We all know that World of Warcraft was once the undisputed king of the MMORPG genre. For years, its influence could be seen everywhere – it has ultimately made an impact on millions of lives. But as King Terenas Menethil II once said to his son, “No king rules forever, my son.” It’s only normal for a game’s popularity to wax and wane over the years, especially if that game we’re talking about is almost two decades old. These days, player numbers in World of Warcraft go up when there’s a release of a new expansion, only to dwindle back down a few months afterward. The current player numbers are a far cry from the more than 12 million active WoW TBC gold farmers and subscribers the MMO boasted in 2008 when the Wrath of the Lich King expansion came out. 2021 has been a tumultuous year for Blizzard – mostly due to the ongoing controversies and sexual harassment allegations. With the next World of Warcraft expansion to be revealed on April 19, fans are excited and at the same time hesitant about what the future of WoW could be following the success of Shadowlands which sold more than 3.7 million copies on launch day.
Shadowlands Started Strong but Fell Flat on Its Face
Despite the hype and day-one success that Shadowland experienced, the expansion proved to be a huge disappointment. The core gameplay of World of Warcraft is indeed as snappy and intuitive as ever, but it has become so bogged down to the point where the systems’ goal is to suck out all fun of the experience. Torghast started as a roguelike dungeon filled with WoW TBC gold, but it quickly became a chore that players were forced to complete week after week. Meanwhile, the story content was locked behind a daily and weekly checklist.
Shadowlands repeated the same formula that Battle for Azeroth and Legion did – reputation grinds, Mythic+ progression, not to mention the boring endgame world quests had worn out their welcome. When these systems came to light for the third time, you can’t help but feel that Blizzard had run out of ideas to spice things up. WoW Shadowlands felt less like a game and more like a to-do list where you needed to tick tasks off on a daily/weekly basis.
Classes We May See
Currently, World of Warcraft has 24 playable races to choose from – 12 for the Horde and 12 for the Alliance. Besides the base game, every other expansion pack has added new races. You have the Goblins and the Worgen from the Cataclysm expansion, the Pandaren from the Mists of Pandaria, and the Draenei and Blood Elves from the Burning Crusade. This coveted ninth expansion will most likely add a new class to the game, there’s a possibility that Blizzard would consider adding a new race for players to tinker around with.
If we had to choose a race that the majority would love to see in the next expansion of World of Warcraft, it would be the Murlocs. We’re not kidding when we say that Murlocs are one of the most iconic characters in the game – you could even say that almost every player has that garbled Murloc noise engrained to their head, whether they like it or not. Murlocs are simple folks that live in huts along the shore and collect fish for their consumption, but who knows? Maybe the Horde or the Alliance could make them join the ranks of their armies. It’d take a bit of lore reshuffling here and there for Blizzard’s case, it’s possible for the humble Murloc to officially be a playable character. That said, this scenario is highly unlikely, especially since the amount of Murlocs that players have been tasked with killing is enormous.
There is a plethora of characters in Azeroth that are mixed race and played an integral part in the story of World of Warcraft. Should Blizzard allow players to have the ability to play as half-elves or half-orcs (or half anything really), it could open a whole new level of customization. Imagine being able to choose from the customization options of two races!
Conclusion
The latest expansion for World of Warcraft, Shadowlands, pretty much wrapped things up with its last major patch already. The reveal for WoW’s next expansion is right around the corner (April 19); what WoW TBC gold farmers and players can expect is currently unknown, but it’s at least clear that Blizzard can’t use the same tactic as they did for the previous releases.
What do you think will we see in this upcoming expansion? Let us know down below!
