To Writers: From a nelf fan

Community General Discussion
141
op

might i suggest that you are far too eloquent and well read to waste it
on night elf lore. you need to be out there writing historical fantasy epics!
your own version of a grown up harry potter type universe, something where your skills will be appreciated.
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10/20/2018 07:55 AMPosted by Mystydawn
I love my Night Elf, and much of what you say is true. Much of the problem is touted to be because the Horde wanted Kalimdor, but then the Exodar sticks out like a sore thumb an the same for north end o Eastern Kingdoms. I think Blizzard did the math and is utilizing least played areas and races for the big changes. Sorry.

My big problem is with making forsaken from Night Elves or any one for that matter. Why do they feel they owe alliegence to Sylvanas and the Horde? Does becoming undead remove your free will? What about the priest Foul, he seems to be independent of Sylvanas, and what about all the forsaken that tried to leave her and she killed them again?

We can only hope that all the Elves that excaped from The Burning will ban together and find a new home and place to grow. Perhaps Jaina will magic all the poison from the Undercity, the Elves will demolish it and plant a giant grove of enchanted trees in its place. A cool new enchanted forest to play in.


i have a theory that one of tyrande's elune powers is she is controlling the night elves who have been raised by sylvannas valkyr. they aren't there at sylvannas' whim. they're there because tyrande is using the situation to implant a team of night elf warriors in the midst of sylvannas troops.
143
Good post!

This! All of this!

I play NEs because I love the concept of strong, tough, savage warriors. The Amazonian feel made it even better!

Then BfA happens.

Yeah, there were bumps beforehand in earlier expansions. Bumps that, on a base level, could be expected for narrative reasons but in BfA, this is blatant hate.

My opinions have been touted in several posts in the story and beta forums. I won’t repost them here, but it’s clear that Blizzard has lost direction and willingly chosen blind ignorance and their egotism over quality products.
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It's more than just BfA

Warcraft Three set the precedent for the Night Elves. A Matriarchal society of Amazonian Wood Elves. Savage enough to impress the infamous Grommosh Hellscream.

Then we have Richard Knaack happen. Then we had Cata happen. Then we had Little Patience happen. Every single addition to Nelf Lore has been in the service of deconstructing everything the Night Elves originally were... I can not think of a single bit of Kaldorei lore since WC3 that has been positive.
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10/23/2018 11:08 AMPosted by Akiyass
It's more than just BfA

Warcraft Three set the precedent for the Night Elves. A Matriarchal society of Amazonian Wood Elves. Savage enough to impress the infamous Grommosh Hellscream.

Then we have Richard Knaack happen. Then we had Cata happen. Then we had Little Patience happen. Every single addition to Nelf Lore has been in the service of deconstructing everything the Night Elves originally were... I can not think of a single bit of Kaldorei lore since WC3 that has been positive.


I don't even think the Knaack books were so bad, wonky written but don't think it was that damaging. WoW has been terrible for Nelves since classic.
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10/19/2018 02:17 PMPosted by Bruvnondus
And undead night elves joining the forsaken... I'd love to say they've got a killer twist up their sleeve that makes that make sense, but I'm not hopeful. I would think forsaken players would be mad at this too, since newly raised undead having absolutely no agency means that the forsaken as a race are just incredibly bland and boring. I HOPE that's not the case. But it's looking like it is.


This point is actually very simple to explain. When you're first introduced to the sylvanas-as-a-dark-ranger hero character in WC3 she states that she can control some of the scourge and that they are now calling themselves The Forsaken.

Anyone raised by Sylvanas's forces are under her direct control, not because undead=forsakenlolhordebias! but because she is extremely strong willed, and some level of mind control is just how undeath works in WoW.

It's how the lich king worked. It's how the new lich king works. It's how Sylvanas has always worked. If you're forsaken, your will is not entirely your own. Sylvanas is your queen partly because she controls you. Not because you're loyal to her just for her charming personality.
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10/23/2018 11:15 AMPosted by Averyx
I don't even think the Knaack books were so bad, wonky written but don't think it was that damaging. WoW has been terrible for Nelves since classic.


