So Ardenweald story is as much troll as night elf?

Lore Story Forum
2066

I am assuming you want my thoughts specifically on your outlook on the Circle itself? It is a fairly large post that kind of meanders through several topics.

I can understand your perspective. Especially since, as of now, I am fairly sure you hate the Horde and all its races rather vehemently. So naturally you see the Horde’s druids as “barbarians LARPing as night elves” and feel that they’ve stolen a piece of night elf culture from them.

Naturally I disagree with that sentiment. The Cenarion Circle, to me, has always been more than just a night elf thing. Yes, they started the tradition. But the role of a druid in the world isn’t to safeguard their secrets from others for their own benefit. It is to serve as a guardian of nature. The night elves are very good at being nature guardians, but it would be foolish to turn other likeminded individuals away based on their race. That just leaves fewer guardians of nature in the world.

I love nature. I love being outside as much as I can manage. I always, without fail, play a nature-focused class in any game I choose. My love of nature is more core to my self perception than just about any other trait I possess. The fantasy I want to experience the most is always that as a warrior who defends the natural world be that a ranger, druid, or some other variant of that theme.

Now, I mained night elves in WC3. My first WoW character was also a night elf, and I still have a night elf druid I occasionally roleplay. I do, in fact, love night elf aesthetics and culture. And I do love most of their characters and lore. The War of the Ancients was among the first WoW books I ever read and I got them purely for Malfurion.

The reason I switched from night elf to tauren is entirely because I realized that, on the Alliance, I was spending all my time around Stormwind surrounded by white stone towers and castle walls. It was the capital, after all. And at the time it seemed like Blizzard had no intention of providing substantial night elf content, so I switched so I could be around trees more.

Then later I switched to troll because they were my favorite race and the only thing stopping me from playing one was the lack of druid.

So this isn’t just me, a barbarian, trying to steal your culture. In all likelihood I’ve been invested in the night elf story at least as long as you have. But my investment wasn’t the night elves as a people. It was in their druids and their ties to nature.

You say I’m a barbarian LARPing as a Roman. I say I’m just doing what I’ve always done no matter what robes I was wearing at the time. And I say the Cenarion Circle isn’t the Holy Roman Empire in this situation. They’re more like the Vatican. They may have begun as a Roman institution but they now have ties across all of Europe and the pope can come from any part of Christendom.

Because the nationality wasn’t the important part of the organization. The mission was.

I hope that was sufficient to explain my thoughts. And that I actually addressed what you wanted me to.

1 Like
2067

I think it has. I of course disagree with aspects of your perspective, but I appreciated getting to know it just a little bit better. It leaves me with some things to think about regarding the Cenarion Circle.

In particular - I regard it as critical that we respect the various communities and their investment in the story, and I have mostly regarded this on a racial, rather than a class or order level. You present yourself as an example of a community that I have up until now ignored, for which I must now make room for if I am to remain intellectually consistent.

I can only thank you for that - and hopefully it will lead to some new ideas.

2 Likes
2068

The problem is: its impossible to please every grp. We have 10 races for each faction
We have 12 classes and we have >10 factions in game, two of them playable, which fanbases arround them.

Its not healthy to try to please everyone, because its impossible

2069

I disagree when we are discussing a world’s worth of content, especially when we are criticizing content that went out of its way to drive people from the game.

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2070

This is true, and I think we can all agree pleasing Gandred must rank as Blizzard’s chief priority.

2071

You can’t satisfy everyone, already at a diversity of >2 it becomes difficult, at a diversity of 2^10^12^10 it is almost impossible!

You have to try to satisfy as many as possible, all should not be the goal, because it borders on impossibility.

2072

Kisin’s posts in that topic reminded me of how, back when I was new to the game in TBC, I used to read up on a bunch of mage-related lore to acquaint myself with the class and how I would have loved nothing more than to be able to quest alongside Jaina, because I saw it as a natural progression of the “two sides coming to an understanding” shtick I wanted and how her character basically embodied that.

Boy did THAT monkey’s paw punch me in the face. And it left me especially bitter with how it was done in BFA. I don’t think you could have hand-crafted a better way to take something I would have wanted in the past and make me loathe it.

3 Likes
2073

I disagree, Zahir. You can do that with a model that emphasizes questing and choice with a relatively light-touch approach to major changes, leveraging emergent content. Further, in this format you have no choice but to balance the different interests that you invited into the game.

If you’re not willing to do that, then you’re deliberately telling me that the game should hand out knowingly inferior products to people who are paying the same amount as their counterparts who are invested in the parts of the franchise that (presumably) you find important.

I’m not willing to do that - especially when in order to sell the product to them, you lie to them for years as to what that product is.

1 Like
2074

BfA really went out of its way to sucker punch those of us who like the franchise for the “stand together, not against each other” narrative.

It made me go against Malfurion Stormrage. The leader of the faction all druids are a part of who I literally just helped save the world last expansion.

Oh, but sure. Blizzard gives Loyalists a choice to stay loyal to their genocidal cult leader. Where was my option to turn on Sylvanas and defend my Shan’do?

7 Likes