This is a big week for World of Warcraft fans

Posted by esogoldforsale on August 4th, 2015

This is a big week for World of Warcraft fans, such as myself. Cheap wow gold If you haven’t heard yet, the next expansion will be unveiled at Gamescom 2015; an unprecedented location for an expansion reveal, but a sorely needed one. Warlords of Draenor, though stuffed with fabulous leveling content and some of the most challenging raid bosses yet, has fallen flat over time, and the player base is ready for a new expansion. Fans demonstrate their enthusiasm, predictably, by wild speculation.

I’m not going to pretend I have any idea what’s coming next, though admittedly an Azshara/South Seas expansion seems more likely than ever. Instead, I want to talk about a few things I think WoW sorely needs, regardless of the expansion’s theme. Though I’m sure the next expansion is planned out far beyond my desires, I hope that the developers at Blizzard have seen the same things I’ve seen, and that I’ll be pleasantly surprised this week during the reveal, and in the months to come.

New Faces Take The Spotlight

Generally, it’s been agreed upon that everyone is sick of orcs. Orcs have been in the spotlight since the end of Pandaria, and arguably long before that. We’ve also experienced heavy doses of Draenei, Humans, Elves, Trolls, Undead, and Dwarves at various points in WoW history. Even the goblins got their own city in Draenor with a vital quest hub.

I want to see some of the lesser discussed races step forward. As a Tauren, I’ll always be rather biased toward my fellow cow-kindred, who appear mainly in Mulgore and occasionally in Cataclysm, then largely fade away. The Tauren lore is rich and there are plenty of characters who could step up (I’m personally interested in what the Grimtotem have been up to).

The Tauren aren’t the only ones, of course. Even as a proud member of the Horde, it’s obvious that the Worgen have never gotten their place in the sun. I don’t think I’ve even seen one since the starting zones (though perhaps some of the Humans are actually Worgen…). And the Gnomes! Will they ever take back Gnomeregan? Will we ever see a great, heroic Gnome have more than one or two lines of dialogue beyond the now-obnoxious, “I’m gonna light you up, sweet cheeks!”

Please bring some noise to the quieter races, Blizzard. Orcs are SO last expac.

Tasteful Retconning

The image above is from the Draenei starting zone, and the quest-giver is referring to the Exodar’s crash into Azuremyst Isle…an event which occurred in the Burning Crusade. That was four (almost five) expansions ago! Yet it’s treated as current by the place’s lore. It’s an extreme example, but there are other offenders scattered across Azeroth. Most examples are holdovers from Cataclysm, the expansion that revamped a ton of quests and gave the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor a huge facelift. Characters all across both continents are still trying to put out fires and fight wars instigated by Deathwing’s devastation. Stormwind, the Alliance capital, still has a wall knocked over. It’s time to repair it.

I recognize that this would be an enormous undertaking, and frankly, my expectations are pretty low. But as someone who enjoys revisiting old areas, it’s bizarre how broken and confusing the lore is now, with all the expansions running into one another as you pass from zone to zone. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for new players. Azeroth sorely needs a Cataclysm-sized retouching of its quests and environments to unify the story (some characters still refer to Thrall as the Warchief).

Will this be the expansion? Probably not. But a girl can dream.

Surprise And Delight

Above all, I hope to be surprised. Speculation is fun, but the very best expansions/games/patches are the ones that you didn’t see coming, that turn out to be wonderful. During my preview of Warlords of Draenor, I was overcome with a sense of adventure that I’m sad to say didn’t hold up a month or two later. And while I hope for longer-lasting adventure this time around, I look forward mostly to the new thing over the horizon, and the world that awaits us intrepid Azerothians upon returning from Draenor.

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