I guess it's over (Goodbye)

Lore Story Forum
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:warning: Shadowlands spoilers included

I just wanted to make this one last thread in the Story Forums to express my feelings about the future story and say goodbye, this will turn out very long so be warned.

I’d like to start with a little bit about myself and the forums. When Teldrassil and the War of Thorns happened, I was obviously pretty sad and angry. The Night Elves losing all of their 3 zones and having most of it destroyed, their home even permanently destroyed and all of their people was quite a shock for someone that kind of grew up playing Night Elves.

Later, when 8.1 came out I was given a little spark of hope. Maybe with their newfound powers, Tyrande and the Night Elves could get some justice or closure for Teldrassil. The battle went on and well, we all know how 8.1 turned out. Very underwhelming but that was okay since the revenge plot wasn’t over… right? Nope, because a few months later, we learned that 8.1 was all there was going to be as a revenge plot and that Tyrande got her revenge already. I was shocked and disappointed, so I created this character to post in the forums to express my discontent about the story in the forums. I got more support than I expected with most of my posts, many people agreed that this is simply not acceptable as a resolution and that there should be more. I was hoping that together we could make a difference, that the Night Elves are being treated unfairly and that maybe blizzard has just overlooked that, but little did I know that it could get much worse…

I waited, and waited… 8.2 came out, nothing… 8.2.5 came out, nothing… 8.3 came out, nothing either… Nothing was addressed, the Night Elves didn’t even get their zones back, Sylvanas and Nathanos made it out safely and Saurfang, the guy that planned the genocide of my favorite race died a hero… a peace treaty was made ignoring everything the Horde did, Tyrande was starting to be painted as wrong and well… things just kept getting worse…

I watched the Blizzcon and learned that all Night Elves that died in BfA went right into wow hell, meanwhile Sylvanas was getting more beautiful and expensive cinematics showing her strength and awesomeness while Tyrande, the last hope I had continued to do absolutely nothing.
So the burning of Teldrassil was even worse, because not only did almost all Night Elves die, they all went straight to wow hell to suffer forever, as mere pawns in Sylvanas’ game. Just so that they could explain Sylvanas becoming so strong.
I felt even worse after that, couldn’t they ever stop?
Well, I saw that in an interview, the writers promised that Tyrande would be featured in Shadowlands, specifically in Ardenweald. That’s when I got a little bit of hope again, but that was going to die down eventually too…

I was hoping that maybe Shadowlands could make things better, I was dreaming of the Night Elves getting their lands back, freeing their people from the maw, finding a new home and getting justice for Teldrassil… just anything as a rebuilding effort but well … stupid me.

So Shadowlands Alpha came out, the hopeful me was like “maybe… something?”. Nope, nothing actually. Ardenweald came out after a long wait and… Tyrande wasn’t even in it in the questing experience.
Turns out she’s apparently featured in the Night Fae campaign instead, but datamined content suggests that instead of actually doing any of the things I was really hoping for, we learn that now she has to pay the ultimate price for her Night Warrior powers, for that… revenge… she got for Teldrassil.
I also saw the intro questline, and of course we get to free everyone from the maw… Jaina, Anduin, Baine, Thrall… but we just leave Tyrande behind instead and later learn that the Night Warrior powers are too much for her to handle so she has to die.
I just… couldn’t believe it anymore. Waiting for a resolution for Teldrassil and just watching it get worse and worse was too much for me to handle, it just felt like a bad nightmare that I wanted to wake up from.
I kept making posts about it in GD and spent a lot of time here in the forums, you can see some of the recent ones in my profile overview if you happen to be interested, but now it just seems like all the work I put in to provide feedback here, on reddit and with the ingame tools was for nothing.
The writers had their plans, their vision, and regardless of what players thought or asked for, they wouldn’t change a single thing about it regarding the Night Elves.
Another Interview with Ion came out later where he said that Shadowlands isn’t a great time to address anything Night Elf related, so maybe there’d be something in the future but that… just made me feel sick.

