Blizzard and the story devs make us all cynics.
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While I appreciate the overall message you’re trying to convey in regards to all of the player progress over the years being Thanos-snapped away in one slideshow-esque cutscene, you got your wires crossed on some of the lore. The tree was blessed by Ysera and Alexstrasza before Cataclysm in the novel Stormrage, therefore before the Vengeance of Elune quest chain. The corruption rising to the surface during that quest chain was the result of their blessings pushing it to the surface to get rid of it entirely.
Similarly, it was Teldrassil’s connection to the Emerald Dream that both doomed and saved it, as it was a grafted branch of Xavius that gave his power a way to enter the Emerald Dream and make the Emerald Nightmare, but Teldrassil’s own living spirit fought against that corruption for as long as it could and became the last place on Azeroth untouched by the fog that put everyone into endless slumber (and nightmares).
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Really? I didn’t know that part.
Now I really hope that wherever the night elves rebuild, they can plant a seed/cutting from Teldrassil.
(Or at least Reignac’s(?) hope to see Teldrassil as one of those giant spirit trees in Ardenweald.)
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Yep. Malfurion felt it calling out to him when he went to Teldrassil after he woke up, and it showed him where to get to the branch of Xavius so it could be cleansed. It was a powerful spirit in and of itself, let alone all those that died on it.
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I mean, still though, it was the Night Elves that actually banished the corruption by removing the Bough of Corruption. So the result is the same.
The moment you realised that “the infameous farstriders” failed to look after Sylvanas at Windrunner Spire. She was right under their nose.
She taught them everything they knew. Not everything SHE knew.
Welp, if they had to be tought the basics such as investigation (“Hey, what if she went home first?”) then it really speaks volumes about their competence.
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There’s a reason for that:
Yes, this. The Night Elf army was sent away to Sillithus. The reason the Horde chose to attack the Night Elves is because Magni shared this information with Sylvanas (to try and gain the Horde’s support in healing Azeroth).
That’s why there are still appreciable numbers of Night Elf soldiers.
I think most reasonable people understand that both of those events are mostly losses.
But elves are almost as despised as they are popular so there is a crowd that enjoys this sort of thing. I don’t blame them for liking it - not really - it’s usually the failure to understand why others might not enjoy these events or enjoying them because they negatively affect others that I frown upon.
I’ve said before that the Burning of Teldrassil is sort of an inescapable narrative black hole for Night Elf players. Those that care about the story, at least; so presumably everyone in this subforum.
There has been no counter to Teldrassil yet and there doesn’t seem to be one on the horizon. Night Elves are left with an open wound that will either kill them or develop into an ugly scar.
Perhaps I’m one of the few that has a great affection for Darnassus as I spent much of my time in-game there. A place that felt like my virtual home is now gone. The Bronze dragons are very kind to allow me to revisit but it’s not a pleasant experience anymore.
And no, I don’t cry myself to sleep every night hugging my tree pillow. But it’s still a real bummer, ya know?
I also don’t want to log in and play WoW anymore because I don’t enjoy this story anymore.
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I’d certainly like it to continue to be treated as significant well beyond BfA, with lasting relevance and callbacks going forward for the foreseeable future. It seems kind of trash to essentially reduce such a significant place for such a length of the game’s plot and lifespan to ashes and then just shrug and say “that’s old content” as the meta-plot progresses. If you’re going to go whole hog and wipe out a player capital you need to commit to weaving it into the overall plot climate and collective world memory going forward.
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Teldrassil did nothing but hold the Night Elves back.
MUHAHAHAHAAAA
Oh yeah. Seeing all of that unleashed potential.
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Nah not my idea, though I think it’s a cool one.
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If Thunder Bluff had been put to the torch, I don’t think I’d ever play Retail again either.
It’s by far Blizzard’s greatest mistake, imho, to put such a shocking event in WoW. Because, in all likelihood, we’re never going to go back and talk about it. I don’t see them making a new Capitol for NE’s and placing it in the now largely debunk Cata Azeroth. It’s a shame.
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Idk. I disagree. I just have a different perspective on alot of this.
For a long time, prior to WoD, I felt like we just keep adding new sprawling megalopolis after megalopolis, and sometimes two at a time. For a Vidya Game that has reached its peak, and is slowly declining, it always felt a tad untenable.
I often considered:
“Blizzard has to blow up a few cities. Just blow them away. Personally, I do not care “how” it is done, as much as I think it should be done. But I know most everyone else will have a hissy fit. How could Blizzard pull it off? Which cities would they wipe out?”
I was hoping by the end of BfA, we would lose another city each. Maybe TB was burned or flooded, and the Exodar was cannibalized for parts and evacuated safely. Sort reversing the loss of Teldrassil and UC. Or maybe Alleria conquered Silvermoon and the Sunwell, leading to the Void swallowing the whole of Quelthalas.
It is not even about animosity towards a Faction or a race. I often mention Quelthalas being wiped off the map by the Void because of the Void Elves attacking it. I have just felt like we need to lose some big cities, for a lot of reasons. I would have been good with 4 cities being destroyed, 2 each.
I wonder if Blizzard leads went to the Story team and said: “Wipe out two cities. Write it up.”
And the Story team replied with: “Lets make Sylvanas blow two of them up, then split!”
I don’t disagree that there is a lot of bloat to WoW and the team hasn’t done a good job keeping it that cohesive. At the same time, for one reason or other, a lot of us have emotional connections to our race/city. I know TB doesn’t get much love these days, but it’s my favorite Horde City. Losing that would hurt and would definitely make me consider why I play. I enjoy the RPG and Lore side of WoW so sacrificing those for better gameplay would adversely affect my opinion of the game.
I wish Blizzard could find a solution outside of abandoning old zones / cities (or burning them).
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Honestly, I am surprised they didn’t use this as an excuse to wipe out the two Burning Crusade cities. If there’s any locations that could benefit from a wholesale wipeout, it’s the Exodar and Silvermoon, since Blizzard will never go back and fix those zones.
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the frustrating thing about this for me, is how … how just in the background it all is. If you talk to Ettrigg, he basically said no hard feelings, you can overhear the banker and the AH guy refusing to sell to a loyalist, and Gazlowe saying ‘so she fooled a lot of people, they are still horde at heart’. and then we see the loyalist in chains, with no explanation? There should be one more little quest line where we deal with your loyalty to Sylvanas or Saurfang directly depending. But no, just contradictory background stuff.
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That still involves updating the cities, but into ruined ones.