Story Forum Community Lounge (Part 1)

10/26/2018 01:20 AMPosted by Yvenathilm
I am of the personal opinion that the term Dwarfism should be abolished in place of the term Short Stature. We don't want short people mistaken for Norse Dwarves(also known as Dark Elves and Brunette/Black Elves) now do we?

We should also abolish the term Gigantism in place of the term Large Stature. We don't want large people mistaken for Greek Giants(known as Naga in Hinduism and Buddhism) now do we?

#MythologicalLivesMatter
#MyMythologyIsNotAGeneticCondition
Also of note the word Naga means Cobra which means that the Hindu are calling Giants Cobras even though they aren't real Cobras(despite taking their form)!

The Snake-tailed People should just be called Giants(regardless of size) and leave the term Naga for use on actual Cobras and Naga-Giant for Giants that can turn into Cobras instead of some other Snake!

And furthermore: Undead(term first used for reanimated remains in the Novel Dracula) means Not Dead(in otherwords the Novel was saying the Vampires were not dead) so people should stop treating resurrected People such as Revenants, Zombies(enslaved Revenants), Living Skeletons, Living Mummies, Liches, Death Knights, Vampires and the like as Dead Corpses! They are Resurrected not Dead!
10/25/2018 05:26 PMPosted by Reignac
Every time you turn around it's "Character x from the book! Scene y!" and it shows a lot of care went into it.

I agree, Blizz did amazingly goodjob with the little details. It's perfect mix of WC3, WoW and Blood of the Highborne.

I'm almost tempted to make a thread on it.
1 Like
10/25/2018 05:26 PMPosted by Reignac
Did the blood elf heritage questline on PTR. I'm not a big blood elf fan, but I can only imagine people who love Blood of the Highborne as much as I love the WotA trilogy will love this questline as much as I loved Legion. Every time you turn around it's "Character x from the book! Scene y!" and it shows a lot of care went into it.


I love how Galell and Falon, two characters who only exist in books, were included. And Solanar and Astalor, small time belf characters, also got to appear like they did in the book.

It's fantastic, blood elves are one of my favourite races (though I rarely talk of them) so seeing a part of their history lifted so carefully from the books is great. The devs clearly saw this portion of lore with love.
10/25/2018 09:42 AMPosted by Hackbrew
I am just now learning of this.

Do with it as you will.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mongrel_Horde


This is honestly a concept I'm in love with, and I've imagined many times how my perfect "Mongrel Horde" expansion would play out. It could totally still happen, too! We got Botani and Saberon in Kalimdor, after all. New blood to shake things up! Get the Quillboar on side with the Botani, growing thorns like never before. Have a Saberon warlord unite some Centaur clans. It'd be magical!

10/25/2018 10:34 PMPosted by Saiphas
I want to just hang out and talk positive cool lore things, but more recently I keep finding myself interjecting into arguments when I don’t need to. Any advice?


Maybe it would help to smile when you write every post? I always find myself using softer words and having more fun if I'm typing with a smile. Perhaps it softens our inner voices, and that carries over to external communication? And you could imagine the person you're talking with smiling too! It would feel like you're just old friends having a spirited debate~

10/25/2018 11:16 PMPosted by Darethy
Maybe turn on some rain sounds on the computer, if it's not already raining outside.


I love rain sounds! I have lots of favorites all bookmarked and ready to go, since I have somewhat severe tinnitus. I'm also really into mountaintop ambience, with soothing winds and chirping birds. There's some 4K national park videos on YouTube that are absolutely divine.

Some of the mountaintops in BFA have been giving me the same comforting feelings, in fact. Yesterday I was doing Quillboar quests in Stormsong, and happened to wander up onto a peak. While there was nothing of note up there beyond some adorable piglets for a quest, I felt so relaxed with the gentle mountaintop ambience. Blizzard did a wonderful job with sound design this expansion!

10/26/2018 02:52 AMPosted by Dawnsong
I'm almost tempted to make a thread on it.


You should! Always nice to highlight great content. It sounds like a really great time for Blood Elves, and I'm sure lots of people would be interested to hear your take on things :)
I always find myself using softer words and having more fun if I'm typing with a smile. Perhaps it softens our inner voices, and that carries over to external communication? And you could imagine the person you're talking with smiling too! It would feel like you're just old friends having a spirited debate~

Yes, but you are Sunshine, Rainbows, Unicorns, and Kittens personified, Hanashi.

You've set the bar impossibly high for us mere mortals, lol.
Man, there is nothing like going into complete crisis mode after you think you just screwed up your brand new, fancy 23" LED monitor (a serious upgrade from the old 17" one).

