Don’t know why he feels bland to me. Maybe because he lacks more a history or prior connections.
I wholeheartedly disagree. We were given plenty of characterization with characters like Lasan Skyhorn and the history of the Highmountain tauren and the black dragonflight/Deathwing via the Huln flashbacks.
Umbric feels like a one-note character in comparison.
11 Likes
(Observation): I find this to be something of a problem with Void Elves in general. You cannot delve into their past without making their past selves into Blood Elf characters, which only underlines the problem that they’re former Blood Elves. How mad might Blood Elf fans be to learn Umbric was actually a super interesting and respectable citizen of Quel’Thalas prior to his exile? Or that he was the oft lamented connection to how the Blood Elves used to be before the Sunwell restored, and his exile only made it easier for Liadrin to turn the Blood Elves into Horde Humans of the Light? There’s so much potential for salt.
(Commentary): Void Elves as they are, are a mistake. They should’ve been Alliance High Elves transformed by the void.
9 Likes
That should never be a reason to not develop a Charakter.
(Commentary): I don’t disagree, but by the same token, it’s going to be a sore spot. Every time a Void Elf is developed and fleshed out and does something really neat, there will be players going, “WTF? He was a Blood Elf, why wasn’t he being this cool when he was with us?!”
2 Likes
Like i said, “not that bad”. It is not ideal, but they’ve been using external sources to develop characters since the beginning, at least it seems the case looking back.
Zekhan being developed in a book might lead into in-game events, and then, people who don’t buy the books if interested enough will research and say: “oh, that is cool”.
Umbric doesn’t even have that chance, well, at least not confirmed so far, he has been major in the War campaign, but that is it.
I mean, look. The Alliance gets tons of character development, in game and outside of it. So maybe you’re thinking it’s the same for the Horde. I get that. It’s easy not to think about the other side of the fence. But we had to find out who our orc racial leader was over twitter two expansion in a row. They flat out don’t add our racial leaders to our cities. They don’t advance our story at all outside of villain bats.
So, I’m pretty mad they’re doing this in a book which will cost more than my not inconsiderable 15 dollars a month.
6 Likes
He destroyed capitalism comrade.
2 Likes
because he didn´t exist before.
Void Elves is a last-minute race and Umbric is a last-minute character. Void Elves’s background story isn’t very different from Blood Elves, except instead of Fel they sought out Void. That doesn’t make them interesting.
1 Like
Communism…IS FREEEEEE!!!
2 Likes
I just want to say, I very much like Umbric as a character, but due to the void Elves as a whole having a lack of meaningful contribution to the expansion as a whole, they very much feel like an after thought, and the fact that they are literally just Blood Elves, in name, personality & history, I feel like they don’t actually add anything new or interesting to the Alliance. I feel like there were far better options as far as allied races are concerned for the Alliance, and I’m disappointed we didn’t get any of those instead. Void Elves feel like a half-compromise in giving the Alliance ‘High-Elves’ because Blizzard thinks all High Elf fans want are the model & animations. With all that being said, I sincerely hope that the storyline of the Void Elves is greatly expanded upon & made to be more interesting into the future, and I am waiting excitedly for that day.
1 Like
Imagine if the Horde had this very same questline.
Imagine how people would scream that the Horde were monsters. Imagine how much detail we would go into about the sheer horror of what was about to be inflicted, how the victims would scream horribly as they were portaled, how everyone involved would express doubt over their course of action, question their leaders, and be lectured as to their awfulness.
The Alliance? Eh, it’s fine.
14 Likes
I mean it’s not like Goblins are people
1 Like
No, that was my point.
If you check the Wowhead comments on that quest, they echo that sentiment.
That’s also one of the things Shandris was talking about when her and Umbric were discussing the ramifications of him using Void Magic to begin with.
Besides, the scale was a bit different. This was…I think six diplomats? Bit different than the things that cause people to scream about monsters, and such.
I want to be clear. I wasn’t being facetious. That actually was ghoulish. The NPCs do scream.
I think that’s one of the points of the Void Elves, actually. They’re the ones who don’t mind fighting dirty. A lot of the War Campaign involved that. I mean, this person reanimated dinosaurs specifically because he knew that would freak out the Zandalari. That’s…that’s considerably worse.
I don’t agree. For one, where would they find that many high elves? And as I’ve said before, this kind of fits the history of higborne/high elves/blood elves: Screwing around with magic they have no business screwing with, then paying a terrible price.
It makes more sense to say “these are a group of elves from the established city of Silvermoon” than it does to say “these are a group of elves that somehow had remained hidden even after Quel’thalas fell, who just are here now.”
I also think it makes the narrative a bit richer. They do have ties to both the Horde and the Alliance, much like the Windrunner sisters. Gives it an opportunity to develop things…
…though I agree that they could use a bit more development than just being random NPCs in quests and troops/followers in Garrison 3.0 missions.
1 Like
Oh, it is. And do pardon my kind of aggressive reply to it - the free pass that the Void Elves get is one of the things that grates most upon me. In my mind, the greatest proof that Blizzard treats the same action by both factions differently. Moreover, it’s proof they know how to approach questionable actions without going full-on morality play about it, but this nuance was reserved for Alliance operations while the Horde had things turned up to 11 and then had their faces rubbed in it. It’s a point I’m kind of bitter about, in other words.
14 Likes
Oh, okay. I getcha.
This is more due to their curious decision to have the Horde constantly making baby stew for the majority of this expansion? Yeah, I hear you.
For the record? I’m against that constant characterization. Even ignoring how it makes the player base feel, it cheapens the overall narrative. And as I’ve said, it manages to make Horde players feel like villains, and Alliance players feel like idiots.
But I get the bitterness, and appreciate the apology. I hear you.
I laughed at what Umbric did because in a vacuum, him phrasing it like that is pretty funny. It’s like he knows what he’s doing, but looks in the face of the plucky usually-not-void-touched player, does some quick mental math and realizes the truth won’t go over well, then just says “…somewhere else.”
That’s what made me laugh.
2 Likes
(Observation): The Silver Covenant alone is probably twice as large numerically as the Void Elves. It would’ve been a good continuation of their story, in my opinion.
3 Likes
I have no idea what the actual numbers are for anything. But I don’t see the Silver Covenant - who I believe rejected the study of fel magic - rushing to the study of void magic with open arms.
Besides, that’s Vereesa’s thing. Vereesa’s got her high elves, Sylvanas’ got her blood elves, and Alleria’s got her void elves.
(Commentary): Oh I agree. But I do see the Silver Covenant accompanying Alleria on a mission into the Twisting Nether in search of remnants of her forces from the Second War, a terrible void accident happening, and the Silver Covenant becoming Void Elves as a result and relying on Alleria’s teachings to not succumb to corruption. It would’ve been a tragic story, but a better one than what we have.
4 Likes