Recent writing has been dubbed "the worst ever" by the community & mainstream media

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

With the recent allegations involving Activison-Blizzard aside, since BFA majority of the community have expressed their opinions in a negative manner towards Blizzard regarding the story.
"Sylvanas, Saurfang, and many other characters have took a 180 degree or more turn for the worse. They are unrecognizable now.", says one.
"Sylvanas is getting redeemed. The Jailer is basically f**king Thanos."
"I will never serve. Except you have been serving for the past 2 expansions."

While I like the current Shadowlands story, you cannot argue that it can't be better. Many holes are in the plot. Things don't make sense at all like Elune dealing with the Night Elves in BFA. BFA from a story view is the absolute worst garbage writing I have ever seen from this game. Nothing about it did anything good or progressively for the story.

"It feels weird leading your class hall as a Tauren Druid in Legion and protecting nature and becoming it's guardian only for the pre-patch to go and set a world tree on fire and destroy nature.", says a player.

Honestly? I think they should abandon the SL story entirely. They should end it with 9.1 and continue it at another point like they seem to be with WoD although Yrel getting villain batted randomly is quite odd. We should get a SL pt 2 in the future where they have the resources, time, and inside-stability to make a good story and a good game.

My questions for you?
How would you or could the devs make the story better and do you like the current story or not?


PC Gamer on Sylvanas, Shadowlands, and more:

That arrow Sylvanas fires does nothing. The Jailer is basically god now, and Sylvanas is in the back of the class hawking a spitball at him and we're supposed to clap. So now should be the part where everyone dies, right? Nope. The Jailer randomly decides to be nice to Slyvanas and restores her soul—effectively turning her back into a living creature—and then steps through a portal while everyone is left alive and unharmed so we can kick his ass in six months when the next patch releases. I'm willing to bet that when we do, he'll also act all surprised because he never considered us a threat anyway. Even though, at this point, I've killed dragon gods, intergalactic demon generals, and a Cthulhu monster. And now it seems like Sylvanas, humanity restored, is due for her redemption arc—something players have been bemoaning the possibility of for years.

Unless you've been closely following WoW's story over the past few expansions, it's hard to fully express just how disappointing this whole 'twist' is. It makes me feel like none of these characters are actual reasoning people, but just empty vessels for dispensing cool one-liners while the plot marches inexplicably forward toward the next macguffin. And heaven forbid we ever get any answers or closure to the dozens of plotlines that are left dangling with each new cutscene.

Ever since Battle for Azeroth, World of Warcraft has slipped into a maddening trend of drip-feeding its overly-manufactured story through short cinematics that never feel like they stitch together into anything meaningful. I'm quickly reaching the point where I no longer care about this universe or the people who inhabit it—and that consequently makes me wonder why I'm even still playing. And judging by the negative response to its latest cinematic across WoW's different online communities, I don't think I'm the only one.

https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-war...ayers-hate-it/

The recent cinematics from Blizzard have been so negatively perceived that they have been flooded with negative comments, jokes and dislikes and thus unlisted out of embarrassment.

[callipygoustp]

I need a few more social influencers to spout off before I'm convinced.

Oh, and when is that next Fyre festival?

[Super Dickmann]

The plot is hot garbage, obviously, but not the worst ever, it's hard to unseat BFA and in terms of pure writing incompetence on all fronts TBC still towers over the competition with ease. This is however despite, not because of journos saying it. Game journalists are among the most incompetent motherfuckers on God's green earth and chiefly in their field because they can't even cut it as a political pundit, which says volumes given how low the standards for those are. You, as a consumer, as with most posters here know in more depth why the plot is so terrible than any journalist purely by virtue of consuming it and then bitching about it here rather than bandwagon hopping upon seeing a low rating.

[Gestopft]

I'm not going to claim the writing is good in Shadowlands, but the rose-colored glasses are very strong when it comes to WoW's characters/story. I've also been rather convinced for a long time that there is a not unsizeable portion of the fan base that thinks the story never should have progressed past WC3, and reflexively objects to most lore developments.

[Itisamuh]

By WoW standards, I think Shadowlands is pretty good on the story side of things, probably second to Legion. By non-WoW standards, particularly compared to non-MMO single player story games, honestly WoW has always been pretty pathetic.

[JABoyle3875]

1. Didn't like the story that I saw in SL before I stopped playing. I gave up after leveling one toon to 60, admittedly I didn't get far into the 60 content...which is an indictment in and of itself as well considering I've had an active sub about 90-95% of the time since the launch of BC.

2. What would I do to fix it? A - remove anyone with any decision making authority over anything regarding the lore and plot of the game right now, down to the level of choosing which font the documents are in. I swear to jeebus tap dancing christ that Dumb and Dumber from seasons 7 & 8 of Game of Thrones could write a better story than Danuser and his gaggle of Sylvy humpers.

3. Answered by #2, really, but it should be painfully obvious that the current devs cannot rescue it.

[sam86]

if u asked me before this raid, i'd say indef or slightly interested/curious
but after danasur waifu shooting an arrow against the jailor and he 'punishes' her with returning her spirit, i honestly can't think of worse writing, that includes wod

[Lolites]

By WoW standards, I think Shadowlands is pretty good on the story side of things, probably second to Legion. By non-WoW standards, particularly compared to non-MMO single player story games, honestly WoW has always been pretty pathetic.

this, wows story was always weak at best, predictable and kind of unoriginal...

[Jamais]

if u asked me before this raid, i'd say indef or slightly interested/curious
but after danasur waifu shooting an arrow against the jailor and he 'punishes' her with returning her spirit, i honestly can't think of worse writing, that includes wod

And why would you put punish under quotes? He literally leaves her two feet away at the mercy of three people that want her dead. Also, now she will be tormented by all the horrible stuff she has done. People generally loved the soul split/personality change from Uther.

