Legion is not here yet, but Cortyn has already found something to complain about. Missing content and unfinished animations in WoW are on the agenda.
WoW: Legion – Planned “incomplete”?
Happy Wednesday everyone. It has simply been way too long since I last ranted about World of Warcraft, hasn’t it? Besides, I should get worked up again about things that aren’t set in stone yet. Shouldn’t I? I don’t care, I’m doing it anyway!
Whenever you speak poorly about World of Warcraft, you must not overlook that hardly any other game has managed to have such success over such a long period, which is now dwindling, but still shows no signs of ending. Nevertheless, some of the latest news regarding Legion leaves me quite dissatisfied.
Suramar – The story will continue in patches
Suramar is incomplete at the beginning of Legion. Suramar is an area for level 110 and thematically revolves a lot around the Nightborne, which is a splinter group of the former Night Elves. In recent interviews, Blizzard announced that the story around this area will continue in the upcoming content patches. What sounds like “Cool, new quests!” to many, looks to me like “We weren’t finished.” Although it has been said that this time they want to take their time with the lore and stories of the world, completing an area retroactively has little to do with that for me – it seems as though it didn’t get done in time.
Thal’dranath – Scrapped for a “cooler idea”
The entire area of Thal’dranath is not coming. The area was supposed to be full of elven ruins, with plenty of Legion servants around. As a roleplayer, I crave more information about the different cultures and am sure that Blizzard would have revealed quite a bit. But this announcement is even more and reminds me a bit of “Groundhog Day.” Already with Warlords of Draenor, there was an area presented during the development phase that didn’t make it into the game: the land of the ogres, Farahlon. I still remember clearly how the developers said at GamesCom last year: “We don’t want to reveal too much anymore, so we only present things we are very sure will make it into the game.”
In the first map for Legion, Thal’Dranath was still a standalone area. It has since been scrapped.
Well, spoiler: It has turned out just like every time. Something was announced and then doesn’t make it into the game. I can only hope that it’s more than just empty words when they claim to have scrapped Thal’dranath for something “much cooler.” Woe betide if it becomes a second Timeless Isle or another Tanaan. Then I’ll strangle a Draenei. Or even two.
Animations – Yes for melee fighters, no for casters
Lastly, there are also some aesthetic aspects that won’t make it into the game in time. While melee fighters are being given plenty of new animations, the mages still have to wait – that will be added “sometime” later. Sounds familiar? The same issue occurred in Warlords of Draenor with the new character models. The Blood Elves were not completed in time and had to cope with the old models for many months as the only race. History repeats itself.
Melee fighters are already getting new animations. Spell classes will have theirs added later.
While what I have seen in the beta so far is already quite good. The stories in the quests have made me laugh several times, but other times they have left me quite reflective. It is clear to me that everything we will get with Legion will be “good.” Nevertheless, there remains the bitter aftertaste that some things are unfinished – Ion Hazzikostas can stand in front of the camera as many times as he wants and claim that they want to continue the story of Suramar in future patches. From my point of view, it simply hasn’t been finished in time.
What do you think about all this? Does it not bother you at all, or does the “cutting away” of announced things also drive you up the wall?
World of Warcraft, the most-played online role-playing game of all time, offers a vast, diverse, and atmospheric game world. There is something there for every ...
