Did you like the cinematic?

[Prenderghast]

I really liked it. But I don't think it was a *hype* cinematic in the same way the others were; if I'm not mistaken, this is the first one without any form of fighting whatsoever.

The WoD cinematic might be my favorite one ever for making me feel pulse-pounding excitement at fighting the big bad. The strength of the Dragonflight one, though, was its ability to make me curious and interested in just existing in the game world than any other cinematic produced. It was super effective at showing a return to a high fantasy setting after the ethereal/disconnected tone of the Shadowlands.

Two different kinds of cinematics, I guess. I think the Dragonflight one had a little *too* much time with the flying dragons at the end, but I loved Stone Bro and the beginning of the dragons' entrance, as well as the music.

[Jastall]

It's OK. I hope stone guy is a character, he's one determined little dude.

That said Alex sure got to the Isles fast. It was what, 10 seconds between the crystal being aligned and her picking up stone guy?

[JustRandomName]

It's OK. I hope stone guy is a character, he's one determined little dude.

That said Alex sure got to the Isles fast. It was what, 10 seconds between the crystal being aligned and her picking up stone guy?

since I already believed in the existence of dragons, I can as well believe that they are able to reach the island in 10 seconds, but only if I believed in dragons

[m4xc4v413r4]

Should have made a poll with that question...

Yes.

[elderu]

It's OK. I hope stone guy is a character, he's one determined little dude.

That said Alex sure got to the Isles fast. It was what, 10 seconds between the crystal being aligned and her picking up stone guy?

Dansuser tweeted referring to him as 'Watcher Koranos', so I think for sure we will meet him in questing given he has a name.

Maybe he's who sends us and the Explorers League/Reliquary into Uldaman.

[Deventh]

No. The absolute weakest cinematic Blizzard has ever done and that includes Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 and Starcraft.

[melodramocracy]

Eh. Maybe it was the feed I was watching, but it wasn't quite as effective as ones they've done in the past. I'm fine with the 'big bad' not being shown, but it also didn't really lay any groundwork for "why" I'm going there, or establish much of a mystery of the Isles. Visually impressive as always, but lacking.

[Sorrowseer]

It was flashy but had little substance, I felt the watcher was like a forced character, like its meant to be another *something*-boi but you can't force that, though I am sure some will try. Thats judging the cinematic alone, though with the context added later its pretty good but thats not the main point, its more of an interlude cinematic or even an end of a story cinematic, judging it as is it did not come across as an opening expansion cinemtic, to me at least.

The look at the zones and them explaining a very brief(or more like little detail) history of the zones was ofc far more interesting, but that was not translated into the cinematic. All the flying was prolly to convey the dragon riding stuff but thats only in retrospect.

[Deventh]

The quality of the script, or lack thereof, makes me wonder what the artists think of it. They probably spent months working on every detail of that island, every corner of that temple, every crack on the Watcher, every scale on Alexstrasza... And at some point they themselves had to wonder "is any of this interesting or exciting?".

It's a shame, really, having some of, if not the, best cinematics team of the entire industry and being unable to give them a decent four minute script to work with. Meanwhile, indie games with static images and text because they can't even afford animators or voice actors are bringing people to tears.

This. I expected a lot more from Blizzard cinematics. They never let me down and this is the first time I felt nothing watching this. It felt very underwhelming and the only redeeming factor is the music, but it wasn't enough to carry this plotless cinematic.

The whole plot of this cinematic was how the Dragon Isles were "hidden" from our view which is so stupid to begin with. It's done to death with Mists of Pandaria and the Broken Isles, can we not center a whole cinematic on an invisibility cloak device?

[Rexosaurus]

It was definitely lower key than most of the other expansions. I think that Aucald was right to compare it to the MoP cinematic, as we didn't explicitly know what we were doing in Pandaria either (aside from fighting each other). It had some cool visuals and it sets us up for some sort of mission of exploration/rejuvenation of the land. The dialogue and arrival of the dragons didn't hit me as hard as the final reveal and dialogue at the end of MoP's cinematic, but it was still cool enough.

