Horde really like to make revisionist history. You are bad, get over it

Lore Story Forum
241

This is an interesting point, and we have to look back a ways to dig into it. When we talk about those OG fantastical universes (like Tolkien’s) the WoW is inspired by - Orcs, Trolls, Ogres - these were all the monsters. The Minotaur, too.

All of our modern perceptions of these races are informed by they way they’ve been portrayed, and Blizzard does them no favors by leaning towards those more savage behaviors that, historically, they’ve exhibit. In order words, people talk about orcs and trolls the way they do because a) most fantasy narratives that people get started on portray these races as bad/evil, and b) Blizzard leans into those tropes, instead of defying them.

Time and time again, WoW demonstrates or produces the story that toys with the question/notion that the Horde will always have to grapple with being monsters at heart - and through this they’re actively encouraging the opposing faction to treat them as such. Monsters.

2 Likes
242

I’ll give you this, but I also think most people who play Horde themselves don’t really even think like this or notice it, or in some sick ways embrace it : like wearing black face. It’s largely smashy smashy the other guys both ways. But yeah, the whole thing can get troubling, especially since the game more or less engenders this type of attitude and thinking (as does a lot of the fantasy genre and many video games which involve pvp/picking sides).

4 Likes
243

You know, I was gonna argue that, but then I remembered some of the ‘me smash’ orc rper’s I’ve seen, and yeah, yeah, you’re right. We all suck.

It was nice, in theory, having a Horde that the story treated with empathy, that was rooted conceptually in the idea that all the ‘savage races’ that are slaughtered in fantasy are real people basically deserving of human dignity, but it turned to soup pretty much immediately. Sucks.

7 Likes
244

Possibly unintended, but this implication is… problematic. While the future High Elves were involved in the Legion side of the war initially, they did turn against the Legion once it became clear that they were a threat to them as well.
Without that distinction this just suggests Quel Thalas as being Legion-aligned.

1 Like
245

Something something Kael’thas and The Burning Crusade.

Point is, neither faction is innocent.

246

Pressing “like” on a piece of art is not indicative of anything but appreciation for the art. I hate Sylvanas and think Teldrassil was an absolute horror, but I upvoted Warbringers Sylvanas out of support for people like the art team or Patty Mattson.

BlizzCon is, quite honestly, a rather small auditorium of people in the grand scheme of things, and not exactly a reliable depiction of the playerbase. I very much doubt one of the screening questions for a ticket was “did you agree with the Burning?”

3 Likes
247

Alright fair point.

248

Also if we’re gonna go by “upvotes equals opinions,” you can compare it to the three other Warbringers (Jaina has a far higher viewcount than the other two likely due to people listening to Daughter of the Sea, but it can be adjusted).

If you do that, Warbringers Sylvanas actually has the highest DISLIKE count, even if it has more likes.

2 Likes
249

:thinking:

/checks all three Warbringers

Jaina:
Addresses Jaina’s feelings about her past regrets, mistakes, and trauma, beautiful art direction/music, depicts the Horde (especially orcs) as monstrous murderers
10M views
182K likes
3.3K dislikes
~55:1 like/dislike ratio

Azshara:
Addresses some of Azshara’s background and how she has become what she is now. Pretty neutral, some good one-liners, beautiful art
3.8M views
82K likes
1.2K dislikes
~68:1 like/dislike ratio

Sylvanas:
Sylvie is a villain gloating about her villainy to a heroic good kind-hearted pure Alliance nelf. The other two Horde characters say zero lines and are basically prop pieces. Beautiful art I guess though
4.3M views
70K likes
21K dislikes
~3:1 like/dislike ratio

Warbringers: Sylvanas has the second highest view count of the three shorts and the dubious distinction of having the lowest amount of likes and highest amount of dislikes by a wide margin.

Here are some of the most-viewed reaction videos for Warbringers: Sylvanas.


I don’t know the above streamer, but judging by her Sylvanas shirt, she’s probably a fan of the Horde and/or Sylvanas. She reacts with shock and is upset. I’d say her reaction reflects my own reaction very closely.

Nixxiom reacts in a very positive way. He’s a pretty big fan of both the Forsaken and the night elves, I’d consider him more balanced with maybe an Alliance lean in terms of what he enjoys out of the story.

Asmongold seems pretty reasonable in his reaction, questioning the way the writers have set the story up. It’s well-known he plays pretty much exclusively Alliance.

I know you’ll probably brush this off, babe, but just from an OOC standpoint I think it’s perfectly reasonable to say that not the majority of the Horde (the ones who care about the lore at least) enjoyed her turn. It’s at least a much more mixed bag than you’re making it out to be.

Call me next time you wanna smite though xoxo

EDIT: Also cheers mean nothing lol people cheered for Diablo Immortal when it was announced.

5 Likes
250

I still shake my head that people who show no shread of understanding that Horde players can even have a legitimate POV will presume to tell them how much they enjoyed the expansion. Or who they think they can convince, since the Horde players in question know how they felt.

I mean, I follow Horde youtube channels. I was in a Horde guild. Almost everyone I know plays Horde. I even came across four people who I didn’t know played WOW, and when I said I quit the Horde over BfA, they all understood what I meant without my having to explain.

And that against some cherry picked event at Blizzcon filled with only with people who still were willing to spend significant money to cheer Blizz, and even then had boos mixed in?

I really find it hard to believe that people think that anyone is buying.

4 Likes
251

HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO TRADECHAT IS

252

AHH! I don’t! Am I supposed to?!

253

I remember watching her videos on youtube all the way back during wrathh lmaoo

very popular wow youtuber/streamer (or use to be? idk i dont pay attention to streaming/youtube stuff anymore)

254

The bigger issue with upvotes is that 1. you can’t figure out their source, so even trying to parse Alliance from Horde. And 2. the reason, why they actually did so.

1 Like
255

Sad, but Panzer’s faded into (relative) obscurity among the playerbase ever since she went to streaming on Facebook. If you weren’t watching WoW vids before Legion, you probably don’t know who she is.

2 Likes
256

that’s sad. she seems pretty cool too as far as i can tell. i remember her like wow news videos.

2 Likes
257

Well, she is pro-Horde so I think a lot of Alliance don’t watch her. I followed her a lot before she quit.

What I remember when she made a reaction video to Anduin freeing Suarfang. She bascially said she just couldn’t bring herself to care anymore. This was about the time I was ready to quit, and it really resonated with me. It was also the time that Horde players were disappearing form the story forum and my guild was becoming suspiciously empty. It really signaled that people saw that Blizz had nothing else for them.

Interesting side note, a lot of people I know who quit went to ESO. As I did. I wouldn’t mind seeing Bethesda’s numbers. I think it was a bit of a windfall for them.

8 Likes
258

My understanding is that she was getting messages from people threatening to rape her, etc. and it just wasn’t worth continuing.

3 Likes
259

Yeah, it was a whole big hate-ball mess. I don’t blame her for going to Facebook, but there’s no denying it cut deep into her relevancy to the community at large.

3 Likes
260

Precisely. Someone pressing :+1: on a video has way too many factors to determine what it means. Thousands of people doing that makes it basically a non-factor towards any mass opinion.