Vanilla
Vanilla WoW did not have a clear-cut main story but it did set the premises in which the expansions built on. The story focused on the aftermath of the wars and the forming of the two factions of the game (Alliance & Horde) as a result of these actions. It also highlighted the re-emergence of old enemies such as the old Gods, in which the Alliance and Horde must band together to defeat in order to save Azeroth (the world in which the game is set). Vanilla WoW also gave us players a glimpse of emerging threats such as the Human prince Arthas' turn to the dark side and the possible invasion of demonic forces. Vanilla focused more on setting a theme and a background for future expansions rather than having a main story and villain but the many story arcs still made the original game very rich in terms of lore.
The Burning Crusade (TBC)
Unlike Vanilla WoW, much of the story of the TBC occurs in the world of Outlands, which was once called Draenor and were the homes of the peaceful Orc and Draenei races. The story follows Sargeras, the most powerful being in the Warcraft universe and his personal vendetta against the Draenei. Sargeras then corrupted the Orcs which lived alongside the Draenei with demon blood, causing them to mindlessly slaughter them. Sargeras then creates the Burning Legion, an army of demons, in order to invade Azeroth. We also get to see the former heroes of the Alliance and Horde such as Illidan and Kaelthas become servants of Sargeras and their eventually downfall to the current heroes of Azeroth. Again, the Alliance and the Horde had to come together in order to defeat a common foe.
Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK)
WotLK follows the story arc of Prince Arthas as started in Vanilla WoW. WotLK, similar to TBC, drew its story from the original Warcraft 3 game as well as its expansion, The Frozen Throne. Prince Arthas, being one of the game's iconic characters has had much of his story solidified before even the release of Vanilla WoW. Needless to say, this expansion was highly anticipated and gave conclusion to the story of Arthas and his reign as the Lich King.
The story of this expansion resumes a few years after corruption of Arthas by the cursed sword 'Frostmourne' and his betrayal of his kingdom as well as becoming the leader of scourge army.
It resumes with mysterious boxes of plague and undeath being shipped from an unkown location to all of the major cities of Azeroth, causing many heroes and citizens to become a big undead threat.
The citizens of Azeroth eventually figured of the Lich King's involvement so once again, Azeroth's mightiest journeyed to Northrend where the Lich King resided in an effort to stop him and his scourge army from taking over Azeroth.
Cataclysm
After the defeat of the Lich King, a new threat had emerged. Deathwing, an enormous dragon who had been defeated in Vanilla WoW returns after spending many years healing underground. Now he came back, stronger than before and determined to gain revenge on those who have defeated him in the past. Deathwing, being the leader of his Dragonflight, had many followers, and had many nefarious plans such creating deadly war machines and breeding dragons for Deathwing's cause. Thrall, the leader of the Horde, left to help the adventurers in their quest to defeat the dragon. He left his commander, Garrosh, in charge which will become very relevant in the coming expansion. With the help of Thrall and many other Azeroth heroes, the adventurers are able to foil Deathwing's plans and defeat him once again.
Mists of Pandaria (MoP)
Mists of Pandaria was the fist WoW expansion to feature a standalone story that did not originate from the Warcraft games. This arc of the story starts with the news of a mysterious land and the Alliance and Horde's wish to explore this new continent. Upon arrival, the players discover that the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance have reignited, with both factions recruiting the native Pandaren into their ranks in order to gain an advantage over their enemy. The Alliance and Horde fought over land, resources and ancient artifacts. Their conflict awakened the Sha, evil beings created from the negative emotions of the people in this land. Garrosh intended to destroy the Alliance once and for all and tried to harness the power of the Sha in order to do so. The rest of the Horde sensed that he was being driven mad of power and turned against him. With the help of the Alliance, Garrosh was finally defeated.
Warlords of Draenor (WoD)
Before Garrosh was able to be tried as a war criminal, he was able to escape with the help of his followers and managed to travel back in time in order to escape capture once more. He travelled back to before the events of the Burning Crusade. There, he was able to stop his father and the rest of the Orcs from being corrupted, effectively creating a parallel universe in which the Orcs were not enslaved by demons. These Orcs named themselves the Iron Horde and have become intent on being conquerors rather than slaves. To stop this threat, the heroes of Azeroth must follow Garrosh back in time to stop him once again.
Stay tuned to find out how WoD will end.
As you can probably see, the WoW universe is huge and has expanded a lot since the launch of Vanilla WoW. Check back regularly for more updates on WoW lore and WoW related content.
Albert Lan
No comments:
Post a Comment