Teldrassil was Dumb, or when Rule of Cool fails

They had not started even getting boats to get off of Darkshore’s beach ready yet:

    “Find anyone who knows how to sail. Looks like they’ll need the help. Then select your assault team.” Saurfang visualized the assault in his mind. There was still much to prepare for. He needed raiders up front, support forces close behind, maybe a few wind riders to guard the air between Darkshore and Darnassus.

    Some of his best soldiers were exhausted after the battle on Darkshore. They would be disappointed to be left behind, but fresh troops would be more useful in the critical first wave, just in case the night elves resisted.

    I wonder if we’ll have enough time—

    “Burn it.”

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wow gj
this says absolutely nothing about what is being discussed.

Also doesn’t say anything about oil or being on a boat…

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Covers everything being discussed.

It’s embarrassing you’re pretending you don’t realize that.

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Such cringe

this

does not equal to ***

*** in writing indicates a sub chapter, meaning some time has elapsed. But you took it to mean that they were sequential events. If that were the case the *** would not be necessary.

Again your lore sources tell nothing

if you are going to ignore canon sources.
Why you are even on the story forum?

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It’s a scene break because of the change in point of view, from Sylvanas to Saurfang.

And even if there were a small time break, Saurfang’s scene - which has no scene break within it - clearly states

Saurfang issued orders rapidly. He organized the siege crews on the beach and made sure they were aimed toward Teldrassil. Scouts undoubtedly watched the Horde from the top of the World Tree. He wanted them to report that the Horde might open fire at any moment.

He glanced over at his warchief. Sylvanas was kneeling next to a dying night elf commander. An impromptu interrogation, Saurfang guessed. Hopefully she extracts something useful.

Nathanos conversed quietly with a few soldiers who had some experience at sea, ordering them to sweep the shoreline for every night elven boat and dinghy they could find.

“You may join the first wave, Nathanos,” Saurfang said.

But please, keep arguing how they were clearly on the beach of Teldrassil and how our lore sources tell us nothing.

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That’s pretty weak. But see below.

Inconsistency breaks immersion, true.

But you know what? If the burning of Teldrassil made emotional sense–if Sylvanas’ actions were motivated and understandable, if the Alliance and the rest of the Horde reacted in a way that was believable and compelling–I wouldn’t care. And I doubt most others would either.

All stories have rules, but not all rules are created equal. In a fairy tale, it’s essential that True Love’s Kiss awakens Sleeping Beauty, but if the author mentions that the prince is wearing green and then forgets and accidentally says now he’s wearing blue, it won’t actually matter much.

For WoW, pseudo-physics isn’t important. Most of the “text” is gameplay–and physics constantly changes to suit the gameplay. What’s much more important are the dramatic rules governing the characters and the races.

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Fighting a dragon with a sword would be a stupid tactical decision by the rules of the real world, but by the “rules” of fairy tales, swords are what you slay dragons with. That’s actually a fine example of an unrealistic rule which nonetheless remains consistent to itself, rather than being an exception.

This is less a matter of “physics doesn’t work that way” and more a matter of “Azeroth has never worked that way until the plot demanded it, and we have not seen Azeroth work that way since.” Because you know what? If Azeroth worked that way, the Horde could have just set up some catapults in Zandalar and bombarded Jaina’s ship rather than sending the raid after her.

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That would be true. If the expansion hadn’t been set up on the idea that Azerite was a psudo-physical threat that was going to be super important.

And then they didn’t even bother using it to burn down Teldrassil.

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I actually anticipated this and changed my post while you were posting.

Has catapult range been important to the plot before, then, that this previous pure state of Azeroth was established? Because I’ve piloted quite a few siege weapons while questing, and I’ve found their range, damage, and defense vary wildly.

[quote=“Amadis-draka, post:91, topic:299994”]
That would be true. If the expansion hadn’t been set up on the idea that Azerite was a psudo-physical threat that was going to be super important.

And then they didn’t even bother using it to burn down Teldrassil[/quote]

Yeah, that would have been pretty cool if they’d been thoughtful enough to use Azerite.

The story still would have worked fine with intercontinental ballistic catapults had the characters been handled with any amount of integrity.

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I would also add that the catapults diminished from the emotional sense of the burning because it felt so like no effort or thought had been put into it that it made it feel like Blizzard themselves were shoehorning the burning in without a care.

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It sucked on all fronts, I think it’s a unanimous agreement.

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