11/12/2018 01:14 PMPosted by
Saiphas
it would be like DiF and Grandblade agreeing.
Y'know apart from her Sylvanas MHPing, she basically hit the nail on the head in her post about the Wrathgate.
So that is what, the third seal broken?
:P
Story development needs a new hand at the reigns. Afriasabi doesn't have the vision to tell a coherent storyline. There were always hints that Sylvanas had a hand in the actual attack at Wrathgate itself. But if he interprets questions about Sylvanas going off the rails as "WHY IS SHE SUDDENLY EVIL NOW" then that shows that he's out of touch with both the characters he is managing and the desires of the fanbase at large.
Just to be clear so a blue can MAYBE(doubtful) present this to him:
People are saying she's going off the rails because even though Sylvanas has been mostly evil from day 1 of WoW, she would not do something as stupid as burning down Teldrassil. Invade Teldrassil? Sure, burning it to the ground out of spite? No. This entire narrative is built upon a character that is portrayed as a cold, calculating schemer essentially acting as stupid as possible at every given opportunity.
In-character if Sylvanas wanted war with the alliance(its reasonable to expect she might) then she would engineer it to where Alliance were the aggressors somehow to rally the horde to her cause. Not bull!@#$ a reason to attack the alliance that the rest of the horde just kind of goes with for no real reason until she burns the tree and uses necromancy/blight.
The other major problem with this is that Afriasabi makes it seem like this has all been orchestrated by Sylvanas. Like she planned to be Warchief to carry out this long game she's been playing. Both Legion and Before The Storm cast this into doubt.
In Legion she makes a split second decision to save the horde and is placed in the warchief position out of nowhere, she's portrayed to be as shocked as the rest of the horde is. You might say she is putting on an act here, but Before the Storm CONFIRMS her surprise and hesitancy.
The fact that the only way Blizzard could think to start a Horde versus Alliance expansion is through the Horde getting another evil Warchief is just indicative of the greater failings of the story department as a whole. A war between the Horde and alliance on a greater scale than Cata/Pandaria could have worked narratively if they'd used an ounce of creativity, but they didn't. They went the easy route and the people who care about the story and character pay the price. The ENTIRE horde has been written out of character at some point or another during the course of this expansion, EXCEPT Gallywix. This is just abysmal.
Only good thing from the interview is that they basically confirmed Sylvanas won't be raid bossed, but its pretty clear she's gonna be ousted from the Horde, probably to be a recurring villain of some sort.
Blizzard, If you want to tell a good warcraft story, then you need to replace the people at the top of story development, they are NOT good writers, and they have NOT delivered a good story with this expansion. I expect better from a company I continually pay money to, and you should expect better from yourselves.
Tl;DR Afriasabi and the rest of the story heads suck and have no idea what they're doing. Things are only going to get worse from here.
Oh yeah, another thing. We all remember those bull!@#$ interviews you gave before BFA saying that Sylvanas wasn't being portrayed as evil. I hope you guys realize that blatant lies like that are why your credibility as a company is in the toilet nowadays.
1 Like
11/12/2018 01:14 PMPosted by
Saiphas
it would be like DiF and Grandblade agreeing.
Y'know apart from her Sylvanas MHPing, she basically hit the nail on the head in her post about the Wrathgate.
You will all learn to love me...
11/12/2018 01:37 PMPosted by
Pyrogar
I blame both the character of Sylvanas and the writing team that's currently pissing on her right now, destroying any redeeming qualities she's ever had. Her concern for her people, her rational thinking, her relatability, her subtle machinations, any likeability, it's all gone! Unless you are a dedicated Sylvanas fan since WC3, there's absolutely no reason for any Horde player to like or want to fight for her right now.
I used to really like Sylvanas back when she was just running her own show on her own terms. It was interesting and her motives were clear and understandable, even if her methods were amoral and villainous. It didn't really do much to hurt the Horde as much as it did add an extra layer to it. Her open rebuke at Garrosh was badass in "Edge of Night" and her banter with Lor'themar in SoO was priceless. But then the idiot's made her Warchief, and immediately went through so much effort to forcibly shove her down everyone's throats with little presence from any of the more heroic Horde characters to remind us that we were still on the side of good, but I was still willing to give her a chance to show that she can be a solid Warchief, so I waited. Saw the BfA cinematic last Blizzcon, and I cringed when she cries "For the Horde" because as a character, most people know she'd never say something like that unless her character had some kind of perspective changing revelation that made her care more about the Horde or proud to be a part of it. So I was expecting there to be some big character moment from her in BtS, and there definitely was one alright...…
I blame the character of Sylvanas because not once does she show a shred a humanity or remorse, she just enjoys murdering people for fun, it seems and it's absolutely mind-boggling how any non-forsaken player can reasonably follow her without becoming an evil stooge.
I blame the writers, because holy fuk they have done absolutely nothing to reassure anyone that their story isn't going to hell. I blame the writers because they essentially destroyed the character of Sylvanas for people like me. I blame the writers because they shafted Vol'jin in Legion. I blame the writers because and elf warchief does not fit the aesthetic of the Horde and was a stupid decision. I blame the writers because they couldn't commit to their planned redemption arc for Garrosh back in WoD and had essentially thrown out around 8 years worth of character development.
But the fact of the matter is; Warchief Sylvanas just does not work. From an ideological standpoint or a thematic standpoint. It hardly makes sense, and it's currently hurting the faction as a whole.
See, all of the reasons that you say you "blame" Sylvanas are good reasons to
dislike her. But she's not blameworthy for what her presence and characterization do to the story. She's not blameworthy, because
she's not real. As a fictional character, it only makes sense to blame
her for purely in-universe things, from a purely in-universe perspective. Not for story issues that come from a player perspective.
You don't like Sylvanas as a character. That's fine. I'm not arguing that you should. I don't like her in her current form either. But there's a big leap between
disliking her and
attributing blameworthy agency to her. You say that Warchief Sylvanas doesn't work? With the way she's currently being portrayed, I agree. It doesn't work. But that's not the only way she could have been portrayed. And because the writers control every aspect of the story, they can cause her to undergo character development and change any time they want to (how well they pull it off is a different question).
We're getting a divided Horde story again, and it's not the fault of Sylvanas. And if we get another one later, it won't be the fault of any of the characters either. And if we get a Horde unity story, it won't be to the credit of any of the characters. Go ahead and like or dislike characters, but don't blame or credit them.