Worst Intro Cinematic

[Khaza-R]

I can see why Shadowlands is high on the poll.

I think the creative devs really over-estimate how many people like Sylvanas. Especially post-BfA. They also made the fight so ridiculously one-sided, there really wasn't a moment of the actual fight to be excited about. Its beautifully rendered but whoever wrote the scene did an awful job.

[chiddie]

Blizzard only good cinematics so there are no worst.

Of course from a technical point of view, their CGI is always top notch (for me no other SH is capable of doing such cinematics apart maybe Square Enix, even if with a total different look and feel).

I think that the question was more related to the “storytelling” of the intros themselves.

[Bosen]

I think they're all great. There isn't a worst one. I think there can be a favorite one,and for me it would be Wrath.
The Mists one was charming and the others are very cool.

[d00mh4cker]

It looks like bad intro cinematic = good expansion.

Shadowlands will be the best expansion in wow history!

Top 3 worst intro cinematics according to this poll.
1. Shadowlands
2. Burning Crusade
3. Mists of Pandaria

According to many veterans BC is the best expansion.
According to previous poll MoP is the best expansion.

Conclusion. Shadowlands will rule them all.

[Eazy]

Shadowlands.

It destroyed the hype for Bolvar/LK. I don't care if he gets a bigger role in that expansion and we're going to get better explanation about the situation.

Showing Lich King on his kneels after Sylvanas got a random power-up from a being we had no idea about is bad writing. It's pinnacle of BAD writing. I was always taking the other people opinions about such a thing with a grain of salt, but this time I totally agree. It's worst cinematic Blizzard did for an expansion.

[BicycleMafioso]

Worst cinematics in retrospect where it applies mixed with how I remember it made me feel:

1) Cataclysm -- Cool when current in isolation, nothing really to excite me as a player.
2) Warlords of Draenor -- It felt too long-winded, and apart from the call-backs, not interesting.
3) Legion -- Love the expansion, but the cinematic I did not enjoy.
4) Mists of Pandaria -- Like Cataclysm, it doesn't actually tell me anything about the expansion. This is just random.
5) Wrath of the Lich King -- I don't hate it, but it has moments which I felt were just poor in retrospect, albeit amazing pre-WotLK.
6) The Burning Crusade -- I really love the character development on the player characters. Illidan is cringe, else would rank higher.
7) Shadowlands -- It's a good cinematic. Good usage of time gaps. A bit too character-centric. Never bought Bolvar as the good guy.
8) Battle for Azeroth -- For the Alliance/Horde parts were cringey snooze-fests, otherwise great.
9) Classic 2019 -- I genuinely did not think anything could excite me this much again. A great crowd-pleaser.
10) World of Warcraft 2004 -- Really mind-blowing at the time, open-ended in a way that I could build my own story.

[Dungo]

Worst cinematics in retrospect where it applies mixed with how I remember it made me feel:

1) Cataclysm -- Cool when current in isolation, nothing really to excite me as a player.
2) Warlords of Draenor -- It felt too long-winded, and apart from the call-backs, not interesting.
3) Legion -- Love the expansion, but the cinematic I did not enjoy.
4) Mists of Pandaria -- Like Cataclysm, it doesn't actually tell me anything about the expansion. This is just random.
5) Wrath of the Lich King -- I don't hate it, but it has moments which I felt were just poor in retrospect, albeit amazing pre-WotLK.
6) The Burning Crusade -- I really love the character development on the player characters. Illidan is cringe, else would rank higher.
7) Shadowlands -- It's a good cinematic. Good usage of time gaps. A bit too character-centric. Never bought Bolvar as the good guy.
8) Battle for Azeroth -- For the Alliance/Horde parts were cringey snooze-fests, otherwise great.
9) Classic 2019 -- I genuinely did not think anything could excite me this much again. A great crowd-pleaser.
10) World of Warcraft 2004 -- Really mind-blowing at the time, open-ended in a way that I could build my own story.

now that's contrarian

[BicycleMafioso]

now that's contrarian

Oh no, my opinions differ, I must hurry to rectify this!!
Don't read too much into my tastes differing. I dislike many things that are heralded as greatness, it does not mean I try to impose them on truths upon others. I don't find Bohemian Rhapsody, yet I like much of Queen's other works. I don't think No Country For Old Men is a good movie at all (it's great in terms of art, but in terms of movies, no)
I also think the clone-arc of Spider-Man was one of the best. Because that's when I started reading them, and they influenced my expectations. I likely would not call them a masterpiece, but they are the the ones I like the most because they drew me to the franchise.

