There's a certain geekish pride to feel about Darlords of Wraenor

[Lincoln Lawyer]

Like an annoying Britney Spears song that you eventually learn to crave until you get sick of it again a few months later, watching the cinematic for the next expansion a few weeks after it was revealed is starting to bring up a certain ... connection I thought I'd lost to Warcraft after the way Arthas' death was handled and everything else that followed in the game's universe.

A short side-story:

When I was 7 or 8 and I came home one evening from my grandparents' house, I remember opening the door, and from our small apartment hallway seeing right into the living room this image displayed on our what was then new computer's 15" CRT monitor:



This was my first ever introduction to Warcraft, an image and event that is burned into my mind forever. Later that night after I'd cleaned up I watched my brother play the first Human mission and all that follows is history; but what I meant to bring up is that all I knew then was that Orcs were the bad guys, Humans were good (OBVIOUSLY!).

I didn't know much English either so I couldn't really understand all the text between missions, thus I could never really appreciate any nuance Metzen might have tried to draw back then in the Orc's personalities other than "I'm green and I kill you" - although I did find them pretty funny when clicking them multiple times ("Stop poking me!").

Some years later, with Warcraft 3's monumental overhaul in storytelling and depth compared to its excellent predecessor, and my own monumental overhaul in comprehension of the English knowledge, I saw Orcs much more differently than how I used to, due in no small part to Thrall's humane character, incredible manual lore and general personalization of all Orcish characters.

... and let's not forget the cinematic that made us care more for Orcs than a Disney movie could:



Orcs were now beings with souls. They had a long history of savage warfare, but also of enslavement. They would have ravaged Azeroth just the same without Mannoroth's blood, but Kenghis Khan was a conqueror too, doesn't mean he didn't have a soul and aspirations (to some degree, the man enjoyed getting laid, who can blame him).


All this to say, when you watch the WoD cinematic again, and if you have the same knowledge of Warcraft's lore and have been with the games for a while, either RTS's and MMO or both, enough to make you feel attached to the universe, you can't help but feel a small swell of pride for Garrosh saying "Times change." to Gul'Dan. It's like witnessing a historical moment, almost being there 20 years ago in the head of Metzen while he was writing WC1.

I dunno how to explain this. I guess it's sort of like J.K. Rowling releasing an alternate Harry Potter in 15 years where Sirius and Dumbledore get saved. Just seeing Grom there, free and with a different future set for him, it just feels geekishly inspiring.

[Servasus]

It's a shame the content in the beta doesn't really match the epic feeling the cinematic had. As someone who has actually played through all the WoD launch content, this is just my opinion. Don't hate me too much for it.

[Deleted]

It's a shame the content in the beta doesn't really match the epic feeling the cinematic had. As someone who has actually played through all the WoD launch content, this is just my opinion. Don't hate me too much for it.

Nothing ingame can represent the quality Blizzard puts into their cinematics.

It's the nature of advertising departments combined with an MMO that's meant to be accessable to low end PCs and a general market.

[Jester Joe]

You know, I'll admit even though I've played Warcraft II, I've never gotten to actually beat it (Our computer would always die before I could), and I think I ended up skipping a bit of the story, but either way, my point was I wasn't fully getting what you meant until this line

I dunno how to explain this. I guess it's sort of like J.K. Rowling releasing an alternate Harry Potter in 15 years where Sirius and Dumbledore get saved. Just seeing Grom there, free and with a different future set for him, it just feels geekishly inspiring.

And now I know that feel man.

[Archangel Tyrael]

Draelords of Wraenor?...

Is that a joke I'm missing or what

[slime]

It's a shame the content in the beta doesn't really match the epic feeling the cinematic had. As someone who has actually played through all the WoD launch content, this is just my opinion. Don't hate me too much for it.

For being honest? Not even close thank you for coming here and not being the usual fanboy.

[TheWindWalker]

Honestly, I can't echo your sentiments. The cinematic was the exact opposite of inspiring for me and the very concept of glorifying Garrosh is sickening. I'd have rather seen a half-assed cinematic showcasing the world with some random classes shooting spells/attacking Orcs than watch that travesty.

