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  1. #1
    Bloodsail Admiral Smallfruitbat's Avatar
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    New lore vs Old lore

    Guessing from the fact people regularly visit and post in the 'lore' forum, that the lore has been a big factor in players attachment to WoW and the Warcraft universe in general. I've noticed my own frustrations with the story, when Blizzard just can't seem to let a character go, to the point that the become a meme -looking at you Green Jesus!

    I didn't mind Ysera dying in Legion, it was a poignant moment and added some tension to the story. Of course, Shadowlands is supposed to be the afterlife and I'm happy to see her again but has Blizzard gotten to the point where they have wrung every ounce of use from characters and are in dire need of some fresh blood. Another example -Jaina. She went off in a huff for an entire expac and then swooped in as the literal deus ex machina to save us only to be front and centre for a good chunk of the story.

    On the other hand, we defeated the ultimate big baddy back in Legion and had nowhere to go. Did Blizzard go too far with this? Letting us wreck KJ and Sargeras. It seems we have an almost invincible army of good guys who even if they get killed off will appear again in roughly 1.5 expacs, but in contrast a conveyor belt of bigger and badder enemies waiting to be despatched.

    I don't want a GoT style purging of characters, I'd just like to see Blizzard moving forward with the story -let some of the Old Guard retire and see some new characters developed -and preferably not Human or Orc. I know they leaned heavily on existing franchises for their original story, but a lot of the creativity seems to have gone out of the story telling.

  2. #2
    The sooner you accept that Warcraft works under comic book lore, the better.

  3. #3
    Bloodsail Admiral Xykotic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MyWholeLifeIsThunder View Post
    The sooner you accept that Warcraft works under comic book lore, the better.
    Aptly said. I think I realized in WoD that the story was a just a bunch of "and then this happened" without any real intention of telling a cohesive story.

  4. #4
    We're no longer in New Lore vs Old Lore. We're now in Retcon Lore vs New Lore & Old Lore. By that i mean they are now even retconning what was considered new lore, to justify current lore.

    Jaina's is a big mess. She was there in the beginning of Legion with Varian. When the Horde made the call to retreat, she disappeared on Varian and we dont see her again until she tries to block the Horde from rejoining Dalaran and then disappears again until it's time for the Horde and Alliance to fight. This is a major character, so her disappearance itself draws speculation. She's not one of these side characters that can disappear for expansions without excuse. But nope, they wave it off that this major character disappeared when Varian needed her or disappeared when a WORLD ENDING INVASION was happening. But she came back for the Horde vs Alliance conflict!

    With Shadowlands, I dont think Blizzard thought it through and I wish we didn't go there. They dropped the ball with the time travel expansion and they did it again with the afterlife expansion aswell. A character or story can only ever be as smart as the writer, so having some low-intelligent writers tackle the afterlife wasn't a good idea :/

    Speaking of WoD, i believe that's when we entered a new era of lore, the retcon the past lore(even if it's new lore) to justify the current lore. They retconned the Legion, the retconned Draenor(yes a lot of AU Draenor's backstory that's different is now ME Draenor's lore) hell they even retconned Khadgar not being an old ass man anymore and gave him Medivh's staff.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by MikeBogina View Post
    We're no longer in New Lore vs Old Lore. We're now in Retcon Lore vs New Lore & Old Lore. By that i mean they are now even retconning what was considered new lore, to justify current lore.

    Jaina's is a big mess. She was there in the beginning of Legion with Varian. When the Horde made the call to retreat, she disappeared on Varian and we dont see her again until she tries to block the Horde from rejoining Dalaran and then disappears again until it's time for the Horde and Alliance to fight. This is a major character, so her disappearance itself draws speculation. She's not one of these side characters that can disappear for expansions without excuse. But nope, they wave it off that this major character disappeared when Varian needed her or disappeared when a WORLD ENDING INVASION was happening. But she came back for the Horde vs Alliance conflict!

