Not everything can get better. Cortyn experienced his first disappointment in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth: the zone Vol’dun.
After exploring the area Zuldazar in the beta of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth in the past few days, the next zone was on the agenda: Vol’dun.
Vol’dun is a vast desert that visually resembles a mix of Desolace and Uldum. Besides a lot of sand and rocks, there are a few troll pyramids and two new races: Vulpera and Sethrak.
Highlights: Fox and Snake
First of all: The Vulpera are not as “cuddly” as I feared. Their quests are actually quite interesting, and even though the fox beings seem a bit overenthusiastic, they fit well into the game world and are a solid addition.
The same goes for the Sethrak, the snake people who mainly act as antagonists in Vol’dun and have nearly taken control of the entire desert.
Both species are fitting and blend perfectly into the desert – whether as victims for their own abilities or as allies in battle.
The Story of Vol’dun – Predictable and crushing
And now we come to what is disappointing about Vol’dun: the story. For this, I have to spoil a bit, so you’ve been warned. The major conflict of Vol’dun is that the antagonists (the Sethrak) want to open an ancient pyramid that was sealed long ago. The key for this was split into three shards and given to different Sethrak.
The quest givers repeatedly say that the villain “poses a great danger even with just one keystone” – why? The whole time before it is claimed that all three keystones are absolutely necessary. Why is it suddenly so dangerous that the enemy Sethrak has another one?
Okay, I could overlook this small logic gap. But not the second one. Because our heroic crew seriously comes up with the idea to store both already obtained keystones in the same place and then leave that place.
Even when accepting the quest, I had to facepalm. You don’t have to be a genius to see what is about to happen. While the player leaves the two keystones behind to fetch the third, the villain comes by and snatches the other two keystones.
And that’s exactly how it happened. For the first time in a long time, I was really angry because the story was neither exciting nor well done. It was stupid. Our characters were stupid. Our allied NPCs were stupid.
The most disappointing area so far, ruined by the story
You weren’t cleverly outsmarted or sneakily tricked – you were simply dumb as a rock.
Even the supposedly exciting finale of the area, which once again revolves around the influences of the Old Gods, does not erase the bad feeling left after this unsatisfying outcome of the quests.
No, at the end of Vol’dun, I was disappointed and only happy about the fact that this zone was finally behind me. If Battle for Azeroth has a narrative weakness, it is the main questline of Vol’dun.
What was your first impression of Vol’dun?
