Shadowlands doesn't feel like Warcraft

[gd8]

It doesnt feel like wow and also doesnt feel like an afterlife, the zones just feel like knock-off azeroth zones. ardenweald is literally just a reskinned val'sharah even down to the story

a lot of it I think is trying to appeal thematically to people who like ffxiv which is what's giving it that asian knockoff mmo feel

[sylenna]

Previous expansions all added new places and creatures, but they brought existing elements there as well. You would find the classic races of Azeroth building settlements there, you'd see murlocs, goblin towns, human castles and so on.
Shadowlands doesn't have any of that. It's all completely different to the point where it feels like I'm playing some chinese knockoff of wow.
Even the loading screen looks more like something out of Narnia and that movie sucked.
Also, the fact that they added a bunch of existing characters that just sit in a corner in Oribos doesn't help.

This is my main gripe with the expansion and wanted to ask if anyone feels the same way.

what the fuck is wrong with people like you?

we get a totally different, otherworldly expansion which still pretty much is world of warcraft after seven expansion and natural story progression. why should i encounter murloc huts in the realm of death? why should i see classic stuff.. in the realm of DEATH!

one expansion is "boohoo all is rehashed all is same!!!1" and the next with new stuff like MoP is "boohoo this isn't what i'm used to!!!1".


no, i strongly do not feel the way you feel. shadowlands is such a breath of fresh air in every aspect aesthetic-wise that i like just everything i encounter there. you should try to be a bit more open.

[qwerty123456]

You have blue humans who have to fend off the scourge in the very first zone and multiple creatures in each zone that already exist in wow. You also have at the very minimum 1 major character of each zone who is from Azeroth and in the case of Maldraxxus like 30 of em + the whole scourge theme.

Thats like 20-30% of the expansion thats tied to the Warcraft we already know which is a stupidly high percentage imo when all planets and realties that exist in the Warcraft universe go there.

[Scathan]

So the fans know the game better than the people making the game. Huh. Are you sure we're not talking about Star Wars here?

I would say yes. As companies go on for a long period of time and the writers in this case change, and different visions clash with what it was originally, sometimes the fans do have a better understanding of an ip than the current writers do.

Now can the writers do with it what they wish? Sure. But that doesn't mean you won't alienate a lot of longtime fans in the process. Nor does it mean they are wrong to be upset with the direction of wows current story

[Zandalarian Paladin]

I agree with OP, although it's not necessarily bad. I think it's good to have a universe where you know there's more beyond what we know, otherwise the story would become stale.

There is a time and place to push through the original lore and there are times when we need a break from it. It makes the whole thing more enjoyable, I think.

[oldgeezer]

Eh, one of the problems I have with SL is that it doesn't feel alien enough. Any of the zones could be in Azeroth somewhere. Shattered Draenor was often way more alien than any of the weak, milky tea zones we experience in SL.

[chiddie]

Previous expansions all added new places and creatures, but they brought existing elements there as well. You would find the classic races of Azeroth building settlements there, you'd see murlocs, goblin towns, human castles and so on.
Shadowlands doesn't have any of that. It's all completely different to the point where it feels like I'm playing some chinese knockoff of wow.
Even the loading screen looks more like something out of Narnia and that movie sucked.
Also, the fact that they added a bunch of existing characters that just sit in a corner in Oribos doesn't help.

This is my main gripe with the expansion and wanted to ask if anyone feels the same way.

Well, it’s not the first time we get “alien” zones, TBC Outlands for example did not seem “azerothian” at all apart from Hellfire Peninsula to an extent.

[TheFirstOnes]

...Oh wow, a realm we've literally never been to before doesn't "feel" like WoW, all because you're seeing shit that doesn't apply to literally everywhere else you've been to in the game.

This is actually the most nitpicky thing I've seen all day. Almost like the realms of Death should be completely new and different to anything we've seen before in WoW. Also, not everything in the Shadowlands is about Azeroth?! HOLY SHIT, THAT'S CRAZY! It's almost like the Shadowlands is the afterlife OF THE ENTIRE COSMOS FOR MORTAL LIFE!!!!

[tehdef]

Nope, he's not alone. Shadowlands isn't Warcraft, it's even more alien to the franchise than the asian Mists of Pandaria setting.