    With Shadowlands, I dont think Blizzard thought it through and I wish we didn't go there. They dropped the ball with the time travel expansion and they did it again with the afterlife expansion aswell. A character or story can only ever be as smart as the writer, so having some low-intelligent writers tackle the afterlife wasn't a good idea :/

    Speaking of WoD, i believe that's when we entered a new era of lore, the retcon the past lore(even if it's new lore) to justify the current lore. They retconned the Legion, the retconned Draenor(yes a lot of AU Draenor's backstory that's different is now ME Draenor's lore) hell they even retconned Khadgar not being an old ass man anymore and gave him Medivh's staff.
    I can pretty much agree with all of this, however, i would add that, while the lore fully went off the rails in WoD, it actually started even back in BC/WotLK.
    Even back then, they started to change and twist characters into how they needed them, it just wasnt done so overwhelmingly and obvious.
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  6. #6
    If I didn't play the Warcraft RTS I wouldn't give a shit about the lore.

  7. #7
    When it comes to credible storytelling Warcraft's problem is that the races of Azeroth face an existential threat annually. When one incredible threat is defeated, at great cost, we catch our breath for a minute then face another one. Vanilla was good in that it set the mood mainly to us exploring the core lands and dealing with more minor, local threats. Patched in raidbosses were local threats as well, or at least nothing compared to expansion villains (with the exception of Cthun). Stakes weren't that high back then, it was more about carving a place for our factions in the world. If the game was still in RTS format we'd spend the campaign to face one expansion-level villain then have an era of calm just like there was after the Second War. MMORPG doesn't allow a natural time skip, everything must come at us at once. It lead to a situation where we (the players) were already aware of the Shadowlands and the Jailer when N'zoth made his move, which rendered him a mere distraction, something to get out of the way while we waited for the real deal.

    All in all I think games should dial back from world-saving scenarios and present more down-to-earth stories. Starcraft too raised the bar too high with Amon and celestial Kerrigan; what the hell is SC3 supposed to be about after such a display? SC1 was about a war between mortal races, even the zerg being that, honestly.

    Game of Thrones wasn't popular because of the White Walkers, but because of Westeros's mortal politics and character relationships. I don't think it even needed the White Walkers, as Daenerys was the looming superpower that would shake the seven kingdoms with her arrival. Funnily enough WH40K offers a decent take on lesser-stakes stories even though the larger scheme is about a never-ending war where the ultimate stake is about survival or extinction. The stories we experience don't heed this grander framing but focus on local wars, such as the factions fighting over the Kaurava system in Soulstorm or Ultramarines protecting a single forge world in Space Marine. Even if they lose it's peanuts in the grander scheme, as the Imperium is so vast in can afford to lose systems; it largely stands on equal grounds with other cosmic powers, never being the underdog (I'd say Eldar and Tau are that if we are to choose the weakest players). Only if they lose the Emperor are they fucked.

    I also present Witcher 3. The Wild Hunt was easily my least liked part of that game, as I was far more invested in the more down-to-earth stories, Blood and Wine being my favorite.
    Now you see it. Now you don't.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Smallfruitbat View Post
    Guessing from the fact people regularly visit and post in the 'lore' forum, that the lore has been a big factor in players attachment to WoW and the Warcraft universe in general. I've noticed my own frustrations with the story, when Blizzard just can't seem to let a character go, to the point that the become a meme -looking at you Green Jesus!

    I didn't mind Ysera dying in Legion, it was a poignant moment and added some tension to the story. Of course, Shadowlands is supposed to be the afterlife and I'm happy to see her again but has Blizzard gotten to the point where they have wrung every ounce of use from characters and are in dire need of some fresh blood. Another example -Jaina. She went off in a huff for an entire expac and then swooped in as the literal deus ex machina to save us only to be front and centre for a good chunk of the story.

