WoW: Saga of Hydaelyn and Zodiark

Of course, I watched the new expansion cinematic and its short half hour presentation first thing in the morning.

Well, what can I say? It simply reeks of fanservice and doing their FFXIV homework so far.

See, the 1.0-6.5. story of Final Fantasy MMO, the major ark, is about a crystallized entity of Light, Hydaelyn, which occupies the core of the planet, and talks to promising individuals so they become Warriors of Light and fight Darkness. In this era, the Warrior of Light is you, the player character.

Later on, we learn the real origins of Hydaelyn and her dark nemesis, Zodiark, and the final battle between Light and Dark ensues in Endwalker where we meet her in person and learn who she really is, the origins of progenitors, travel to the past and all.

Does – it – remind – you – of – something – from – this – Blizzcon?

The only difference is: “World Soul” didn’t open with “Hear. Feel. Think” catchphrase, and she’d rather talk to lore characters rather than you. But well, in WoW players have always been just a blunt auxiliary tool to solve problems for others, so it’s fine.

Second, the cinematic, while beautiful, of course – nuff said for the tech part, it’s awesome as always – rather echoed Metzen’s own words from the stage. I can’t shake off the feeling that Thrall convinced Anduin to get back into the fold much like Metzen (THE Thrall) tried to convince those players who left several expansions ago to return back to the game on stage :)

I mean, the whole cinematic and a great chunk of his speech was about how good it is to return and how he loves this game. “Duuude, come on! Who’s gonna fight darkness? We’ll find some light in you yet, get up! See, there’s a sword you asked about, we’re gonna finally fix it” – that’s a wrap up of both cinematic and Metzen’s part.

Of course, Metzen will be working from where the others left – and they re-employed him to the ruins. But stretching out the upcoming “Hydaelyn” ark into three expansions doesn’t feel good. You see, they already took away the biggest and the most convincing nemesis of the Void – N’Zoth, the Black Empire and the Old Gods – out of equation in a weird and unnecessary, rushed appendix in BfA, so the stakes are kinda… low.

Xal’atath, Alleria and whoever comes in their place are cool, of course, but not a public enemy of supposed planetary scale. And Metzen & Co. feel like they want to stretch this questionable thing throughout three expansions, with time travel and all – instead of tiptoeing across the shards of world soul/void ark as fast as possible like on thin ice, and start a more sensible fresh ark. Epic and ambitious, yes, but looks like a total fanservice to me – Quel’Thalas of old, Northrend of old and shit.

The underworld zone preview doesn’t look awful, and unlike generic and boring Dragonflight zones, it’s actually a place that looks interesting to explore… so maybe I’ll give it a try someday? It depends on what they make with “dynamic flying”. Obviously, they’re adding dragon riding to every flying mount, but if it’s gonna be the only flying option – by Blizzard’s good tradition of taking away something that works and replacing it with questionable shit – then I’m gonna pass. Yes, it’s that vital inconvenience that was 50% of reasons to quit Dragonflight for good.

As for the rest – we’ll wait and see. Let’s say I’m mildly interested – in any case, a lot more than in Dragonflight announcement, but the parallels with FFXIV are strong, and this presentation did not convince me yet they can do… – no, I do not expect better – but at least mending the mess left in the wake of prior expansions lore (Dragonflight included).