Datamined race intros shows Blizz set on whitewashing Horde.

[Jinpachi]

Making the Horde do a sudden 180 into freedom fighting good guys that protects all life on Azeroth when just like a half year ago they burned down a world tree and killed tens of thousands of innocents with forsaken turning more into their own all for the reason of conquest [before we knew sylvanas true intentions.]

and you completely dismiss saurfang's story arc, and how that DIRECTLY ties into this.

[ErrandRunner]

The OP might have used the wrong term to describe what devs are doing, but anybody with any Warcraft or WOW experience can see it is ugly and sweeping loads of stuff under the rug.

[Yarathir]

I mean... everything change. It would not be plausable to describe the Forsaken such as:
"Previously bount to Arthas. Freed from his hold by Sylvanas. Did terrible things in the past such as x, y and z. Also did this and that while pretending to be something else. They thave since then moved forward to embrace a more heroic view of life/death. It is at this point in history your character enters the world."

Take a newborn IRL. It's someone who grow up in the current timeline, the now. Not the past. Their being will be transformed and shaped by the current political, social and wordly climate that currently happens. Sure, they can be inspired by the past but it's not even close to how much more the present will affect them.

It's not washing anything. It's presenting the current situation. When done with the starting area, the player can go out explore their factions history, no? The presentation is just the springboard for the general setting, the present setting. After that, your character can be whom ever you want (at least in your own imagination).

I see nothing wrong with this at all.

Also, change the title... "whitewashing" does not apply.

No, you're wrong.

When you start, after the starting zone, you get thrust into BfA, the story about the Alliance versus Horde war, with a sleazy and lazy attempt at removing any of the motivation behind starting the war (such as a genocide) removed from it. This is pretty much a textbook case of moral whitewashing.

If they wanted to make the Horde follow a better path, they do that after BfA. They don't brush BfA under the rug and retroactively paint them as goodie two shoes.

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The OP might have used the wrong term to describe what devs are doing, but anybody with any Warcraft or WOW experience can see it is ugly and sweeping loads of stuff under the rug.

Nah. It's not the wrong term.

Moral whitewashing is a thing, no matter how many people here clutch their pearls over it. Otherwise, yes, you are right.

[Reinhart11]

These new intro lines are beyond disgusting on so many level. Its incredibly sad and hilarious at the same what is happening to the WoW story.

@ Jinpachi

Who cares about one of the worst and most idiotic character arcs in the whole franchise. Its not a good or even half decent basis for anything. Bad isn't the proper word for describing Saurfangs story arc.

[Super Dickmann]

This is ridiculous, lol. While it's always been irritating how alliance fanboys have wanted to label the horde as straight up evil since complexity is lost on many of them, this what blizzards done is just straight up ignoring the nuance and complexities of each race in what really looks like a babified take on the races.

Yeah, it's all done to homogenize the races as much as possible to give them less work to do in all ongoing stories since if everyone wants to save the world for identical reasons and is just a palette/gender/height swap you only need to write for one situation.

We've reached the endgame - me and Trassk are actually in agreement about Forsaken and Horde.

[ErrandRunner]

In fairness to Blizzard though, you won't get many new players choosing the Horde if their past deeds were clearly exposed during the intro (unless the player is a sadist, psychopath or sociopath.)

[Yarathir]

I mean, I know Blizzard had quite a shock and hastily scrambled to brush this whole war thing under the rug fairly shortly after 8.1 because they realized writing a war requires a lot more than just le epic marvel cinematic universe yass kween moments and that you can't just throw atrocities left and right for shock value and then act like they never happened when you have to deal with the ramifications of them, but I didn't know it was this bad.

You learn something new everyday.

[Eapoe]

Race intro strings from https://www.wowhead.com/news=312240/...le-and-strings


Forsaken: "As one of the undead Forsaken, you have been reanimated by dark magic. Though shunned by the living, you tirelessly strive to protect them."

Belves: Your people, the blood elves, have persevered through tragedy and betrayal. You toil to ensure Azeroth never endures such suffering again.

Darkspear: Renouncing the savagery of the other tribes, you and your fellow Darkspear trolls protect Azeroth with cunning ferocity.

Horde faction text in character creator?: You are a soldier of the mighty Horde, a diverse band of races from across Azeroth who fight for freedom and honor.

Orcs: Though the orcs came to Azeroth as conquerors, your kind has shed the bloodthirsty ways of old and now stand in defense of your new home.


Is Blizz really trying to have players forget what happened throughout the past expansions? Especially when the very core of the Forsaken is making new Forsaken out of the living?

edit: As shown in this post it looks like they are!

Even though your term of whitewashing is completely and utterly, horribly, wrongly used, I know what you are trying to imply.
The issue is, the only ones that don’t make sense are the Forsaken. Not sure why Blizzard would put them as “protectors of humanity” while leaving quests in showing they have fields of humans planted like crops. Hell, they still have a racial called Cannibalize.

[matrix123mko]

and it could easily be for selfish reasons instead of "protect the livings" no sense

Yes. Why cannot we fight villains to save ourselves?

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Even though your term of whitewashing is completely and utterly, horribly, wrongly used, I know what you are trying to imply.
The issue is, the only ones that don’t make sense are the Forsaken. Not sure why Blizzard would put them as “protectors of humanity” while leaving quests in showing they have fields of humans planted like crops. Hell, they still have a racial called Cannibalize.

