It’s no secret one of the major gripes that World of Warcraft players had with the story was the world itself was barely allowed any room to breathe. Conflict upon conflict, crisis upon crisis – the 40 years that followed the storyline from the first Warcraft game to Dragonflight were fraught with endless war and constant strife. At this point, many would argue that the life of a common farmer in Azeroth seeking a peaceful life is synonymous with a lesson in futility.
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Lead Narrative Designer for World of Warcraft Steve Danuser would agree, and with Shadowlands closing one chapter in the Warcraft saga, he feels that Dragonflight gave the narrative team an opportunity to let Azeroth experience a period of peace and reflection. Offering clarification on the official game forums, Danuser explained that the beginning of Shadowlands took place in Year 35, while the start of Dragonflight would take place in Year 40. Given the disconnected nature of the campaign against the Jailer in the Realm of Death, Shadowlands and Dragonflight have effectively provided Azeroth five years of relative calm.
It allowed alliances to strengthen, lands to heal, romance to bloom, and one of the key moments that occurred in this time skip is the wedding between Lor’themar Theron and First Arcanist Thalyssra, revealed in an idle conversation that Horde players can encounter during their adventures in Dragonflight. Given countless examples of tragic love stories and doomed relationships in the larger World of Warcraft saga, it’s a refreshing change of pace to have simple, straightforward, successful one instead.
The time skip does pose an interesting question often asked by the players – if the in-game world will finally reflect its real state in the lore. As it stands, the majority of Azeroth’s zones are still perpetually trapped in time, locked in a frozen state since Cataclysm, and representing a narrative dissonance that is difficult for players to ignore. Though Blizzard has stated several times in the past that a world revamp for World of Warcraft was a lofty expectation due to the massive amount of resources it took away in Cataclysm’s development, one has to wonder if the expansion after Dragonflight will finally let players see the mean streets of Gadgetzan in their full glory.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC, with Dragonflight launching later this year.
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Source: World of Warcraft Forums
