BfA zones feels disjointed and empty due to lack of lore and design

[Fistfighter]

I hope so too. Always make me sad when unused areas end up never coming into play in an expaq.

I think updating current zones is something they just wanna do now. In MoP we got krasarang and Vale, in WoD we were supposed to get Tanaan updated and in Legion we got Boring Shore.

[Thorbalt]

Then why should I as a Horde bother to do half the content of the expansion? Don't you think that is a bit sad? 3 full zones I will never experience because only reason I go there is either to kill allies or do some disjointed WQ with no story? That leaves only 3 zones for me to enjoy, 1 of which I absolutely loathe(Nazmir). To me it feels rather barebones compared to previous expaqs and from a game developement point of view a waste of resources designing those zones.

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You don't go to Elwynn Forest to do World Quests or world bosses which is the biggest issue I have. We have content in the zones, but we will never understand why those zones are there.
Low level zones meant for leveling that has no content for my faction I am completely fine with, but as I mentioned when there is content there then I would actually like to know wtf is going on and I shouldn't have to seek information outside the game to do so, or level a whole new character on a faction I don't like just to find out. That is just bad game design.

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That only works if you don't care about context outside of loot and pvp(or killing alliance npc's), but WoW to me is more than just those two. I care about the whole package; story, art, music, gameplay, etc. and when a huge part of that is missing or just not available I feel kinda miffed. Especially since we have gotten dual narrative in previous iterations of the game.

if you go out of your way to ignore playing half the damn game, you have no right to complain about missing half the damn story

[oldgeezer]

The zones do feel disjointed from the overarching theme sometimes. Take Stormsong Valley; it's the worst thing to happen to WoW in a long time. Confused plot, stupid enemies (quilboars...), unresolved storylines, unsatisfying conclusion, and that stupid music that makes you feel like something extremely horrible is about to happen but then it never does. Admittedly they didn't know what to do with the area and changed their mind mid-development, and it shows.

I agree that Stormsong is a mess. The missing fleet/Lord Stormsong/cultist angle is interesting, but the Horde invasion and quillboar threat (what?) is decidedly half-assed.

[Chrotesque]

That only works if you don't care about context outside of loot and pvp(or killing alliance npc's), but WoW to me is more than just those two. I care about the whole package; story, art, music, gameplay, etc. and when a huge part of that is missing or just not available I feel kinda miffed. Especially since we have gotten dual narrative in previous iterations of the game.

Oh it works for me just fine and I do care about lore as well, just not as much as you apparently nor in as much detail - I only have a rough picture of what's going on and that's sufficient for me personally.

To be fair though: I am mostly a player that enjoys the mechanical aspects of the game

[Hipnos14]

They should give you the option to play the story of the other faction, something like the mercenary system for BGs. I don't know how it would work with the reputations tho, but at least you could watch the full story without having to lvl up a character in the other faction. I'm just not going to lvl up an Alliance character to see the story, I rather watch it on youtube.

But if Blizzard gave me the option to play the Alliance story with my Horde character...

[Jamie081]

The devs said Cataclysm zones were bad design because they were all separated, instead of having one big continent with them together. They've created this exact problem in a different way because although the zones within the continents are together, Zandalar is still disjointed from Kul Tiras. The Horde doesn't know the story for Kul Tiras and vice versa.

Zandalar and Kul Tiras should have been continents for separate expansions and had 6 zones each, but they shoehorned them into the same expansion for the Horde vs. Alliance conflict.

[Lochton]

I agree that Stormsong is a mess. The missing fleet/Lord Stormsong/cultist angle is interesting, but the Horde invasion and quillboar threat (what?) is decidedly half-assed.

Stormsong is the worst flaw of them all with 4-5 different threats. The only zone that felt a lack of control.

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TL;DR
Splitting up the zones into Horde and Ally and not giving narrative for both factions in the zones makes the zones feel disjointed and off.


Thoughts?

Done on purpose. Blizzard wants you to make a member of the opposing faction to go and explore. You'll never get the story told if the enemy is there to act like you're best buddies and that they could just use your help with something.

Kul Tiras and Zandalar has their own story, when you assault these zones, you're not there for the story, you're there for the war, you'll then take your part in. There are a few small quests that you share with the opposing faction due to it being counted as a highly dangerous foe.