I blame Knaack for everything that has happened to the Night Elves. He deconstructed the Nelf Matriachy, he started the trend of other races stealing Nelf lore, he started the trend of Tyrande and Maiev being impulsive and emptional, female stereotypes. I think most of this stems from him and his misogyny.

10/23/2018 11:21 AMPosted by Ollin
This point is actually very simple to explain. When you're first introduced to the sylvanas-as-a-dark-ranger hero character in WC3 she states that she can control some of the scourge and that they are now calling themselves The Forsaken.


My hope for this scenario is that Undead Nelves are going to overthrow Sylvanas, and are not actually loyal to the Horde.
148
A Night Elf Rogue was my first character, and I well remember going out on that branch and thinking gouge/backstab was my little invention just for that encounter. And I fell to my death off the tree too. :)

I also remember Warcraft 3, and how GREAT I thought the Night Elves, and especially Tyrande, were.

But in WOW, "hush Tyrande!", or a hot-tempered human king lecturing a 10,000 year old chosen of a goddess on paitence, seems to be all they can seem to write for her. From what I have seen, her new "Night Warrior" wrath of Elune mode is just more of the same.

I am really happy with all the character they have infused into Jaina in the first moments of BfA. I wish they could find the voice/heart/time to do the same for Tyrande.
149
I blame Knaack for everything that has happened to the Night Elves. He deconstructed the Nelf Matriachy, he started the trend of other races stealing Nelf lore, he started the trend of Tyrande and Maiev being impulsive and emptional, female stereotypes. I think most of this stems from him and his misogyny.


Tyrande and Maiev were always impulsive and emotional.

Tyrande got all crazy, evne killing wardens to free Illidan in warcraft III...

I don't think he really deconstructed night elf matriarchy, it just was never as dry cut as people made it ought to be. Malfurion was always one of the main leaders for example.
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10/23/2018 12:54 PMPosted by Averyx
Tyrande and Maiev were always impulsive and emotional. Tyrande got all crazy, evne killing wardens to free Illidan in warcraft III...


She as High Priestess had the authority to free Illidan. The Wardens were traitors.

I don't call that emotional and impulsive, I call that being a decisive and confident leader.

10/23/2018 12:54 PMPosted by Averyx
I don't think he really deconstructed night elf matriarchy, it just was never as dry cut as people made it ought to be. Malfurion was always one of the main leaders for example.


Malfurion has never been a main leader. He is an old and powerful druid. He can't be a leader while sleeping for 10,000 years. In Warcraft 3, Tyrande clearly had the authority over him.

"Only the Goddess may forbid me anything,"

Lets not derail this thread again with debating Night Elf matriarchy. it pointless. it IS cut and dry. Night Elves have always been Matriarchal.
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10/20/2018 12:55 PMPosted by Khalamete
It would be actually a good idea to branch out to social media or other forums. Since Ythisens pretty much said GD is not as important as other platforms.
Which is funny, considering that their twitter just recently stated that the Warcraft forums are the best place for feedback. Seems like there's a total disconnect internally as well. In addition, the best place for dev responses are patch notes and Q&A panels. So essentially, we are talking to a brick wall in hopes that somebody on the other side of it hears us, because we'll never actually know until changes are already made. No open line of communication with the community. Just blind faith.

https://twitter.com/BlizzardCS/status/1052665554828443656
The funny thing is that they have come out and said that there are Forums on this website that they ignore, and they have been caught ignoring feedback from the forums before.
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10/20/2018 01:41 PMPosted by Tiridan
10/19/2018 12:03 PMPosted by Nazjira
After all these years it's pretty obvious Blizzard is filled Horde biased devs who can't stop thinking about their precious Horde characters. They got to throw everything Night Elves are under the bus to make them feel better.
Sorry. No.

You have gotten so much to make up for Teldrassil:

-Access to DH, which the only other race that can use them is Blood Elves
-New Warfront based around your zone
-New Armor sets based around the Nelf aesthetic
-New Models for your leaders
-New Customization Options
-Updated Mounts
-Updated Nelf Zone

All you lost was your capital. Which you can just talk to Zidormi and go back to it anyways!

"But oh no! Nathanos raised two generals and they converted to Horde immediately regardless of their Free Will!"

