Is this something people are upset about, or media trying to sensationalize for clicks?

Community General Discussion
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Two things first…

SPOILER WARNING, for anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with pre release cinematics… And…

I don’t respect GameRant as a source of information and haven’t for a while, but occasionally their titles are so click bait I fail to catch it’s one of theirs before I click on it.

Just glanced over an article claiming people are mad about Renzik not having any voiced lines, while others like Marin or Pamsy have fully voiced lines. And, well as soon as I realized it was GameRant I didn’t even read. More glanced over to see if their were relevant hot button words.

And, to go first as it were, I don’t have a problem with this.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Lore of this game. For better or for worse. And “The Shiv” is probably the reason I (as an alliance main) have an open mind for The Horde races. They have been tricked and manipulated into doing things they may not have wanted, and Renzik proved to me from my first character my first time in game that some of them regret their decisions and would choose to take it all back if they could.

But, for the SPOILERS part, we know this is where Renzik 's story is coming to an end. The alliance Goblin who has lived the last decade or so of his life doing what he thought was making up for a life of crime, choosing to have the back of the Horde Goblin Racial leader and incite this man to stand up and help his people… Reclaim his home… Is going to lay down his life to ensure Gazlowe’s. Which, to me, means Gazlowe is a Goblin worth believing in.

To the title of the article, I think it’s amazing these Goblin’s who have been around for a while (some others also since Vanilla) are getting voices. That eludes to them having important roles going forward whether as allies or enemies. But, that’s the problem with the article and why I am honestly kind of happy Renzik is going to his end voiceless. He’s always worked from the shadows, he’s never been voiced, it would be cloying or cliche to give him one for a single patch… A six (edited) month span that won’t be revisited much afterwards. Plus, that’s a lot of burden for a Voice Actor to bare. They have to deliver an immaculate unforgettable and memorable performance with the only chance they will ever have with that character.

And, if you want to argue he’s more central in this story and that’s why he should have a voice I’d argue that he’s still moreso whispering in people ears than being vocal. A whisper is difficult to hear.

But, I’m curious how others feels. Are you ok with The Shiv remaining a whisper in our ears? Are you like me and happy that his legacy of helping from the shadows remains in tact? Or do you wish he would have gotten a voice, even if only for a single patch?

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Would’ve preferred a voice, seeing him talk when other NPCs are feels kinda weird.

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apparently they didnt give him a voice because he dies and devs dont want players to get attached.

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No problem, they could follow with scene where he is talking to Pelagos the Arbitrator about where he will be sent next.

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It is strange that he doesn’t have voice-over. I am not mad about it though. I do hope he dies because he’s an Alliance stooge, but that has nothing to do with his voice. And you should never. NEVER. Put any value into what game journos say. Ever.

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Maybe part of my acceptance lies in the fact I don’t play with audio. My speakers are always off haha. I just have to always be paying attention to the screen. But mechanics are very much workable soundless.

So, even the other Goblins in this patch are just text boxes to me outside of cinematics (no I don’t emergency turn of speakers, I look them up on YT later, because sometimes cinematics are unforgettable because of Voice Performances.)

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I really don’t think it’s because of how old the character is in the game’s life, or the amount of screentime he gets. When so many other goblins have lines, a patch’s co-protagonist missing them stands out hard. I can’t imagine it being anything other than an accident or something preventing Blizzard to get his lines / a replacement for them in time.

If anything, I think hypothetically denying him voice lines intentionally would be self-defeating, because it would damage people’s likelihood of connecting with the character, and thus not caring about any future events that feature him.

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Except people, mainly alliance players, are already connected to him. And the lack of voice lines in other forms of WoW content backs up the theory that Renzik lived as a whisper in the ear of his allies once he joined SI:7

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All the more reason why him having voice lines would be important, IMO. Because then maybe some (more?) horde players would care about him too.

Though since his job is brought up, it does make his caring about the welfare of other goblins ring a bit hollow when he works for an organization that’s helped kill his own people.

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That makes less than zero sense when Zirdo is voiced and is in 3 quests before dying. Also yes you do want players attached to characters that are going to die, that’s how writing and storytelling works.

It’s almost certainly a VA strike issue. There prob is someone assigned to do it, and may have even recorded the lines, but is withholding it. Sucks but it’ll be added later, oh well.

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Oh no, now the strikes are getting to the goblin players. :cry:

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I’m certainly not upset by it. If both options were available, I’d have prefered he be voice acted, but I also am neither shocked nor upset by it, WoW’s voice acting has historically been quite sporadic as to which NPCs get unique voices, and when those NPCs will be voice acted versus not.

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It’s an over-exaggeration to say that people are upset. It’s just something that is weird when everyone else has voice lines. He may have “worked from the shadows” (has nothing to do with being voiceless) but he’s now a focused character. He should have vo work.

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Guess they didnt want a Runas 2.0 situation.

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I thought it was buggy. Did the devs say why he didn’t have a voice? I just thought it odd but really don’t care.