    On the other hand, we defeated the ultimate big baddy back in Legion and had nowhere to go. Did Blizzard go too far with this? Letting us wreck KJ and Sargeras. It seems we have an almost invincible army of good guys who even if they get killed off will appear again in roughly 1.5 expacs, but in contrast a conveyor belt of bigger and badder enemies waiting to be despatched.

    I don't want a GoT style purging of characters, I'd just like to see Blizzard moving forward with the story -let some of the Old Guard retire and see some new characters developed -and preferably not Human or Orc. I know they leaned heavily on existing franchises for their original story, but a lot of the creativity seems to have gone out of the story telling.
    Creates new characters! "That's not Warcraft!"
    Uses old characters! "They're just milking characters."

    Characters come and go. That's normal. Her being around for one event only to be gone for a while only to come back is not in and of itself a bad thing.
    The most difficult thing to do is accept that there is nothing wrong with things you don't like and accept that people can like things you don't.

  9. #9
    Scarab Lord ercarp's Avatar
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    Legion was the end piece to the original Warcraft storyline. It's been going downhill ever since. Shadowlands doesn't even feel like Warcraft anymore.

  10. #10
    Let's just admit that Steve Danuser spoils everything he touches. He messed up Sylvanas and made us follow her adventures for 3 expansions (well, Metzen did the same with Thrall, but it wasn't so shabby and we were never told THRALL HAS A PLAN !!!!).
    He can't think of anything new and just looks at what came before him and just levels it up.
    Scourge? Here's a super Scourge in the form of Maldraxus and Maw.
    The Lich King? Here's a super Lich King in the form of a Jailer.
    Titans? Here are the super Titans in the form of the First Ones.

    And when he doesn't just copy the old and write something new, he makes things worse. He is very actively trying to shove LGBT theme into Warcraft. Two gays in Ardenveld, Pelagius. In the new book about Azeroth folklore, it turns out that Chromie is a man who likes to be in the guise of a woman (I'm not kidding). And he'll also add some kind of special skin selection day for dragons when they choose their mortal shape, and this is complete nonsense. The red dragon in the War of the Ancients knew how to turn into a tree to keep an eye on Cenarius, Malygos knew how to turn into a beetle, Wrathion almost from birth knows how to turn into a humanoid, and he did not need to undergo a special ceremony for this. And don't get me wrong, I'm not homophobic (in fact, rather the opposite), I just hate that this is not done out of real support, but to look so progressive and tolerant in the eyes of the fans so that they continue to pay. This sycophancy is simply pathetic.

    New lore sucks.

  11. #11
    This isn't Warcraft lore. It's just discount MCU cutting room floor material.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by ercarp View Post
    Legion was the end piece to the original Warcraft storyline. It's been going downhill ever since. Shadowlands doesn't even feel like Warcraft anymore.
    I agree. Legion opened the lids to just about every jar of mystery this game had. Which was great! It was cool finally seeing what was under Tirisfal, what was Bolvar up to, raiding the secrets under Karazhan, purging the Emerald Nightmare only to discover there's a small little seed of corruption left, etc.

    Then BFA hit and destroyed so much of what Legion left open ended. Then they did that thing with the fish lady and octopus man, pretending to be Azshara and N'zoth. I mean they don't actually expect us to believe that was Nazjatar, right? They don't truly think we'd believe that all of N'zoth's scheming and decade long build up culminated to.. a fucking dream where nothing happened?

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by darkoms View Post
    Let's just admit that Steve Danuser spoils everything he touches. He messed up Sylvanas and made us follow her adventures for 3 expansions (well, Metzen did the same with Thrall, but it wasn't so shabby and we were never told THRALL HAS A PLAN !!!!).
    He can't think of anything new and just looks at what came before him and just levels it up.
    Scourge? Here's a super Scourge in the form of Maldraxus and Maw.
    The Lich King? Here's a super Lich King in the form of a Jailer.
    Titans? Here are the super Titans in the form of the First Ones.

