- Blizzard stated the WORLD of Warcraft is “Morally Grey” (as in the setting). They do not make such implications about either Sylvie or this storyline.
- Well, perhaps she learned a little something from the FOUR expansions of torturing Koltira Deathweaver to make his will more “convenient”. Her bargain with death is also pretty clearly how she’s been getting a power boost. Also, who cares about what Sylvie thinks of “Forsaken Free Will” when she could clearly give a crap about the “Forsaken”. Its open season on Mind-Controlled Dead NEs! Go for it Blizz, EVERYONE wants it!
- No, she did not. She had 9 to start. Lost one on her first revive. Lost three more when Godfrey sent a bullet into her skull. Lost a 5th at New Andorhal. Lost a 6th in Darkshore. She should have three Primes left. Eyir was in service of thwarting her hell (like everything else).
- Valid Question. Plot convenience I suspect.
- Ashvane was apparently the contact between Sylvie and Azshara. That was her role, that is what she was used for. Its implied only, but Sylvie does mention she made a deal with Azshara in the Loyalists only ending.
- Lightforged Undead is fine in concept as long as there are consequences to being one (it cannot be portrayed as a cure-all for death). Light based undead exist in other fantasy genres (as Mummies), and EVERY other force in this game (Fel, Arcane, Life, and Void) have all been shown they can manipulate DEATH. As long as Calia does not become the FORSAKEN leader I have few major issues with her.
- Faction War sucks. Its a weak story thread developed to justify PvP, and never grew beyond that. Also, there are far too many contradictory expectations of it for it to EVER be written well (let alone by the current writing staff).
- Generally agree on the Fourth War criticism.
- Meh, considering when she became lead writer I seriously wonder just how much power Golden had over the overarching Meta-Narrative of BfA? I am going to wait to see how she preforms in the next expansion before deciding if SHE’S trash, or was merely handed one hell of a trash-sandwich with the expansion she inherited from someone else.
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The sad thing is that they COULD have used stormheim as a bigger driving force behind things. An alliance king attacking Sylvanas during the legion invasion for personal revenge (and only coincidentally happening to stop the Val’kyr plot, that wasn’t his goal from the start) and facing no repercussions from Anduin for it despite it being against orders.
Part of the issue with the faction war has been blizzard seems to think every expansion comes with a reset button.
In Wrath Varian wants to go to war and we have the broken front etc, but nothing comes of this. In the Shattering there’s a truce and they’re not fighting anymore.
In Cata there’s a lot of faction warfare especially in some of the revamped leveling zones. But in Tides of War, there doesn’t seem to actually be an active war going on until Garrosh marches on Theramore.
MOP actually does wrap up the faction war (for the moment) but then when we get to Legion, Stormheim is apparently only worth a brief mention in A Good War rather than a driving force behind it.
Blizzard likes to hit the ‘reset’ button like this at moments that are convenient for the alliance and then they have to make someone (usually the horde) be the baddie again to reignite hostilities.
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I agree with nearly everything you said. The one part I disagree with is Christie Golden cause she was part of a team. She didn t make decisions alone.
Ok that she clearly tries to favor her favorites like Anduin, Thrall and Baine but I wouldn t say it was 100% her fault. We need to remember there s a whole team of writters to blame here for this fanfic level thing they call a narrative
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I think blizzard is really trying very hard to ride off the coattails of Game of Thrones and it’s style of storytelling. Which is fine, I feel like game of thrones- ever since it came out- has affected the way a lot of TV shows and movies handle their characters and stories. That’s an entirely different discussion though.
Unpredictability, morally grey characters and actions, subverting expectations… I’m honestly tired of all this. There’s nothing wrong with telling a straightforward and expected story so long as it’s enjoyable. Especially when it comes to the story of Warcraft.
Why does everything have to be a surprise? In Wrath, you knew the expansion was going to end with you facing off against the Lich King in ICC. In Cata, you knew the end result was going to be facing Deathwing. I don’t really think anyone had any complaints.
The writers clearly aren’t skilled enough to write complex characters and stories with depth, so I don’t see what’s so wrong about writing a shallow but faithful story to the Warcraft lore. Save the personal character stuff for books, where it can be neat and self-contained.
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I gotta admit, I generally wonder how valid a lot of the Christie Golden hate really is? When she took her current position, there is no way in hell she could have had much authority over the Meta-Narrative of BfA. It must have been WAY too far along for her to do anything but sort of try to do the best with the mess she was given right?
Honestly, I am going to wait to see what the next expansion shapes up to be before I judge her too harshly. There is a load of difference between being largely responsible for a mess, and being handed one to make the best of. I want to see what she is capable of with an expansion I am MORE certain she has more control over as a whole (even if yes she is working with a team).
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She’s also written some of the worst. That Arthas book was some of the worst tripe I’ve ever read. I don’t know why she decided he needed a horse fetish.
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That… was very accurate. It describes everything from the Burning of Teldrassil to the present.
A simple “like” was not enough. I had to state my appreciation.
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the worst part is that everyone and i mean EVERYONE predicted this outcome.
because we already did this crap in mop.
if you followed the storyline you would noticed that everything has been predicted.
The biggest surprise was how blizzard could have been so stupid with burning teldrassil.
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Everyone but sylvanas supporters
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My point is that they play everything as if it’s suppose to be a secret. With their condescending way of saying “we can absolutely trick you” and keeping Sylvanas’ motives a secret up from early Legion up until 8.2.5. Even now things are still unclear
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George R. R. Martin has a lot to answer for.
Did you even play the game, varians actions lead to cata, and cata theres war going on all the time, ashenvale, southshore, then cata lead to mop.
I do feel a lot of the direction of the Alliance story is due to her writing. You can feel the nature of Anduin and Jaina’s writing is exactly the same as how she writes the two characters in her novels. Take in contrast to how Jaina was written in game in MOP and Legion where she was angry and aggressive vs how she is written her Novels. it is also why all other Alliance characters seemed to cease exist or have their own voice and fall into line (genn) because these two as they are “her” characters, she wants the Alliance story to focus on these two.
We also know she had a hand in bringing Calia into the story and writing her. which I know alot of Horde players hate this development and how she has been forced on the Horde.
She wants the Alliance to be the Super friends faction who basically falls inline with Anduins(her) ideals. Anyone who lands outside of that is considered as wrong and needs to be stopped(Tyrande)
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Did you read The Shattering which tells the story between Wrath and Cata? The horde and alliance had a truce and when Garrosh eventually did attack Ashenvale in Wolfheart it had nothing to do with the Undercity.
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