Funny story. Since you are not the writer, or creator or ongoing maintainer of warcraft, you can't really say what warcraft is. Because.... uh. Warcraft is shadowlands now. So you just kinda need to build a bridge and get over it.

[TheFirstOnes]

Eh, one of the problems I have with SL is that it doesn't feel alien enough. Any of the zones could be in Azeroth somewhere. Shattered Draenor was often way more alien than any of the weak, milky tea zones we experience in SL.

The Shadowlands is not really supposed to be Alien though. It's supposed to be unique and different, like high fantasy shit, but definitely not "alien" like with Outland, which was completely fucked by the Fel, Nether magics, etc.

But none of these zones fit with Azeroth whatsoever, idk where you're getting that from.

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Funny story. Since you are not the writer, or creator or ongoing maintainer of warcraft, you can't really say what warcraft is. Because.... uh. Warcraft is shadowlands now. So you just kinda need to build a bridge and get over it.

As much as I disagree with this thread, what you said is the most backwards logic comment ever. Fans can, infact, have better knowledge over the creators of WoW if the creators of WoW completely miss the point of what WoW is.

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I agree with OP, although it's not necessarily bad. I think it's good to have a universe where you know there's more beyond what we know, otherwise the story would become stale.

There is a time and place to push through the original lore and there are times when we need a break from it. It makes the whole thing more enjoyable, I think.

Literally this. Thank you. Though, I personally think it still feels like Warcraft, as we have Maldraxxus which is basically where the Legion (And the Jailer) got their scourge idea from, Ardenweald which is literally just the polar opposite of the Emerald Dream, Bastion which is where the spirit healers originated from, and Revendreth which is basically full of Venthyr, a race that are speculated to be what the Nathrezim once were prior to the Fel changes and whatnot.

[TheFirstOnes]

It doesnt feel like wow and also doesnt feel like an afterlife, the zones just feel like knock-off azeroth zones. ardenweald is literally just a reskinned val'sharah even down to the story

a lot of it I think is trying to appeal thematically to people who like ffxiv which is what's giving it that asian knockoff mmo feel

How does it not feel like the Afterlife? And how is it trying to appeal to FFXIV fans? ...

Ardenweald is literally the polar opposite of the Emerald Dream, and Val'sharah is basically a physical represention of the Dream in the mortal realm.

[tommyhil622]

I would argue it has more elements of Warcraft than other expansions did like BFA and MOP.

Everything about it ties to all the big narratives of warcraft. Almost all the big names are there, the zones are highly connected to the undead, to the paladins, to deathknights, to nightelves, to trolls everything about it has strong ties to every major theme in WoW.

[TheFirstOnes]

shadowlands feels more like warcraft to me than bfa by miles. something felt off the entire time.
i also got that vibe from wod, but not to the same extent as bfa. shadowlands feels like i'm playing wow again.

BFA's problem was that the Alliance/Horde shit felt incredibly out of place (Which is ironic, considering that's basically the MAIN PLOTPOINT OF THE EXPANSION), and the mix of plots didn't really help it. At least SL focuses on 1 big plot, similar to Legion and co. Not to mention SL also still ties into a lot of stuff relating to past things such as the Lich King, Ysera, the Burning Legion, etc.

[oldgeezer]

The Shadowlands is not really supposed to be Alien though. It's supposed to be unique and different, like high fantasy shit, but definitely not "alien" like with Outland, which was completely fucked by the Fel, Nether magics, etc.

But none of these zones fit with Azeroth whatsoever, idk where you're getting that from.

I disagree. Ardenweald is virtually a copy/paste of Val'Sharah. Maldraxxus is HD Plaguelands. Bastion resembles HoV. The Maw, the Burning Steppes. Revendreth? Gilneas. OK, the Ember Ward bit is marginally interesting, I'll grant you. Nothing truly speaks 'afterlife' to me. Where do the 35th Century humans end up? Silicon-based lifeforms? Ammonia space whales of Beta Persei? Sentient quantum singularities? Sure, if I'm 'an elf' I'd feel at home.

