Our return to Azeroth
A while back, I wrote about my relationship with World of Warcraft and the ups and downs I’ve had with it over the years. Now, after a few-year break, I have returned to the world of Azeroth with an open mind and a rejuvenated outlook on the game as it stands and where it’s going. Gaming always seems to go hand in hand with my personal emotions and mental state at times. At times, if things aren’t quite all right, I retreat back to comfort games and things that bring me the easiest joy with little effort. Other times I go back to Azeroth, home away from home. A world where I’ve made countless friends throughout the years who are mentally connected to parts of my life. My life has recently taken drastic turns, and the world of Azeroth is on the verge of changing World of Warcraft as we know it. That’s right, for the last 20+ years, World of Warcraft has been a constant in gaming. Sure, there’s been different iterations in their list of expansions and slight changes to the formula, but at its core, the story has been on a pretty mainline path with slight pit stops along the way. That, however, could be changing, which is part of why I wanted to see the story off.
That’s right if this is new information to you. At last year's Blizzcon, we got the newest expansion announcement from a returning Chris Metzen in “The War Within,” but that wasn’t all. Blizzard dropped a bombshell, announcing “Midnight” and “The Last Titan” right afterwards. The next 3 expansions were laid out before us in what they are referring to as “The Worldsoul Saga,” akin to Marvel's wildly successful Infinity Saga. This saga will come to players at a faster rate than what we’re used to for expansions. A shorter time in between releases and a more focused approach to systems and features should lead to a more enjoyable player experience as well. At first, you can take this as a marketing tactic to bring a long-tired player base back, but then you hear from the developers and team behind it, and this feels different. This truly feels like the changing of an era and something the player base probably isn’t ready for.
Blizzard has described this saga as the culmination of the first two-decade-long story of World of Warcraft. Going even further and saying it will set the stage for the next 20 years, what that means is obviously yet to be revealed, but it opens the door for a ton of possibilities moving forward. Does that mean a hard reset on the world, like a “classic” experience but re-crafted in a new timeline? Does Arthas still become the Lich King? Are the Orcs still enticed by the Burning Legion to invade Azeroth? Are we thrown into the future in a few hundred years, where our past 20 years of journeys are all but legendary tales uttered in taverns scattered across the lands? Now this could all just be wishful thinking, and things will continue as normal afterwards, but for now, there’s a certain lighter, more hopeful mood in the air that hasn’t been felt in years.
When I say lighter mood, I quite literally mean the game feels different to play currently, at least for me. I’m rapidly running around the lands of Dragonflight, attempting to “catch up” on as much as I can before we’re thrown into the depths of The War Within. I cycle through quests as fast as I can, catching as many battle pets as I can during my collection, and just reimmersing myself in the setting. The few dungeons I’ve run for quests have surprisingly been enjoyable; people are talking and communicating; the sense of community is back. If you’ve played in recent years, you’ll know that things have started to feel very automated. Auto queue for a dungeon and raid get places in said instance with your prurient together group and get from point A to B as fast as possible with little to no interaction. Now, people were talking and chatting about the upcoming adventure, talking about coming back to the game after however long and becoming reacquainted. It honestly almost caught me off guard to see a lovely atmosphere again in my recent return, and I can only hope this carries forward in the years to come.
World of Warcraft has always been built on the structure of the community and the player base. Without the players, guilds, fansites, and content creators, there is no Warcraft. There is no Azeroth. There is no soul in the world. We’re days away from the official launch of The War Within, and I’m proud to be back as a member of the community as we approach the end. My second day back this time around, I noticed one of my old guild mates from 10+ years ago log in. I sent a simple greeting of “o7, hello old friend,” and we spent the next few hours catching up on life, our old friends we used to play with, and just reminiscing. Something he said that night has perfectly encapsulated my thoughts on this journey and why I wanted to spend some time rambling about this, and that simply is.
After spending 20+ years living a life in this game, it almost feels poetic to return and see it through to the end, whatever that is.
Thanks for stopping by BadlandsBacklogs. Be sure to check out our social media and our podcast, “The Download Queue,” which records live Sundays at 4 p.m. PST and on YouTube and Spotify the day after. If you’re returning to Warcraft like me, I hope you’re able to recapture that spark you used to feel, and if you're not happy gaming, stay positive and continue sharing your love for games and the people who make them!