If you were Lead Narrative Designer would you retcon Shadowlands?

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

I would retcon it completely out of the game. I would rewrite BFA as there's likeable things in the expansion's lore and things to salvage but honestly there's nothing worth that pushed the expansion's lore forward other than Sylvanas shifting her alignment and having blue eyes. No one important died. No one important grew. No one gives a shit. And I don't either.

[Rageonit]

I would retcon it completely out of the game. I would rewrite BFA as there's likeable things in the expansion's lore and things to salvage but honestly there's nothing worth that pushed the expansion's lore forward other than Sylvanas shifting her alignment and having blue eyes. No one important died. No one important grew. No one gives a shit. And I don't either.

Wipe out bad writing with your own bad writing. That's a sure way to success!

[Gaidax]

No I would not.

The problem with Shadowlands is presentation and too obscure and drawn out story that led to it. It would have been much better if we'd be aware of Thanos already sometime during Legion (and there was plenty opportunites with it) and more so in BFA.

Also dumping content patches once in half a year plus where the big story moments are relegated to 2 min cutscenes that leave 70% of information out - it's just not really working out.

[Shadowferal]

Retcon sl?
I'd rewrite everything from vanilla.
Barring that, I'd start somewhere in the midst of MoP for 3-4 other factions.
No WoD. No Shadowlands. And no bfa.

[Trumpcat]

I would apologize to the fanbase for disappointing them and for failing to respect all those beloved characters and events that shaped Warcraft into what it is (was) and tell them Shadowlands will be treated as a "what if" side content that will remain accessible to be enjoyed but going forward the story will continue as if it didn't happen. Might also throw an apology for hyping up an Old God for 10 years only to lazor him in a single content patch.

[wushootaki]

I would have had it be a fever dream, and N'zoth had actually beaten us with a mind trick. We were put in some type of stasis (similar to the matrix) and harvested for our essence as energy for the old god creations. We are broken out of this fever dream state by the last remnants of the Horde and Alliance, now allied (cross faction). We discover Azeroth has been almost entirely consumed by the Black Empire, and the expansion focuses on fighting back and reclaiming lost portions of the world. We eventually reclaim large portions of Azeroth, and free other notable heroes from the matrix-like stasis....and finally are ready to face N'zoth once more, after discovering a macguffin that allows us to completely negate his mental manipulation/illusions.

But even this proves to be almost too much, and N'zoth is impossible to beat. Just as it's about to consume azeroth's champions, dues machina happens, and Yrel and the Army of Light arrive and eradicate N'zoth, leading into the next expansion, which would be Yrel and the Army of Light "helping" Azeroth to recover. The mag'har warn everyone of the true nature of Yrel's Army of Light, but Turalyon sides the Alliance with them. The Horde War Council does not, leading to another rift between the factions. Eventually, the Alliance falls apart internally when Yrel and Turalyon try to forcibly convert one of the other faction leaders. Yrel starts a grand crusade to convert Azeroth to the light and needs to be stopped.

[ohwell]

Anduin is definitely changed by the events of Shadowlands.

Bolvar is now free to do whatever which is probably trying to patch things up with Talia.

It's also literally setting up for the future big bad which everyone loved to complain that there was no set up for Zovaal.

A lot of characters otherwise had growth, but due to the nature of the realm we won't see most of them again other than those that could be reborn like Ysera and Voljin.

This is just your typical "I didn't play the expansion or watch the videos etc so I'm going to try to take a dump because I think it will get me clout"

I'm a bit confused though as your title says Shadowlands and the post says BFA.

[Rozz]

It's probably better to silently write it out of relevance, rather than retcon it entirely. They, unfortunately, involved too many important characters to retcon it. Retconning isn't exactly even the best thing to do anyway. It's a nuke option that is usually used to make current story ideas more legitimate when they otherwise wouldn't/couldn't occur. Blizzard (imo) is guilty of this, even when they could have made things work within the lore they already have. It can be seen as lazy rather than necessary due to preference and style differences over time.

If I had a choice between:
1) Have good writers that can straighten out and firmly close off loose ends so we can move on and tell better stories.
2) Retcon it away so the writers can continue their pattern of clunky irresponsible storytelling they retcon every year and feel no repercussions.

I choose 1. Because 2 is what leads to the main problem. No cohesive direction and the sentiment that they can splice the story into an amalgam at any moment in time for their own ease rather than necessity. Retcons can be good, but it's a tool very abused by this company.

[ohwell]

Ah look at that here come the others looking for clout too and/or obviously didn't read half of the information given.

