Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Ersula]

Blizzard's art

That wasn't some concept art. It was a video: The Warbringers film. A major part of BFA's promotion. And they gave her an eyecolor no elves have. That's not on the same level as some borked assets.

[Vakir]

That wasn't some concept art. It was a video: The Warbringers film. A major part of BFA's promotion. And they gave her an eyecolor no elves have. That's not on the same level as some borked assets.

I didn't say it was concept art. I said "Blizzard's art." As quoted. I did not stutter.

Blizzard in most contexts has never been great about continuity, and it's already been that way in an industry as a whole that has so many moving parts that it usually doesn't happen that way in the first place. Obviously not a Blizzard product, but for example - Heavensward's opening, a highly expensive CGI trailer, has Hraesvalgar, a character that has never been hostile in a context with actual mortal peril, shown attacking the player character and it was literally spawned from just an internal communication error about the wrong color main dragon. But rendering him and having him breathe fire on the WoL probably cost several thousands at least.

I dunno why you wanna keep giving so much power and agency to an abuser, but strange flex.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

does everyone still understand that even if a new expac is announced that steve is still head of the lore and the last 2 expansion stories have been absolute dog shit??

[Vakir]

does everyone still understand that even if a new expac is announced that steve is still head of the lore and the last 2 expansion stories have been absolute dog shit??

Of course they understand. But they don't want to confront that reality, so they're going to deflect it by giving needlessly high amounts of power to one specific individual rather than hold a very large development group accountable. All while people do the same thing on a gameplay level by blaming the whipping dog of the year similarly, only to probably sing their praises once they leave, such as Greg Street.

It's not done from a position of honesty. It's easy categorization because the alternative is cognitive dissonance.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

does everyone still understand that even if a new expac is announced that steve is still head of the lore and the last 2 expansion stories have been absolute dog shit??

Being cynical about the future because of the past is one thing, but to write off something before you actually see it/experience is stupid. Who knows how the next expansion is going to. It was the same song and dance with BFA and SLands up until it wasn't.


Especially, since the lot of you presently here, continue to keep up with it all. Go figure.

[Catastrophy349]

I'll be the first to say this (and I don't mind saying it either): I will play EVERY new WoW patch AND expansion no matter what. Sure, if it's "bad" I won't play "as much as others." However, I will ALWAYS give new content the benefit of the doubt. I've been playing WoW for nearly 16 years. I love the game and will be here until the end.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I'll be the first to say this (and I don't mind saying it either): I will play EVERY new WoW patch AND expansion no matter what. Sure, if it's "bad" I won't play "as much as others." However, I will ALWAYS give new content the benefit of the doubt. I've been playing WoW for nearly 16 years. I love the game and will be here until the end.

There is nothing wrong with this if you are still having fun playing the game. That is money well spent if you are getting your money's worth.

[Vakir]

Especially, since the lot of you presently here, continue to keep up with it all. Go figure.

"And yet you participate in society, how curious!" vibes.

You can be engaged in something, love it on the base level or what it was or can be, and still have a critical voice in response to certain things.

That being said, same energy with Danuser. We can talk about very clear signatures of his, particularly how he feels about Sylvanas, in his writing, just like we can talk about very clear signatures of Afrasiabi's, with his D-tier Game of Thrones twists for cheap drama - but there's still an entire team working on this shit and signing off on it. So it's impossible to say "X is doing Y, so there bad" in that sense because it presupposes that WoW's team is made up of like 10 people.

[Ersula]

I dunno why you wanna keep giving so much power and agency to an abuser, but strange flex.

Because multiple former employees have said he was in charge of the story when the story was bad (Specifically BFA and the first 7 months of Shadowlands development). I'm sorry I guess giving the abuser accurate credit for the bad story he was in charge of was out of line.

- - - Updated - - -

does everyone still understand that even if a new expac is announced that steve is still head of the lore and the last 2 expansion stories have been absolute dog shit??

According to former employees he was only in charge since Afrasiabi was fired. (So about 70% of Shadowlands) and I do regard Shadowlands as being a very slightly better than BFA. It's a mess but it's marginally more interesting. ("But that's so much of Shadowlands" sure but by 6 months before release the story for the whole expansion is locked in due to voice actor commitments. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because the whole storyline was a nosedive difficult to correct)

[Hitei]

I find the Sylvanas eye thing hilarious because High Elf eyes are super inconsistent in lore to begin with pretty much all the way up until the community randomly decided that the canon for High Elves was glowing blue eyes because that's what Blizzard went with when they changed them over to edited blood elf model in BC.

WC3's High elves have solid white eyes with no pupil/iris for Kael and the spell breakers, glowing blue modern high elf eyes for the priest, and the sorceress has regular human eyes but purple/red. Vanilla's version have pupil-less, non-glowing blue eyes, purple eyes, light purple eyes or red eyes largely just depending on the sort of magic they interact with.

WC3 Syvlanas didn't even have blue eyes, she had the Kael/Spell Breaker solid white eyes with a hint of purple.

Chen had green eyes in WC3 and they retconned them to yellow/gold in MoP's full rendered cinematic, but no one complains about that. They aren't even consistent in the comics, where sometimes he and Li li have jade eyes, and other times they're yellow. Li li's HotS unit has almost blue eyes.

Who honestly cares if Sylvanas has grey (are people seriously blind or something?) eyes in the warbringers? That's closer to her white-eyed WC3 model than glowing blue eyes.

