Why is Yrel a shit character?

[YUPPIE]

Yeah pretty simple, just give me your input. Now as for why I pose such a bold question, it's as if no one that knows Warcraft likes this character at all. AT ALL.

[Septik]

she didnt feel like a natural hero. like you had wod with all these big names from the past and they forced this stero type laced dreanei hero into a storyline that already had a pretty full cast.

i felt the same with the dragon guy that freed garrosh. if i hadnt read up on the story behind WoD i wouldnt have had any clue who he was until the quest line where you find his corpse.

[Wyrt]

Blizzard rushed her story because the expansion's story was rushed and she received 0 outside the game development like most other characters got for WoD.

If it was a normal expansion with more than 1 patch they would have had more time to develop her, but with how they failed WoD they had to do it all in the first patch. They could have at least given her a short story or something to show her back story. Not a lot of people knew she was Velen's apprentice or that she was pretty well known by the draenei in SMV because it's barely mentioned in game.

She was also significantly harmed by proximity to the player character.

[Arrashi]

Because she was prime example of "token" character. Token draenei, token female, but she never felt as she serves any purpose other than being here as a token character. If you completely removed her story would literally not change.

[Mitak]

The role feels very forced on her. It felt kind of unnatural and bland.

[Deleted]

I don't think the appalling and cringe-worthy dialogue she's always spouting helped her either. The Overracting Draenei Ensemble.

[whyohwhy]

Because all the characters in warcraft are boring and cookie cutter?

If you want well written characters wow isn't the game for that.

[TheDestinatus]

Because shes a nobody that was empowered to be one of the greatest members of the Draenei society without ever having earning it like the other Exarchs. Shes basically just Joan of Arc minus all the things Joan of Arc actually did. I mean as far as the story goes in WoD, she was the only other Draenei there when Velen was giving it away for free, so congrats you get you get a attendance reward!

I personally believe the only reason she even exists is to fulfill a quota of female characters, and I say that not because I have something against female characters, but because of just how lackluster she is as a character and her accomplishments which somehow result in her becoming a member of the high council. Its like promoting a receptionist to CEO just because there was no one else there at the time. There is no reason why they couldn't have put some actual character development into her beyond the leveling experience, all that does is just reinforce that she was still learning what shes supposed to be doing and that's not an endearing quality in a leader.

Lady Liadrin deserves a lot more development and only reason Sylvanas even has a personality is because of WC3. Nothing thats happened in WoW has built upon Sylvanas as a character, its basically just been Thrall, Garrosh & Varian for 5 expansions. This is actually the whole reason why WoW story telling is shit, they abandoned all the hero stories because they wanted the players to be the new heroes without taking into account that the reason people were even drawn to the game was because of the heroes we had learned and played with from wc1->wc3. Right now its just "hey you, go to this raid and kill a bunch of dudes for purples #loreintheresomewheremaybe"

[Melkorr]

Yeah pretty simple, just give me your input. Now as for why I pose such a bold question, it's as if no one that knows Warcraft likes this character at all. AT ALL.

They just needed more women in parliament, due to the rise of feminism in Azeroth. Yriel got promoted because she 'knows people'.

[whyohwhy]

They just needed more women in parliament, due to the rise of feminism in Azeroth. Yriel got promoted because she 'knows people'.

Isn't this rhetoric a bit boring and predictable now....

[TheDestinatus]

Isn't this rhetoric a bit boring and predictable now....

The obvious answer doesn't make it wrong. Its like:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_%28medicine%29

you want the reason to be interesting and unique but in reality she is a quota character with no development and is going to be left by the wayside all the other female character development.

[Ratyrel]

Because she was prime example of "token" character. Token draenei, token female, but she never felt as she serves any purpose other than being here as a token character. If you completely removed her story would literally not change.

Blackhand would have killed everyone without her during the Tanaan offensive for one thing. The problem with Yrel is not her lack of impact.

