check the comments on the video itself.
Gotta have black people in literally every video now eh Blizzard?
Why Blizzard, WHY? Could you throw BLM into our faces any harder with that banner?
This is some advanced propaganda
Yes black woman, very progressive
Among many other comments from the trailer. Apparently having a black character means Blizzard is too woke.
I skimmed through a few and didnāt run into that, butā¦ yeah, thatās kind of insane.
I suddenly want Blizzard to have a black and asian looking human as an important character someday in WoW proper. I would love to see the meltdown from that.
If you look at the comments by the date of creation, you can find them almost immediately.
What is the name of a hybrid of a Mongoloid and a Congoid?
Manā¦ I remember when people were speculating the next Hearthstone would be Lordaeron based on the rose petals and the WCIII Arthas cinematic.
At least with the Barrens you got Barrens Chat memories, the imprint of doing Barrens before Cata is in a lot peopleās mind. At least itās not one raceās capital, it encompasses an experience that a lot of people have regardless of race.
And! They managed to include Alliance Races in their roster so it didnāt feel totally horde dominated.
This feels like a swing and a miss, hard to see this as not another way to harmonize the Alliance when really every race should be allowed to shine on their own independent force.
The song is fun though, I will give it that itās a good animatic like always.
I swear to God, I donāt go into these things with a negative mindset. Honestly, I donāt. I was looking forward to seeing what the Alliance expansion pack would be like. But holy hell was that a big, bland ball of boring. āLook, itās Stormwind! A place with people! And stores! And a fountain! GO ALLIANCE!ā I am not at all surprised that this is what the Alliance is to Blizzard. I canāt get over the complete lack of heart and soul that had. It might as well have been a random Ren Faire expansion.
My thoughts too pretty much. The āGeneric/Vanillaā human faction with the castles etc can actually be interesting if done right. Itās just that over the last few years theyāve seemingly had little to no interest in it. Itās been brought up a million times over at this point but when it comes to the human Knights, Stormwind needs to revive the Brotherhood of the Horse. This should have happened long ago during the CATA revamp. Instead of Rambo Spoof in Redridge, John Keeshan should have been a Knight you help reform the Brotherhood to fight back the Orcs and Gnolls. Eventually taking Stonewatch Keep to become their Orderās HQ.
The Church of the Light needs to do something as well. Iāve never understood Benedictusā betrayal. Everything about it was goofy. He betrays his Kingdom only to be ā¦ revealed by Thrallā¦ And then the Church apparently carries on without any sign of replacing him all these years later.
The Silver Hand should also be taking a more active role. It was nice seeing their units in Stromgarde, but i want to see them do more within the human story.
The problem is mostly that this is already the case anywayā¦sometimes. As I said Blizzard themselves have no idea how the Alliance seemingly works nowadays. Anduin invites other factions into the Alliance without having to ask the other leaders, but during Cataclysm the entire Alliance had to vote in favor of accepting the Gilneans and worgen. It was a big plot point that Varian was justifiable distrusting of Greymane.
ā¦although thatās typical Blizzard writing , because if anything comes in the way of the plot it is retconned or they move the goalposts. So I do not expect any clarification anyway.
I feel like one big problem also comes from the fact that Stormwind has lost much of its āmedieval edgeā. Itās prevalent in Classic all the way to Wrath Iād argue when compared to the modern day version. One example is the woman Nikola Raskol. Sheās still wandering around in the Old Town I think but in Classic she actually gave you a quest, called āThe Color of Bloodā:
āBitterness flows through my veins like a cold river. My grandson, Mac, was such a good boy. A mere 14 years old . When the army was sent off to the front, Mac took up arms to defend the city. He was a guard in The Stockade, where the Defias gang is locked up. Mac reprimanded some of the prisoners for tearing their wool blankets to make scarves, a symbol of their gang. For that Mac was stabbed in the back. I want revenge. Bring me 10 of their precious Wool Bandanas. They are the color of blood.ā
First off we have a 14-year-old-boy serving as a city guardā¦and then we have said boy being brutally backstabbed. Sure we had Anduin in MoP undergoing something similar with Garrosh beating the crap out of him.
