I don’t know where it went, but my excitement for The War Within has been virtually non-existent.
We’re hours away from the new expansion (early access). I’ve got my shopping all done for levelling (heavy protein build), my routes figured out, and I even hit the gym and did some yoga this morning to start the day.
For reasons I can’t seem to explain, though, I am just not feeling that excited or hyped for it. I’m not sure if that’s a product of having played such a long time or if there aren’t many aspects of the game I’m looking forward to besides the raids. For me, hype levels were often influenced by two factors: Story or Stuff (like systems).
In Wrath, it was Arthas.
In Cataclysm, it was Deathwing.
In Warlords, it was Garrisons (that might’ve been a miss).
In Legion, it was Artifacts and Order Halls.
In Battle for Azeroth, it was Kul’Tiras.
In Shadowlands, it was legendaries and Torghast (Yeah…)
The hype meter was most off the charts heading into Legion. The artifact weapons and the order halls were aspects I anticipated greatly. Battle for Azeroth had all these borrowed power systems (which wasn’t as fun), but we finally got to visit Kul’Tiras, which had been missing forever. As a Warcraft 2 gamer, Kul’Tiras was always a place in the back of my mind that I’d always wanted to visit if I ever got the opportunity to do it. I didn’t feel much hypeness heading into Dragonflight largely because I thought their story concluded nicely at the end of Cataclysm. I feel a similar notion heading into The War Within. Maybe the agency isn’t quite there yet and it might take time for all of it to build up and crescendo into a payoff.
Come to think of it, we’ve visited and pulled upon every story and character beat since Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3. That might be where my malaise is coming from because we’re entering a new phase in the Warcraft-verse where the lore is now all new since there aren’t many ties remaining to the Warcraft 3 era any longer.
I guess I don’t feel as invested in the story right now. Clearly the solution is to get a Warcraft 4 RTS going now.
In any case, with Xal’atath taking over as the Big Bad Evil Blade for the next arc.
I’m intrigued! As a Priest, she’s always held a special place in my (dark) heart. We’ve had many good conversations over the years. She was always my Jarvis when I was questing and killing bosses.
But hey, the day is finally here, and we’re hours away from early access. My plan is to level my primary Priest first, then Shaman, Paladin, Mage, and Evoker. After that, maybe the rest of my Priests (for cloth cooldowns). Two weeks to get the arsenal of alts up to a readiness level will be plenty of time.
Enjoy the journey!