Do you like the "expansion theme" of Shadowlands?

[Doffen]

i do, yeah.

i'd prefer to be visiting alien worlds throughout the great dark, but at least this is a new place to see.

Same here. I hope 10.0 is out in space, but afraid of it being "Tyrande goes wild" and "revamped" Azeroth. I do hope they do a bigger thing than that, and maybe they will.

But it's Shadowlands first anyway, and some new stories with some old and new friends. From the looks of it, refreshing. Revendreath and Ardenweald looks nice. And Castievania raid. Can't wait. I have lost the hype for 8.3 because I look forward to Shadowlands. Beta can't come soon enough.

[Neuroticaine]

Yes, and I like everything I've seen so far as far as systems goes. However, my opinion will change if it's more of the same old garbage grind once it comes out. Just let me fucking raid, god damn.

[dbaum23]

No, you're missing the point. We're going to the Shadowlands alive.

Oh gotcha, so we'll be alive fishing for spirit fish and cooking spirit meals for our bodies...yippeeeeee......

[huth]

Oh gotcha, so we'll be alive fishing for spirit fish and cooking spirit meals for our bodies...yippeeeeee......

Which in the Shadowlands would be perfectly real stuff. Besides, that's hardly the first time we're doing that.

[Lyrel8490]

I actually really do yea.

Yes, and I like everything I've seen so far as far as systems goes. However, my opinion will change if it's more of the same old garbage grind once it comes out. Just let me fucking raid, god damn.

Haha. This is pretty much what my friends and i said as soon as we saw the feature presentation at blizzcon.

[owbu]

Yeah I like it. It's mysterious but at the same time deeply connected to the lore. We know enough about it to have some frame of reference, but it's not so explained to death that they can't make up interesting places and people that we can find there.

I definitely like it better than "kinda forgot to pick a theme" BFA.

[bloodkin]

I'm kind of cautiously positive. This theme could work out pretty well, even in blizz's hands. They already made something far more interesting out of it than I'd expect them and I hope to be pleasantly surprised further, but I'm still kind of skeptical, as I thought BfA and legion would be good too (in hindsight, they both weren't that great for me).

chances are I could be wrong, and blizz just drops the ball again with the story and expansion, but I really hope they are learning a good lesson out of the failures from BfA and WoD, that they at least try to make flying obtainable earlier and make raiding rewarding instead of the slotmachine stupidity we now have and no artifact. Blizz has been setting a extremely low bar for quality since WoD, with legion and BFA also being of very low quality, I just hope they can increase quality again.

[Taeldorian]

I agree. I think Shadowlands will prove to be a huge mistake especially when we had the potential and set-up for a Black Empire expansion.

Shadowlands is not going to bring back players who unsubbed. Why would it? There aren't characters, places, or themes that are familiar with them to intrigue them. This is all new lore and is something that MoP struggled with in regards to player retention. That doesn't mean Shadowlands won't be good, but the players who quit have no reason to get hyped about it and that is bad for the game in general.

Wait what? They said we’re going to see a ton of older characters again. We don’t know all of them yet but we can assume Arthas, maybe Tirion. We know for a fact we’ll be seeing Kael’thas and Uther which are two big names already. So, honestly, do you know what your saying? It seems like shadowlands will have more known characters involved than any other expansion so far. We’ll probably see more than the ones I listed as well. This is nothing like MOPs new lore/new characters.

Most of it seems like new lore but the shadowlands is nothing new to wow. It’s kind of like going to a place you know exists, you’ve heard some stories about it but we know nothing past that. I think that adds mystery while getting to explore older connections.

I like the theme of it. The zones look awesome and I’m happy we get to go back to one cohesive story instead of fragmented zones. However I prefer to wait and see, I like the theme but that’s not what keeps me playing personally.

[Soon-TM]

Shadowlands may be World of Warcrafts "jumping the shark" moment. It could put a nail in the coffin of the game.

I thought WoW had already jumped the proverbial shark with WoD and its time travelling Orcs.

[Linri]

I like the idea of the theme, but after actually seeing what the "shadowlands" are, I think its a bunch of scrapped ideas from what they wanted to have in Legion.

[Hugnomo]

Yes, a lot! It's gonna be the first time I'll buy collector's edition. I really love the theme, the high fantasy, the new lore, I love it all.

[huth]

I thought WoW had already jumped the proverbial shark with WoD and its time travelling Orcs.

No, because "Jumping the Shark" refers to a moment so great, everything afterwards will pale in comparison. WoD is generally not considered that.

