Summary
World of Warcraftwas considered the definitive king of the MMO genre for decades. In recent years, however, the long-running game has faced stiff competition in the genre from games likeOld SchoolRuneScape,Final Fantasy 14, and more. This pressure from competitors has driven Blizzard to try new things with content for the game and has increased the importance of content releases and events. The most recent in-game event was Secrets of Azeroth, in which players were drip-fed one clue daily for three weeks as they attempted to solve a crime. The quest is still available in the retail version ofWorld of Warcraft, but now that its roll-out is complete, the developer needs to learn from it for its next events.
In-game events are an important part of any good MMO, andWorld of Warcraftis no different.WoWhas some ofthe best in-game holidaysin the medium, featuring special bosses, items, activities, and more, typically only available for a limited time. This use of limited-time events drives players to the game during their windows of availability and keeps players coming back over a long period of time. Secrets of Azeroth is unlike otherWorld of Warcraftevents because it used a similar model to roll out a piece of evergreen content, meaning that the questline will remain available for the foreseeable future.
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Secrets of Azeroth Has Something for Everyone
Secrets of Azerothhas a little something for everybody. For players who needed a reason to log in every day for a little while, the game introduced new clues every 24 hours. These clues were, and still are, retroactively available, meaning that those in less of a rush were never punished for missing a day. On top of this, the event focused on a mystery where players had to get to the bottom of a series of artifact thefts, meaning that those playing it in real time got to be a part of the community’s journey to uncover the criminal together. The event provided an engaging story with community driven aspects to keep fans involved.
On top of an excellent structure that kept players logging in to follow the story,Secrets of Azeroth permanently alteredWoW’s worldand has fantastic rewards that incentivize the participation of players who aren’t invested in lore. These items included the Titan Key weapon transmog, the Sherlock Holmes-esque Deerstalker Hat transmog, and the Pattie the Alpaca mount, among other rewards. These rewards are still available, like the quest line, meaning that on top of having an engaging multi-week event, players who missed it are simply getting more content. The evergreen nature of the event means it provides permanent value for the player base.
World of Warcraft Needs More Unique Events
World of Warcraft’s developers have alluded to wanting to do more content like Secrets of Azeroth. While this would be a strong move in and of itself, simply copying the event again wouldn’t really have the same impact. Secrets of Azeroth worked because it was unique and had something for every type of fan. The story was engaging, there were some lore changes for the world, and there were plenty of cool cosmetics to unlock. While another crime caper might not have the same impact, rolling out a story slowly over weeks landed well with fans, and provided the same effort was put into rewards and storytelling again, the format could prove strong forWoW’s developersto utilize again.
While Secrets of Azeroth was overall a success, and its existence as evergreen content is a boon to the game, Blizzard should experiment with having certain aspects of similar events in the future be more time-restricted. It wouldn’t need to be much, butActivision Blizzardwould be wise to reward players for playing it as it comes out and logging in daily. Another twist on the formula could be doing a slower roll-out, telling a story over months instead of weeks.World of Warcraft’s Secrets of Azeroth event has shown that experimenting with new event structures can be rewarding for the game, and already the team has struck gold.