The opposing zones aren't meant to feel bound to you, for you aren't there to support the zones, you're there because the opposition is there.

[Soluna]

Okay we all know the lore is kinda bonkers this expaq, but for me a bigger problem is that the horde/alliance zone narratives feel so disjointed from each other.

As a Horde player I have absolutely no idea what is going on over on the other three isles and when I get there to do quests or whatever it feels like I am playing a completely different game. A game where I was not told the story, not told who is the bad guys or wtf is going on.
The enemies in Drustvar look cool but I have no idea why they attack me. All I know is that there are witches and that Eitrigg are scared of them.
That is what I was told during the introduction quest, and that's it.

Since I as a Horde player never got the quest narrative that explains the zone and its lore I have missed out on fundamentally understanding the zone and why it is there. And to me that makes the Kul Tiran isles feel alien and disjointed, just a pretty backdrop with no context. And I bet the Alliance feel the same about the Zandalarian isles too.
Heck just look at Uldir. As an Alliance player you have absolutely no idea what is going on when you go in there or even WHY you go in there in the first place.

I don't mind faction exclusive story, we've had that since Vanilla, though less in the later years. But to the extent that has been done in BfA just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I have no interest in levling up an alliance character, but I would very much like to understand what is going on zone wise, like I have been able to in almost every other expaq, apart from the starting zones in WoD which I also feel the same about and thankfully that was just 2 zones and not 6.

Of course I could read up on the Alliance zones on wowpedia, but to me that is just really poor storytelling, storytelling which Blizz most of the time excels at, but that they decided to ditch this time around for some reason.

It also doesn't help that most of the overarching narrative of the expaq takes place NOT in the new zones, which makes them feel like we are just wasting our time there. What was the point of coming here if the main story barely includes them?
I understand that Blizzard wants the story to include the old world, but it must be possible to do so without ignoring one side(aka the new stuff) completely?

It also doesn't help that the Alliance and Horde isles are not on the same map, which makes me as a player even more reluctant to actually travel to one side or the other. Had it been on the same map it could have been a fun experience just hopping on my Water Strider or my raft toy and ride over there, but instead I have to travel to an npc, get teleported over there with absolutely no ingame immersion other than a menu and use the same npc or hearthstone back. Remember the zeppelins or boats going between Kalimdor and Easter Kingdoms? Why didn't they do this? They do use a boat between Echo Isles and Zandalar. It helps make the world feel bigger at least.
It also worked well for Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor because each of there land masses offered so much each. Zandalar and Kul Tiras are tiny continents with tiny zones which only offers half its content to each faction making this expaq feel even smaller than Legion did, and Legion only had 4 zones.

Add a miniscule amount of pointless(sadly) chests already marked on your map and the exploration value of the BfA zones is thrown out the window, making me even less interested in spending time in the zones.

To me all of the above makes the world seem small this expaq, small and pointless. It is beautifully rendered, but I as a player it doesn't feel like I should be in or belong in half of it.


TL;DR
Splitting up the zones into Horde and Ally and not giving narrative for both factions in the zones makes the zones feel disjointed and off.


Thoughts?

And here I thought that the WoW community couldn't get any worse. You mongrels start from valid arguments about what blizz does wrong, but overtime, you get increasingly hateful towards the product, that even its strong points somehow are absolute garbage after you twist it around in your little brain. For GOD'S SAKE.

[Pakheth]

if you go out of your way to ignore playing half the damn game, you have no right to complain about missing half the damn story

Why? Because I have been able to do this since Vanilla and it is only an issue in this expansion(and partially WoD because of Frostfire/Shadowmoon).

All I want is a small ingame narrative that explains me what is going on in the Ally zones and vic versa. Is that too much to ask?

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Done on purpose. Blizzard wants you to make a member of the opposing faction to go and explore. You'll never get the story told if the enemy is there to act like you're best buddies and that they could just use your help with something.

Kul Tiras and Zandalar has their own story, when you assault these zones, you're not there for the story, you're there for the war, you'll then take your part in. There are a few small quests that you share with the opposing faction due to it being counted as a highly dangerous foe.

