8.3 feels completely disconnected from Shadowlands / BfA should have ended with 8.2.5

[Nyel]

The title pretty much says it all.

Imagine if there wouldn't be no 8.3 - it wouldn't matter at all. Shadowlands basically starts directly after 8.2.5 and Sylvanas disappearance. All of the stuff in 8.3 doesn't matter for the upcoming expansion. It's just there to finish some plots they (unnecessarily) opened in BfA.

With a clear faction war storyline this expansion could have been good, ending with the disappearance of Sylvanas and then the Icecrown interlude to 9.0. There was no need of the Old God / Magna / Azerite stuff at all. Clearly it doesn't matter for the future as the focal point is Sylvanas and just that.

8.3 already turned into a non-event due to its announcement three weeks before Blizzcon and being completely overshadowed by Shadowlands (pun intended). It's so sad they waste the last Old God in a manner like this, with all the amazing Titan stuff, Wrathion, the Forge of Origination etc. - all stuff that basically seems to not matter at all for 9.0 and the events caused by Sylvanas. Yes, we cannot judge yet, but from what we know basically everything Old God related stuff from BfA is pretty much pointless for Shadowlands.

They could have easily spun an expansion around faction war, then Shadowlands and left N'Zoth and the Old God stuff for an expansion a la Black Empire. Yet they chose to throw away all of it in a fashion that it seem to be irrelevant for the future of Azeroth. This just makes me sad.

Both 6.2 and 7.3.5 more or less caused the upcoming expansion yet 8.3 has basically no effect on 9.0, 8.2.5 has. This isn't just weird from a storytelling perspective.

And when we take this further, not even the faction war mattered as it basically changed nothing - factions are there to stay, mechanically nothing changes. Horde gets a council, that's it. All this was just done to build up Sylvanas as a demigod anti-hero / villain or whatever. In the end all of the events in BfA didn't matter at all. Only Sylvanas did. Is this good writing?

[Coldfire989]

Seeing as 8.3 is not even out yet kind of hard to say that. You ave no idea how they will connect it yet.

[Nyel]

Seeing as 8.3 is not even out yet kind of hard to say that. You ave no idea how they will connect it yet.

We know like 90% of 8.3 already. Connect what? We already have the connection, it's there in 8.2.5 with Sylvanas. She's the only connection as we've seen in the cinematic. That's all that matters.

[united]

I agree, but mostly because I just want BfA to be over.

[Fistfighter]

what if we get 8.3.5 tho?

[A Chozo]

What? No, 8.3 concludes the Battle for Azeroth. It's the end of the game, the end of that storyline. Shadowlands is another storyline, another game.

You people think that 8.3 is pointless because you've drank the datamined info like water in the desert. Spoiled yourselves. If you could get a hand on the whole Shadowlands scripts, you would feel like it's a filler expansion too, because the story will have progressed in your head.

[mvaliz]

It's so true... I mean, look how seamless things went from Azaroth to a broken land with crystal spaceships

Or crystal Spaceships to undead off in Norway

Or Norway leading to the world exploding

And ESPECIALLY how a devastated world caused by a horrible dragon led us to Kung Fu Panda! =D

Or KFP leading to a timewarped-but-not-paradoxical gooky unbroken past Orc World.


I can go on and on. No expansion ever felt connected to the other when they shifted.

[Lilly32]

so we are just supposed to ignore this old god thing and go straight into the Shadowlands?

[Nyel]

It's so true... I mean, look how seamless things went from Azaroth to a broken land with crystal spaceships

Or crystal Spaceships to undead off in Norway

Or Norway leading to the world exploding

And ESPECIALLY how a devastated world caused by a horrible dragon led us to Kung Fu Panda! =D

Or KFP leading to a timewarped-but-not-paradoxical gooky unbroken past Orc World.


I can go on and on. No expansion ever felt connected to the other when they shifted.

Cataclysm directly caused the appearance of Pandaria as it destroyed the Mists that protected Pandaria.

Garros was build up to be the endless and therefore connected to WoD whereas WoD connected to Legion and Legion to BfA. All in their final patches. Yet 8.3 has nothing to do with Shadowlands but 8.2.5 has - which is exactly my point. And yours is?

- - - Updated - - -

so we are just supposed to ignore this old god thing and go straight into the Shadowlands?

That's not what I said. I said the Old God plot doesn't matter at all for the upcoming expansion and indeed it doesn't. Only Sylvanas and with that slightly the faction war do.

[AidanJLowe]

It's the end of the game, the end of that storyline. Shadowlands is another storyline, another game.

Azeroth still has a sword sticking in her and soon™ we will literally leave Azeroth behind, it started out as Sargeras stabbing her then it was about healing her now it's just about vanquishing an old god & running after Sylvanas through a different cosmic plane of existence.

I don't even recall why Sargeras stabbed her in the first place tbh, I'd like them to clear things up instead of just moving onto the next spectacle.

[Raetary]

Imagine if there wouldn't be no 8.3

We'd have 10-12 months of content drought.

[mvaliz]

Cataclysm directly caused the appearance of Pandaria as it destroyed the Mists that protected Pandaria.

Yes, I obviously know that... that's NOT what I'm talking about. :P

The point was what you said was text-only, event not shown in game. That's 10x worse than what the OP was complaining about.

[Nagawithlegs]

If we didn't have 8.3 we wouldn't have a faster Shadowlands. We'd just spend another year in Nazjatar.

[Nyel]

Yes, I obviously know that... that's NOT what I'm talking about. :P

The point was what you said was text-only, event not shown in game. That's 10x worse than what the OP was complaining about.

I'm the OP.

- - - Updated - - -

If we didn't have 8.3 we wouldn't have a faster Shadowlands. We'd just spend another year in Nazjatar.

Not talking about cutting BfA short to have Shadowlands earlier. Just talking about the storytelling perspective where not 8.3 is the main reason of 9.0 but 8.2.5 is.

[Skylander]

8.3.5 : Goblins/Gnomes have now dug into and hallowed out the sword in Silithus creating a small city hub for players to use. Located inside is every players favorite boss: an elevator. The elevator takes you to the top of the handle or down to the lowest stab point into Azeroth. Besides that, there's a few portals and some useless vendors that no one cares about these days.

[Kohtra]

This does feel like a side plot considering there's still a giant sword sticking into the planet. Not saying that's a bad thing though.

[Halyon]

I agree, but mostly because I just want BfA to be over.

This. BfA was a shitshow, it should just go away and not mar anything else as far as is possible. The Cinematic with Bolvar was pretty cringy as well, if exceptionally well made, hoping it's the last we see of the horrific writing for a good long while.

[UnluckyAmateur]

If anything they're cutting N'zoth short by having Nylotha be a patch instead of its own expansion after shadowlands.

[Collected]

8.3 feels a bit like a testing ground for 9.0 mechanics and concepts.

[Halyon]

This does feel like a side plot considering there's still a giant sword sticking into the planet. Not saying that's a bad thing though.

Well, if it's inert and poses no danger, then leave it be. Like a knife-wound IRL, it's actually a bad idea to pull the knife out, because it stems bleeding. So...maybe it applies to living planets as well? /shrug