That the WoW content of BlizzCon 2021 was known in advance is particularly bitter for one group: the developers. This says Cortyn from MeinMMO.
The most important content for the WoW franchise was leaked before BlizzCon. Not through a chatterbox insider, a mistakenly sent email from a gaming magazine, or data mining – but through a bitter blunder by Blizzard itself. The whole world was able to learn what the broad content of Patch 9.1 would be and, more importantly, what transformation Anduin has to undergo in WoW.
While the subreddit of WoW and various forums are wildly discussing the leaks, I particularly feel sorry for a group of people who suffer from the leaks in a different way: the developers of this content.
For many players, the leak is probably not so bad. Whether they see new images of Anduin on Thursday evening or only see the images during the official presentation on Friday night doesn’t seem to make a big difference at first glance – at least one would think.
However, for the developers who have been working on the new content and story for months, this must have been a disaster. Months of planning ruined and the big moment of revelation spoiled because everything can already be found in the depths of the internet.
Just imagine if something like this had happened at the last BlizzCon, for example, with the big cinematic of Sylvanas and Bolvar. Even though Sylvanas is getting on the nerves of some players, the cinematic with the destruction of the Helm of Domination was quite impressive. The “decisive moments” in which Sylvanas simply holds the helm and it’s unclear whether she is crowning herself as the new Lich Queen or doing something completely different were grand.
If you watch the video footage from that BlizzCon, you can feel the expectant tension of the audience, followed by great astonishment when she simply destroys the historically significant helm, like in this clip:
And now imagine how this scene would have looked if it had been revealed three days earlier through a leak that the helm was destroyed.
It would have completely ruined the tension and turned this moment into a tired “Meh, I saw that coming” – which is always easy to say in hindsight when important info has been leaked.
From an author’s perspective, this is somehow exciting. To see information through leaks in advance, to speculate and write about it, and to get lost in thought about how all this fits together.
This shouldn’t sound melodramatic, but anyone who has ever created something creative on a larger scale knows the excitement. You work on a project for a long time, trying to make it as perfect as possible. The day of the presentation is known. You visualize exactly how these contents will be presented, at what time and under what conditions. There’s a dramatic arc for the most important revelations, guiding the audience in their perception and leading them to what you want to show.
This meticulous planning by the developers at Blizzard is now ruined.
Whoever listens to game developers – whether at BlizzCon or at another convention – knows how much most of them are passionate about their projects. Even though it is often said that Blizzard is not “the old Blizzard” anymore, you can see, hear, and feel the passion of the developers when they talk about their ideas and plans.
As a WoW fan, I find this quite bitter. At BlizzCon, like most, I prefer to just be a spectator, ready to be swept away and to ride the “hype” wave of the new content for one to two hours before I approach the whole thing again in a more sober and analytical way with the author’s glasses on.
I’m pretty sure that the revelation of this Anduin development was supposed to be the big turning point of the WoW presentation. There’s probably a cinematic or at least a trailer for his transformation, and that would be the big “Woah!” moment where everyone momentarily holds their breath and thoughts race in their heads.
Hopefully, this incident doesn’t overshadow BlizzCon and ensures that WoW players still get to see a great show that might still hold one or two surprises. I wish this not only for us as players but also for the developers, who could really use an exciting surprise among their players.
Or how do you see it?