The opposing zones aren't meant to feel bound to you, for you aren't there to support the zones, you're there because the opposition is there.

I just find it so hypocritical of Blizz wanting us to play both sides when they continue to talk about how they want us to have faction pride. Going as far as the Collector's Edition having a Horde/Alliance medallion to show your allegience.
I completely understand it from a moneymaking perspective though, make no mistake, but I still find it to be such a bad game design decision when you practically alianate half your playerbase from the content.

Also being sent into opposite faction territory to do WQ's for your own faction feels very weird, especially when the WQ are not against Alliance/Kul Tiran forces. Just killing minor monsters or rares that don't affect the Horde at all. But I am going to blame that on shitty WQ design more than anything. BfA could really use some proper story based dailies aka Suramar.

Also for being so close there is barely any interaction between the two landmasses which to me just seems odd considering how both the Zandalari and Kul Tiras has huge fleets. Maybe I am just reading too much into it, but I find it very weird from a story perspective and it truly do make me think that separate teams did the different continents storywise.

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They should give you the option to play the story of the other faction, something like the mercenary system for BGs. I don't know how it would work with the reputations tho, but at least you could watch the full story without having to lvl up a character in the other faction. I'm just not going to lvl up an Alliance character to see the story, I rather watch it on youtube.

But if Blizzard gave me the option to play the Alliance story with my Horde character...

That's not a bad idea actually. I mean you could do like in MoP with the story scenarios there to tell what was happening during the Landfall campaign. You got to play the dwarf and snow troll scenario as Horde and Alliance got to do the Dagger in the Dark scenario.

[Super Kami Dende]

Are you someone that completely skips all Quest Text or Voice over boxes and then says they don't know what's happening?

Since all of the Alliance Zones felt pretty damn full of lore and story and good art design.

Drustvar - Reforming the Inquisition and hunting the Wicker Witches and their Leaders. - Awesome looking zone/enemies great music.
Stormsong - Repelling Horde attacks whilst trying to find out where the Tide Sages have gone/discovering they've been mostly corrupted by Old god influence.
Tiragarde - Stopping a new influx of Pirates that are trying to take over whilst following a high tier conspiracy link between the Nobles and the Pirates.

[A Chozo]

It's by design.

You are not supposed to know everything that's happening in the other continent, but the quests and clues give you enough reason to go into the dungeons. Example: Horde champions invade Waycrest Manor to get Azerite and vanquish the Witches that threat Gallywix' Azerite extraction that's happening in Drustvar. Alliance players invade Uldir because they witness a commander becoming influenced by the Blood Trolls, with Brann Bronzebeard investigating further and learning of the presence of G'huun. As the mortal who pointed out the threat that was Yogg-Saron, he knows that this new Old God could destroy the Alliance (and Azeroth) if left unchecked.

The zones are only "empty" if you don't read quests or don't pay attention to the plot.

You can always create a new character on the oposite faction to experience their POV. It's actually a very neat separation of factions and storylines, makes you feel more unique.

[Super Kami Dende]

They should give you the option to play the story of the other faction, something like the mercenary system for BGs. I don't know how it would work with the reputations tho, but at least you could watch the full story without having to lvl up a character in the other faction. I'm just not going to lvl up an Alliance character to see the story, I rather watch it on youtube.

But if Blizzard gave me the option to play the Alliance story with my Horde character...

You literally get a boost to 110 for buying BFA. Really no excuse for them to make a system like that to cater to lazy people.

[Pakheth]

Are you someone that completely skips all Quest Text or Voice over boxes and then says they don't know what's happening?

Since all of the Alliance Zones felt pretty damn full of lore and story and good art design.

Drustvar - Reforming the Inquisition and hunting the Wicker Witches and their Leaders. - Awesome looking zone/enemies great music.
Stormsong - Repelling Horde attacks whilst trying to find out where the Tide Sages have gone/discovering they've been mostly corrupted by Old god influence.
Tiragarde - Stopping a new influx of Pirates that are trying to take over whilst following a high tier conspiracy link between the Nobles and the Pirates.

You clearly didn't read what I wrote.
Those quests are not available for Horde and vic versa, meaning the opposite faction gets no insight in wtf is going on. That is my complaint.

