did blizzard underestimate the horde playerbase in bfa?

[sillag]

so one thing i see a lot from certain parts of the horde playerbase is how they wish events in the war of thorns had been changed to make the horde "more justified" in the faction war. the most common example is changing the order of lordaeron and teldrassil, as they believe that being motivated by revenge, instead of by nothing, would have made the genocide of thousands of defenseless civilians more palatable

well i think the more well-adjusted among us understand that teldrassil as it is presented is morally indefensible. and thats not really even just from a player perspective, the novellas they released go to great lengths to try to get across the message that the horde has gone about 20 steps beyond the line and commmited probably the greatest atrocity the world has ever seen by people not corrupted or influenced by evil magic. and yet so many horde players to this day still have no problem with the act, but only that it was presented to them as something that wasn't justifiable. if they had a few more reasons, they think, they could feel good about that time their character took part in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

its really to blizzard's credit that on they didnt pull their punches with teldrassil by trying to soften the blow and give horde players any outs they could use to try to justify the deed or to pretend to themselves that they are playing a good faction. the horde, in bfa, is evil as blizzard intends - the story will be characters like saurfang recognizing that fact, and trying to bring about change that the horde has failed at creating time and time again.

but obviously the players dont see it that way and im not just talking about the blood elf and forsaken players who fantasize about genocide most days and for whom sylvanas is their personal idol. but all horde players who are trying to squirm through the gaps and wishing they could see their faction and character as good, trying to diminish the evil their faction has done and that their characters have participated in.

i wonder if blizzard simply thought horde players had a higher standard of intelligence and moral understanding and would have been able to handle this kind of story? because clearly while there are some horde players who understand what blizzard is doing and what the story is, there are far, far more who either support sylvanas, or who think the horde is still in some way redeemable without massive societal change.

blizzard has fooled themselves for a long time into thinking the horde, or at least elements of the horde, in some way represents a liberal and revolutionary element. the truth is that the horde is packed full of fascist elements and imagery, from the position of warchief, to the entire structure of blood elf society. did it take blizzard by surprise that their faction had attracted so many right-wing players who wanted no part in their hopeful story of redemption and societal change? that horde players would actually like the faction war, and that their only issue with their characters participating in genocide and ethnic cleansing was that they were made to feel bad about it?

idk... its a lot to think about but it seems like the horde playerbase has really let blizzard down hard in bfa. we saw how they had to add this last minute "sylvanas loyalist" path in just to keep people from unsubbing. it probably means blizzard will never again make the mistake of trying to treat horde players as intellectuals or people who might be able to appreciate a morally complex story.

[TheFirstOnes]

No.

If anything, they kinda forgot that the Alliance was fighting in this war as well...

[Rozz]

This has a lot of sweeping generalizations to try and discredit anyone who has a different opinion than you.

Implying that your take is somehow the path of an 'intellectual' and that anyone who dissents is 'right winged', is insanely arrogant and ignorant. This is hardly a post to discuss lore, you're just disguising inflammatory bait as a topic.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Another hysterical low grade bait post.

[sillag]

This has a lot of sweeping generalizations to try and discredit anyone who has a different opinion than you.

Implying that your take is somehow the path of an 'intellectual' and that anyone who dissents is 'right winged', is insanely arrogant and ignorant. This is hardly a post to discuss lore, you're just disguising inflammatory bait as a topic.

i dont believe thats true. i believe in a story dealing with themes of genocide and political regimes where a charismatic dictator-for-life starts a war of ethnic cleansing, these terms are not only natural to use in our discussions of the story, but the very things blizzard is trying to invoke by telling us this story.

indeed, your most begging me to stop making you feel the bad feelies by pretending its not okay to identify the horde as the fascist organisation of war criminals that blizzard has explicitly made it actually proves my point that the players are simply incapable of handling the story blizzard is telling. so thanks very much for that.

[Aucald]

Given that this thread didn't start out on a great foot, I think it highly unlikely it will generate much in the way of constructive discussion or debate. Closing this.