More time should pass between expansions

[Eurytos]

I don't mean real world time. I mean in game time.

Like, the Horde and Alliance should definitely be at peace after Legion. For a good while. We shoulda been at peace after LK and Deathwing too. And definitely after Garrosh. Things should have cooled off. This gives lots of room for storytelling too.

Specifically with Legion, there should be a truce, a peace. I would love to see knew relationships form. Obviously Greymane and Sylvanas arent gonna get together for lunch any time soon. But Anduin certainly seems like the guy to extend an olive branch.

It just seems that at this point there is nothing new we are fighting over. Its like, "Me horde, you alliance, we fight." Historically, this is how feuds end. The old die, and their feuds with them. The young take their place, with less animosity towards the other side. I'd like to see new reasons to fight. Sure, I guess its always eventually based on the underlying wrongs of old that each race has been perpetrating on the others, but still, I'd like a new reason to fight.

I think it would be cool if there were stories about new friendships that were built over, say, a 15 year peace period. And then, something happens. Tension begins to rise. I'm not a great story teller, but I think this could be cool. It just seems to me that, after everything that we all just went through, we wouldn't be right back at each others throats.

I want something more than just old grudges.

[MechaCThun]

This is something I've thought about a lot. A good time lapse needs to take place, not just a couple of months (at most) between expansion end and next expansion launch.

Some people argue a period of years needs to pass; funny enough these people also advocate a "WoW 2" that takes place years after a supposed end to WoW.

Personally, I feel this would have been the BEST time to do a time lapse.

Example: The Burning Legion is finally defeated, both factions begin to rebuild and come back from their losses. Literally the time period of a year can go by (maybe 2 years) that shows the recruiting of allied races (instead of recruiting them to bolster faction's respective armies, to bolster the populations of the factions) and you can even spin the story of the eventual faction conflict between the two. Perhaps a "cold war" period of espionage.

There is no need to jump right into the war narrative while we are trying to get the stench of fel fire out of our clothes.

[Why Am I Here]

I do agree, there needs to be more lore time passed. I don't think there's been more than a few months without a war since the orcs arrived lol. You'd think 20 give or take of constant war would take a toll on populations that are almost extinct but that doesn't seem to be the case. If there Alliance and Horde aren't fighting each other, they're fighting some world ending apocalypse. I think a time skip would be interesting, think like how the demon hunter story begins in BC time, and then they're encased in that prison for several years. Maybe do something like that at the start of the following expansion. The hero's(us, the player characters) either get imprisoned or preserved by our factions/some group for a time when we're needed.

[Nevcairiel]

There is no need to jump right into the war narrative while we are trying to get the stench of fel fire out of our clothes.

Well, they maybe could've done that, but its too late now. The events of BfA are kicked-off by the end of Legion - ie. the Sword of Sargeras unveils the Azerite, both factions start squabling over it, and the series of events is already kicked off.

In fact, their story is generally quite continous in the recent days. Garrosh escapes to Draenor and rallies the Iron Horde (although they could've realistically put a time gap in there, since its time traveling anyway). After WoD, Gul'dan escaped, and is then personally responsible for kicking off the events at the Broken Shore. We defeat the Burning Legion, but in his last act of spite Sargeras wounds Azeroth and start-off the race for Azerite.

[Kwento]

I absolutely agree. At this point I feel like world ending events probably don’t even surprise people of Azeroth. “Another year another Old God or something...”
Five years at least. Five years and that’s enough.

[nerv234]

Maybe more time passes between expansions but they don't tell us about it.

[Kwento]

Maybe more time passes between expansions but they don't tell us about it.

They do though. We have several instances where they mentioned the timeline and, if I remember correctly, the most time that pass between expansions was a year.

[Khaza-R]

I imagine one reason is not time jump too much to effect the characters' age?

For instance if lets say 20 years passed from Classic -> BfA, wouldn't Jaina and Thrall be like 50 years old?

[Swalload]

I don't mean real world time. I mean in game time.

Like, the Horde and Alliance should definitely be at peace after Legion. For a good while. We shoulda been at peace after LK and Deathwing too. And definitely after Garrosh. Things should have cooled off. This gives lots of room for storytelling too.

Specifically with Legion, there should be a truce, a peace. I would love to see knew relationships form. Obviously Greymane and Sylvanas arent gonna get together for lunch any time soon. But Anduin certainly seems like the guy to extend an olive branch.

It just seems that at this point there is nothing new we are fighting over. Its like, "Me horde, you alliance, we fight." Historically, this is how feuds end. The old die, and their feuds with them. The young take their place, with less animosity towards the other side. I'd like to see new reasons to fight. Sure, I guess its always eventually based on the underlying wrongs of old that each race has been perpetrating on the others, but still, I'd like a new reason to fight.