I think it is a preparation for restored Lordaeron under Calia.

[Sondrelk]

Even though your term of whitewashing is completely and utterly, horribly, wrongly used, I know what you are trying to imply.
The issue is, the only ones that don’t make sense are the Forsaken. Not sure why Blizzard would put them as “protectors of humanity” while leaving quests in showing they have fields of humans planted like crops. Hell, they still have a racial called Cannibalize.

I guess that is technically true, though the Orcs feel equally egregious, as this is the 3rd time this has happened with no reason given for why this time is different.

[Eapoe]

Yes. Why cannot we fight villains to save ourselves?

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I think it is a preparation for restored Lordaeron under Calia.

I really hope not. It’s putting an Alliance aligned character in charge of a Horde race. I can see a lot of hatred over something like that happening.

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I guess that is technically true, though the Orcs feel equally egregious, as this is the 3rd time this has happened with no reason given for why this time is different.

What do you mean? 3rd time Orcs description was changed or 3rd time a variation for it has been used?
The Orc one is pretty straightforward as they did arrive on Azeroth (albeit slaves of the Legion) and are now just trying to live there instead of return to their dying world.

[Wangming]

In fairness to Blizzard though, you won't get many new players choosing the Horde if their past deeds were clearly exposed during the intro (unless the player is a sadist, psychopath or sociopath.)

True, but you also won't get new players when the leveling consists of fighting a war you are absolutely not invested in and don't care about any of the people involved.

[omeomorfismo]

Yes. Why cannot we fight villains to save ourselves?

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I think it is a preparation for restored Lordaeron under Calia.

oh god, luckily my character hasnt eyes, so at least him is saved from seeing a shitty disney tirisfal

[Amarys]

Tauren: Cow supremacists.

That is just udder nonsense!

On topic though, I don't like it either. While I don't want the Horde to be just pure evil and villains, being heroic protectors is more the Alliances thing. Horde should be anti-heroes like they've always been, often using questionable methods.

[Feanoro]

Think about the race intros of vanilla wow how it was more honest about them, highlighting their pros and cons.

Yet another reason I happily dropped BfA for Classic.

"For years, the forsaken, raised into undeath by necromantic magics, originally controlled by the lich king, then later lead by the maniacal sylvanas windrunner, before her betrayal of the horde. Now leaderless, the forsaken must find their own path in a world that fears them, carving out their own destiny"

Sorry, still suggests they might not hold ice cream socials and charity bingo to raise money to save lost puppies. The memo clearly states the Horde has no past wrongdoing. You aren't contradicting the Party's stance on the Horde, are you, citizen?

[SLNC]

Even though your term of whitewashing is completely and utterly, horribly, wrongly used, I know what you are trying to imply.
The issue is, the only ones that don’t make sense are the Forsaken. Not sure why Blizzard would put them as “protectors of humanity” while leaving quests in showing they have fields of humans planted like crops. Hell, they still have a racial called Cannibalize.

I'll give you the racial, but regarding the quests, you're going back in time through Chromie. It's all in the past.

Though, really, cannibalism does not contradict protecting the living. It's just eating dead individuals of the same species.

[Sondrelk]

I really hope not. It’s putting an Alliance aligned character in charge of a Horde race. I can see a lot of hatred over something like that happening.

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What do you mean? 3rd time Orcs description was changed or 3rd time a variation for it has been used?
The Orc one is pretty straightforward as they did arrive on Azeroth (albeit slaves of the Legion) and are now just trying to live there instead of return to their dying world.

3rd time the Orcs have pinned all their problems on a scapegoat, shirked responsibility and then acted like they are finally free to be peaceful.

[Dazmalak]

Well at this point they've gutted every bit of the origins of this game. Makes me sad to see all the old lore and flavor thrown away in favor of this SJW garbage; because that's what it is. The game was always a parody of something. It used to be Warhammer, now it's kind of a scary parody of the same kind of homogenization being forced down people's throats in real life. Race, culture, heritage, faith, gender, etc lose their meaning and you're left with a boring generalized concept of "good guys" vs "bad guys", with the concept of "bad guys" being anyone who doesn't go along with whatever the "good guys" are trying to accomplish.

I have had my ups and downs with this game for years, but thankfully it's only a video game and I don't really care that much. It kind of gives me the same feeling of the Marvel movies. Loved it at first, but by the time they got to Endgame I didn't care that much, and whatever else they have coming out in the future just doesn't interest me in the slightest for many of the same reasons.

[SLNC]

Well at this point they've gutted every bit of the origins of this game. Makes me sad to see all the old lore and flavor thrown away in favor of this SJW garbage; because that's what it is. The game was always a parody of something. It used to be Warhammer, now it's kind of a scary parody of the same kind of homogenization being forced down people's throats in real life. Race, culture, heritage, faith, gender, etc lose their meaning and you're left with a boring generalized concept of "good guys" vs "bad guys", with the concept of "bad guys" being anyone who doesn't go along with whatever the "good guys" are trying to accomplish.

I have had my ups and downs with this game for years, but thankfully it's only a video game and I don't really care that much. It kind of gives me the same feeling of the Marvel movies. Loved it at first, but by the time they got to Endgame I didn't care that much, and whatever else they have coming out in the future just doesn't interest me in the slightest for many of the same reasons.

Oh boy, here we go again.

[Xilurm]

I don't think people, atleast new players would pick horde to play different colored humans. Because thats what this looks like.