still the only good thing from 8.2.5
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That character was the only one in that cinematic that I was rooting for. Gal is just standing there in front of an entire army after her mistress threw a hissyfit and Hadoukened Saurfang. And sheās just like āYeah okay.ā Bang Bang
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Honestly whatās sad is 8.2.5 and 8.3 have a lot of self reflective moments about problems the story has, and even solved some of them. But itās sorta overshadowed by how deep in the PR hole Blizzard is.
Like the narrative started turning a corner and then real life went to hell again.
It didnāt.
I came back to the game after a year, upon hearing about that cinematic. I didnāt watch it until I got to that point of the questing experience because I wanted to see the context surrounding it.
Keep in mind Iāve been a fan of Blizzardās since WarCraft 2. Iāve played all the Diablos, all the StarCrafts, all the WarCrafts. In that time Iāve noticed a depressing repetition of themes.
Having watched that cinematic, I can say with almost absolute certainty that Sylvanas will ultimately be the one to Save Us All.
āThe Horde is nothing. You are all nothing!ā was delivered in such a way as to bring to my mind the concept of āIām fighting for something on a vastly larger scale than Alliance and Horde hereā, including the fact Sylvanas was visibly angry at Saurfangās betrayal and remarked āI trusted youā.
Iām convinced at this point that Blizzard is going to make Sylvanas a Kerrigan, in that only her uniqueness of being will be able to put a stop of NāZoth and allow us to take the fight to the Void Lords. That everything sheās done - the attempt to kill hope, the atrocities, etc - has all been preparing the way and strengthening Azeroth for its coming conflict against the Void itself.
The fact the planet has literally been dying while sheās doing this will be glossed over because, letās be brutally honest here, the Heart of Azeroth has never been anything other than a gameplay mechanic and all Azerite has EVER been narrative-wise is a potent new compound for upgraded weapons. For crying out loud, even Azsharaās getting in on the Azerite action !
And the less we talk about how Ashvane started out with narrative potential and then just devolved into generic sniveling underling of the Bigger Bad the better. Dangit Blizzard, you could have GONE SOMEWHERE with Ashvane. Instead I just literally watched her in a quest plead with Azshara not to let us kill her because āWe had a deal!ā
So no, I donāt think the narrative has turned any corner. Itās still plummeting straight to the bottom of the well. At which point SYLVANAS WILL SAVE US!
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I disagree. The Horde got dissected in a meta sense, characters acknowledged that it was fundamentally flawed, and it got set on a path of possibly becoming functional. Tyrande got to tell Anduin things he didnāt wanna hear, and I didnāt see her words as villainous or ominous.
They also officially ended Red vs Blue in a large scale manner of speaking. And they stopped pretending Sylvanas has our best interest at heart. I was glad for the direction they took things, and hope it continues.
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Oh sure. Blizzardās been winking at the camera pretty heavily. Especially the ambient dialogue around Boralus Harbor, about how the war is over but the ceasefire never lasts, yada yada āWeāre breaking the cycle!ā Dramatic music swell
Weāve been here before, weāll be here again. Look at the rehabilitation of Illidan Stormrage - or before him Ogrim āLetās descrate religious artifacts to create Ogre Magiā Doomhammer.
Sylvanas is going to be the Big Damn Hero of this expansion. Mark my words.
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Iām not gonna dislike lore Iād otherwise enjoy because of unconfirmed fan theories 
The story isnāt perfect, but I like the way theyāre headed.
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Oh no no no. Donāt misunderstand my statements. You are absolutely within your right to enjoy the story and be excited for what comes next. Just because Iām a cynical grump doesnāt mean Iām looking to make anyone else to become one.
Besides, even if I do see where the story is heading, that doesnāt mean Blizzard wonāt be able to tell it well. I saw Diablo IIIās big ātwistā coming with the introduction of Leah, but I still stayed invested in the story.
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I concur with your assessment, mostly. I agree that they addressed some fundamental issues with their writing, however I would say that the writing has sunk so low and weāve been lied to so much that āaddressingā isnāt adequate.
No probably not. My point is more thatā¦ weāre not where we need to be, but now weāre facing that direction, at least.
If that makes sense?
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It does. But I also point out that, even while facing the right direction, you can still walk backwards.
