Passion for the game: WoW Emotional Responses to Changes

[Daetur]

Sold millions of books and made Billions of $$ on Harry Potter. I would say that qualifies. However, I don't want Hogwarts at Stormwind, so we need a storyteller of that caliber when it comes to magic and fantasy.

So that means Stephanie Meyer's a good writer, then? Twilight were good books because they sold millions?

---------- Post added 2013-06-13 at 02:08 AM ----------

The only thing that bothers me with the WoW storyline is they decided to solve conflicts in books. Choose whatever medium you want to tell a story, but please tell the whole thing in that medium. I honestly wouldn't care if they just pieced those stories together in like virtual books found in the WoW world.

I do agree with this. Wish they'd kept all the lore IN game.

[The Madgod]

Are you seriously trying to compare Harry Potter to Twilight?

Twilight is a huge piece of garbage that only had female teenagers as audience. HP had copies sold to males and females of all ages.

He's making the valid point that just because a book sells does not mean that the writing is of a high quality.

[-Superman-]

I just have to comment on how 100% incorrect this is. Its amazing how people can twist logic 180 degrees to justify their position.

It is not the hardcore who demand new content be released constantly, its the casuals. Why? Because hardcores are happy with legitimately difficult content that takes months to complete. They don't need or want constant new raids, they want 1 hard raid that lasts for a long time. Its the casuals who grow bored of raids quickly because they offer zero challenge or sense of accomplishment, so Blizzard is forced to keep feeding them new ones, relying on the "new and shiny" effect to keep them interested rather than actual challenge. New and shiny doesn't last, and that is why Blizzard is forced to pump out new content so quickly; to appease the casuals who need constant new visual stimuli.

Casuals ask for crap like more storage space for their hoarding, more pets for their playtime, and fun junk like Dance Studio and the Barbershop. I don't recall the last time I saw an I quit thread because of a casual request, but I have seen plenty of I quit threads because hardcores are either "bored" or "frustrated".

[crakerjack]

The closes I felt to lore in WoW was probably during wotlk, but that's only because they had all those cut scenes... prior to that.... I turned on instant quest text as soon as I knew about it... haven't been in touch with lore for a while. WoW really hasn't been one of those games with lore where I care about the characters... the lore only hit me emotionally in WC... not like crying... but like "ah man, that dude died, that sucks." The only game that truly made me eyes was Gear of War 3 with dom... but I can't compare that to WoW, that game was phenomenal.

[-Superman-]

I find it arrogant to think that anyone can really say how a story should be written better than the writers. Quality of writing is certainly something that can be objectively quantified but to say what the story should be? Simply arrogance.

I think the threads found here and on the main site confirm the dislike for the current writing. When the writing improves, the story improves. When the story improves, the content improves since the content needs to fit the story. It's not arrogance, it's perception.

[The Madgod]

I think the threads found here and on the main site confirm the dislike for the current writing. When the writing improves, the story improves. When the story improves, the content improves since the content needs to fit the story. It's not arrogance, it's perception.

People have the right to say that they don't like the story, but I wasn't really talking about them.

What I said pertains to those who believe themselves to know the story better than the writers and could write the story better than the people who made it in the first place and still have it truly be Warcraft... or have it be even more "Warcraft" than before.

That is very arrogant.

[Daswolfen]

Sold millions of books and made Billions of $$ on Harry Potter. I would say that qualifies. However, I don't want Hogwarts at Stormwind, so we need a storyteller of that caliber when it comes to magic and fantasy.

So did Stephanie Meyer with Twilight. Rowling got lucky with Harry Potter, it doesn't mean she is a good writer. A lot of authors have one good story in them, but when they try to tell another one, it is nowhere as good. That is why rather than a 'one hit wonder' like Rowling, you want someone like R.A. Salvatore, Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson or Robin Hobb who can tell a good story about more than just one person.

[billielecter]

To my best knowledge, people are easy to be biased and prejudiced. What we have here in MOP is far more than a simple situation. This WOW has changed a lot and the reason is very complex. If you ask me for one major reason, I would say that Blizzard is not being HIMSELF, instead of that, he is acting like somebody else. This pretended gentleman is thinking about something more likely to be "How to survive WOW" rather than "How to make WOW fun" This and this alone fundamentally change the whole theory of Blizzard's design which makes WOW the way we have now.

[Velshin]

I don't understand your post OP because now in MoP the storytelling is way better than it used to be. Look at TBC expansion yes it's our beloved first expansion and many ppl consider it the best expansion ever (my favorite expansion as well) but does that mean the storytelling durning TBC is awesome and better than now? nope not even close. We players almost don't have any good reason killing Illidan in BT other than "hey he is the bad guy who took over outland." vanilla and TBC had very very poor storytelling compare to MoP.

[-Superman-]

So that means Stephanie Meyer's a good writer, then? Twilight were good books because they sold millions?

She is a good story teller. I personally don't subscribe to vamps twinkling in the sunlight, but you answered yourself. Anyone who can make Millions (or Billions) from their story obviously has "something". The fact that you mention her instead of a real Fantasy-fiction writer tells me you were more interested in mocking me than contributing to the conversation. I would expect a bit more from a Mod.

---------- Post added 2013-06-13 at 01:47 PM ----------

So did Stephanie Meyer with Twilight. Rowling got lucky with Harry Potter, it doesn't mean she is a good writer. A lot of authors have one good story in them, but when they try to tell another one, it is nowhere as good. That is why rather than a 'one hit wonder' like Rowling, you want someone like R.A. Salvatore, Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson or Robin Hobb who can tell a good story about more than just one person.

Again, people are missing the foundation of the point. Mario Puzo made hundreds of Millions, but he is not an accomplished and dedicated fantasy-fiction writer who would work well within the WoW genre of stories. We need someone who knows their stuff when it comes to fantasy such as WoW and who could really deliver. At best, WoW is more closely equated with Lord of the Rings, or Dungeons & Dragons and might do well to have someone who does story-based writing for either of those two games / novellas.

---------- Post added 2013-06-13 at 01:49 PM ----------

I don't understand your post OP because now in MoP the storytelling is way better than it used to be. Look at TBC expansion yes it's our beloved first expansion and many ppl consider it the best expansion ever (my favorite expansion as well) but does that mean the storytelling durning TBC is awesome and better than now? nope not even close. We players almost don't have any good reason killing Illidan in BT other than "hey he is the bad guy who took over outland." vanilla and TBC had very very poor storytelling compare to MoP.

The storyline might have improved, but that is only 1/2 the challenge. As I said in my OP, we need to improve the storyline AND we need to slow down with the content deployment and focus on content development. Just because it comes out fast does not make it quality content.