Greetings Friends!
The leveling experience in Warlords of Draenor was fantastic. It stood as one of the high points in a series of disappointing aspect of a much anticipated expansion. There was a pretty smooth path from zone to zone and story to story, but when we finished up the quest lines in Nagrand we were left with a "what now?" feeling. We were given various one-liners from different NPCs to hint at what was going on in Highmaul and Blackrock Foundry but nothing to continue the story that was so rich on the way to 100. Pandaria had it's issues just like every other expansion, but there was no shortage of early max level content. We had daily quests and rep grinds that while excessive and seemingly mandatory, still gave us insight into the world and the characters we would be interacting with for two years. We found out all about Taran Zhu and why he was so grumpy. We found out about Klaxxi society that ended with a nice little payoff a year later in Siege of Orgrimmar. The Isle of Thunder continued the story through the second raid tier but in a different way. As the island unlocked we found out more about the Mogu and the Thunder King. More about the Zandalari and their reasoning for awakening him. The one thing that very subtly intertwined with all of these story points together is the one thing I think could have saved the story in Warlords of Draenor. We needed scenarios!
Scenarios served two very useful purposes in my opinion. First, they were a nice time sink for DPS players while waiting in queue for dungeons or LFR. When you had an hour long queue to join the newest wing for LFR it didn't feel as bad when you could get into a scenario in 5 minutes, have a dungeon waiting when you finished it, and then got your invite to a LFR shortly after that. Secondly, we got story dialogue throughout some of these scenarios that did a good job to round out the story experience and to give some insight into what was going on behind the scenes. Blizzard has touted for ages that the main character in the World of Warcraft is the world itself, and the reason Warcradr has been successful for so long is the minutia of the world and the characters within. Scenarios are a fantastic vehicle to deliver those little details. For example, the Lorewalkers prefaced the Blood in the Snow scenario with information on what was going on amongst the Council of the Three Hammers and the distrust toward the Moira. Then throughout the scenario the dialogue not only portrays the strengthening of Varian and Moira's relationship within the Alliance but also shows us some of what the Zandalari are doing. Likewise, the Dagger in the Dark scenario has us accompany a reluctant Vol'jin on a mission from Garrosh Hellscream. In a 10 minute instance with virtually no wait time, we find out what interest Garrosh has in ancient Mogu magics and also what his true intentions were in sending Vol'jin specifically into those caves. In addition to all that, the progression through the Isle of Thunder was broken up by scenarios that allowed us to play through our infiltration of the island rather than us just showing up one day and finding out that the inner walls had been breached.
Imagine if scenarios had been carried over into Warlords of Draenor! We could have found out more about how Ner'zhul summoned the Dark Star into Shadowmoon Valley. We could have seen why the Ogres chose to ally themselves with Grommash and the Iron Horde and why Kargath seem so buddy buddy with his former captors in Highmaul. What was Kilrogg doing between launch when he disappeared from Tanaan and the cutscene where he drinks the Demon Blood. I just wish we had something outside of the Garrison campaign quests to let us know what was going on out in the world after we hit max level. Even something as small as scenarios could have helped give some importance to the Warlords that were supposed to be such a huge selling point of going to Draenor in the first place. In a previous post I outlined a version of a patch release schedule that would have staggered Tanaan Jungle's opening. I think a version similar to Isle of Thunder where at first we invade in an effort to breach Grom's defenses after we force him to fall back after our victory in Blackrock Foundry. Then over time we work our way further into Tanaan and Grommash continues to lose strength to the point where Gul'dan feels like he can make his move to take over. Each section of Tanaan could have had it's own scenario to give context to it rather than have it serve as only an apexis crystal area. Make it a big cohesive experience Blizzard! A great leveling experience followed by scenarios and dungeons not only feeding us gear but also information on whats happening around the world. And let that lead into immersive raids like you have shown you can do over the last 2 expansions.
Going forward I would love to see scenarios make a comeback in Legion. Let dungeons and raids show us the big picture, but let quests and scenarios show us the little things that truly bring the world to life. The Val'kyr dungeons can show us the gist of their society and history while the scenarios and quests show us what Slyvanas' interest is in it. Give us more insight into her agreement with the Val'kyr and their motives in offering it in the first place. In Suramar we can find out how the Nightfallen Elves have remained hidden from us for so long. Give us a first hand look at Azshara's commands to Tidemistress Athissa were and let us speculate on what her ultimate goals are. Show us what led to Xavius joining with the Burning Legion after serving the Old Gods in their effort to corrupt the Emerald Dream. We deserve a look at the details and to know why these characters and places should matter to us. I think scenarios do that in a way that quest cannot and that provide enough secondary benefits to make them worthwhile to most players.
Let me know if you disagree. Perhaps the reason we didn't get scenarios in Warlords was that Blizzard saw that the participation numbers didn't warrant the effort to include them. I'd love to hear what others think would be a suitable vessel for early end game immersion.
As always thanks for reading and until next time,
Chris
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