Does WoW need to return to swords and sorcery?

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I think the biggest issue for me was in WoD with all the hardcore industrialisation, the advanced military, machines, trains, bombs and guns! Now with Legion and the fel cannons and fel ships. It's leaving behind the adventurer and turning us into the terminator.

And yet in spite of the industry, Mar'Gok was a sorcerer, Blackhand was a big orc with a warhammer, and Archimonde was a big demon. Sounds like core WoW to me. All that's missing from the list is dragons, which we got during Legion and have been promised again next expansion.

[Spellbraker]

I was fine with the Sci-fi stuff we got in BC as it was unique and tamed and not too much in your face.

Now, its just straight up StarCraft. I love StarCraft, but I do not like a lot of similar elements coming into WoW as it comes of uninspired and lazy.

I've given up with lore in Warcraft. It was going downhill in Cata, started to get better in Mists, and then spiraled downhill in Warlords. Chronicles cemented all the nonsense, bad lore, and retcons.

[Kyux]

I agree with OP that we should not have moved away from being simple adventurers. But the issue now is that it's hard to go back. How can we go back to, say, Dustwallow Marsh fighting ogres and stuff once we've space traveled, gone back in time, fought a titan and stuff? We should have stayed on Azeroth. I think Legion took it a bit too far.

[Zigrifid]

Back in the starting days of "sorcery and swords" we had items that could control people like robots , like that crafted helmet, but wait it was back in vanilla so its ok ! The game still IS sorcery and magic when we get to the point of staying in our guild halls and pressing buttons while watching a radar and blow our enemies up then you can whine.Even in classic wow we were introduced to military tech (dwarfs had freaking tanks)and even robots in low lvls (those farming bots in westfall). The game hasnt really changed, it just people whining about everything.

[Scottyjscizzle]

I love how it is, we have always had technology from the gnomes, goblins, and to a leaser extent dwarves. We have had space/dimensional ships since burning crusade and the draenei.

[Morg]

Short of a universe destroying event or some kind of total reset (wow 2.0?) how do you actually justify it without totally killing immersion? Your character which has grown from a goldshire/durotar clearing new grunt to a planet saving leader of the entire order of your class who has stood up against gods and now suddenly back to being a a group struggling to kill a basic creature.

As much as i love dnd, and dragons and simple magic/sword (and honestly i do) WoW has gone too far and i dont think it can go back without a complete re-do

[Sorshen]

From raiding gnolls to defeating planets. Don't think we can go back.

[Dervrak]

I don't know if the problem is necessarily technology vs. magic. I think it's more the old "Dungeons and Dragons" problem of exponential growth in character power which in turn requires the same growth in the threats they face, in DnD eventually the PC's would get to a point that the Dungeon Master would have to throw a hundred ancient dragons at them to even break a sweat and a fight with the Gods themselves provoked little more than a yawn. In Warcraft, Sargeras and the Legion have been the "big bad guys" since day one, but as now entities like the Lich King, Deathwing etc. are trivial to our characters, we get ever closer to being equal in power to even the Titans. So now to keep up with the exponential power growth, the last few lore items have started to retcon that maybe Sargeras isn't the big bad guy on the block after all and now something the void is even more powerful than him.

[Deleted]

Does anyone else feel we need to come back down to earth and confront threats out of our reach but feasibly able to defeat.

After what our toons have done? no - but theres still Johnny Awsome ask him to do that stuff for you

[Deleted]

It is indeed true that WoW was never only swords and sorcery fantasy but I do tire of the amount of steampunk/Sci-fi elements in recent expansions. I'm not a fan of how sci-fi the Legion feels and something feels off about the use of those Warframes in the Army of Light. The Legion didn't need to have spaceships.

There's a lot that's lost when you add spaceships and machinery into a game that also has bows and swords. Despite the other elements WoW is primarily a fantasy game and it makes me think Blizzard isn't comfortable in their own skin. You can create spectacle with a row of valiant heroes on horseback charging across a field to their death for a great cause. You don't need to resort to spaceships and firepower. If anything that lessens the heroism, in my opinion.

[Mirishka]

Does WoW need to return to a simpler time of swords and sorcery? We are increasingly rushing headlong in to greater threats and associating with beings of such great power such as the titans that I fear we are losing sight on the simplicity and enjoyment of the swords and sorcery aspect we were introduced to.

I understand the story needs to progress, but I am worried by the current expedited increase of the threats we face and our own grandeur and how we are becoming a galactic universal force of power.

Does anyone else feel we need to come back down to earth and confront threats out of our reach but feasibly able to defeat.

Um... vanilla had us fighting titanic dragons, old gods, the elemental lord of fire, and servants of the Lich king. BC gave us playable aliens (literally) and sent us to the shattered remains of an entirely different planet and we also fought beings like Kael'thas, Kiljaeden, Illidan, and Lady Vash'j.

