Eh, I'm okay with the concept of abducting Thrall, Jaina, etc. as long as it's believable. The weird notion of Nathanos and Sira creeping around with a burlap sack is laughable, but I think that is kind of far-fetched on its face. I would envision agents of the Jailer (like the strange specters we see in the Vol'jin memories) enacting that - utilizing the newly-made wound between the dimensions to materialize out of seeming nowhere and taking them by surprise or unaware. Easy to see how any of them might be abducted under such a scenario, and well within the realm of possibility now that the material and spiritual worlds have merged a bit. I assume the major leaders have been taken off the board for a reason beyond just demonstrating the unique properties of the Maw, as it were, so I also assume that their presence and experiences in the Maw will have some kind of narrative pay-off beyond just this introductory sequence (and we already know this is true of Tyrande given the prior data-mined scenario concerning her and the history of the Night Warrior).
The Jailer's dialogue is kind of meh, I agree - sounds like boilerplate villainspeak, so I kind of hope this is more a WIP type of deal and I'll withhold judgment on it until we see a more final product. The Jailer strikes me as more of a silent antagonist - he should lead with his presence more than any menacing dialogue, communicating ill intent and malevolence through his bearing and aura as opposed to sounding like a Dr. Claw send-up.
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
I have really bad feeling that Horde lore can't be saved. Whole leadership is just bunch of Alliance friends. This must be pretty weird even for Alliance players. It's like they kicked out Horde writer team just to let Alliance writers take control in whole story.
Golden created few very bad characters in her book and we must follow them to Shadowlands even when practicaly nobody really likes them.
Something changed after Legion. And it's very very bad.
I'm taking the piss when it comes to the abduction technique, though it would be pretty funny for that to be the approach to poach Baine and Thrall. But rather, the abduction story is unnecessary and has problems that are more trouble to solve than they're worth - from how it's done, to why limit it to a few people if it's not mundane agents but the Jailor's people crossing over and of course - why not just kill them? If dead, they go to the Maw anyhow and give it resources and it's not like anyone outside would know the difference. The whole concept of needing bait after you've put a hole in reality is itself dubious. It's a whole lot of work for not much pay off, whereas if those mentioned were just the vanguard who went in first, you still have all the same pieces in play, you can hit all the general beats and you don't bury yourself in such unnecessary pablum.
Yeah, I was gonna suggest the same thing - he shouldn't speak. Leave the dialogue to his agents and the gloating to Sylvanas. This guy is as old as time, everyone up against him is completely fleeting and by the nature of the Maw, are notable only in so much as their energy can bolster him. He shouldn't care about their opinion enough to even taunt them. The death he presides over is inevitable and equal - whether someone dies afraid, defiant or hopeful, the Maw is where they go anyway and after that they're just fuel. Go for a more force of nature angle, with Sylvanas as the Mouth of Sauron.The Jailer's dialogue is kind of meh, I agree - sounds like boilerplate villainspeak, so I kind of hope this is more a WIP type of deal and I'll withhold judgment on it until we see a more final product. The Jailer strikes me as more of a silent antagonist - he should lead with his presence more than any menacing dialogue, communicating ill intent and malevolence through his bearing and aura as opposed to sounding like a Dr. Claw send-up.
Dickmann's Law: As a discussion on the Lore forums becomes longer, the probability of the topic derailing to become about Sylvanas approaches 1.
Tinkers will be the next Class confirmed.
My first thought is that they're effectively honeypots. The Jailer and/or Sylvanas wants to draw people bodily to the Maw for reasons as-yet unknown. They don't want our anima, per se; they want specific individuals - perhaps to turn them, or for some other reason. Not to say it's a great development and/or reason, but I think the reasoning is probably more involved than just "this is how the Maw works" in the intro sequence. I kind of think of it as an homage to Arthas' plan in WotLK, with the heroes as the ultimate goal and their leaders as the bait on the hook.
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It would be kind of hilarious, but I think the weight of disbelief is a bit too heavy to lift on that particular narrative stone.
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
the point isn't how, is that the event happened, is a crap plothook
And im very skeptical about the way she did, so i will not hold my breath
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And will totally be not what we are expecting
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Also, does people notice that conveniently the people who were kidnapped were exactly the die-hard pacifists? and the people who went after then were exactly people who would back up the pacifists?
Orgrimmar, and probably the horde as a whole now is in the hands of genderbend Thrall, Alliance is in Turalyon hands, if you imagine a bit this is like Garrosh x Varian
Keeping that in mind, we know much time will pass on shadowlands, we will return with things changed, good know how many years...
With all the pacifists away we could return to a world engulfed in war and more conflicts once again like a "new vanilla", entire new plotlines that could simple "be there" with the timeskip, with some shady reason like "we don't rly know who attacked first, but we will not be the ones to back down" type of mentality, tons of plotlines with different "enemies" and "allies"
By example, the Botani and the Saberon are now in Kalindor, with many years they could develop their society and became something big, Botani could be an enemy to the orcs and taurens and join the Alliance as allied race.
Saberons could be a problem to the night elves new home or adjacent territory, or just need help of the horde in the barrens and join the horde as allied race.
so much opportunities
Every single expansion.
"Just wait and see how the story turns out!" (usually from posters who rarely are seen in the Lore forum). It's the story version of:
"It's just alpha! Designs aren't done, hold your concerns!"
"It's just beta! Designs are fixed, but they still have to do a numbers pass!"
"It's just release, wait until the first patch!"
"It's the final patch, what does it matter now? Let's see what they do in the next expansion!"
Those posts might have a point if they called for less vitriol or something, but since they're essentially "Shut up, don't point out the problems!", it's a bit hard to take them seriously.
Why no, people don't just like Sylvie for T&A: https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...ery-Cinematic/
Rohkan really needs a remodel, he looks so out of place between all of those unique models for the leaders.
Magni should come back to Alliance instead of playing neutral. He has always been an Alliance character.