Now we know why they did the awkward "faction war" story now.

[Jibjub]

Necromancer next expansion confirmed.

[Casperite]

I like it! i hope its true

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why is there no oceans in oceans 11, i cant be invested in the story at all!

Bad example, there is an Ocean in Ocean's Eleven.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Do... do people really still not understand this is an expansion about N'zoth and the powers of Death?

How would that fit with the conspiracy theories?

Seriously, all these people convinced they have a clue when they just don't.

[Byleth]

BfA: Sylvie got leadership of the horde, went full "murder literally everyone!" and there may or may not be old god stuff later, we're dropping hints, but this poorly received expac could end up going full WoD and get abandoned.

You know, at this point I would be totally fine if they took the second half of BfA (old god shenanigans) and repackaged it into it's own distinct Xpac, if only to move away from the now very tainted BfA name.

Maybe that way people will stop whining (but I doubt it).

[Queen of Hamsters]

Cosmic powers my ass. Anyone who thinks that this game will become better because of it's story is delusional. It doesn't matter if we are fighting bandits or gods, because both will be written horrible. At this point only gameplay matters and if Blizzard continues to timegate everything they will loose longtime players.

"If Blizzard continues to do X they'll lose longtime players".

Yeah, haven't seen that thrown around for effect for a decade and more or anything. It was said about pet battles, transmog, Artifact weapons, Legendaries, the Class Order Hall missions etc etc... And now that several of those are gone, people wish to have them back.

The game was never really excellent in its story (no, not even during WOTLK), but it's been good enough to keep people interested for 14+ years. MoP, Legion and BfA does in-game storytelling way better than previous expansions (aka even uninterested people will know what's going on) so clearly they've decided to focus more on delivery of story, not less. Add then the external animated features released to social media.

"Bad writing tho!!!"

Yeah give me a break. I doubt people caring about WoW's story are great authorities on what constitutes good writing to begin with. Feels and yet more feels.

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You know, at this point I would be totally fine if they took the second half of BfA (old god shenanigans) and repackaged it into it's own distinct Xpac, if only to move away from the now very tainted BfA name.

Maybe that way people will stop whining (but I doubt it).

Just you wait.

Next expansion rolls out and suddenly BfA was so much better, so much more polished...
That's because by then, we'll have had BfA's endpatch for many months and that's what an expansion is judged upon. Legion wasn't well received at first neither, not to mention MoP...

[kamuimac]

The earnings call fallout makes something very clear to me.

See here’s the thing, 2019 was never going to be big for WoW. Transitional year businesswise (which we’re learning now), and a transitional story to move to something big. This makes sense because, as I’ve said many times elsewhere, they are taking up this time (too much of it, IMO) to tell a necessary but uncomfortable story: They’re grinding out the last gasp of the faction divide so they can explode into exciting, high concept, “cosmic powers” stories aimed at a united player base in the greater WoW universe. Rough as it is to be a player through this story, this is the time to do this.

I expect Blizzcon 2019, announcing products for BEYOND 2019, to be a mind blower for WoW and maybe Diablo. They’re turning a ship that they’ve said many times must turn slow, and they’re force-turning it with uncomfortable speed. It’s gonna hurt, it’s going to be boring, it’s going to lean on systems meant to keep us engaged with the game if not the story… but once the ship is turned, the future is bright.

Obviously that future brightness doesn’t put food on laid off people’s tables. That part is not cool, full stop.

well you dont really have to be a visioner to notice that after old god expansion will come us vs light vs void as its only possible lore threat out there.

im just curious what mobile wow title they will release.

[MoanaLisa]

As a forum mod who has seen it all in 8 years you should understand how the twisted minds of the tinfoil crowd here works :P - They will just cook up anything and somehow connect the most weird things to support their theories

Yes, but I really wanted to hear this one explained.

[ramayana1423]

Obviously the old gods are there, but it's much more "what old gods?" from Blizzard. The legion was FRONT AND CENTER in every leveling zone in legion.

What are you talking about? At launch the Legion had a subzone in Aszuna and a subzone in Suramar. That's it. The story path BFA is going down is very similar to every other expack. You not seeing that is a you problem.

