Why is it that this forum is full of (what I consider to be) entirely justified misery when it comes to BfA’s story, but every time I hear someone on YouTube or another site talk about BfA, they’re basically positive about it?
Am I looking in the wrong places, or are we really the only ones who are unhappy with this expansion’s story?
From what I’ve seen, the MMO-Champion lore forum and various lore discords are equally unhappy with it. Other than that I’m not sure. I suspect a decent part of the problem is that the proportion of players that follow and care about the story is relatively small and easy to ignore.
People don’t go to forums to praise the story.
Do not use forums to represent the playerbase. In the grand scheme of things, we represent a tiny minority of the playerbase. Forums might be a general feeling of the playerbase, but most players don’t ever use it.
the general consensus is that it was bad, but some youtubers don’t feel like it was all a complete mess because they did saw some positive things.
they usually say what they liked and what they don’t, if you familiarizated with the youtubers you more or less know what is.
and myself as well. if i believed that it was ALL BAD then i would be playing another game.
and yeah, most people don’t give a damn about the lore or the forums.
Maybe, but pretty much any Lore-related YouTube video I click on seems to be positive. Excited, even.
Well, to be honest, as much as I have problems with the story, I sure as heck aren’t going to watch a 10 minute plus video of someone whining about the lore.
If I watch lore videos, I want it to sound exciting.
That’s not to say the youtubers you watch are faking it or playing it up, but rather people who whine probably aren’t going to do as well on youtube compared to people who enjoy it. If I am to listen to someone talk about lore, I want it to be something they enjoy, or else it’s a boring video at best and downright annoying at worst, even if I happen to agree.
yes and most people dont care about the story
the game is bad, most people dont care about wow’s story
Because they’re casuals with a passing interest in WoW. They only focus on the big bombastic scenes that Blizzard wants them to focus on and don’t care about the continuity of the lore in any way shape or form.
If they’re a youtuber than they’re probably shilling for brownie points by sucking off the writers.
Looking at you Pyromancer and Taliesin.
Usually when I post complaints about the Night Elf story on reddit there are a lot of people that agree with me, and they have similar complaints about the story as the official forums.
If you want to avoid a headache though, you should avoid the wowhead comment section when it comes to the lore.
There are people outside this forum who think the story stinks. I’ve seen it in GD and many in my guild have expressed their dissatisfaction. So, it’s not just us.
My initial guess and response:
A majority of people who still even know what WoW is are more concerned with gameplay aspects. Tuning, Class Design, flight v pathfinder, itemization (titan/corrupt forging, reforging), attempts at PvP design. The Story is more of a background thing for a majority of players.
Again - that is my guess.
Call me old fashioned… but I am leery of much. Consider what you are saying. I would consider the origin of the point of view and their motivation. Whether on a forum or on “the you tube”.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen people praising WoW’s story as it’s being written. It’s always years after, when all the vitriol has died down, when you can see all the cinematics and know how it’ll all end, and everyone thinks back to how much fun they actually had playing the actual game that a real consensus starts to form.
I’ll never forget the hatred MoP got for its lore retcons, introducing furry races, mangling the faction war by making the Horde into irredeemable fascists and the Alliance overly permissive pansies… Oh yeah, and the Purge of Dalaran. You would have thought WoW was doomed.
Now, reactions generally range from “not bad” to “one of the good ones, actually,” especially in regards to it’s storytelling.
I for one believe this expansion had one of if not the best stories out of all expansions gameplay it might not have been the best but story wise I’d say the expansion shines and I know that’s an unpopular opinion
I’ll think back to all the fun I’ve had playing other games after getting over the fact that the current story is so caustic to my chosen favorite race that it drove me away from WoW and has convinced me not to support the next expansion. I’ve been unsubbed since about a week after 8.2 dropped and I won’t be coming back until the writers decide that all of their players investments in the world are important. Not just Honor Horde and Human Paladins.
I listen to a few YouTubers
Nobble is pretty solid for the most part, has major bias but he is on point with his lore.
Belluar is general negative but he gives his reason for it and they mostly chime with this forum.
Talison loves wow rarely say a bad thing about the story. He comes off as a shill though, but he did get to host the Q&A at blizzcon so it paid off for him.
Prymoncer is crazy, go there only if want to jump down a rabbit hole.
I probably spell their names wrong, but their close enough.
Part of that is because BfA hit all the same beats but in a way that made MoP look really, really good by comparison.
Bellular is one of the ones who’s practically squeeing over the story, though. The worst he’s said about it is “Maybe they shouldn’t have gone this road with Sylvanas,” and ever since her whole plan to Kill All Life™ was revealed, he’s been totally excited about it.
Basically, he’s happy as long as there’s plenty of Jaina and Anduin. They’re his favorites, so anything else takes a back seat to that.
But today I just watched a video by some random guy I’d never seen before. He did a great balanced review of all the gameplay and gear issues, but then when it came to the story, he said “I know people say it’s bad, but you just have to read all the novels and then it all makes sense.” Which … WTF?
I mean, you’d think there might be some salty ex-Sylvanas fans somewhere if she’s as popular as people say, but I don’t know where they are if they’re out there. Or someone who objects to the whole Teldrassil thing–either a Horde fan who didn’t want to do it or an Alliance fan who still wants more revenge?
What do you mean with this gif? 
I am pretty sure the claims of Sylvanas fans coming in droves to defend her have been greatly exaggerated by this forum.
I think most people are disappointed with the story direction that took with Sylvanas and night elves.
And rightfully mad at blizzard for taking that direction and doing it with the amount tact their are none for, none.
Go to the reddit/wowhead communities and try to talk about the lore.
Generally you will find a very forgiving crowd that generally don’t care about the story or don’t pay that close attention to it.
Wow books and overarching narrative are horrendously bad but for them its either too soon to judge or its old news and there is new stuff that will fix the past mistakes.
There is no critical analysis.
For example in BTS we have Sylvanas POV but not a shred of a hint of her masterplan to start a war for her new boyfriend in the afterlife.
New story elements inserted with zero buildup are genius story reveals and vague plot points that have been forgotten are the clever buildups that a story supposed to have (I am referencing Sylvanas getting impaled and seeing the maw).
For some people this is enough.
We are just too informed and expect better so we are generally disappointed.
When Jaina says to Thrall “We are” to answer his question about the possibility of peace.
I cringe because this is the fourth time I am seeing a rehash of this friendship is magic in warcraft.
Others according to youtube comments/twitter get chills.
she literally says she wants to kill stormwind, its implied she hates life, it honestly doesnt matter why she wants to kill all life, she thinks life is a curse, that is enough for normal people.