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  1. #121
    As has been pointed out, technology is not an "on/off" switch. Gunpowder weapons have been used in warfare in Europe since the 15th century, yet in the 20th century, bayonets and sabres still saw use in the trenches. Why? Because in many situations, they were still the superior weapons. Tanks and bayonets still coexist today. Having one doesn't mean you can't put the other to good use.

    Bows were not replaced by muskets because the muskets were better; in fact, the bow was a far superior weapon with better range, penetration, and rate of fire. The catch was that using a bow well is hard while using a musket decently is really easy. So if you could use a bow, that was far superior. If you couldn't, you'd get by okay with a gunpowder weapon (or crossbow). It wasn't until the 19th century that firearms actually became better than bows, and that's more than 400 years after gunpowder weapons first appeared on battlefields.

    The same goes for pretty much any other technology - steam locomotives and horse-drawn carriages coexisted. Many ships would have both sails and steam propellers. There are plenty of examples of things like fire engines where the pump was steam powered, but that pump was placed on a horse-drawn carriage. Because the steam engine was great for pumping water, but horses were cheaper and faster for transporting the engine around. The cheapness is especially relevant - just because there exists a machine that can do something better, that doesn't mean that the machine is the better option.
    Diplomacy is just war by other means.

  2. #122
    There's something wrong when you go from iconic battles like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrEfMI6uSJc
    to battles with a massive ship and jet airplanes with radios n shit, don't forget the heat seeking missles and automatic weapons that every foot soldier seems to hold these days. I think tech and steampunk is alright when it's not widespread like the gnome submarine, i dig that stuff.

  3. #123
    I have no real issue with the technology in WoW, but I do think in some ways they've gone a little overboard. I mean, airships and bombs I can understand - the former are a classic fantasy trope and all - but computers and holograms (at least the non-magical variety) are just a little out of place if you ask me.

  4. #124
    Quote Originally Posted by Killington View Post
    One thing about WoW that has never made sense to me is all the technology in this game. 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.
    exactly wow isnt medieval its steampunk which means magic and technology coexist azeroth is actually farther along then us its just due to magic alot of things havent become "outdated".

    think of it like fullmetal alchemist which takes place around the same timephrame as world war 2
    "I was a normal baby for 30 seconds, then ninjas stole my mamma" - Deadpool
    "so what do we do?" "well jack, you stand there and say 'gee rocket raccoon I'm so glad you brought that Unfeasibly large cannon with you..' and i go like this BRAKKA BRAKKA BRAKKA" - Rocket Raccoon

    FC: 3437-3046-3552

  5. #125
    WoW isn't steampunk, not by definition. True steampunk is actually a form of science fiction.

  6. #126
    Part of why I love WoW is its steampunk-ish vibe. I think too many people are heavily accustomed to the typical LOtR kind of fantasy and have narrow views of the genre. Fantasy is such an expansive genre. You always see people arguing how unrealistic the protection of chainmail bikinis are yet seem to forget that shooting fireballs out of ones hand, dragons and shapeshifting is just as absurd really. (and yet more absurd, how MoP's east-asian influences are unrealistic and out of place in a game with walking cows and purple elves)
    Last edited by shammypowa; 2012-11-16 at 08:31 AM.

  7. #127
    Quote Originally Posted by Sydänyö View Post
    I wish people would stop using the term "steampunk" for WoW. Steampunk is a completely different animal, and while a steampunk setting may have some fantasy flavor, the genre is steampunk, not fantasy. Mainly steampunk is sci-fi or alternate reality/history.

    WoW on the other hand is quite firmly in the fantasy genre, even though it has some scientific elements. It's not steampunk, and even the scientific/techno elements of WoW aren't steampunk. Steam, yes. Punk? Not so much. Just because something is powered by steam, it doesn't mean it's steampunk. Steam-powered trains and ships weren't steampunk. They were just old, and used steam as their power source.

    Even technofantasy doesn't work for WoW, since most technofantasy settings are science fiction with magic.

    Just because you've heard the term "steampunk" somewhere and seen someone use it to describe WoW, or the "techno" elements in WoW, it doesn't mean it has been used correctly. WoW isn't steampunk. WoW's technology isn't steampunk. WoW is just fantasy with some science added in.