    And when he doesn't just copy the old and write something new, he makes things worse. He is very actively trying to shove LGBT theme into Warcraft. Two gays in Ardenveld, Pelagius. In the new book about Azeroth folklore, it turns out that Chromie is a man who likes to be in the guise of a woman (I'm not kidding). And he'll also add some kind of special skin selection day for dragons when they choose their mortal shape, and this is complete nonsense. The red dragon in the War of the Ancients knew how to turn into a tree to keep an eye on Cenarius, Malygos knew how to turn into a beetle, Wrathion almost from birth knows how to turn into a humanoid, and he did not need to undergo a special ceremony for this. And don't get me wrong, I'm not homophobic (in fact, rather the opposite), I just hate that this is not done out of real support, but to look so progressive and tolerant in the eyes of the fans so that they continue to pay. This sycophancy is simply pathetic.

    New lore sucks.
    What did you expect? All these corporations are bending over for the very small, loud population of Twitter. You know, the people who screech "YAS KWEEN" whenever they find a $30 Funko pop they haven't yet collected. Bunch of hyper trend riders who get pissed off if the current trending thing isn't loaded to the brim with pseudo politics.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Stardrift View Post
    This isn't Warcraft lore. It's just discount MCU cutting room floor material.

    - - - Updated - - -



    I agree. Legion opened the lids to just about every jar of mystery this game had. Which was great! It was cool finally seeing what was under Tirisfal, what was Bolvar up to, raiding the secrets under Karazhan, purging the Emerald Nightmare only to discover there's a small little seed of corruption left, etc.

    Then BFA hit and destroyed so much of what Legion left open ended. Then they did that thing with the fish lady and octopus man, pretending to be Azshara and N'zoth. I mean they don't actually expect us to believe that was Nazjatar, right? They don't truly think we'd believe that all of N'zoth's scheming and decade long build up culminated to.. a fucking dream where nothing happened?

    - - - Updated - - -



    What did you expect? All this corporations are bending over for the very small, loud population of Twitter. You know, the people who screech "YAS KWEEN" whenever they find a $30 Funko pop they haven't yet collected.
    Yes, twitter and reddit is some kind of hell. On reddit, some guy said that Chromie's situation is not a retcon because although we were told several times that she(he?) was a woman, we were never told that she(he?) was a cis woman, and if she(he?) turned to be a trans woman, everything is fine. And that this is important for many people.

  13. #13
    The Lightbringer Darknessvamp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MikeBogina View Post
    We're no longer in New Lore vs Old Lore. We're now in Retcon Lore vs New Lore & Old Lore. By that i mean they are now even retconning what was considered new lore, to justify current lore.
    I agree heavily with this statement, this whole expansion has just been littered with this approach and it's shoddily done with seams showing all over the place.

    I mean the Stonewright is a great example of this where at launch they went out of their way to detail her backstory, relationship with the characters we were working with and express her 'importance' to the story of Revendreth. Come one patch later they retcon all of that by changing who she is, why she is, her motivations and saying characters are just dumb now which is how the mistake happened and all wrapped up with their usual excuse of "You the player just didn't know it was actually this way all along". Course we didn't, you literally changed everything in the period of a patch with handwaving to ground it.

    I get Danuser must have hated the Chronicle (I know I did when it was first announced, the whole idea of boxing everything into categories was just a bad one) but I don't get why he chose to retcon the thing as an in-universe and biased lore object only to then double down on the lore detailed throughout it and manipulate it to his standards if he didn't want it. I get major "You made this... No I made this" meme energy from all his writing.

