The Story Is Utter Garbage Now

[Shadowferal]

I still don't get why all of SL sucks. If anything, it's at most half baked.

Sounds like it'd be more fun fully baked.

[TheFirstOnes]

Sounds like it'd be more fun fully baked.

And that's why we have 9.1.

Not defending the game design. Just saying, it's best to maybe quit until 9.1 or 9.2. :/

Btw, I STILL think 9.2's gonna be about Life. It's a fuckin' feeling. But it's a good feeling!

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And I haven't had a good feeling since Legion, with Argus (Which, guess what happened? lol)

BFA, I knew how it was going to end the moment I heard Queen Azshara's name. They weren't clever. SL isn't clever either, but they COULD still pull a fast one on me, and we in fact won't go to the Planes of Life, tho that would kinda ruin the meaning of the Covenant's potential defeat at the Sanctum of Domination.

[Josyel]

What are you talking about?

Uh, about cinematics? In BfA we got a lot of CGIs animations at various points of the main plotline.

In Shadowlands, we went back to in-game cartoonish cinematics and those comic strips style animations for each Bastion.

[TheFirstOnes]

Uh, about cinematics? In BfA we got a lot of CGIs animations at various points of the main plotline.

In Shadowlands, we went back to in-game cartoonish cinematics and those comic strips style animations for each Bastion.

Wot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv-NNgr_5wo We arguably got as many cinematics in 9.0 as we got in 8.0 (Not included the 2-D shorts, or something such as the Saurfang films).

[Dazlartist]

Ouch!! It’s just a game!!

[Josyel]

The problem with SL is that everything in SL has been done better before.

An undead army? The Scourge was more terrifying and had a richer backstory.

Valkyrie knockoffs? The Val'kyr were more interesting and had a richer backstory.

Spirit world forest where dead animal gods dream? The Emerald Dream was more interesting and had a richer backstory.

Oh noes bad people get punished tortureporn vampires? The entirety of MoP and the Sha illustrated the consequences of being violent murderhobos much better and, once again, the Sha had a richer backstory than the Venthyr. Why the hell are we still fighting manifestations of pride if we beat pride with Shaohao and Norushen's help?

An impartial, impersonal, judgemental God? The Titans did it better and had a richer backstory.

A baddie who wants to break the universe? Sargeras did it better and had a richer backstory.

Exactly. And they tried to justify all of it with big "BUT"s.

You see, Scourge was cool, BUT they really are from Maldraxxus, thats cool right? (and they just murdered nerubians lore)

You see, Valkyries are cool, BUT they are a copy of blue dead people, thats cool right?

Emerald dream is cool, BUT it was created being a copy of a darker one called ardenwald.

San'layn are cool, BUT we got an entire afterlife of vampires. Yeah.

Im still waiting for a PIRATE-esque afterlife, a NINJA-esque afterlife, a DRAGON afterlife. All cool stuff from Warcraft is just inspired by this amazing realm of dead!

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Wot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv-NNgr_5wo We arguably got as many cinematics in 9.0 as we got in 8.0 (Not included the 2-D shorts, or something such as the Saurfang films).

Did you even play BfA? Go check those cinematics, take a screenshot of each and do a comparison of their art style.

[TheFirstOnes]

I did play BFA. The cinematics you're talking about are the Saurfang ones. And while they ARE interesting, and while I do wish SL expanded upon that, you gotta realize that the cinematics that play in SL (The non Saurfang ones) are the exact same as BFA's. Zuldazar's ending is the same as Ardenweald's ending, the cinematic in Oribos is the same style as Kul'tiras' intro, etc.

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"Emerald dream is cool, BUT it was created being a copy of a darker one called ardenwald."

This is not true. Don't make stupid takes like this of lore that's already been established. The Dream and Ardenweald are 2 halves of the same tree, and represent 2 different aspects of Life. One does not copy the other.

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"San'layn are cool, BUT we got an entire afterlife of vampires. Yeah."

Same here. San'layn are not like the Venthyr whatsoever outside of similar magics being used.

[shoc]

I did play BFA. The cinematics you're talking about are the Saurfang ones. And while they ARE interesting, and while I do wish SL expanded upon that, you gotta realize that the cinematics that play in SL (The non Saurfang ones) are the exact same as BFA's. Zuldazar's ending is the same as Ardenweald's ending, the cinematic in Oribos is the same style as Kul'tiras' intro, etc.

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"Emerald dream is cool, BUT it was created being a copy of a darker one called ardenwald."

This is not true. Don't make stupid takes like this of lore that's already been established. The Dream and Ardenweald are 2 halves of the same tree, and represent 2 different aspects of Life. One does not copy the other.

