New world bosses fromWorld of Warcraft’snewest content have a bizarre connection toShadowlands. A line of dialogue spoken after these newWorld of Warcraftenemies are defeated left many fans annoyed and confused.World of Warcraftrecently releasedEmbers of Neltharion, its biggest content patch inDragonflightyet. The update introduced new chapters of the story campaign, the Aberrus raid, andevents forWorld of Warcraftplayers to complete, including the Zaqali Elders, a pair of world bosses located in the Zaralek Cavern zone.RELATED:World of Warcraft Fans Have Concerns Over Lifted Race Restriction for WarlocksThe Zaqali Elders encounter includes Gholna and Vakan, two ancient Djaradin warlords who have recently escaped imprisonment thatWorld of Warcraftplayers must contend with simultaneously. However, once both are defeated, Vakan’s last words claim he sees a “Shadowlands Arena.” This overt reference toWorld of Warcraft: Shadowlandsleft many fans scratching their headsand palming their faces.
Those familiar withWorld of Warcraft’sprevious expansion would immediately connect said arena with the Theater of Pain, the massive colosseum in the center of Maldraxxus,one of the four main realms of the Shadowlands. The arena was the location of a dungeon inShadowlands, and a venue where players could face several other world bosses during the expansion. That said, it is also located in the afterlife of theWorld of Warcraftuniverse – a place the Djaradin would know little of, even ones as old and powerful as the Zaqali Elders.
Fans were not impressed by the clumsy reference toShadowlands. One of thebiggest criticisms ofShadowlandsis that it demystified the magical setting ofWorld of Warcraft, and this attempt to keep the unpopular expansion relevant was overly blunt. Others pointed out the reference didn’t even fit into the lore ofShadowlands, considering souls are supposed to go to Oribos first, so seeing Maldraxxus beforehand shouldn’t be possible. Either way, most fans would preferShadowlandsto be forgotten, ignored, or even retconned out of existence.
Other players suggested less-drastic measures to make the reference fit intoWorld of Warcraftmore smoothly. One fan suggested Blizzard change the line to reference an “eternal arena” or an “endless battlefield” instead, which would keep the reference to theShadowlands,but make it less overt and jarring. Unfortunately,World of Warcraftprobably won’t end up changing this line of dialogue in the future, and almost certainly won’t retcon theShadowlandsexpansion itself. Hopefully, future callbacks to thecontroversial era ofWorld of Warcraftare done with more grace than the Zaqali Elders.
