Human potential. Not much can compare so long as Blizzard has their favorites.
And that’s the stand that Blizzard seemed to take, but it’s ridiculous! Because we choose any race, not only humans and while in this RPG game we identify with that particular race. We want them to succeed, grow and show amazing results of their training\history\knowledge and everything else, but instead we are shown Varian-like assholes sucking every bit of air in this lore.
It's not the addiction that I'm referring to.
Imagine you have to move boxes from the first floor of a building onto the second. Initially, you have a pully system that you can use to lift said boxes to the second floor and them go up the stairs and unload them. One day you find your pully system broken, but still need to get those boxes up the stairs. You cannot use the pully system, so you carry them up manually. You sometimes do it as a group in order to lessen the work required, but it's still more work than you previously had to do.
That's what I'm saying. The Nightborne have, for over 10,000 years, have supplemented their own power with that of the mana from the Nightwell or from the latent mana in their environment. They likely find it incredibly difficult to sustain the same kind of magical ability as before, as they no longer have this external implement to augment their own abilities.
Sylvanas didn't even win the popular vote, she was elected by an indirect election of representatives. #NotMyWarchief
Blizzard just seem to love humans and make them stronger than they have any right to be. Anduin is my favourite example in that I don't understand why the other alliance races would follow a child.
Let's just assume Thalyssra understood that a battle of 2 powerfull mages could result in a crater the size of Stormwind and nobody of the crew would manage to escape, thus "RUN!"
Now let's moove along the story, shall we?
So wait, when night elves who are also supposed to be very old and experienced - experts in forest warfare etc - get totally owned in their very own zones is fine, but 1 horde side elf say "Let's run" and it's unfair? What?
Well, it's not even about shit writing, it's just that the choice of dual faction system forces Blizzard to write down the Alliance, which should lorewise have massive advantages in every department, from numbers, tactics and technology all the way to its superheroes being far stronger than whatever the Horde has or had (with the exception of pre-WoD Thrall). But since they can't just have Alliance bitchslap the Horde every time it backstabs them, they have to write the Alliance as utterly incompetent. If we had Warcraft 4 and there was any faction conflict, Nelves alone (in the state they were in after Hyjal) would have roflstomped the Horde from that time. But then dual faction system happened.
A few things we are forgetting.
1. The Alliance got stomped at the Darkshore and the Horde torched their tree.
2. Slyvanas set a trap for the Alliance and came very close to wiping their leadership out, if for not the OP Jania and to a lesser extent Aleria showing up at the right times. If you had played the scenario you would of seen the goblins setting explosives through out the Undercity before you even go topside. It was planned!
3. The Horde caught the Alliance again with their pants down and broke into the stockades and broke out two allies and in the process of escaping burnt down half of Stormwind.
The Alliance really needs Jania's god mode to even survive let alone beat the Horde atm.
Last edited by Gen4Glock21; 2018-08-14 at 12:35 PM.
Where is Thalyssra's magical flying boat with pink laser cannons?
Checkmate, motherfuckers.
Also, if Jaina has that boat, easily capable of breaching heavily defended fortifications like the Undercity, why aren't we using all the fucking time?
It's the usual trap of fantasy storytelling. All the most powerful/most important characters tend to be human, because the authors somehow assume you can't identify with anything that isn't human. Humans are "our side" in those stories, and you always want to see your side win.
If they didn't deus-ex-machina humans at every turn, they'd have little realistic chance. They're physically at a disadvantage compared to most other races. Several other races live a lot longer. Without the power of "human potential" to pull out of a bag, they would never be able to go toe to toe with anyone. What could a human with 10, 20 years of experience fighting ever do against an elf who's been fighting for millennia? What can a human do against a 10'/600lb orc coming down on them like a freight train?
It gets real funny when you look at it from the other side, though. What does a 10,000-year old elven magister think when they see some human girl surpass them in magical prowess? "Wait... am I just retarded or something?" What does a tauren think if they charge at some tiny human full speed and get stopped in their tracks? "So, uh... what exactly is all my muscle for?"
It's utterly ridiculous when you really think about it, but that's where the suspension of disbelief comes in, I suppose. Personally, I think we could do with some more realism in that respect, and to be fair, SOME fantasy stories do address that. But even those that try often fall back into old tropes.
Maybe if she traveled the world, collecting power ups, and practicing her magic in real world combat like Jaina - instead of withering away in a stagnant biodome - Thalyssra might have been more than just another crackelf.