WoW Faces Time Skip; Blizzard's MMO Characters Will Gain 5 Years
The developer has explained how the upcoming World of Warcraft DLC looks on the timeline universe. Players are delighted, but there is no shortage of questions.
Announcement of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, the ninth expansion for the iconic MMORPG, was met with a negative response from the players. This happened mainly due to recent expansions - Shadowlands and Battle for Azeroth - whose inferior quality did not fill the fans with optimism. According to some people WoW is even in its worst condition since its release. When it comes to the DLC, players will be highly critical, but Blizzard finally revealed some information that didn't cause a huge wave of hate. The developer announced on the official forum, that five years will have passed in the game in the form of a tike skip, between the two DLCs - Shadowlands and Dragonflight. The purpose of such a procedure is to give the inhabitants of Azeroth a chance to rest and live a normal life, since until now the interval between various types of invasions and disasters was about one or two years in the universe.
"When our heroes return from the Realms of Death, you can imagine them easing back into their lives and duties without an immediate crisis to address or enemy to fight. With the Alliance and Horde honoring the truce signed after the Fourth War, the average Azerothian citizen will be able to enjoy a time of stability and reflection," writes Steve Danuser, developer of WoW.
The developer also lists a couple of other pros of this solution:
- Aging of young characters and giving them a greater role in future events; adult characters will not change enough for the player to notice the difference.
- the changes that have occurred over the years in the world will be discovered by the player on an ongoing basis through missions.
- players can imagine for themselves what their character did during this quiet period.
How did the players react?
On the positive side, the vast majority of fans think that stretching the timeline in this way is a good idea, and he thank for confirming exactly how many years will pass between the events of the two expansions.
"It's really official! Thank you guys! We were supposed to believe that all these world-ending events follow each other year after year without the population collapsing from sheer devastation, and this was already getting ridiculous," writes forum user Cemeron.
The majority of users share his opinion, but not without questions about the validity of the decision. Players demand that characters know how many years have passed between different events, and suggest that the the world must change for the time skip to make sense.
"It is completely unbelievable for the world to remain for years in status quo. You can say that the time skip took place, but if I go to Westfall and see that Sentinel Hill is still on fire, or continue to see the Covenant and Horde battles in the Southern Barrens, then it might not have happened at all. Everything will still be the same," writes forum user Anenzo.
Fans are pleased despite the doubts, which will probably be resolved soon, and even netter thing is that Blizzard has announced work on a short story to go on their official website, focusing on Dragonflight. Those who do not like to read need not worry - knowledge of the story will not be necessary in understanding the plot of the DLC, which is expected to debut in December, this year.
