Afterlife in Warcraft seems quite lame

[pally2]

When you have those 4 options of being turned into this blue guy with a memory wipe, getting milked for blood by vampires, turn into a seed in a forest or just fight undead forever in some shithole, i kinda get it why many are so keen on becoming lich. Shadowlands dont make any sense to me.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

You're only seeing the 4 realms that keep Shadowlands running. Most souls wouldn't go to these place but go to one of the infinite realms out there.

[Algorath]

You don't really become a seed in a forest - You become the energy the seeds feed off of.. Even better

[Verdugo]

You're only seeing the 4 realms that keep Shadowlands running. Most souls wouldn't go to these place but go to one of the infinite realms out there.

"Show, dont tell."

Mantra that should be written on a shovel handle and used to beat Blizzard writers until they learn or turn into flesh puddle.

[Varodoc]

How many times must this be repeated?

There are infinite realms in the Shadowlands. You are only visiting a small fraction of the Shadowlands, but that fraction is the most affected by the anima drought caused by Jailer and Sylvanas.

[letssee]

its full of plotholes and inconsistencies, but its just a game so yolo

[Harbour]

Yep, the concept execution is half-assed. Afterlife is a concept that requires the efforts the made creating Legion. Instead we got four houses that give no sense of grand scale and grandeur of post-life world. Is it Hogwarts for dead?

You're only seeing the 4 realms that keep Shadowlands running. Most souls wouldn't go to these place but go to one of the infinite realms out there.

Oh, how convenient to make an excuse for lame world building.

[ymirsson]

Oh, how convenient to make an excuse for lame world building.

That's the definition of modern fandom.

[VinceVega]

Yep, the concept execution is half-assed. Afterlife is a concept that requires the efforts the made creating Legion. Instead we got four houses that give no sense of grand scale and grandeur of post-life world. Is it Hogwarts for dead?



Oh, how convenient to make an excuse for lame world building.

Why lame world building? I think it actually is quite interesting. Also it gives us a reason why we don't see EVERYONE who ever died in SL. Just a phew who can relate the most with these 4. They had to make the places we can visit finite. And i think 4 is a good number to start with. There will definitly be more later on.

[Azerate]

To an extent I feel like Shadowlands was created as a mockery of real life ideas of the afterlife. I thought this was just my take on it due to my natural dislike of all religions and supernatural beliefs, but I'm glad to see threads about this actually popping up here and there.

Yeah, basically if you're just a regular human being you are considered trash. And your "soul" is just treated as fuel for some misshapen degenerate creatures in the afterlife who think they are entitled to it somehow

And the fact that there's an infinity of other SL realms is no argument at all here. Because number one we will probably never hear about them, and number two they probably do variations of the same shit.

[pally2]

And your "soul" is just treated as fuel for some misshapen degenerate creatures in the afterlife who think they are entitled to it somehow

Well said.

[LemonDemonGirl]

You're only seeing the 4 realms that keep Shadowlands running. Most souls wouldn't go to these place but go to one of the infinite realms out there.

But... what if this dosen't really become a thing? As in, what if they don't add any new afterlives in the expac? I know this is a really,really stupid thing to say, but what if we just end up seeing only these five?

Unless a Red Shirt Guy brings it up in a future Blizzcon, and they're all like '...oh. We forgot'

(Also, I find it really interesting how of all the choices out there, Bwonsamdi's realm was put into Ardenweald)

And your "soul" is just treated as fuel for some misshapen degenerate creatures in the afterlife who think they are entitled to it somehow

The Shadowlands is the Matrix, and souls are batteries for it to keep running

[Ryytikki]

(Also, I find it really interesting how of all the choices out there, Bwonsamdi's realm was put into Ardenweald)

Bwonsamdi is a loa, who are just differently named wild gods (who go to ardenweald when they die)

It makes a lot of sense that his realm would have an entrance there

[Exkrementor]

Its afterlive made by actiblizz. As long as you participate they think its a success.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

But... what if this dosen't really become a thing? As in, what if they don't add any new afterlives in the expac? I know this is a really,really stupid thing to say, but what if we just end up seeing only these five?

Unless a Red Shirt Guy brings it up in a future Blizzcon, and they're all like '...oh. We forgot'

(Also, I find it really interesting how of all the choices out there, Bwonsamdi's realm was put into Ardenweald)

Then I can't imagine what the patch content would be, nor is it really relevant. They could add some random zone on Azeroth and that wouldn't mean I'm wrong.

