How real is the Night Elf in the Refrigerator trope?

No they don’t, what makes you think that? What about the writing of the Horde in the last 4 expansions has suggested they like writing the Horde’s story?

When they had us do “soul searching” by having Thrall choose a contentious psychopath over Vol’jin and Cairne as his replacement (resulting in one of our founding characters getting killed off screen)? Or when we should have opportunity to rebuild and heal after SoO, and instead Blizz decided to invent an entirely different UNIVERSE of Evil Orcs to focus on instead? Or in Legion, where they squandered ANOTHER one of our founding members to trash-mob (and the perfect one to rebuild and heal the Horde), so that they could hamfist the LEAST representative leader we have as our Warchief (then ignored us outside of Sylvie doing evil Sylvie things)?

Yes … the writers clearly LOVE writing the Horde; or more specifically they like writing the Horde as a chaotic proactive force to take the place of a big-bad, to stir crap up until the next big-bad. We’re a vehicle to move the plot along, but not a faction to throw anything but lip-service at when it comes to faction identity (because our rebellions against a monster are only “allowed” when its convenient for their plot … which ALWAYS backfires on the Horde). They don’t “like” writing Horde stories, what they like is having a convenient plot-device to turn to to create the stories THEY want (as they know the Alliance player would flip their lid if they were arbitrarily used for that same role instead).

EDIT: Also, lets not even get into how the Draenei are written. Either as a perfect, all knowing, thrice blessed, race of demi-god people who live for eternity; or when they aren’t PERFECT and GOOD, they go so mustache twirling evil that its sort of a joke (to the point where they immediately start making dog monsters out of their own people).

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Sometimes i think the writters just hate everyone

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Because they have said so in articles and the Horde focus since Cataclysm?
We only got a few breaks from the Horde’s storyline when we did the early MoP content and of course Legion.

Other than that it has been a never ending Horde themed content.
That being said. You are not required to like it for it to count as ‘Horde content’.

You keep focusing on this.
When did Blizzard to build something? Stormwind’s park was a blasted hole until Legion.
Blizzard never rebuilds anything for either faction, you probably never noticed it because of your subjective pov.
Again it doesn’t matter if you didn’t like it. Blizzard gave the Horde Vol’jin as its leader and rebuilt it but having the new horde face the OG horde (evil one) in the next expansion while the Alliance watched from the sidelines at yet another “Orc smash!” expansion graced them.

If you want to be part of a faction which has races who are more positive, good and just go play Alliance.
If you want to be savage, warmongering and morally questionable then go play Horde.

That has been the reality for a long, long time now. Its time for you to get with the program.

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The sad thing is, besides their near-admitted tepidity for Night Elves, I don’t think that’s true. I think that deep within their no-negativity dojo, they think they are really are crafting a top-tier story that most people love, outside a few critics. Instead of realizing many of the pvpers and mythic-ers don’t care about the story, and the handful of people who do are the main critics of it.

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I see this thread has jumped off its rails into the usual discourse.

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Perhsps i dont know they just seem to perhaps have a hate they dont realize.

Horde are evil
Alliance are overly good
Making it orc v human
Everything involving the NE

Just seems they really dont want to try and are just waiting for a paycheck till they can write the next game of thornes i am sure they all think they can write

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As oppose to everyone else? Even in Vanilla Stormwind was said to be the lasf bastion of human power. Or maybe you forgot about the draenei? An entire race who history was about being slaughtered by demons/orcs. Maybe the trolls? You know the guys who “faced extinction” according to rise of the Zandalari. Races that are in the brink of extinction are the rules. Not the exception.

The list goes on and on. Its times the night elves fans realize that Warcraft story will keep having tragedy, not just for them but for everyone. That if your on top/near the top, expect to get pulled down a peg or two.

And when the finally end up reversing their lose it will be that much better.

Are you having a stroke?

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As much as players like to dwell on the victim hood of the Night Elves, the truth is actually that there is another trope at play here, because the point isn’t to inspire a man (the Alliance) to strike back in vengeance. Blizzard has made it more than clear they don’t care that much about that particular plot line over the course of several expansions.

No, the point is to make the Horde seem strong and menacing despite having worse tech, less troops, and weaker leaders.

In short the Night Elves are getting Worfed.