I expect this expansion will be great in direct defiance of the Grom/Garrosh story.

I dunno how to explain this. I guess it's sort of like J.K. Rowling releasing an alternate Harry Potter in 15 years where Sirius and Dumbledore get saved. Just seeing Grom there, free and with a different future set for him, it just feels geekishly inspiring.

Only if Harry had murdered civilians, primarily women, by impaling them on his walls and had hidden in his bunker while his army of racial supremecist soldiers executed handcuffed POWs in his streets.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I have been hearing others say about the same about the historical moment of the cinematic. ^^

It's a shame the content in the beta doesn't really match the epic feeling the cinematic had. As someone who has actually played through all the WoD launch content, this is just my opinion. Don't hate me too much for it.

I swear, it's impossible to just have something positive on this site.

[Lincoln Lawyer]

Honestly, I can't echo your sentiments. The cinematic was the exact opposite of inspiring for me and the very concept of glorifying Garrosh is sickening. I'd have rather seen a half-assed cinematic showcasing the world with some random classes shooting spells/attacking Orcs than watch that travesty.

I expect this expansion will be great in direct defiance of the Grom/Garrosh story.


Only if Harry had murdered civilians, primarily women, by impaling them on his walls and had hidden in his bunker while his army of racial supremecist soldiers executed handcuffed POWs in his streets.

Don't get me wrong, I have no love for Garrosh, it's just his line that sort of hit home with me. It's like something Samuel Jackson would say:

"Time change....motherfucker."

Then Axl Rose would be heard shouting: "DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE? YOU'RE IN THE JUNGLE BABY! YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!"

I also think Garrosh was handled poorly in the story for some reason. He doesn't strike me like the kind of Orc who would have done what he did. He's too brave, too rash and too hot headed to do anything but charge headlong into battle, I can't believe he waited for us to come get him in the deeps of Orgrimmar.

[Deleted]

Well, Chris Metzen wasn't part of the company back then; I think he joined around the time of Warcraft 2 - but as an artist, not a writer.

Though he did have a major hand in writing Warcraft 3, which was fucking excellent, and its expansion, which was basically even better.

Sadly, though... He may have lost his touch these later years; the story is not what it once was...

As for this expansion; I know it's going to suck - but it's going to be awesome too! Which is how I can best describe my thoughts on it as of now...

[Tech Priest Bojangles]

I swear, it's impossible to just have something positive on this site.

It's like you people reel in pain every time someone's opinion isn't some shill tripe. Give it a rest, christ.

[Servasus]

Nothing ingame can represent the quality Blizzard puts into their cinematics.

It's the nature of advertising departments combined with an MMO that's meant to be accessable to low end PCs and a general market.

No, I'm not talking graphically or otherwise. I just mean that the amount of passion and love that went into the cinematic didn't go into the making of WoD. You can tell a lot was rushed due to time constraints and that the end result isn't a product of love but rather a product of "We need to get this out ASAP."

MoP was something special in that you can actually feel and see the care that went into the expansion. It's almost like the developers finally made something they wanted to make, rather than something the community wanted them to make.

Don't get me wrong, I like where the story is heading, and I am stoked for the Burning Legion to rear its ugly face at us next expansion, but the WoD launch content is extremely lacking.

Again, it IS just my opinion. No one's got to agree with it if they don't want to. Just conveying to the OP that I understand the feeling the cinematic gave him, but not to expect quite that much "geekish pride" from the actual content.

[Lincoln Lawyer]

Well that sucks to hear. On the plus side if it turns out to suck this will probably be the last expansion I ever buy, I already forced myself to buy the current one, and can barely remember anything from it except Purge of Dalaran (awesome!!) and the good music from Landfall patch in Alliance and Horde encampments. Otherwise there was nothing memorable for me, except the landing zone for the intro quests, it was very pretty, before turning into forest, forest and more forest.

I'm not intending on supporting a company that wants to make Call of WarcraftDuty every year. Blizzard used to take an eternity to put out games but when they were released they were as good as the hype created by their cinematics.