World of Warcraft Could Benefit from Linear Expansion Progression

World of Warcraft is perhaps one of the longest enduring MMORPGs, having launched November 2004, it will have been in service for nearly two decades this year. It was a game that I initially shunned, but warmed up to over time as my interest in other MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV waned. But as I sat with friends, discussing all of the games, specifically MMORPGs, that we played, I realized something: World of Warcraft could benefit from more linear expansion and story progression.

I meet up with a friends at a local restaurant to get out of my apartment, and we sit and talk about games that were formative to us during our youth between picking at cheese covered short ribs slathered in a spicy marinade and Korean corn cheese. We talk about Starcraft, and how despite effectively starting the Esports scene in Korea it has fallen into decline, and how incredible Warcraft III and its subsequent expansion, The Frozen Throne, was. Since I am still new to World of Warcraft, with the decades old MMORPG still retaining it’s glossy shine to me (probably because I haven’t had to trudge through Shadowlands or Cataclysm in full, yet) I bring it up. We are both lovers of Sylvanas Windrunner and Arthas Menethil and I talk excited with them about the attention to detail put into The Undercity, the capital city for The Forsaken — undead who have broken free from the Lich King’s influence to live as a mostly independent people. I tell them about the bruised and rotten flower petals that the now undead citizens of Lordaeron threw in joyous celebration at the return of their crown prince, how the bells still sing for Arthas, and how his voice still echoes in the throne room where he slew his father in an act of patricide to overtake the city and condemn his people to undeath.

I share all of the stories told to me about Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, two of World of Warcraft’s first major expansions, realizing that neither them or myself will be able to run through them as they were. And that in some cases, you will not be able to experience them at all if you progress a character in retail too far to make use of Chromie’s time distortion, which does let you play through old World of Warcraft expansions to an extent. You see, there is a cut-off for this around Level 50, which prevents you from accessing other expansions as they mostly were. I say mostly, because the divisive Cataclysm expansion changed the world map in such a significant way that even major landmarks were destroyed and various locations altered with the arrival of Deathwing. Which I’m sure was exciting when that expansion launched! And further down the line, certain starting zones were changed to show the flow of time in Azeroth, which is something I actually like in World of Warcraft over Final Fantasy XIV. Final Fantasy XIV does have some time lapse between expansions, but everything is more or less static. There isn’t a greater change in the world, characters don’t grow up or age or die, which I think works to the detriment of the MMORPG, but it does do one thing right in terms of progression: it’s completely linear.

Final Fantasy XIV requires you to go through A Realm Reborn to get to Heavensward, and Heavensward to get to Stormblood, and so on. You can, of course, purchase a story skip to bypass all of this content which I’ve done for alts, but for the most part you need to engage in the Main Scenario Content in a specific order to see storylines unfold in a way that ushers you through what feels like a chronicling of major, significant story events. World of Warcraft has these things — the resurgence of the Scourge and the awakening of the Lich King, the Burning Legion pouring forth out of emerald green demon gates, to name a few. Not all World of Warcraft expansions hit their mark. With the community at large disliking Shadowlands to such an extent that it’s become shorthand for middling expansions that it’s even permeated the Final Fantasy XIV community in terms of how that own portion of MMORPG players have come to regard Dawntrail. But I think going through the story in some linear fashion would be great for World of Warcraft.

Yes, you would have to endure old content which means a lot of fetch quests and running around old maps. But having played Classic Season of Discovery, I think that would be a great boon. That content forces you to engage with the world and learn about it in a way that has you exploring these old zones, and it would breathe life into regions that have otherwise gone neglected. You would get to learn about the relationship each of the small villages you discover have with the world at large, you’d get too experience characters grow old and change and even die, instead of just popping into the world as is. Yes, instanced zones still exist so people can experience some starting areas as they were, but it’d be cool (if not maybe impossible) to see Blizzard Entertainment impliment this on a larger scale.

Maybe this is just me wanting to see more players in old zones, or wanting people to experience some of the best story content World of Warcraft has had, or maybe it’s just me being nostalgic for characters that Blizzard Entertainment just still haven’t been able to top. (I won’t deny, I have a huge bias for Arthas, but he’s iconic for a reason!) I know I definitely feel this way because I’ve played Season of Discovery; because I’ve experienced those old starting zones and spoken to those old NPCs that I know become significant. It’s nice to see where things begin and where they will potentially end, and I think World of Warcraft does have some solid character writing even if it isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But I think it’s a shame people can’t experience some of the best bits of what World of Warcraft does have to offer, and having that linear progression would maybe enhance their experience. I know it would for me.

World of Warcraft is available on PC.