Why do people think Blizzard is going to run out of lore to make new expansions.

[Grenzstein]

WOTLK storyline and lore was alot better than MOP/WOD/Legion ones.

That’s just like, your opinion, man.
I like the Old Gods / Void lore much more than WoTLK. And that's why Ulduar is my favourite WoTLK raid.

[Deleted]

WoW coming to an end is extremely unlikely because it's still making boatloads of money.

So would a WoW 2.

[Heavens Night]

WoW was a game literally based on Warcraft 3. That was the whole point: To make the world of >>>warcraft<<< come to life. The original design for Vanilla WoW was 100 levels featuring Outland and Northrend as well. That's why there's such an obvious shift in the lore and game design after Wrath. I don't think the game was really meant to keep introducing new lore like this, but obviously after Wrath was over and the game was so huge nobody would tell Blizzard to stop development.

WoW wasn't based on Warcraft 3. There are currently 3 Warcraft RTS games, it was based "around" them all, not just 3, they wouldn't have been able to build a huge MMO around 1 game.

And I would wager there will be a Warcraft 4 since Starcraft is done for now, which will create more lore and story. Also of course there are.. what.. how many books now? Loads.

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That’s just like, your opinion, man.
I like the Old Gods / Void lore much more than WoTLK. And that's why Ulduar is my favourite WoTLK raid.

As do I. WotLK on a whole, bored the shit out of me. I find the old gods and the lovecraftian influence much more interesting.

[Wvvtayy]

WoW was a game literally based on Warcraft 3. That was the whole point: To make the world of >>>warcraft<<< come to life. The original design for Vanilla WoW was 100 levels featuring Outland and Northrend as well. That's why there's such an obvious shift in the lore and game design after Wrath. I don't think the game was really meant to keep introducing new lore like this, but obviously after Wrath was over and the game was so huge nobody would tell Blizzard to stop development.

Who made WoW? Who made WC3?

[Hctaz]

Who made WoW? Who made WC3?

Not the same people who are making WoW today. A lot of the team left after Wrath to do new things. Metzen isn't there anymore and he was the lore dude behind WC3. I'm just saying that WoW was originally a game that was designed to pick up and finish the story of Warcraft 3. That story ended with the death of Arthas and we've pretty much been in new territory ever since then.

Sure, it's the same company name but pushing out new lore for the sake of new lore is kinda silly and leads to poor implementation of characters and stories and you can tell they've already done some reaching. MoP and WoD were pretty much "let's reach into our pockets to find lore" *pulls out pocket lint* "Okay this will work"

I think for the security of the franchise they would be better off taking the time to make a new Warcraft game establishing new lore and then coming back to said lore in WoW 2 than they would be shelling out worse and worse stories... but they would end up making less money and killing off one of their cash cows so obviously not going to happen. The love of the game is less than the money it makes for sure.

[In Ogres We Trust]

There are many worlds that the legion have corrupted and would still have problems, we could become "world liberators" travelling to other worlds (New X-pac = whole world so an infinite numbers of x-pac ideas).. Every world could be very different from the previous in design, etc..

So they can use that as lore...

Just suddenly thought about when i used to play spelljammer and the way they'd travel between worlds..

StarCraft is over there --->

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People are shortsighted. They're the same people who thought the game would "end" after level 100, because, IDK, 100 is a big number?

Even if they'd like the game to end, it's not going to if it keeps making money.

100 has a nice feeling to it, and in my opinion, it would be better if they introduced a Paragon system post-100, e.g. Archmage, Archdruid, etc.

[Pony Soldier]

Yeah they'll never stop WoW until they feel the time is right. They've been pulling lore out of their asses for years even before MoP with class/race combos and shit like Tauren paladins, Blood Elf warriors, and Troll druids. They'll keep making shit up until they don't have it in them anymore. It's not like they can stick to the same villains forever. They all have to die at some point so if they plan on keeping WoW alive then they'll make up something.

I feel like at this point they need to plan WoWs shutdown. The story with each new expansion is getting lamer and weaker. What they should do when WoW is over is just turn it into an offline game somehow so that we can just keep playing on our characters. Tune dungeons and raids down so that they can all be solo'd to just focus on the story. I'd love that but I know it probably won't happen.

[Flurryfang]

People who think WoWs days are numbered just because eventually it's going to run out of lore. Even once every possible thing from WC3 is exhausted what makes you think they can't just make up new lore?

Look at Pandaria. Almost all of its lore was pulled out of their asses. Yes WC3 had pandaren as a throwaway joke(that were stereotypically Japanese rather than Chinese no less), but everything else about the expansion and it's story was pulled from thin air. Yet I see so many people thinking that once all existing threats have been defeated that Blizzard is just gonna throw their hands up and say "well, shit. No more lore? Guess that means WoW is over." . It's almost as illogical as the people who thought for sure that once we hit level 100 that'd be it for WoW.

