Warcraft Storytelling Panel at E3, Warfronts Testing Friday, FinalBossTV - Warlocks

[The Stormbringer]

Apparently the line about Worgen tails in the Before The Storm book is a typo. Lore read it and said 'no tails' and had all references to tails removed, but one got missed. TL;DR: LORE IS A FUN-KILLER!

[Toppy]

Well probably the fact that the first bunch of warcraft/wow books she wrote were quite good and quite popular. Sadly though, ever since they hired her it's gone down hill quite fucking fast!

The reason they did well was because those books she was writting a different sort of character, we didnt see it as flawed writing, we just saw it as that character. More specifically she focused on Thrall, Durotan, and Doomhammer. Whom she all wrote as "Orcs, but they act different from other Orcs." As in, she wrote them like humans.

As time went on, we kinda figured out she is incapable of writing good characters as anything but cookie cutter human-likes. Whenever she writes a none-human they either act human, or act evil.

Plus we were coming off of Knaak who is also a bad writer, but at least he had fun. At least he didn't shove in romance. So while it was bad we at least got some neat tidbits. Golden however is just constantly stale and cookie cutter and cant fathom that game scale =/= real scale.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

The reason they did well was because those books she was writting a different sort of character, we didnt see it as flawed writing, we just saw it as that character. More specifically she focused on Thrall, Durotan, and Doomhammer. Whom she all wrote as "Orcs, but they act different from other Orcs." As in, she wrote them like humans.

As time went on, we kinda figured out she is incapable of writing good characters as anything but cookie cutter human-likes. Whenever she writes a none-human they either act human, or act evil.

Plus we were coming off of Knaak who is also a bad writer, but at least he had fun. At least he didn't shove in romance. So while it was bad we at least got some neat tidbits. Golden however is just constantly stale and cookie cutter and cant fathom that game scale =/= real scale.

I found the goblins in BTS were written quite good that one gnome to. Other then them though not a lot of races got show time other then humans dead humans and evil sylvanas.

[Fetus Rex]

Well probably the fact that the first bunch of warcraft/wow books she wrote were quite good and quite popular. Sadly though, ever since they hired her it's gone down hill quite fucking fast!

I have never liked her style. It is all over. Like fanfic commited by girls after watching twilight.

She's written quite a lot of books before World of Warcraft was her job. I recognized her name immediately upon seeing her announced by Blizzard.

Some of the books I've read by her:

Star Trek: Voyager: Gateways Book 5: No Man's Land, Pocket Books, October 2001
Star Trek: Gateways Book 7: What Lay Beyond: In the Queue, Pocket Books, November 2001

Star Trek: Voyager #6: The Murdered Sun, Pocket Books, February 1996
Star Trek: Voyager #14: Marooned, Pocket Books, December 1997
Star Trek: Voyager #16: Seven of Nine, Pocket Books, September 1998
Star Trek: Voyager: Endgame, (with Diane Carey), Pocket Books, July 2001
Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming, Pocket Books, June 2003
Star Trek: Voyager: The Farther Shore, Pocket Books, July 2003
(3 of those 7 set in a specific universe following Voyager's series end)

Star Trek: Voyager #19: Dark Matters #1: Cloak and Dagger, Pocket Books, November 2000
Star Trek: Voyager #20: Dark Matters #2: Ghost Dance, Pocket Books, November 2000
Star Trek: Voyager #21: Dark Matters #3: Shadow of Heaven, Pocket Books, November 2000

Star Wars: Dark Disciple, Del Rey Books, June 2015

If you look at her list of books (much larger than what I posted and have read), there is a general theme to them all. She likes to write for popular (at the time) sci-fi and fantasy. She wouldn't get the opportunity if neither the fans nor the editor liked her work, nor would she have been hired by Blizzard. I'm not saying she's perfect or a panacea, but it stands to reason she may not be as bad as you portray.

There are plenty of bad writers being hired because of their connections. And Golden doesn't appear to posses craft strong enough to warrant her publication. But hell, she is here now and Blizzard and her will milk and turn milk into cheese as long as it sells.