    Quote Originally Posted by darkoms View Post
    Yes, twitter and reddit is some kind of hell. On reddit, some guy said that Chromie's situation is not a retcon because although we were told several times that she(he?) was a woman, we were never told that she(he?) was a cis woman, and if she(he?) turned to be a trans woman, everything is fine. And that this is important for many people.
    I enjoyed reading a comment chain where one poster made the reasonable suggestion "Perhaps this now confirms Chromie is a male dragon but has always enjoyed assuming and fully embracing their disguise as a a female gnome to it's full potential but isn't actually transitioning as he frequently switches back and forth whenever it suits them" only to have another poster jump on them and demand why they weren't accepting the narrative and just conceding it should be viewed as the trans allegory that they felt it definitely was, first poster accepted that they felt that way but reiterated they don't believe that it's the case and the second poster just wouldn't stop attacking them and started strawmanning them as hating trans people because of it even though they never mentioned such a thing. Danuser sure knows how to fuck up things with one story packed with retcons.
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  14. #14
    Thats what you get when your story has to create and solve a world ending crisis every two years.

    The game doesnt have time to create interesting and new characters we care about fast enough.
    Ans every year we lose more characters to "we need a boss people will care about" madness or "start of the expansion shock" cutscene deaths than we gain.

    So everyone from the original cast has to die over and over again.
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  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by darkoms View Post
    Yes, twitter and reddit is some kind of hell. On reddit, some guy said that Chromie's situation is not a retcon because although we were told several times that she(he?) was a woman, we were never told that she(he?) was a cis woman, and if she(he?) turned to be a trans woman, everything is fine. And that this is important for many people.
    We know very well why the retcon with Chromie happened. You know it. I know it. More virtue signaling so they can appease the far-left wokeist crowd. And by the way, why is this racist Roux still writing for Blizzard?

  16. #16
    Bloodsail Admiral Smallfruitbat's Avatar
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    The problem is, that Blizzard seem to want to lurch from crisis to crisis. If you take Legion for example, that could have played out differently.

    We defeated KJ without a bloody scratch on us. A villain of that magnitude should have done serious damage to us. I actually wouldn't have objected to him being a boss in multiple raids. I'm not saying repeat the same fight, but the first time we try -we might have gotten our asses handed to us. Go back to our class halls, repair the damage, level up and try a different approach. -The try/fail cycle is pretty staple for fantasy. There was a lot of opportunity to bring some "new" or lesser known characters to the fore there.

    In my mind, Blizzard throw away their bad guys too easily. When I started playing, Sargeras was the big looming threat that even a raid of 100 level 60 players would struggle with (I seem to remember some quote about how dangerous he is). We show up, catch him humping the planet and then fairly easily throw him down. OK, this time there is a consequence in that he stabbed the planet. For me, I would have let him escape us or even better -not allowed him to face off with us and then gone into BFA with the Horde and Alliance squabbling over whose fault it is he got away.

  17. #17
    Everything after 5.4 is non canon. Just bad corporate fanfiction that is a parody of itself.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by MyWholeLifeIsThunder View Post
    The sooner you accept that Warcraft works under comic book lore, the better.
    just so we're clear... it's modern marvel comic lore tier variety not just ANY comic book lore variety.


    edit:

    honestly things could be alright if we weren't litterally falling face first into new cosmic calamities in every other quest chain and international wars to change the face of the world every other expansion

  19. #19
    Actually, no. Everything after the players killed Garrosh is non canon.

