The War Within Official Cinematic | Shadows Beneath

The cinematic dropped.

Porcupine Elf Troll lady is my favourite.

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I had a good idea of what this expansion was. I feel like I have less of an idea now that Iā€™ve seen this.

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The Arathi dudes look like Eternal Empire goons from The Old Republic that got lost.

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No idea what that was, but Iā€™m getting cool hats in TWW so w/e.

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I am glad I am not the only one who thought that, and part of me is thinking weā€™re going to get a swerve and Midnight is actually all of us getting railroaded by the Arathi Empire and we learn the Emperor drains continents of life.

Why does Faerin look like a half orc in this?

Alsoā€¦ if it wasnā€™t for the earthen, I wouldnā€™t know this was wow until the knaifu shows up at the end.

But. Still better than the DF cenimatic, by a mile. Soā€¦ solid 7 out of 10?

What? The place that reportedly is openly hostile to anyone who isnā€™t playing a Quel/Sin/Renā€™dorei or Human in a game with over a dozen playable races might actually be bad guys?

That was general sarcasm by the way, not directed at you personally. Iā€™ve known the Arathi for all of thirty seconds and already Iā€™m thinking weā€™re gonna end up siding with the Dark Troll Avatar cosplayers.

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I liked it, definitely portrayed some interesting set-pieces for the coming expansion, but it also didnā€™t really ā€˜defineā€™ anything concrete about the coming expansion.

The Earthen single-handedly powering a whole Titanic facility that looks like it should normally require hundreds to do so, and with their own brute force no less. That we see a handful of other Earthen show up in later scenes, looking on in concern and wonder as their great forge springs to life again, both showcases how massive the structure, and how many of them there once were before the system began breaking down around them.

Faerin Lothar continues to look amazing. :dog: bark :dog: bark :dog: bark :dog: And she looks intimidating as all heck, sheā€™s not ā€˜conventionallyā€™ beautiful in the hourglass figure and thin limbs way modern media screams for, sheā€™s muscular, scarred and impassive, and all the more imposing when her shield lights up, and the rows and rows of other, Arathai Lamplighters behind her are suddenly illuminated by flame behind her.

The Harronir definitely gives off a massive ā€˜Trollā€™ vibe with that ecstatic dance, those feral expressions, and the dynamic movements as those Life-infused roots are used during whatever ritual sheā€™s cooking up. The few scenes where sheā€™s looking on in wonder at the roots that ā€˜calledā€™ to her are also quite telling, that thereā€™s more to savagery and wild frenzy with this character and their people.

The Nerubians gave me literal chills. The slow lead-up to the Queen, and the closer you get, the more limbs pop out, highlighting how alien she is, and then that face-reveal through the smoke, of an image thatā€™s hauntingly human in outline but upon reveal, is disturbingly alien and almost Cthulian in design, pairs well with the bizarre organic mass she was in-front of in the first reveal of her we got, and the Neruwubian city floating above a pale-blue misty void, like clusters of cocooned victims in a spiderā€™s web, and the ā€˜castleā€™ as the spider itself, lording over its hapless prey.

Definitely a 8 outta 10 for me. Its not spoilering the story while giving us tantalizing glimpses of the new faces weā€™re about to meet and greet and beat.

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This was just a hype teaser. The official cinematic dropped months ago (Anduin and Thrall).

I will say, while we got the short stories, Its a shame we didnt get any of the animations this time. Those are always amazing.

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Honestly I already knew it was coming the moment their tabards looked earily similar to the Scarlet ones since Blizzard is rarely ever subtle.

This said, Iā€™m more just hoping portions of the Alliance gets dragged in with them since it would be entertaining to watch the Alliance RP Community scream theyā€™re not with them only for there to be a line of humans in Stormwind signing up with them and throwing the non-humans of the Alliance under the bus because ā€œItā€™s not -our- problem.ā€

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I think you may have got that backwards.

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No, I donā€™t think soā€¦ the one with Anduin and Thrall in the desert came out would be the equivalent of the ā€œThe World has been sunderedā€¦ā€ cinematic with the flights returning to the Isles.

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I dunno, maybe. Like one had story, but no spectacleā€¦ The other had spectacle, but no context. Put them together I guess?

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I know what you mean.

I compare this one to the one with the dwarf and the troll dragonriding, that only last about 2 minutes, had no dialogue and came out right before the expansion.

ā€¦I actually had to go back and look it up because I honestly forgot that one existed. Lmao

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My favourite cinematic is still MoP because it has the enemies to lover trope in it.

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Bring on Midnight.

Not because this is ā€œbadā€ or whatever, I feel kind of detached from it, going underground and stuff. I do hope that race gets added, too, I already have a name saved for a rogue if it does.

Mostly because I want a goth expac with elves and ethereals more than gem dwarves.

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Idle thought, Faerin Lothar has one bad eye that seems to limit her vision, but when sheā€™s channeling her ā€˜Holy Flameā€™, that eye lights right up, presumably allowing her to see or granting her some other ability.

The Arathai Empire is a land of Humans, Elves and Half-Elves who shun outsiders and do not treat well with other races.

They are ā€˜blindedā€™ by the Light. And in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man, or woman in this case, is ā€˜Kingā€™.

Whatever happened to make the Lothar family lose respect and influence might be tied to this ā€˜Emperorā€™ weā€™re hearing so much about. And Faerin, without going too heavily into spoiler territory here, states she snuck onto the vessel due to wanting to escape her family, and the Empire, and that the Lothar family/bloodline has lost a great deal of prestige compared to what Anduin expects them to have.

We might be doing the ā€˜Yrelā€™ story right, this time?

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Iā€™m very excited for this prospect of a new continent with the Arathi humans and elves.

I think thereā€™s 7 of us in the entire world excited about the gem dwarves. Iā€™m thrilled, but boggles the mind Blizz would make them a playable race, considering how few people want it. They had to know that. If not, they are even more disconnected than I thought.

That said, Iā€™m only excited because I can make one without gems, give it blue skin and say itā€™s a Frostborn, which Iā€™ve wanted since Wrath.

A Nerubian playable race would have sent the playerbase flying with excitement. Possible we get Harronir as playable, I think people would like that also.

The dwarf thing? I mean thanks for catering to specifically me Blizz.

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