Expand the Warcraft Universe!

[Selastan]

The Warcraft universe is possibly my favorite fantasy universe. Unfortunately, with the exception of rare events like Chronicle and Traveler, Warcraft lore seems limited to just the MMO and tie-in novels. This is puzzling, because Blizzard has so many characters and plot threads going at once, they actually have to ignore many characters and plot devices, like a certain interdenominational space fortress. Instead of just saying, "that thing doesn't matter because it isn't a part of our story right now', how hard would it be to commission a short comic or something to explain it? This would be an excellent way to not only build a more coherent story, but a more expansive universe as well. Whatever adventure keeps the Vindicar occupied would introduce new characters and story elements that could use later.

The reason Star Wars is so beloved today isn't because of nine half-decent sci-fi movies, but because of the countless books, games, comics, and series that made fans of many different people with many different tastes. It would be best for everyone involved, Blizzard, fans, Activision, shareholders, and anyone that Blizzard decides to hire to produce that content, if Blizzard would decide to follow suit. Restricting Warcraft to one game and supplements cripples it's story-telling capabilities and casts a small net for possible fans.

The worst part is, Blizzard seems to realize this to an extent. They wanted Pokemon fans, they added pet battles. They wanted to make a rougelike, they added Torghast. I feel like the only reason Hearthstone exists is because they couldn't fit it into WoW. Imagine if instead of creating Torghast, they just made or licensed out development of a full Roguelike in the Warcraft universe. One that didn't need to conform to WoW's current story or mechanics, and one players interested in Roguelikes could buy without having to get involved into an MMO that they might not be interested in.

Has anyone else wanted to see something in the Warcraft universe apart from the MMO? A city builder where the Night Elves build their civilization from their newly discovered Well of Eternity? A Mass Effect style space opera with Illidan hunting down Burning Legion remnants while searching for a way to permanantly deal with an imprisoned Sargeras? An Assassin's Creed clone where Tyrande hunts down Horde leadership in Northern Kalimdor? An open-world RPG where the player explores a pre-Legion Draenor as a young orc hunting for glory? An animated tv series about the adventures of a human scholar searching for the world for forgotten history?

[Atriel]

The reason Star Wars is so beloved today isn't because of nine half-decent sci-fi movies, but because of the countless books, games, comics, and series that made fans of many different people with many different tastes. It would be best for everyone involved, Blizzard, fans, Activision, shareholders, and anyone that Blizzard decides to hire to produce that content, if Blizzard would decide to follow suit. Restricting Warcraft to one game and supplements cripples it's story-telling capabilities and casts a small net for possible fans.

They have multiple games, comics, books. They have a lot of Warcraft media out there. Plus, the books don't go over well with fans because they lock away key lore knowledge within said books and it really can make the in-game story not work for those who haven't read outside information.

[Selastan]

They have multiple games, comics, books. They have a lot of Warcraft media out there. Plus, the books don't go over well with fans because they lock away key lore knowledge within said books and it really can make the in-game story not work for those who haven't read outside information.

A lot of that media is direct tie-ins to the story of the game. Less universe building, more anime-filler. Its optional. It doesn't ADD anything, just contextualizes it. What the game needs is more self-contained stories. Stories that can be referenced in the game, or not at all. I don't get why people would complain. Its MORE content. You don't have to buy it. I don't think people were calling for the cancellation of Clone Wars because Ahsoka wasn't in the new movies.

[Soeroah]

I still reckon Warcraft 4 could have been the Army of the Light's perspective of the Legion backstory

[Rendark]

Its been expanded way to much. It's at the point now were everything is a mess. The only good thing i can say about the Warcraft universe as it is now is it's a little better then what happened to the Warhammer fantasy universe.

[Selastan]

Its been expanded way to much. It's at the point now were everything is a mess. The only good thing i can say about the Warcraft universe as it is now is it's a little better then what happened to the Warhammer fantasy universe.

Its only a mess because they expanded so much without developing any of it further. They try to put way too much into one MMO that can't possibly answer every question it raises, hence why characters are just shelved when they aren't relevant to the main plotline.

[StationaryHawk]

They used to tell some interesting stories in graphic novel/manga format. Warcraft Legends told almost entirely self-contained stories (or else expanded on minor characters). Unfortunately, they stopped after Bloodsworn and Dark Riders.

As far as video games go, I wouldn't expect too much. We've seen how they've handled StarCraft.

[rhorle]

The problem comes with recognizing or reconciling the different branches of the IP. You can only do so much because WoW still has to function and has to accommodate those other stories in some fashion. Even if they split it into "Different universes" it still would cheapen it to a degree in my opinion. Star Wars is also way more popular and was way popular even before all of the EU stuff was created. Not to mention Disney came in and "deleted" all of that to create their own canon.

