Will Any MMORPG Narrative Build Up Be Better Than The Fight With Warcraft's Lich King?

I am all about story in MMORPGs. F2P or not, subscription or not, box fee or not...none of it matters to me. If I think I'm going to like the story, I will give a game a whirl even if it looks like it may not offer my favorite combat system or it offers other features I'm skeptical of before launch. Narrative above all else for me. MMOs like Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, and The Elder Scrolls Online get a leg up in my book simply because of their extended history of compelling narratives in multiplayer and single player titles.

While I personally lean more towards the Final Fantasy side of all of those fences, I still look back at one particular narrative moment as the "best" MMOs have ever offered. In fact, I wonder if it will ever be surpassed in the future.

I played quite a bit of Warcraft and Warcraft II back in the day. However, I was an online PvP player against friends. I never played through the narrative at the time. Years later, I did go back and do so, but by that time I was already well passed the launch of World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion back in 2008.

I point that out so that you won't just think I was a crazy Warcraft fan excited to see how a story I already knew would be told in MMO form. Quite the opposite, actually. I had no clue what the story of Arthas was, didn't know he was the Lich King, and couldn't tell you what the hell an "Icecrown Citadel" was back then. That's what makes the full delivery of Blizzard's MMO expansion kind of amazing to me.

Wrath of the Lich King is probably the expansion most WoW players associate with the "gold old days" of the MMO and it's easy to see why. Long-time fans got a story they couldn't wait to see, but those of us that didn't know the story were treated to probably some of the best narrative designs in the genre. Don't get me wrong, the expansion had its downsides. Instancing of zones wasn't that great, some of the lesser dungeons (i.e. those not directly involved with the Lich King's story) were a bit dull, and the level grind maybe had a few spots where things dragged. That aside, moving from cutscene to cutscene I was enthralled.

Seeing the Battle of the Wrathgate and the Lich King almost dying (see, he has weaknesses!), moving through Icecrown hot on the heels of Arthas, and finally fighting my way into Icecrown Citadel itself was amazing. Waiting for the raid itself to open up was incredible. I couldn't wait to see what was inside. My favorite raid in WoW up to then (and still to this day) was Karazhan. Could ICC beat it? For many it did. ICC falls just shy for me mainly due to preferring the atmosphere of one over the other. That said, ICC certainly has a better story and a far more satisfying end to the raid.

And this all says nothing about the backstory for the sword Frostmourne, either...or the arrival of Naxxramas again!

Final Fantasy certainly has its story beats. Don't get me wrong there. However, I wonder if any MMO story could ever be as anticipated again. I don't think so. First, times have simply changed too dramatically. We aren't in the age of there only being a few MMOs out there and WoW having double digit millions of players. Second, I think setting the stage like Lich King did requires a known IP to a certain degree. It's unlikely you'd get the buzz needed for an unknown IP.

Hell, even LOTRO's Mordor expansion didn't feel juiced to the max, and I don't know if a "known IP's big moment" gets bigger than that one.

Third, I think modern MMO design actually prohibits this. It is hard to have time to "build up" anticipation without most players being upset about the amount of time between patches. Today, if your next update takes too long, there's other MMOs worth going to play...and players will do exactly that.

I doubt I'll ever have an experience quite like that again, and I'm glad I did have it at all. I have very fond memories of some Final Fantasy XI moments, but no "baddie" was ever really anticipated by me...even in my favorite MMO of all time.

Is it just my personal preference shining through, or am I dead on? Let me know if there's another moment you think rivals the Lich King's ultimate demise in an MMO.