In World of Warcraft it is currently boring. This is not only what the streamer Bellular thinks, but also the community.
World of Warcraft is currently in a rather strange situation. The MMORPG from Blizzard is receiving new content faster than ever before in the history of the game. The raids are fun, Mythic+ is challenging, and there is generally almost always something to do if you are open to many different contents. And yet, within the community, there is the opinion: World of Warcraft is currently boring.
At the core of this is the story of Dragonflight. It is “okay”, but not much more. It is more down-to-earth than Shadowlands, but not particularly exciting.
Who is speaking? The analysis comes from streamer and YouTuber Bellular. He has been known in the WoW community for years. He analyzes the numbers around the game, such as active player counts in various contents, but also provides well-thought-out analyses of upcoming expansions or developments in the game’s story.
What did he say? Bellular believes that Blizzard has forgotten what moments make the story of World of Warcraft so interesting. They are heroic, exciting, and sometimes a bit cliché-ridden hero moments, in which larger-than-life characters engage in thrilling battles and even make sacrifices.
A modern, positive example is the quest line for the undead’s traditional armor. Here, you almost live the “Forsaken fantasy” – alongside the cool Lillian Voss, who fights against the Scarlet Crusade with full hatred and leads the undead to victory.
In stark contrast to this is the quest line of the Night Elves, where the legendary heroine Maiev is overshadowed by a young Night Elf apprentice – something that has dissatisfied many Night Elf fans.
However, fundamentally, WoW currently lacks “heroism” – throughout the entire expansion, there are no particularly exciting events in the main story that are filled with something comparable. While sacrifices have been made, such as Malfurion, who must stay in Ardenweald, or Ysera, who passes her powers to Merithra, this has little to do with heroism.
When was it better? Bellular conducted a survey in his community to find the best story moments from World of Warcraft. In response, he almost always received scenes that are considered particularly “heroic” and usually associated with a sacrifice.
One of them is, for example, the death of Varian Wrynn at the start of “Legion”. The king of the Alliance knowingly jumps into his own demise to give the Alliance time to escape. He is not intimidated by Gul’dan and fights his last battle – heroically, even if it ends in his death.
Even Illidan, who many found “cringe” when he shouted “I am my scars!”, seems significantly more impressive now.
World of Warcraft has been criticized for many years for not having a deep story, but often only many “cool moments” at a fast pace. Now that the developers have tried to do the opposite, it has become clear: these cool moments were actually more important to the game than many critics initially wanted to believe.
Or how do you see it?
More action is hopefully coming in the next expansion – which will be announced in about 3 weeks.
