I have been reading some posts that have dishearten. It sounded like nonsense and I don’t think people from the Blizzard writing team would take it seriously… but.
In the past, Garrosh was taken down a path that felt subjective to what the players wanted. People were unhappy with him as a Warchief so they wanted to kill him. They got what they wanted and a character with HUGE potential was thrown away. It’s happening again, and it’s worse because Sylvanas has been with the Horde since the beginning.
I speak as someone who enjoys her character and is disappointed in the position she has been put in. Because I don’t know what will happen in the coming story, it would be unfair to criticize the ending of this war campaign (it’s still happening even since BFA), but she is THE leader of the forsaken and my ideals for playing as one are dead without her stirring the ship. I don’t like Calia and it feels force fed for us to just take her as a new leader.
Alliance posters who scream justice and call for murder are actually worrying me because I don’t think they really care about us Horde players and how we feel about the situation. Some Horde players feel the same way, but it’s because they see the logic in the fact that she has done terrible things. I don’t know HOW they’re going to resolve this, again, unfair to criticize until I know the conclusion.
I ask for empathy from Alliance players. If this is just a game to you and your just playing the bully then I ask you to refrain yourself (not like it will matter). Blizzard writers who I hope are reading this PLEASE don’t take my Banshee Queen away. I’m ready to protest with my toon forever staying near her grave/ whatever prison she might get locked up in.
I don’t think anyone outside of the writing department should have any say on what happens to any character.
People can be especially… passionate… about their favourite fictional characters. The writers write stories; the characters feature in them. Not the other way around.
Stick to branding these people as loonies and carry on, I say!
Blizzard has become so corporate now. I cannot have any faith that they won’t be influenced to make the decision that will make everyone happy or if that’s impossible, the one that makes the most people happy.
Sylvanas led the horde in committing genocide against the alliance (night elves). so yeah players on the Alliance are invested in her fate.
We had quests detailing a genocide level event. Such experience is going to shape how things are. The problem is that since they had her order a genocide. you can’t go back. A line has been crossed, the ink is dry, and the pandora’s box has been opened. Nothing can close that box, uncross that line, and remove the ink.
GIven the extent to which Sylvanas in particular’s actions intersected with the Alliance narrative, I’d say that yes, Alliance players deserve a say in what happens with her.
We aren’t talking about someone like Thrall or Baine or Vol’jin whose arcs have been largely Alliance independent, we’re talking about someone who, via their actions and presence, has been affecting the Alliance since day one.
In fact, no other Horde character has affected the Alliance as much unless you’re going to count folks like Guldan and Ner’zhul.
Obviously they will be influenced by their audience - their audience, not loud and rabid fans. The majority of updates to PvE (the entirety of BFA) have been on the back of the playerbase’s various outcries and valid criticisms of garbage systems (most of which voiced in the betas/alphas but only acted on after it became a dumpster fire).
Storywise, Bwonsamdi having a bigger role in Shadowlands is a big one. That was an active change to the story; he was probably meant to die in Shadows Rising. Some rabid Tyrande or Sylvanas cultists won’t be the catalyst of (story) change at Blizzard, it is if there’s a collective and unforseen love of a character - Bwonsamdi and Zekhan, again, are the only ones off the top of my head I can think of.
Bolvar was originally going to die at the Wrathgate but they changed the story due to player affection for the character.
Generally, unforeseen attachment to an NPC leads to that NPC being elevated in importance. I don’t think it’s ever resulted in a character that’s already as significant as Sylvanas having a major rewrite.
No one but the writers should have a “say” in how to write their characters, but in this specific medium - a story that exists to service a video game and keep its players engaged - audience reactions are important to gauge. The audience shouldn’t be pandered to at the expense of authorial intent, but in wrapping up a character as heinous and contentious as Sylvanas, I’d like to think leaving both sides halfway satisfied would be the wise thing to do.
It’s not really fair to write off the feelings of mad Alliance players when their frustration and impotence were cultivated just as deliberately as the loyalty and affection Sylvanas inspired within you.
90% of the playerbase does not pay attention to the story, the gameplay team led by Ion just wants a steady stream of raid bosses, and the creative development team is all but barred from reading fan input on story decisions which all but guarantees they do not read this forum or /warcraftlore or watch certain Youtubers etc.
Most of the posters here cannot even accurately identify who in creative development holds what positions at Blizzard and what their actual functioning adult day to day roles are.
Trust me, no one here has any say in what happens to important characters, Horde or Alliance.
Ion has said they are going to pursue the Sylvanas story they want to pursue in Shadowlands no matter what anyone has to say about it and I believe them.
EDIT: Also the WoW community demands characters be killed off at the drop of a hat, see Anduin and Tyrande as the most recent examples.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that since Danuser strongly hinted that she’ll escape justice and either return to the Horde or become a neutral character.
And twitter is the worst place to listen to because of those twitter bubbles. It’s just an echo chamber with one sided feedback
As for the OP: When your Horde character eradicated an entire Alliance race and destroyed / conquered their zones, I think it’s fair that Alliance players want that character to face justice.
It’s like saying that Blood Elf players shouldn’t have had a say in what happens to Arthas because he once was an Alliance character. Or that Alliance players shouldn’t have been invested in Gul’dans fate.
This goes without saying that many people play both factions, I too used to like playing Horde characters before BfA.
Of course they do, they’re players. And the majority of players nowadays even if they main certain faction they are still exposed to the opposite faction content and can have their opinions about it.
I don’t see why their opinion should be invalidated because they main one faction, I also have an opinion about Alliance characters and I can elaborate quite well about my stance about them and what I’d prefer when it comes to their development.
Forums are about sharing opinions and observations so muting one side because it has different background color is IMO ridiculous. Sure some will feel strongly about their favorites, but that is the beauty of it that we can see various opinions appearing.
When it comes to influence on writers- I don’t think player base has any big impact on them, and sure - in the end they’re the ones calling the shot, but we’re still allowed to comment on it.
I don’t think debating who gets a “say” is the right approach. It could be more accurate to ask which audience should get more priority when it comes to certain stories.
For example, Draenei players didn’t get a “say” in seeing Velen more during Legion, but they as an audience got to see him represented in one of the expansions most relevant to him and his peoples’ eons-long struggle. What happened to Velen in that story is something that was important, valuable, and constructive for Draenei lore as a whole.
Meanwhile, many orc players felt they didn’t receive much attention at all in Legion, despite the orcs’ relevance to the Legion and the Draenei. An orc fan could complain about Velen talking to Kil’jaeden, saying that an orc should have been in his place, but valuing that orc fan’s “say” should track directly to the lore value of what they’re saying. Which would have more impact? Velen or an orc? THAT is where the line can be drawn.
TLDR; Anyone can have a “say”, but some audiences should still be prioritized above others according to which story outcome would be most impactful and uniquely relevant to them, and some audience groups have fewer opportunities for that than others. What Sylvanas did to the night elves could have been accomplished by any villain, but who Sylvanas is to the Horde and the Forsaken is everything. Her role in the Horde/Forsaken story cannot be replaced so easily, therefore her resolution should not be that of a generic villain’s.
The thing is. many characters have crossed that same line and have been walked back. What Sylvanas has done isn’t an isolated incident it’s something that happens regularly in this game. Also this character wasn’t created in a vacuum, she’s a product of her environment and that environment is hostile.
