I absolutely loved the cinematic! Thought it was a great metaphor for the passing of the torch from old Blizzard’s WoW ethos to the modern team’s. Was great to see the call back to the Fall of the Lich King cinematic and to let Anduin gain some closure for the deaths of his father figures. Was really empowering to see him overcome the same domination/magic that Arthas couldn’t.
And Sylvannas’ monologue was really powerful. Her coming to terms with the fact that she ended up being no better than what she hated. Especially loved that her dialogue seemed to echo this passing of the guard from old Blizzard to new, and in a way that clearly condemns the horrible things that they’ve done.
As for Arthas, I love his character, but they have said many times that Shadowlands is the final chapter in that era of Warcraft. We’re now heading into territory with the story that will allow the writing team to really flex their muscles and create something fresh.
I’d also like to say, since expectedly, people are losing their collective minds over this, that Arthas returning was never really hinted at, let alone promised. We saw him briefly in one cinematic before the launch of the game. That was, as we now know, setting up the fact that they used Arthas’ soul to craft Anduin’s mourneblade. There was nothing in the remaineder of the xpac pointing to the return of Arthas. And if he did return, it wouldn’t make sense for the story, his character, or for the future trajectory of the game.
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Me too, which is horrifying.
They have already been doing that, so oof, just oof.
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Well, we must have very different tastes. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed much of the story in SL so far. Really excited to see what this team can do now that they’re no longer reined in by strange story telling decisions made by terrible people (Afrasiabi and the Teldrassil situation).
The Jailer is certainly not a very compelling villain, but this wasn’t his story. He was the plot device to tell Sylvannas and Anduin’s stories, and they both, imo, had great arcs here.
Really hyped to see where they take Sylvannas from here…are they going to shunt her into the background for a bit, explain it as her doing some major soul searching, are they going to put her on trial/exiled/executed? Is she going to stay in the Shadowlands, trying to clean up the mess she has made? Lots of interesting possibilities. And Anduin has a lot to work with now too. How did this whole ordeal affect him, is he finally feeling like he can live up to his father’s legacy? Will he be moving towards a unification of the nations of Azeroth?
So much to look forward to narratively and gameplay wise.
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I did enjoy it, I went in with an open mind after this xpac’s theme so far… but I did have one criticism.
With Jaina and Uther there… Sylvanas shouldnt have been the sole chatter. Some words from ally side would have filled out that moment IMO. Nitpicky but meh… I can look past that.
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I don’t care if people enjoy it, but it’s horrible story telling, period. Half of it isn’t even in the game while the overarching narrative has shifted so hard from where it was originally going that it makes zero sense now. Not only that, a massive amount of the lore has been retconned just do this weird shift. A lot of the Chronicles books were retconned before they even came out. Sorry to all the people that payed actual money for those things, guess they will help fill out some shelves at least.
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oh it wasnt a metaphor. it was pretty blatant.
“I made this”
"you made this?
“I made this” meme
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Lol, but we disagree. I don’t think it is bad storytelling, writ large. I think there are aspects that need improvement, but on the whole I think SL’s story has been told quite effectively. There is nothing in SL that required me to read any outside material. And saying that the chronicle books are obsolete because of retcons is ridiculous…by that logic WC3’s story is not worth revisiting for the very same reason. And that is just assuming you’re right about Chronicle being mostly retconned…which isn’t true either way.
Don’t really understand what you mean by “where it was originally going”…do you have any personal insight as to where the writers were taking the story? Who knows what they were ‘originally’ planning on, or if they had this in mind since Legion.
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It’s fine to disagree, it doesn’t make you correct.
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If that’s the metaphor we’re going with, then I guess I can kiss all of the good lore goodbye as they delete and retcon even more next expansion.
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Lol, that statement can be made in reverse to you as well, you realize? Like, you can be incorrect about the story being bad…but that is the thing about art, it is inherently subjective.
Nothing subjective about saying it’s horrible storytelling to split your story away from it’s intended medium so that in order to get the full perspective you have to go outside of it. Keep in mind, I never said anything about the story being bad, I mean it is, but I never mentioned it.
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The metaphor was Blizzard moving past that era of Blizzard, not eliminating all aspects of the story prior to 10.0. Arthas was the stand-in for old Blizzard, and new Sylvannas was the stand in for the new team…it was pretty obvious. No one is saying throw the baby out with the bathwater.
And retcon is not some inherently evil term…things get retconned all the damn time in media…Sargeras being the founder of the Burning Legion was a retcon, and that is an undisputed piece of canon that people love…things can change, and still be good.
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And yet that’s exactly what they’re doing.
So the greatest villain is now replaced with the worst written waifu. Great metaphor.
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You know people don’t like the cinematic so you made a thread to try and convince people otherwise because you’re desperate to find someone who agrees with you. It’s much copium
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There are two things here…
One: that is literally subjective…you can not like if they were to do that, but there may be people who DO like that they could take that approach…those are opinions people can have. You’re trying to pass your opinion off as fact.
Two: There is absolutely no need to read any outside materials to enjoy the story of SL…I haven’t read any of the novels and have completely understood what has been going on here. The novels are supplementary to the core story of the game. If you can’t understand basic in game story telling, that is a you problem. But claiming it’s terrible storytelling as some sort of objective fact, when you can’t even be sure that your interpretation is 100% the truth is ridiculous.
It’s actually not subjective at all lol. Also, I never said anything about enjoying it. At least I get why you like the story, you can’t seem to read all too well.
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Idk what to say to people like you…Like, you see someone enjoying something you don’t, then come in to complain that they like something they don’t…there is no argument being made on the contrary…And Like, I’ve seen positivity for the cinematic in other places, as I have for all the SL cinematics. The forums are a cesspit of hate, there is no doubt about that, but sometimes its nice for people to hear their viewpoint voiced. Saw the same thing at the launch of the patch. People crapping all over it on launch day in the forums, but when I posted about being excited for it, people came in to share in that excitement. And I don’t think you know what copium is, but it’s not when someone genuinely likes something that other people don’t
