Effing this. In Legion I was curious as to what she was doing in Helya’s realm and what she wanted with the Valkyr but after that and so much focus on her character and “What in the world is Sylvie up to” I just want her gone.
They completely and irreversibly destroyed her as a character and turned her into a caracture of a edgy bad tavern RP villian.
Remember when Sylvanas was seen as a calculating and shrewd villain and it turns out the depths of her intellect were just adding an extra step between “be mad” and “blow up the world?”
The only thing that stopped Sylvanas from destroying Korhal with nuclear weapons and then the zerg in unreasonable, overwhelming retribution for a sleight is being in the wrong setting.
I miss the fantasy part of the fantasy genre where when bad people do bad things, they eventually have to account for those things.
But muh subversion I guess I don’t even know where on the dumb storytelling spectrum we are anymore.
So…wait, if Shadowblands is hell…what was BfA? Mere Purgatory? Or has the game descended from the 1st Circle of Hell into the 2nd Circle of Hell?
And do you think Blizz can milk what’s left of the playerbase into enduring the descent to the 9th Circle? That’s seven more expansions…
You really shouldn’t keep the villain’s motivations mysterious even into their climactic expansion after two previous expansions of build up. Just feels drawn out. Now no one cares what sheand the Jailer are doing because no one knows what the stakes are. All we have is a vague idea that they want to tear down the very foundations of the world but don’t know how they plan to do it. It’s like if Arthas killed Terenas then had the Scourge sit on its hands in Northrend instead of wiping out half the Eastern Kingdoms because the main goal was just summoning Archimonde.
In fairness, it’s hard to be explicit with the villain’s motivations when you’ve just gone on record as saying you frequently don’t understand what’s happening with the story until you actually write it.
I refuse to believe the canon that Kyrians are willingly tossing innocent souls into the Maw simply cause sorting is “not their division” and all the needless suffering must have a “cosmic purpose.” I’m sticking to my nice headcanon that says people and monsters respawn cause Spirit Healers are keeping them out of the Maw. Game mechanics cleverly explained via plot!
I remember being really bummed about my Covenant choice during that whole sequence where she just chucks the guy into the Maw and goes “That shouldn’t be happening, oh well.” The fact they never addressed it as some sort of compulsion sucked as well, especially since 99% of the Bastion questline(s) end up just being them appreciating “The Path” while not willing to be as bound to it as before.
Except for yeeting poor unfortunate souls into the Maw, that’s just what we do here in Bluetown, USA.
Also it’s clear the First Ones know the Arbiter is currently bluescreened and awaiting a reboot but then they handwave it as “oh it must be her will.”
Y-yeah. Totally.
Not even the people writing the story!
And that’s ultimately the problem. I can understand not wanting to leave us in BfA limbo for a year and a half like they did at the end of Mists with the Siege, but it’s become increasingly evident since Mists that they’re straight up flying by the seat of their pants with the expansions.
Remember when Velen lost his faith in the Light during Legion? Remember how that plot point went absolutely nowhere?
I’m (unfortunately) in the camp that they did that just to get the rest of the non-militant Light users off the table for the Alliance other than Anduin as a set up for whatever stupid Snorfa Dorfa Light Gonna Getcha arc they’re planning, especially since a good half of this expac seems to be dedicated to making the Void not that big a deal / threat anymore.
Going by about 30 years of Blizzard story tropes, the whole “Well the Void’s not THAT dangerous” is going to totally end with the Void being that dangerous.
This isn’t meant to be dunking on Blizzard’s writing here either. This is just recognizing patterns in their storytelling. They think it’s a bait and switch, but the more they try to go “Oh this thing? Not important.” it ends up being pretty dang important.
Narrative subtlety just isn’t the company’s strong suit.
I will die on the hill that Blizzard’s writers cannot write a conflicted character arc to save their lives.
If we disconnect the story of Shadowlands from the greater - and equally terrible - grand cosmic chess for a moment, there is a sheer treasure trove of emotional scenes hidden within. Conflicts on “the Path” of each Covenant, the reunion of (minor) characters with their deceased loved ones, and the internal conflicts that stem from finding out that this is the afterlife as opposed to what our characters always believed in.
Yet there’s nothing of that. For example, reunions aren’t as much emotional or written out as they are “easter eggs” to be found. Mankrik’s wife is now a towering Maldraxxi? That’s cool, but you would be forgiven if you didn’t know it. Ol’ Emma and Fintallas are in Oribos? That’s nice, but there will never be an emotional story involving them and their loved ones that they came to find and resuce.
They could have written Kleia and Pelagos to have a deep issue with the way the Kyrian handle the current situation, up to making them halfway join the Forsworn because they kind of had a point.
So many smaller and emotional character moments could have been in small side quests for us to explore, but they are pushed into a single dialog window at best for more “LOOK WHAT THE JAILER DID! LOOK WHAT THE JAILER DID! LOOK WHAT THE JAILE-…” You get the idea.
It’s a damn waste of characters and narratives.
What if we just pants’d an MMO?
Be sure to just write things on the go after an expansion is even released instead of mapping out a cohesive story beforehand. 
times like these make me glad im spending my time rewriting WoW rather than complaining about it/engaging with it
seems very tiring at this point lmao
I just want to see how they make it so Sylvanas doesn’t die.
I want to see the mental gymnastics for the justification.
turns out genocide is okay if you’re doing it for a good reason
We all know.
Sylvanas will sacrifice herself to keep the Jailer locked away while the Arbiter and other leaders of the various Covenants sit on thrones, watching from the side lines.
It’ll end with a sassy exchange between Sylvanas and Tyrande, culminating in Tyrande walking away saying “Elune be with you, Sylvanas Windrunner.”
