Disclaimer: Should there be a time skip after World of Warcraft Shadowlands is an opinion piece. Feel free to post your own opinion in the comments below.
Should there be a time skip after World of Warcraft Shadowlands? WoW Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, did an interview last month, where he mentioned that time flowed differently in the Shadowlands. The interview took place in mid-May and Hazzikostas was interviewed by WoWChakra on Twitch.
During the interview, Hazzikostas discussed many aspects of the upcoming Shadowlands expansion. He talked about covenants, tier sets, story, Torghast, and more. This opinion piece will focus on the time skip rumors. The Warcraft community has debated whether the game would benefit from a time skip for years. There are many who would love a Warcraft IV. Some fans have even suggested a complete reboot titled WoW 2 on a completely new engine.
There’s no doubt that a time skip would breathe new life into the game, but is a time skip a good idea? World of Warcraft is a fifteen-year-old game. Part of WoW’s success was due to having an already existing IP with the Warcraft franchise of games. A time skip could introduce new lore, but it could also alienate fans because there would be nothing familiar for them to grasp. Let’s examine the time skip debate in more detail.
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Should There Be A Time Skip After World Of Warcraft Shadowlands?
How Would A Time Skip Benefit Azeroth?
Should there be a time skip after World of Warcraft Shadowlands? We’re examining the possibility the next expansion after Shadowlands, which would be patch 10.0, would feature a time skip. A time skip would be exciting. Assuming enough time has passed, we could see some areas in Azeroth healed.
They can finally rebuild Teldrassil and the Undercity. There’s a chance that Gilneas could return to its former glory. Some of the destruction caused by the Cataclysm could be completely healed. The zones probably won’t look exactly the way they did in Vanilla WoW, but it’d be nice to walk through Thousand Needles instead of swimming through it.
A time skip after World of Warcraft Shadowlands would give key characters a chance to grow and change. Maybe we’ll actually see Anduin with real facial hair. Heroes like Thrall have children, and it’ll be interesting to see the children older and taking a leading role in the plot. There’s also a chance that some heroes or villains could be retired. For example, a ten or fifteen-year time skip could cause some characters to pass away.
During this interview with WoWChakra, WoW Game Director Ion Hazzikostas was asked about the way time runs in the Shadowlands. WoWChakra asked him, “How does the time go by in the Shadowlands and how does it affect our characters?”
Hazzikostas gave a very intriguing response.
“The answer is complicated. Time is a construct of order and structure. Things in the Shadowlands are more chaotic. It’s similar to how time moves in a dream and there’s not necessarily a fixed amount of time. Time isn’t necessarily 3x faster or 10x faster. We’ll have to see how it affects our characters when they come out the other end,” Ion Hazzikostas, World of Warcraft Game Director
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How Could A Time Skip Hurt Azeroth?
We can’t ignore the bad reasons for a time skip after World of Warcraft Shadowlands. A time skip would breathe new life into the game, but it could also create new problems. Imagine the number of plot holes if the current writing team doesn’t wrap up plot lines.
As a player, I won’t be happy if I don’t take part in important events in the world of Azeroth. I’ve played WoW since Wrath and I’m invested in its future. A short time skip of one or two years might not be too bad if it’s mostly used to rebuild Teldrassil, Undercity, and Gilneas, but I have a feeling the game would jump further than that.
I don’t want the game world to be magically saved. Our playable characters are the heroes. So it’s important we take part in whatever is happening. Also, I don’t want to see Anduin become ‘Manduin’ and suddenly have a family and become a legendary king and epic fighter if we didn’t get to see it happen.
Also, shipping is fun. If there’s a time skip, there’re going to be new couples, and we won’t get to see them fall in love. If you guys haven’t checked out the new short story, “A Moment in Verse” by Madeleine Roux and featuring the characters Lor’themar and Thalyssra you’re missing out!
The point I’m trying to make is that I play WoW because I enjoy living within a virtual world. I don’t want to miss a single minute of it. So if the WoW storytellers chose to time skip, I hope they come up with a creative and satisfying way to catch us up on Azeroth’s world.
Did you love the short story”A Moment in Verse” by Madeleine Roux, then don’t forget to pre-order the Shadowlands prequel novel, Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux on Amazon.com.
Should There Be A Time Skip After World Of Warcraft Shadowlands?
A Quick News Update Before You Go…
Should there be a time skip after World of Warcraft Shadowlands? Feel free to leave a comment below.
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If you’d love to hear more opinions about a time skip in WoW then feel free to check out More time – Misdirections. Fiannor wrote a fantastic piece on their blog, where they listed several content creators who’re also discussing this hot topic.
The 100 percent leveling buff Winds of Wisdom is still active until the Shadowlands pre-patch. Now is a great time to dust off some alts and level. WoW Shadowlands will be released on October 27, 2020.
A Quick News Update continued…
This week, Blizzard postponed their June 9th Livestream in response to current events. Also, Activision Blizzard has decided to donate to the United Negro College Fund, the Equal Justice Initiative, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow. Their goal is to raise over $4 Million for those organizations. The company announced this on Twitter.
This is just a start. There’s more to be done to back our words of support, and we’ll share more as time goes on. Thanks to everyone who has donated and for working together to make a greater impact. Black lives matter. https://t.co/emJw8ZgHZt
— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) June 11, 2020
This is a personal note from me regarding the current news:
I’m happy Blizzard is taking a stand for Black Lives Matter. As an African American, living in the USA isn’t easy. I’ve experienced racism on a daily basis and it doesn’t get any easier. When we talk about the privilege some individuals have, we’re not referring to money or status, we’re talking about being able to live without fear. I’ve never experienced the luxury of visiting a store without being followed by workers, nor have I had the privilege of visiting the doctor without being refused treatment, although the doctor could see my deadly bug bite. Sadly, that’s not the last time I’ve lived through that kind of frustration and pain.
Throughout the years, I’ve unfortunately experienced racism while playing World of Warcraft. Usually, I don’t tell anyone I’m black when I’m playing, but it’s very disheartening to be in a major city and see players talk badly about my race. A dungeon and raid group is worse. I had a friend years ago who couldn’t take it, and he went off on the tank. He cursed him out and logged off in anger. Sadly, I couldn’t blame him, the tank was throwing around the N-word like it was candy.
My personal note continued.
These privileged players assume no African Americans play their game. They generalize my culture and assume we’re all lazy, unemployed, and ignorant. I’m going to tell you now that it’s not true. Most of my family is college-educated and own businesses. None of us live within the inner-city, and none of them rely on the government for assistance. It’s appalling to me when these same people say they want to keep politics out of their game. Then they complain when Blizzard wants to add more diversity. Why is my existence a political statement? Where can I relax and just enjoy a game?
I have two brothers and every night I’m afraid if they get off work after dark because I don’t want the police to mess with them. When I was a little girl, police stormed into my house and frightened us awake, flashing lights and pointing guns at us during the middle of the night. They had the wrong house, and thank goodness they didn’t shoot, because I either wouldn’t be alive today, or I’d be telling a very different story. My mom said it wasn’t the first time that it happened, but it’s luckily the only incident I remembered. So please, have the heart to listen to others. Many use the phrase “All lives matter” because they feel as if we’re saying our lives are more important than everyone else’s. We’re not trying to say that your life doesn’t matter, we just wish that everyone thought our lives mattered too.
Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments, but be respectful or your comment will be deleted.
Thank you for hanging at my hearth.
Happy Hunting,
Spyells