I have zero interest in any Windrunner but I like Anduin and wanna see where his story goes. As a Hordie, I am fine with this being a more alliance-centered storyline (mostly because it means our leaders aren't going to die 🙄).
The comments about holes/caves sound like a good number of the expac team are a fan of the Manga & Anime called Made in Abyss
Some interviews like this are really useless and instead of asking the obvious questions, there are always such insignificant and similar ones...E.g.
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I have zero connection or interest in Anduin except he's the boy king and his father was way cooler.So I guess if you're a horde main and don't care about the alliance... suck it up cause it's alliance all day every day?
So now we get 4 zones to start with. No longer 5 zones or more. Let's hope we get at least 3 more across the expansion.As for Alliance-centered stories- unless someone plays Alliance characters as well as Horde, most Horde players don't care one bit about Anduin or anything going on in the Alliance, unless it is directed tied to what is going on with the Horde.Another thing - we DO want separate storylines for each faction in every expansion, plus some that both factions go through. When most stories are shared, playing through that content on the opposite faction loses A LOT because you are running the same quests and following the same story you did on your other faction. Part of what makes WoW so special IS having separate storylines for each factions and those that do have that end up being the most popular expansions. Lastly - why does it seem like WoW is becoming watered-down so it can be managed by a smaller team with less money and development, just to spend time on games no one wants to play? Come on guys! Don't give up yet. I'm very afraid we get 3 xpacs for WorldSoul and then WoW becomes free-to-play. Not good. Still, I'm looking forward to TWW. I just wish that WoW (real WoW not so-called "classic" realms or the nonsense game modes) was the priority and the flagship title where it gets the most development and funding. Every year it seems to be less and less, with a focus on shortening the game and forgetting about all expansions being part of the same game. Honestly, if you have not experienced all the expansions yet, you really have not played WoW.
Bit disappointed to read that they are pushing this as an 'Anduin story'. There is so much more to the factions.It's been years since the Draenei or Blood Elves last did something interesting. The Worgen could do with a good story (the retaking of Gilneas doesn't really count). And how about some proper Zandalari input in the story? That's a very strong group (Talanji was quite clear that they merely allied with the Horde as equals, not joined as subordinates). And the Nightborne can surely do more than be cheerful S.E.L.F.I.E. photographers on the Dragonscale Expedition. If anyone knows a thing or two about magic it's those guys. And it would be fun to get some new Pandaren storylines on the back of the largely well received Remix experiment. Their knowledge of the Sha and Y'Shaarj will surely be useful in the coming conflict.But let's stay positive. Hopefully the longer scope of their new main campaign will give them opportunities to bring everyone in on the story.
"...too dark, too oppressive, because nobody really wants to spend, you know, an extended period of time in an environment like that."Guess we missed the zones from Wrath and TBC? The horror of being underground and it being... dark. Wow.
Having separate faction stories is expensive. And Blizzard don't do expensive anymore. Especially not when these "saga expansions" are not really expansions, just 3 bigger than usual patches.
I hope they stopped using those greyed colours everywhere, grey-green, grey-red, grey-blue, world looks so bleak and not appealing to me, I guess it started in bfa and only got worser now as everything has a grey filter on it!
I miss the separate stories. That was part of the whole appeal; you had two sides, and you had to play both sides to get the full story, or you could opt to immerse in just one faction and get super invested in it.This is all boring, and is actively removing replay-ability from the game. I have little to no reason to play my Horde alts now as an Alliance main, whereas there was huge incentive for me to do so during BFA, Legion, Mists of Pandaria, Cataclysm, ect ect.Homogenization is boring, and we just seem to be getting mroe and more and more of that lately... for what gain? Story about Anduin? What about... literally the world? The story used to be about the groups in particular, and the characters drove those groups forwards. We've sacrificed world building and self-insertion immersion to chase personal stories with characters that some players cannot be attached to, while particular player groups get absolutely no content because they're so hyper-focused on x or y character instead of just spreading the love around and focusing more on world building.It feels like they're trying to copy XIV's more character driven story approach, when that wasn't Warcraft's strength; it was the world building.It's surreal going back and doing "lower quality" and older content like Cataclysm questing, but feeling like I learn more about the world from it because it's all stories about the playable races and their cultures and homes than this constant shove of NPC groups we can't even play and characters that aren't a part of the faction we picked for almost 20 years. It's impossible to give 100% at all times to all races and both factions, but this just doesn't feel right, and hasn't felt right since Shadowlands.If they did the main story the same between the factions, but you had more side content exclusive to each faction, maybe with some faction tension / conflict quests with war mode turned on, things would feel better, but this all feels so flat and like it's trying to be inoffensive to people who didn't like some of the core foundations of what Warcraft what. MoP Remix just reminded me how much it did matter....but, we're stuck like this for now. Which brings up the whole "omg Alliance focus" after years of Sylvanas, BFA having a strangely heavy focus on Saurfang, and the atrocious allied races, and then WoD also happened where a whole raid focused on Alliance content got scrapped. Void Elves didn't even have real story content until a couple months ago. Horde players can manage for an expansion, because Midnight is in Quel'thalas - which is Horde territory. (For now? Sorry guys, Gilneas and Teldrassil 2 went Neutral.)
Makes no sense to do separate stories when there is basically no more separation between factions, it's all one thing. Thrall is the main guy who is trying to help Anduin.
everything gets watered down in wow. less story, less chapters, less choices for both sides, less zones (and they get smaller), less raids, recycled dungeons for seasons (now also for HC dungeons), no systems at all anymore, nothing to bite your teeth in.all for selling xpacs for 90 bucks every 18 months instead of 24....
Honestly I like having a singular story. I didn't like feeling the need to play an opposite faction alt in BFA just to get the full experience, the times I've had most fun with the story is when it's more universal between the factions, even if the quest hubs were different now and then. I don't care much for Alleria and would like to see more Horde characters in the future other than Thrall, but like they said they have plenty of time for that in patches and the rest of the saga.