It's not Free-Will. It's obvious at this point that Sylvanas is building up a second Scourge and is raising mindless undead.

"But Nathanos held his own against Tyrande and Malfurion!"

Know that Nathanos also had two valkyries supporting him in that fight and keeping him alive. But then had to flee because he lost one of those Valkyries, and wouldn't be able to survive.

This is coming from a player who started the game as a Night Elf, loves their lore, and has mostly Night Elf Characters on his account.
You haven't read the Opening Post have you?
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I agree op, but the writers don't care. There more fueled by greed from the money they make. Alot of horde players were outraged with how Sylvannas was shown during the warbringers cinematic. The only way to bring about change is not to fund/buy any works by the current writers or wow novels. The writers ignore the forums, there on twitter because most don't care about how the players feel. The same could be said about some of the devs. Communication is lacking these days.

Keep in mind that Tyrande change into the night elf warrior. Get's easily stunned by Nathanos. Making her transformation seem weak at this point and lacks motivation.
(Also noticing post history isn't updating like it was before.)
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Yay!! So glad you went ahead and posted on GD as well as the story forums. (:
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10/23/2018 07:48 AMPosted by Brànna
As upset as we all are I think it's important to remember that the devs are all humans. It's easy to dehumanize them simply by looking at them as one big studio. I'm sure most would like to make things better. Just gotta keep the criticism civil and constructive.


But the Horde doesn't have Humans? We know none of them play Alliance at this point so i think its easy to dehumanize them.

All joking aside, Im fine with Teldrassil being burned, Do i had hoped we would get some good writing alongside it.
Really am disappointed, Night Elves are my fav race in WoW since WC3 and Vanilla, too see them laid so low through plot that frankly is so out of place it would be like writing that Orcs came from Azeroth and Humans Draenor. We all know its not true, but it would show that the writers have no knowledge of the subject matter or are so biased they would want to diminish the Alliances place on Azeroth.
156
Guess what guys.

https://imgur.com/LISGbLv

Yeah... Just tell Night Elves to !@#$ off already. Spare us the bull %^-*, Blizzard.
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10/23/2018 02:38 PMPosted by Vera
I agree op, but the writers don't care.

Its more than just the writers. The dev's themselves only selectively care, Alliance and NE's aren't part of that. The CM's I seriously doubt care and have stated before they don't pass along feedback they don't personally care about. As much feedback as has been given on the state of the NE's and the story in BFA I would honestly be shocked if the dev's and writers have been made aware of even a word of it.

Sadly its just time to move on for this old NE fan.
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10/23/2018 05:45 PMPosted by Nemiria
Guess what guys.

https://imgur.com/LISGbLv

Yeah... Just tell Night Elves to !@#$ off already. Spare us the bull %^-*, Blizzard.


I am so f***ing angry. I can't even. This is why I have to move on from this story, this is brutal.
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10/23/2018 11:26 PMPosted by Jaou
10/23/2018 05:45 PMPosted by Nemiria
Guess what guys.

https://imgur.com/LISGbLv

Yeah... Just tell Night Elves to !@#$ off already. Spare us the bull %^-*, Blizzard.


I am so f***ing angry. I can't even. This is why I have to move on from this story, this is brutal.


There has to be a point where you just say "F it" and drop WoW.. sure the game has been around forever and it HAD a cool world to it but Blizz has decided it doesn't like what WoW is and that's when you just have to walk away.
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10/24/2018 12:03 AMPosted by Avondriel
There has to be a point where you just say "F it" and drop WoW.. sure the game has been around forever and it HAD a cool world to it but Blizz has decided it doesn't like what WoW is and that's when you just have to walk away.


I have been a fan since 1995, warcraft 1 and 2 was a bonding experience I shared with my dad when I was little. I was a pre-teen when Warcraft 3 released, and the Night Elves servered as a model for me in many ways. WoW has influences a lot of aspects of my personal identity as it was developing in my Teen years.

While I am an adult, and fully capable of leaving, it is difficult. This is the meat of Blizzard's responsibility as creaters. You're playing with peoples childhoods, you're playing with people's role models. This franchise, this story means far more to me than it does to any of the writters, and I am not alone in that regard.