just for the sake of creating more expansions. True artists would've ended it after Sargeras, but they're a company in the end, so they're doing it for the money.

I think it would've been way better had they ended it at Sargeras and then given us filler expansions afterwards until their next MMO.
Though it depends on who you ask, I personally think of the void lords as filler content because it was just created to give us more expansions.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

My main fear for a void expansion is that Azshara would just be a side boss to N'Zoth and whoever else. I think Azshara should be her own expansion

Azshara is not as big a deal as people like to think. She was perceived by Mannoroth to be more powerful than he was, maybe as strong as KJ or Archimonde. We've since defeated both of them. There's not much evidence that the Naga transformation granted the Highborne much power beyond surviving the Sundering.

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Is the void a thing in game or is it some new fancy thingy?

There have been references to shadow and the Void in the past but it was all very vague. Turns out it's the source of the Old Gods, and ruled by the Void Lords (not to be confused with voidlords, the warlock pets, which do originate there but wander the Twisting Nether).
There is now explicit Void lore, with Shadow priests and discipline priests both using void magic to some extent, and Star Augur Aetreus giving us a vision of what the Void may do.

[Wondercrab]

The aesthetic of it doesn't concern me too much (although anything has the potential to become dull if it's repeated as much as orc architecture or scorched-earth Legion bases have been), what worries me more is throwing another BIGGER big bad into the game once we beat the Legion. This is the perfect time for the game to dial things back a notch, focus on stuff closer to home, and not get carried away with the threat escalation from the last couple of expansions. Give us some new antagonists who aren't just faceless monsters. Let the game breathe for a while.

If WoW gets stuck in the mindset of one-upping its story with bigger and bigger threats without appropriately de-escalating in between them, it's going to become horribly boring. I've also yet to be convinced that the void has the meat on its bones to be a compelling premise for an expansion. Like anything, it could be pulled off well, but so far the reveal of more void baddies has accomplished nothing beyond ruining the core Lovecraftian conceit that made the old gods interesting.

[Aeriel]

Azshara is not as big a deal as people like to think. She was perceived by Mannoroth to be more powerful than he was, maybe as strong as KJ or Archimonde. We've since defeated both of them. There's not much evidence that the Naga transformation granted the Highborne much power beyond surviving the Sundering.

That was putting Azshara on par with KJ and Archimonde before her further empowerment by the Old Gods. By that, she should be more powerful than them.

As for the Void itself, it all depends. I mean if there is any possibility of delving further into some cosmic oddities, like the Holy Nathrezim guy, then it still has potential beyond the purple and black.

[Grimo]

I would hope if they did this, that the Old Gods would play with our minds, and let us see the area's different as they are. For example, a beautiful biome, sometimes shifting to a frozen wasteland, or shifting to what the Void actually is, while being in the same spot. Of course it should happen every 30 seconds, because that would just be annoying, but I think it would be interesting to see this. Mobs wouldn't react to the climate change as they might see something else, or are not actually there.

If they ever did an expansion on the Void/Old Gods, I really hope they let the gods play with our minds at random. Imagine being ecountered by a patrolling elite, but when you're almost dead it disappears and you actually lost no health, but you still tried because you don't know wether it was there or not, and other players just see you trippin' b*lls.

THAT is a great idea

[toxicrusader]

There's a lot of rich dark fantasy that can be associated with Lovecraftian horror, even for an adventure MMORPG like WoW.

I second that.

And, by the looks of the new mounts coming in 7.3, the art team is more than ready to do that approach.

[Deathquoi]

My main fear for a void expansion is that Azshara would just be a side boss to N'Zoth and whoever else. I think Azshara should be her own expansion

I'm not sure how you can follow up the Burning Legion and Sargeras with Azshara as the big bad. She will be a great mid tier boss though.

[bison91]

My only problem is that blizzard is listening to community... instead of doing how they want and feel more freedom. That's why Warcraft 3 was epic with storytelling unlike WoW that has silly quotes like in hollywood.

[FreshKamel]

The Void should just remain a power that has to be there IMO.
I don't like the idea of the Void Lords being actual entities etc. and I'd prefer it if they could never reach people,
but that the Void was something you just automatically "welcomed"/let in when you'd given up, more or less.

Like when you've hit the bottom you either surrender to the void, have faith in the light or just die. Just some abstract shit.
Not actual beings.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

That was putting Azshara on par with KJ and Archimonde before her further empowerment by the Old Gods. By that, she should be more powerful than them.

No. It put her MAYBE on a par with them, according to the perception of one weaker than her.
And as I said, as far as I know there's no confirmation that becoming Naga made the Nightborne more powerful, only that it let them survive the Sundering. Remember they only knew how to draw power from the Well of Eternity at the time, and that source of power is gone now.

[Jester Joe]

Azshara is not as big a deal as people like to think. She was perceived by Mannoroth to be more powerful than he was, maybe as strong as KJ or Archimonde. We've since defeated both of them. There's not much evidence that the Naga transformation granted the Highborne much power beyond surviving the Sundering.

I mean, we went from a world ending Old God (And also previously Titan) empowered dragon to an orc that was a bit empowered by a dead Old God.

I don't think the power level in comparison to other end bosses matters.