Tastes differ, and we are all enriched for it. I don't like/dislike things after having looked at what other people like or not.

Cataclysm was very cool at the time, but the cinematic is so far removed from the game, and is more like a "remember this? Gone!!" thing.

[Eggroll]

Idk how anyone could possibly have voted for Legion. Legion cinematic was excellent cinematography. Didn't introduce the new continent though.

- - - Updated - - -

4) Mists of Pandaria -- Like Cataclysm, it doesn't actually tell me anything about the expansion. This is just random.

Wut? It showed you the new race, the new class, the new continent, faction conflict. So it told you loads about the new xpac.

- - - Updated - - -

I really didn't like the WotLK cinematic. It was boring. It's Arthas in the snow for 2 minutes and then dragon rises and goes rawr. Riveting stuff.

I think it's quite difficult to rate older cinematics since technololgy and viewer expectations have evolved a lot in the past 10 years. Back in the day seeing the FUCKING LICH KING doing stuff on screen was THE SHIT!

[Cosmic Janitor]

I can see why Shadowlands is high on the poll.

I think the creative devs really over-estimate how many people like Sylvanas. Especially post-BfA. They also made the fight so ridiculously one-sided, there really wasn't a moment of the actual fight to be excited about. Its beautifully rendered but whoever wrote the scene did an awful job.

It was also a fairly stupid anime fight with throwing around parts of the scenery and most of the fight happens offscreen anyway. That is not how fighting in Warcraft is usually presented.

[Strippling]

MOP cinematic was dull compared to the other cinematics

[subsidalos]

Shadowlands was sooo bad. What made it even worse was the Diablo 4 trailer knocking it out of the park right before...

[BicycleMafioso]

Wut? It showed you the new race, the new class, the new continent, faction conflict. So it told you loads about the new xpac.

I will give you the new race. The new continent was purely Jade Forest. The new class? Eh, nothing about that is inherently Monk to me in a way that is “look at my abilities” as much as they did dodging and generic fighting.
If I would have guessed from the cinematic that we would have gotten a new class, I would have gone with pirate for how the existing races were dressed as sailors.
Faction conflict? What I saw was horde and alliance fighting together against a new perceived foe. I stopped playing in pre-patch, so I have only read about the lore after the fact, and that is not what I read alliance and horde did. The sha were foreshadowed via the speech, granted, but I just think the whole thing was a mess and didn’t set up the expansion fairly.

Had they not re-re-revamped the talents, I wouldn’t have stopped playing either, the expansion seemed great, but that is not what I ranked.

[Magnagarde]

Shadowlands due to what's presented and how it is presented. MoP is second; extremely disappointing cinematic and theme. The Burning Crusade cinematic didn't age well storywise, but it was fine when it came out and even the controversial storyline surrounding Illidan makes more of a story than what's shown in Shadowlands (ie Illidan is doing bad stuff in Outland, Illidan is going to try to keep us out, we need to stop Illidan etc; it all made sense).

[Watchers]

BC's. I dislike the Shadowlands cinematic for various reasons, but at least stuff is happening in it. The Burning Crusade cinematic just shows random people existing, and then Illidan delivering his catch-phrase. It's just boring now. Admittedly that's also true of Vanilla's, but I feel it can get the grandfather clause due to it being new and the story in Classic being unfocused as well.

boring? damn tbc and wotlk was the most exiciting thing ive seen in video in my life

[Kiri]

Shadowlands.

It destroyed the hype for Bolvar/LK. I don't care if he gets a bigger role in that expansion and we're going to get better explanation about the situation.

Showing Lich King on his kneels after Sylvanas got a random power-up from a being we had no idea about is bad writing. It's pinnacle of BAD writing. I was always taking the other people opinions about such a thing with a grain of salt, but this time I totally agree. It's worst cinematic Blizzard did for an expansion.