But still: In BfA a big deal was made out of the fact that the Alliance had to call up farmersā¦meanwhile the situation in Classic was so bad that teenagers had to take up city guard duty. Not to mention that the army conscripted everyone who could wield a sword during the Northrend campaign.
Or another example: During the investigation of the Defias Brotherhood you come across a connection to a local noble. Lescovar. Shaw makes it clear that you cannot actually legally apprehend him because heās nobility and has enough connections to get awayā¦so you go in and assassinate him.
Or Overseer Thelwater in the Stockades. How he wants to deal with the uprising? Shooting and executing everyone. He also tells you that he gives a few hours at best and if you donāt report back to him until then he will order your execution you as well.
Or Magistrate Solomon in Redridge. In Classic he was acting far more serious and more how you expect someone in his position to act and talk. Well in Cataclysm we even have time for some āgnome killing jokeā.
Would Stormwind have remained this āmedieval edgeā nation I think that would have been enough to make them unique in their own way. Nowadays Stormwind feels more influenced by modern day standards and current morality than actually being a fantasy nation with stuff like the regular citizens of Stormwind being able to freely walk around in the castle. (Preposterous! Get those dirty peasants out of there!)
(No political statement intended.)
One question to Alliance players: What zone would you chose for an Alliance adventure?
Ashenvale? Loch Modan? Perhaps the Hinterlands? Actually the Hinterlands could work, you have Elves, High and Night elf ruins, Wildhammer Dwarves and even a Gnome laboratory.
My main problem is to find a zone I can see fitting for them, with the lack of something Night Elves would fit in to. Thatās why Iām asking.
Vanilla Loch Modan is easily one of my favorite zones in the game. Something set in pre-Cata Loch Modan, even something like Hearthstone(which I have never and will never play), is a win in my book.
Just wanted to say Iām a big fan of what you wrote here. Good stuff.
People shouldnāt be doing it anyway. WoW definitely doesnāt pander to us.
Alliance Bolvar: Jaina, with me to the main story. Thrall and Baine, stay behind with the Ebon Blade in Oribos!
As something of an Alliance partisan, and someone with extreme views who is often at odds with you, I have to agree. Watching the cutscenes of SL isā¦ Well it looks to me that Alliance aligned/originated characters are really taking the lead. Sylvanas betrayed the Horde, and her screentime certainly doesnāt count towards Horde screentime.
If the story or quests is in line with the cutscenes/cinematics then, rut ro. Thatās no good.
Edit: Unholy crap you changed your transmog!
Iām trying out costumes to fit this new shoulder piece I found in Korthia. Unfortunately, Blizzard is hellbent on making sure nothing matches outside of pre designed ensemble sets.
As a transmogrification enthusiast with trash but rigid taste, I know your pain.
As boring and generic as a Stormwind expansion theme is, the designers would be able to get more mileage out of it than Westfall, which would beā¦ defias and gnolls? Or Duskwood which is just the Witchwood again. Both are not exactly āAllianceā themes which is what the HS designers were aiming for.
Iād also point the hearthstone mechanic, ātradableā just fits more with a Stormwind one. I mean, except for some goblin city it is clear Stormwind is one of the worlds trading powerhouse. The french version even says Stormwind is a āsymbol of aboundanceā.
Which in and of itself is interesting because the Stormwind of Warcraft 1 was a relatively backward city. Now it is practically the center of trade and commerce for the Alliance.
Looks like they thankfully went through deleted all those comments, I canāt see any.
All Iām seeing is people pre-emptively whining about hypothetical Horde whining about the Alliance being the star of the expansion. Which I find hilarious.
Did kyalin break or something?
Loc Modan or Westfall
Stormwind was fine but the chorus of this trailer was all over the place. I could barely understand half the words.