Originally published on Aug 5th, 2015, by Flavia ‘Eikani’ Alves. Hope you like it, Jonathan

After the Activision-Blizzard earnings was released and showed a considerable drop in WoW subscribers I started thinking: what went wrong with Warlords of Draenor? I’m not happy at all to say this, and say it with a heavy heart – I’ve never seen so many people saying that are not happy with the expansion or that they see no reason to play as I see now, in the expansion that had everything to return WoW to its days of greatest glory.

The expansion was announced with a huge hype, with a plot that could be a complete disaster or a huge success and the promise of the best gameplay of all times. At first, all expectations were met: the wonderful maps, a feeling of nostalgia and new things in Draenor, which was magnificently built on Outland but without being a blatant copy of the Burning Crusade world, the best leveling experience I’ve ever seen in the game. The story developed well up to level 100, and then … nothing. A huge. pile. of. nothing.

Ok, let’s not be unfair: there were many attempts. The garrison, the treasures scattered throughout the continent, several achievements on all maps, a lot of details to be explored, amazing raids, a great concept of PvP map … while some of those attempts were beautifully executed and successful, others didn’t work so well. Ashran had a HUGE potential as an open map, but they put a queue transforming it into a BG, when it was not meant to be a BG. I could go on and point several mistakes and how they could have been successes, but for me, what went wrong in the expansion was not practical. It was not a queue, a mechanical detail or too many menus. It was love that was missing.

Love, Eikani? Are you crazy?

No, guys. You know, everyone has a reason to want to log in every day, and my reason has always been love. Love for my character, love for Azeroth and the Warcraft universe, love for the relationships built in that world, with other players and with NPCs. Thinking today I realized that I did not fall madly in love for any story, or any character in this expansion. Nothing struck me, there is no story that makes me smile when I remember, and not a single NPC called my attention enough to be remembered. Durotan, Draka, Yrel and Maraad had a nice story? Yes, but it was so long ago, and we haven’t seen them in months, so it looks like they were never there. Garrison NPCs? Were cool at first, now they don’t make any difference. And this feeling only gets worse when I think of how this dynamic was different in other expansions.

As an example, let’s talk about Mists of Pandaria? The infamous Mists of Pandaria? When I think about MoP, I remember every story of each map. Even more: I remember the emotions I felt completing my missions, and how cool it was to always see them again, as we had to travel across the continent throughout the expansion. I remember every panda in Half Hill, each one with its own personality and unique stories, I remember the favorite gift of every farm friend and why that specific item was their favorite, the determination of each Shado-Pan, the Hozen kite-driver that looked like a fool but knew everything that was going on and told us everything he saw in the Patch 5.1 lore missions, the shock of  the Klaxxi becoming our enemies after all we did for them, and how everything and everyone seemed incredibly connected and dependent, and at the same time, unique, amazing and strong. We had a story. We had depth. We had a living, dynamic world that made us feel part of everything. I remember that same feeling of being in the world in Cataclysm, in WotLK in BC … and although in Draenor I’m called Commander and have a crowd of followers saluting me, there is no identification. There is no sense of belonging. There is no love.

This brings me to what I expect to see in tomorrow’s announcement: love. Love for the game, the game’s story (both in terms of lore and the game’s legacy), the community, the characters, the players. Love translated into ‘we hear you, we learned from what went wrong, we understand’. I really think game developers are so passionate about it as we are, and like us, want to feel happy while playing as much as when they are creating stories and features. I want to wanto to log in every day, eager to see new stories, see my friends, learn more about the world that I love so much. Who’s with me?