Other games set in the WoW universe could work out just fine but it really can't touch much of anything that appears in WoW or will appear in WoW at some point. But I don't think the popularity is there at to handle it on a massive scale as you would want. What they really should do is capitalize on the Nexus. Heroes of the Storm could be a great game universe for them to do all sorts of genres and styles.

[Rendark]

Its only a mess because they expanded so much without developing any of it further. They try to put way too much into one MMO that can't possibly answer every question it raises, hence why characters are just shelved when they aren't relevant to the main plotline.

Since the main story is in a MMO then it will always be a mess, until WoW ends. I used to love the Warcraft universe, then the Lich King died and everything started to go down hill.

[Sluvs]

I think the biggest problem with WoW lore is that they don't know how to keep it small and grounded, or maybe they just choose not to do that. Regardless, the one upmanship of wow villains really hurts the universe IMO and take the lore into territories that invitably weakens it.

The strenght of WoW has always been the attrition between the alliance and the horde, not saying faction war mind you, but the worlds colliding and all that. I think they should have sticked to that and just sprinkle these deities and cosmic problems around that story. They should bring survival to that and not be afraid to hit us hard when the story is needed. Imagine if in the last battle against Nzoth, we were completely and utterly destroyed, our souls bound to the shadowlands and our quest would suddenly be to escape shadowlands and get back to the living world. I think it would be an amazing and grounded story while still keeping the same general framework.

That is what I feel is missing from WoW, the factions always struggled to survive in the harsh world of azeroth, they should work with that to make stories a little more grounded.

[Razion]

2D Platform Fighter like Smash Bros, but Warcraft.

[tangers58]

They have multiple games, comics, books. They have a lot of Warcraft media out there. Plus, the books don't go over well with fans because they lock away key lore knowledge within said books and it really can make the in-game story not work for those who haven't read outside information.

Also doesn't help that the books are usually straight up garbage. There were some good ones early on but not in a long while now.

[Selastan]

I think the biggest problem with WoW lore is that they don't know how to keep it small and grounded, or maybe they just choose not to do that. Regardless, the one upmanship of wow villains really hurts the universe IMO and take the lore into territories that invitably weakens it.

The strenght of WoW has always been the attrition between the alliance and the horde, not saying faction war mind you, but the worlds colliding and all that. I think they should have sticked to that and just sprinkle these deities and cosmic problems around that story. They should bring survival to that and not be afraid to hit us hard when the story is needed. Imagine if in the last battle against Nzoth, we were completely and utterly destroyed, our souls bound to the shadowlands and our quest would suddenly be to escape shadowlands and get back to the living world. I think it would be an amazing and grounded story while still keeping the same general framework.

That is what I feel is missing from WoW, the factions always struggled to survive in the harsh world of azeroth, they should work with that to make stories a little more grounded.

Ah, now THAT is what I am talking about. Side stories are the PERFECT opportunity to go back to grounded stories, free from the power curve that has our characters fighting literal gods right now. At this point, any way of having our character do anything down-to-earth will feel false, knowing what we are capable of. Like if Goku suddenly had trouble taking on a street thug well after he beat Majin Buu. Imagine a short mature graphic novel, focusing on a wounded soldier trying to save a small unknown package, fighting and sneaking his way through Horde patrols after a lost battle, desperatly trying to complete his mission despite the increasingly worse state of his body...and soul. Or a crime novel about a goblin rising through the ranks of an Undermine mafia, complete with tons of dry, black comedy and gritty underworld dealings. That kind of stuff is IMPOSSIBLE to deal with right in an MMO, yet is totally possible to do with the Warcraft IP.

[deenman]

The Warcraft universe is possibly my favorite fantasy universe. Unfortunately, with the exception of rare events like Chronicle and Traveler, Warcraft lore seems limited to just the MMO and tie-in novels. This is puzzling, because Blizzard has so many characters and plot threads going at once, they actually have to ignore many characters and plot devices, like a certain interdenominational space fortress. Instead of just saying, "that thing doesn't matter because it isn't a part of our story right now', how hard would it be to commission a short comic or something to explain it? This would be an excellent way to not only build a more coherent story, but a more expansive universe as well. Whatever adventure keeps the Vindicar occupied would introduce new characters and story elements that could use later.

The reason Star Wars is so beloved today isn't because of nine half-decent sci-fi movies, but because of the countless books, games, comics, and series that made fans of many different people with many different tastes. It would be best for everyone involved, Blizzard, fans, Activision, shareholders, and anyone that Blizzard decides to hire to produce that content, if Blizzard would decide to follow suit. Restricting Warcraft to one game and supplements cripples it's story-telling capabilities and casts a small net for possible fans.

