The model inherent in “show don’t tell” is something that applies to visual content - and you can see this in particular when film reviewers discuss the issue of having a character say something about a person, place, or thing, but the visual language of the medium contradicting it, and leaving the audience with an entirely different presumption - one that overcomes what the strict “text” had to say on the matter. As Lindsay Ellis put it: “Framing and aesthetics supercede the rest of the text. Always. Always. Always.”
Your second block I agree with, and that leads me into the third. I agree that the novellas were better, but their ability to deliver information to the general playerbase, and to deliver the mitigation to those who were aware of them were undercut by what was put on screen versus what was presented in these novellas that again, a tiny proportion of the population read. we are not talking about quality here - we are talking about what media is more likely to “stick” with audiences. The answer to that one is the kind of media that a) most of the population sees, and b) the media that is in the more memorable format of communication. The answer to a and b by a country mile is visual, in-game information.
Well, lore drives the marketing. Not deep lore - but the stuff that’s presented on the surface level. What does Teldrassil tell me? It tells me that the Horde is strong and the Night Elves are weak. What does Sylvanas screaming “For the Horde” followed by the Horde charging the Alliance tell me? “The Horde is strong and the Horde is proud”. It doesn’t have to go any deeper than that, and for most players I would argue, it doesn’t.
What are some key moments that dispute this? I would argue that Terror of Darkshore is one. The Alliance comes off as looking pretty competent in that Lordaeron cinematic as well. But we have so vanishingly few of these that one could be forgiven for seeing the Horde as the dominant, cooler faction. So if you want to ask a budding PVP player what they want to play? The big strong orc on the faction that has the more edgy, cool people? Or this crying elf that appears at the timestamp that I selected?
Ironically, I picked orc years ago because I thought they’re the weaker faction.
But regardless, my point I that the reason why Horde stays popular is because of a few top tier guilds, who transferred way back when racials were imbalanced. Since them, other players, the sheep that they are, have been following them. This is where the “social” reason is from.
I know this isn’t accurate data in any way, but if you just “ask around”, I think you’ll find that many prefer the Alliance, both aesthetically and story-wise, but have to play Horde because muh raiding guilds.
RP servers (on EU, at least) are largely Alliance. And I hear Oceanic servers are very Alliance-heavy as well, which poses a problem for anyone wanting to play Horde.
I’m aware that this is certainly part of the problem, but the question that I have which I don’t feel has been answered is why we saw this migration to the Horde when their racials were OP, but we’re not seeing it now when over 90% of the population on tournament servers are Alliance because of the strong racials. I’d expect that the racials would show some erosion but, nope, nothing.
People were willing to make the gold investment then but aren’t now. Why? I certainly think that brand equity for each of the factions is at least part of that answer - bearing in mind that they were building the Horde’s up for a long time relative to the Alliance’s prior to that migration - and that’s kind of expected when the writers find writing for the Alliance boring.
From I heard around Reddit, people at this point are too established on Horde. As in all their Garrisons/Class halls/professions/what have you, are on Horde, so if they were to transfer, they’d have to transfer up to 10 toons.
I heard people say that if Blizz made transfers entirely free, then they probably would swap.
It would probably increase the number, and I think there are other mechanical carrots and sticks that people could use, but I don’t think that’s the entirety of the answer. In the top echelons of raiding, I think you have more conversation around those infrastructural issues, but as you start to go down the ladder, other issues emerge as well - ranging from where people’s friends are playing to things like liking a certain aesthetic or - the matter that I’m highlighting - thinking that the Horde is awesome and that the Alliance sucks.
It’s a multifactor problem, and it requires a multifactor solution. More positive marketing and story moments for the Alliance (and not just humans), I think has to be part of that solution.
I really doubt that’s what people think. During this summer I have seen… quite a few reddit posts addressing how evil the Horde was in BfA and comments about how “the situation wasn’t as black and white” were for the most part downvoted like worthless opinions.
Some even went ahead to say that “one should feel bad for playing Horde”.
There’s definitely those who think Horde is “cool and edgy” and that’s all they need, but there’s also a significant number of players who want to feel like a big savior and paying Alliance gives you that.
But Stranglethrorn was Never Alliance land. They never had any claims to it. And should never have.
Agreed on the rest tho.
But my goodness getting Jaina’s head on silver plate to Talanji would be good option if we are never meant to get meaningful reclamation.
Just get that obnoxious hypocritical witch down.
I’m not disputing that this is a huge issue. It’s a direct attack on the relatedness of the players involved, and a disincentive to play Horde. I’m aware that quite a few people did swap to the Alliance because of this - but it also is something that doesn’t really dispute the competence angle - which is the one that competitive players are going to care more about.
