Warlords Of Draenor is a potent reminder that Blizzard Entertainment is capable of more than resting on its irrefutable reputation. After a decade of developing World Of Warcraft, it would have been all too easy for the studio to simply churn out a sixth expansion. Admittedly, that wasn’t outside of the realms of possibility: after the massive innovations introduced through 2007’s The Burning Crusade and 2008’s Wrath Of The Lich King, Blizzard seemed to settle into a steady – if unpredictable – rhythm. A solid, but by no means revolutionary, expansion would arrive like clockwork every two years – with 2012’s Mists Of Pandaria lackluster content and simplified mechanics offering the biggest hint that the studio might be beginning to wind World Of Warcraft down.
But Warlords Of Draenor is a grand statement of intent. Blizzard has reemerged as the king of a genre it never really lost control of. It has combined the raw ambition we first saw back in The Burning Crusade and matured it with seven years of skill, refinement and genre expertise. It’s feels like the first major leap forward for World Of Warcraft since the Lich King was brought to his knees. The core gameplay has been tweaked in brilliantly subtle ways, the nostalgia-fuelled plot is one of the strongest we’ve seen to date, and it’s clear Blizzard has been paying close enough attention to its competitors to prove it can still do MMOs better than anyone else.
That ‘nostalgia-fuelled’ narrative is one of the biggest appeals of Warlords Of Draenor, in fact story plays a bigger part here than it has done in any previous expansion. It pays homage not only to the developments of World Of Warcraft’s ten-year epic storyline, but also to the franchise’s 20-year legacy. Garrosh Hellscream, fresh from his defeat during Mists Of Pandaria, travels back through time to the orc homeworld of Draenor – and while it’s unashamedly silly, seeing Garrosh take control of the orc invasion that started the entire Warcraft timeline back in 1994 is pretty awe-inspiring.
It feels epic, with long quest lines book-ended by beautiful cutscenes like never before. These brief moments of respite from Warlords’ breakneck pace do a wonderful job of keeping you engaged with the story – especially if you’re one of the many quest-text-adverse players. It was an important step, because newbie players could quite easily feel lost under two decades of characters, faction rivalries and storylines – instead, the cutscenes make it easy to understand and follow. In fact, for the first time in seven years questing doesn’t feel like it’s been designed to manage your levelling progress. Your journey from level 90-100 has a real sense of progression that appeals to every player – not just the lore junkies and RP-server fanatics.
Despite being one of Warlords’ most appealing features, the narrative isn’t this expansion’s massive innovation. That praise goes to the five wonderful zones you’ll find yourself adventuring through. In many ways, we can see the evolution of Mists’ 2013 Timeless Isle update pervading through every aspect of Warlords. To recap: Timeless Isles was designed to quickly get new players’ Raid level gear to catch up with the final push of content, and it did it without forcing players to desperately seek out golden exclamation points. By setting aside questing and dailies, and by focusing on players working together in the world – hunting for treasures and fighting powerful monsters for lucrative loot – World Of Warcraft felt like it had the potential to feel fresh again.
Draenor runs wild with this, and is suitably full of distractions. The Timeless Isle concept has been blown out across all of its zones, ensuring you’re never far from something to do. The focused quest lines will keep you on the right path, but it’s those who still remember – and desperately miss – the thrill of exploration from the vanilla days that will take the most enjoyment away from this expansion. Bonus quests, rare enemies, hidden hubs and plenty more, Blizzard has finally motivated the player to actually adventure through its expansions, instead of racing toward the finish line. The expansion to questing and its pacing mean there’s real pleasure to be taken from exploring every inch of the zones.
The focus on exploration continues still, with the addition of Warlords’ other major appeal – Garrisons. This expansion finally promotes you from Azeroth grunt to titan of the universe. You’re no longer doing inane footwork for idiot NPCs; now you’re given respect for your numerous victories throughout the expansions as you’re awarded control of your faction’s main Garrison. It acts as the home for the expansion, as well as a functioning base of operations. You’ll procure a handful of followers throughout your journey and send them out on specific missions for you – or have them join you in the field as bodyguards.
All your hard work questing and exploring will grant you Resources, which can in turn be used to construct useful buildings and Garrison upgrades. These can be tailored to your own character’s particular skills and interests – with the Tavern offering daily Dungeon quests, or the Stable, which offers various bonuses to mounts. It’s incredibly simple, but immensely effective. You’ll be returning to your Garrison well after you’ve hit level 100 to send your followers out on new missions and upgrading their levels and items.
Warlords is the ultimate celebration of the Warcraft franchise’s 20-year legacy and World Of Warcraft’s seemingly unending potential. Some of its mechanics are starting to creak under a decade-old design, but it shows no signs of withering against the tides of time.
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