WoW: Battle for Azeroth was too short - Did Blizzard cut content?

Was WoW: Battle for Azeroth was quickly buried and many contents removed? Cortyn suspects: Yes. Because there are many indications…

World of Warcraft: Midnight

MMORPG

Battle for Azeroth is slowly coming to an end and with it, another chapter of the story of World of Warcraft is coming to a close. But I can’t shake the suspicion that BfA is now being hastily concluded and development on further planned content has been halted. There are probably several reasons for this, but the end seems abrupt and unworthy with respect to some storylines. I would like to present that to you.

Battle for Azeroth was as unpopular as few other expansions

Even the biggest fan of the current content should realize that Battle for Azeroth probably won’t go down in memory as the most popular expansion. Numerous features drew criticism, the mechanics left players dissatisfied, and new systems like Island Expeditions or Warfronts seemed poorly thought out and were barely integrated into other systems.

Although the rosy glasses of nostalgia will still tint Battle for Azeroth a little, the expansion will likely end up in the collective memory somewhere alongside Warlords of Draenor with the conclusion: “Cool story while questing, afterwards it was rubbish”.

The developers probably noticed this quite early, so that even during the development of Patch 8.2 the emergency brake was pulled and only “the necessary” was done to conclude BfA.

The disappeared Thunder Bluff threat

During Patch 8.2, Baine Bloodhoof, the leader of the Tauren, was saved by the players. In the final cinematic, you see the city of Thunder Bluff in the background where Jaina, Thrall, Baine, and Mathias Shaw are talking. It was about the concern that Thunder Bluff would now be attacked by Sylvanas, as the Tauren are regarded as traitors. A basis was laid for an internal conflict in the Horde that could potentially have become a Warfront or a Dungeon.

But that just fizzled out. There was no revenge from Sylvanas, there was no attack on Thunder Bluff. Aside from the legacy armor of the Tauren, nothing else happened in Thunder Bluff.

Based on the portrayal in the cinematic, it is clear to me that Blizzard had something planned here but then abandoned it.

Silvermoon turned out to be unimportant

As I have played Blood Elves for years, an announcement excited me back then. With the fall of Undercity, Silvermoon became the last remaining bastion of the Horde in the Eastern Kingdoms. At the previous BlizzCon, the question arose whether Silvermoon would not play a greater role. This was affirmed and since then I have been waiting for something to happen in that direction – but that was not the case.

Instead, the plot around the rebellion was advanced quite quickly, and Sylvanas was more or less overthrown as Warchief. Silvermoon was never touched or even mentioned during that time.

Even Lor’themar’s new model suggested that the Blood Elves should have received a more important story.

N’Zoth gets (probably) an unworthy end

Especially for the portrayal of N’Zoth, I feel a bit sorry. I have been looking forward to encountering the Old God for years and had hoped that he would even get his own expansion. That he is now “snuffed out” in a single patch is quite a shame. The fact that there isn’t even a standalone area for this, but only “remakes” of already known zones, makes me sad.

For many years, the Black Empire and Ny’alotha were hinted at repeatedly, and my anticipation grew. That this now is solely a raid without a corresponding area—or even a whole continent—makes me dissatisfied.

Although the cinematic for the fight against N’Zoth is not yet known, data miners have already found that the Old God will indeed be defeated—in the same patch in which he truly appears.

For an enemy that has been built up over 10 years, this is quite a lame ending. I can only hope that N’Zoth has a long-term plan and does not really disappear from the scene.

Warfronts – The big feature with only 2 variants

Another indicator is the Warfronts. These were already announced as a major feature before the launch of Battle for Azeroth and were initially received with great anticipation. However, this quickly soured when it turned out that the Warfronts are rather monotonous PvE brawls, in which most of the time you just wait for enough resources to be gathered. Even the subsequently added heroic mode is not particularly challenging and requires only minimal additional coordination.

In the months of Battle for Azeroth data miners kept finding hints of future Warfronts. Among them were not only Silvermoon but also the Barrens—especially in the Barrens, there was already an error that played the music of the Warfront when you were there.

In the end, there were only 2 Warfronts – so exactly one was added after launch.

The schedule – Stretching content until Shadowlands

The last point may be a bit “conspiracy theory,” but I can’t shake the thought. It seems to me that Blizzard is pushing back Patch 8.3 far into the future to have enough content ready for the release of Shadowlands.

Patch 8.3 has been on the PTR for many weeks, and development is going well. By now, almost all raid bosses have been tested. Still, the patch will not be released until January 2020, and this, despite the patch having comparatively few new contents. While there is a big raid in Ny’alotha, there is relatively little “completely new” otherwise. Two areas are getting a “revamp” to represent N’Zoth’s visions.

At the same time, the birthday event is currently running in WoW, where you can experience additional XP, reputation, raids, and a special battleground. This event was originally intended to last only 2-3 weeks (like every birthday before), but has been extended to 2 months, until January 2020. So the birthday runs until the release of Patch 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth.

It seems to me that Blizzard wants to stretch the content now. This is not inherently a bad thing, but it reinforces my suspicion that they had actually planned more content.

Conclusion – Much will not find a good closure

All of this leads me to not shake the suspicion that Blizzard pulled the emergency brake quite quickly with Battle for Azeroth and buried some storylines to fully concentrate on Shadowlands.

I miss an appropriate area for the Black Empire. I miss some conflicts that were supposed to be represented through Warfronts. I miss resolutions for several plots that have just been deprived of their climax.

WoW Sylvanas Cinematic Bolvar title 1140x445

But I worry that Battle for Azeroth will end just as undignified as Warlords of Draenor, which tossed aside all character development and story with a rushed ending and led to a silly “peace-happiness-cake” conclusion that left many questions unanswered.

Perhaps burying Battle for Azeroth is the right decision from an economic point of view and also for many players to create a new, more enjoyable game world. But my expectations for N’Zoth and the resolution of some plots have been buried.

What do you think?