I Played Through World of Warcraft Shadowlands for a Cosmetic to Use in The War Within

Oh World of Warcraft, how I’ve come to love you. It’s been some time since I’ve grown to appreciate and enjoy an MMORPG this much. I mean, I write about it every few months if I’m given the opportunity, just because I enjoy talking about it. And with Blizzard Entertainment sharing some of the Talent Trees that would be available with the release of World of Warcraft The War Within, I took it upon myself to go through one of the MMORPG’s least liked expansions, Shadowlands, for the sake of a cosmetic.

See, I wanted a specific cosmetic for World of Warcraft: The War Within, and it was only obtainable after getting to a certain point in Shadowlands. I like to get immersed in a game, and I’ve done a bit of role-playing in FFXIV and now WoW, so if I can get something that really adds to my character I’ll grind for it. I’ve started running Nighthold Mythic for a specific set of Death Knight gear, and learning that Void Elves, Blood Elves, and Night Elves get a Darkfallen cosmetic option through Shadowlands I had to do it. I seem to like all of the baddies in the Warcraft universe, Arthas being my favorite and Sylvanas Windrunner being a close second, so I was absolutely going to double down 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 need to save everyone from a world-ending threat, one that threatens to tear you and your companions apart, with the stakes escalating over and over again until you can’t imagine them rising any higher. It’s standard storytelling within the medium, but the key difference between the two being execution. I think in some ways Final Fantasy XIV does it better, even if I’m not keen on a lot of the narrative decisions. Shadowlands on the other hand just felt like I was being a tourist. A tourist going through the various levels of World of Warcraft “Super Hell,” but a tourist all the same. I couldn’t tell you what I did, because the events of Shadowlands has been mostly expunged from my memory, with the exception of the cutscene with Uther. Because every time Arthas shows up something in my brain lights up and I get absolutely feral like most Warcraft fans do.

Between unlocking each of the four worlds I would race back to the player hub in Shadowlands, because each World of Warcraft expansion has one to fit the zone, to see if the required quest for the Darkfallen cosmetic unlock would finally show up. I just wanted Shadowlands to be over. In part because I wasn’t enjoying the Anima gathering part of the faction stuff (I allied with the group that felt inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula), and I just wanted to play a Hunter really, really badly. Once I ground through enough of the faction content I saw the quest marker appear and I 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 Warcraft, specifically Undead Elves. (I have two Death Knights, and three Hunters. All five are some flavor of Elf.)

It felt so satisfying to finally have this option available. Unfortunately, I did the quest on my Death Knight so I’m never getting 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’m probably going to make another one to give Warlock a spin, or something. Or maybe I’ll just make another Death Knight. I don’t know. But I will say this. Getting through the quest to unlock the Darkfallen, at least on Alliance side, was interesting. I learned more about the Forsaken post-Sylvanas, and about the Undead that still inhabited the kingdom of Lordaeron. It was just a nice bit of lore tucked away in an optional quest that gave me something cool. And that’s what I love about World of Warcraft. All of these neat little additions and bits of worldbuilding and other unlockables you can get just from some random side-quest.

Was it worth it grinding through Shadowlands for? For me, absolutely. Was the World of Warcraft Shadowlands expansion as bad as everyone said it was? I don’t know. My opinion on these things never really align with the norm. I just know that it was mostly forgettable, and in the past I’ve said that’s the worst thing a game could 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 expansion readily available.