When I think of “dark fantasy”, I think of stuff like Pan’s Labyrinth.
What part of WoW was ever like that example at any point in its history?
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That was juvenile, reductive, and worthy of an eyeroll, not a fistpump into the air.
If that’s the bar for “gritty dark fantasy” I’m pretty sure you’re starting from a much different place than me.
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It was perfectly on theme for my Forsaken Warlock. They will never go 100% grimdark, just like they’d never go 100% Hello Kitty Island Adventures.
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Hahahahahaa oh shoooot I just saw you other post about Shadowlands:
ahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Night Fae zone was lit though.
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Warcraft was never a gritty dark fantasy.
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In fairness WE didn’t do that to Deathwing so much as the N’Zoth did that to him. We just removed the tape holding his body together. He came in the box like that.
Nitpick aside, the game was never really dark, it has moments sure, but was always a more light-hearted fantasy world with dark undertones usually hidden away from the main campaign anyway.
There are some dark quests in this expansion too. Have to read them though, which most won’t in fairness.
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revisionism
also yeah, wow story hasnt had coolness since legion. i hope midnight brings some semblance of epic back
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Ardenweald once you joined the Night Fae as a covenant… it went DARK whimsical, but old school fairytale DARK.
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It’s similar aesthetically, but the themes and story and characters of Ardenweald don’t really strike me as being dark.
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That’s because most of it is locked behind actually joining them. We have a Witcher reference about scraping guts off a tavern ceiling.
That game is gone, has been for years. This is WoW 2.0 for a ‘modern’ audience.
Start talking about your feelings to a furry, you bigot.
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The one thing I liked about Ardenwald, bout halfway through, Mrs moonwhoever’s assitant starts talking about eating other fairies and feafolk lol, to the point of parody quoting The Green Inferno about using skulls as cups and bowls and fingers as straws.
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Help, a Vulpera just told me they loved me!
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Don’t cut yourself on all that edge, etc.
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Them big cartoony hands, comically oversized shoulders and gay jokes from being clicked on too much just screams grim dark.
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I guess it’s one thing to have that kinda stuff tucked away in a corner as a reference, but it’s still not really part of the over-arching vibe of Ardenweald. It’s a cool zone tho, I enjoyed it.
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Weirdo ironically calls a normal person a bigot: stunning and brave.
Normal person uses ‘bigot’ in jest: attempt at edgelord status, apparently.
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I think there was even a kid crying because mommy/daddy was piked to a wall in front of them and wouldn’t “wake up.”
That was pretty dark.
WoW has dark moments, but it also has selfie cams and yeti fur suits.
You gotta take it all in stride.
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We went from what felt like a beginning/ending season thriller of Walking Dead or Breaking Bad to “On this episode of Phineas and Ferb.”
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I was really hoping for more epic dragon fights, like dragon vs dragon. Deathwing raid comes to mind. During dragonflight.
I would agree, I am hopeful for more of a gritty fantasy story vs “hey we all went to the place we all go when we die, got mind controlled, but no biggie, no consequences, gg all”.
I get from a storyteller point that you want to include the player, but why are we the focus? Shouldn’t we be interacting with the events in the world from major characters. Possibly hearing rumors about the current three - Anduin, Thrall, and Verissa - Xal’atath doesn’t feel super threatening yet. Even the Jailer felt more threatening due to bastion story and the Eye of the Jailer mechanic.
To use an apples to oranges. Harry Potter vs Harry Dresden. both have some seriously dark themes, with one handling it for kids (admirably) and one written more for adults. Can we get the Dresden version of WoW back, to use the analogy?