"Not a time travel expac" - are the devs delusional?

[Nitty Scott]

This isn't a time travel expansion, time travel is just a tool to explain the ongoing story. It isn't being used to massively change the current timeline. The past is fine!

We aren't going back in time, the Dark Portal is turning red, bad guys are coming through. We look at the Orc Clans as they were, but things are happening now. The end of this expansion will launch the next one.

I can understand if they don't want time travel to be the focus of the expac but they're outright denying this expansion is taking place in the past when that seems to be exactly what's happening. Am I misunderstanding something or is Blizz flip-flopping on the theme of their expac?

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

In their perspective a "time travel" expansion is where to go back in time to change or stop events of the present/future. This expansion is going back in time to stop an invading army from....well invading. Just like TBC and Wrath. It isn't meant to change events, just to stop an invading force.
I think that's what they meant.

[Guyviroth]

That's not what Blizz are saying, really.

They're making it a point that we're not gonna change the present because we changed the past.

Instead of thinking it as a "past draenor", think of it as an alternate draenor.

[Smokinya]

Who cares it's a cool expansion and plays like a dream!

[grondik]

You get it right, they seem to not care about this piece of story. For me it was a huge, overwhelming dissapointment yesterday. If the authors dont care for the key beginning event of the x-pack, I, in return, an not about to care for the rest of it. I will play wow now, for gameplay. But the story now seems more twisted (in a bad way) than ever!

Edit: some people are trying to justify them, im good with that. the gameplay does seem to get better. Yet warcrafts home is Azeroth, and the story should be build up from here, not inside the new "what if" dimension. I wanna see my character improve, not imagine "what would be if my char improved". Borders of reality in WoW these days are crap.

[Deleted]

We don't go back in time, it's the past that comes to our time, basically. A past modified by Garrosh's time travel, though.

So, WE don't time travel, the whole setting of the xpac does.

[Znuff]

You're missunderstanding.

Garrosh goes back in time. We're talking about creating-an-alternate-timeline here and not changing-the-current-timeline kind of "time travel".

Now, after 30 years, Garrosh and his Iron Horde attack current Azeroth. Nobody but Garrosh is going back in time.

[Chimi]

During the panel, they mentioned Garrosh goes back to Draenor and creates his own Dark Portal in order to bring his army to Azeroth. We pretty much go into the portal on our side before they are able to come through. Our goal is to stop them. I think the correct term they should try to tell people is it's more of an alternate reality than it is time travel.

[grondik]

We don't go back in time, it's the past that comes to our time, basically. A past modified by Garrosh's time travel, though.

So, WE don't time travel, the whole setting of the xpac does.

But to be fair, Blizz never said that, thats the way players understand it. Its just like if players made up their own mind on this, but telling story is blizzs job, which is unimpressive. Its like an open ending in the book or movie, but an Open Opening..... I'm doubtful.

[mvaliz]

I feel this bit of amusement is relevant for this thread. Particularly the last few points...

[Garehn Vi-Brittania]

Its not time travel in the sense where your actions alter the future.
Think of it like a portal that connects the past and the present without the consequence of altering the future.

[Arenaceusmaga]

Its not a time travel expansion in the sense that Back to the Future is a time travel movie is closer to what was said. They are using time travel to facilitate Garrosh rousing the Horde warlords against drinking demon blood and making the Iron Horde instead but they will not mess with the set timeline to this point in Warcraft lore. So it will have an effect on the future of the game world but will not say... Stop Ner'zhul from becoming the Lich King which would mess with all sorts of continuity like Wrath being non-existent. So no Marty having to play guitar to continue existing but maybe Biff DOES have those car keys for the monster truck in the garage.

[Deleted]

I can understand if they don't want time travel to be the focus of the expac but they're outright denying this expansion is taking place in the past when that seems to be exactly what's happening. Am I misunderstanding something or is Blizz flip-flopping on the theme of their expac?

I think they're just trying to say that time travel isn't a thematic, like, at all. It's just a vehicle to facilitate their story, but it's not actually important or focused on, just a plot device so they can make a story work that otherwise couldn't exist.

[iadamson]

String Theory time travel.

No paradoxes, no changing the time line you came from.

May have similarities or differences from your time lines past. Or could be the exact same up until we travel to it, therefore altering there timeline, but not our own (the one we came from)

Think Trunks going back in time to stop the androids, it did nothing for his time, but changed the time line he traveled to.

[jbombard]

Just watch at the end of WoD we lose, and the expack after that we will be going back in time to when Garrosh first went back in time to stop him before we lose.

[iadamson]

Just watch at the end of WoD we lose, and the expack after that we will be going back in time to when Garrosh first went back in time to stop him before we lose.

lmao the can of worms has been opened.

[urasim]

You're missunderstanding.

Garrosh goes back in time. We're talking about creating-an-alternate-timeline here and not changing-the-current-timeline kind of "time travel".

Now, after 30 years, Garrosh and his Iron Horde attack current Azeroth. Nobody but Garrosh is going back in time.

Wait, doesn't that mean that the lich king never comes to Azeroth? Meaning no undead faction, Kael Thas, and the rest of the blood elves, are still high elves and on alliance, no orcs in Azeroth, the tauren are dying out because thrall doesn't save them from the centaurs, the trolls die out because they don't get saved by the orcs(at least the "good guy" trolls). Among other BS lore because orcs never made it through the portal.

Also, how could your character exist in this alternate timeline if the first orc invasion never happened, and how could you be wielding gorehowl if it never left groms hands?

We have to go back into the past to try and stop him, otherwise blizzard is really going to fuck up the game's lore (more so than usual).

[BrioWoW]

They're talking about alternate timelines and such so maybe it's like a multiverse deal.

[Durandro]

We have to go back into the past to try and stop him, otherwise blizzard is really going to fuck up the game's lore (more so than usual).

Nice and slow for you.

Alternate timeline. Garrosh's actions would be impossible without creating a split timeline via the Red Portal. Hense both timelines merge into one Azeroth. What happens on this Draenor has no baring on the other Draenor, and thus no baring on the past of Azeroth.

[Tenjen]

Garrosh goes back in time and changes the outcome of things till draenor's timeline catches up with us (with those chars aging as they will). This doesnt dissolve our reality but creates a different line of events separate from us. In our reality, everything has still happened as it did, outland is still in pieces.

Then this different timeline is linked to ours. Garrosh was the only one who went back. And events played out in draenor till their time matches with our time. We arent going into the past, we going into a different dimensional timeline affected by Garrosh. Grom is as old as he would have been if he hadnt died. but these arent OUR grom and Draenor.