WoW does not die just because Blizzard is running out of good lore. WoW is suffering though from Blizzard devouring their story content and eating it very quickly. Lets just look at the Zandalari. Blizzard have used them as a mid expansion antagonist for several expansions now and while they have given very fun content, they are now no longer suitable for an entire expansion antagonist, because the players have already experienced the themes of the Zandalar. The same with the Azshara and the naga. They have also been some primary enemies in several expansions and again, while they have brought alot of good content, they are a bit used up and their theme is no longer suitable for being a primary focus for antagonism.

Blizzard can always come up with new lore, but as we have experienced with the last 3 expansions, they are very hit and miss when it comes to that new lore. Some of it works, some of it is horrible and sadly very little new lore they come out with actually stays connected with the current story. Just look at most of MoP and the entire of WoD. Nothing of WoD have seeped into the main story, it might aswell not have happend and the things that happend on Pandaria and the people we meet there, did not transition into the current overall story and outside of the Garrosh stuff, none of it really mattered in the end.

Blizzard have a problem with having new lore last and have a deep impact on the overall story. The story of TBC, Wrath and Cata made the world evolve a little bit, things werent the same after those expansions. Having the pandas come to our world had very little impact, going into the past had very little impact and outside of having 2 major leaders die, it does seem like Legion will have very little impact on the overall Warcraft story.

So Blizzard is not running out of story, but they are running out of story that matters and which is not reused themes.

[SirCowdog]

People who think WoWs days are numbered just because eventually it's going to run out of lore. Even once every possible thing from WC3 is exhausted what makes you think they can't just make up new lore?

Look at Pandaria. Almost all of its lore was pulled out of their asses. Yes WC3 had pandaren as a throwaway joke(that were stereotypically Japanese rather than Chinese no less), but everything else about the expansion and it's story was pulled from thin air. Yet I see so many people thinking that once all existing threats have been defeated that Blizzard is just gonna throw their hands up and say "well, shit. No more lore? Guess that means WoW is over." . It's almost as illogical as the people who thought for sure that once we hit level 100 that'd be it for WoW.

No one thinks that Blizzard is going to "run out of lore". People think that WoW is going to run out of lore that's halfway interesting.

Blizzard can keep "pulling lore out of their asses" forever. That doesn't mean it'll be good. Bringing back Illidan was a last-ditch attempt(successful) to bring players back to the game. How often do you think they can repeat that feat, especially when they keep killing off or retiring major characters without putting in the effort to develop new ones?

[Worgoblin]

There is zero chance they will run out of lore or ideas for new expansions. As long as it is profitable, the game will continue plowing ahead.

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

Run out of established lore is not the same as running out of lore. The legion was the main threat of the Warcraft universe until they came up with the void lords. If it wasn't for the void lords Legion would pretty much be the end of Warcraft. The only villains left were N'zoth, Azshara, Rastakhan. They clearly ran out of established lore which is why they had to come up with the void lords.

[Deleted]

Yeah the new lore they've created was so popular.

The point is, Legion had the feel of a big wrap-up, which signalised to many people that WoW might be coming to an end.

Yeah people thought that WoD going up to level 100 signalised that WoW was coming to an end as well.

What can we learn from that? That people can be idiots.

[nekobaka]

My view has been compelling lore to keep the general population engaged with the story and want to stick out the expansion rather than just play for gameplay alone which in itself has been an alienate all the things mess. There is a lot of lore available ignoring the plethora of lore of past events not available in game. I felt like the past two expansions have been too safe and boring in a struggle to keep familiar enemies to keep the more casual fans attached. One of the few things I commend MoP for is how Blizzard brought people in and introduced a new world.

[MoanaLisa]

Now if WoW was a game based on a book or movie series, running out of source material could be understood. But Blizzard is the one who wrote all existing lore to begin with.

Well, it's not unusual for people to think that WoW was based on the Warcraft RTS series and all the lore that has been created since is bogus or bad. I don't agree with it but it's a point of view.

[Darknessvamp]

People who think WoWs days are numbered just because eventually it's going to run out of lore. Even once every possible thing from WC3 is exhausted what makes you think they can't just make up new lore?

Look at Pandaria. Almost all of its lore was pulled out of their asses. Yes WC3 had pandaren as a throwaway joke(that were stereotypically Japanese rather than Chinese no less), but everything else about the expansion and it's story was pulled from thin air. Yet I see so many people thinking that once all existing threats have been defeated that Blizzard is just gonna throw their hands up and say "well, shit. No more lore? Guess that means WoW is over." . It's almost as illogical as the people who thought for sure that once we hit level 100 that'd be it for WoW.

I think it's less the quantity of Lore people are having an issue with and more the quality of Lore which most players agree has been fluctuating greatly since MoP as it was the last to strongly establish itself. WoD and Legion combined have had so many retcons, plot holes and story threads just being completely abandoned in comparison to the previous expansions that it's starting to show at the seams and people are not impressed. Granted Blizzard could just bs new big bads out of nowhere after the current roster has dried up but with their current track record it's doubtful it would be as engaging as the Lich King or the Legion were.

