Too much Technology in the World...of Warcraft.

[TequilaFlavor]

All through the lore, there has been some amount of technology. Gnomes have been around since the beginning, and anywhere they end up, there are crazy gadgets. The Horde are just now starting to get technology due to the goblins joining them and sharing their knowledge. Anyways, the settings is "early-steampunk" rather than medieval fantasy. Plus, the devices don't rely on actual 'tech', or what we'd think of it anyways. It's 'tech' that infuses and manipulates magic, allowing them to build transporters and flying machines, but not computers and 'the internet'.

Plus.. War tends to make technology advance faster, and, well, the citizens of Azeroth are in a constant state of war.

Pretty much this !

The Warcraft-Universe was always pretty steam-punkish and had some far advanced technology that was based on/fueled by/fused with magic - and I actually love it for it and find this much more interesting than a "plain" medieval fantasy setting !

To each his/her own, I guess . . .

[smokii]

No, no one can say that a sword is a better weapon than a gun especially the guns in WoW. Have you seen the guns in WoW? A lot of them fire at almost the rate of a modern day fully auto machine gun. Plus some of them have giant bayonets attached. There is No reason to still use bows/swords when you got that kind of weaponry laying around.

it's called magic weapons and magic armor, you need magic weapons to pierce through magic armor, the more powerful the armor, the more powerful the weapons need to be.

you cant try to rationalise magic against real life, it just doesn't work i'm afraid.

edit: i love the steampunkery in wow, it's what made it so appealing to me (aside from the cartoony style) and what made it stand out from other "medieval" type sword and magic games.

[Yogg-Saron, God of Death]

I agree fully! I personally don't use any of those mounts, haven't got any even.
I don't find it fitting in the wow universe.

Except you don't decide what or what isn't fitting to an universe that isn't your possession.

[chocobo606]

You're trying to justify why things are a certain way... in a fantasy game...a...game. Seems to be your problem. Yeah, it makes no sense how that game doesn't follow the rules of reality, man.

Why not use guns and bombs? Because. It's. A. Game. A. Fantasy. World.

I'm pretty sure if there are mages that can move an entire city, or a giant portal from one planet to another and demi gods and titans and old gods and fucking crazy shit like that, that probably could care less about any of that stuff.

[Veyne]

I was always under the impression that the world we play in was some kind of medieval fantasy type setting like LoTR but I was way wrong.

Your expectation of what Azeroth was supposed to be was wrong, but that's no one's fault but your own, really. If you want to see an MMO with over-the-top technology in a high fantasy setting, check out RIFT. Hell, check out all the awesomeness of the machines in Storm Legion. Now if it was like that in World of Warcraft, I might have a bit of an issue. But the tech in Warcraft has been about like it is for a decent long while now. It's part of the Azerothian feel.

[huth]

Have to disagree. Though there is no "end" to the middle ages, commonly its taken between 1450 (fall of constantinople) over discovering america (1492) to the beginning of the reformation (1512). In europe gunpowder was invented in 1324, but it took a long time til guns were used. Artillery was used earlier (an example would be constantinople), but for hand fire rifles it took much more time. Because of reloading and also the materials used, crossbows were used much longer. So technically the use of gunpowder in higher quantity IS the end of the middle ages.

Also most middle ages creation use the high middle age which has taken place from 1050 to 1250. At least as long as you go for knights, mounted warriors, castles etc.

Yes, crossbows were used longer, because they worked (better). But handguns were available well before the middle ages and the 14th century, for that matter, ended.

I'd also disagree with your second assertion... while they may claim "high" middle ages, they are far more often set in late MA, if only because the author didn't do his research properly. Knights, castles and mounted warriors were around in both, anyway, with only the knights phasing out as the middle ages gave way to the renessaince, castles staying till the 17th century(when guns finally got strong enough to topple them easily) and mounted warriors even longer.

[Slummish]

Why do giant magical creatures die when puny mortals stand at their ankles and slash away for 9 minutes? That's just how it is... accept it.

[ridish]

Okay fine, but then explain to me why the citizens of Azeroth don't embrace all this superior tech and give up the inferior swords, bows and shields/primitive weapons?

Probably because they value their life. I mean gnomish and goblin engineering isn't famous for being safe : |

[Earenbane]

the tech has been part of warcraft before you even started playing, unless you actually played warcraft 2 on release.