I think it would be cool if there were stories about new friendships that were built over, say, a 15 year peace period. And then, something happens. Tension begins to rise. I'm not a great story teller, but I think this could be cool. It just seems to me that, after everything that we all just went through, we wouldn't be right back at each others throats.

I want something more than just old grudges.

That's just more narrative to write. They're already struggling out of their pants to write the simplest boring shit, they're never gonna be able to manage something that big.

[Kwento]

I imagine one reason is not time jump too much to effect the characters' age?

For instance if lets say 20 years passed from Classic -> BfA, wouldn't Jaina and Thrall be like 50 years old?

Imagine that!
Thrall’s kids are all grown up and implemented into the world.
Jaina’s current attitude would have felt so much better if she was elderly.
New characters grow before our eyes and take their places. Old characters don’t follow Thrall’s footsteps in becoming Captain Planet, but get replaced by well prepared students and protégées.
I’d love that. Not on a constant basis, but a time jump every so often can be a breath of fresh air.

[Eurytos]

Is it really so hard? You pick two semi-prominent members from each faction. You build a relationship between them. Think of Bolvar and Saurfang. They fought together at the Wrathgate. Had that story gone a little different, you could have had human and orc as friends after LK was killed. A common bond between them in this fight. And over the years, they get to being best friends. But, Saurfang's wife/brother/other orcs are disapproving. Maybe even one attempts to sabotage the relationship. Or maybe, Varian grows uncomfortable with how close Bolvar is to the orcs. Varian gives Bolvar an ultimatum, one which Bolvar cannot deny his King. The relationship breaks down, maybe an innocent child dies in an event related to the break down. Now there is rage. What was once peaceful, now starts to become tense. Surely there is some foul play going on. It wasn't a stray arrow during target practice that accidentally killed the child, but it was purposeful. Now this gives even more resolve to get justice from the aggrieved side....etc etc. Then we are at the tipping point, off to war.

Obviously none of that happened, but something like that could have happened with Anduin and Thrall, two guys trying to keep the peace, but also with deep connections to their people. Something with the Windrunner sisters! Velen is probably the most deeply affected by what happened on Argus, an overture by the Horde could start a relationship of peace.

But, this all takes time. Years must pass for a relationship to start, build, and then fall apart in a genuine way. I think its possible, the players are all there. Just gotta build that story.

[Magistrate]

It just seems that at this point there is nothing new we are fighting over.

Azerite.

Large-scale global conflicts are pretty much always reduced to resources, territory disputes, and very few other things.

[Eurytos]

Imagine that!
Thrall’s kids are all grown up and implemented into the world.
Jaina’s current attitude would have felt so much better if she was elderly.
New characters grow before our eyes and take their places. Old characters don’t follow Thrall’s footsteps in becoming Captain Planet, but get replaced by well prepared students and protégées.
I’d love that. Not on a constant basis, but a time jump every so often can be a breath of fresh air.

Yes, I love this. The only real time problems are that of humans. Everyone else lives far longer, right? Except maybe for Turalyon, but thats different.
50 years to a troll, or an elf, or a draenei is nothing. But whats wrong with our faction leaders dying from old age? Think of this after BfA. If Jaina is still alive, and there is a 10 year gap until the next expansion. She is now in her 50s. She would be a perfect launching point for the next struggle. Maybe she has a young child, 10-12 years old. Who has an affinity for magic like her mother. But also has no desire for war. In fact, what if the child wants to fight for the horde, hating her mother for what she did.

I think having the leaders of the factions age is THE point. Let them grow old. Not everyone needs to die like Varian, in glorious combat. In a different timeline, mabye Thrall and Varian are on their deathbeds, after decades of peace, they die of old age. And the reverse of what I said happens. Instead of the grudges dying with the old, the peace dies with the old. Anduin has a taste for war maybe.

- - - Updated - - -

Azerite.

Large-scale global conflicts are pretty much always reduced to resources, territory disputes, and very few other things.

Yeah, thats fine. I dont have a problem with Azerite being the tension point, but they easily could have said the Azerite deposits, the leeking blood of Azeroth, didnt start coming to the surface until 14 years after the sword was plunged into Azeroth. All the while, there was peace. New stories being made. New kids being born. Etc. And then, just as everything seemed to be great, this resource is found. BOnds that were formed between different factions start to break. So on and so forth to war. But at least there would be some new players in the game! Anduins wife maybe? What if shes a xenophobe? Maybe Jaina does some shit. Maybe Garrosh has a bastard son thats 18 now, ready to fight over Azerite.

Idk, there is some story there.

[huth]

We definitely need a time skip at this point. There have been so many large scale conflicts with significant losses of manpower and other resources in such short time, it's starting to get ridiculous that either faction is even still able to field anything beyond a scout troup.

