Shadowlands was truly filler after all?

[Iheartnathanos]

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.

[Magical Mudcrab]

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.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

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.

[sambubu]

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.

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

[rhorle]

Pretty much any expansion can be called filler if we use the reasoning of the OP. The amusing part is when I googled Dragon references in BfA as a refresher google brought up "BfA has a disappointing lack of dragons" thread. The logic also means TBC filler because Vanilla had Nax and WotLK had Nax/undead with little connection to Sunwell and Outlands as a whole.

Not to mention filler expansion is just a buzzword people use to hate on something without putting the effort into any sort of convincing argument.

[Iheartnathanos]

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.

Very true, but people often forget that WoD served as excellent world building that developed Draenei, Orc and Ogre lore to a very polished state. Shadowlands just added a layer of Titans over the existing Titans, retconned Arthas and ensured future deaths were meaningless.

- - - Updated - - -

Pretty much any expansion can be called filler if we use the reasoning of the OP. The amusing part is when I googled Dragon references in BfA as a refresher google brought up "BfA has a disappointing lack of dragons" thread. The logic also means TBC filler because Vanilla had Nax and WotLK had Nax/undead with little connection to Sunwell and Outlands as a whole.

Not to mention filler expansion is just a buzzword people use to hate on something without putting the effort into any sort of convincing argument.

I would argue in a way that BC was a filler expansion. I’m speaking narratively here, not in terms of game development. BC had no idea what to do with the Legion and Illidan stories, it also broke the lore thanks to the eredar retcon. WotlK resolved SEVERAL large plot points from WC3 and Classic. So in a way, yeah, it was filler for the narrative.

[cparle87]

Pretty much any expansion can be called filler if we use the reasoning of the OP. The amusing part is when I googled Dragon references in BfA as a refresher google brought up "BfA has a disappointing lack of dragons" thread. The logic also means TBC filler because Vanilla had Nax and WotLK had Nax/undead with little connection to Sunwell and Outlands as a whole.

Not to mention filler expansion is just a buzzword people use to hate on something without putting the effort into any sort of convincing argument.

Pretty much this. Especially that second paragraph. That one so much.

[Biomega]

If anything, I'd expect DF to be the "filler" expansion before we launch off into the big Light vs. Void battle we all know is coming (and is probably going to tie into DF's 'big bad' somehow).

[Iheartnathanos]

Pretty much this. Especially that second paragraph. That one so much.

Yeah cool, except I laid out an argument. It’s interesting you dismiss this observation as a dismissive buzzword.

[Firefall]

Pretty much any expansion can be called filler if we use the reasoning of the OP. The amusing part is when I googled Dragon references in BfA as a refresher google brought up "BfA has a disappointing lack of dragons" thread. The logic also means TBC filler because Vanilla had Nax and WotLK had Nax/undead with little connection to Sunwell and Outlands as a whole.

Not to mention filler expansion is just a buzzword people use to hate on something without putting the effort into any sort of convincing argument.

I said it in that thread and I'll say it again--WoW needs more dragons, game is dead until more dragons! Any expansion without lots of dragons is filler imo.

[DeltrusDisc]

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.

Dragon lore being... Wrathion did some damage to N'Zoth? Or something else?

[Iheartnathanos]

Dragon lore being... Wrathion did some damage to N'Zoth? Or something else?

No, prior to that there were long quest chains associated with the dragonflights. The essences quests.

[rhorle]

I would argue in a way that BC was a filler expansion. I’m speaking narratively here, not in terms of game development. BC had no idea what to do with the Legion and Illidan stories, it also broke the lore thanks to the eredar retcon. WotlK resolved SEVERAL large plot points from WC3 and Classic. So in a way, yeah, it was filler for the narrative.

So are we ignoring the plot points from Warcraft 3 that used in TBC? What you say is more a by product of Blizzard lacking focus in story telling. There is a reason why the Lich King appears everywhere while leveling in WotLK because they were still playing around with how they wanted to do a story. There were retcons with WotLK as well so that really isn't something limited to a "filler" expansion only.

It really seems like you are using filler when you really should be using unfocused.

[Iheartnathanos]

So are we ignoring the plot points from Warcraft 3 that used in TBC? What you say is more a by product of Blizzard lacking focus in story telling. There is a reason why the Lich King appears everywhere while leveling in WotLK because they were still playing around with how they wanted to do a story. There were retcons with WotLK as well so that really isn't something limited to a "filler" expansion only.

It really seems like you are using filler when you really should be using unfocused.

You are probably right with my misuse of the word filler. But in Shadowlands case it really did seem like spinning its wheels in service of a Sylvanas plot no one wanted. But which plot threads from WC3 were actually resolved in BC? As far as I remember, they just dangled. Kael needs a new home for his shattered people - oh nevermind, half of Silvermoon is intact. And now he works for the demons who destroyed his homeland in the first place? Wha? Illidan’s story literally goes no where (but I actually blame his Frozen Throne campaign in great part). And the Legion are just ‘there’.

[rhorle]

No, prior to that there were long quest chains associated with the dragonflights. The essences quests.

It was associated with Titans and the aspects just so happen to be titan creations that lost most of their power. We essentially were empowering the Heart of Azeroth with remnants of that Titan power. Those aren't really long quest chains.

[Iheartnathanos]

It was associated with Titans and the aspects just so happen to be titan creations that lost most of their power. We essentially were empowering the Heart of Azeroth with remnants of that Titan power. Those aren't really long quest chains.

Fair, though it seems like a pretty nice segue into Dragon Isles, right?

Imagine: Azeroth is wounded and with the Aspects help, purge the Sword. Now it is time to heal - the Aspects awaken the isles. But oh, we have to follow Sylvanas’ bullshit. No time for that.

I felt the same way about Mists to WoD. Mists to Legion would have been perfect. Imagine Garrosh dying heroically defending the Horde and redeeming himself like his father at Broken Shore, and Wrathion working with the Class Halls after giving up on the Alliance and Horde.

[cparle87]

Yeah cool, except I laid out an argument. It’s interesting you dismiss this observation as a dismissive buzzword.

It's not an argument. You're not making an argument. You're dismissing content you don't care for as irrelevant because you don't like it.

[Athorha]

Vanilla>MoP>BfA
TBC>WOD>Legion
Wotlk>Shadowlands>1x.0
Cata>Dragonflight>1x.0

Bfa and legion felt like killing blows at the end of the expac. Shadowlands felt very unmiraculous, as if it was fated to happen, to let the jailer get as close as possible to the instrument of demise for the free universe, and then we would stop him before he could push the big red button and ever actually do anything to the living plane, almost like how noone on azeroth is ever kept to date on the lich king and scourges situation.

I think shadowlands was overall a writing trope to expand the audiences understanding of the universe, if they'd been capable of doing 1 or two scenarios about time travel in mop maybe people would have been less salty about wod. Shadowlands put everyone on the same page about the afterlife, so that when we meet characters like yrel again we know where her opinions fall short on the truth of what we learned in shadowlands about the universes workings.

[Iheartnathanos]

It's not an argument. You're not making an argument. You're dismissing content you don't care for as irrelevant because you don't like it.

Ok thanks for stopping by.

[ClassicPeon]

There is no such thing as a filler expansion because there is no such thing as a mainline story in wow.
There are many different storylines that are explored at different times - thats about it. The word filler makes no sense in this context.