Should the Warcraft become more creepy?

[Alanar]

Did you, like, missed Drustvar?

Its cartoonish/fun/creepy which makes it disney level of creepy imo.
Cant compare to the real dark nights in vanilla.

[Evilfish]

It has become more creepy. The old god stuff is as creepy as it gets. I just hope it sticks around before the heroes mop em up.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

We'll need nya'lotha to be very dark and creepy that people are scared to go there to do their dailies and alt grinds.

[Powerogue]

I was really impressed with the horror elements of the Uuna storyline. It must be challenging to make horror in an MMO where we can fight all this stuff (there's a reason the guy from Amnesia doesn't have a shotgun), but it is definitely possible.

I also liked that creepy girl from Drustvar.

[Arenchac of Suramar]

They fucked it up already with Void Elves, there is nothing that can change that.

"Controllable eldritch powers" fuck you Blizzard.

Buddy, know of a little guy from what might as well be the best-known Cosmic Horror setting ever named "Randolph Carter" who dicks around in the Dreamlands, which is basically the Emerald Nightmare of the original Lovecraft mythos? Or Abdul-al Hazred, who was utterly insane but not nearly on the side of the Great Old Ones? Or the entire Yithian and Yaddithian races?

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Buddy, know of a little guy from what might as well be the best-known Cosmic Horror setting ever named "Randolph Carter" who dicks around in the Dreamlands, which is basically the Emerald Nightmare of the original Lovecraft mythos? Or Abdul-al Hazred, who was utterly insane but not nearly on the side of the Great Old Ones? Or the entire Yithian and Yaddithian races?

Oh, and I forgot about Marinus Willet, who summons an ancient entity that despises Necromancers to kill Curwen in Charles Dexter Ward's body.

[Lord Pebbleton]

I think the Karazhan Crypt captured that feeling best.
Not having mobs around you, but still hearing ambience sounds as if they were supposed to be there, is unnerving. Add to it that you are alone (or were, before the Lucid Nightmare), the extremely creepy locales (the upside down sinners) and you wanted to be out of there in 3 minutes.

[Verdugo]

Buddy, know of a little guy from what might as well be the best-known Cosmic Horror setting ever named "Randolph Carter" who dicks around in the Dreamlands, which is basically the Emerald Nightmare of the original Lovecraft mythos? Or Abdul-al Hazred, who was utterly insane but not nearly on the side of the Great Old Ones? Or the entire Yithian and Yaddithian races?

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Oh, and I forgot about Marinus Willet, who summons an ancient entity that despises Necromancers to kill Curwen in Charles Dexter Ward's body.

Thats not even remotely the same and you know that.

[Arenchac of Suramar]

Thats not even remotely the same and you know that.

How is it not? Slightly teenage angst-level Anti-Nihilists utilizing sanity-rending powers that risk driving them insane for the sake of the greater good, frequently go on vision quests, show disturbing hints of reverence for the power that is technically their enemy, and came from a race that tended to be blonde, blue-eyed, and pale-skinned while being rather haughty and somewhat alarmingly racist if you actually listen to what they're saying? Sounds pretty close to Randolph Carter to me.

[Verdugo]

How is it not? Slightly teenage angst-level Anti-Nihilists utilizing sanity-rending powers that risk driving them insane for the sake of the greater good who are pale-skinned and came from a race that tended to be blonde and blue-eyed, haughty, and somewhat alarmingly racist if you actually listen to what they're saying? Sounds pretty close to Randolph Carter to me.

I have yet to see a downside to them using void. Not even some comments from their allies other than some throwaway line in a place no one visits anyway.

[Arenchac of Suramar]

I have yet to see a downside to them using void. Not even some comments from their allies other than some throwaway line in a place no one visits anyway.

No downsides other than insanity and slow siphoning of a moral compass, given that they sent a bunch of unarmed frackers in to the Void to have their souls consumed just for being under the rulership of the enemy?

Seems like they're at least getting a little bit unhinged.

[Verdugo]

No downsides other than insanity and slow siphoning of a moral compass, given that they sent a bunch of unarmed frackers in to the Void to have their souls consumed just for being under the rulership of the enemy?

Seems like they're at least getting a little bit unhinged.

And no one in the Alliance cares, might as well be some blunder by a quest designer that will be swept under a rug in an interview.

[Arenchac of Suramar]

And no one in the Alliance cares, might as well be some blunder by a quest designer that will be swept under a rug in an interview.

It's almost like even the faction that has moral superiority in a war is still going to do equally horrible things and then ignore them because they're at war and want to avoid having to get rid of a valuable asset.

[Verdugo]

It's almost like even the faction that has moral superiority in a war is still going to do equally horrible things and then ignore them because they're at war and want to avoid having to get rid of a valuable asset.

Just watch how its never going to backfire on the Alliance just because they are the "good guys". Meanwhile Horde using relatively more mundane means fractures the leadership.