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Iām still fundamentally disappointed that Azshara ended up being a mid-expansion raid tier instead of a dedicated expansion all her own. Especially with the overall Night Elf narrative in BfA, Azsharaās return (Especially if she came offering the Night Elves ārefugeā by transforming them into Naga) really could have been an expansion all its own.
But I do understand Blizzardās hesitancy to doing that, since Legion was dominated by Alliance-side characters and BfA has a significant Alliance-slant (And the Horde keep shedding major characters at a catastrophic rate). A third expansion in a row that was Alliance-side driven probably wouldnāt work so well.
Honestly, speaking as a Alliance-centric player, we really NEED a Horde-centric Expansion at this point to replenish the ranks of the Hordeās characters. I mean, the Horde-side narrative canāt exactly be carried by Baine Bloodhoof and Lorāthemar Theron. I was pleased by how the Nightborne arenāt being side-lined (Plus her conversation with Jania about the ship was genuinely fun), and while I would love for Ji Firepaw to actually BE a characterā¦the Orcs are in desperate need of someone who is not Thrall and the Forsaken could use someone who isnāt just Sylvanas/Nathanos 2.0 (Calia and Derek). Lillian Voss was kind of perfect in that regard but sheās very much a cheerleader of the 2.0 crew.
Horde just needs some TLC. Plus, while Iām dreaming, Iād love to see the Alliance get a bit ādirtierā. The Night Elves are starting to rediscover their savage side, weāve got Elves that are literally being whispered to by the Void, and thereās that sinister undercurrent of the Lightforged Draenei that just hasnāt been properly explored yet.
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You fool! You foolish fool!
Quick, Iāll set the lodge ablaze, get out of here!
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i donāt think a horde-centric expansion would give the horde more characters. more the opposite, really, going by historically horde-centric expansions. we might get a couple neat characters that never show up again, and we will almost definitely watch a horde leader die.
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Thatās becoming almost a tradition at this point, though.
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I legitimately donāt think a Horde -centric- expansion is needed to replenish the ranks of lore characters for the horde.
That could be handled readily enough by taking existing smaller, but notable, characters an giving them a bit of a promotion.
Like, you can have next expac be more Alliance led in nature with itās narrative and the struggles of division in the ranks, but you can have the Horde for itās story go āSoā¦ two rebellions and ousting the cruel from our ranks have left us a bit drained in terms of Skilled leadersā¦ Role Call! Whoās still here and capable! You? Excellent, take this hero and lead our efforts in this region.ā
Iād honestly give characters like Lasan, Liadrin and probably Ji better writing and more active roles to simply take pre-existing characters who -should- get he spot light, and work them into it gradually.
You can also likely add any number of characters to the 3 I mentioned. Itās much easier to take and promote an existing character to ensure your cast stops getting so god damn cluttered.
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We donāt need a Horde-centric expansion. Beyond the fact that weāve just now had one and it sucked, like the last Horde-centric expansions have all sucked, we could replenish their ranks with a few questlines.
Go out to Desolace. Find Orc McBork. Kill ten Honorboars. Now heās Warchief. There we go.
I feel like the Naga have consistently occupied this very dissatisfying space of the coolest promise and the worst execution.
Like, I hope Iām not alone in saying that the Naga just look and feel cool. Their style is rad, their blend of Elf stuff with Sea stuff oddly works, they have a neat backstory and really cool lore.
Then, instead of doing anything interesting, they always just show up pursuing some kind of power and then die. Thereās never any interesting developments in them or complex motives. Itās literally just āwe must get the Thing, oh no, the heroes stopped us, next time weāll get that Thing.ā
Which, to be fair, is like 90% of WoWās villains. But it feels worse when the Naga do it because they wrote a check that Blizzardās writing canāt cash.
Nobody expects much from a Quillboar, so itās fine when a Quillboar just dies. But for the Naga, itās like watching your very stylish friend order chicken fingers at a fancy restaurant.
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Just kind of want to point out two things; Orgrim wanted a way to deal with the human magi, and Gulādan figured how to use the elven runestones.
The runestones were never said to have religious value outside of the mention of druids, and were more just there to ward off and protect against trolls.
Feels like āyes, it was evil, but not this specific kind of evilā is a little belaboring.
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