There isn't really anything wrong with it, but I'd probably rate it on the lower end of the cinematics just for not really having a big impact on me. That said, Shadowlands will (hopefully) always be the worst cinematic to me so I'd at least call this one an improvement.

[Frozen Death Knight]

I liked the stone guy, but Alexstraza kills the cinematic for me. I hate the voice overs (both the script, timing and delivery), and the two minutes of generic dragons flying around at the end does nothing for me.

At least the DF cinematic was nowhere near as infuriating as Shadowlands' cinematic, which should have only ended in one way.

Also, what this guy said:

Agreed. That guy sure must know what he's talking about. :P j/k

Also, yeah. The spectacle for this cinematic was pretty lackluster. Even though I had some major gripes with the Shadowlands intro cinematic, at least the sheer spectacle of it all was just great. This cinematic did not have that. The writing of the narration was pretty bad and it suffers from being... Drawn... Out... Like... Every... Shadowlands... Dia... Logue. Just not engaging in the slightest.

[Diaphin]

As other said already.

The Cinematic was great - but it was missing the point.
The Stoneguys is cool - hopefully , like Zekhan, he finds a way in the game.

The Cinematic doesnt tell u anything other then the Dragonisles got open again and the Dragons came home and are happy...
I miss the tension, whats all about. Not necessarily the endboss, but something the Dragons fight in the Sky or fight/flame down somthing on the ground, and defend their Temple etc...

IS was kind of a all Happy Cinematic wasnt it?

I actually think the cinematic is great because it tells a self-contained story which sets up the new setting. There is no, whats going on, why is it going on mystery baiting here. We have a clear premise, a short narrative about one new character who sets the expansion in motion and that the big reveal of its setting, with the draw being the anticipation of a brand new adventure with a new continent and dragons. Now how the fuck did the legion invasion happen all of a sudden, no why the fuck are Alliance and Horde fighting again, no what the fuck is going on with Sylvanas actually and whats with the sky breaking.

[Kiria]

I've watched it 10 times now, I liked it, not over the top action and gives the feeling of returning to roots.

[Archmage Alodi]

It was pretty much what I was hoping for, glad it didn't have a big threat included . I don't like when they half ass the story into cinematics.

[Maruka]

It was good, prolly on the lower end compared to the others but still good.

[PixelFox]

"Hi, we're the cinematics team and we need to start working on the announcement cinematic for the big expansion announcement a year from now! Can you tell us about the expansion?"

"Uhhh, we haven't decided on anything yet, so just do whatever you want and maybe stick in some dragons at the end because we're kinda thinking something about dragons."

[DingDongKing]

Thought it was really poor. Probably the weakest of the entire lot tbh. Even BFA & Shadowlands for the shit storylines, still had really good launch cinematics. Ironically my favourite one so far is Warlords of Drainer. The animation, the setting and the music, was all perfect.

[RoKPaNda]

Checks all my boxes. Not a huge cosmic threat, no forced faction nonsense. One of the better WoW cinematics to me.

Visuals were nice but very light on substance. You can tell that Danuser is behind the plot....since there barely is one.

The theme of mysterious story light on details that plagued BFA and SL sadly continues.

When have we ever gotten great plot in a WoW cinematic?

[3DTyrant]

Animation/cinematography (or what ever you want to call it) wise it was good, as one would expect from a Blizzard cinematic. I don't really understand how all the dragons just got to the location so quickly from where ever they were when the beacon was activated though, so that aspect of it is a bit jarring to me.

[Xilurm]

I liked it.

This is the better way to do cinematics for WoW, one where characters don't stand there and talk like WoD, BFA, Legion and Shadowlands. Instead it's narrated while we watch a scene happen. It's more like TBC, Wrath and Cata, and Vanilla, which is better imo. It doesn't feel like it's just a cut part of some episodic thing.