The Question of Draenic Isolation

For the lore-invested, Warlords of Draenor has one deep, central question: What hath Garrosh and Kairoz wrought?

The Simple Answer:

The motivation for this expansion was always to bring back the big names of the Old Horde. Garrosh was always meant to have ascended to Warchief, proven to be a disastrous leader (for all his success in expanding Horde territory, he turned it into a totalitarian police state,) and taken down by the heroes of Azeroth. Garrosh would then create a kind of rival Horde. For a time, they actually considered having him rally the common Azerothian humanoid species not already involved in one faction or the other. Then Blizzard decided that didn't really jive with Garrosh's Orc-supremacist ideology, and they considered having him raise the Warlords of the Old Horde from the dead, but given that this seemed a little necromancy-ish, and thus seemed like it would make this into a Wrath 2.0 kind of expansion instead of a "rawr, Orcs" expansion, they decided that they wanted to avoid necromancy. Certainly, Garrosh is unafraid to use forbidden magic, but necromancy cuts a little close to demonic magic, which is the one place he really draws the line.

So the whole time-travel narrative of Warlords of Draenor was really meant to serve the purpose of an Old Horde expansion, with a few fun benefits along the way, like seeing a radically different version of Outland (but not replacing the Old, Cataclysm style) and, to the great joy of many on team blue, a chance to finally put the bluest of the Alliance races center-stage and flesh out Draenei history.

So the simple answer basically accepts that the time-travel plot is just a means to an end. We're not getting into science fiction territory here. Instead we're just seeing a kind of flashback (admittedly, with a Sci-Fi-style alternate universe.)

And rather than having us make contact with a world where Garrosh is an old man and the Iron Horde has took over Draenor 30-40 years ago, we're finding a universe that is out of synch with our own, because those famous Orcs were the whole reason for the expansion.

If the simple answer is what we're getting, then it suggests that whether or not there is anything to this alternate universe outside of Draenor is pretty irrelevant, because we're just going to focus on Draenor itself. It suggests a straightforward expansion where we pretty much just fight the Iron Horde and perhaps some of the other inhabitants of Draenor, and the expansion ends with us taking down their Warchief (Grommash Hellscream, most likely.)

The Complex Answer:

I know there are some who are looking for a simple and straightforward story, but I for one would be disappointed if this is entirely where things were left off. For one, it suggests more of the same, given that 5.1, 5.3, and 5.4 were all fairly focused on the Horde (ok, 5.1 did give the Alliance some interesting, somewhat pro-active stuff, like the Purge of Dalaran.) But even beyond that, I'm someone who has always been fascinated with time travel and the consequences that can be born from it.

Certainly, it's something you want to tread lightly in. And no matter what kind of time travel rules you choose, someone will object (Back to the Future rules seem arbitrary when you look too closely at them while Twelve Monkeys rules rigidly invalidate free will.) Blizzard has a great sense of tone and a wonderful imagination for world, but when it comes to these complex speculative fiction ideas, they sometimes fall a little flat (much as I love the Scourge as enemies, I'm not sure in what way Arthas was "holding them back" enough to necessitate a successor Lich King, and don't get me started on how the Aspects were created to stop an Aspect that would crazy and tried to destroy the world.)

But the existence of an alternate universe Draenor really fires up the imagination. Ought there not to be an alternate Azeroth, then? Or an alternate Burning Legion? We know that Garrosh arrives just in time to stop his father from drinking the Blood of Mannoroth, which means that Kil'jaeden already contacted Ner'zhul and Gul'dan, and obviously Gul'dan already made his deal to get Mannoroth's blood.

The Burning Legion, admittedly, I could imagine being somehow outside these alternate timelines, as they are demons, and the Twisting Nether, as a magical and chaotic realm might be outside the normal flow of time. But if we are to understand that Draenor really is another planet in the same universe as Azeroth (and that's not a guarantee, as Blizzard has said time and again that the Dark Portal is a dimensional one, and that Tempest Keep is a dimensional ship,) then an alternate Draenor seems to require that there be an alternate Azeroth.

And alternate Azeroth would have a still-Sargeras-possessed Medivh.

Or, potentially, this Draenor isn't really real in the sense that our familiar Azeroth and Outland are. While it looks like it's your standard science fiction "time travel creating alternate universes/timelines," perhaps instead it's a kind of time-echo, created by Kairoz' unleashed powers. Indeed, that would seem to vindicate Nozdormu and Aman'thul, as the latter had instructed the former that there was only one true timeline that had to be protected, and that these alternate versions were truly malicious imposter universes, and not living, vibrant universes in their own right.

Which Answer Do You Choose?

The Simple Answer is a far safer way for Blizzard to proceed. They have shown themselves capable of telling good, exciting adventure stories where the brave heroes of Azeroth face off against an enemy army. If the Simple Answer is what they go with, then that's all the expansion will be. But is that a story that's worth telling? Granted, if you can mine some thematic resonance or well-constructed characters out of a simple story, you're succeeding. But if you keep things simple just for the sake of making it an easier story to tell, well, then that's a bit disappointing.

If they go with the Complex Answer, there's a good chance that the expansion will be absolutely bananas, and confusing and weird and possibly very broken. Yet I, for one, love that kind of story. A polished and clear story has its merits, but an ambitious catastrophe is also an admirable and enjoyable event to behold.

I'm not worried too much about the gameplay. Sure, I wish every expansion came with a new class, but the WoW formula works, and it'll be fine as long as they can keep the content fresh and balanced (more dungeons! More dungeons I say!) But with the story, I think that this is a game that can definitely afford to get really crazy, and I hope that they do.