This is specially important when it’s the single most important event in the entire expac.
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My biggest complaint is the rewrites. “You thought you knew Illidan but…” for example.
Also not a fan of bringing back the long dead. It is comic booky and tired.
There are others, but those are my two biggest complaints.
“What’s good storytelling” I hear you ask?
Might I direct you to Warcraft 3, as well as specifically the World of Warcraft: Arthas, Rise of the Lich King book.
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For example, Teldrassil burning was not bad. It was honestly one of the most exciting things that happened in WoW’s lifespan. Stuff like that happens in a war, big losses, important characters dying, etc.
I don’t even think Sylvanas being what she is is bad writing. She is completely in character from what she is. The problem wasn’t “Sylvanas is Garrosh 2.0”, but the fact that back in MoP Garrosh character inconsistency spiralled down in a path that felt totally out of place. So, of course Sylvanas coming after that will have a taste of redundancy.
Now, what I think it’s bad regarding Sylvanas’ example is how easy it seems for her to always be ahead of everyone’s plans. The plot structure in our point of view makes stuff being very easy for her, making it look a bit cheesy at some point. It would be nice to see her actually struggling to have her plans set in motion.
And besides that, the Sylvanas Loyalist fiasco also really added up. This, much like Teldrassil, could be an extended plot point across Shadowlands as well, but I suppose they don’t want to deal with this kind plot device for the player character, which is a shame.
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The biggest problems with WoW storytelling right now is lore consistency and character plot armor imo. Things have been retconned to hell, making past lore/raids/quests feel like they were pointless within the narrative (aka old gods being able to be killed now), and important characters have the plot bend around them to force the story to move a certain direction (Sylvanas beating Bolvar, Nathanos managing to draw with Tyrande and Malfurion at Darkshore etc.)
People like consistent, plausible, tight stories with complete character arcs that make sense and show development. Stories that draw you into the world and characters that make you root for them (or hate them, but not because they are a bad character - rather because they are a ‘love to hate them’ type of character).
Characters don’t necessarily have to be morally grey, but they do have to be realistic with valid flaws that negatively affect them within the story. Mustache-twirling-esque villain Sylvanas is not realistic… she feels like a character out of a really bad fanfiction right now, but prior to BFA she was a good character imo.
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For me the story was good initially but with each passing expansion it gets more and more “out there” and I cant either keep up to the intricacies or its too boring to keep up and immerse myself in it, mind you I’m not a huge RP fan.
A good story to me would be more diverse and depended on the choices you make in game, if your inclined to help another faction kill a mob maybe our rep would change and eventually we could interact with different vendors or a different storyline not available to hard right factions.
TL;DR make the game change based on our play and choices, it might open a lot of extra work for Blizz but it would be very diverse, for me that would make me more interested in the side game of RP and perhaps the game within the game other than just the gear grind and max level raiding
I think a lot of people like misusing the term retcon. Lore evolving as we learn new things is a way for stories to naturally progress. Our knowledge of our own planet and our own being is changing constantly as we make new discoveries.
For me, a good story is one that entertains me and keeps me engaged/wanting more. Many of the hooks for BfA’s story were set long before BfA, just as BfA is setting hooks for future expansions yet to come. I think the problem for some is there is no conclusion to the many story arcs in WoW.
A lot of people seemed to be caught off guard by Sylvanas gain in strength, for instance, but this has been something in the works since the end of Wrath. No one seemed to question when the Valkyr starting hanging out with her.
Because we were actually told about the pact with the val’kyr in Edge of Night. There was no second half of the story that focused on her making a deal with the Jailer, despite that now being the canon. We didn’t know the Jailer as an entity existed until we were told so at Blizzcon.
Stop making good characters bad then back good
So, now we discover that that the Jailer was the one behind the Val’kyr, that is how stories evolve.
I personally haven’t paid any attention to the Lore or story since WotLK.
idk I think that the WoW story is pretty solid. I rarely read anymore due to time, but I’ve purchased a lot of the WoW books because I genuinely like how deep and intricate all of the lore is. As a general statement, I really like WoW writing.
That being said, I was a tad underwhelmed with Bfa because it seemed to follow an extremely standard hero’s journey storyline (at least from the horde side). I didn’t like how Saurfang basically was a good guy, realized he was wrong, made up for being wrong, and even had a death scare (I say death scare because the immediate expansion after his death is Shadowlands, an expansion where we get to see dead people and interact with them, so his death holds less weight. While he’s probably lost in the maw right now, I don’t doubt that future Shadowlands content will feature him). The story feels a little bit too cookie cutter for me.
However it is undeniable that it’s still a good story. I mean the hero’s journey is a storyline that we’ve all seen before, but they nail it. I mean you’ve got a lot of genuine emotional moments that are done well and appeal to humanity. Overall, I think that the story that they made absolutely succeeds at what it’s trying to be, it’s just a little underwhelming for me because I’ve seen what other stories they can make. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable and I absolutely disagree with the statement that it’s poorly written.
The problem is, it just happened. There was close to no buildup to it and it wasn’t done in an intelligent way.
Teldrassil burning could’ve been great but the execution and follow up was beyond atrocious.
I generally dislike Wow’s storytelling because it’s often disjointed and tries to shove too many plot points in at once. For example, in BfA we had a faction War, Old Gods, Azshara… Because we had so many things, none of those things were really fleshed out and delved into as much as they could have been.
I also have a problem that so much of Blizz’s story is told outside of the game.
However, you asked what my idea of good storytelling is. I will give you an example, and another MMO at that.
FF14’s latest expansion was absolutely brilliant. It’s called Shadowbringers and from the trailer you would think it was a fight between light and dark, but it’s so, so much more. They take the time to set up and flesh out characters and plot points, and show both the high energy moments, and the quiet moments of vulnerability. The story grips you, and doesn’t let go, and I love it. It’s prolly my favourite MMO story ever told, and among my top FF games period.
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Conflicts make great stories. Neil Gaiman said this in his video.
Don’t force your character to be stupid to brute force the plot a certain way
Don’t kill characters for shock value. That’s cheap
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For factions you need wins and losses on both sides. Not horde lose, alliance does nothing but doesn’t lose everytime.
A good one? when you know your characters in and outs,then throw a mystery ,have many possibilities climaxes .Detective work with a twist,coming to a finally with an outcome totally wrong.
I think the biggest problem I have is the unbelievable actions/reactions of Characters that are completely unrelatable.
For example, the Burning of Teldrassil. Great emotional hit. But the reactions of the Alliance leaders was unfathomable. We can’t help the night elves, but here’s thousands of soldiers we can give to Saurfang. You know, Saurfang of the Horde. The same faction that burned Teldrassil.
And get rid of plot armor. More Alliance leaders need to be able to die. Like, why wouldn’t the Horde come together and set up a multiple year plan to kill Jaina being that she’s able to fork up their plans with a wave of her hand?
It just doesn’t make sense.
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play ff14 shadowbringers and youll have your answer
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