Blizzard, it’s been nearly 30 years of Warcraft as a franchise. For some people that have been there from the beginning, we’re more or less familiar with the lore (although it does get a little confusing with books, chronicles, retcons, and whatever Med’an is). For new people I imagine it’s a bit of a nightmare to get what’s going on–Chromie time is a decent levelling mechanic but honestly that really only gives you the perspective of a single expansion as you level–it’s hard for new players to get invested in the lore if they only catch a small glimpse of it.
Now as a solution–you have a library in the Stormwind Keep (and could very easily find a way to put one in Orgimmar). Most of those books are 2D textures from ages ago, but what if you added some kind of encyclopedia volumes that went into easily accessible detail on the lore, the setting, the differences between the many species of elves, pantheons, religions, nations, history, etc?
That way, people have the option to, in-game, understand their characters’ place in the world? IIRC other MMO’s have done this, off-hand I believe SWTOR had a glossary where when you discovered something new it’d have a lore snippet about it. It goes a long way to creating a more cohesive world, it’s lore you already have, and gives people something to do when in queu for dungeons/raids/pvp/etc.
12 Likes
All Orgrimmar and Horde stuff is half hearted at best. See the portal room? There is your answer
1 Like
This would actually be great.
Though to be realistic, I think most of these would have to either be generalized and lacking in specific details or merely written from an in-universe perspective, as they’d still want to be able to sell the actual novels and compendium-style books.
That said, would still be a great asset for new players and even existing players who want to know the current canon status of things without having to discern what’s been retconned or who want to fill in some details on things without digging through the wiki.
2 Likes
And deprive themselves of the boatloads of secondary income they make from books?
The vast majority of players quite frankly… DO NOT CARE.
Those that do will buy the books, so you’re asking Blizzard to spend money on things that will ultimately cost them money.
That’s not true. I haven’t bought a single one. I’m broke. But I still care about the lore. And others have complained in the past “Put the lore in the game. I do not want want to buy any books. I want to see it in the game.”
1 Like
And like I said… you’re a minority of the minority. And you’ve been boning on the lore in the various sites that you can visit for free so I really doubt that there would be anything new in such a library for you.
And the majority of players have not bought the books, and maybe the ones who do not care about the lore, would care if it were more accessible, and like I said, many people have complained that the lore is not in-game.
Despite how much I’ve talked about the lore, there is still much that I don’t know about, whether in-game or books.
I too appoint myself to represent the “vast majority of players” and you are wrong
5 Likes
The best place to find lore books for Horde used to be, ironically enough, Undercity. They were scattered all over the place—a fact Christie Golden ignored when she retconned Forsaken society in BtS and tried to claim that Sylvanas suppressed thinking about their past.
3 Likes
I bought them all and despite the price tag it will find a way to people regardless somehow so I see no problem with extra lore outside of the IP. Halo did it from the beginning.
That’s kinda what I’m getting at; I’ve never read nor do I plan on reading BtS. I’m playing the game, the lore should be in the game that I’m playing. If you’re going really into the weeds with some of it then by all means yeah, throw it in a book and make a buck off of it, but the lore shouldn’t be gated behind what is essentially microtransactions.
3 Likes
There isn’t a single popular fantasy game out there who isn’t selling books for extra story. Stop being mad about something that isn’t bad.
I think you’re a little confused. Nobody is mad, this is a suggestion. Also nobody is saying they can’t or shouldn’t “sell books for extra story”. The suggestion is to include relevant lore in a logical place where it can be accessed in-game.
4 Likes
If done properly, in-game books could be teasers and advertisements for the purchasable books. Maybe even push sales of some of the older books, which tend to be forgotten.
5 Likes
Silvermoon apparently has a world class library that survived the Scourging; the one Scryer guy talks about it in Shatt. That’s something I’d like to see, preferably with the functionality you outlined in your OP, if they expand Sunfury Spire in Midnight.
7 Likes
Man I miss the Scryers. The one good thing from TBC. Since they were actually some of the best forces under Kael’thas.
This game would really benefit from having an ingame lore codex, they could even weave it in with archaeology profession as something you uncover the more you find.
7 Likes
I think this is an excellent idea. It would be especially helpful for players who never played the RTS games to get an idea of what the early lore was. It would also help players to better understand the origins of the different factions and playable races in the game with an overview of them in game. Perhaps have a short quest to introduce these libraries to players as a resource for RP content as well.
5 Likes
Man I love that idea. Archaeology was one of those things that in practice, gameplay-wise had very short-lived novelty. I loved that feeling of searching for things and uncovering them, but the little tripod warmer-warmer-colder-warmer thing got pretty lame. That said it’s something I wish they’d go back to, which they kinda did with the Traitor’s Rest stuff, but I really liked how with Archaeology you’d find something and have a little journal that went more in-depth into what it was.
So something like that for “new” things that you discover, and something that’s accessible in a hub for “common knowledge”.
3 Likes
They won’t add in game libraries because they retcon lore every Tuesday. They’d have to update them all the time.
1 Like