Which also means the bad part doesn't come until after you jumped the shark. So if Shadowlands is "jumping the shark", we should be worried about 10.0. But in reality, people are just throwing out buzzwords without even understanding them.

[Accendor]

I have a very big problem with the "lets bring dead people back" approach. Its like the alternate reality bullshit of WoD - takes every meaning out of the story.

[Soon-TM]

No, because "Jumping the Shark" refers to a moment so great, everything afterwards will pale in comparison. WoD is generally not considered that.

Which also means the bad part doesn't come until after you jumped the shark. So if Shadowlands is "jumping the shark", we should be worried about 10.0. But in reality, people are just throwing out buzzwords without even understanding them.

The guy below explains it perfectly. Too bad that you missed it, Mr. Buzzword

I have a very big problem with the "lets bring dead people back" approach. Its like the alternate reality bullshit of WoD - takes every meaning out of the story.

[Frenegade42]

No, because "Jumping the Shark" refers to a moment so great, everything afterwards will pale in comparison. WoD is generally not considered that.

Which also means the bad part doesn't come until after you jumped the shark. So if Shadowlands is "jumping the shark", we should be worried about 10.0. But in reality, people are just throwing out buzzwords without even understanding them.

That's not what "Jumping the Shark" refers to. That would be a Zenith.

JTS is when something already in decline makes a ridiculous, ultimately unpopular change in an attempt to reverse it's fortune.

WOTLK would be WoWs zenith, Cataclysm saw the start of the decline but depending on who you ask MOP (kungfu pandas) or WOD (timetravel and attempted nostalgia clutch to Draenor failed and cut short) would be when WoW "Jumped the Shark".

[Niwes]

if i like the theme ? not so much (from what i seen).

imo it COULD be a big chance, but blizz will only use it to make some cheap shit stuff. a lot of what blizz did theme wise the last few xpacs was just relatively loveless. i miss that tight feeling, that deep imersion (or whatever you wanna call it), that quality, blizz had in the past.

all in all i think the freedom in design is a great chance to do great things in that xpac. but in the end its just a great chance for blizz to design on a cheap base (and thats the reason why they choosed the „other world“ thing). i am sure it will feel like the tenth copy of some what similar we had in the recent past. another color, another theme, same shit. if you know what i mean.

besides that, i am not that big fan of this heaven/hell style shit (at least not in wow). but in the end i dont care, because good game design is more important to me than a good theme.

but we will see.

PS: if you dont get enough lame feelings from what i described above, the trizillion „dead“ characters will cheap shit recycled with 2-3 quests of cheap pseudo lore, so when you still not be bored by the theme you have still the chance to be bored as hell by dead characters recycling. i am afraid.

[qwerty123456]

Its a thousand times better than more Horde vs Ally bullshit. Although I would have preferred to explore more actual planets first and mop up the remnants of the Burning Legion and see the actual army of the light and add more races to the universe.

[ATZenith]

Yeah, It's very unique and different than what we normally see. And that's okay, and is a good thing.

[GreenJesus]

Wait what? They said we’re going to see a ton of older characters again. We don’t know all of them yet but we can assume Arthas, maybe Tirion. We know for a fact we’ll be seeing Kael’thas and Uther which are two big names already. So, honestly, do you know what your saying? It seems like shadowlands will have more known characters involved than any other expansion so far. We’ll probably see more than the ones I listed as well. This is nothing like MOPs new lore/new characters.

Most of it seems like new lore but the shadowlands is nothing new to wow. It’s kind of like going to a place you know exists, you’ve heard some stories about it but we know nothing past that. I think that adds mystery while getting to explore older connections.

I like the theme of it. The zones look awesome and I’m happy we get to go back to one cohesive story instead of fragmented zones. However I prefer to wait and see, I like the theme but that’s not what keeps me playing personally.

Those characters are dead. Who cares? It's like how in star wars they bring back old characters just to wave and smile at the end of the movie for no real reason. If they bring them back then it will just be pulling shit out of their asses. They have been dead for over a decade. I love Kaelthas but unless they retcon the fact he died with "dreadlord made us think we killed him but he is actually in a nathrezim prison in space somewhere", I dont see how they can bring him back to life. Hes dead. Blizz ruined his character and it's too late. FeelsBadMan. Make another badass blood elf that will make Quelthelas great again.

[Soon-TM]

Idk, the theme does have its appeal. After all, many heroes in legend have been able to visit the underworld since the days of ancient Greece (Orpheus and Eurydice, anyone?), at least.

But it's a subject too vast, too rich, even too poetic for Blizzard's clumsy, heavy-handed writing. Especially with the morally grey lady YET AGAIN in our face.