I remember my days in World of Warcraft fondly. Even years later the nostalgia whenever WOW is mentioned hits home with a flood of memories. The raids, the dungeons, meetings friends online, and then inevitably arguing whether horde or alliance is supreme. If your answer to that is anything but horde then I’m sorry to say but you’re wrong. WOW is a game that I still talk about to this very day, the lore managed to capture my heart and even though it’s been years since I’ve paid for a subscription, I still find myself comparing other games to it. We as gamers often find ourselves talking about ‘the game’, the one that truly solidified the video game experience for us, one that we inevitably cherish no matter the year. World of Warcraft is that game for me and as a self-proclaimed Massive multiplayer online lover, it has set an incredible bar for all MMOs in my eyes.

In World of Warcraft’s latest cinematic trailer, we are treated to five minutes of pure excitement fueled buildup. The latest expansion to drop being Shadowlands takes us back to WOWs previous expansion Wrath of the Lich King. In the trailer, we see the mischievous villain, Sylvanas Windrunner
battle against the legendary Lich King, with Bolvar Fordragon currently holding the icy throne. The battle goes back and forth, however, Sylvana seems to hold all the power. Her crafted bone bow quickly shuts down Bolvar and the hordes’ new war chief makes a surprising move. Sylvanas claims ‘this world is a prison’ after Bolvar warns her that the power of the crown will be her prison. Instead of taking the Helm of domination for herself, which would thus grant her the ability to control the undead and command the throne she rips it apart with her bare hands. Shocking I know. What does this mean though? Well, it means that Sylvanas has just shattered the veiled wall between the land of the living and the shadowlands, the alternate dimension where all things end up when they die. In the trailer we can see the nightmarish land while Sylvanas claims she will set us all free, who she means exactly is questionable but nonetheless, it leads for an exciting expansion. I’ll admit I did not see this coming. Through World of Warcraft history players have experienced the shadowlands before, running through the incredibly creepy area in hopes of returning to not only your body but also the safety of Azeroth once your character has died. This act brought on by Sylvanas has undoubtedly caused the dead to begin their raid on Azeroth and in turn the players needing to stop it.

In short, Azeroth is now in troubling times and the helm of domination is no longer. The Lich King is history and life and death have met chaotically. The question is what lies on the other side and how can we restore the natural balance?