(6.X Spoilers/Theory) Future WOL Content - Everything’s Coming Up…

[Shookbeast]

Why would we even want to collect them all though?

I’m not sure, but I imagine the writers have some compelling ideas (:

My suspicion is that each shard we collect is gonna be sort of through happenstance. I don’t think it’s our personal want (as players or characters) to collect shards - but more a “story want” that the writers are pointing toward. In order to get us to a final destination where we eventually become Azem, our character will need to pick up and absorb the Azem shards. The Azem shards (and shards in general) were only introduced as a mechanic because there is intent to use them later on in gameplay. Otherwise why even make “shards” the high concept for your story? They’re in the story because we’ll use them at some point.

The planetary shards seem most likely to be used for expansion/gameplay mechanics. The writers can use them to make up new environments and tell stories about new characters.

The Azem shards (and on a grander level, any people shards) are placed there by the writers to collect. No other reason to introduce them in a story. They’re “Chekhov’s shards.” We’re likely gonna do something with them at some point.

If the writers end up deciding not to go down the route of “we’re Azem because time travel reasons” then I could see the shards of Azem being used more like Ardbert - as a contrast to our character. We’ll meet other people in future expansions who are both likes us, and not us.

But if the true endgame really is that “we are the actual Azem but just don’t know it yet (because time travel)” then it seems very likely we’ve got a lot of shard collecting to get done (but honestly, not that much).