[Super Kami Dende]

You clearly didn't read what I wrote.
Those quests are not available for Horde and vic versa, meaning the opposite faction gets no insight in wtf is going on. That is my complaint.

Yet as an Alliance player I picked up on what most of the Horde was doing from our War Campaign. Plus got extra lore in each Horde Zone as Alliance as well.

Level an Alliance character or stop complaining. Either or really.

[etheldald]

i agree and disagree.
i like that you don't know what the other side sees, it is intentional.
if you don't care about the other side, why you should bother? is not YOUR problem.

but they shouldn't do that with raid content.

if you really want to know what is happening, then level an alliance character.
i am not interested in troll story at all, and yet i know exactly what happen in the other side by external sources.

[Soon-TM]

"Go make a toon in the opposing faction" isn't a valid argument. Our characters aren't mere grunts, they are the !#$&ing Speaker of the Horde (at least Horde-side) and take orders directly from their respective factions' high command. They should ABSOLUTELY have some intel, e.g. Ashvane wanted to throw her old friend Katie off the window, but no one in the Horde knows anything. Or the Zandalar empire's struggle with the blood trolls; all you see, as an Ally player, is that they seem to be a quite weird lot, as well as that commander who turns into a nutjob. Yeah, one or two lines from Brann are supposed to make you care about Uldir...

[Pakheth]

"Go make a toon in the opposing faction" isn't a valid argument. Our characters aren't mere grunts, they are the !#$&ing Speaker of the Horde (at least Horde-side) and take orders directly from their respective factions' high command. They should ABSOLUTELY have some intel, e.g. Ashvane wanted to throw her old friend Katie off the window, but no one in the Horde knows anything. Or the Zandalar empire's struggle with the blood trolls; all you see, as an Ally player, is that they seem to be a quite weird lot, as well as that commander who turns into a nutjob. Yeah, one or two lines from Brann are supposed to make you care about Uldir...

Thank you. Finally someone that gets it.

[A Chozo]

one or two lines from Brann are supposed to make you care about Uldir...

It's a well-known and exploited fact that the Champion of Azeroth murders for coin. Anything.

Raiding Uldir was rewarding enough, even if we didn't get the information of the dangers inside. Also, it wasn't just some words - if you do the war campaign on the Alliance side, you see a Alliance commander aligning with the Blood Trolls, with Brann investigating it further. I think there are even some world quests talking more about it.

[Jastall]

You clearly didn't read what I wrote.
Those quests are not available for Horde and vic versa, meaning the opposite faction gets no insight in wtf is going on. That is my complaint.

The only place where this complaint is valid is for Uldir, where the Alliance is indeed just kinda there with little explanation. That sucked and shouldn't happen again.

For the zones themselves, I 100% disagree. I actually like the fact that the other faction's continent feels weird and foreign. The Alliance sees Zandalar overrun by Blood Trolls, angry snake people and rampaging dinosaurs. The Horde sees Kul Tiras as a haven of pirates, witches and Old God worshiping nutcases. In the context of a faction war, the enemy being an unknown is not a bad thing. You still get more than enough information to extrapolate what is going on without requiring the minute details that you can obtain from playing the other faction.

[Kemsa]

The formula its bad and good at the same moment. Good because its requires you to look up for the Lore or ask friends or people about certains events "adding the rpg element" now this was heavily pushed on Legion with the class hall order quests, depending on wich chracter were you on and a little bit of the faction.
One good example its the rogue questline, where you discover that actually the fall of brokenshore and the murdering of Varyan and Voljin was th fault of the "best spymaster Shawn" getting caught by the Legion and sending the report that there wasnt a big contingent of Demon on the broken shore.

But for people to know about that... you needed to play as a Rogue, or the interactions between Death knights and paladins and the internal war between those order halls or the Priest one with also leads to undestanding more about the Naaru, etc etc.

Now this formula its good? 50/50, its working on BfA? while BfA its divided on the "faction" specifics, no. It will work beyond this xpa uncertantly it all depends on how they manage the "faction problem".

At the end of the days being in a faction limits you on knowing more of what its happening, therefore we cn add that blizzard did a poor job on making the "war between factions" alive. And well BoD didnt help too much.