Oh World of Warcrafthow I have grown fond of you. It’s been a while since I’ve grown to appreciate and enjoy an MMORPG this much. I mean, I write about it every few months when I get the chance, just because I enjoy talking about it. And since Blizzard Entertainment is sharing some of the talent trees that will be available with the release of The war withinI have made it my mission to review one of the least popular expansions of the MMORPG, Shadowlands.
The answer to the why is completely clear. After all, it is in the title. I wanted to create a special cosmetic for The war withinand it was only available after reaching a certain point in Shadowlands. I like to immerse myself in a game and I have done a bit of role playing in FFXIV and now Wowso if I can get something that really adds to my character, I’ll grind for it. I started playing Nighthold Mythic for a specific set of Death Knight gear, and when I learned that Void Elves, Blood Elves, and Night Elves were getting a Darkfallen cosmetic option through Shadowlands, I had to do it. I seem to like all the villains in the Warcraft universe, Arthas is my favorite and Sylvanas Windrunner is a close second, so I was keen to follow up and get this eye and skin customization for my Dark Ranger – one of the new hero talent trees in The war within.
Coming from Final Fantasy XIV To World of Warcraft, Shadowlands feels like more of the same. You have to save everyone from a threat that could be the end of the world that threatens to tear you and your companions apart, with the stakes escalating over and over until you can’t imagine them rising any higher. It’s standard storytelling within the medium, but the main difference between the two is in the execution. I think in some ways Final Fantasy XIV makes it better, even though I don’t like many of the narrative choices. Shadowlands On the other hand, I felt like a tourist. A tourist walking through the different levels of World of Warcraft’s “Super Hell”, but a tourist nonetheless. I couldn’t tell you what I did, because the events of Shadowlands is mostly erased from my memory, except for the cutscene with Uther. Because every time Arthas shows up, something lights up in my brain and I go absolutely wild like most Warcraft Fans do that.
Between unlocking each of the four worlds, I raced back to the player hub in Shadowlandsbecause everyone World of Warcraft expansion has one that matches the zone to see if the required quest to unlock Darkfallen finally shows up. I just wanted to Shadowlands to be over. Partly because I didn’t enjoy the anima-gathering part of the faction stuff (I allied myself with the group that was inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula), and I really wanted to play a hunter. After working through enough faction content, I saw the quest marker appear and picked it up, eager to unlock the glowing red eyes and milky skin of the Darkfallen. Because apparently I really love playing elves in World of Warcraftespecially undead elves. (I have two death knights and three hunters. All five are some kind of elf.)
It was so satisfying to finally have that option available. Unfortunately, I did the quest with my Death Knight, so I’ll never get the Dark Hunter gear set. But hey! At least I have another customization option for the Void Elf, Night Elf, and Blood Elf. Because I’ll probably make another one to give the Warlock a shot or something. Or maybe I’ll just make another Death Knight. I don’t know. But I will say one thing. Doing the quest to unlock the Dark Fallen, at least on the Alliance side, was interesting. I learned more about the Forsaken after Sylvanas, and about the undead that still inhabited the kingdom of Lordaeron. It was just a nice bit of lore hidden in an optional quest that gave me something cool. And that’s what I liked about World of Warcraft. All these nice little additions and pieces of world building and other unlockable content you can get just by doing a random side quest.
Was it worth fighting through? Shadowlands for? For me absolutely. Was the World of Warcraft Shadowlands Expansion as bad as everyone says? I don’t know. My opinion on these things never really conforms to the norm. All I know is that it was mostly forgettable, and in the past I’ve said that’s the worst a game can be. So maybe. But hey, at least I get to play a Darkfallen Dark Ranger!
World of Warcraft is available for PC, with The war within Extension readily available.
