#1 lore problem: little interexpansion continuity

[Wilfire]

It's inevitable that in a game like WoW the developers will bring back old themes in order to keep the game going. From a story perspective, this is horrible because nothing ever gets resolved.

In TBC we defeated the Illidari and Kil'jaeden's forces. Illidan didn't have to face the consequences of his actions because 8 years down the line he suddenly becomes the chosen one and an army of demon hunters returns from the Nether to back him up. Kil'jaeden doesn't have to face the consequences of his defeat at the Sunwell. The strength of the Burning Legion is in no way diminished since all of a sudden they can respawn infinitely. You could remove TBC from continuity and Legion would still play out the same way, except Illidan would just come back from Outland instead of being revived.

In WotLK we defeated the Scourge and killed Arthas. 8 years down the line people are speculating that we will get a Return of the Lich King expansion or at the very least Bolvar and the Scourge will play a major role in the conflict to come. All of our efforts during WotLK amounted to nothing because the Scourge can still return to its peak power at a moment's notice.

In Cataclysm we wiped out the Black and the Twilight Dragonflights. 6 years later they are popping up in record numbers again (see Island Expeditions). Wrathion's campaign to exterminate all Blacks has now lost of its gravity. The Elemental Planes are fully recovered and have new Elemental Lords. N'Zoth doesn't have to face the consequences of his blundered Hour of Twilight since he only lost one major pawn (Deathwing). He can enslave the reborn dragonflights and the new elemental lords at a moment's notice.

In Mists of Pandaria we defeated Garrosh and dismantled his True Horde. Then time traveling orcs back him up and he gets a 2nd shot at conquering Azeroth.

In Warlords of Draenor we re-defeated one of the Legion's top commanders and foiled their invasion. This doesn't inconvenience them in Legion in the slightest. The fact that we took out Mannoroth and Archimonde is never brought up. Kil'jaeden doesn't have to adjust his plans for the invasion. They just pile in a fuckton of demons and overrun the planet for several months anyway.

In Legion we defeated the Legion. Or did we? Unless Blizzard really hates Sargeras, I don't see him being punished for losing any more than the Kil'jaeden, the Lich King, N'Zoth or Garrosh were. If Blizzard deems a third Burning Legion expansion desirable, Sargeras will just bust himself out of his prison and reform the Legion since we didn't really dismantle it. There was no permanent resolution or closure.

There's no point in defeating all of these hot shots if they just get revived a few years later.

[Clone]

i think it's more of a poor planning lazy writing problem.

[viridian-716]

Demons are immortal and respawn unless killed in the Nether or Demon Planet.

Lich King lore is that there always must be a Lich King. Someone must be on that throne wielding death magic.

Illidan died and it "may" have curbed his madness and lust for power. His destroying Gul'dan's skull in the Nighthold instead of loathing it, his own actions and words on the Vindicar suggests that he has had "some" character development. Also, see the Sally Whitemane horseman quest as it talks about death being a bit of a cure for madness.

Time travel does shake things up. Blame it on the Bronze Dragons.

Third legion exp? Possible. Fel, Demons and the Legion are a part of the balance of the cosmos.

But overall, things/people coming back its all a part of the natural order of things. Plus, in lore its often quoted that mortals meddle with magic that they don't appreciate and understand, thus causing endless havoc on Azeroth.

[Deleted]

I think this is all an allegation to the 'eternal war' that for example Xal'atath alluded to. It's all going in circles, nothing can ever be truly defeated. You can only hope to defeat things for some time, so your ranks can replenish and you still have forces to take up sword for the next fight.

This is what usually drove one or the other of the 'big' forces mad and made them step out of line. In Diablo one demon and one angel who wanted a world free of it and made Sanctuary, so they could escape. It didn't work, the war went on and then later Malthael trying to end the eternal war by wiping out everything demonic, including mortals. In Starcraft it's Amon who wanted to end the cycle, in Warcraft Sargeras wanted to end the cycle. But he couldn't and now another will rise and after that another...
...you get the idea. It's a cycle and everything comes back around at some point, be it in this world or in the next.



Don't tell me it's just the cheap version of always recycling threats, because that's not a lore explanation ;P

[Briselody]

I mean, it's more a problem with the format of a MMO storyline, which is by its very nature never-ending (until they decide to close the game).

If it were a book then sure, we beat the Lich King, epilogue and end scene. But in WoW the story continues, so obviously we see fallout that wouldn't normally appear in a closed novel. Bolvar gets put in his place, and doesn't just stop existing; he's up there, and either he just fades into obscurity or, as is being heavily hinted, he starts acting on his own.

We can't really say that TBC had zero effects either, though the story with Illidan was admittedly a mess. Without us going to Outland we wouldn't have stopped Kael'thas, and maybe with him flying in on Tempest Keep to support the Legion that story would have gone differently. Maybe killing Archimonde on Draenor didn't make a difference, or maybe with him active during Legion we would have been wiped out.

Basically, with WoW's format we don't get to throw up THE END and roll credits. There are consequences to world events, and sometimes they make us wonder whether we actually made a difference. This seems to be working as intended, in my opinion.