World of Warcraft has gotten better – but that’s not enough. YouTuber Bellular explains why WoW is simply boring for many right now.
World of Warcraft is currently in a rather strange situation. Although active players believe that Dragonflight is the best expansion in a long time and that Blizzard is doing a lot of things right, somehow the big hit seems to be missing. WoW analyst Bellular expands on these thoughts and notes:
WoW is as good as it has been for years – but what is happening is just boring.
Who is speaking? Most people probably know Bellular from his YouTube channel, where he thoroughly analyzes topics around gaming. He likes to dive into business figures and statistics, but also creates videos about theories surrounding the stories of individual games or potential WoW expansions. In one of his latest videos titled “what happened?” he poses the question: What is actually going on with WoW?
We can all feel that something is strange. […] Things are a little strange. Going by the design metrics, the narrative surrounding WoW is quite good. The team has listened to our feedback. But why does it feel weird?
Bellular explains that he has surveyed current and former players about WoW on X (formerly Twitter) – and he was not surprised by the reactions. Many of the 2,000 responses seem to suggest: “No matter what the WoW team does, many simply don’t care anymore.”
This is all the more strange because right now WoW is receiving more content in shorter intervals than ever before in the history of the MMORPG.
Bellular also notes this feeling of disinterest in his own videos. When he creates guides, such as how to gear up characters quickly, there is almost always an overwhelming response of: “Yeah, I’m not interested.”
And here’s where he sees a fundamental problem: Because an angry community does not kill a game – an apathetic community does:
People have stopped caring. And now you’ve lost the ability to reach them.
Shadowlands was the last straw for many
The reasons for this are varied, but Bellular sees primarily the two expansions “Battle for Azeroth” and “Shadowlands” as responsible.
Battle for Azeroth was a disappointment and a case of “false advertising” – the cinematic had set fans up for a story focused on the war between Horde and Alliance, centered around the dominance of either side. However, the story quickly shifted to a narrative about the Old Gods.
Shadowlands only exacerbated the problem, particularly due to insufficient storytelling. The Jailer is considered one of the worst villains of all time, and the attempt to suddenly attribute a nearly 20-year Warcraft narrative to an unknown “mastermind” responsible for almost everything did not sit well with many.
Bellular believes that most WoW fans somehow remain close to the game. Even if they do not currently have an active subscription, they still check out news about the game and are happy to come back for an expansion. However, with Shadowlands, many old fans have distanced themselves so much that they have “crossed the event horizon” – they have stopped caring about WoW and can hardly be excited about it anymore.
How can Blizzard fix this?
Bellular sees few options to revitalize WoW. However, he is sure that Blizzard has recognized the problem as well. One option could be to overhaul the old game world. Returning to the “old” Azeroth, which has now been brought up to the latest standards of technology and story, could perhaps reignite the love of many old fans.
At the same time, however, WoW must also become more tangible in its story again. It now deals with increasingly larger conflicts that often transcend into metaphysical realms. It is no longer about the struggle between Orcs and Humans or the fight between smaller races. Increasingly, larger and less tangible concepts are battling against one another: Order and Chaos, Void and Light. Everything is becoming less and less comprehensible, leading to many feeling that the story is irrelevant. Or, as Bellular puts it a bit more drastically:
Most lore is now esoteric bullshit.
One issue is that WoW has “de-mystified” many of the enigmatic elements from the past. While the Old Gods or Elementals were once mystical beings that one could not fully comprehend, almost everything about these creatures is now known – they have lost their secrets and thereby a large part of the tension that once surrounded them.
Bellular then lists some features and raises questions that Blizzard has yet to answer. Because although WoW has objectively improved with Dragonflight, it has primarily dealt with correcting the fundamentals – such as gearing, the talent system, and similar. Bellular asks:
- Where are the order halls as a permanent feature?
- Where is player housing as an expansion of the game?
- Where is challenging solo content, like the Mage Tower from 2017?
WoW is currently in a small crisis. And only a truly convincing expansion with a great, engaging theme seems capable of ending this crisis.
Bellular is optimistic about the future – also because Chris Metzen is back on the WoW team. He might be able to turn the tide when it comes to story.