The worst part is, Blizzard seems to realize this to an extent. They wanted Pokemon fans, they added pet battles. They wanted to make a rougelike, they added Torghast. I feel like the only reason Hearthstone exists is because they couldn't fit it into WoW. Imagine if instead of creating Torghast, they just made or licensed out development of a full Roguelike in the Warcraft universe. One that didn't need to conform to WoW's current story or mechanics, and one players interested in Roguelikes could buy without having to get involved into an MMO that they might not be interested in.

Has anyone else wanted to see something in the Warcraft universe apart from the MMO? A city builder where the Night Elves build their civilization from their newly discovered Well of Eternity? A Mass Effect style space opera with Illidan hunting down Burning Legion remnants while searching for a way to permanantly deal with an imprisoned Sargeras? An Assassin's Creed clone where Tyrande hunts down Horde leadership in Northern Kalimdor? An open-world RPG where the player explores a pre-Legion Draenor as a young orc hunting for glory? An animated tv series about the adventures of a human scholar searching for the world for forgotten history?

Oh i would love more minigames in wow(good ones not like the najatar crap),stuff like hearthstone in wow,kinda like how gwent is in witcher,but use the wow engine,make it 3d like some of the yu gi oh games,you play deathwing,a big dragon comes down and kills the other units with fire and stays on the board as a unit

[Sluvs]

Ah, now THAT is what I am talking about. Side stories are the PERFECT opportunity to go back to grounded stories, free from the power curve that has our characters fighting literal gods right now. At this point, any way of having our character do anything down-to-earth will feel false, knowing what we are capable of. Like if Goku suddenly had trouble taking on a street thug well after he beat Majin Buu. Imagine a short mature graphic novel, focusing on a wounded soldier trying to save a small unknown package, fighting and sneaking his way through Horde patrols after a lost battle, desperatly trying to complete his mission despite the increasingly worse state of his body...and soul. Or a crime novel about a goblin rising through the ranks of an Undermine mafia, complete with tons of dry, black comedy and gritty underworld dealings. That kind of stuff is IMPOSSIBLE to deal with right in an MMO, yet is totally possible to do with the Warcraft IP.

I would simply LOVE stuff lihe this. Not to mention it would help with world building. Right now, Blizz idea of world building is just piling up new and expansive lore about the universe, which is not exactly wrong, but I think a more nuanced approach would be incredibly welcome IMO. Side stories are great for that.

That being said, while MMOs are not a perfect vehicle for good storytelling, I have to say that ARR to Heavensward (So far at least) does a incredibly good job.
I mean, you are the chosen one, but even the chosen one can't do much about a coup in one of the biggest cities of the realm, you are basically exiled, you are betrayed by your company and has to seek asylum in another country, and in order to get help,you need to negotiate a peace between 2 enemies that hate each other guts for centuries. It's not fantastic storytelling, but it is grounded and it gets you invested.

The game does not need one earth shattering event after another to set up a new expansion, it just need a good hook, something that your character needs/want. I think, in this mess of words, what I am trying to say is: our characters need to be more pro active, and not reactive. And the story should be written with that in mind.

[Amnaught]

This is why I loved the tabletop RPG.

They have novels, and graphic novels. Hearthstone and three RTS games. They have a MOVIE.

And none of it is canon. That's the tragic part.

[Wolfrick]

You have a great point there...


I have wanted Warcraft TV series since.... forever... (they are making a diablo TV series...) so my hopes are that they are testing the system and if people watch it before they make a Warcraft TV series.


they should make a Warcraft 4 (put it in the past or make it fit between some expansions...) since as you say your self, its impossible to make every Lore thing or event fit in one expansion.


And they should 100% make a Solo RPG... about the Core characters of Warcraft... giving fans and much needed Love to each and single character... and trust me!!! those games would sell like crazy (Just look at the last Star Wars single RPG game) people love that.


PS: but ofc... all of this should be cannon and make World of Warcraft Lore richer.... so they need to focus on continuuity, that is very important.

[Golden Yak]

I've often thought I would like a Darksiders-style action-adventure game where you control a forsaken rogue going and doing assassination stuff in various locales. Have a level set in Azjol-Nerub and my other favorite dungeons. I think it'd definitely look cool.

In terms of a new MMO or RTS, I'd rather see a huge jump in time, like 800 years after the present era. Maybe even set it on some unknown world with little explanation, and as you play you fill the gaps of how we got from WOW to where we are now.