I don’t see these statements as lies so much as changes of direction, and a complete inability on Blizzard’s part to understand their own players.
I really do think Blizzard had a couple of different ways to handle why Sylvanas burnt Teldrassil and why Anduin attacked Lordaeron, but somewhere they changed direction and all their previous statements suddenly made no sense.
Just to be clear - this is worse than lying. A lie in this case indicates a clear intent for BfA and the desire to mislead players, possibly to wrong-foot them when the truth is revealed. It’s certainly not about harming players, as Blizzard kind of depend on players to stay subbed.
Changing direction is much worse, as the endpoint isn’t fixed (or the story/journey isn’t), so there’s no good way to develop characters and plot. you can’t build a house on shifting sand, and you can’t write a story when you keep changing the plot. I feel player polling and reactions help drive Blizzard to change their mind.
We can see examples of it too. The Horde attack in Stormsong Valley that was initially written as a briarback attack. Horde players never even see it, although Alliance players are bludgeoned with the Horde’s moustache-twirling cruelty.
Rexxar said Jaina had to be stopped because she ‘killed too many’ (or something similar) but that never made it to the game. Another small change that leaves the game making less sense.
If the Alliance attacked Lordaeron first, a lot of the early interviews would make sense, and the Horde’s reaction at Teldrassil would be more acceptable. Certainly, no Horde players would feel so bad over retaliation.
The feeling of being one-all at half time would have helped us join together, as we always were going to, in order to combat the next big threat. We know we’re working together to fight Azshara in 8.2, but what Night Elf would work with the Horde now? What Orc or Forsaken would take orders from Jaina?
I think the game’s events were changed during development to pit the players against each other and maximise the reactions they have to this game. That’s right up there with writing by committee for how to turn in a terrible story.
I don’t think they were lies. I think they indicate a much worse problem.