"Almost no one respects or values the story or game direction"

Community General Discussion
1

The first step is admitting we have a problem, and that’s why we’re here today.

Okay, clearly I have my own opinion on this but I wanna hear yours as well.

How much do you agree with the sentiment I quoted? Particularly the part about the story and its direction.

Are we all on the same page, here? I mean, no fandom is ever FULLY on the same page, but I mean overall? Do we all recognize a massive problem, even if we disagree on the reasons behind it or whether the problem bothers us personally?

Sure, we can debate whether Warcraft’s storytelling was ever enjoyable, keeping in mind that something doesn’t need to be Shakespeare to be good, but Modern Warcraft’s story is well below the bar of almost any major video game release of the past decade, including other MMOs.

Years of retcons and reluctant writers hating the source material have caused the basic foundational pillars of the universe (including the core cosmic forces) to be retconned multiple times over to the point where Warcraft’s lore is completely recognizable from where it was in WC3, the once-canonical RPGs, and vanilla WoW.

Many people, myself included, refuse to even acknowledge the modern story or lore, burying our heads in the sand and pretending the world is still the one we knew before Chronicles changed the basic building blocks of the universe.

So, is it the general consensus that the story is bad? Do you value or respect the writing? Or is this one area where most of the forums can agree? And, if so, what does that mean going forward?

Edited to make it more clear what is simply my opinion to make the thread less divisive.

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No.

Good conversation.

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3

Wow. You managed to waste your own time, and mine. Fun!

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Ultimately yes I do because I pay for the game and that is the only way to value something under capitalism

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Everyone I play with ignores the story I’m sure there are people who still enjoy it but me and my buddies are long past caring about it the gameplay is all that matters to us

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You play the game solely for the story? I’m more of a gameplay and atmosphere kinda guy these days.

I’ve never met someone like you before.

This is my experience as well on an RP server. Everyone either ignores the lore or roleplays based on the old lore (if the topic even comes up).

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The opposite, but I pay for the game and that means I’m also paying for the story, my money is going to the writers, so yes I value it or at least in the context of Blizzard decision making I value it in their eyes.

If I didn’t like the story and that made me quit they might care

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I make my own stories within the universe they’ve given us. It’s far more interesting than anything we got post Legion.

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I mean I see your point but I don’t know if this is a good metric for player value when there’s plenty of other things to play the game for that could make the sub worth it in your estimation.

But, as far as Blizzard is concerned, I think you’re right.

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They have lore past legion? I thought that was a multiverse thing and not cannon with how much they changed pre-established lore.

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I’ve seen this comment so often from so many people. I’ve said things like this myself, even. So, is this a common sentiment?

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Yes.

Haha, no.

The same trash.

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And, I’m assuming we’ve all given up hope on any of the dev team seeing this? Or do they see these things but think it’s the forum goers and even the general playerbase that’s out of touch? But, even mainstream gaming outlets lampoon WoW’s storyline. I wonder if the writers think they’re telling a great story?

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Yes. I haven’t paid attention to the story since BFA, which is fine because I don’t really play the game for the story.

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No, I’m sure they know they are writing garbage that seemingly only appeals to 8 year olds or adults with 8 year old minds. I doubt they really care though because they have had over 20 years to write a decent story and never have lol.

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I’m okay with WoW’s story, but it’s not as engaging as the story in FF14. I play WoW to slaughter mobs. I play FF14 for the story.

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I don’t know if I can fully believe this. I’m sure the executives don’t care, but do you really think the people who got hired to write for World of Warcraft don’t care if their story is good or bad? They have to care about their resumes at the very least. I’m worried they’re out of touch, the production schedule is so bad their first drafts are getting thrown in haphazardly, or they’re just not very competent.

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18

If I were to break down my sub’s personal worth to me, in case it can be helpful to the devs:

Gnomes and gnome content and gnome schemes and my gnomes doing their professions cutely - 5/month
Mythic+ dungeon - 7/month
Seeing my hunky night elf dudes jumping and being booped by gnomes - 1/month
The forums - 2/month

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19

I’m sure they care but they have a job to do and they have to write around what the game is doing. Pretty sure they are told to write something around how the game is being designed, not vice versa.

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20

Wrath was peak story for me.

Vanila-Great
BC-Good
Wrath-Peak
Cata-Ok
MoP-Meh, theme and zones were really cool though.
WoD- Some of the Orc lore was cool but it felt like a failed attempt to capitalize on BC nostalgia.
Legion-Idk I didn’t play it
BFA-Not bad imo. Better than previous attempts. Cool Zones, and decent story
Shadowlands- The jailer looking like Quan Chi fro MK just made me laugh at the whole thing. Mostly bad, some redeeming qualities like Zereth Mortis.
Dragonflight- Poor
TWW-…Decent, they can make it better with a good season 3.

This is imo.

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