World of Warcraft: Battle for Azerothhas arrived, and with it a celebration of the Alliance vs.
Horde conflict that has anchored the most popular MMORPG in the world for the last decade and change.
What an excellent time to look back at the best story-based moments in the history ofWorld of Warcraft.
Its important to note that the terms story and lore are related but not inherently the same thing.
Events that have happened in pastWarcraftgames/novels, etc.
In the Death Knight starting area, he made an appearance.
We even saw Arthas younger, Paladin self in the Culling of Stratholme.
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His self-proclaimed lordship is explored while questing in Shadowmoon Valley and hinted at throughout many ofTBCs original dungeons.
Some of the final SMV quests remain the coolest and most challenging quests in all ofTBC.
Theres a reason you still hear people make You are not prepared jokes.
Illidan was all sorts of bad ass (though we certainly havent seen the last of him!).
The Adventures of Brann and the Hype of Ulduar
Ah, Ulduar.
The ramblings arent untrue.
Ulduar is still one of the top three raid instances Blizzard ever created.
In fact, it just might be the best.
The lore behind the raid and the story behind the Titans are big reasons why Ulduar was so awesome.
The strong quest buildup in the Storm Peaks and Halls of Stone/Halls of Lightning certainly helped, too.
Brann Bronzebeards appearance in Ulduar and throughout Northrend also helped make the raids story fantastic.
Never change, Dwarves.
Youre just that awesome.
As a strategic leader, hell often appear for a bit, be a hero, and disappear again.
We found out more about his origins duringTBC.
InWotLK, Thrall and Garrosh express their differences of opinion in regards to actions taken during Wrathgate.
And then, inCataclysm, we saw a lot more of his story.
Thrall is shown in a human-like, genuine light that we dont often see.
For the first time, Thrall truly wonders if the Horde faction should be better united or splintered apart.
After all the pondering Thrall did, it was time for action.
Players are heroes, but so are characters like Thrall who weve come to know and love.
Among those quests, the Legend of Stalvan questline was one of the best.
Since our characters are time travelers, we ironically knew that the city fell regardless of his best efforts.
We also knew that Arthas ended up becoming quite cozy with the Scourge.
Ah, time travel.
Why must you be so awesomely tragic at times?
The Rise of Deathwing
Deathwing the Destroyer was the entire reasonCataclysmhappened.
His devastation was seen everywhere across Azeroth and still is to this day.
OnceCataclysmhit, Deathwings efforts increased.
We also saw a nice story moment in the Badlands quest revamp.
Deathwing had been lurking in Deepholm during that time, awaiting histurn to charbroil bits of Azeroth into lava.
The Pandaren vs.
It makes for a solid departure from mostWoWstorylines while still remaining interesting.
Theres also no forgetting this gorgeous gem.
One day, well see more of the Undeads story.
Or so we hope, anyway.
Kaelthas Sunstriders story is central to the Blood Elves, and was a large part ofThe Burning Crusade.
Along with Illidan, Kaelthas is aTBCfan favorite for a reason.
His maniac, uh, charm (sure, well go with that) was also amusing to witness.
No one can say poor Kaelthas didnt believe in what he was fighting for.
Finally, as part ofCataclysms pre-expansion event, we saw part of both those stories.
Meanwhile, Voljin and the Darkspear tribe launched an attack against Zalazane to retake Echo Isles.
They often bring story to the forefront in a manner that isnt seen in most areas of the game.
Another great moment in starting area storytelling is seen inMists of Pandarias Pandaren starting area.
It also helps that the starting areas musicand much of the music throughoutMists of Pandariais also quite gorgeous.
The story behind each of them wasnt too shabby, either.
The tone fit extremely well, matching wonderfully with the atmosphere of both raids.
It was during this time that the raid was revamped into a 5-man dungeon.
The first time Nightbane was summoned in a group was always kind of epic.
The myriad of stories currently present inside the strange, whimsical caves of Caverns of Time are no exception.
If I were to ever make a theme park, itd probably look a lot like CoT.
Minus the escort quest-obsessed NPCs.
Yrel starts out a simple paladin looking to help her people, and eventually becomes Exarch.
She gains an incredible amount of confidence throughout her journey, too.
In essence, her story is rather simple, but its executed quite beautifully.
The voice acting and ambience during the starting experience are top notch.
Its really a shame we havent seen a lot of Gilnean-inspired architecture throughout the later expansions.
Its just plain gorgeous.
Were confronted with the existence of Malygos early on while leveling in Coldarra.
The Nexus and the Oculus continue the story as players ready themselves to take on the Spellweaver himself.
What makes Malygos character so interesting is the fact that he isnt your typical, 100% evil dragon.
The Dragonflight, while an ancient race, are not seemingly above making mistakes.
There was an aura of mystery surrounding the area unlike anything previously seen in the game.
Classic Alliance vs.
Both areas received new quests and quest hubs which go into the war efforts in detail.
These two zones help solidify the classic Horde vs. Alliance theme quite adequately.
Strong storytelling can generally be found and supported in the smaller details, after all.
This article was originally published on March 7, 2016.