Point being, WoW was never just 'basic' swords and sorcery. There were always threats of a huge, world-altering scale... the game simply didn't have the tech, at that time, or skill at in-game storytelling to treat those threats with the gravitas they should have had.

[yetgdhfgh]

Iam going up against spaceships with lasers armed with a bow and arrow!!

[Mirishka]

It is indeed true that WoW was never only swords and sorcery fantasy but I do tire of the amount of steampunk/Sci-fi elements in recent expansions. I'm not a fan of how sci-fi the Legion feels and something feels off about the use of those Warframes in the Army of Light. The Legion didn't need to have spaceships.

There's a lot that's lost when you add spaceships and machinery into a game that also has bows and swords. Despite the other elements WoW is primarily a fantasy game and it makes me think Blizzard isn't comfortable in their own skin. You can create spectacle with a row of valiant heroes on horseback charging across a field to their death for a great cause. You don't need to resort to spaceships and firepower. If anything that lessens the heroism, in my opinion.

The game has had massive shredder bots/machines/etc for the entirety of its existence, and we've used overpowered 'warframe' style vehicles as far back as Wrath.

Maybe you want the game to be World of Excaliburcraft (humble heroes charging across a field of grass on loyal steeds) but WoW always has been and always will be a fantasy RPG... fantasy being the key word.

[Taeldorian]

They could scale back on that part, for sure.

We can be Heroes without being "THE hero", leave that to the main lore characters. We could have had Order Halls without being the Order Leader, it wouldn't have taken anything away.

Yeah I wish they did it this way. It's not like we actually kill any of the main bosses alone, it's generally always the NPCs that kill it, we just help so I don't see why we have to be the main source of attention.

They could easily make it so everyone admires and adores illidan, khadgar and velen rather than us. Or at the very least they could be mentioned but everyone acts like we're the main/only heroes who do everything when we aren't the only ones. Hopefully they end up including NPCs or focusing in on them being the main hero at some point.

I also loved the idea of Pandaria being a place we never went to and therefore weren't heroes. Hell we were even seen as enemies to the races there but we ended up having internal conflicts and actual AvH conflicts which was a nice break from big bads that will end all existence.

[Deleted]

The game has had massive shredder bots/machines/etc for the entirety of its existence, and we've used overpowered 'warframe' style vehicles as far back as Wrath.

Maybe you want the game to be World of Excaliburcraft (humble heroes charging across a field of grass on loyal steeds) but WoW always has been and always will be a fantasy RPG... fantasy being the key word.

Hence the first part of my first sentence. I'm just saying that I personally don't entirely like the direction Blizzard went with for the Legion. As said, I understand WoW is not limited to medieval fantasy but for my tastes things are being pushed a little too far too often recently.

If it were soley my choice I'd find some other way to counter the demonic Legion than lasers and spaceships. Evidently Blizzard disagrees and that's fine. It's not gotten to the point where I'd quit over it.

[Deleted]

Back in the starting days of "sorcery and swords" we had items that could control people like robots , like that crafted helmet, but wait it was back in vanilla so its ok ! The game still IS sorcery and magic when we get to the point of staying in our guild halls and pressing buttons while watching a radar and blow our enemies up then you can whine.Even in classic wow we were introduced to military tech (dwarfs had freaking tanks)and even robots in low lvls (those farming bots in westfall). The game hasnt really changed, it just people whining about everything.

Do you even believe the bs that you type? You're seriously comparing imperial star destroyers to the shredders of westfall? That's some crazy fanboying if you can't admit what a mess this game has become.

mpoufo

[Deleted]

They could scale back on that part, for sure.

We can be Heroes without being "THE hero", leave that to the main lore characters. We could have had Order Halls without being the Order Leader, it wouldn't have taken anything away.

Story wise, my character defeated soooooooo many powerful enemies, they should lick my ass.

[Deleted]

Story wise, my character defeated soooooooo many powerful enemies, they should lick my ass.

Your character didn't do jackshit, "adventurers" did. Nowhere in the lore was it stated that the same unnamed player character defeated the lich king, lady vashj, kael'thas etc. That's just a recent asspull from blizzard to justify the ridiculous fanfiction they are passing off as lore.

[deviantcultist]

OP, your suggestions are 100% opposite to what I expect of the game. As a Priest, I've always found the universe to be mundane and the "down-to-earth" swords and sorcery put me off every time. Right now with the introduction of more Light/Void lore, I finally feel at home.

With that being said, if WoW was ever to return to "swords and sorcery", I would leave and never come back to the game. It would be an insult to the long awaited progress I anticipated from the game's world and lore.

[Paula Deen]

I'd like to see less of the silly Legion spaceship armada, but other than that I think it's fine.

This. I don't have a problem with it really, but it just feels even more implausible than 'There must always be a lich king' or Deathwing not being dead after WCII.