[Nathanyel]

The Legion was present and clearly visible and tantalizing for all of legion. The Sha were made apparent early and Garrosh was announced as the final boss as part of the expansion unveil. The "cards to the vest" style they've taken with BFA has made the first act seem more self contained and indeterminate because they just refuse to outwardly commit to an endgame (perhaps because they know that ending the faction divide will be a divisive but necessary shitshow).

Is subtlety bad? Not that it isn't obvious anyway to anyone who isn't fully on the "yay, killing [other faction]!" bandwagon.

In fact:

Garrosh was announced as the final boss as part of the expansion unveil.

They always knew this was a mistake, and undermined/spoiled Garrosh's path to the dark side.
Maybe they're trying to play this the way the wanted in MoP, that the eventual turning of half or more of the Horde against Sylvanas comes as an evolution, not an inevitable thing because we knew it all the time. Of course, one may argue that they're forcing it now, despite signs that it's not working, we're expecting it anyway.

[huth]

Is subtlety bad? Not that it isn't obvious anyway to anyone who isn't fully on the "yay, killing [other faction]!" bandwagon.

About the only way you could not know about it is by never doing Nazmir and Stormsong, especially Shrine. Not that i'd fault anybody for never doing Shrine m+, blech.

That and not paying any attention to 8.2 announcements whatsoever.

[BlueRemedy]

Are we still pretending Legion was decent?

[huth]

Are we still pretending Legion was decent?

No, we sailed right past that. Order of the day is pretending that back in the day, Blizzard did unparalleled storytelling and somehow got worse, despite them openly admitting they pretty much made up stuff on the spot back then.

[Hitei]

Necromancer next expansion confirmed.

I'm not saying it is, but they did give a bunch of island NPCs brand new flashy Necromancer spell effects for no reason when they added Havenswood. I wouldn't be surprised if the rumors about "prestige classes" that reskin existing classes turned out to be one of 9.0's' major features.

[majesta]

Do... do people really still not understand this is an expansion about N'zoth and the powers of Death?

Those are seeds at best for the next expansion. Which has me a bit concerned. It implies they are going to be pushing Sylvannas in a direction where she has been doing everything with a purpose for either the good of everything or she has been controlled. Either way, both those storylines will suck beyond all that has ever sucked.

[George Lucas]

"If Blizzard continues to do X they'll lose longtime players".

Yeah, haven't seen that thrown around for effect for a decade and more or anything. It was said about pet battles, transmog, Artifact weapons, Legendaries, the Class Order Hall missions etc etc... And now that several of those are gone, people wish to have them back.

The game was never really excellent in its story (no, not even during WOTLK), but it's been good enough to keep people interested for 14+ years. MoP, Legion and BfA does in-game storytelling way better than previous expansions (aka even uninterested people will know what's going on) so clearly they've decided to focus more on delivery of story, not less. Add then the external animated features released to social media.

"Bad writing tho!!!"

Yeah give me a break. I doubt people caring about WoW's story are great authorities on what constitutes good writing to begin with. Feels and yet more feels.

What an excellent reply.

Other people didn't like other stuff in the past, so timegating doesn't drive people away?
All the stuff you listed was content some people did not enjoy, timegating is a business practice that forces players to invest more time for less content. I don't say WoW IS DOOMED or stuff like that, but it is a frustrating experience for normal humans to be not able to progress at something you like, while you fulfill every requirement to do so.
In addition the only things you listed that are gone are Legendaries and Artifact weapons. The only reason people want them back is because Azerite armor replaced them and is way worse in every regard.

Yes, the story was always bad and WotLK was probably one of the low points, that doesn't excuse it being still so bad and cringey. But I'm okay with that as long as the gameplay is good. I have a lot of fun in BfA, but many people I know don't have the patience to put up with the constant timegating.

The last part is so incredible dull, I don't even know what to reply. If you honestly think WoW isn't written poorly, enjoy it!

[Hitei]

Those are seeds at best for the next expansion. Which has me a bit concerned. It implies they are going to be pushing Sylvannas in a direction where she has been doing everything with a purpose for either the good of everything or she has been controlled. Either way, both those storylines will suck beyond all that has ever sucked.

