All three of them.
It remains baffling to me that people can’t quite grasp why WoW’s devs just capped it at the one generic human castle in the one generic looking deciduous forest.
4 Likes
I’ll admit it’s certainly more interesting than that uncultured dump called Stormwind, but the Alliance is already full of generic tropes and idioms.
3 Likes
Which three? I count only two?
There are so many questions and implication about the future of Lordaeron. I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Where is this guy:
For the Forsaken and for Lordaeron! - Helcular
1 Like
Generic isn’t always bad. I like Quel’Thalas, but “ancient elf kingdom protected by a magic barrier” is nothing new. It’s just that Stromwind even looks generic within the game world. Classic Theramore looked like Stormwind. Classic Menethil Harbor looked like Stormwind. Stromgarde looks like Stormwind. Everything is recolored Stormwind.
9 Likes
A push up bra and a corset can really make a difference.
10 Likes
There’s nothing wrong with playing the hits.
Kul Tiras is really cool because there’s actually a culture and unique style to it. Same with Gilneas.
The rest of the human nations are just pretty dull. They were made to justify different colored RTS units and all got assigned a single hat to wear.
Stromgarde is military, Lordaeron faith, Alterac crime, Kul Tiras navy, and so on. That might’ve felt like something in 1995 but in today’s world where we have stuff like the Witcher series with really fascinating and real feeling human kingdoms they just haven’t aged well.
8 Likes
It’s the story forum. Like a wave crushing against the beach and dissolving into the sea, this piece of new narrative development gets absorbed into fans own headcanons and meta-narratives. It’s not about you in particular. It’s about them.
1 Like
Maybe I should rephrase my position…
In this specific case, the Sylvanas fan is unhappy with the way Sylvanas has been handled for two expansions. If you are going to villain bat a character, and then release a book about them, that book should offer relevant, additional insight. If it is early in the arc, you can show that they have always actually been a villain. If it is right before, or after their redemption, you can show that they are actually a more dynamic character, with complex motivations.
If you arent adding something to the narrative, then it need not exist. The Arthas novel wasnt needed for us to know that Arthas was a spoiled brat whose insecurities and identity issues made him ripe for being manipulated into a monster. WC3 represented his story perfectly. Hes not a side character, or an under explored villain. It’s not Wicked or Cruella and shouldn’t pretend to be. It doesn’t offer us any different perspective.
In the case of this book, Sylvanas has had decades of development, we know why she’s messed up. We knew how she was a hero. We knew her history, and enough about her love life. She didnt need a prequel trilogy to clear that up for us. I would argue that the book has no reason to exist except for one thing… they really upset Sylvanas fans by having her act out of character.
Since Sylvanas fans were upset, you could justify a book that offers more insight into those seemingly out of character decisions. But the purpose would need to be satisfying the people who had a problem with the mishandling in the first place. That’s what Blizzard promised us. “Hey, we know fans are a little confused about why Sylvanas did what she did, and that should become much clearer with the new novel.”
The real reason is this narrative got almost no thought whatsoever, which is obvious. There have been some explanations offered and I think the hasty rewrite is the only one that makes sense. Sylvanas real motivation, and vindication was retconned before it was revealed. Instead of trying to save face with a typical Christie Golden novel, I would rather they had just said “Sorry, we messed up the narrative and we’re moving on.”
11 Likes
Seriously.
SL got multiple people who played since Beta to quit. A lot of WoW coverage content had to pivot to covering more games. This is an unmitigated disaster
So them trying to save face is just bizarre. We can all see that not only does the Emperor have no clothes but it looks like he forgot to wipe.
16 Likes
Honestly it doesn’t seem to be worth reading.
Like most wow books very little thought went into making them.
The question is does this book equipe you with the latest lore “facts” to win in the next debate in this forum?
3 Likes
Thats it. Like, Im really hoping they retcon a bunch of stuff from this book quickly so I can say “Pish Posh, they ret comned half that book already” instead of reading it… but I really want to win these debates.
Well I hope you enjoy your victory lap.
Its like winning a marathon by using uber
That’s like saying you don’t have to read Frankenstein because you have the Spark Notes. It’s nice to read (or listen to) the actual thing, and not an interpretation of it.
This book shouldn’t exist because this story is a literary abomination
Like there is now, canonically, officially, a sequence of Logical Statements that connects “Lava Eel Vore” and “I believe Zovaal is Family Friendly” to “Genocide of Teldrassil”
I cannot fathom what such sequence is
But it now canonically exists
And for what?
What did they gain after 4 years of this nonsense? 6 if we include Legion.
9 Likes
I dont even include BfA. Everything was fine through This world is a prison…
“This world is a prison” led to nothing
It was meaningless
Literally led nowhere.
No metaphysical crisis, no interesting question about cosmic mores, nothing.
12 Likes
It doesn’t equip me with anything. I’m not looking to win any forum debates.
I’m more concerned with future speculation, and sadly this book didn’t offer as many hints to the future as I would like, it’s a pretty standalone novel.
It only confirmed what most of us knew to be true, Sylvanas wasn’t a villain up until BFA and after mid-Legion just went absolutely batsh- crazy.
It seems like the middle ground to make both the pro-Sylvanas and anti-Sylvanas fans claim respective little victories.
1 Like
Legion was atleast the last good expansion over all.
10 Likes
“The jailer is cunningly deceptive.” - Uther
He heavily plays into her confirmation bias that “life is unfair.” whether that is factually true or not, every single situation that happens to her leads to this same conclusion. Life is unfair, and he convinces her that he too just wants to make a world where everything is fair.
It’s a bit of an oxymoron, Sylvanas’s response to the world being unfair is to just add more unfairness to it. It’s not a personal vendetta against the Night Elves… they just exist, therefore they too must also feel the unfairness of this world.
I’m sure there’s metanalysis here where one could reason that the world is unfair, because Sylvanas is making it unfair for everyone else.
7 Likes