[FreshKamel]

The aesthetic of it doesn't concern me too much (although anything has the potential to become dull if it's repeated as much as orc architecture or scorched-earth Legion bases have been), what worries me more is throwing another BIGGER big bad into the game once we beat the Legion. This is the perfect time for the game to dial things back a notch, focus on stuff closer to home, and not get carried away with the threat escalation from the last couple of expansions. Give us some new antagonists who aren't just faceless monsters. Let the game breathe for a while.

If WoW gets stuck in the mindset of one-upping its story with bigger and bigger threats without appropriately de-escalating in between them, it's going to become horribly boring. I've also yet to be convinced that the void has the meat on its bones to be a compelling premise for an expansion. Like anything, it could be pulled off well, but so far the reveal of more void baddies has accomplished nothing beyond ruining the core Lovecraftian conceit that made the old gods interesting.

Perfect post. These are my exact thoughts.

[Mehrunes]

I have faith in the developers that they have more imagination and scope to create varying zones than random forumgoers with a hard-on for negativity in regards to every aspect of this game.

The next expansion could be literally entirely new in every way with new lore, and people would then be back to the good old "they should use established lore hurr durr"-argument.

So you create a hypothetical expansion that's not hooked up in the lore and is an outright asspull, to preemptively complain about the criticism it'd obviously gain for basic continuous storytelling reasons and you paint that criticism as invalid? This is really fucking stupid. But you do you. No one ever accused Blizzard sycophants of not being "unique". But hey, keep having faith in regards to storytelling in the developer that retcons even their retcons and possibly, comes Argus, already retcons Chronicles that was supposed to get all lore straight.

[Rampant Rabbit]

I've been seeing A LOT of hype lately surrounding the impending Void - many believe that there are hints that this will be the theme of the next expansion.

However, I'm really concerned about this direction. As a device to generate hype, and make us excited for a threat beyond the scope even of Sargeras and the Titans, I think it has been successful - not least because of the tantalizing hints of the knaifu.

But, has anyone actually given a though to how this would play out? People are tired of fel green and black now - but the Void would only be worse. Every hint of it we have seen so far is the same amorphous, purple-black mess. Could we really stand an expansion of such environments, or worse, an endless sea of black, gloopy mobs? Not only that, but how do you combat something as abstract as 'the nothingness beyond space and time'? Who are the faces of these villains?

What landscape would it lend itself to other than gloopy, tentacled morasses, ala Twilight Highlands or Netherstorm? How you will make up the diverse biomes that make expansion exploration so exciting?

I just think as a threat, the Void is just too abstract for many to give a fuck.

Best case scenario: the Void is treated like the Abyss in Dark Souls. Its influence only shows in certain areas and in certain creatures of characters, and those areas/characters are the most dangerous in the expansion.

How do others see the Void manifesting itself in an expansion?

The hype was literally created to fill the 'void' after defeating the Legion. It does not mean that we will have an expansion battling the void at all, it simply means an introduction to an even greater evil for expansions to come.

[Mehrunes]

Which ofc will be always a reply here, no matter what the next x-pac is.

Southsea, Void, or what else we can come up with.

There will always be people that don't like something? Who'd have thunk, it's almost as if that was the result of individuality. Or are you doing your usual spiel of how the entire forum complains about everything (which is why people keep making new south seas prediction threads) because your grasp of individuality is even shittier than what the option A entails?

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I mean, we went from a world ending Old God (And also previously Titan) empowered dragon to an orc that was a bit empowered by a dead Old God.

I don't think the power level in comparison to other end bosses matters.

Maybe not, but that doesn't mean Azshara can carry an expansion alone. She's not as big a deal as people like to think, and her lore is intrinsically linked to N'Zoth and the Void.

[Cyi]

I don't want the void. Call me old school but I want to be back on Azeroth fighting local baddies.

[Jester Joe]

Maybe not, but that doesn't mean Azshara can carry an expansion alone. She's not as big a deal as people like to think, and her lore is intrinsically linked to N'Zoth and the Void.

You say that, yet we've been knocked around several times by just her commanders. I mean, remember Vashj'ir? Spent an entire zone basically being knocked around and wrecked by the Naga repeatedly.
Granted, yes, it was on their grounds (Underwater), but they're always a constant threat.

She's definitely larger than Garrosh, at the least, and he basically carried the expansion.

[Justpassing]

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, of course, but my opinion is that you're blowing things outta proportion. We really don't know much about the whole brand new Void to dislike it so much. I mean if you're that old enough to go damn kids and their new lore then sure I suppose.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

You say that, yet we've been knocked around several times by just her commanders. I mean, remember Vashj'ir? Spent an entire zone basically being knocked around and wrecked by the Naga repeatedly.
Granted, yes, it was on their grounds (Underwater), but they're always a constant threat.

She's definitely larger than Garrosh, at the least, and he basically carried the expansion.

I don't think Garrosh himself carried it, it was a story of a war between the two factions, along with the new factors of the Pandaren and the new lore associated with Pandaria. Garrosh may have been the main villain, but he didn't carry the story in the same way Arthas carried Wrath.

I just think you'd struggle to get naga content in a logical way without making it a Void expansion, the stories are so inextricably linked.