like i said, i don’t agree that most of the units were created solely based on story concerns…i mean they had multiplayer from the get go with wc1.
secondly, it’s an rts game…basically every rts game has to consider what units bring to the game or how they will unbalance it etc.
it’s not just the esports element, it’s the fact they have always been gameplay first focused…that’s diablo is mostly about the loot and smashing enemies.
something that shows this for example is the emphasis blizzard put on the death animations for diablo…the point of the game is to kill and loot and they want your kills to be stylish and satisfying and addictive…in a way.
ie they want it to have similar appeal to an arcade game in that sense, and we all know arcade games are generally gameplay not story focused genres
Oh, i was so close like your post. Warcraft III lore was the pillar of foundation for the modern WoW lore and universe, and the most iconic characters from the universe had their stories crafted there.
Tell me which expansion do you believe had this “superb glorious writing”? Because if you’re like others and say something like WOTLK I’m gonna have to ask why? You joke on Legion while the Broken Shore scenario caused more death and raised more stakes than Arthas did in pretty much the entirety of his campaign. All he did was twirl his “foolish heroes” mustache and sacrifice all his greatest minions purposely taunting us so he could kill us all, only to be Deus Ex Machina’d into death in less than 5 seconds at the end. Wrathgate was probably the best writing of WOTLK and that was 1 scenario.
Meanwhile Legion gave each class a unique storyline to pursue. It had the Suramar Campaign which imo is arguably one of the best written campaigns if not the best the MMO itself has ever produced. It gave us Return to Karazhan. And no offense you talking about Sylvanas as if she weren’t always some jackwad selfish character and this interesting multi dimensional person is kind of false imo. She was bound to be exposed sooner or later.
I tried to read it… it was… um… not good at all and I couldn’t make it more than half way through the first book. That said, I know other people who adore the books.
I also know someone who loved the Twilight books (shudder). That person no longer gets cookies.
I’ll be honest, I don’t mind how Sylvanas was handled in the slightest. Seeing her finally act out all her sociopathic fantasies on the world was great, and a fantastic spectacle.
It all starts to fall apart with how the other races interact with her. Save for some CGI cutscenes about sad Saurfang, it took two major patches for anyone to seriously start questioning her actions, and motives - in the game, the entire Horde seems to rally unquestionably alongside her up 'til that point.
Even Baine, the quintessential ‘traitor’ everyone loves to harp on, took far longer than he should have to actually reach that point. Combine that with months-long waits between story beats, and it makes the story feel totally disjointed.
The flavor text in the cities, in this patch, is probably what they should have been doing all expansion. Seeing what the Horde thinks of what she’s doing on a personal level - even if they’re still going along with it, and performing horrible acts - would do a lot to ground it all.
It really isn’t and I have no idea why you would even make a comment like this. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know when a launch goes bad. You don’t need to be a fireman or a chemical engineer to know that houses made of wood will burn down. You don’t need to be a writer to know that Blizzard’s writing is awful.
It is by far the worst narrative they have pushed in a game that has had a string of god-awful narratives. The only reason it’s passable is because I can pass on it entirely and just play Classic so I don’t have to deal with it.
Except for when they turn characters into super god like beings i.e. Tyrande and Malfurion, Jaina, Velen or pretty much any alliance leader. The ingame story can’t afford to have these gods just blowing up the Horde like they should be doing, so the writers have them do things that are completely idiotic.
Which is why I preferred when leaders were just punching bags sitting in their city.
The story not being what you want or imagined it to be doesnt make it bad.
This is a huge problem with so many industries and fandoms these days. People getting outraged when plots and stories dont align with their personal headcannon. Its ridiculous. “Its bad because its not what I wanted it to be!” Get over yourself.
Yeah, I would have to agree that it has been a major stumbling point for the plot.
As for why they went for it? That’s a bit easier to understand. More complex plots are becoming increasingly popular across all media, lately being propelled by television series like Game of Thrones (that whole kerfuffle over the ending after it overtook the books notwithstanding) which have series-long story arcs.
As for the focus on television… well, let’s call it the “prime source” for entertainment for the majority of people out there. Probably still is, so trends which affect it will likely have an influence on other media like video games. A decade or so ago, nearly all of television was episodic. Possibly to deal with the fact that because broadcast times were largely fixed and people missing an episode was an inevitability. But thanks to things like DVD sets of entire seasons (a lot easier to make/handle than VHS tapes) and now streaming services where people can pickup wherever the left off and whenever they feel like it… complex series-long story arcs are no longer a problem. In fact?
People are loving them.
As such, it’s natural for many games to try and incorporate more complex plots rather than go with “big dumb plots”… that and the “big dumb plots” start to look a little lacking next to all the complex ones flying around. I’d say they still have their place, and a well-executed “big dumb plot” is INFINITELY more preferable to horrendously done complex one.
… but with a lot of WoW trying to follow popular trends lately (after being a trendsetter for so long), this has not played out very well at all.
I hope something interesting and exciting happens with the Alliance in the next xpac.
So sick of this goody goody nothing goes wrong within the ranks - even though I’m no fan of Tyrande, when she walked away from Anduin after asking for aide with what was going on after the burning of the tree I was like - FINALLY someone going against the grain - then…nothing really has come of it, other than Tyrande being MIA which after yrs of playing a Night Elf I’m pretty much used to her being gone since she likes to trail off after her beloved when a leaf crawls up his rear end.
