The correct answer is because everything old is good and everything new is bad because it allows us to remain mad in the moment
See, I agree with you on all of these things.
But if they already had Warfronts, I don’t want less of them. I’d rather have more than less–it looks worse, and is worse, when there’s just two, sitting there, with them mostly being irrelevant gear wise and also boring. I’d rather see and do the other two, rather than not have them.
I should clarify. I get being upset with them–I am also upset with them. But I never understood not wanting a couple more. They suck, but I’d rather a few more that suck than just having the two.
1 Like
I think I would disagree but that’s just opinion. I can definitely see the merit to getting the content but if they reallocated resources and dev time around I don’t know that I would find the cost worth the investment into the already bad content.
Huh.
You know that is a good point. I’m not entirely sure why Garrosh went from crybaby in Nagrand to “Rah Rah Alliance Bad!” in the Tundra.
1 Like
Yeah, I’m dubious. It reads a lot like an odious blend of handwaving concerns away (“oh, there was going to be Alliance content…”) and victim-blaming (“if only you Alliance had been more grateful…”).
Why anyone would assume that the Alliance story was scrapped because of Warfront backlash instead of, you know, Blizzard just not caring about the Alliance and centering the Horde instead like they always do, is a level of bad faith so wild that it lies to even the self.
Also, since when did backlash ever stop Blizzard from pursuing an idea? We’re having Pathfinder, rep grinds and Azerite grinding for the third expac in a row.
Hello question what even is bad faith
Ive gotten this far without a definition and I am almost too afraid to ask
1 Like
Read charitably, you could say that just as Garrosh was only told a portion of who his father was, he was only ever told a portion - the “orc version” - of world history and based his conclusions on that. People who would unironically go “Grom was a hero” with no context would also conceivably go “the humans put us in prison camps and humiliated us” with no context as well. While he never mentions that, the logic at least kind of tracks.
But reading it that way is kind of like pulling at the red string. If Garrosh got that, why doesn’t anyone else ever catch people up to speed on history? Why do Lightforged not cite the draenei history with the Horde as reason to throw in with the Alliance, for instance? Why doesn’t anyone tell Thalyssra that like three Horde races used to throw in with the Legion?
3 Likes
It only counts as an atrocity when the Alliance did it. If the Horde did it, it was always the actions of one lone actor.
…that all of them rallied behind.
2 Likes
what people are finally learning is that blizzard’s writing has always never fully added up, and with time, the cracks have just gotten deeper
2 Likes
Yeah, while it might’ve been broad-strokes great, Wrath wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of airtight storytelling either. Both TotC and the whole “there must always be a Lich King” thing were widely criticized at the time.
Neither of those things made me want to quit the game in protest, though. So it has that going for it.
1 Like
It’s also an expectations game. Even back when Wrath came out, the standards for video game writing weren’t terribly high in general. There were definitely a good number of great ones back then, but they were still seen as pretty exceptional compared to most. In that environment, Wrath’s inconsistency still had room to surprise us with how serious it could get at times.
These days, however, decent writing is pretty much mandatory, because the industry has moved beyond a bunch of frat boy programmers brainstorming what sounds totally awesome together. And on top of that, Blizzard is trying to convince everyone that they have evolved to keep pace with the rest of the industry, when they really, really haven’t. We’re not in Wrath anymore where the serious notes speak for themselves; we’re in Battle for Azeroth, where Blizzard writes about burning down Teldrassil and war crimes because those things seem very serious and artistic.
4 Likes
the story should be fun
4 Likes
Succinct, yet the truest observation that’s been made since.
War stories can be fun. Struggle can be fun. Hell, even tragedy can be fun. Achieving any of these goals isn’t even that difficult with just a little thought.
But this story isn’t fun. For anyone.
It’s not fun for the Horde, who are now canonically the most evil faction in existence. It’s not fun for the Alliance, for obvious reasons. At the end of this story, setting aside all the bad writing and lazy tropes and hateful stereotypes, we didn’t even get to enjoy ourselves.
6 Likes
Yeah, I think it’s about fun.
The WoW story hasn’t ever been “good”–again, where we typically conceive of “good” as being coherent, not obviously arbitrary, and featuring deep characters that advance our thinking about the human condition. Conceptions of “good” writing that we use, I think, tend to be a little hyper specific, but that’s a different topic.
But the function of the WoW story is to do something else. The function is for to people have fun. And people have fun by picking whatever society/character that dresses best to them and watching them do cool things and doing cool things with them.
People like Arthas. He’s well dressed. We had a nice game of pretend with him in WotLK. Not super internally consistent or well paced. That’s okay.
No one is having a good time in this game of pretend. Or, to be precise, lots of people are feeling like this game of pretend is frustrating and aggravating to be a part of when it doesn’t have to be.
2 Likes
if the game isn’t fun, why play it?
2 Likes
Psychological masochism mostly.
wait, is that just me?
1 Like
I have fun but I could be having more fun!
1 Like
It has become standard practice for AAA publishers to try to leverage psychological investment and addiction mechanisms rather than just crafting an experience people will enjoy. This is why the big names in the industry are abandoning discrete, single-player stories for “live services,” even though the new Star Wars game proves what a bad idea that is, and EA only made it that way as a PR gesture after how they brutalized Battlefront.
2 Likes
Something I noticed tonight when soloing Mythic Siege of Ogrimmar for giggles.
Principle Horde characters are only given single character models throughout the lifespan of the game, where as there are multiple versions of Alliance characters.
Examples of this:
- Jania is in her ruler of Theramore Garb
- Anduin is in his “Prince of Stormwind” garb (Complete with pre-HD rework face in the cinematic. Woof.)
- Veeresa is in a totally unique, never-seen-again low rez Ranger outfit.
- Moria is also in her era-appropriate garb, rather then her modern outfit
Meanwhile Baine and Lor’themar are both their BfA selves. It struck me as very odd.
Though not as odd as the fact that Mekkatorque also seemed changed. His goggles were up on his forehead and he didn’t seem to be in his typical armor - indeed, he had riveted shoulder plates. I should have paid more attention to that scene…it’s possible the Adeptus Gnomechanicus Mekkatorque model is already in the game!
Man I was just going back into the Legion Rogue class hall because I was trying to get the Turkey Lurkey Achievement, and man it made me miss Legion. It was such a good expansion with the class fantasy. I loved the rogue class hall and questline, it was so good.
1 Like