It’s not just by the Horde either. When the Firelands erupts into Azeroth who is it that ends up playing a central role in showing off how dangerous the Firelord and his minions are? The Night Elves. When the Burning Legion launches a campaign against Azeroth, who is it sent scrambling over three separate zones trying to defend the world and failing? The Night Elves (Or their ghosts, in the case of Aszuna).

When you just absolutely have to sell a big bad as a threat to the natural world, Blizzard loves to rely on putting the Night Elves front and center, just to show how for all their ancient power and mystical might, the Big Bad is serious business you guys! We may be in real danger this time!™

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Yes call an ambulance.

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And they stopped following that instantly. Humanity now has Dalaran back in order with a still predominately human council, Kul Tiras with more lore and power than in any previous point in their storyline due to blizzard feeling the need to make humans bigger and stronger than orcs with superior shamanism and special snowflake druidism. They also are getting back Strom. Humans are the Alliance race, and blizzard stopped following the theme of “Damage of the Third War” as quickly as they started it. It is only ever referred to for the damage the Scourge caused, and even then they made humanity just jump back perfectly. Meanwhile they wont even let Gnomes take back their city after years.

Your point on Draenei is different because it was there from their initial conception. Trolls also faced extinction because of the literal Cataclysm, and then blizzard went back and retconned the scope of the Cataclysms destruction on Zandalar.

Keep dreaming. Why would they give anything to a race they’ve borderline surgically removed all the personality and history from when they’ve given those themes and lores to a Horde race they clearly enjoy writing more?

AND THAT HAS ALSO BEEN GOING SINCE CATACLYSM. Night Elves are easily the worst race to do it on now, but they cant get it through their skull because the writers dont seem to have the mental capacity to remember what they wrote less than a full patch before.

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At this point I think elves are only used for two purposes in WoW, no matter what players think and like to picture them;

  1. As human’s pretty sl&ts.
  2. Cannon fodder /guilty of, any atrocities to come.

Edit. Let me add one more; damsels in distress for humans to save (including males).

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TBH … if Blizz really wanted the Moral Ambiguity angle for the Horde it wouldn’t bother me so much; but that’s not what they do. They instead make the Horde do morally “ambiguous” things, but then hammer us with how terrible we are for doing them. There is never a point where the Horde is allowed to feel anything but shame for their “ambiguous” actions in last 4 expansion.

Why do this? Why constantly portray these ambiguous actions as negatives if what your saying is true about the Faction? Why frame every single one of these events and acts with shame and internal conflict; while also make a bunch of conscientious objectors (almost exclusively comprised of the very WC3 legacy heroes and themes that made up the Faction MANY of us chose Horde to be a part of)? Its nonsensical, deranged, and seems to lack any semblance of vision for the Faction beyond “We need them to functionally do what we need them to do to setup a future expansion”.

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That is a fair assessment, but I would say they probibly have played that trope a bit too hard. They certainly cannot fall back on it again with the Kaldorei left a broken people with no infrastructure and a deforested blight covered wasteland to come back home to.

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Can you reference a few times where the game directly shames you personally as player for doing the things Horde does?
Because all I see is Sylvanas being blamed.

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Not to mention this expansion has bashed in my face, like no other, how my character is somehow a loot-crazed, empty headed (no decision power) Hero Alliance or Horde.

If I am its because of game/story design. The way game is played should not earn my character any automatic qualifier, whether I play for ilvl or not.

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What I find curious is that they decided to pit the two races against each other who have had the worst loses in this expac.

I hope it’s not cannon that the Blight literally covers the whole of the night elves lands. It’s a dead horse that is just pulp right now.

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Especially if they’re gonna keep avoiding using the Ancients. I get that it’s to keep the Zandalari feeling unique (in their mind anyways thats probably the justification, because in all fairness there is a lot of overlap between some new BfA loa and Ancients) It’s like they havent moved on from Cataclysm. It took them forever to really realize their excuse for Malfurion being absent from WoW became null in Cataclysm. Same with the Ancient Guardians, but they dont quite seem to have realized they resurrected the vast majority of them. Including Ursol, based on the Guardian Druid questline.

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Well the Forsaken were systematically blighting the whole zone, while at the same time the goblins were clear cutting the forests and then strip mining the barren land. It altogether is not looking so good for Darkshore.

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No surprise that they will be removing the Night elves for good this time. Who knows what’s going on in ashenvale either… the place they cherish most.

And Stormwind couldn’t even spare a token 7th legion troop or anything to help secure Darkshore. But if malfurion had as much power as said to have, he and Cenarius can heal the land no worries.

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