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"San'layn are cool, BUT we got an entire afterlife of vampires. Yeah."

Same here. San'layn are not like the Venthyr whatsoever outside of similar magics being used.

San'layn are just Blood Elves that got a taste of the Venthyr's magic. Why settle for knock off vampires when we could play the real vampires?

[TheFirstOnes]

San'layn are just Blood Elves that got a taste of the Venthyr's magic. Why settle for knock off vampires when we could play the real vampires?

That's what I just fuckin said lmao

[Josyel]

I did play BFA. The cinematics you're talking about are the Saurfang ones. And while they ARE interesting, and while I do wish SL expanded upon that, you gotta realize that the cinematics that play in SL (The non Saurfang ones) are the exact same as BFA's. Zuldazar's ending is the same as Ardenweald's ending, the cinematic in Oribos is the same style as Kul'tiras' intro, etc.

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"Emerald dream is cool, BUT it was created being a copy of a darker one called ardenwald."

This is not true. Don't make stupid takes like this of lore that's already been established. The Dream and Ardenweald are 2 halves of the same tree, and represent 2 different aspects of Life. One does not copy the other.

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"San'layn are cool, BUT we got an entire afterlife of vampires. Yeah."

Same here. San'layn are not like the Venthyr whatsoever outside of similar magics being used.

Yes, those cinematics. I know the others are alike, i just dont know why they went on from full movie-CGI to get back to WoW cartoonish animation. It looks like they are just rushing an expansion.

Dude, thats what everyone here is trying to say to you: they TWISTED old lore to try to EXPLAIN things that didnt need explanation. The Dream was always the Dream that druids went on before. So they came up with a new magical realm and said HEY, THOSE REPRESENT 2 DIFS ASPECTS OF LIFE LOL and you are bashing everyone else for saying something obvious.

We know San'layn are difs from Venthyr. We know the Dream is another thing. But those 2 just got out from nowhere instead of expanding old lore that we already have. Thats why we are pissed. I understand your point of view of new lore, its cool that they are doing it, but we dont understand why its necessary.

[Niwes]

No, not literally every single piece of story/lore this expansion, but a lot to be sure. Let me give you a potent example of what I mean:

Kel'thuzad. He was a character I was looking forward to. What I wanted was for the Kel'thuzad of Warcraft 3 yore to return and give us an excellent performance. What we instead received was Kel'thuzad from Hearthstone - transported directly into WoW - a comical and one-dimensional sandbag solely existing to drive the terrible main plotline forward.

Kel'thuzad was a layered and interesting villain in WC3 and early WoW, by all accounts a sociopath in life yet terrified and feeble when faced with the might of the Scourge, transformed into a deathly loyal servant of The Lich King, willing to die by the hands of Arthas, knowing he would later ascend to Lichdom. Even afterward, one poignant scene with him and Arthas shows him being viewed as a friend by Arthas - an interesting twist of fate. He was at all times absolutely competent, yet evil, but not in a comical nature.

So... Why? Why can't we get more grounded, layered and mature stories in WoW these days? Isn't the majority of the playerbase in their late 20s/early 30s now? I can't imagine many teenagers are playing this game so late into its lifespan. Why this insipid adherence to Marvel-esque quip-happy storytelling? I feel like the writing team would love to just write all of WoW in the style of the Traveler series of children's books.

modern wow is horrible shit writing. since years. more news at 11.

[Shoggoth]

Now? It has been for several expansions already.

[Tyrannica]

The entirety of MoP and the Sha illustrated the consequences of being violent murderhobos much better and, once again, the Sha had a richer backstory than the Venthyr. Why the hell are we still fighting manifestations of pride if we beat pride with Shaohao and Norushen's help?

Because Shadowlands is an upper Sha? Maybe the Sha of an actual Void Lord?

[Beet]

I cant agree more. Shadowlands is a lore rape like WoD was. MoP started as a joke but kind of got better along. Its a shame devs cant even play their own game and link lore from previous expansions, like why Kelthuzad phylacteria wasnt destroyed and he shouldnt be in Shadowlands, or the complete lore butchery that Wrathion received after MoP.

Well a lot of this is because the old writers are long gone. New ones don’t want to take threads left behind and continue. They also want to make their own stories but it’s a shame they bastardize the old characters and lore to do it. Shadowlands having a “this is where ___ came from, but it’s better!” story for so many things is is infuriating.

I felt the lore was told in a fine way until WoD. I hated MoP lore but not because it wasn’t told well, I just didn’t care for the story and hated Pandas. Legion I felt was well done for the most part and then BFA came out and it was getting rough but Shadowlands takes it to another level.