Should The Next Expansion Be More Dark and Gritty?

[MistsofBoredom]

*incoming criticism for God knows why*

How do you think the story and theme of the next expansion should be portrayed? Do you feel it should be similar to Mists of Pandaria, or more dark and gritty like Wrath of the Lich King was, or somewhere in between?

[Oerba Yun Fang]

Mists was a nice break from the constant imminent world-wide doom that we've had. I think we're due for another dark expansion.

[Hitei]

Well, since "Dark and Gritty" in Wrath really meant "Put skulls and skull symbols on everything". I'd very much not like to return to it.

[CosmicGuitars]

I'd like an expansion that just feels heavy. A lot of shit going down.

[SunspotAnims]

Because I find "gritty" tough to define, and because I have tastes for many different styles, I suppose the "darkness/brightness" of the next expansion doesn't matter to me as long as it doesn't go too far in either direction.

[DrMcNinja]

Well, since "Dark and Gritty" in Wrath really meant "Put skulls and skull symbols on everything". I'd very much not like to return to it.

The theme was Undead.... dark and gritty doesn't necessarily mean undead (See Black Temple, minus Illidan's skull)

[Deleted]

I found Wrath comical gritty, wow models just doesn't do dark and menacing that well. Don't care too much, just want good story and good raids.

[Ranganathan]

Dark and gritty if it fits the story, sure. Dark and gritty to appease the MoP QQ'ers, hell no.

[Zantera]

I don't care as long as it's good, and fun to play. The whole "everything is so dark"-feeling of WotLK was just annoying for the most part. Ulduar felt a bit less serious in tone compared to ICC or the other raids, and I think that's one of the reasons why it was much better.

[TheWindWalker]

Mists has been pretty consistently "dark and gritty" from the moment you accepted the quest to land in it. Only Valley of the Four Winds gave any sort of break before going back into the "everyone is dying in constant agony surrounded by mourning people who are also dying unless they're actually the ones murdering them in which case they're either terrified of everything or in an unending rage that only death can save them from."

Wrath wasn't much darker than this unless you only watched the opening cinematic then walked away.

[beanman12345]

Not sure what game you played but mop was pretty dark expansion.

[Durandro]

Wrath wasn't much darker than this unless you only watched the opening cinematic then walked away.

Pretty much what most of these people have clearly done.

Heck, even Valley has its grim side. That village near the Wall being invaded by Mantid? Pretty gritty.

[Daetur]

Exactly what game have you been playing if you missed all the dark shit that's going on in Mists?

Wrath was like... cartoon villain dark, and while that's not a bad thing, that's not "dark and gritty."

[Deleted]

We deserve it

although MoP was pretty dark too, it depends on what you focused during gameplay - the panda cooks or garrosh's actions

[Arrowstormen]

The undead in Warcraft has always had the darkest themes and stories around them. The walking dead is a scary and dark thing indeed, especially when it's spread like the plague and you have evil crusaders. Arthas himself has a pretty bleak history too.

[MinTDH]

I think MoP was pretty dark and cruel, have you ever done SoO? There's citizens and darkspear rebellions hanging from poles with arrows in their chests. There's also Theramore Prisoners being forced to fight one another (if they refused, their children were killed).
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And if I'm correct, when you play on the Alliance side in Jade Forest the Horde captures Pandaren Cubs as gambling bits (I believe, if memory serves).
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There's also an Orc that got corrupted by the Sha that had said: Why kill with honor when we could slay the vulnerable, the sleeping women and children. The Mogu enslave pandaren or any race for their rituals.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

If we call Wrath the darkest and grittiest expansion, and MoP the least.... somewhere in between.

I felt the constant death and doomsday stuff in Wrath got a little cliche by the level cap, though I also felt MoP would have been enhanced if all the threats weren't magically contained to one single zone of one (kinda) small continent.

[Thes]

Exactly what game have you been playing if you missed all the dark shit that's going on in Mists?

Wrath was like... cartoon villain dark, and while that's not a bad thing, that's not "dark and gritty."

The only thing that was dark in wrath was the damn zones. Snow and deep shadows everywhere. Almost made me depressed while leveling.

Not to mention Arthas as a villain was a joke. He shows up in every single corner of the leveling experience, then suddenly disappears until he shows up in ICC again.

[Grimtide]

MoP had it's dark and gritty moments, but so did Toy Story 3, and that's kind of the same level I felt I was on playing them. I couldn't help but not really care about Pandaren spouses dying, although I have about similar quests in the past. It sounds silly in my head but somehow I can take Night Elves a lot more seriously. I fear there won't ever be a real dark and gritty experience again because there'll just be more things like 'grand theft palomino', Ka'anu Reevs and quests picking up shit ruining it for me.

[Krixooks]

Yes MoP has some "darker" storylines, the enslavement of the Pandaren, the Alliance-Horde conflict and Garrosh's dark path.

But so much of this expansion has been a bit too much, Valley of Four Winds is like tellytubby land with oversized carrots and bouncy rabbits, silly monkeys calling each other silly names in the dungeons, and most of the pandaren are very jovial and cartoonish.

I realise that Blizz is trying to cater to all audiences but isn't the game age 15+? I'm sure that even 15 year olds don't find the Hozen funny.

Let's get back to some high fantasy, I want to see dragons tearing each other apart in the air above a plundered dwarven mountain fortress again.