World of Warcraft: Forever has strong potential as a Classic+ to introduce stories from canon source material (novels and graphic novels) that can serve as the framework for epic multi-stage campaign arcs in Year One.
Vanilla WoW launched in 2004, but in 2006, Keith R.A. DeCandido wrote a novel titled World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred. The novel took place one year before Vanilla World of Warcraft. So sadly, we missed the wagon to tell that story in-game.
That doesn’t mean the narrative developers can’t squeeze some lemons to juice up Vanilla WoW’s story as a continuation, and maybe we get some of the book’s storytelling in-game, through in-game books, letters, or reliving events through other characters’ eyes as they tell us the story.
Some WoW Retail quests let you play as an NPC as they tell you a story from their past.
In Cycle of Hatred, the protagonists are Jaina and Thrall. This novel is relevant because it explains how Jaina tracked Aegwynn to a secluded hut in Durotar. Aegwynn revealed she was behind Medivh’s resurrection. For years, it had been a mystery how Medivh turned up alive in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.
Medivh died in the Warcraft: Orcs and Humans video game and, in more detail, in the novel by Jeff Grubb — Warcraft: The Last Guardian.
Unless history changes drastically in World of Warcraft: Forever, we won’t be seeing Khadgar, Turalyon, or Alleria for a long time. Rhonin, Krasus, Aegwynn, and even Medivh could play a role in shaping the future of World of Warcraft: Forever, aiming the heroes at future threats to Azeroth.
Another potential story that might show up in future content… “Have you seen my father?”
Anduin Wrynn is merely a child King. In Year One, King Varian Wrynn was missing. You will learn more about that in the Dustwallow Marsh storyline: “The Missing Diplomat.”
There was something that wasn’t fully addressed in Vanilla WoW. The transition between finding Varian in a cell and him returning as King of Stormwind never happened in-game.
That missing link of the story happened in the DC Comics World of Warcraft comic book.
It would be terrific if the narrative developers fleshed out most of what happened in the comic as a multi-layered quest campaign, or even separate questlines leading up to a conclusion in World of Warcraft: Forever.
Varian Wrynn appeared in Vanilla WoW during the Dustwallow Marsh questline, but we didn’t really see him transition back as the King of Stormwind until the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in 2008.
If history is truly happening differently in World of Warcraft: Forever, we should see King Varian in his journey as Lo’gosh, either as Alliance or Horde players, and eventually return to Stormwind.
As a matter of fact… in the comics, Varian Wrynn was present during the Onyxia Lair raid. It would be a perfect opportunity to introduce an immersive and epic storyline following Varian Wrynn’s journey as a character up to the Onyxia raid, and later returning to Stormwind proper as the King. Otherwise, damn. Such a missed opportunity.
