Shadowlands was truly filler after all?

[deenman]

dragonflight looks to be way more ''filler'',shadowlands atleast sets up stuff,and had nonsensical old lore painfuly retconned in to it

but im optimistic,the last truly filler expansion we had with mop ended up pretty good

[Giovaaa]

No, it closed the chapter on a story that started back in Warcraft 3.

lol
lmao even

[Shampro]

If anything Dragonflight looks more filler. That Cinematic trailer and premise sure as hell does anyway.

[Amariw]

When it comes to an mmo who doesn't neccesarily focus on a single big plot, the term filler is itself rather vauge. Classic had a ton of lore that wasn't connected to naxx or ahnqiraj, but i wouldn't call those filler. They were fun world building.

Since expansions started wow focuses more on episodic plots with some links to previous expos, so i guess "filler" could be termed anything that didn't significantly impact events that will come after it. Or at the very least, anything in which we didn't even learn important and impactful lore that affects the future expos.

In that way, Shadowlands might indeed be even more fillerish than Dragonflight. It might as well have not have happened and all we'd miss is sylvanas conclusion. Dragonflight could be the same, or it could meaningfuly lead into the events after it. Depends on writing.

[Lochton]

I didn’t play the last patches of BfA, but looking back there is a huge emphasis on dragon lore in those last patches. It’s amazing that the dragon foreshadowing is only paying off after this pointless excursion into robo-afterlife.

It is sad that the worst parts of BfA were so bad because they simply served as a prologue for Shadowlands. The first arc of that xpac, ignoring Lordaeron and the war campaign, is still great.

I don't think it was meant to be but it became one. It is written in and executed so badly, that the average existence can completely ignore it, the same with WoD, unlike the other expansions where it affected the whole world.

[Khaza-R]

Can't really be filler when they make up the story as they go along.

[GreenJesus]

Shadowlands has been confirmed as filler. New players will do Exile Reach then level in BFA 10-60 then go straight into Dragonlands. Blizzard also confirmed you dont need to play shadowlands to know what is going on in Dragonlands expansion. This is the first expansion where you dont need to level through the previous expansion at all in order to reach it.

[Deventh]

Shadowlands is like WoD. Literally the only thing of note is what happened to the villain character (WoD introducing Gul'dan who then starts Legion and kills Varian, Shadowlands eliminating Sylvanas). The Jailer's actions won't have any noticeable impact upon Azeroth. Even Sargeras at least managed to help kickstart the BFA plot by causing Azerite to appear.

Sylvanas will 3000% come back, so it is not the same. Sylvanas is as eliminated as Anduin is, which he isn't.

[McNeil]

I actually get a lot more filler vibes with Dragonflight because even the devs are like ''okay lets take a break from cosmic threats and go back to Azeroth for a bit before going back''. The cosmic threads is where the end game lies and our adventures on Azeroth are more like side stories at this point. Not that its a bad thing, MoP did the same and it turned out good. WoD imo is also filler because its just a huge ''what if'' expansion which.... didn't turn out good. Shadowlands wanted to be a big deal in the lore (going as far as retconning a lot of the old lore) but completely faield in its execution, but that doesn't turn it into a filller expansion, just a really bad one.

[Sugani]

Shadowlands is like WoD. Literally the only thing of note is what happened to the villain character (WoD introducing Gul'dan who then starts Legion and kills Varian, Shadowlands eliminating Sylvanas). The Jailer's actions won't have any noticeable impact upon Azeroth. Even Sargeras at least managed to help kickstart the BFA plot by causing Azerite to appear.

Let’s not forget this trend of leading into the next expansion from previous expansions is fairy new for the franchise.

Up until Legion, expansions were more or less independent from one another.

One could argue that Legion -> BFA -> Shadowlands is a trilogy. Even if it did end on a somewhat bleh note.

[Aydinx2]

Shadowlands is like WoD. Literally the only thing of note is what happened to the villain character (WoD introducing Gul'dan who then starts Legion and kills Varian, Shadowlands eliminating Sylvanas). The Jailer's actions won't have any noticeable impact upon Azeroth. Even Sargeras at least managed to help kickstart the BFA plot by causing Azerite to appear.

Uh, pretty sure what happened in WoD had plenty of impact on Azeroth (you know, like kickstarting the next 3 expansions?).

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Let’s not forget this trend of leading into the next expansion from previous expansions is fairy new for the franchise.

Up until Legion, expansions were more or less independent from one another.

One could argue that Legion -> BFA -> Shadowlands is a trilogy. Even if it did end on a somewhat bleh note.

It isn't new at all. It started in MoP with Garrosh, who caused WoD, which caused Legion etc etc.

MoP -> WoD -> Legion feels more like a trilogy to me. BfA was caused by the sword but that wasn't nearly as direct as the other causes for the other expansions.

[shadowmatrix]

Yeah, explaining the origin of the helm of domination, the dreadlords, a glimpse into Elune's nature, Sylvanas getting punished, more plot involving the drust, finally dealing with Kel'thuzad, and hinting at possible armed conflict between all the cosmic orders is all filler.
Some interesting character development happened during Shadowlands such as Thrall getting to meet Draka and possibly moving on from his trauma over Garrosh, the Mograines meeting once more and getting to talk, Uther dealing with his hatred of Arthas, and Bolvar getting so questing time with his daughter.