Posts like those always give me a de ja vu, to be honest. Back then everyone and their goldfish seemed upset about a cinematic that had a disgraced former warchief, suddenly made more powerful than before (albeit more in military strength rather than magic) by a benefactor that we knew little about, utilizing powers that pretty much contradict established lore. So many people annoyed about alternate universe fan-fiction etc.
And yet, in this poll, that controversial cinematic full of bad writing is exactly in the middle of the pack. Recency is always such a strong factor in these kinds of things. I personally put 'sudden op death powers' on a similar level as 'sudden alternate draenor and working time travel'. Heck, both cinematics are pretty similar in some regards. They both even include a moment where a dark power is rejected.
That's why I personally rate Shadowlands somewhat low, but pretty much on the same level as warlords. It's really just the same thing in my eyes.

As for the worst, I picked Vanilla's. Not because it is badly made or anything like that. It just lacked structure and a central theme. Well, aside maybe from 'war', but that's kind of weak when the name of the game is already World of Warcraft. Plus, it's arguably not what the story of Vanilla WoW was really about, anyway. The faction conflict there had a somewhat secondary role at best. But that's just my rating system, anyway. Everyone has probably a different idea what a trailer should be about.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

I really didn't like the WotLK cinematic. It was boring. It's Arthas in the snow for 2 minutes and then dragon rises and goes rawr. Riveting stuff.

It’s one of the most notable pieces of gaming and gaming art, it’s in the cinematophry history books and has several accolades.

[PHGamer]

At the time BC was amazing. historical context people wanted to see illidan. Also seeing the mage sheep a person and the warlock wiping the murlocs out. I know its a montage but you got to understand at this time people were about their classes, especially since it required investment. Also I miss Mana-Tap. I really do looking at it again.

for the the order was.
1. The original - man this giant diverse world with monsters and demons and fucking indian cows. I was omg.
2. Warlords of Draenor - People who played WC3 I think love this. I can understand if its lower on people who didnt see it but man the impact of the historical narrotive but it getting turned around this time. Garroshs, times change quote. and them showing the building of the dark portal again to attack us was a great intro to the xpac (that unfortuantly took a dive, though not head first like BFA ;-) )
3. Legion - It was actually good, again because it did drive some of the story but we got to see a full size king with sylvannas working together.
4. BFA - Quality wise BFA is higher than legion but apart of me couldnt take slyvana's warcry or anduins rally as seriously ; though their abilities , banshee scream and that aoe heal were amazing.
5. BC - Its higher than wrath because Blood Elfs and Draenai were shown kicking ass. Also class battles still mattered.
6. MoP - Graphics were cool and I liked the reveal of the continent. I know there wasnt as much to the story but I still liek it.
7. Wrath - I loved it when it came out, it was a good intro for showing the undead horde but it was kinda slow and they didnt show as much. Their expansion trailer however, was one of the best.
8. Cataclysm - It was cool watching but I didnt care as much for deathwing.
10. shadowlands - im sorry i didnt feel like I was a part of this intro.

[Snowfunk]

Mist of Pandaria one, for sure.

The expansion itself, was pretty damn great, loved playing it.

But the overarching story was stupid. A real disney carebear expansion, just like the intro cinematic.

[Eggroll]

I will give you the new race. The new continent was purely Jade Forest. The new class? Eh, nothing about that is inherently Monk to me in a way that is “look at my abilities” as much as they did dodging and generic fighting.
If I would have guessed from the cinematic that we would have gotten a new class, I would have gone with pirate for how the existing races were dressed as sailors.
Faction conflict? What I saw was horde and alliance fighting together against a new perceived foe. I stopped playing in pre-patch, so I have only read about the lore after the fact, and that is not what I read alliance and horde did. The sha were foreshadowed via the speech, granted, but I just think the whole thing was a mess and didn’t set up the expansion fairly.

Had they not re-re-revamped the talents, I wouldn’t have stopped playing either, the expansion seemed great, but that is not what I ranked.

Fair points though I see it differently. We had the human and the orc fight each other (faction conflict) until the pandaren appears and they both fight him. And Jade Forest imo is a good representation of Pandaren Culture as a whole and its vibe. Also, the place they fought at is an actual place in the game (like in WotlK cinematic Sindragosa's Fall).

Idk, I thought the cinematic was also artistically well made. There was a good synergy of visuals with the cinematic soundtrack, the scenes had a good pacing, and there was actually (god forbid!) humor in it!