… Until she started hating the Horde… justifiably considering the Horde has killed just about everyone she’s ever cared about. Leave it to the Horde to look at the complete destruction of a city and say “Get over it” and wash their hands of any and all responsibility.
She’s gotten over it, and she’s giving the Horde a taste of their own medicine now. For those of you who dislike her, keep in mind that she is doing what the Horde has been doing to the Alliance for years, and that’s why I am not sympathetic with those who are upset with the Horde story. It’s our turn to be conquerors. After countless atrocities, it’s about time the Horde is put in their place.
I don’t think players hate Jaina because she hates the Horde. I said it in another thread, but I believe the hate for Jaina stems from the fact that she is the living guilt of the Horde. She was the Alliance leader who believed in the Horde, who sacrificed for the Horde, who constantly assured everyone else that the Horde was just, honorable, and redeemed.
And then the Horde threw it all back in her face when Garrosh took over.
Jaina Proudmoore is the symbol of terrible writing that Horde players were forcefully saddled with through Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria, and her continued existence is an endless affirmation of that terrible writing. She is the victim of the Horde, and I think a lot of Horde players want to move on from that terrible period in the story. They don’t want to feel guilty 24/7 anymore. They don’t want to have a character who is a constant reminder of it all.
The main part I dislike about Jaina is her unpredictable mental illness.
WC3: She hates the Horde
WC3: She wuvs the Horde
Cata: She hates the Horde
Cata: wuvs the Horde
Cata: hates the Horde
MoP: creepily wuvs the Horde
MoP: murders the Horde
WoD: trusts the Horde
Legion: hates the Horde
Yet, Horde players need to learn to differentiate between bad writing and simply writing they don’t like. Cata, they had a hero if the Horde kill steal the big bad before coming the first mortal Dragon Aspect…
… Imo, MOP is the best story WoW has ever produced.
Jaina isn’t a symbol of bad writing, she is a symbol of the Horde’s failure.
Whether you think it’s bad writing or failure it amounts to the same thing. A lot of players who want Jaina dead and gone want to move past the Horde’s guilt and into another story.
I only truly disliked her from BfA on. Not because of her hatred for the Horde, not in spite of it either, but because of her power creep, in addition to Tyrande and Malfurion with no Horde answer, while Velen still exists.
As has been pointed out numerous times her, or even just her water elemental, handily defeating numerous powerful enemies, or those enemies having the inability to stop her, has been the issue at hand. I dont want a single character that can dictate the entire narrative with a flick of the wrist. I want a character that works in tandem with their material conditions, that isn’t held separately and above the story.
You need to try to look at it from the perspective of Horde players. They had no say in the story of Cataclysm-Mists of Pandaria. They’re made to feel guilty over something they had no control over whatsoever. Honestly that’ll probably extend to the entire Night Elf race now as well.
This game has turned downright lousy to be Horde, and Jaina really was the start of that downward spiral.
As a long time Story Forum user, let me say that there was never a time Jaina wasn’t getting a large amount of hate.
Before Theramore’s destruction, Jaina was massively unpopular among Alliance Story Forum Posters, and was more popular with Horde players. There were discussions on the older forums.
Not to say that all Alliance players hated her, there were many who loved her, and not to say all Horde loved her, there were hordies that hated her. But when the threads became an argument, it was mostly Hordies that defended her actions, and mostly Alliance that condemned her.
Fall of Theramore polarised those views.
Think of it like Baine. Most of his haters are Horde players, and most of his supporters are Alliance players. At least, in regards to the Toons they post on.
Yeah, another reason some dislike her, is that the Horde has now been forced to fight her 5x by Blizz, and auto-lose all of them (except End Time) because she’s stronger than God and has the writers on her side.
It’s not really a creep. These characters have always been this powerful, and what the Horde is facing right now is all because Sylvanas burned Teldrassil.
There doesn’t need to be an answer from the opposite faction. The characters are as they always have been. That kind of faction bias writing ping pong game makes things boring.
This isn’t a story issue, this is a crybabies complaining about not being strong enough issue.
To be absolutely fair I was unhappy with Jaina back then myself. She was supposed to be an intelligent and wise individual but she was being written as this naive little girl. I could understand her desire for peace, but I didn’t agree with it.
As someone who loves Mages, loves Dalaran and the Kirin Tor, seeing her basically bend over backwards and do a crab-walk for the Horde bothered me. I also won’t lie, seeing Theramore destroyed and her resulting hatred felt cathartic, but not satisfying, because she still wasn’t the intelligent and wise person she was supposed to be.
I’m very happy with the balance the writers have finally found with her, where she can take the fight to the Horde for the good of the Alliance, but also desire peace and work towards that goal without leaving the Alliance out to dry.