Her redemption is coming because she has been made whole again. Thus, the Ranger General we knew before her death in wcIII. She will be a Sylvanas we have not known in game for the duration of wow.
This isn’t redemption, it’s replacement.
Swapping out one Sylvanas for another only allows for them to salvage her name and face.
Though I suppose the overwhelming majority of players will still refer to it as such (either as shorthand or in misunderstanding).
3 Likes
So did Arthas. Do you feel the same way about him?
7 Likes
The cinematic was ok, but I am loving the reactions.
Way to go, Blizz! Stick it to them NEFPAs. Worgo fans. Human Alliance fans that clamor for Lordaeron. All of them who have been whining for years.
It is sooo awesome to see them leaping as if their panties are in a snit.
I dont know where we go from here. Maybe Baine just smashes her head with a Totem and we are done with her. But what ever may come- the tears from the Sylvanas haters are a satisfying deluge.
2 Likes
Good for the goose and all that jazz. But yeah, if Sylvanas is getting redeemed, than I would say Arthas qualifies, much as I personally disagree with it.
3 Likes
Yes actually, I wanted them both to get their souls back. Not a fan of heroes being turned into villains. Thus, also disliking what they are doing to Anduin. I had thought/hoped for redemption for Arthas and Sylvanas long ago. Then figured that blizz was never going to until I learned of the new expansions name shadowlands and its afterlife theme. Then I knew it was finally coming.
1 Like
They 100% didn’t think it’d go over well.
In a pre-Shadowlands interview, Ion Hazzikostas said this:
We know that particularly when navigating storylines involving beloved or hated characters, almost anything that we do, no matter which direction we take - Where does Sylvanas go? Which one of these many many paths awaits her? - we’re going to piss a good chunk of people off.
Steve Danuser posted this:
Christie Golden’s own posts also show preemptive apprehension, however they were in-regards to death threats which she received (utterly unacceptable that she - or any author - receive those for any circumstance), so I’m not going to link it in the interest of not derailing the conversation.
Point is, in a rare instance, Ion was right. No matter how this cinematic resolved, a lot of people were going to hate it. However, designing the story such that a large chunk of the playerbase would be upset? That was intentional. To hook people into their story, they shoved a narrative knife into the long-built fantasies (racial, faction, character) of their playerbase and twisted it. They focused this knife on one character, and she is, by far, the character who is most responsible in-universe for all the other wounds.
It just sucks that, of all the ways they could have resolved this, they chose to favor their own favorites over shepherding the expectations of the community. They chose the option that would upset the most players.
It’s not over, not yet. There’s a few options for Sylvanas that could be satisfying-ish. I’m privy to nuVanas to volunteer herself to Revendreth, or her wandering Azeroth alone and forgotten, a single soul trying to right her own wrongs. So long as she isn’t glorified at the end: no place of honor, no statue, no one thanking her, just a “You helped. Now, get lost.”
However, it’s clear that Blizzard cares more for playing with their toys than they do shepherding the thoughts of the community. People getting pissed at their decisions is the cost they paid to take our collective love of a fantasy universe for a joy ride.
10 Likes
No?
- Survivors who relate to her wanted her to have agency as her own character and not be reacting because of man-related PTSD
- Loyalist fans wanted her to have agency and this be her own choice
- Anti-Sylvanas fans wanted her to be held accountable
- Extreme Sylvanas fans wanted her to survive and open the door to be redeemed
There was a story that could’ve been written that did 1, 2, and 3, and only anger 4.
They chose to do 4, and angered 1, 2, and 3.
7 Likes
Did they even really do 4 when her rejoined soul is potentially a different character altogether?
Did my post come across as excusing her? That wasn’t my intent. In fact, I didn’t intend to communicate any judgments about her one way or the other.
Yes
She survived.
A narrative door is open for redemption.
That’s quite literally point 4.
The rest of this entire situation is left ambiguous.
1 Like
You talk like “the community” has a single unified desire, right after acknowledging that a lot of people were going to hate any resolution they came up with, which implies diverse views.
There are majorities and minorities within the community.
And we have no way of knowing what they are. We can visit forums and so on, but let’s not kid ourselves that they represent “the community” as a whole.
Of course we do, even accounting for self-selection bias, one can estimate due to the vast sea of online presence, the amount of dislikes certain videos have gotten, and if you really wanted to an in-game survey about how the players feel about the story that pops up when you log into live.
Dude the story sucks. There’s now way around it.
There were communities that could’ve been discerned and they went with the one that pisses the most people off:
I’m not saying the story is great. I’m just saying we don’t know that the number of people who wanted Sylvanas to die is the majority that Blizzard should have catered to. I’m betting most casual players who don’t really follow the story are thinking “Huh, interesting twist” right about now.
Neither did I say the majority wanted Sylvanas to die, as I illustrated in my approximations of at least four communities
They went with 1 group to piss off 3 groups instead of balancing 3 groups to piss off 1
They aren’t lol recurring GD thread is “I don’t understand the story”
5 Likes
Maybe not you, but I’m pretty sure that’s what Falothrin was saying. And that’s what I’m pushing back against.
The one group that doesn’t care as long as it’s called Sylvanas and looks like Sylvanas, then “yay, redemption!”
I personally hope it sticks about as good as Illidan’s redemption.
1 Like