The something something is more that Blizzard arranged everything to make the Teldrassil burning seem plausible, ignoring logistics and at times breaking physics to make it work. They wanted to humiliate and punish the Night Elves so badly that literally nothing was going to stand in their way.
2 Likes
I canceled my sub renewal a few weeks ago. Recent events only confirmed to me that the issues at Blizzard is deep seeded in their corporate culture and workplace environment. It also confirms that their writing, as it relates to female characters and night elves, holds the sexist themes and undertones carried over from their employees. All such things I have been speculating for awhile.
If you or anyone wants to cancel their sub because of the more recent lawsuit, good. I encourage people to take moral stands when they feel they should. Frankly, though, I feel like Blizzard has already done plenty to merit subloss before this news. War of Thorns was all the way back in 2018, when they told us to âWait and seeâ and promised us Kaldorei Justice. It is nearly August 2021 and I am still waiting. That is 15 dollars a month for 36 months. $540 dollars for âWait and seeâ and probably $180 until patch 9.2 for an ending that is essentially âElune has plans for the Kaldorei but canât say more at this timeâ another wait and see.
Four years and $720 goes buy with no, none, ZERO payoff in any capacity. And not just for Night Elves. Forsaken? Their identity has been nearly entirely stripped from them. Humans? I didnât think Anduin could be made more boring, but somehow Blizzard managed it. Orcs? Probably made out the best in these last 2 expansions with Saurfang going out like a boss at the ripe age of a million, Garrosh having a boss moment, and Thrall reunion with Draka. All are fairly minor story moments in an otherwise trash heap of narrative ineptitude.
The lawsuit is just the nice little cherry on top. Making it clear to everyone that, no, Blizzard isnât just full of idiots. They are actually garbage can quality human beings. The kind of men who would have been branded and exiled by my medieval ancestors because they donât deserve the honor of a clean death.
There is no hiding it now. There is no giving them the benefit of the doubt. They do not care about you. They do not care about this franchise. They do not even care about the women they see everyday in their workspace.
11 Likes
Itâs doubtful that we will ever get a WoW 2. However the next expansion and patch 10.0 could still become a World of Warcraft - A Realm Reborn by simply starting from a blank state. Let the Jailer destroy the entire universe and everything in it. Only we heroes survive this destruction via some ancient magic either from the First Ones or Elune herself. Weâre then transported into an alternative reality and plane of existence, where everything is set to zero. All the old lore? Gone and blown up and we start from scratch.
3 Likes
In my book, thatâs the opposite of plausible.
2 Likes
Hence why I used the word âseemâ.
But my point is more that when people talk about how the Night Elves have been treated, one defense has been to immediately frame the conversation in the scenario that the War of the Thorns presented - and my reply is that a) the conversation did not begin or end there, and b) (more importantly for our conversation) that entire scenario was ridiculous and unbelievable for a long list of reasons.
Yeah, sure, someone is going to lose a knifefight if theyâre blindfolded and hogtied. But that such was made to happen in the first place is whatâs being criticized.
6 Likes
I â and probably most folks with insight into game development â did assume that there were issues with diversity, sexism and racism, and seriously ALL our faves are problematic. But I did NOT assume the level of horribleness thatâs being alleged in that lawsuit.
Most people in marginalized groups have to deal with some degree of obvious or subtle discrimination. But thereâs that, and then thereâs Blizzard, where people were getting drunk, joking about rape, passing around nude photos of their coworker, micro-managing women of color to a ridiculous degree while letting the dudes play Call of Duty and drink, letting women do the work while they played games and drank and had âcube crawlsâ where they would drunkenly grope women employees.
I donât think anyone assumes that level of disgusting, unconscionable, overt horribleness at any company.
13 Likes
That wouldnât change the quality of the product at all because it would still be the same writers.
1 Like
The quality is partly a product of multiple mutually antagonistic parties with specific sociocultural interests and personal world views trying to shape a singular cohesive story.
We know Afrasiabi was responsible for Orcy Orc Heroic Garrosh + Evil Sylvanas as an idea
We know Golden was responsible for Orc German Fascist Garrosh + Calia
We know Danuser was responsible for Nathanos + current Sylvanas Arc.
Cleaning house of the rot, hiring new people, and empowering more diverse peoples would allow for better quality because that internal melodrama and division would not exist
A meaningful part of the story feels like itâs two groups of the Story Team ânegotiatingâ the lore. âOkay you can siege Lordaeron but I burn Teldrassilâ
13 Likes
This could be especially fun as a Death Knight or Demon Hunter player. To a lesser extent, Mechagnome.
having DKs and Demon Hunters from the onset, maybe having them be âneutralâ, would be interesting
4 Likes
Let me join the Horde, Blizzard you cowards.
3 Likes
I was thinking a third faction, a sort of âuse evil/dangerous powers to protect azerothâ faction:
- Forsaken + Death Knights
- Demon Hunters
- Maybe Blood Elves + Shendrelar Nelves + Suramar Nightborne (ie the Highborne Races)
- Dark Iron Dwarves
- Certain Troll tribes (Blood magic)
Idk.
Separate from neutral races that later let you choose. And maybe these groups you can unlock joining a faction later.
3 Likes
Thereâs so much theyâd have to do with an ARR that I know they wonât do it. For instance, no more pyjama armor. This is the Year of Our Lord Two-Thousand upon Twenty-One. Armor needs to be 3d. Itâs 3d in every game. Blizzard wonât do anything about it.
Nevermind the idea of them just dumping almost twenty years of content.
3 Likes
I think this 100% depends on how the next few months/years play out between Shareholders choosing to oust or keep the Execs (everyone between JAB and Kotick) + internal WoW Team upheavals/restructuring/purging.
3 Likes
I mean thatâs one member of that team pointing out that this is wild and the statements released so far by the other Ps/VPs/etc have been inappropriate too though.
Clearly Kotich does not hold everyoneâs leash.
Q3 ends soon, the Shareholder report will reveal more.
2 Likes
I just hope that the report comes out before my sub expires. I want to cover it.
I donât think the catapults being able to shoot all the way to Teldrassil seems plausible to anyone. I assume thatâs what youâre referring to when you said Blizzard broke the laws of physics.
1 Like
Yes - and I agree - itâs completely ridiculous. Just as the Horde being able to achieve that level of force concentration was ridiculous, just as the compression of scale was ridiculous, just as the Allianceâs strategic response to the Silithus issue was ridiculous. Iâve gone over each of the reasons for why WoT is ridiculous several times - but none of these items prevent people from trying to jam the discussion into this frame.
3 Likes
Well I certainly donât know how to feel about being called a âBlizzard defenderâ!
Not mocking anyone; I just doubt anything of substance will come from it. I think grandstanding and saying IâM NOT PLAYING ANYMORE is a bit much, but that isnât what old mate was doing, so thereâs no issue.
2 Likes