World of Warcraftis gearing up to release the final chapter in theShadowlandsstory, Eternity’s End, in the coming months. Once that hits the live servers, players will be looking toward what is next: the ninth expansion. The ninth expansion is set to begin a brand-new chapter in theWorld ofWarcraftstory and could be the big revitalization that the game needsright now. Not much is known about the expansion itself, but if the rumors of it being a Dragon Isles-focused expansion are true, then it may be just what players are looking for.
As the MMO genre becomes a more crowed and competitive place with games likeFinal Fantasy 14thriving, World of Warcraftneeds to come out swinging with its ninth expansion. If it can avoid previous expansion missteps and make players care about Azeroth again, then it may just be able to win back its fanbase.
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Making Old Content, and Azeroth, Relevant Again
World of Warcraftis sitting on18 years of storytelling and world buildingthat the majority of players do not even get to see. Old players are whisked away to brand-new islands or realms with every new expansion, leaving the old continents behind. When they create a new character, they are allowed to select the expansion they want to level in until level 50, but they tend to hit level 50 before they are even close to finishing that expansion’s storyline, and then they are brought toShadowlandsto level to 60. New players do not even get to make a choice, as they get forced to playthroughBattle for Azerothfor 50 levels and thenShadowlandsfor the final 10.
DuringWarlords of Draenor, the fifth expansion, Blizzard introduced Timewalking. Timewalking is a way to playthrough dungeons from previous expansions and earn Timewarped Badges that can be used to acquire gear appropriate for that player’s level. This went a long way to make previous dungeons relevant again, but the major downside is that these dungeons are on a rotating schedule that occurs once every three weeks. That means that players can onlyparticipate in Timewalking dungeonsonce a month. If the ninth expansion wants an easy win to revive old content, then making timewalking a permanent fixture would be the best move.
Most of Azeroth and its quests go untouched by the majority of players, and instead of feeling like theWorld of Warcraft, it feels more like the Islands of Warcraft. Crafting a story that involves the entire world would go a long way to bringing Azeroth back to life. Along with that, Blizzard could introduceWorld Quests to all of Azeroth, not just the new zones, giving players a reason to return to Azeroth. Making old dungeons relevant all the time would fill them with players wanting alternative ways to gather gear.
Avoiding a Borrowed Power System
Ever sinceLegion,World of Warcraft’ssixth expansion, the game has become obsessed with adding a borrowed power system every expansion,World of Warcraftplayers will reach the max levelof the expansion and then spend months grinding up power to improve their character. Then, when the next expansion rolls around, all that power they earned is erased and does not carryover, making the entire endgame of the previous expansion feel like a waste of time.
Legionhad the artifact weapons, powerful weapons fromWarcraftlore that players could imbue with Artifact Power to make stronger. Then, inBattle for Azeroth, the artifact weapons lost all their power and were replaced by a new item, the Heart of Azeroth ,which was filled with Azerite Power. Now, inShadowlands, that heart has been replacedby Anima and Soulbinds. Every time a new expansion rolls around, all that time grinding goes to waste. Maybe for the ninth expansion, Blizzard should leave the borrowed power system out and make the end game grind more engaging, making it matter for the tenth expansion.
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Creating Optional Content not tied to the Endgame
EveryWorld of Warcraftexpansion has the main story, the endgame grind, and various other activities for the player to participate in.Battle for Azerothhad Island Expeditions, Warfronts, and Horrific Visions.Shadowlandshas Torghast and Covenant Assaults. The problem is that these activities are penned as alternative activities to partake in, but then they become heavily tied to the endgame grind and are no longer optional.
Battle for Azerothstarted this trend by having Azerite Power in these activities, with Azerite Power being the focus of the endgame grind.Shadowlandstook it a step further by tying the entire legendary item system to Torghast. No longer could players jump into Torghast for fun, as they had to do if they wanted to craft a legendary item. If theMage Tower inLegionshowed anything, it showed that if the game has fun optional content, then players will flock to it. Not everything needs to be tied to a system, as sometimes the game should just have fun alternative activities for the players to do.
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Allowing Players to Run Alts at the Start
Most avidWorld of Warcraftplayers have a main character they play for the majority of the expansion and a collection ofalternate characters with different classes, or alts, that they play when they want something new.World of Warcafttends to release an expansion pack with mains in mind and often forgets to make it alt-friendly. Blizzard leaves out catch-up mechanics like armor and reputation tokens, forcing players to grind out the armor or reputation on more than one character. Then, a couple of months down the line, Blizzard releases a small patch that adds those alt-friendly mechanics.
The ninth expansion should not wait for a small patch to makeWorld of Warcraftmore alt-friendly, as those machanics should be there at launch. Without these alt-friendly mechanics, the game feels more like a job than a game for a lot of players. They just want to log in, play for a couple of hours, and log off. If they have to grind out items for both their main character and their alts, then they spend much more than a couple of hours in the game.World of Warcraftis no stranger to catch-up mechanics, and if they are in the expansion on day one, that will give the expansion a pretty strong start.
Crafting an Engaging Story for Players to Follow
One of the most important pieces in a brand-new expansion is the story that players will be following. TheShadowlandsstoryline is a controversial one for players since they feel many characters have weird motivations, it is too heavilyfocused on Sylvanas Windrunner, the Jailer is not a well written villain, and the story is too far removed from Azeroth. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of it is the choice to alter events that occurred all the way back inWarcraft 3: Reign of Chaosby saying it was all a part of the Jailer’s plan, seemingly retconning events to build this new villain.
WoWplayers have not been the happiestwith the storyline ever sinceBattle for Azeroth, the game’s seventh expansion. The upcoming update, Eternity’s End, will serve as the climatic final chapter in the story ofShadowlandsand the end to this saga ofWorld of Warcraft. This will allow Blizzard to tell a more Azeroth focused storyline disconnected from the events ofShadowlands,and if the rumors of a Dragon Isles expansion are true, then that could be exactly what is going to happen. Providing an engaging story with interesting characters for the players to follow will help draw players back and make them actually care about the events of the game.
If the ninth expansion can get these things right, then it has the chance to bringWorld of Warcraftback to the forefront of the MMO genre. Player expectations will be high in the coming months as 9.2 hits live servers andBlizzard begins discussing the next expansion. Players will just have to wait and see if the ninth expansion will save the game or if it will give them one final reason to log off.
World of Warcraftis available now on PC.
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