While I’m here - I want to go on record as saying that the answer to the brand equity imbalance is not to make the Horde appear worse but to make the Alliance appear better than it is right now. Destroying faction appeal runs the risk of driving people from the game, rather than increasing their options.
Most of the main playerbase dont seem to be for against either faction, they are just playing horde cause thats where all the raiders and pvpers are or whatever
In Vanilla, I played a Troll. They were the coolest, imo. As the Horde grew, I became a big fan of Blood Elves and Vulpera.
What would get me to play Alliance with Gusto?
Maybe Manari or Broken. Or High Elves. If Blizzard introduced Manari, Broken, and genuine High Elves on the Alliance, they might get more Players.
For me, the Alliance is just unappealing. Dwarves are cool. Void Elves are pretty. But in nearly every instance, I would rather play a Troll, Blood Elf or Vulpera.
I can sort of Play a Void Elf as a Blood Elf who never liked the Horde and took the first trip out of it… but that is not very intriguing.
“I am an Alliance Void Elf that is basically just the most tolerable thing on the Alliance. Woo!”
‘Not defeatism, just defeatism’ is the gist of this.
And the point of saying that is what?
You are not telling anyone to be fine with it.
You are not telling anyone not to complain.
You are stating it will be difficult to change, which everyone is aware of in a thread complaining about it.
No, in either situation you are not giving commentary that corresponds to a professional. You’re a lay person giving your lay opinion.
You haven’t really explained why the analogy isn’t good. You’ve come into a thread complaining about Night Elves. You’re fine people advocating for change to their story. People know it won’t be an easy road (that’s clear enough by the fact this has seemingly been an issue for a decade or more). And you’re still going on about it being difficult.
So yes, you going to a Run for Cancer or Pride Parade saying ‘this’ll be really tough’ when you’re totally fine with the effort is a tactless, unselfaware thing to throw out. It doesn’t do much besides remind people how bad the situation is in an effort to specifically push for something better.
That doesn’t mean stating the obvious does any good besides being a jerk when people are fully aware of it being an issue in certain situations. It is something called tact and self-awareness.
If only there were a foot less Orc to argue about.
I wouldn’t make a Peg legged Orc if it were a customization option… I don’t have many Orc Characters… but if I saw a Peg legged Orc, that would look cool.
Because Blizz themselves wrote that they didn’t. That the toll of the Scourge, and the Plague of Undeath was too much. That they were a nation and people in its last death rattles by the time we got there. The inclusion of Speaker Malaka’raz in the House of Fallen Tribes in Zuldazar all but condemned that people to extinction. That tribe, like so many before it, is gone.
" Come to mock? Come to laugh at the speaker for a fallen empire?
Any troll of Zul’Drak not claimed by da Scourge was broken by dem. In there death throws, my people slew our loa, stealing the power of dese gods to wield against the Scourge, and then they died as well.
I be here, now, as little more than a pet for these Zandalari. An oddity dey pull out to show dere children somethin’ exotic.
Droitie, a are we going to ignore that they sunk Entire Zandalar in MoP? Hence why trolls were forced to go on conquest? That witch doctor also said that Zandalar is gone!
If they undid Zandalar, they they can undo Zul’Drak
If they undid Plague lands, they will they can undo Zul’Drak
If they undid Stromgard they can undo Zul’Drak
If they undid Sun well they can undo Zul’Drak
The reasoning to not revisit this glorious zone and restore it is imo stupid.
I definitely love that my night elf community is so passionate
I really love the night elves but we have always been in the main story. In each expansion there is always an update on the history of the night elves. Does anyone know if Moira’s son finally grew up? I haven’t seen any quests about “return to Guilneas” or where the hell is Talaji? Let’s not talk about An’she, an unknown divinity. I would have loved to see a story in Ardenweald with an arakkoa and a tauren involving An’she.
The more I think about it the more I imagine the discomfort in the other players who really love their races but don’t have the representation that we have and see us (if I include myself because I also did that) complaining about everything. I’m not surprised they think that we night elves aren’t going to stop until Azeroth is purple again (which I would love but hey isn’t fair to others).
I mean, as I’ve stated many times - getting more lore isn’t necessarily a good thing. In fact for us, it’s typically not. What I’d like is lore that makes people proud to roll the race, as opposed to feeling like it’s an overall depressing experience where you always lose to your faction rival. There are certain targeted and limited ways to do that - I believe an onscreen reclamation is best, and yes - let’s have some stories about others instead of delving for the 42nd time into Night Elf history or exploring some deep tale of loss.
Actually it was marketed as a Revisit the Classic Horde expansion…hence the “Warlords” in the title. The Draenei just happen to be there in the pre-massacre state.