    I could summarize it like this: WoW is steampunk just as much as every science fiction is cyberpunk. In other words, not quite.
    Yet everyone consider Arcanum a steampunk game. Where is the difference?

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SteamPunk

    ---------- Post added 2012-11-16 at 01:08 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by SamR View Post
    I find the Warcraft world far less jarring than the SWTOR world which makes even less sense on multiple levels.
    To be fair, whole Star Wars from science fiction standpoint make no sense whatsoever

  8. #128
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Killington View Post
    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?
    Well, bows were never really inferior back when guns looked like what most WoW guns are based on. It was just easier to train soldiers in hand cannon marksmanship than archery, hence why firearms became a standardized ranged weapon. So at the technological level where (most of) Azeroth sits and considering how many incredibly skilled (in-universe) archers there are running around, there's no real need to phase out bows. And as long as guns in any universe aren't as efficient as in the real world today, there's no real reason to phase out sword and board either. If you're good at handling a huge shield or an elusive target to aim at, you can get in close and stick a blade in someone with a blunderbuss or bow.

    That said, it's all handwaved by the high fantasy setting anyway and not supposed to make perfect sense. I just feel that it makes a little more sense than you credit it for.

  9. #129
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by LazarusLong View Post
    Yet everyone consider Arcanum a steampunk game. Where is the difference?

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SteamPunk
    From the link you yourself posted:

    Oh, and glueing some gears on it doesn't make it steampunk.
    Sums it up perfectly.

  10. #130
    Warchief Shadowspire's Avatar
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    GNOMES ARE NOT A EXUSE TO HAVE SUPER TECH./end quick rage moment.

    But seriously there is a lot over the top tech. I was ok with the tech when it was to a point steampunkish but apparently they have gone to cyberpunk(wtf is that anyway) which is kinda getting out of hand.

  11. #131
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by nightguard View Post
    I was ok with the tech when it was to a point steampunkish
    Technology in WoW has never been steampunk. Just because it's powered with steam (tanks for example) doesn't mean it's steampunk.

    Quote Originally Posted by nightguard View Post
    cyberpunk(wtf is that anyway)
    Style over substance.
    Attitude is everything.
    Always take it to the edge.
    Break the rules.

  12. #132
    Quote Originally Posted by nightguard View Post
    GNOMES ARE NOT A EXUSE TO HAVE SUPER TECH./end quick rage moment.

    But seriously there is a lot over the top tech. I was ok with the tech when it was to a point steampunkish but apparently they have gone to cyberpunk(wtf is that anyway) which is kinda getting out of hand.
    They not only are an excuse, they are super tech. Literally.

  13. #133
    Merely a Setback Adam Jensen's Avatar
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    Long explanations short, this game was never meant to be in any way realistic. Just go with the flow.

    ---------- Post added 2012-11-16 at 07:20 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by LazarusLong View Post
    To be fair, whole Star Wars from science fiction standpoint make no sense whatsoever
    Yes but lightsabers.
    Putin khuliyo

  14. #134
    Quote Originally Posted by Killington View Post
    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?
    The most powerful weapon in the known universe is a sword.
    By Blood and Honor We Serve!

  15. #135
    Quote Originally Posted by b0sanac View Post
    Can you imagine playing a person playing WoW..in WoW.. playing another person playing their toon in WoW?
    I can actually

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw8gE3lnpLQ

  16. #136
    WoW's genre is theme park. Everything's available, from stone age Un'goro to Star Trek Tempest Keep.

  17. #137
    Deleted
    Too much pop culture references in WoW. To me, WoW was more like fantasy-medieval, but not anymore

  18. #138
    Are we going to be seeing Garrosh log into his facebook on his ipad while he's bored in Org?
    This made what would otherwise be another lame QQ thread into hilarity. Thanks.

  19. #139
    Warcraft 2 had oil production and refining, flying machines, and submarines. There's been a pretty heavy tech component to Warcraft, going back quite some time.

  20. #140
    Quote Originally Posted by Blapis View Post
    Too much pop culture references in WoW. To me, WoW was more like fantasy-medieval, but not anymore
    I'm guessing you didn't play Warcraft 3, it's full of pop culture references and Easter eggs. Click on the Human units enough time and you'll hear some Monty Python references.

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