Storytelling and worldbuilding

Welcome to your guide to all things solo in wow.

In this week’s issue, we have:

• Player housing update

• Comp stomp guide

• Economy reddit

• and more…

News

• Player housing update (Gamerant)

• Dinars not gone from 11.1 (Wowhead)

Guides

• Fastest way to farm marks and honour with the comp stomp (Icy-veins)

• Easy to obtain mounts: how to get nearly 180 in one day (Icy-veins)

Economy

• Wow economy reddit (Reddit)

Storytelling and worldbuilding

In a recent video by Platinum Wow it was suggested that the recent additions to the Horde and Alliance (the Dracthyr and the Earthern) have had less lore detailing their inclusion into these factions due to Blizzard’s storytelling resources being directed into content that players will engage with more (such as raid and patch zone story).

This means that Dracthyr, Earthern and even some of the allied races just feel there and not like they have a real reason and purpose for being part of their faction.

However original races such as the Orcs, Humans, Forsaken etc have expansive lore and history that gives them motivations, culture and purpose.

I must also acknowledge that the original races have benefited from 3 RTS games and 30 years of storytelling.

But it is for that very reason that the “newer” races deserve more storytelling attention than everyone else, races such as the Vulpera don’t have the benefit of “hero” characters and history to make their citizens feel alive in the game. Instead their notable members feel very hollow, their skeleton is reused from the goblins and their reason for being playable is very thin. This makes playing a Vulpera feel very boring.

So the question for this week is are Blizzard doing the right thing by investing so much time into giving a deep backstory and focus on the latest raid, or should some resources be given to expanding the lore of the world and races/people in it?

I have to admit that giving the latest raid and zone storytelling focus is not only good but vital. If we were to enter a new zone and everyone get involved in endgame content but there was poor or no storytelling as to why we were there then we might as well be in the Shadowlands.

Blizzards recent philosophy on creating evergreen content is something I think they should expand to their storytelling. when so much focus on storytelling is given to a specific patch zone or raid only for us to leave in the next patch it feels wasted.

However I must say that some of this storytelling is vital to the ongoing story especially in our current world soul saga as some of the events that are happening in the patch zones at the moment will be relevant down the line.

So my argument here is not to remove the expansive lore and storytelling Blizzard is investing into current content but to cut the fat away from the area’s that wont be relevant next patch and invest that time into some world-building.

To give some context as to why I think this is so important. I remember when I first played Wow many years ago during the Burning crusade era and when I first entered Thunder bluff being stunned by the history you could feel about the race of Tauren and not knowing who they were, why they were there, why they joined the Horde and who their leaders were. But they had a whole city that I could explore and learn more.

Cut to retail Wow and using the example I gave earlier exploring these same questions for the Vulpera wouldn’t take very long or be very interesting.

I don’t think the importance of world-building in an MMO can be understated, its the very thing that makes the world feel immersive and like you as a character are part of something bigger.

I know there are many players that won’t see the benefit of world-building and storytelling, they would rather that time was invested in gameplay and systems. But without a fully immersive world Wow might as well be a basic RPG.

If Blizzard can take an “evergreen” approach to world-building and not what’s hot in the current content I think the feeling of being part of that bigger world like I felt my first time entering Thunderbluff can be achieved again.

I think this approach to world-building could also be combined with endgame/current content to make good storytelling relevant.

Using interesting questlines and possibly endgame currency’s developing world-building lore can be relevant to all players and get people to engage with the world again (not just to nerds who enjoy it for what it is).

The other side of this argument is that by moving focus away from current content and where the story is going the narrative is going to feel underwhelming.

That is why a balance needs to be achieved and at the moment I feel that there is too much current content and not enough for the rest of the world.

But what do you think?

Do you think there needs to be a change?

Or are you happy with the current storytelling focus?

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