Which should be absolute cannon?

[sam86]

why even comment on it? or anything about this darned game..seeing we don't control any of the developments...

Usually we discuss in other topics in more fruitful stuff than this
We can argue over if illidan is immortal or not from info presented to us - so far - by blizz, but we can't surely decided what is canon and what isn't, only blizz decides that

[ravenmoon]

moral of the story is, whether we control something or not, we will always have an opinion concerning the things we like/love, and therefore discuss them, whether we can change them or not, determine them or not, it's why there are forum boards and discussion forums

[Aeluron Lightsong]

A terrible decision if you ask me

Not really. Gives the writers Blizzard and Legendary easier time for liberty instead of strict guidelines. Not saying they should stray but minor details may or may not be left out.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

With the AU stuff Warlords has brought, can't all of them be part of the same canon, and any differences we see in the movie be put down to the same reason Garrosh wasn't born in the AU Draenor?

As for actually confilcting canon, I'd be inclined to say the most recent update. The most up to date version takes into account all previous lore to some extent (though in some cases perhaps it wasn't thought through.) So the latest incarnation holds the most weight. Even if it happens to be WoD at the moment :/

[ravenmoon]

With the AU stuff Warlords has brought, can't all of them be part of the same canon, and any differences we see in the movie be put down to the same reason Garrosh wasn't born in the AU Draenor?

As for actually confilcting canon, I'd be inclined to say the most recent update. The most up to date version takes into account all previous lore to some extent (though in some cases perhaps it wasn't thought through.) So the latest incarnation holds the most weight. Even if it happens to be WoD at the moment :/

did they explain why Garrosh wasn't born on the AU universe? it can't be because an exact copy of yourself exists and they can't occupy the same space.. I always thought, that because he entered at a stage before his conception and was still about when it should have happened, he stopped himself from being around

[Selastan]

did they explain why Garrosh wasn't born on the AU universe? it can't be because an exact copy of yourself exists and they can't occupy the same space.. I always thought, that because he entered at a stage before his conception and was still about when it should have happened, he stopped himself from being around

Kairoz chose that universe in particular for various reasons, the fact Garrosh wasn't born was one of them

[Camthur]

All core plot development should occur in game. If you want to detail the history of the Kirin Tor in some book, go crazy. If you want to tell some story about how the Duskwood or some other zone came to be, have fun. You shouldn't have the freaking main plot point that gets you from MoP to WoD in some book though.

[ravenmoon]

All core plot development should occur in game. If you want to detail the history of the Kirin Tor in some book, go crazy. If you want to tell some story about how the Duskwood or some other zone came to be, have fun. You shouldn't have the freaking main plot point that gets you from MoP to WoD in some book though.

wouldn't that encourage you to buy the book though, and make them more money as well as save resources in game? especially if the gaming medium is lousy at properly telling a story? you might actually be helping the authenticity of your story by avoiding telling it in the game

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The games, because Med'an does not exist in them.

[mizeri]

I can't even see what that is. I'm guessing some sort of cannon, but it would be easier to see with a link to original pic instead of this small thing...

its the cannon from FF7

[Camthur]

wouldn't that encourage you to buy the book though, and make them more money as well as save resources in game? especially if the gaming medium is lousy at properly telling a story? you might actually be helping the authenticity of your story by avoiding telling it in the game

I'm not opposed to lore being fleshed out in books. (quite the opposite actually, the more lore, the better) I just don't want key plot point being only in some book though.

"Uh, why are we going to Draenor (and why does it even exist)? "Oh, in this book somebody helped Garrosh escape trial and created a pocket dimension of old Draenor for him and .. blah blah blah" Wha.. Yeah, that totally makes the people that spent 50 to 70 dollars for an expansion and an additional 13 to 15 a month feel like they are getting everything they paid for.

[Aquamonkey]

"Uh, why are we going to Draenor (and why does it even exist)? "Oh, in this book somebody helped Garrosh escape trial and created a pocket dimension of old Draenor for him and .. blah blah blah" Wha.. Yeah, that totally makes the people that spent 50 to 70 dollars for an expansion and an additional 13 to 15 a month feel like they are getting everything they paid for.

It wasn't a pocket dimension of old Draenor. This was in the short story...

Although, TBF, the short story was free.

[Zulkhan]

Fanfic

Fanfic can potentially become canon if Blizzard deems it worthy to be so, aka if the quality, consistency and integrity with the rest of the lore are all in their right place... which pretty much aren't 99.9% of the times.

Yeah but, if the same even happens in-game and in a slightly different way, doesn't it basically get retconned thus making the game version trump the book version?

