Rare Insights into Azeroth's Timeline - Dragonflight Begins 40 Years After Opening of the Dark Portal

Posted 2022/08/20 at 8:00 AM by DiscordianKitty

lengthy reply to a forum post

Blizzard maintains an internal timeline that includes what year each expansion begins.

There is usually 1-2 in-game years between the start of each expansion. While the events of older expansions take place over the course of a single year, more recent ones have been taking place over two years.

Burning Crusade took place in the year 26, or 26 years after the Dark Portal opened.

Mists of Pandaria took place in year 30.

The longer time skip after Shadowlands is to give Azeroth a bit of breathing space, as so many catastrophic events have happened in quick succession since the start of World of Warcraft.

Shadowlands began in year 35, and the events took place over the course of two years.

Dragonflight begins in year 40.

Very little - almost nothing important - has happened during the three years between the end of Shadowlands and the start of Dragonflight, it's a time of rest.

There will be a digital short story about "one particularly joyous occasion".

One motivation for the time skip is to allow younger characters to get older, allowing them to take a larger role in future storylines, while it's still a small enough skip to not have a major impact on older characters.

No major changes to the world have occurred during the time skip, they want players to experience those events ourselves.

The resettlement of Gilneas is specifically mentioned as something we will experience in-game ourselves at some point.

Year

Duration

Expansion

Opening of the Dark Portal

0 - 25

25 years

Events of Warcraft 1, 2, and 3

25 - 26

One year

World of Warcraft

26 - 27

One year

Burning Crusade

27 - 28

One year

Wrath of the Lich King

28 - 30

Two years

Cataclysm

30 - 31

One year

Mists of Pandaria

31 - 32

One year

Warlords of Draenor

32 - 33

One year

Legion (Four years after the end of WotLK)

33 - 35

Two years

Battle for Azeroth (Anduin's age officially stated as 18)

35 - 37

Two Years

Shadowlands

37 - 40

Three Years

Time Skip between Shadowlands and Dragonflight

40+

Unknown

Dragonflight

Warning: Alpha Spoilersdialogue between them

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Comment by Dylanx63It'd be cool to get a timeline of what players do. Like Bfa was two years but what happened when? Was the zone quests like 6 months and the raids 4 or something? Hard to picture the 4th war lasting longer than the legions final invasion.Comment by BethLynn121The resettlement of Gilneas is specifically mentioned as something we will experience in-game ourselves at some point.WILLAs for changes to the world that have been discussed or foreshadowed, such as the resettlement of Gilneas, those will not be happening during the fast-forward. As cool as it is to show locations and populations evolving because of story progression, we want events of this importance to be in-game questing that our players experience for themselves (as with the reclaiming of the Ruins of Lordaeron in the 9.2.5 update) rather than having it happen off-camera.WILL NOTWILLwantWILLComment by XaleaSo three years and still no home for the Night Elves? No Elune-tear-planting? Or is that going to be in the digital short story, perhaps?

Time skips can be very interesting, as long as they don't gloss over too many things. Having to go back and explain/tell can also be a bit boring (as it's telling vs. showing). It could definitely still work, though!Comment by DaJokermanIt's so weird to think that the orcs have only been on Azeroth for 40 years.Comment by LandaiSo three years and still no home for the Night Elves? No Elune-tear-planting? Or is that going to be in the digital short story, perhaps? Comment by EyeeSee? Not that difficult talking to your community, Blizz, huh? Nice one.Comment by BblebubblesOkay so I'll be that guy for a second here:

If Shadowlands took place 35 years after the dark portal, then When the &*!@ did WOD happen since it was suppose to ALSO be 35 years... can argue time travel shinanigans and garry being on draenor for a while after that cutscene but still.Comment by CaeruleI'm not a fan of time skips from a roleplay perspective.

And this one seems a bit useless, as all we're really getting in return for it is justification why two characters (let's face it, it's Lor'themar and Thalyssra), are ready to get married in a story told out of the game.

The main justification would be world progression, but it sounds like that's not going to happen. Gilneas isn't getting reclaimed during it. Tyrande for inexplicable reasons is delaying bringing renewal to her people for 3 years. And we're sadly not getting a world remake (not that that would require a timeskip at this point, given how long ago the last one was).Comment by jnugget173i just wanna know whats going to happen in stormwind with turalyon if i spel;t that right?Comment by Wolfspirit1993So three years and still no home for the Night Elves? No Elune-tear-planting? Or is that going to be in the digital short story, perhaps?

Time skips can be very interesting, as long as they don't gloss over too many things. Having to go back and explain/tell can also be a bit boring (as it's telling vs. showing). It could definitely still work, though!Comment by DeBronkoTimeline is incorect WoW Classic is set 4 years after WC3 so 29 years after the dark portal.Comment by CaeruleOkay so I'll be that guy for a second here:

If Shadowlands took place 35 years after the dark portal, then When the &*!@ did WOD happen since it was suppose to ALSO be 35 years... can argue time travel shinanigans and garry being on draenor for a while after that cutscene but still.Comment by CaeruleTimeline is incorect WoW Classic is set 4 years after WC3 so 29 years after the dark portal.Comment by DropbeatsThe resettlement of Gilneas is specifically mentioned as something we will experience in-game ourselves at some point.Comment by ScythepunkI remember in some of the old installation screen lore-dumps from Wrath of the Lich King mentioning that the timeline from the end of War3:TFT (Arthas ascending the Frozen Throne) to the opening cinematic of Wrath (Awakening and raising Sindragosa) was five years.Comment by Gillik94861. So our characters are in their 50s?

2. There will be a digital short story about "one particularly joyous occasion". Could be new NE home, or Thrall's son becoming Warchief, or the wedding of Lor'themar and Thalyssra.

Honestly, REALLY looking forward to this expansion! They're doing a lot of things that fans have wanted for a long time in one expansion. Hopefully Blizzard continues WoW this way.Comment by ExaltysBlizzard, put more story IN the game please.Comment by 2325093Well, I don't know.
Retrospectively applying the concept of an overarching, numerically dated timeline to the history of WoW seems very inappropriate to me at this point. Most of their story episodes culminate in dungeons or raids which we replay ad nauseam with a big wink, as if each replay was the first and only time something happened. And that should now suddenly be part of a numbered chronology?

Kind of reminds me of that part of the Zelda community that, despite all logical contradictions, tries desperately to force every reimagination of the always same game plot into a large, linear sequence that only serves the end in itself of a senseless concept of order.Comment by kragragh“There is usually 1-2 in-game years between the start of each expansion.”

This sentence doesn’t mean what you think it means.Comment by PleegWatTimeline is incorect WoW Classic is set 4 years after WC3 so 29 years after the dark portal.

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