    In the deepest bowels of the Underhold, below Orgrimmar
    Garrosh finally falls onto his hands and knees, panting heavily. Blood is gushing from his chest.
    Thrall walks up to him, raising the Doomhammer above his head.
    Thrall: "You disappoint me Garrosh. You are not worthy of your father's legacy."
    Garrosh looks up at Thrall one last time.
    Crack! Garrosh's head explodes like hammer hitting a watermelon.
    Thrall lets out a sigh.
    "Finally... it is over."
    "Yes, it is over." said a stern voice behind him. "Take aim!"
    Sound of dozens of flintlocks being cocked reverberates throughout the Underhold.
    Thrall was alarmed and spun around, staring at dozens of musket barrels in the face. In front them is a line of heavily armored knights, swords drawn."
    "What is this?" Thrall asked in disbelief.
    "The end of three decades of ceaseless war." Varian stepped forth. "Thrall, I will only say this once: surrender, or die."
    Vol'jin scoffed, rising to his full height. He began casting a spell. "I will hold dem ba-"
    Slice. The troll's arm arm fell to the ground. An elven blade was held up to his neck.
    "Do not be hasty, Vol'jin." said a voice from behind. "Or you and your people will surely die."
    Vol'jin turned to see an elven blade being held up to his neck. His eyes widened in disbelief.
    "Treachery!" was all Vol'jin could muster.
    On the Horde side of the Underhold, Sin'dorei soldiers held their spears and swords at their former comrades.
    Lor'themar walked across the hall to stand by Varian.
    "A pleasure to have you with us, Reagent Lord." said Varian.
    Lor'themar nodded, then turned to address his former comrades across the hall. "The Sin'dorei lent our aid to the Horde in good faith, and time after time again we have only been repaid with the bodies our soldiers, thrown away in your petty wars. I will not stand by and allow the Horde to waste more elven lives for nothing. We have rejoined the Alliance."
    Sounds of battle in the city above could be faintly heard.
    Varian gestured towards the ceiling. "Alliance forces - Stormwind, Sin'dorei, and Kal'dorei regiments - are taking the city. Across the ocean in the Eastern Kingdoms, an Alliance expedition has crossed the Than'dol span and is laying siege to Lordaeron alongside a Sin'dorei army. It is over."
    Sylvanas panicked. She turned into a wraith and fled.
    Gallywix grimaced. "I assume you have kept us alive for a reason, yes?"
    Varian nodded. "Thrall and Vol'jin will return to the surface above and tell the Horde forces to disband. Orgrimmar will become an occupation zone under Alliance Forces. Orcish and Troll tribes outside of Orgrimmar may not congregate, or else they will be assumed to be militant rebels and be destroyed by the Kal'dorei. Thunder Bluff can remain as they are, but if military build up is detected there..."
    Baine caught the eye of Varian. The Tauren chieftain nodded in understanding.
    Varian turned to face Gallywix. "The Alliance occupation forces will smash every piece of machinery in Orgrimmar. Bilgewater will remain under Alliance occupation. Consult with our Gnomish and Dwarf representatives for our plans for industrial redevelopment."
    Varian turned back towards Thrall "We're doing this with or without you. The only question is how many more of your men's bodies will line the street." Varian gestured towards the doors.
    Thrall sighed, and began walking out of the Underhold, escorted by Sin'dorei and human soldiers.


    POST-WAR WORLD

    In the Eastern Kingdoms
    • The Undercity's walls were breached by anima golems and artillery bombardment, and the city was captured. Fanatics loyal to Sylvanas tried to destroy the city, but they were killed by Forsaken before the plot could be carried out. The remaining Forsaken in the city surrendered and were spared.
    • The Gilnean liberation front retook Gilneas from the Forsaken holdouts. Forsaken apothecaries who had performed live experimentation on Alliance captives were summarily executed.
    • With the aid of Gnomish machinery, the magics of the Cenarion Circle, the Earthen Ring, and the Church of the Light, Gilneas and Lordaeron and the Plageulands was eventually purified of the Forsaken Blight. Lordaeron, Gilnean, Arathi, and Alterac refugees began moving back towards their old homes. With the help of Stormwind and the Dwarven and Gnomish kingdoms, and economic redevelopment plan was implemented to rebuild those ruined kingdoms, including Silvermoon. Stormwind and the Dwarven and Gnomish kingdoms became particularly rich from handing out loans and the economy boomed from producing machinery.
    • The Forsaken were allowed reside in the Eastern Kingdoms and settle in Alliance held territories, provided that they swear to never take up arms against the Alliance again. Many Forsaken reunited with their still living loved ones. The Church of the Light began ministering to the Forsaken, many of whom had fallen away due to their perceived abandonment by the Light. Alchemists and priests founded an organization dedicated to researching a cure for undeath.