[TheFirstOnes]

Not to mention SL also hints us to future expansion plots that have already been built up, such as the Light/Shadow shit (Definitely going to be next expansion, imo), the First Ones, etc. BFA had that Sylvanas shit, but nothing really...leads into anything. The Alliance and Horde shit just ends, the Old Gods are just gone, Azshara just dips (Probably for future expansion shit), the sword is still in Silithus (Probably going to involve Sargeras in the future, he'll likely reappear and reclaim his blade in the Light/Shadow expansion, let's be real here), and the HoA is just abandoned. :/

[Stormspellz]

same old modern wow, gameplay has continued to devolved into eye candy over substance, added on top of systems and contrived game chores

[TJ]

WoW hasn't felt like actual Warcraft with the fundamental elements of it for years.

[GreenJesus]

Honestly they just should leave WoW as it is and make classic servers for different expansions 1 by 1.
And after that all is under work, they should either make new MMO or WoW 2.0 which stays on it's roots and don't evolve into shit show like SL.

I really wanna play retail wow but there is so many stupid gated shit, dailies, world quests and forced annoying content that I simply can't do them anymore. I just wanna world pvp/BGs, run some mythic+ and raid once a while.

Unpopular opinion but give Vanilla wow with gameplay and balance of retail + add content to it... Content that feels like it belongs to the azeroth and does not make any other areas irrelevant. Also wow is really flat, Make zones more interesting by making big caves and tunnels in many zones. And remove that horrible flying... If you want to have flying, then atleast make it realistic and do not allow players just hover in the sky. Make flying hard meaning: Taking off and going down needs room and failing means you take dmg and dismount. When flying, you are moving and falling. Staying in sky has to have either buttons to press or focusing on the flight some other way.

I know I know, some mounts are able to hover or it does not make sense for them to be constantly on move. Easy fix: remove those mounts and give new ground mounts for whiny mount collectors.


Some of you gonna again shitpost random "facts" and their opinions and so on. Not gonna reply to them. I just said my opinion about the game and honestly would play any other MMO if there was something as good as wow is in it's core and pvp wise. Gladly there is Classic which feels nice and is relaxing. Meeting new people and making new friends while leveling instead of forced to do tons of dailies and other annoying things while maybe 1 player says "hey" in a group content that is cleared in mere seconds and then everyone leaves and I will not see them never again because of the shards, combined servers and layering crap.

?? Dude you literally can. This expansion allows you to do that more than almost any other expansion and it's probably the easiest ever. Im Ilv 217 with average 96% healing parses in heroic and I haven't done world quests or done maw quests in over a month. I'm going to guess you haven't even touched shadowlands so you are just being ignorant.

[TheFirstOnes]

I disagree. Ardenweald is virtually a copy/paste of Val'Sharah. Maldraxxus is HD Plaguelands. Bastion resembles HoV. The Maw, the Burning Steppes. Revendreth? Gilneas. OK, the Ember Ward bit is marginally interesting, I'll grant you. Nothing truly speaks 'afterlife' to me. Where do the 35th Century humans end up? Silicon-based lifeforms? Ammonia space whales of Beta Persei? Sentient quantum singularities? Sure, if I'm 'an elf' I'd feel at home.

We're only in 5 of the infinite realms of the afterlife atm. So, afterlife's like that may exist.

I already explained Ardenweald above, Maldraxxus is literally the shit where the Scourge originated from, Odin actually made the HoV + the Val'kyr cause of what he saw in Bastion during his eye deal with Mueh'zala, the Maw is literally WoW's Hell (So, it should LOOK Red, destructive, and chaotic), and Revendreth is gothic (Like Vampires n shit). :/

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"I really wanna play retail wow but there is so many stupid gated shit, dailies, world quests and forced annoying content that I simply can't do them anymore. I just wanna world pvp/BGs, run some mythic+ and raid once a while." Legit all you gotta do is upgrade your renown, and do the Bolvar Quests. That's it. That's actually fucking it. After that, you can spam Raid/PVP, do Torghast for your legendary, and play the fucking game.

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Shadowlands is so empty of daily shit, that is actually makes BFA and Legion feel weak in comparison. Sure, there are the boxes, but those are legit there ALL the time and at MOST you're going to do 1 of them for renown lmao.

[Imonaboat69]

?? Dude you literally can. This expansion allows you to do that more than almost any other expansion and it's probably the easiest ever. Im Ilv 217 with average 96% healing parses in heroic and I haven't done world quests or done maw quests in over a month.

Agree with you.
You can skip all and do only things you like but if you want the very best gear you gotta put some effort for it.
Otherwise it's still easy to obtain 200+ ilvl which is also fine