I kept expecting the worst because I just didn’t believe in anything good anymore, but I really really did not want to be proven right. It was a great fear of mine that everything bad I suspected would turn out to be reality…
I really didn’t expect that Shadowlands would turn out to be another huge blow to the Night Elves, ignoring all the issues with the race and the tragedies that would’ve needed compensation just to take away their leader and get rid of the Night Warrior after it has served its purpose in 8.1…
To be fair, the writers never said anything about positive things for the Night Elves in Shadowlands… but that’s just what I expected, what I was hoping for even though it seems rather stupid from me now. I just didn’t want to believe that after everything the Night Elves have suffered in BfA and the promise that Tyrande would be featured in Shadowlands, that things would go even further downhill without any resolutions, compensations or happy moments.

I just made this thread to say goodbye. I know my presence in here was rather controversial, some agreed with me and some disagreed, some called me a troll and some realized that I actually meant what I said… but that doesn’t matter now anymore.
I also wanted to say sorry to Night Elf fans because I failed you. I really wanted to help making things better for us by providing a lot of feedback, being generally very loud about my discontent with the Night Elf story and hoping that a difference could be made. Now everything will just be a lot worse, and I’m already sorry for the mockery you’ll have to endure when Sylvanas and Nathanos get redeemed and you’re getting told that burning Teldrassil was a great and heroic act while being forced to watch your leader - your last spark of hope - die. :pensive:

It has been a long time, and I’ve definitely had some fun in here discussing with a lot of nice people even though I seemed rather negative to others. I even joined the Story Forum discord a while back and had a lot of fun in there, but things were never meant to have a happy ending it seems like. I left the discord eventually so that I wouldn’t drag anyone down anymore.

I just wanted to get this out. I don’t know if I’ll ever be back, but… I might not make it and maybe I shouldn’t either. I’m in a rather bad mood writing this thread so maybe I’ll change my mind at some point, but I assume not.
I just sticked around for a while to see if maybe things would get better, but my hope was proven to be foolish. I just didn’t want to accept reality, and the Night Elves are simply not meant to have happy moments, a resolution, justice or whatver else could’ve come out of that Night Warrior ritual if Tyrande made it out alive. I thought Shadowlands was a chance for Tyrande to do some things for the Night Elves, but I really didn’t expect her to die that fast.

With that said, I’ll just find my way out of here. It was a long ride, and I really hoped that things would turn out differently, but it just wasn’t meant to happen…

Farewell. Wish you all the best

– Elesa

Edit: I’ve acted a bit prematurely yesterday… I might be back when things are more set in stone but I need a break for a while. I’d probably miss the forums too much to leave forever after reading so many kind words, but I need to see what the future holds…

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Let’s be real, you were never going to affect any meaningful change here. None of us here do, and it’s silly to expect that. This forum’s about talking with each other about the story, and lately it’s especially about venting and ranting regarding it. It’s not a feedback forum, as much as we all wish it was.

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For what it’s worth, I really do sympathize about being upset with the story. I definitely know what that’s like. I hope things turn out better for the Night Elves in general and Tyrande in particular than you expect.

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I don’t even know why Night Elf fans get their hopes up anymore.

That line isn’t even an attack on their fans, Blizzard just hates the Night Elves and I don’t get it.

It makes me angry and disappointed and I don’t even play a Night Elf.

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I’m not reading this because I don’t want to be pissed off. I like to think that Elesana is overreacting but I’m also afraid that she may be right. So I won’t spoil anything by reading this post. That said, it’s been nice discussing things with you Elesana and I hope we’ll see you back maybe after Shadowlands. That’s assuming I’ll still be here lol.

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I usually didn’t agree with what you said, and I did think you were in most cases cynical, but I understand. Iv left a couple times when the story I’m interested in just isn’t there. I can respect that you atleast cared about an aspect of the story.

I’m always sympathetic to see someone go, especially due to a story the authors themselves seem to care little about. But I’m sure the night elves will be in a favorable position at some point down the road, whether that means next expac or years down the road. Blizzard usually takes time with these things.

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I agree with your intentions about fighting for the Night Elves and Tyrande. You did fight hard but was insulted by many because of misunderstandings.

In the end, I too came to the conclusion that Blizz seems to hate night elves for some reason. And I was expecting them to just phase out the playable night elves. If the do this, I too will leave all Blizzard games.