    In Kalimdor
    • Admiral Taylor became the administrator of the Orgrimmar occupation zone. A "de-Hordification program" was instituted. Schools and hospitals for the people were created.
    • Thrall and Vol'jin traveled throughout Kalimdor, telling the Horde forces to disband. Upon hearing the words from their trusted leaders, most did as asked. A few Orcish and Troll bands held out and attempted a guerilla campaign against the Alliance occupational forces to little effect. Over time they disappeared one by one. Occasionally, bands of Kal'dorei mounted forces and druids could be seen roaming across the land.
    • Several Orcish tribes wanted to cling to their old militaristic ways, but recognized that resistance was futile. The Admiral Taylor offered to transport any tribes that wished to return to Draenor. A few took him up on his offer, and were transported by ship to the Dark Portal. Most contented themselves to remaining settled in Kalimdor and embracing a more peaceful lifestyle.
    • A few militaristic tribes of trolls fled to join the Zandalari Empire. Their hopes were dashed when King Rastakahn refused to sanction any military activity against the Alliance. Zul commanded a few rogue expeditions but all were unsuccessful.
    • Many civilians displaced by the bombing of Theramore integrated into various human kingdoms in the EK, but a second expedition led by Jaina Proudmoore refounded Theramore on Kalimdor.
    • Shamans, druids, and agricultural engineering turned Durotar and the Barrens into a fertile land for Orcish, Troll, and Tauren settlement.
    • After a couple decades, the "de-Hordification program" was declared successful and Alliance forces withdrew from Kalimdor, bringing an end to the occupation. To this day, Orgrimmar reminds a staunch ally to Theramore and Stormwind.
    • Azshara was eventually transformed by the Goblins into a luxurious themepark that draws many visitors from across the world.

    Across the world.
    • As apart of the order to disband Horde military forces, Horde bases across the world were disbanded and personel shipped back to their countries of origin.
    • The Vale of Eternal Blossoms was eventually restored thanks to the aid of Gnomish machinery, the magics of the Cenarion Circle, the Earthen Ring, and the Church of the Light.
    • Many Pandaren left Pandaria and the Wandering Isle to explore abroad. In Stormwind, a small district called "Little Pandaria" was founded.
    • Hidden nests of Nerubian and Mantid eggs were discovered, and the races were slowly repopulated and taught the history of their forebears, albeit under the strict guidance of mentors who would ensure that they would not be inclined to go on a conquest spree.
    • Wrathion eventually took a mate from another colored dragonflight. Though a pure blooded Black Dragonflight was never restored, there are still many dragons to this day who can wield the powers of earth.
    • The Dawnchaser tribes prospered in the Vale of Eternal blossoms. Chieftain Dezco remarried and had many children.

    Legion
    • The Burning Legion returned and performed a world wide invasion of Azeroth. Many died against the Legion but Azeroth endured.
    • Sylvanas Windrunner pledged herself to Sargeras and became one of his lieutenants, betraying Azeroth. During the raid of Antorus, she was found dead with her throat ripped out.
    • Sargeras, in his last ditch effort to save himself, awoke the world soul of Argus. Argus, having been tormented for thousands of years, lashed out violently, but eventually he was calmed and persuaded to turn upon his true tormentor, Sargeras. With a single swing of his scythe, Sargeras was cut in twain, bringing an end to the Burning Crusade.
    • Many Draenei returned to the places they considered home. Some returned to Outland to restore and resettle Shadowmoon Valley. Others returned to Argus. Many remained on Azeroth.
    • The gnomes and the goblins drilled deep into the earth and injected thousands and thousands of tons of lethal poisons into the very bodies of the old gods, killing them.
    • The Explorer's League bought three airships and mounted an expedition led by Brann Bronzebeard to explore the other side of the world. The expedition included many adventurers, including famous heroes who had fought in the 4th War, as well as the legendary big game hunter Hemet Nesingwary. But that is a story for another time.