[Icelin]

I'm not sure why they went with afterlife for a concept of an expansion. I like the idea of shattering the world into another dimension..not entirely sure it had to be the Shadowlands but ok..

Shadowlands and the four covenants that represent that realm do feel a bit weak.

More so the vampire one. I really dislike they did a vampire safety blanket. Now people could discredit this and say well Ravenloft (even tho I have never played any D&D) has a lot of influence on Revendreth. More so with the people involved. Still I feel it's a very generic/cliche topic; Vampires.

Maybe they were worried afterlife might seem a bit serious. So they had to try balancing it out but still. This was your chance to create what you wanted for an afterlife Blizzard and we got this..

A long with Bastion blue people.(Eiffel 65) With incredibly unappealing looking Val'kyr. (Never, never used that glyph to transform into that form for priest) Imagine if they actually put in the effort to make them look interesting, appealing and different.

Maldraxxus seems just as lackluster. A complete recycle. They could've put enough of a spin/tweak to make a huge difference.

I feel like Bastion and Mald suffered the most and it is the greatest representation of the WotLK expansion.

Arden has different models. Has a different environment. Just this alone will probably make it more popular than Bastion and Mald. I am predicting Arden and Reven to be the fav zones this expansion. It wasn't the context. Like Blizzard would want you to believe it was the presentation. Environment, creatures, species, ambience etc. I have no idea what the quests are like in any of these zones yet...

[einaschern]

Why lame world building? I think it actually is quite interesting. Also it gives us a reason why we don't see EVERYONE who ever died in SL. Just a phew who can relate the most with these 4. They had to make the places we can visit finite. And i think 4 is a good number to start with. There will definitly be more later on.

No, there won't be.
Blizzard doesn't fulfill roadmaps. The develop with Agile, which is why they never get things done.

[TickTickTick]

How many times must this be repeated?

There are infinite realms in the Shadowlands. You are only visiting a small fraction of the Shadowlands, but that fraction is the most affected by the anima drought caused by Jailer and Sylvanas.

It's not a book. It's a video game first and foremost. They can talk about infinite whatever all they want, doesn't matter. We have a lore for only the four + Oribos + The Maw and this is canon. Unless you're trying to convince me that "something somewhere with some being doing something, that gets absolutely no mention in the game at all" is a good storytelling. If that's the new low that we've reached then I feel bad for the writers of old that their hard work got trashed so badly.

Let me repeat myself again. It's not a book. It's a video game. As in, you can actually see all the things they talk about. Current zones? Alright. Other "infinite endless omegalul" zones? Nope. No amount of tweets from blizz employees is going to change that (by the way when did tweeter become a platform for extending wow's lore?). If they aren't able to fit in a part of a story, that story doesn't exist.

And even if they add new covenants in later patches, that will be a bit absurd. I said it in another thread: if the Arbiter's servant didn't tell us to warn anyone except the Archon, Primus, Winter Queen and Sire, that means they are not relevant to anything going on in the Shadowlands.

I'll repeat myself yet again. If I want to be made imagining about this or that, I'll read a book. I'm playing video games to actually have the story and the setting visualised right in front of my eyes. It's like telling someone to watch a muted video and imagine the music and lyrics, lmao.

EDIT: To present it differently - they forced themselves into a corner. Obviously they arent able to create idk how many zones, but the concept of Shadowlands being so small is also dumb. So they just say "its endless you just dont go there", which is the most lazy and dumbest excuse ever. Because if we dont go there then its not important for the story, in which case it might as well not exist at all. Hardly an immersive setting.

[VinceVega]

No, there won't be.
Blizzard doesn't fulfill roadmaps. The develop with Agile, which is why they never get things done.

Ah yes... roadmaps... because they are always getting fullfilled... /ironyoff

[Nagawithlegs]

EDIT: To present it differently - they forced themselves into a corner. Obviously they arent able to create idk how many zones, but the concept of Shadowlands being so small is also dumb. So they just say "its endless you just dont go there", which is the most lazy and dumbest excuse ever. Because if we dont go there then its not important for the story, in which case it might as well not exist at all. Hardly an immersive setting.

You note many times how important it is that World of Warcraft is a game and not a book, and yet are upset that the developers are prioritizing it being a game with limitations instead of a narrative? They shouldn't be limited in a setting featuring an "infinite" aspect just because they can't make it possible. The closest thing would be something akin to randomly generated minecraft worlds which would be just as lame as Islands.