The Void Lore themselves could be considered a newly established threat pulled out from Blizzard. Although the Void or Shadow is no new threat. The Void Lords themselves are rather new and are to be the Be all End All. I believe Blizzard is very capable of making both new and old threats present in the World of Warcraft.

You can only call enemies in wow Void Lords so many times before the name loses all meaning. In other word, they've already called so many other characters a void lord or part of void lords that the name itself is kinda piss poor as a classification for the new unknowns. -_-

[clevin]

People who think WoWs days are numbered just because eventually it's going to run out of lore. Even once every possible thing from WC3 is exhausted what makes you think they can't just make up new lore?

Look at Pandaria. Almost all of its lore was pulled out of their asses. Yes WC3 had pandaren as a throwaway joke(that were stereotypically Japanese rather than Chinese no less), but everything else about the expansion and it's story was pulled from thin air. Yet I see so many people thinking that once all existing threats have been defeated that Blizzard is just gonna throw their hands up and say "well, shit. No more lore? Guess that means WoW is over." . It's almost as illogical as the people who thought for sure that once we hit level 100 that'd be it for WoW.

Because making new things up only works well if those things seem to emerge from the background and are built up over time. Simply turning the corner and saying "Here's a new threat!!!" doesn't really work.

Of the established threats to Azeroth, we have three left: Azshara, N'zoth, and the Void Lords. The last aren't really a threat in the sense that we know nothing of them and they're a primal force of the universe so it's kind of hard to see how we'd defeat or even fight them. But tossing them into the mix leaves ~3 expansions of credible, known threats.

"But Pandaria!!!" - I liked MoP and thought it was done well for the most part but there are only so many times you can pull the "Here's a thing in our world that JUST APPEARED" before it feels gimmicky. Pandaria worked because we had the "Cataclysm shook Azeroth, revealed Pandaria" logic such as it was. That only really works once though. Magicking continents out of nothing shouldn't be done very often.

Then we have retreads - Return of the Lich King, etc. That tends to feel like a team that's running out of ideas so they just recycle ones that people liked. It's almost always indicative of a lack of new, creative ideas.

So, yes, they could ramp up new lore and create new challenges for us but they need to do it in a credible way and they need to start doing it pretty soon. Does this mean WoW is almost out of expansion ideas? Maybe but consider that they could pretty easily do 3-5 more expansions with what we know now. I mean, even the three main expansions were Azshara, Nzoth and Void Lords they could have bridging expansions with Nerubians as a threat (bridge to the Nzoth expansion) and an Ethereal based expansion as a bridge to the Void Lords.

That's 5 expansions, ~ 10 more years. Even if they wind WoW down after that is anyone really bitching that WoW would only have lasted 20-25 years?

[Deleted]

They could easily do expansions on azeroth where we fight remnants of the burning legion. Even if we defeat sargeras, surely some members of the burning legion believed in Sargeras his goal and could even change parts of the legion to not be all "RAWR POWER". That's assuming ofcourse that Blizzard is capable of seeing that the legion isn't just Sargeras and that they would at least introduce some new Legion members.

Then there is also races like the Nerubians, Klaxxi and Qiraji that have already seperated themselves from their respective old gods. We know they breed fast and could surely become a threat. But this assumes ofcourse that Blizzard stops making our characters gods.

The Naaru can also turn into an enemy, in some of the naaru their point of view we might be too corrupted by the void.

We also have the infinite dragonflight to deal with. We still haven't seen Nozdormu become Muruzond, which means the aspects need to get their powers back at some point.


Personally I believe we should never be able to actually defeat the void lords, it's a cosmic force and would be the same as defeating gravity. They should scale our power down so we can have more grounded stories that could make things like the old god minions an actual threat without involving the old gods/void lords. Blizzard just needs to get some writers to build these stories up instead of making each "threat" pop in for 1 expansion then out for the next. It makes the world feel not very alive when threats show up on queue.

But really, Blizzard can make stories for 20 more expansions, if they start to write a story that's well put together instead of "cause it's cool" they might even be good expansions no matter the theme used.

[SirCowdog]

Of the established threats to Azeroth, we have three left: Azshara, N'zoth, and the Void Lords.

Then we have retreads - Return of the Lich King, etc. That tends to feel like a team that's running out of ideas so they just recycle ones that people liked. It's almost always indicative of a lack of new, creative ideas.

They could always pull a complete and total flip: The player characters become the threat. Either something we see out in the void, or we learn the same thing as Sargeras. Players then go on to attack Azeroth, pitting us against the "good guys".

I think that has an extremely low chance of happening, but it deserves a spot on the list of possibilities.

[Deleted]

Also if you want to talk about infinite lore possibilities, then I've got three words for you.

Caverns of Time.

It's very feasible to come up with a concept that involves the Infinite Dragonflight fucking shit up and creating rips in the timeline that leads to weird alternate realities.

You can create a bunch of dungeons and raids based on "what if?" scenarios.

[Wildmoon]

MoP was a new addition and it was a brilliant one. I don't see why Blizzard can not keep doing more.