[Saffa]

A slight hint OP - this is a game

[Dariela]

Bullets are a lot less effective in a world where everybody and their brother has enchanted armor and magic protections.

[Tedsterz]

Welcome to a fantasy universe where anything goes.

[arcadius]

Okay fine, but then explain to me why the citizens of Azeroth don't embrace all this superior tech and give up the inferior swords, bows and shields/primitive weapons?

I think this has already been answered:

Clicky Starship Troopers reference

[dryankem]

No, no one can say that a sword is a better weapon than a gun especially the guns in WoW. Have you seen the guns in WoW? A lot of them fire at almost the rate of a modern day fully auto machine gun. Plus some of them have giant bayonets attached. There is No reason to still use bows/swords when you got that kind of weaponry laying around.

Except unlike in real life guns only damage things, they aren't the bringers of death real weapons are. So guns and swords become the same thing (with the exception of range) so you end up using the item your are better at (plus guns in azeroth don't have the range that real guns have, which makes running up to someone shooting you a real possibility).

[GnomercyBeastmaster]

I agree the magic has a lot to do with it, but when you have guns why use swords? that's what I'm asking.

Starship Troopers: "PUT YER HAND ON THAT WALL SOLDIER!" *throws dagger* Sometimes, technology is not the end all be all. Also, not every class would be raised and trained in the ways of Guns and bows. It was a mistake to make ranged weapons available to anyone except hunters they first time, and Blizz has finally fixed that. As for bows, most melee classes would hate being restricted to a distance. Every fight would be a kite.

[Nanosphere]

Tech in Azeroth tends to be high maintenance and less reliable. If you notice even the "tech" stuff still tends to be made of wood or haphazardly bolted together. While they may work for a short time I imagine the fall apart pretty often.

They simply don't have the advanced materials or infrastructure the real world has to produce reliable tech in mass quantities. Magic seems to be more commonplace and meet demands easier.

As for why people still use swords? Probably because spells and enchants that protect against small projectiles are common. We'd probably all have swords IRL too if most people had person forcefields that could deflect bullets.

[huth]

Except unlike in real life guns only damage things, they aren't the bringers of death real weapons are. So guns and swords become the same thing (with the exception of range) so you end up using the item your are better at (plus guns in azeroth don't have the range that real guns have, which makes running up to someone shooting you a real possibility).

Modern guns. Older guns were far less deadly. Also, even now a gun shot does not usually kill immediately.

[Grocalis]

Jet planes? Computers?

Already exist. I flew to Twilight Highlands for the first time in a jet powered plane. Hell, we have had "Computers" in the game since vanilla. The Gnome Card Punchers, the Uldaman Hologram (who even takes round "disks" that carry information), or other Titan computers like the Tribunal of Ages.

Anyone else feel the technology in the World...of Warcraft is out of control and breaks the immersion a little bit?

Nope, because Azeroth is not Earth. You can't base it on how reality works. We don't have magic altering the very way things work.

Hell, let's remove technology from the arguement and just go back to what you want, Realistic (and I use that term loosely) Medieval Fantasy. I would imagine a mage that is able to shoot a ice shard at mach 5 to slice right into your chest would be much better then bows/guns too, should we remove magic as well because it breaks your immersion?

[dryankem]

Modern guns. Older guns were far less deadly. Also, even now a gun shot does not usually kill immediately.

I know, it was a pretty general statement. A blunderbuss could still be extremely potent though (had the potential to rip limbs off).

Same could be said with swords though as people generally died long after they were stabbed or sliced open. Those old mid-evil battlefields would have been an extremely gruesome place.

[Protar]

I actually agree with the OP. Previously there was technology, but it was pretty much constricted to gnomes, dwarves and goblins. The Gnomish and Goblin stuff was too volatile to see much use outside of it's own race, and while the Dwarven stuff was sturdier and more reliable it was only just becoming more prominent I felt: Even in the real world there was a transition between swords and guns. But now it's everywhere, and the tech now seems to be stable enough to use on a regular basis. But despite being so wide-spread swords and bows are still in use. I know for gameplay mechanics why this must be the case, but from a lore perspective it's just baffling. And please, stop with the "it's magic" excuse. Magic being in a setting is not an excuse to throw away all logic. Things must remain internally consistent and logical and at the moment there is no reason why swords are still in use in Azeroth.