I was trying different resolutions in SWTOR when the screen suddenly went black and all it said was to revert to 1920x1080 and 60hz. But I couldn't do that because I couldn't bring up the start menu. Hard shut down was all I could do. Try it in Safe Mode. Doesn't work because I don't have the option. Try resetting factory settings. Doesn't work. I was in a serious state of depression at that point as I hooked up the old monitor.

It didn't help that my upstairs neighbors decided to move (moving furniture, slamming doors, pounding on floor, etc) at midnight and into the wee hours of the morning. So, I am seriously sleep-deprived right now.

Then, I tried looking for another solution. I discovered I could boot in a low resolution setting. It worked! I was able to do the adjustments so now I'm back on the new monitor. Hooray. I don't want to go through that again. Now I need to get the right resolution for me.

And in the middle of all this...my TV died...and a Nor'easter is on the way. All in time for my birthday. I feel like I'm living a country music song. At least I don't have a wife and dog to lose.
We got Botani and Saberon in Kalimdor, after all. New blood to shake things up! Get the Quillboar on side with the Botani, growing thorns like never before. Have a Saberon warlord unite some Centaur clans. It'd be magical!


Oh, I would adore seeing them work together like that. I really hope that they do more with our stowaway friends from that scenario.
This is honestly a concept I'm in love with, and I've imagined many times how my perfect "Mongrel Horde" expansion would play out. It could totally still happen, too! We got Botani and Saberon in Kalimdor, after all. New blood to shake things up! Get the Quillboar on side with the Botani, growing thorns like never before. Have a Saberon warlord unite some Centaur clans. It'd be magical!


Saberon don't have the intelligence to lead the Centaur. The Centaur are more likely to lead the Saberon!

Sporemounds(with the Thorn Sporemound having Quillboar working under it and taking on the face of a thorny Boar) and Centaur as the next Expansion Villains sounds like an excellent idea!
10/26/2018 01:45 PMPosted by Yvenathilm
Centaur as the next Expansion Villains sounds like an excellent idea!

And give the Tauren a plausible reason to actually do something, and recieve characterization? You have some crazy theories sometimes, Yven, but that may just be the craziest and most out there thing I've ever seen you say.
Just curious, do you guys think there is another world revamp in the foreseeable future, or do you think blizzard wouldn't want to go down that road again? Because I'm kinda 50/50 on it.
10/27/2018 01:18 AMPosted by Verlius
Just curious, do you guys think there is another world revamp in the foreseeable future, or do you think blizzard wouldn't want to go down that road again? Because I'm kinda 50/50 on it.


Probably not? It is possible, but if you do a backwards analysis from interviews with Blizzard staff, the massive world revamp was attributed to alot of the problems that faced cataclysm as an expansion. Especially given the dynamic zone leveling now implemented, I dont foresee it to occur anytime in the near term.
10/26/2018 12:58 PMPosted by Maziodyne
I really hope that they do more with our stowaway friends from that scenario.


Yeah I really hope so too! Blizzard's been sprinkling all sorts of little hints at future content throughout the game lately, each more exciting than the last. The Botani and Junker Gnomes in particular really interest me!

10/26/2018 01:45 PMPosted by Yvenathilm
Sporemounds(with the Thorn Sporemound having Quillboar working under it and taking on the face of a thorny Boar) and Centaur as the next Expansion Villains sounds like an excellent idea!


Yeah, it'd be so cool! Their thematics mesh so well, and they're geographically very close together now. Gives Blizzard a chance to flex those new Quillboar models a bit more, too. Heck, since the Botani managed to make a small army of plant-infested Orcs, maybe that's how they could get the other mongrel races on side, too.

I can see it now -- the ruling caste of Botani, spreading the word of Sporemound and veneration of Genesaurs. The priest caste of Quillboar, with the matrons acting as spiritual centers and shaman, and the men serving as enforcers and elites. Then below them, you have stuff like, say, spore-infested centaur tribes and murlocs acting as shock troops and fodder.

I really freakin' like the Mongrel Horde idea, guys!

10/27/2018 01:18 AMPosted by Verlius
Just curious, do you guys think there is another world revamp in the foreseeable future, or do you think blizzard wouldn't want to go down that road again? Because I'm kinda 50/50 on it.


I think it could happen gradually zone-by-zone similar to Arathi, but doubt it'll happen like Cataclysm again. Not that I don't wish it would -- the questing and story updates were amazing to see, and I'd personally get a ton more out of new leveling content than out of new raids or dungeons. But most people, I think, were bummed at the relative lack of end-game content that resulted from the Cataclysm revamps, and that's totally understandable. Blizzard probably doesn't want to stretch themselves too thin and cause that sort of issue again.

