World of Warcraft is preparing to release the final patch for its latest expansion, Shadowlands. Titled Eternity's End, the final patch is set to be the climactic finale for this controversial expansion and serves as a conclusion to this saga of the World of Warcraft story. Players will then begin preparing to move onto the ninth expansion and leave the world of Shadowlands behind.
Shadowlands has been an expansion rife with controversy and anger. Many players have felt like it has contained a lackluster story, that Blizzard only wants them to stay logged in, and that it has taken them too far away from Azeroth. The WoW fanbase has become very vocal, and some have even chosen to log off for the very last time. However, the expansion has not been all bad; it has provided closure for many lore characters, completely reworked classes, added some beautiful zones, and even crafted some engaging tiny story arcs.
What World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Got Right
The conversation surrounding Shadowlands tends to focus on the negative aspects of the expansion and seldom touches on the positives. Even with all the controversy and missteps that this expansion is filled with, it actually did add some pretty decent things to World of Warcraft. Just like with Warlords of Draenor and even parts of Battle for Azeroth, some additions from Shadowlands may become fondly remembered as World of Warcraft moves farther from the expansion.
One aspect that Blizzard always seems to get right with every expansion is the zones that it creates for the players to traverse, and Shadowlands is no different. Each of the four afterlives that were added in Shadowlands are beautifully crafted and unique. The planes of Bastion glow bright gold, the forest of Ardenweald is filled with life, the castles of Revendreth give players that vampire adventure they have always wanted, and the wartorn land of Maldraxxus is rough in all the right places. The post-launch zones of Korthia, and the upcoming Zereth Mortis, are just as immersive as the afterlives.
While the overall story of Shadowlands is not as strong as previous expansions, the smaller story arcs of each afterlife and the covenant campaigns feel just as strong. Each afterlife has its own story arc filled to the brim with heart and passion. In Ardenweald players have to help save the forest from the anima drought, Bastion tasks players with stopping the forsworn from destroying everything, Maldraxxus has players craft their own runeblade to unite the zone, and Revendreth makes the player attend tea parties while Sire Denathrius prepares for war. Once the player chooses a covenant they are then brought on an equally satisfying covenant campaign. Each story feels unique and fun to play through even when the main story is lacking,
Each of those story arcs also provides players with some closure to various deceased Warcraft lore characters. Ysera, who died in Legion, is the main focus of Ardenweald's story as players have to let her spirit out into the forest. In Bastion, players run into Uther, who lost his life to Arthas all the way back in Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, who is struggling with accepting the Kyrian way and forgetting Arthas. Maldraxxus has players team up with Draka, Thrall's mother, and Revendreth has players meet Kael'thas Sunstrider, who players killed in The Burning Crusade. There are even more important lore characters that make their appearance known in Shadowlands, providing players some heartfelt closure or continuation of their stories.
Back in Legion, World of Warcraft's sixth expansion, Blizzard massively reworked the 12 classes and removed many abilities. Before Shadowlands launched Blizzard announced that it would be unprunning many abilities it had removed in Legion and other past expansions. Suddenly classes that felt boring or weak in previous expansions were now back to their former glory. This was one of the biggest contributions from Shadowlands and made players excited for what was coming next, sadly many of those same players were disappointed with the direction Shadowlands took.
What World of Warcraft Shadowlands Got Wrong
While Shadowlands may have done some good things for World of Warcraft, it also repeated many of the missteps of previous expansions. Players felt like the story was lackluster like Blizzard was not listening, and that the game seemed to only care about them staying logged in. Shadowlands went in a very controversial direction and added things to the game that players never wanted, some even choosing to leave World of Warcraft altogether.
Ever since Legion, World of Warcraft has had a borrowed power problem. Players will spend all their max level time grinding for resources to make themselves more powerful only for none of it to carry over to the next expansion. Shadowlands is no different in that regard as it forces players to grind Anima and level up Soulbinds if they do not want to get behind. When the ninth expansion rolls around all of that grinding will not matter as it will all be wiped clean, just like the Heart of Azeroth from Battle for Azeroth.
While Blizzard has done a good job creating tiny story arcs it has faltered a bit with the larger story. The Jailer is not an intriguing villain, the story heavily relies on Sylvanas Windrunner, and the story has brought players too far away from Azeroth. It has also seemingly retconned events dating all the way back to Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos with claims that everything was a part of the Jailer's plan. Players have not been happy with the direction of the story since Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands has doubled down on it.
When Shadowlands was announced Blizzard showed off a new type of content called Torghast. Torghast was a randomly generated dungeon crawling type of content that players could jump into and challenge themselves. Then Blizzard chose to tie the entire legendary gear system to Torghast, turning it into something that players had to do if they wanted to have a fighting chance in Mythic+ instead of something they wanted to do for fun. Instead of being optional challenging content like the Mage Tower in Legion, it became a part of the grind, and many players ended up hating it. Not every piece of content needs to be tied to a system, some can just be fun optional content.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands did a lot of things right, but it also did a lot of things wrong. It has proven to be a controversial expansion for many, it may also become fondly remembered as time passes like other previous controversial expansions. Soon players will move on from the Shadowlands and into the next expansion, maybe it will prove to be less dividing than this one was.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.