Many hugz, dear Elesana. I still have a little hope but not much.

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Quick update here since things might’ve come over a bit wrongly (perhaps in the discord too) and my post has been flagged as a real life threat: I’ll be fine so no worries please!

I might even be back one day, but that would require the story to improve a lot which I just can’t see. Until then: Don’t worry! Now it’s really time for me to go though. I’ll miss you!
If you really urgently want to contact me, you’ll find a way (not on discord though). I won’t answer in this thread anymore, but I’ll read every single comment.

Edit: I changed my mind a bit, I felt very bad yesterday but I might be back one day. I’m just taking a break for now. I hope that one day things will be better and that I can finally enjoy the game again without being dragged down by the story.

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I disagreed with your idea that Tyrande would die and the Night Elves were hated by Blizzard. However, I wish you no ill will and truly hope there are good things for the Night Elves in SL. Hey. I’ve been playing them since 2014, so they are one of my favorite races.

The reason it was flagged is because so many (in the SF and Discord) are worried about you. Your post scared us.

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Your posts certainly did convey an interesting and entertaining take on things, I’ll give you that.

Going forward, I think it may be best for you to… involve yourself less in these kind of stories.

Best of luck.

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Is this just speculation that Tyrande Whisperwind will die? I’ve seen it in a few of your posts, but can’t find any information on WoWhead supporting that. Did I skim over something?

But I see where you’re coming from. When I first started out I was a massive Night Elf fan. I read the War of the Ancients trilogy by Knaak and burned through the books in three days. I just loved everything about the ancient night elves.

Tyrande Whisperwind has been passed around, like many characters in this franchise, a multitude of times. She has donned different faces for different writers being what she needs to be to propel their stories forward.

I’d imagine writing Night Elves and especially Tyrande to be very difficult and due to this difficulty it seems many times she is passed up or handicapped to allow the story to go forward. But that’s what happens when you make the character the chosen one of the deity of the world.

I think out of all the characters in this universe Tyrande Whisperwind has the most “plot armor” by the simple fact that she is Elune’s chosen. That’s why when she fought with Nathanos she “tied” because the writers put her into a horrible situation and had to handicap her.

I’d prefer if Tyrande Whisperwind didn’t die. I’d prefer if Tyrande Whisperwind went back to her naive self when she was a young priestess who accepted anyone and everyone because that is what Elune taught. But that won’t happen because of life experience and character development.

I hope you can find other characters and stories within this universe to attach to. After reading more of the novels in the warcraft universe I’ve found new characters to cheer for and follow, namely Moira and her son if their story ever gets any more attention.

If something does happen to Tyrande I do hope they do the same thing they did for Ysera, she is Elune’s chosen after all.

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I hope Blizzard improves the writing for the Night Elves and you can come back to your favorite race. I really don’t like seeing players upset with something that means so much to them. Blizzard keeps doing this to the playerbase and it’s just so stupid. Even after only starting in Legion, I was really angry to see Sylvanas order Teldrassil burned. I fell for the faction animosity Blizzard wanted to push and thought the Horde was evil. Me as a dumb new player thought that the company behind Starcraft: Brood War certainly knew what they we’re doing. They want to use faction conflict to make people attack each other and hide awful writing. I can’t image what it must feel like for someone who has played Night Elves since Vanilla or even WCIII. It’s probably not that they hate Night Elves, but they probably want to show the Alliance suffering to make them more “noble”, while not wanting to touch their precious Anduin.

The writers have a strange fascination of making all the monster/more fantastical races and people coded non-european as villains or weak/in the wrong. Meanwhile, humans are these days are the guardians of truth, justice, and the Azerothian way. Even when they’re losing, they’re depicted as honorable and righteous. There’re no more Garithoses. Genn has been defanged, pardon the pun.
It’s not just Night Elves, the whole horde is dragged through the mud.
It’s probably just incompetence, but for all Blizzard’s attempts at appearing “woke” (Blizz says: “look the first Night warrior was gay everyone!”), they sure come off as not so with their writing.

I haven’t played that long but I find the Night Elves/Worgen infinitely more interesting than American-accent medieval times. Shame Blizzard wants this to be the Anduin game.

