Hello, my name is Kiraser and I have been writing a fantasy-geek themed blog with a large following for over 7 years. It’s in Russian and it’s mostly focused on Blizzard games and the Warcraft franchise. I stick to the text format, and I’m probably the biggest remaining Russian-speaking writer in this field (often referenced by Russian Lore Youtubers, who, of course, have far larger following).
I started seriously playing WoW in WotLK, and my current account is active since Cataclysm. I never skipped a major patch since then.
I’ve also been a huge lore fan since Warcraft 3 days, hence why I started the blog as Warcraft-lore oriented. I translate book previews, interviews, summarize lore events, analyze plot twists etc. I was invited to host an official re-stream of Blizzcon 2019, and I was in good contact with old Russian community managers. I also helped translate the official Russian release of The Art of Blizzard art book.
While I’m mostly interested in the story and lore, I’ve also grown to really love WoW as a game. I really loved PvP back in WotLK days, and since then moved to PvE. Raiding is fun, but in huge part thanks to the very friendly guild I play in.
I applied to be a part of this WoW Community Council (with pretty much the same letter) partially because the game has issues with how it handles the lore and the story, and I feel like it’s because the players and the writers don’t see eye to eye. Of course, I understand that historically Blizzard has been a “gameplay first” company when it comes to lore versus gameplay, and WoW is also not a single-playing story-focused RPG. It can’t be the focus. Yet, the story remains important, since it allows one to immerse themselves in a new world, it also helps to sell the game, sell books etc. It’s profitable. But as overall player reaction shows, the last two expansions weren’t that great in that aspect. Personally, during the first year of BfA I just couldn’t stomach playing as Horde because so much of the first arc was about being forced into the villain role (of course, there’s nothing wrong with playing as a bad guy: it’s about the circumstances). I feel like the biggest issue here is miscommunication between the players and the devs (maybe even between various devs). But I trust that it can be changed for the better.
So I want to communicate with the fellows here and maybe translate how many people feel about Warcraft lore these days. On top of that, I love my guild and if there’s anything I can do to help guilds like ours to keep going, I gotta try.
I’m also a huge Timewalking enthusiast, with my bank being full of old epic gear for testing new wacky timewalking strategies and just fun combos (like summoning pets with trinkets and sets). I think this field of the game serves as untapped potential. One of the WoW’s strongest points is just how big the game is, but this strength isn’t utilized.