World of Warcraftis closing in slowly but surely on the release date of its eighth major expansion. TheShadowlandsexpansion release window was confirmedto come to PC sometime this fall.
While the wait forShadowlandscontinues, Blizzard is still releasing material surroundingWorld of Warcraft. In fact, a recent novel set in theWorld of Warcraftuniverse, titledShadows Rising, recently made a popular community meme canon.
RELATED:World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Making Big Change to Character Customization
With Blizzard maintaining the hype surroundingWorld of Warcraft’s eighth expansion, fans are eager to see whatShadowlandshas to offer. Arecent developer update forShadowlandsdetailed tons of new content and changes coming toWorld of WarcraftwithShadowlands, including what the collector’s edition will look like for those interested. Players still experiencingBattle for Azeroth’s content are no doubt looking forward to all the fresh content coming with this next expansion.
ThoughBattle of Azerothwas well-receivedforWorld of Warcraft, the content is naturally starting to get a bit stale. However, one character who captured fans' hearts in one of the early cinematic trailers forBattle of Azerothis certainly not getting stale in the minds of community members. Zekhan, a jungle troll shaman who was originally called ‘Zappy Boi’ by theWorld of Warcraftcommunity, has had a monumental rise to fame. Now, his community-given nickname was canonically used to refer to him in a recentWorld of Warcraftnovel.
Anyone who has been around the internet for a while knows the power that memes hold nowadays. A recent example of this is through a recent EA announcement, wherememes essentially helped make Skate 4 a reality. Blizzard apparently wasn’t initially aware of the community’s infatuation with Zekhan but slowly understood that this ‘Zappy Boi’ had stolen the hearts and minds of many players. Since then, Blizzard has continued to build up Zekhan’s ‘Zappy Boi’ moniker canonically in subtle ways, like in-game voice lines.
The community surrounding Blizzard’s many games is passionate to say the least. However, Blizzard has recently had a spotty relationship with many members of its own community and many other members of the gaming industry. Many fans still haven’t forgotten about the company’s controversial handling of Blitzchung’s ban. This was made abundantly clear followingBlizzard voicing support for the BLM movement, which many fans felt rang hollow.