[Shadochi]

does everyone still understand that even if a new expac is announced that steve is still head of the lore and the last 2 expansion stories have been absolute dog shit??

WoW has always been weak on the lore, even more so after the RTS WC villains and characters have been quickly burned through in the first few expansions.

I just want a story that doesn't take us into another cosmic exploration, something on Azeroth without cosmic threats being a main threat on launch or in patches.

Preferably a story that brings with it a world revamp

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Being cynical about the future because of the past is one thing, but to write off something before you actually see it/experience is stupid. Who knows how the next expansion is going to. It was the same song and dance with BFA and SLands up until it wasn't.


Especially, since the lot of you presently here, continue to keep up with it all. Go figure.

A leopard does not change its stripes. And Steve does not change his writing.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Isn’t there an old god temple on Dragon Isles? Maybe it’s a temple built over a Titan facility housing another artificially created Old God like Ghuun?

Sorry didn't see this until now.


I believe in it was just concept art at the time. It was later scrapped:




But the style was eventually re-used in Shrine of the Storms. Always a chance I suppose.

[Shadochi]

I find the Sylvanas eye thing hilarious because High Elf eyes are super inconsistent in lore to begin with pretty much all the way up until the community randomly decided that the canon for High Elves was glowing blue eyes because that's what Blizzard went with when they changed them over to edited blood elf model in BC.

WC3's High elves have solid white eyes with no pupil/iris for Kael and the spell breakers, glowing blue modern high elf eyes for the priest, and the sorceress has regular human eyes but purple/red. Vanilla's version have pupil-less, non-glowing blue eyes, purple eyes, light purple eyes or red eyes largely just depending on the sort of magic they interact with.

WC3 Syvlanas didn't even have blue eyes, she had the Kael/Spell Breaker solid white eyes with a hint of purple.

Chen had green eyes in WC3 and they retconned them to yellow/gold in MoP's full rendered cinematic, but no one complains about that. They aren't even consistent in the comics, where sometimes he and Li li have jade eyes, and other times they're yellow. Li li's HotS unit has almost blue eyes.

Who honestly cares if Sylvanas has grey (are people seriously blind or something?) eyes in the warbringers? That's closer to her white-eyed WC3 model than glowing blue eyes.

Maybe colored eye lenses are popular on Azeroth

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Of course they understand. But they don't want to confront that reality, so they're going to deflect it by giving needlessly high amounts of power to one specific individual rather than hold a very large development group accountable. All while people do the same thing on a gameplay level by blaming the whipping dog of the year similarly, only to probably sing their praises once they leave, such as Greg Street.

It's not done from a position of honesty. It's easy categorization because the alternative is cognitive dissonance.

You mean the Greg Street? The one involved in the cosby suite?

[Aeluron Lightsong]

WoW has always been weak on the lore, even more so after the RTS WC villains and characters have been quickly burned through in the first few expansions.

I just want a story that doesn't take us into another cosmic exploration, something on Azeroth without cosmic threats being a main threat on launch or in patches.

Preferably a story that brings with it a world revamp

The lore is not weak but ok.

[Vakir]

Because multiple former employees have said he was in charge of the story when the story was bad (Specifically BFA and the first 7 months of Shadowlands development). I'm sorry I guess giving the abuser accurate credit for the bad story he was in charge of was out of line.

Literally erasing the hard work of hundreds, smh smh. So toxic.

Piss-taking aside, I don't trust the word of Michele Morrow, technically an employee and certainly an influencer of Blizzard, who is a self-affirmed Sylvanas fangirl, Evital and Taliesin, content creators and streamers with history of a lot of hand-wringing and defense for vested interest in Blizzard's public perception based on it being their choice source of income, and their mystery extra source, as people who genuinely have a full comprehension of that or are speaking in truly good faith.

And even then, you'd have to sit here and tell me that Alex Afrasiabi on his throne caked with Cheeto dust from his Everquest days, consciously made the decision to give Sylvanas brown eyes, and that this, THIS was the real problem with that cinematic.

It was a dumb observation. Take the L.

You mean the Greg Street? The one involved in the cosby suite?

That's the one! More importantly, though, he was the target whipping boy of design decisions when he was in...and then proceeded to have everyone lapping at how "great" he was as soon as he left and moved to Riot.

Obviously people are gonna make a bit of a different association now, but it stands.

[Ersula]

Who honestly cares if Sylvanas has grey (are people seriously blind or something?) eyes in the warbringers? That's closer to her white-eyed WC3 model than glowing blue eyes.

It's not so much that as it is "Why are they blue now?" and "Why weren't they glowing at all?" I'd even accept the idea they have normal colored eyes but the glow makes them look a certain color.

[Varodoc]

> Alleria's VA is a fan of Sylvanas' character

> Blizzard: Makes Alleria and Sylvanas interact only once on the actual screen, at the Battle of Lordaeron, 4 years ago.

Stupid lol, the VA must be pissed off (understandably so).

[Ersula]

Literally erasing the hard work of hundreds, smh smh. So toxic.

And even then, you'd have to sit here and tell me that Alex Afrasiabi on his throne caked with Cheeto dust from his Everquest days, consciously made the decision to give Sylvanas brown eyes, and that this, THIS was the real problem with that cinematic.

I was saying Afrasiabi's quality control was lacking. Calm the fuck down, tumblrina.