[Rozz]

Ah look at that here come the others looking for clout too and/or obviously didn't read half of the information given.

They probably mentioned BfA, because SLs and BfA are supposed to be narratively connected more directly than other expansions. Not only do they have similar storytelling styles, BfA (as we find out) is all set up for SL's narrative via Sylvanas' motives for the war, her actions, etc.

[Khaza-R]

Maybe not in its entirety. A lot of the elements could still work but just need a shifted context.

Shadowlands should of been a sort of purgatory instead of the real afterlives in WoW. They could of functionally told the same story that it was a system designed for rehabilitation and that it got was taken over by darker forces. I also would of removed the Zovaal completely. He's just a total dud and his supposed connection to WarCraft's past is just lame and underwhelming.

And of course, Sylvanas should of just been killed in the first patch. Dragging us through that tired narrative for 2 years was pure torture. Her story and Elune's were irredeemable trash that need to be undone.

[Progenitor Aquarius]

I would make a continuation of it. More Zereths to visit and more stories about the First Ones. I would also want to know where Ve'nari went. Also, if the Jailer didn't replicate, perhaps we didn't fight his clone instead. Find out about Shadowlands' past and if Primus was really a good guy or who the hell was this time traveler ally who thought him through combat strategies.

[Kralljin]

Yep.

I still believe that SL's biggest damage was what it did the basics of the setting, exploring the realm of death was simply stupid idea.
It basically exposed almost any religion in the Warcraft setting as a scam that essentially misleads its believers about their ultimate fate.

I find it hilarious how Shaman, the class that is all about talking to spirits was completely ignored for the entire expansion, talking to dead people was part of a what a Shaman did, yet that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever anymore under any light you might view Shadowlands.
In general "communing with the sprits" (As in "people that died") doesn't make sense because the entire mysticism is gone, how should some tauren turned kyrian answer you any questions? They don't even know you anymore!

Nevermind the entire stupidity about the Jailer and how he was totally behind everything.

Wipe out bad writing with your own bad writing. That's a sure way to success!

I mean, that's what basically Blizzards plan is right now.

[Shadowferal]

I mean, that's what basically Blizzards plan is right now.

At least for a couple of expansions.

[Ghost of Cow]

It was alllll a dreaaaaaaam...........

[Lucetia]

No one important died. No one important grew. No one gives a shit. And I don't either.

Someone didn't pay attention to the story then. Also saying "no one cares" just because you don't doesn't make it true. There are people that do care and liked it. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you are the spokesperson for everyone and get to make decisions for everyone.

[Progenitor Aquarius]

It was alllll a dreaaaaaaam...........

Imagine us being still in N'zoth's body as a part of some nightmare that is slowly corrupting us. It's all because we didn't re-originate the planet in time. Hahaha

[Varodoc]

I mean, it's already been soft-retconned with the timeskip of several years that makes the events of Shadowlands largely irrelevant for Azeroth. The Scourge has been dealt with and Azeroth has been spending several years in peace.

The Janitor rambled about some Cosmic threat nonsense, which will not be addressed in Dragonflight obviously, so for the time being it's irrelevant.

Sylvanas getting redeemed is also irrelevant because she fucked off in Hell, so that's not a problem either. Plus, everyone hates her in-universe, so no one has any reason to bring her up ever.

You can ignore Shadowlands like you can ignore WoD. The only exception would be what the Janitor was talking about, but who knows when that will come into play. The Lightbound (the only thing of relevance left from WoD) were introduced in 2018 and they still haven't done anything with them, 4 years later and counting. Plus, if the Janitor was referring to the Void Lords, then he didn't say anything new or substantial.

- - - Updated - - -

Imagine us being still in N'zoth's body as a part of some nightmare that is slowly corrupting us. It's all because we didn't re-originate the planet in time. Hahaha

There is an argument to be made that we shouldn't trust *everything* that happened in Ny'alotha. Since Ny'alotha is literally N'Zoth's dimension, where he is in control of everything, and as we know, N'Zoth is a master of visions.

To begin with, I wouldn't trust the """cinematic""" of the Heart of Azeroth frying N'Zoth.

[unfunnymeme]

Absolutely. I would retcon BFA too, because it was so poorly written(ignoring plot elements for convenience and such).
There's small things here and there I would keep from both SL and BFA, but over all they are a monumental detriment to the original setting.

[Skildar]

this thread is just a pile of toxicity from people who didn't put any effort to follow the stories of the expansion and yet place themselves as dictator of what should or shouldn't be part of the game.

Read more than the objectives of your quests and explore more than just flying from one daily to another. Then your opinion will carry a bit more weight.