[Arenchac of Suramar]

Just watch how its never going to backfire on the Alliance just because they are the "good guys". Meanwhile Horde using relatively more mundane means fractures the leadership.

Oh shit, are we going from discussion about Cosmic Horror to faction bias circlejerk? kk, I'll quickly open up my bag of random jargon that shows up in every one of these when people try to convince others that their faction is getting the short end of the stick.

[Verdugo]

Oh shit, are we going from discussion about Cosmic Horror to faction bias circlejerk? kk, I'll quickly open up my bag of random jargon that shows up in every one of these when people try to convince others that their faction is getting the short end of the stick.

Can you describe something so ineffectual and safe like void as "horror"?

[Arenchac of Suramar]

Can you describe something so ineffectual and safe like void as "horror"?

Yes, actually. Even if there is admittedly not as hard consequences on the Void Elves themselves, they are doing the equivalent of digging up your dead dog, possibly eating its soul, using dark magic to puppeteer its corpse, and then telling it to maul you. Seems pretty horrifying to the Zandalari at least. They're also throwing unarmed civilian workers trying to make a living in a harsh objectivist society in to a realm of literal eternal suffering.

Pretty horror-level shit there to me.

[seleri]

Video games can't really be creepy (to me, at least), so it's kind of pointless from my pov. Anything they tried would just be very forced and would be more cringe than creep.

[Verdugo]

Yes, actually. Even if there is admittedly not as hard consequences on the Void Elves themselves, they are doing the equivalent of digging up your dead dog, possibly eating its soul, using dark magic to puppeteer its corpse, and then telling it to maul you. Seems pretty horrifying to the Zandalari at least. Also working a normal 9-to-5 job to pay for your right to live in a harsh and amoral objectivist society until it is promptly cut short by being sent to a realm of eternal suffering by a bunch of Randolph Carter expies.

Pretty horror-level shit there to me.

Well its not horrific to the Alliance. Guess that makes them an eldritch horror. Quite fitting when considering the corrupting influence of human potential.

[Vakir]

Did you, like, missed Drustvar?

Drustvar is fucking lame, though. The initial stuff is great, setting up the coven itself and all its influences/aesthetic, but by the second act you're fighting a witch every other god damn quest area and their powers feel completely dumbed down and stupid as a result.

That's kind of endemic of the issue I see with Blizzard, frankly, is that their entire thing is "more bigger better" and "EPIC" without understanding what subtlety is - no matter what franchise it is. "We GOTTA focus 5 full seconds on Tychus' grenade having a Have a Nice Day message. We GOTTA make Diablo cackle like a maniac at every last thing. We GOTTA make the Old Gods make long epic speeches despite that, if we're inspiring them from Lovecraft, hearing their tongue for a quarter of a second should make you want to kill yourself."

They can't do subtle right and it's all based around camp and 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon tropes - which is fine, but when they WANT to do subtle, they bungle it massively.

Regarding the poll/title, I would WANT it to, but Blizzard's entire ethos runs against it. Everything has to be the biggest, loudest, and most COOOOOL thing ever. And when everything is dialed to 11, nothing feels big anymore.

[Arenchac of Suramar]

Well its not horrific to the Alliance. Guess that makes them an eldritch horror. Quite fitting when considering the corrupting influence of human potential.

I mean, Soviet Gulags were probably still horrifying to the Allies even if they overlooked them because they knew the shit Germany was doing is worse. Similarly, it's not like most Italian citizens knew that the Germans they were allied with were offing Jews left and right.

Though TBH I'd be more interested in talking about Cosmic Horror than more Muh (Horde/Alliance) Faction Bias meme.

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Drustvar is fucking lame, though. The initial stuff is great, setting up the coven itself and all its influences/aesthetic, but by the second act you're fighting a witch every other god damn quest area and their powers feel completely dumbed down and stupid as a result.

That's kind of endemic of the issue I see with Blizzard, frankly, is that their entire thing is "more bigger better" and "EPIC" without understanding what subtlety is - no matter what franchise it is. "We GOTTA focus 5 full seconds on Tychus' grenade having a Have a Nice Day message. We GOTTA make Diablo cackle like a maniac at every last thing. We GOTTA make the Old Gods make long epic speeches despite that, if we're inspiring them from Lovecraft, hearing their tongue for a quarter of a second should make you want to kill yourself."

They can't do subtle right and it's all based around camp and 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon tropes - which is fine, but when they WANT to do subtle, they bungle it massively.

Regarding the poll/title, I would WANT it to, but Blizzard's entire ethos runs against it. Everything has to be the biggest, loudest, and most COOOOOL thing ever. And when everything is dialed to 11, nothing feels big anymore.

Counterargument: The entire Ulduar raid. Including and especially Yogg-Saron. You can be Rule of Cool 40k-style and even super-hammy while still having genuinely creepy elements. Yogg-Saron kind of proves that.