Not only was this video extremely boring, it also ruined my desire to ever play that covenant.
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That’s a valid point, maybe I will switch to Ravendreth as that’s the truly evil place, and considering that I’ve had my reasons for following Sylvanas…even with all the bad stuff she did…maybe I need to reconsider my own position on some issues…
It was boring and reused a scene from the legion cinematic.
The main problem is that it feels rushed and unfocused. It’s already more than two minutes shorter than Bastion. Draka was already an unpopular and underdeveloped choice for the Maldraxxus main character, and yet after watching a cinematic that was supposed to be about her I feel like I know even less about who she is. You could swap her out with Garona and not miss a single beat. If there was any piece of narrative media that should have put in the legwork to expand on Draka’s character, this was it.
Why would you not save the heavy character development and growth for the actual gameplay and not a cinematic…?
That said, there is actually such elements in the cinematic.
You know, I think the only reason people are saying that is because Blizzard lead with such a strong one with the Bastion Afterlife video. Uther, Arthas, the Kyrian and the Maw, there was so much going on and so much based off of the high point of Warcraft’s lore. For a lot of people WCIII and it’s characters as super beloved.
Like, Draka compared to all those characters isn’t exactly a character that is super well known outside of her WoD interpretation. Her (Original Draka) only real involvement in the story was in the books and they were not really major story beats. Pair that with an absolute lack of any other major characters kinda left it in that underwhelming state. For me, the Highlight was seeing the Legion and that Draka and Maldraxxus were keeping an eye on them. That was super cool to see.
Compared to the first one with two of the bigger names in Warcraft, re-depicting famous scenes like Uther’s Death, Arthas’s Death, etc kinda worked against Maldraxxus’s Afterlife video.
Like, as you said, if they had incorporated Kel’thuzad or even Lady Vashj or just some more noteworthy characters then maybe it would have had more going for it.
It’s not even that it was bad, I loved the Maldraxxus Afterlife video, it’s just it was overshadowed by the Bastion one having more prominent characters, memorable scenes, and honestly more emotion. Maldraxxus also had its cool moments though.
Another thing for me, personally, and I know I am going to get some hate for this but I thought that the “I am giving you the key” bit was a bit cheesy and forced. Don’t get me wrong, its great to see more of Draka and for her to become more of a character instead of just being “Thrall’s Mom” but I think they tried to build too much too quickly. Four minutes of actual run time, ignoring the intro and ending title cards and such, isn’t a lot of time to take a character that was really only known for being Thrall’s mom (She didn’t even have all that much build up in Frostfire Ridge) into being the key to saving Maldraxxus… I feel like the Afterlife video just does not do justice for her and built too much too quickly as well as lacked the memorable characters that the Bastion one had.
Just my two cents. I am sure there are diehard Draka fans who loved it, but for me and by comparison to Bastion which just killed it the Maldraxxus one was a bit more underwhelming by comparison. Still liked it, just think it was overshadowed by comparison.
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Expanding on who a character is does not necessarily constitute “character development.” Bastion’s cinematic was so well received because it took familiar characters and lore elements we thought we knew from years in the past and added new depth to them. We know who Uther is, what he’s been up to, where his conflict comes from, and what he wants. But that’s not the entirety of his character development; it’s just a lead-in to where we meet him in the game proper.
Draka gets absolutely none of that. She doesn’t even read like an actual character. She’s a good warrior and rogue; that’s it. That makes her no better than 90% of the orc characters we’ve met so far. There’s nothing to sink my teeth into here.
I wasn’t really happy with any of them, except for maybe Revendreth. And that’s the one I went with. The other three just didn’t seem to work right for me. I may go more into it once Shadowlands launches and more people see it and can tell me how wrong I am. 
Well if it helps let me give a bit of history on Draka.
Basically she was born sick, and in orcish society, if she had been a Blackrock she would have been put to death, so had to work extra hard to prove herself at an early age, going through hunting tests and whatnot. In many ways her early life was a lot like us adventurers where we fight out in the world on our own. Due to her successful hunting and adventuring life, she was accepted into the Frostwolf Clan.
So then she met Durotan and went out on a hunt with him, usually in Orcish society if a male asks a female to come out on a hunt it means they want to mate, and although initially it was meant to be just a hunt, one thing led to another and they were together.
After the rise of the Horde, Draka stood with Durotan, and due to his clans rejection of the demonic curse, her entire life was about survival, as they were exiled for their refusal to drink demonic blood, and the rest of her life was simply fighting to protect her clan and family. Some of what she went through could be seen in the Warcraft movie, at least a similar version of it. She might seem like she played a small role in things, but remember without her, there wouldn’t have been a Thrall.
when I clicked on this post it had 88 replies and 888 view 
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I appreciate Night Fae for all the Night Elf stuff in it, but other than that, I agree.
I don’t think it helps that covenant campaigns will be locked to covenant choice. You’re only getting 1/4th of the story.
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Draka just seems like… an out of nowhere choice 
‘Unrelenting and war-like’ seems more like Blackhand or Orgrim to me.
But I’m not really phased, still going to pick Necrolords either way.
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Yeah, I’m definitely going to have some alts choose the other covenants, regardless of if they “fit” or not, just for the story.
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Nothing a little shadowblands juice can’t fix!
It actually fits for what they were going for. A “warrior” that can think outside the box, use alternative tactics/skills, that’s the entire basis for her character from when she was younger. Back in warcraft chronicles.
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SUIT 1: “Okay guys, so the main NPC players interact with in Maldraxxus is going to be Draka.”
SUIT 2: “Who’s Draka?”
LORE SUIT: “She’s Thrall’s mother, a female orc.”
SUIT 2: “Like Garona?”
LORE SUIT: “Well, actually-”
SUIT 1: “Yes, exactly like Garona.”
SUIT 2 :“Draka is exactly like Garona, got it, done. Okay, what’s next?”
SUIT 1: “The really important stuff, you know, RNG, retention mechanics, anything to push the ‘time played’ metics.”
That’s true but nobody read that or saw it in the games.
Everyone looking to connect to a character instead of paying attention to the story and tidbits being told and shown in the cinematics is doomed to fail.
To be popular they have to lack substance, to have substance they’re reamed and unpopular.
I prefer to think of Draka as a less interesting female Gul’dan personally. Their early lives pretty much mirror each other but then branch off into different directions.
It seems like this expansion relies way too much on old character hype. Instead of creating new and interesting characters, they’re just going to milk nostalgia.
WoD tried to do that and we all know how that turned out.
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