My problem with her is that she's basically the player as an NPC. At face value, I think her story is fine and she has much more development than most, even legendary characters in WoW (She has more screentime than Nefarian for instance). If you compare her to Loremaster Cho, who was MoP's recurring figure and was kinda funny and quaint, however, Yrel is just irksome. Unlike Cho, who was a neutral adviser figure and narrator, she suffers from the fact that her story of rebellion and growth parallels the player's journey through Draenor and feels unnecessary as a result. She also has far greater emotional involvement in the story which is jarring - why should the player even bother? Draenor is Yrel's home, her friends and family die, she rises to their defence. Her existence makes the player a spectator.

That being said, for most people it probably boils down to her voice and the stupid Draenei accent.

[Pull My Finger]

I hate the ridiculous accent.

Other than that ... aren't all WoW characters pretty shitty? They're all token characters of sorts, very stereo/archetypical, shallow and knee-deep in cheese. It's not as if WoW was known as this domain for deep and engaging storytelling.

They just needed more women in parliament, due to the rise of feminism in Azeroth. Yriel got promoted because she 'knows people'.

Ah jeez. These types are allowed out of their holes at this time of day?..

[Eazy]

Hello, I'm working in a mine!
Woah, you guys helped me, I will become a nice paladin!
Maraad saved me and I stole his armor and hammer!
Light!!! SAVE US FROM THIS MONSTROSITY!!!
END

She didn't do anything, why is she someone important in the lore? She was made only to show that Blizzard care about female players also(so they add her to be one of the most important NPC in the game). Eventually they failed because she sucks. She didn't do anything special, she was just there and that's all.

Nat Pagle is more original and interesting than her.

They even said that Yrel has a "secret", but WoD already ended and nothing happened, even people form Blizz abandoned her.

[TheDestinatus]

Blackhand would have killed everyone without her during the Tanaan offensive for one thing. The problem with Yrel is not her lack of impact.

lol, she was basically dead. Maraad saved her when he probably could and should have saved himself.

[Wyrt]

Because shes a nobody

See? This is my point. She wasn't a nobody, but Blizzard did an absolutely horrible job of presenting that in game.

[Ealyssa]

She had to go from "random draenei warrior" to "great exarch, defender of the light, paragon of the drenei" in one content patch...

The character could totally be ok if blizzard actually put some work into wod. And the fact that they pretty much butchered wod's story ending by making Grom the "hero" instead of the last boss to shoehorn some even mor obvious legion hint. Because Guldan was probably to subtle, we had ot fight archimonde, again (don't know if the expression "elephant in the room" is used in english ? )

I don't agree that she was a bad character. Too rushed and underused, yes. Shity clearly not. Would have liked to see her come back with us on Azeroth to fight the legion.

[TheDestinatus]

See? This is my point. She wasn't a nobody, but Blizzard did an absolutely horrible job of presenting that in game.

She is a nobody, she didn't survive in the MU and she would have died in the AU if it wasn't for Maraad.

[Wyrt]

She is a nobody, she didn't survive in the MU and she would have died in the AU if it wasn't for Maraad.

She's Velen's apprentice and a widely known person in SMV. That's not a nobody. It's just not shown very well in game at all.

[Logwyn]

Hello, I'm working in a mine!
Woah, you guys helped me, I will become a nice paladin!
Maraad saved me and I stole his armor and hammer!
Light!!! SAVE US FROM THIS MONSTROSITY!!!
END

She didn't do anything, why is she someone important in the lore? She was made only to show that Blizzard care about female players also(so they add her to be one of the most important NPC in the game). Eventually they failed because she sucks. She didn't do anything special, she was just there and that's all.

Nat Pagle is more original and interesting than her.

They even said that Yrel has a "secret", but WoD already ended and nothing happened, even people form Blizz abandoned her.

They couldn't have her over shadow [Player's Character XYZ] high commander of all that is Alliance and Horde! I'd argue she did as much as Khadgar does.

What did you want her to do different?