There are cases of evident contradiction between a book description and game representation, like the moment of Garrosh's election as Warchief or the Arthas vs Illidan fight. Normally both are treated as "canon" to an extent as long as they don't utterly overlap each other, in that case however I normally see the books trump over the game, if not for the greater amount of dialogue and/or details they tend to put in describe a certain situation.

[DemonHunter18]

Fanfic can potentially become canon if Blizzard deems it worthy to be so, aka if the quality, consistency and integrity with the rest of the lore are all in their right place... which pretty much aren't 99.9% of the times.



There are cases of evident contradiction between a book description and game representation, like the moment of Garrosh's election as Warchief or the Arthas vs Illidan fight. Normally both are treated as "canon" to an extent as long as they don't utterly overlap each other, in that case however I normally see the books trump over the game, if not for the greater amount of dialogue and/or details they tend to put in describe a certain situation.

well they did say that they are normally shooting for canon when they are writing the book.the thing is,some things are less canon.Warcraft Chronicles will be canon.lets hope it will be the end of retcon when that releases.

[Littleraven]

The game first with Books expanding it. They had a good thing going during Cataclysm and MoP. MoP especially with the books expanding on things going on in the game.

[Stncold]

I'm not opposed to lore being fleshed out in books. (quite the opposite actually, the more lore, the better) I just don't want key plot point being only in some book though.

"Uh, why are we going to Draenor (and why does it even exist)? "Oh, in this book somebody helped Garrosh escape trial and created a pocket dimension of old Draenor for him and .. blah blah blah" Wha.. Yeah, that totally makes the people that spent 50 to 70 dollars for an expansion and an additional 13 to 15 a month feel like they are getting everything they paid for.

War Crimes would have never really worked well in-game. No way could they have done everything they wanted unless it was like an hour-long experience and optional elsewise the people who don't give a fuck about lore would have complained.

It wasn't a pocket dimension of old Draenor. This was in the short story...

Although, TBF, the short story was free.

This too.

[ravenmoon]

Fanfic can potentially become canon if Blizzard deems it worthy to be so, aka if the quality, consistency and integrity with the rest of the lore are all in their right place... which pretty much aren't 99.9% of the times.



There are cases of evident contradiction between a book description and game representation, like the moment of Garrosh's election as Warchief or the Arthas vs Illidan fight. Normally both are treated as "canon" to an extent as long as they don't utterly overlap each other, in that case however I normally see the books trump over the game, if not for the greater amount of dialogue and/or details they tend to put in describe a certain situation.

but fanfic can also be a source of ideas and plots too, blizzard is made off of cool ideas about popular things created by other people... what becomes cult fiction was once someone's fiction, or fanfic.

Fanfic's have also spun entire franchises, wasn't that how warcraft began, a warhammer fanfic that had an opportunity to develop into a product when a collaboration between the warhammer and blizzard broke down, and blizzard took the ashes of that project, and made their fanfic of it real..and hence warcraft was born?

And I agree, there are certain instances the book has to triumph over the game, or a comic or series will if they are agreeably in the same setting.. it just makes sense, for example books would give a far more realistic portrayal of people, places, etc, can't say that's less real because the game doesn't have the number of villages or towns mentioned, or didn't have that dialogue in it's own version.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

War Crimes would have never really worked well in-game. No way could they have done everything they wanted unless it was like an hour-long experience and optional elsewise the people who don't give a fuck about lore would have complained.

I'd agree that the book was necessary to give the full story, but they could have done something akin to what they did with bombing of Theramore/Tides of War, or even the Legendary quest/Hellscream. Use a small in-game event to tell the crucial bit of story which needed telling. Maybe a scenario where we turn up at the verdict of the celestials and fight Zaela's troops during the attack for actual gameplay.

[Zulkhan]

Fanfic's have also spun entire franchises, wasn't that how warcraft began, a warhammer fanfic that had an opportunity to develop into a product when a collaboration between the warhammer and blizzard broke down, and blizzard took the ashes of that project, and made their fanfic of it real..and hence warcraft was born?

Oh that's very true, however take inspiration from something to create something new that belongs to you is a thing (Warcraft is an independent product regardless of all the heavy amount of references and inspiration) another is creating fanfic that is dependent to someone else's product and pretend to be an integral part of it, in that case the "word of God", the one who owns the creation, is law and only the creator's judgement would have value.

[ravenmoon]

fanfics can tend to wank off hard one specific race or another, usually at the detriment of everything else. Look at what happened when Kosak got to turn his fanfics into actual lore... nty

this is why Chris Metzen needs to run the game lore .. srsly, it loses are certain cohesion and balance, when everyone is writing their own stuff, you get really impressive stuff on one end like the forsaken due to a writers hard wank off to their race, and get a shit response in another sector like the night elves cos he doesn't give a shit about that group.

Chris on the other hand, it's his baby, and you find the races tend to be written properly according to their intended design and introduction