[Galathir]

Garbage interview. Patting themselves on the back how BfA is about perspective and everything is morally gray when a big part of the playerbase is worried because they see the exact opposite.
Only judging by what I have seen on the beta and heard about the novel (haven't had time to read it yet) BfA is the clearest black & white expansion yet.
(Yeah, they warn about judging from alpha/beta infos but how about showing a single morally questionable thing Anduin does)

[Toppy]

Apparently the line about Worgen tails in the Before The Storm book is a typo. Lore read it and said 'no tails' and had all references to tails removed, but one got missed. TL;DR: LORE IS A FUN-KILLER!

I just picture it in my head, the editor panicing as they pace through the books wondering why the hell Golden thought Worgen had tails.

While I haven't read the books, it does seem this particular expansion (especially what I've seen on beta) has been less morally ambiguous/gray. In a way, they need that in order to fuel the faction conflict.

If I had a bet on this, I'd say this is intentional to get the factions fighting each other so something more sinister that is waiting in the wings can take advantage of the chaos. It is a typical sci-fi/fantasy trope. Though, in this case, it is drawn out over an expansion so it doesn't seem as immediately obvious.

The problem is that they keep saying this is morally grey when the writing is so very clearly black and white, more so than its ever been. They are patting themselves on the back for doing the complete opposite of what they're saying, and dont seem to be aware of this.

[Fetus Rex]

I think you would like some cheese with your sour grapes, no? In seriousness though, she's not bad. Here's another data point. She also wrote for Blizzard with Starcraft. So, if she sold badly, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to go full time almost 6 years later. They have data on how well she has sold for them, you do not (nor do I, frankly).

Large companies always do a cost-benefit analysis and an ROI analysis (return on investment). She clearly has what they're looking for even if we can't see all of what that means on the back end. That said, I don't fundamentally have an objection to them bringing in an established writer. A lot of sci-fi and fantasy series are doing this because it provides a more robust experience (a particular sci-fi show I know was failing miserably for 3 seasons until they brought in established authors to do their last season - which turned out substantially better than the first three).

You may not like her style. No problem there. That doesn't mean she is bad. It means you don't like her work. Good for you, but you're not the only person reading it and your opinion is apparently not shared by the folks who love the work. (I am of neutral opinion since I generally don't read books based on a video game.)

But she is bad. The thing with big franchise books is that they ill sell no matter how terrible authors are. People want more lore, that's mostly it. SO many trashy Star Wars book were released and people were swallowing them fast to get their story fix.

[The Stormbringer]

I just picture it in my head, the editor panicing as they pace through the books wondering why the hell Golden thought Worgen had tails.

The problem is that they keep saying this is morally grey when the writing is so very clearly black and white, more so than its ever been. They are patting themselves on the back for doing the complete opposite of what they're saying, and dont seem to be aware of this.

According to Christie, she was thinking up typical werewolf things. Fangs gnashing, claws twitching, tails lashing, that sort of thing.

[Toppy]

According to Christie, she was thinking up typical werewolf things. Fangs gnashing, claws twitching, tails lashing, that sort of thing.

That just makes it all the worse. She isnt thinking in setting.

[The Stormbringer]

That just makes it all the worse. She isnt thinking in setting.

I mean, Worgen are basically just werewolves with a twist. I don't think it's that much of a stretch to forget that they don't have tails.

[Asotcha]

"There is more story content coming out soon for launch that hasn't been talked about yet, including stuff that hasn't been tried before." according to the news thing...sounds tantillizing. Wonder what it will be.

[Kendros]

Can anyone on the ptr check if the option to straighten your orc back is available?

[Arvandor]

"There is more story content coming out soon for launch that hasn't been talked about yet, including stuff that hasn't been tried before." according to the news thing...sounds tantillizing. Wonder what it will be.

for me that means that blizzard is aware of the great mistake (the burning of teldrassil) and im not surprised when we see at the end of bfa a rebuilded teldrassil and darnassus..

[Knightsword]

"More recent cinematics have the ability to incorporate the player character to keep them involved and the drivers of the world."
17 years after Squaresoft figured out how to do that on a PS2.