Main issue would be explaining what happens to our characters in between and why they are still able to fight. So either we need an expansion that somehow explains why we weren't affected/what happened to us in the meantime, or a generation swap(i.e. some story of your old character settling down and basically a free character redesign, maybe limited race swapping).

[Magistrate]

Yeah, thats fine. I dont have a problem with Azerite being the tension point, but they easily could have said the Azerite deposits, the leeking blood of Azeroth, didnt start coming to the surface until 14 years after the sword was plunged into Azeroth. All the while, there was peace. New stories being made. New kids being born. Etc. And then, just as everything seemed to be great, this resource is found. BOnds that were formed between different factions start to break. So on and so forth to war. But at least there would be some new players in the game! Anduins wife maybe? What if shes a xenophobe? Maybe Jaina does some shit. Maybe Garrosh has a bastard son thats 18 now, ready to fight over Azerite.

Idk, there is some story there.

Oh, sorry, I kind of only responded to one aspect of your topic. Yes, I wouldn't mind a tenuous truce now and then to let some more motives and characters build up.

[The Stormbringer]

We definitely need a time skip at this point. There have been so many large scale conflicts with significant losses of manpower and other resources in such short time, it's starting to get ridiculous that either faction is even still able to field anything beyond a scout troup.

Main issue would be explaining what happens to our characters in between and why they are still able to fight. So either we need an expansion that somehow explains why we weren't affected/what happened to us in the meantime, or a generation swap(i.e. some story of your old character settling down and basically a free character redesign, maybe limited race swapping).

Right? Where do we keep getting these people? How are the normal civilians keeping up with supporting a never-ending war effort? How have we not been running our resources into the ground?

Vanilla: Lots of varied forces, people doing their own things, mostly limited battleground conflicts between factions.
BC: Expedition forces deployed to Outland after repelling a demon invasion, plus limited BG conflicts.
Wrath: Fleets and armies deployed to Northrend after repelling an undead invasion, huge losses at Wrathgate and beyond.
Cata: The world tearing itself apart, an elemental invasion, conflict inflamed between the two factions, Deathwing's attacks.
MoP: Expeditionary forces with small fleets followed by larger fleets and armies, lots more conflict, Siege of Orgrimmar.
WoD: Small (but not insignificant) task forces sent to Draenor after repelling an Orc invasion.
Legion: The best of the best thrown into the thresher maw that is the Legion, invasions everywhere, our forces being stomped and some leaders being killed.

How are we still able to keep this up? We need time to rest!

[Krigaren]

I've thought a lot about how time passes in-game. It's been 14 years IRL, so it has to have been at least that much time in-game. But that also means 14 years of continuous fighting and all-out war across the planet which our characters have been at the forefront of every time.

Our characters should have hardcore PTSD at this point, and there's no realistic way any of the races could possibly be anything more than a mere shadow of what they were pre-war. Especially humans, given the plague ravaging the EK.

The only group that should be relatively fresh are the pandas and the Gilneans. Every other race should be outright decimated.

[Eurytos]

We definitely need a time skip at this point. There have been so many large scale conflicts with significant losses of manpower and other resources in such short time, it's starting to get ridiculous that either faction is even still able to field anything beyond a scout troup.

Main issue would be explaining what happens to our characters in between and why they are still able to fight. So either we need an expansion that somehow explains why we weren't affected/what happened to us in the meantime, or a generation swap(i.e. some story of your old character settling down and basically a free character redesign, maybe limited race swapping).

Turalyon actually solves this problem....unnatural long life because of our connection to *magic*

Or some Nephalem/Dunedain type blood.

Also, this really only applies to humans, right? All other races have much longer natural lives, right? Maybe gnomes don't, I'm not sure. But elves, dwarves, trolls, draenei, taurens, goblins, etc have lifespans that 10-15 years would mean nothing.

[huth]

Also, this really only applies to humans, right? All other races have much longer natural lives, right? Maybe gnomes don't, I'm not sure. But elves, dwarves, trolls, draenei, taurens, goblins, etc have lifespans that 10-15 years would mean nothing.

I think gnomes were actually longer lived. But Orcs are around human lifespan, and i think Tauren too. Goblins i'm not sure about, frequent exploding drops the average significantly.

Now, Hozen aren't playable, but if they ever do become, they're around 20 years tops total lifespan.

[Animaneth]

The last expansions have acted like comic books, the end of arc has a at least one plot hole or missing part that is enough to warrant a story continuation. The thing is, this open "endings" are written in such a fashion that they are "we need to act now!" kind of endings... I agree that at this point, a random tauren living in the middle of Kalimdor or a simple human living in Redridge sees a broken planet in the sky and just says "crap! time to do new dailies!"