I don’t even necessarily need brand new writers in the room. I just want them to read a book.
Like, literally, any book.
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Oh, yeah, you’re right. It was the Flintlocke guy. Kosak? Now I can’t remember exactly but I know it was similar to Kotick, hence my mix-up.
The writers are fine. The devs need to let them handle the writing.
Kosak is the guy that ruined Cataclysm.
Kotick is the guy that fired 800 employees.
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Did they ever release hard numbers of how many of that 800 were from Blizzard? I can’t seem to get any consistent answer.
as much as danuser has been a sylvia fanboy this expac at the very least the alliance has actually been present and mattered at least somewhat in bofa, whereas in cata and mop it was just a convenient enemy to slaughter before being reduced to the absolute bare minimum presence in the narrative they could get away with
remember when kosak actually did an article on faction bias that functionally told alliance players to shut up and be grateful theyre allowed to play at all?
“Yeah, the Alliance has had it bad in Cataclysms storytelling, but have you considered TAURAJO???”
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They’ve been more present than they were in Cataclysm or MoP, but it’s still not enough, I think.
Like, the one big win was the victory over Rastakhan, which is…okay, I guess? But it still shows the problem with the writing: when the Horde attacks the Alliance, the Horde goes straight for the jugular. When the Alliance attacks the Horde, they kind of just punch the wall next to the Horde and hope that spooks them.
The Horde burned down Theramore and destroyed the Vale. The Alliance played with a robot cat that was somehow a victory?
The Horde destroyed Teldrassil. The Alliance killed a guy that kind of knew the Horde a little.
The Horde embarked on a mass slaughter of innocents across three continents. The Alliance let Saurfang go so that he could handle it.
I mean, sometimes it works, but it’s never really satisfying. It still makes the Alliance seem like they’re not really in the war and are just sort of waiting around for the Horde to self-destruct. Which is basically the case.
The problem has never been that the Horde is written great and the Alliance isn’t, it’s that there’s a huge gulf between the amount of attention they get.
My favorite part of that rant was that the Horde blowing up their own planet was somehow supposed to be proof that there’s no Horde bias.
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I didn’t even know about that rant. Can I still read this online somewhere?
Honestly, I’d be a little happier at least if Blizzard addressed this with at least some…address. Every time it’s brought up they’re aggressively dismissive, when they bother to acknowledge it at all. Being told the Alliance is too boring to write by the only people with the power to fix that is a heck of a thing.
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i reread it after i found it, and its still as bad as the day he posted it! but its super insightful to how the faction conflict was viewed by the head content writer from cataclysm to i think wod?
its okay if one faction is treated badly as long as they think they have a good reason for it. its unfortunate that even after he left, that awful mindset led to the horde being absent during legion and now the alliance being absent during bofa
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Dear sweet cheesy criminy, that was one of the cringiest things I have ever read. Whose idea was it for that guy to be in charge of anything?
On second thought, never mind, every bit of that is something I could imagine the current devs saying.
i do appreciate its existence, though, as its super enlightening as to why cataclysm was the way it was, and it is an insight into the dev mindset at blizzard
like, his response to the criticism of the notoriously poor quality alliance questing in cataclysm was to bring up the destruction of draenor in warcraft 2.
like, why would we want more communication when thats what we’re going to get?
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A common refrain from the devs at Blizzard is “stop being so mean to the people who are trying to create your fun,” but my rebuttal to that has always been that the ones calling the shots don’t seem super invested in making sure that I’m having fun.
I can’t help but feel like my purpose as an Alliance player is to give opposition to Horde players; if they felt like they could get the same experience out of NPCs, they’d find a way to remove the Alliance as playable.
The actual line developers seem to feel differently, but I don’t think that most of the senior-level decision-makers would lose sleep if the Alliance disappeared overnight.
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I think one of the best developments in WoW has been the easing of OOC faction restrictions, resulting in a near-complete lack of faction loyalist players these days, and I really wish that was reflected more by the attitude of the devs. Them clearly having a preference for the Horde is kinda cruddy for everyone since everyone is now Horde and Alliance. You sort of have to play both to get the full experience, and neglecting half that experience is straight up shoddy game design.
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Oh look.
A reminder that things have only really gotten worse and a confirmation that my desicion to drop Blizzard and their games like a sack of particularly rotten potatoes was the correct choice.
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Don’t insult the potatoes like that.
i mean, thats a big part of the problem, isnt it? like, i was excited for bfa! everything in the lead up seemed to be everything that cata and mop lacked: the alliance being allowed to participate, no strings attached, no holds barred!
cata and especially mops biggest failings were the idea that the alliance and horde were equally as bad (even though we knew going in the final boss was literally the horde warchief, lol) and that awful caveat being lifted was an exciting prospect; no more taran zhu yelling in my ear was a delightful idea
the problem, i think, is that blizzard never truly commits to making the faction war work; theres always a half-there, half-not aspect (the horde starting the war again, teldrassil souring horde pride, nazjatar, baines rescue, etc) that makes it hard to get excited knowing that inevitably youre going to be scolded for daring to participate in the content that the devs created
it sucks, cause if they had actually committed, i think it wouldve been great! its such a shame
also: i see you, kazimir. welcome back!
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Blizzard is completely incapable of doing a competent and intriguing faction war storyline and needs to stop trying.
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I believe Taalva was talking about these potatoes
What do you mean Blizzard has been grooming and cultivating a toxic relationship in and out of game around the factions and the players on each side?
Absolutely shocked. I, for one, would never have forseen that the same team incapable of making a hard stance on things like representation and inclusivity would also be incapable of constructing a fair and unbiased world for players to enjoy.
Next you’re going to tell me they don’t actually respond to feedback, or that they’re apparently incapable of perceiving criticism in their “dojo”.
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No negativity in the dojo!
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