A nice compromise I'd dig? Some old content world quests! I know WQs are a pretty polarizing feature, but I just like that they give me something to do out in the world. If they could get me back to Desolace or Stranglethorn to do some relevant new content, I'd be tickled pink!

The narrative framework is already there, too -- just let us play out the scenarios that are already on our war campaign mission tables! Faction war WQs would be evergreen, too, like battlegrounds. We're always gonna be fighting at least a tiny bit, after all.

Another similar compromise I'd be into is open world timewalking. Since they don't seem to want to do full-world, full-range level scaling ala Guild Wars 2, I think open world timewalking would be a very Blizzard way to achieve the same goals. Every couple of weeks, just send us off to the Jade Forest or wherever to replay the quests and earn some cosmetics. Maybe toss a few "where are they now" quests in there every couple months. Brilliant!
10/27/2018 01:18 AMPosted by Verlius
Just curious, do you guys think there is another world revamp in the foreseeable future, or do you think blizzard wouldn't want to go down that road again? Because I'm kinda 50/50 on it.


Not an entire expansion for it but I expect more stuff like Silithus and Darkshore.
10/27/2018 01:18 AMPosted by Verlius
Just curious, do you guys think there is another world revamp in the foreseeable future, or do you think blizzard wouldn't want to go down that road again? Because I'm kinda 50/50 on it.


If I recall they didn't like how much resources it took from the end game.

I'm not certain they'll want to devote enough time/resources to it. It'd be something drastic, like a WoW2 that they'll probably never do.
10/25/2018 10:34 PMPosted by Saiphas
How do you guys deal with recognizing you’re being overly combative with others online? I’ve noticed things that used to just bug me have been getting magnified and I can even see my posts become more aggressive than is needed.

I want to just hang out and talk positive cool lore things, but more recently I keep finding myself interjecting into arguments when I don’t need to. Any advice?

Step one: take a break.

Step two: re-read everything before you post to see if it either (1) adds to the conversation, or (2) is at least a good joke (and will lighten the mood) if it's a tangent.

Both do a lot to help threads stay less vitriolic.

Both are also why I post far less than I used to.
Hanashi is very correct on one thing - smiling has the power to change your entire disposition. I use it when training new/young staff members at work.

You can test it out for yourself - pretend to answer the phone with your normal voice with the line "Good morning, Company Name. Name speaking."

Then repeat the same line but have a smile on your face - a decent sized one, not a Joker one - and soften your voice just slightly.

Record yourself if you need to - the smile will always come out in the voice itself!
So you know how we meme Human Male Paladins and Orc Warriors? Been thinking about how they quest in game. What would these characters do in the narrative?
10/28/2018 07:52 AMPosted by Arlifrex
So you know how we meme Human Male Paladins and Orc Warriors? Been thinking about how they quest in game. What would these characters do in the narrative?

I'm not sure on the Human Male Paladins, but for the Orc Warriors all you have to do is see Nazgrim in Vashj'ir and Jade Forest.
10/28/2018 07:52 AMPosted by Arlifrex
So you know how we meme Human Male Paladins and Orc Warriors? Been thinking about how they quest in game. What would these characters do in the narrative?


I tend to play mine a bit differently from a lot of the others, I'm sure.

In my own headcanon (which is only there because Blizzard haven't expanded on it significantly), while the Mag'har still believe in Honour, it's no longer the "Lok'tar Ogar"/Saurfang type of honour. Fighting for their lives against an enemy that can forcefully convert or simply freeze entire villages in a timeless state has hardened them against the idea of pointless death and every life they have is precious, because it's one more fighter against the Lightbound.

To that end, my guy generally goes on a fairly simple rule: Whatever it takes to protect the Horde and keep it safe. If that means the use of unconventional or even sneaky weaponry, provided the end result will save Horde lives, he'll do it. Death is to be avoided unless it will achieve a greater result then the loss of his own life - see Ga'nar's sacrifice at the end of Frostfire for an example of this.

There's actually a surprising amount of room to move inside the Honour umbrella, if you accept that it's not a hardcoded concept (Saurfang's is what I would term an extreme) and that survival should be placed above everything else.

Honour is all well and good to follow, but if by your death countless others will die, or if by your inaction it will allow other members of the Horde to be killed, that's not what my character would deem Honourable. He'd rather take on the supposed Dishonour himself so his compatriots may live. There's always more battles to fight to earn that Honour back.

This does bring up the question as to if any quest where I'm doing something particularly nasty just purely for the sake of profit would be canonical or not in my own headspace. It might be cheating, but since I'm afflicted with a rather nasty case of Completionism in terms of questing I just choose to ignore the fact I did those quests on my character. :P