    THE END
    Last edited by Val the Moofia Boss; 2021-05-13 at 11:40 PM.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Smallfruitbat View Post
    Guessing from the fact people regularly visit and post in the 'lore' forum, that the lore has been a big factor in players attachment to WoW and the Warcraft universe in general. I've noticed my own frustrations with the story, when Blizzard just can't seem to let a character go, to the point that the become a meme -looking at you Green Jesus!

    I didn't mind Ysera dying in Legion, it was a poignant moment and added some tension to the story. Of course, Shadowlands is supposed to be the afterlife and I'm happy to see her again but has Blizzard gotten to the point where they have wrung every ounce of use from characters and are in dire need of some fresh blood. Another example -Jaina. She went off in a huff for an entire expac and then swooped in as the literal deus ex machina to save us only to be front and centre for a good chunk of the story.

    On the other hand, we defeated the ultimate big baddy back in Legion and had nowhere to go. Did Blizzard go too far with this? Letting us wreck KJ and Sargeras. It seems we have an almost invincible army of good guys who even if they get killed off will appear again in roughly 1.5 expacs, but in contrast a conveyor belt of bigger and badder enemies waiting to be despatched.

    I don't want a GoT style purging of characters, I'd just like to see Blizzard moving forward with the story -let some of the Old Guard retire and see some new characters developed -and preferably not Human or Orc. I know they leaned heavily on existing franchises for their original story, but a lot of the creativity seems to have gone out of the story telling.
    You bring up a LOT of good points.
    I think one problem is blizz running off brand recognition, many fans have played since warcraft 3 or earlier and are attached to certain characters.
    Unfortunately they recycle so many of the same characters over and over without really considering if they specifically are right for the story. For example, i still dont know why baine was chosen to appear in shadowlands. He hasnt had any story impact and just seems to be here for the sake of it.
    Jaina has been all over the place, blizz have a terrible habit of almost doing something interesting with alliance characters and chickening out at the last second. Tyrande is another, the night warrior arc had a lot of promise, instead they cut it short. Jaina wanting revenge for theramore also just got undone in an anticlimatic way.

    We NEED new blood. We need an expansion that just builds new heroes for world of warcraft and use them in future stories. Most of the cast in shadowlands are out of place, i dont think jaina, anduin, baine or thrall belong. This would have been a great opporunity to bring some lesser characters to the forefront.

    My ideal expansion at this stage would be something of a grand reset. A world update that creates new stories over current zones that has events that change the zones themselves and creates stories devoid of the faction leaders. Keep all of the stories contained to each zone that really build up characters, conflicts and rivalries that will make players love them. Keep all faction leaders out of the story for just one xpac and develop natural threats between different factions. Then for the first major patch you have stories that go through all of the previous zones and develop those stories further, like one quest being retaking gilneas and the next having a massive crusade into former lordaeron territory with remnant forsaken fighting geurilla warfare. Do some big shake ups like having baine deposed by other tauren for lack of action leading to major conflict, or faction super weapons unleashed (that goblin mega cannon for example or the vindicaar)
    I like the faction war story but blizz have done a terrible job at it, i think that is because all the drama is dumped on the core 9 or so story heroes so someone has to be the fall guy and become a raid boss (garrosh or sylvanas)
    But conflicts arise naturally for a number of reasons, resources being a big one (that was actually a part of deathwings original story).

    I dont really expect much because blizz writing is very black and white, if there is a conflict between two groups one HAS to be a needless agressor (bfa sylvanas had no known reason to start a war) and i think modern values are pushing into the narrative too much to the point that classical narratives are not viable.

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