[Gurahk]

It cannot be filler, considering what happens in Zereth Mortis. There's supposedly other "Zereths" and this was just the first one.
Like it or not, this is just the beginning of the next chapter of Warcraft, where we deal with more cosmic beings (with small breaks in between like Dragonflight)

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Let’s not forget this trend of leading into the next expansion from previous expansions is fairy new for the franchise.

Up until Legion, expansions were more or less independent from one another.

One could argue that Legion -> BFA -> Shadowlands is a trilogy. Even if it did end on a somewhat bleh note.

Wouldn't this trend start with MoP then?

[enigma77]

I think that it's evident that it wasn't supposed to be filler, with most storylines being half-baked or having major plot holes, but they realized that there's such a large degree of friction between players and the current in-game systems and story that it just makes more sense to go all-in on Dragonflight, similarly to how they discontinued WoD development early and focused on Legion.

Such wonderful optimism.

[Aydinx2]

It cannot be filler, considering what happens in Zereth Mortis. There's supposedly other "Zereths" and this was just the first one.
Like it or not, this is just the beginning of the next chapter of Warcraft, where we deal with more cosmic beings (with small breaks in between like Dragonflight)

I'm fine with this as long as the other cosmic forces/zereths aren't all "robotic" or "automata" like Zereth Mortis. I'm ok with arcane constructs, partially because they've been in the game for so long, but constantly having to deal with robots and "programming" is so tiring.

I'm hoping the other Zereth's will be thematically based on their cosmic "element" and that we won't just spend the entire expansion in that realm.

[Sugani]

Uh, pretty sure what happened in WoD had plenty of impact on Azeroth (you know, like kickstarting the next 3 expansions?).

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It isn't new at all. It started in MoP with Garrosh, who caused WoD, which caused Legion etc etc.

MoP -> WoD -> Legion feels more like a trilogy to me. BfA was caused by the sword but that wasn't nearly as direct as the other causes for the other expansions.

Good point, overlooked that.

[Aucald]

You'd really need to pin down what you feel defines "filler" before you can appropriately claim that Y expansion is filler in terms of WoW. Are non-arc expansions filler? If so, then what exactly constitutes the general story arc you're referring to? I'd say Shadowlands is pretty close to what I'd refer to as a bottle story, as in a story that's disconnected from an ongoing storyline, sort of like the "monster of the week" episode of a TV series that has a general continuity running through a season. It does have some pretty serious ramifications for the story moving forward, though; from Sylvanas disappearing from the narrative for the foreseeable future, Anduin no longer being High King of the Alliance, and so forth. I don't think the footprint of Shadowlands will be as impactful as WotLK, MoP, or Legion proved to be - but it's more significant than the footprint of WoD, for example.

[Iheartnathanos]

I actually get a lot more filler vibes with Dragonflight because even the devs are like ''okay lets take a break from cosmic threats and go back to Azeroth for a bit before going back''. The cosmic threads is where the end game lies and our adventures on Azeroth are more like side stories at this point. Not that its a bad thing, MoP did the same and it turned out good. WoD imo is also filler because its just a huge ''what if'' expansion which.... didn't turn out good. Shadowlands wanted to be a big deal in the lore (going as far as retconning a lot of the old lore) but completely faield in its execution, but that doesn't turn it into a filller expansion, just a really bad one.

I think it is very unlikely they will go cosmic again after how poorly received Shadowlands was.

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You'd really need to pin down what you feel defines "filler" before you can appropriately claim that Y expansion is filler in terms of WoW. Are non-arc expansions filler? If so, then what exactly constitutes the general story arc you're referring to? I'd say Shadowlands is pretty close to what I'd refer to as a bottle story, as in a story that's disconnected from an ongoing storyline, sort of like the "monster of the week" episode of a TV series that has a general continuity running through a season. It does have some pretty serious ramifications for the story moving forward, though; from Sylvanas disappearing from the narrative for the foreseeable future, Anduin no longer being High King of the Alliance, and so forth. I don't think the footprint of Shadowlands will be as impactful as WotLK, MoP, or Legion proved to be - but it's more significant than the footprint of WoD, for example.

Bottle is the term I was searching for!

[rhorle]

I think it is very unlikely they will go cosmic again after how poorly received Shadowlands was.

Most stories in WoW have been cosmic though. Titans, Old Gods, Burning Legion, Naaru are as cosmic elements. Calling cosmic bad just seems like another one of those terms being misused by the community in an effort to hate on new lore while ignoring exactly what the old lore was. They will likely set it up so we have a half an expansion to ease into it or something so it isn't as abrupt of a introduction.

[Iheartnathanos]

Most stories in WoW have been cosmic though. Titans, Old Gods, Burning Legion, Naaru are as cosmic elements. Calling cosmic bad just seems like another one of those terms being misused by the community in an effort to hate on new lore while ignoring exactly what the old lore was. They will likely set it up so we have a half an expansion to ease into it or something so it isn't as abrupt of a introduction.

There have always been cosmic forces on the peripheries, but we rarely spend an entire expansion in a metaphysical realm. That’s obviously what I mean by another cosmic expac. I certainly think the hyped Void v Light nonsense will happen, but I think it will be like Legion, with most action happening on Azeroth with the cosmic realms left for patches.