Blizzard recently released patch 8.2.5 for their MMORPG flagship World of Warcraft. With this patch, they’ve brought the story of the current expansion – Battle for Azeroth – to a close.
If you don’t want spoilers, turn back now!
A large focal point of the story of this expansion has been the on-again-off-again hostilities between the main factions of the world of Azeroth, the Horde and the Alliance. Without delving too far into the lore, the story of the expansion has come to an end as one Varok Saurfang – legendary hero and veteran of the Horde – challenged current (and corrupt) warchief Sylvanas Windrunner to an honorable duel, called a Mak’gora.
Long story short, Sylvanas wins but exposes herself as using the entirety of the Horde as a tool to her own means in the process. While she’s won the battle by killing Saurfang, she’s quite literally lost the war as she flies off and leaves the two gathered armies to do whatever they will. The war comes to an immediate end as the Horde seemingly renounces Sylvanas, allowing the gathered Alliance and Horde Rebel forces to enter the city with Saurfang’s corpse.
So the war has come to an end, and all hostilities should cease with whatever peace treaty enters the lore. The issue for some players is the fact that player-vs-player combat in the game between the Alliance and the Horde is an integral part of the game. For some, it’s the only reason to play at all. So with peace so certain, what gameplay reason is there to continue slaughtering each other?
Gameplay-wise this probably won’t see much of a change. While the war is over, decades of war leaves plenty of lore-friendly reasons for a Tauren to still punt a Gnome halfway across Kalimdor. Storywise, there are also plenty of reasons for some races to hate other races and continue fighting regardless of whatever treaty.
Many players are speculating that the Night Elf leadership, of whom have essentially become vengeance itself, will ignore the treaty and continue on murdering any Horde forces they find. Others believe that Sylvanas loyalists may try to stoke the flames of war and stamp away those of peace again just to keep fighting.
We won’t know until the teasers of the next expansion start popping up. The good news is that BlizzCon is coming up shortly in November, and we’re likely to get some solid answers then!