Also, I fail to see any evidence that Sylvanas will get a redemption, people are outraging themselves in advance lol.

Anyway, no matter how SL ends, Bastion Afterlives cinematic alone is one of the best pieces of WoW story i have ever seen. To mee, that video was perfect, and i still get goosebumps when i revisit it. Revendreth and Arden were also really cool, Maldraxxus one a little less.

I generally liked how Blizzard envisioned SL as a WoW afterlife, i really liked the structure and the zones. I also applaud them from actually creating new lore and stepping into the unknown.

For the main story plot, I am curious. It is not excellent, but it is not trash. I think many people are too emotionally invested in some chars and prone to outrage if the story didn't fit their narrative.

[Dhrizzle]

People have been complaining about stupid stories, retcons and poor character development at least since TBC. The only difference nowadays is there is a couple of e-celebs to provide opinions for people to rally around.

[Kralljin]

Considering how fundamentally SL fucked the concept of death / Afterlive, i strongly disagree with it being worse than TBC.

TBC biggest crime was throwing some WC2 / WC3 characters under the bus, that pales in what SL has done.
Nevermind that SL storytelling is a failure with a millions of dollar budget.

[Dhrizzle]

The plot is hot garbage, obviously, but not the worst ever, it's hard to unseat BFA and in terms of pure writing incompetence on all fronts TBC still towers over the competition with ease. This is however despite, not because of journos saying it. Game journalists are among the most incompetent motherfuckers on God's green earth and chiefly in their field because they can't even cut it as a political pundit, which says volumes given how low the standards for those are. You, as a consumer, as with most posters here know in more depth why the plot is so terrible than any journalist purely by virtue of consuming it and then bitching about it here rather than bandwagon hopping upon seeing a low rating.

It always puzzles me why people who (presumably) play video games are so eager to slag off games journalists for not being "proper" journalists, like they don't consider gaming to be a "proper" hobby and instead of quitting decide to attack people who might take it a bit more seriously than they do.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

it's hard to unseat BFA and in terms of pure writing incompetence on all fronts

i agree especially makes me cringe when there's threads on the official forums saying how wonderful and great BFA was.

[Lolites]

bfa had jaina's arc in kul tiras. that's all we've got

yeah Jainas arc was amazing, especialy from point of view of Kultiran commoners
"hey remember daugher of our leader, who pretty much wasnt in our country many years, who we see responsible for his death, and death of many other of our people, and we pretty much made folk song about how she betrayed them? well, she is sad about it, so lets forgive her and make her our new leader"

[cigawoot]

The story is fine, idk why people are getting so upset. WoW's storytelling hasn't been the greatest, and that's fine imo.

It's like going to Casa Bonita for the food.

[NoiseTank13]

Honestly, after WotLK, it got hard for me to really invest in anything new Blizzard put out. (I never played the original War1/2 games) Deathwing just felt... pretty shallow and more like an evil Baby Huey during Cataclysm. They actually did a fairly decent job with Pandaria imo, but around WoD is where everything careened off the cliff.

I know people are quick to point to TBC as the 'Original Sin' of Blizzard adhering to rule of cool rather than rule of lore, and I get that, but I think it was a recoverable incident. It just wasn't. It's pretty clear that writing, story, and lord is simply not in the top 10 of Blizzard priorities. The fact they let Danuser out anywhere near a tablet is proof of that.

[Lolites]

It always puzzles me why people who (presumably) play video games are so eager to slag off games journalists for not being "proper" journalists

cant speak for others, but for me its not about what they cover but HOW they do that, when those "journalist" usualy (there are some exceptions) take PIECE of information, twist it, missinterpret it, ignore other information that wouldnt fit their narative and wrap it up with a nice clickbait title, ofc they arent (and shouldnt be) taken as serious journalists by many

[Gestopft]

yeah Jainas arc was amazing, especialy from point of view of Kultiran commoners
"hey remember daugher of our leader, who pretty much wasnt in our country many years, who we see responsible for his death, and death of many other of our people, and we pretty much made folk song about how she betrayed them? well, she is sad about it, so lets forgive her and make her our new leader"

Implying that the common people have any say in who the leader is?

[Houle]

yeah Jainas arc was amazing, especialy from point of view of Kultiran commoners
"hey remember daugher of our leader, who pretty much wasnt in our country many years, who we see responsible for his death, and death of many other of our people, and we pretty much made folk song about how she betrayed them? well, she is sad about it, so lets forgive her and make her our new leader"

this. its always funny to me when people praise the whole kultiran arc in BfA, bc it was a just bad.
granted, not as bad as the whole sylvanas/horde bs, but still bad.

[Lolites]

Honestly, after WotLK, it got hard for me to really invest in anything new Blizzard put out.

lets be fair, stories in wrath that werent "tying up" the story from w3 were pretty mediocre too, with exception of wider "ulduar" story, which was HEAVILY inspired by mythology so its not realy their original story

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Implying that the common people have any say in who the leader is?

well... yeah?
sure they didnt get a vote, but they could revolt if they were against it, at least they could put few npcs having conversations how that pissed them off in Boralus or in KT as whole...
we got nothing, someone who basicaly get their king and a lot of their people killed was new king and they just took it and had not issue with it... at the begining of BFA, in video when she comes to kultiras to ask for help she literaly admits responsibility, and she is marked a traitor, and suddenly NOBODY have problem with her being leader?!

in Silvermoon there was (still is?) quest where people were against Lorthemar being leader, and guard or whoever used magic against them to "persuade them" its ok, and their reason was just that he is not noble or something, in kultiras people accepted someone who get their family/friends killed, without any issues...