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It is fine to take a break now and then. The longest break I took was in MoP. I played very little until the Darkspear Rebellion stuff. I was not a fan of playing in Garrosh’s Horde, or spending a whole expansion swimming in the Pandaren themes. The Darkspear Rebellion and Siege of Org raid brought me back. So I found my interest renewed.

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I mean, just listen to how epic the music is in Stormwind and then look at how the humans are depicted. You’d think the (eastern kingdoms) Alliance were warring crusaders! Much more fitting with earlier depictions. Now there should be a cliche, soothing angelic choir whenever Anduin is on screen.

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I wish you all the best, and I hope you recover from this. I think it’s sad on the one hand what kind of reactions Blizz can lead to with their storytelling, and then if you don’t try to react to that objectively, it inevitably ends up in more and more confrontations.

Seen here too often. Anyway, I wish you a good rest and maybe until another time, I always tried to be neutral to everything, including your concerns, but I generally enjoyed discussing with you :wink:

Take care of yourself

lg

Zahir :wink:

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If it’s any consolation, Chris Metzen’s favourite character was always Malfurion. So, at the very least one of Blizzard’s old guard had some love for the Night Elves.

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I always liked a lot of your posts, and always felt bad because you are a very passionate night elf fan, which is clear, in a game were the writing team isn’t interested in the race outside of destroying it and watering it down so they can build other races/people up.

What makes it worse is the people who continue to deny the reality that Blizzard, either intentionally or not, continue to tear down and ruin the night elves every single time. You can only list every time night elves have made an appearance since cata as an example before it wears on you.

Personally though it seems like Tyrande is not going to die though, but will have the nightwarrior’s power distributed between several different night elves. But the power has been shown to be absolutely pointless and only something she took on so she could have a minor plot point in SL. I actually took a year off from the game right before the launch of 8.1 because of how bad it was and how tired of their seemingly constant need to never give night elves a win, even in Tyrande’s scenario.

Anyway, I know what it’s like to constantly see blizzard tear down a race you love and always having to say “well maybe next time, maybe next time” and hopefully things do change at blizzard in their culture of hating night elves, it’s hard to tell if they’ve ever learned but maybe in the expansion after SL.

I wish you well and always enjoyed how passionate about the night elves you are and am hoping things will change at Blizzard so night elves can get some kind of break from constantly being the the race they drag out to beat up every now and then before ignoring them in favor of humans or some other horde characters.

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I think part of the reason that other posters have not taken you very seriously is because whatever legitimate concerns you have had, you seemed focused on them to the exclusion of all else, making you seem one-note with a persecution complex. Your entire forum identity thus became ‘whines about night elves’. Also, posting this particular post on a Sunday, the day that for whatever reason has become dedicated to ####posting, does you little good.

I also hated the War of Thorns/Burning of Teldrassil and think that it was the single stupidest thing to ever happen in the game. However, my hatred came more from the ‘Honor Horde’ perspective. The whole point of Thrall’s Horde was that they weren’t inherently evil and that the Alliance didn’t need to genocide them off the face of the planet in self-defensive. That took a severe hit in Cata/MoP but the Horde managed to pull itself together and… FLUUUUUUSH oops! right back down the drain, ten times worse!

I don’t think that Blizzard is hating on Night elves or their fans, or Forsaken or their fans. I think they’re just fans of characters like Anduin Evergood the Righteous, and the idea that any character who doesn’t agree with him could ever do so without having ‘Bad’ motivations.

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This.

Nobody is particularly happy about the story but it’s been especially bad for horde players.

Whatever anybody says about night elves, they are never presented as evil or in the wrong, and their character trait over and over again has been their ability to overcome adversary or tragedy despite the violation of their sacred places.

As for the night elf souls that are being sucked into torgast, we the players are fighting to liberate them in the upcoming expansion.

Blizzard likes making bad things happen to its protagonists to get them put into the story, and they probably felt night elves were ignored for too long pre-legion.

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It seems like in the story forums Horde posters always have to twist the subject to be about themselves. They have legitimate grievances but doing so in an attempt to downplay night elf grievances on a thread about night elf grievances is not the place or way to go about doing it. And I say that as a long time story forum lurker.

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