Summary
I hate the Alliance. Why? Because they’ve always been the favored faction inWorld of Warcraft. So when it came to my attention that the upcoming final raid boss of the current retail expansion, The War Within, showcases the Void Lord, Dimensius – now the size of a kaiju and stomping over Stormwind – I got excited.
Excited in a way that I haven’t since the expansion’s release a year ago.
Why? Myriad reasons. I love chaos and nothing tends to stir things up more than the corrupted soul of a planet manifesting as a giant monster. World of Warcraft is at its best when bad things happen to good people. But most of all, the game’s story needs something to go south, and in a hurry.
The second phase ofthe WorldSoul Trilogyis coming. And ifStar Warstaught us anything, it’s that you have to break some eggs if you want to give your story some stakes and pathos.
Also… It’s the human’s turn to get got. Leave the Horde alone for a bit, y’all.
Void Lord Dimensius, Stormwind, And You
I know a little something when it comes to thelore of World of Warcraft. That means I know what I’m talking about when I say that the greatest periods in the 20 year history of WoW came off the destruction and wreckage of major things going down in-game. The Lich King’s spreading of the undead plague,Deathwing causing the cataclysm, the destruction of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, and more. All were precursors of death and destruction that required the world state of Azeroth and the player base to react to less than normal circumstances.
After all, what good is a story if the characters aren’t overcoming odds, dealing with loss, and fighting the good fight? There’s been less and less of that in the last few expansions, with the newest content drops of the past few years being more about setting the table than it was serving a meal.
And that’s precisely why it excites me to see Lord Dimensius hovering large and in-charge above the Alliance capital of Stormwind in datamined files during the upcoming 11.2 patch. As a longtime fan, it’s cool to see the world state of Azeroth change dramatically.
But part of the problem with a 20-year-old game that needs to be all things to all people is that it pivots and changes course with all the grace of the Titanic. Game design considerations, as well as the experience of new players, must always be taken into consideration. Right?
Right.
Screw that. I want destruction. I want blood in the streets. I need trauma and death that the heroes ofWorld of Warcraftwill face head-on. And as a dedicated Horde player, I’m just glad that for once it isn’t our capital city being pillaged, taken over by fascists, or targeted for destruction.
Can Azeroth handle a capital city potentially getting smooshed? It has to if the game is going to earn its big ending.
Midnight Is Coming For All World of Warcraft Players
Upon returning to the franchise, longtime lore keeper Chris Metzen said that the WorldSoul Trilogy was going to set the stage for the end of this current phase of WoW as fans knew it. Given that the middle expansion is called Midnight, one can only assume that something bad has to happen to earn such a name.
The next two World of Warcraft expansions will bring about the conclusion of plot threads left in the air for decades. That means big things need to go down if the game is going to earn that conclusion, and it certainly won’t happen through everyone living and singing around the campfire.
When we think about the most important fictional worlds of the last fifty years we often think about tragedy. The Red Wedding of Game of Thrones, Hank’s death inBreaking Bad, andthat god awful songthat The Bachelor Season 29 star Grant Ellis released to try and launch a music career.
All of these moments held importance because it allowed our heroes to rise above, find strength within themselves, and bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. And in the case of World of Warcraft, that absolutely means that Lord Dimensius needs to break apart every square foot of Stormwind and leave nothing in his wake.
The lore of WoW is heading for a collision course with destiny. Will the story be remembered as a hallmark of the series or yet another missed opportunity due to playing it safe? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: when midnight hits you absolutely need to be afraid of the dark.
Let’s hope Blizzard has no problems making the denizens of Azeroth afraid of the shadows, even if it’s just for a little while.