No they aren't.

The expansion literally started with the three important lore videos being Sylvanas, Jaina, and Azshara meeting N'zoth. Blizzcon's what's next panel ended with a picture of N'zoth as the "what is after 8.2" tease. N'zoth is literally involved in 8.1.5's quest lines. I also don't know why you'd assume that Sylvanas has two options. There is nothing to prevent her from attempting to overpower N'zoth and Azshara and take some of their power for her own, there's nothing to stop her from fighting both them and the Alliance at the same time.

[FelPlague]

Do... do people really still not understand this is an expansion about N'zoth and the powers of Death?

whaty? what do you mean? this is an expansion abut the faction war! nothing else! Op is right!

[Hitei]

whaty? what do you mean? this is an expansion abut the faction war! nothing else! Op is right!

You think you can just steal Taliesin's bit like that?

[Alvito]

The earnings call fallout makes something very clear to me.

See here’s the thing, 2019 was never going to be big for WoW. Transitional year businesswise (which we’re learning now), and a transitional story to move to something big. This makes sense because, as I’ve said many times elsewhere, they are taking up this time (too much of it, IMO) to tell a necessary but uncomfortable story: They’re grinding out the last gasp of the faction divide so they can explode into exciting, high concept, “cosmic powers” stories aimed at a united player base in the greater WoW universe. Rough as it is to be a player through this story, this is the time to do this.

I expect Blizzcon 2019, announcing products for BEYOND 2019, to be a mind blower for WoW and maybe Diablo. They’re turning a ship that they’ve said many times must turn slow, and they’re force-turning it with uncomfortable speed. It’s gonna hurt, it’s going to be boring, it’s going to lean on systems meant to keep us engaged with the game if not the story… but once the ship is turned, the future is bright.

Obviously that future brightness doesn’t put food on laid off people’s tables. That part is not cool, full stop.

You are grossly underestimating how far in advance they have some things in the works. A great example is the last project Chris Metzen said he was working on before he left Blizzard on September 12, 2016. It was the Battle for Loderon cinematic, when Anduin does his big battle rez. 2 years before the fans saw it that was being done. So you think they were making content 2 to 3 years ago because they thought 2019 was going to be a transitional year? Most of the jobs that seem to have been lost had little to nothing to do with WoW Activision Blizzard is far bigger than WoW and those 800 employees came from all over many were fat being trimmed with Destiny going completely under Bungie's control. I know many gamers and fans of these things are very short sighted people and would rarely be confused as being forward thinking, so they might not understand having things in the works for multiple years and having plans for many years down the line. Business and most adults don't operate that way though.

[Cena]

The earnings call fallout makes something very clear to me.

See here’s the thing, 2019 was never going to be big for WoW. Transitional year businesswise (which we’re learning now), and a transitional story to move to something big. This makes sense because, as I’ve said many times elsewhere, they are taking up this time (too much of it, IMO) to tell a necessary but uncomfortable story: They’re grinding out the last gasp of the faction divide so they can explode into exciting, high concept, “cosmic powers” stories aimed at a united player base in the greater WoW universe. Rough as it is to be a player through this story, this is the time to do this.

I expect Blizzcon 2019, announcing products for BEYOND 2019, to be a mind blower for WoW and maybe Diablo. They’re turning a ship that they’ve said many times must turn slow, and they’re force-turning it with uncomfortable speed. It’s gonna hurt, it’s going to be boring, it’s going to lean on systems meant to keep us engaged with the game if not the story… but once the ship is turned, the future is bright.

Obviously that future brightness doesn’t put food on laid off people’s tables. That part is not cool, full stop.

You are delusional. You obviously love the game so much that you are a bit too optimistic. Storywise world of warcraft has always been great. If they had a better gameplay system then people would have stuck around. The who azerite system is dogshit and a complete failure. It doesn't give players any incentive to stick around and aim for an actual goal. Islands doesn't give much rewards so imo its dogshit too. From what I have been hearing that the wow team has a fix in place for the azerite system in 8.2, but I doubt it.