Shadowlands doesn't feel like Warcraft

[Leiandri]

The war in Warcraft is evolving. The terrestrial “green man look different” theme isn’t sustainable going forward in the real world climate given the size and visibility of the game and, to be quite frank, it’s high time the dungeon masters of WoW cracked open the Planescape box in respect of how inevitably huge our characters are.

The cosmic war is the future, and man am I ever so happy for it! I’m enjoying Shadowlands largely for reasons related to these!

The race war is ugly and outdated, it’s time for the war in Warcraft to go high concept, interplanar, and stay there for years! I’m fully on board!

Agree on the outdated race conflict point, disagree on the high concept point purely because I don't trust Blizzard telling a compelling story based on it. I still feel really salty about what they've done with Starcraft.

[huth]

Thanks, I really don't see why some people get so upset at discussing negative aspects. I mean I'm still playing the game and it's encouraging to see other people share the feeling regarding the theme. Maybe the next expansion will be more in line with our expectations, since I'm clearly not alone.

Discussing? There's no real discussion to be had here. You're just asserting an entirely subjective claim.

And "i'm not alone" is not a useful quantifier. Even an opinion that only 1 in a million has is held by thousands.

[Relapses]

I'm not sorry. The location of the expansion, the artwork, that all feels like Wow. Sorry you just jump to conclusions to make your point. It's the underlying systems that have shifted causing a forced difference in playstyle and time spent in game

Jumping to conclusions? What are you even on about? Did you even read the OP? He's talking about aesthetics not the systems. I get that you want to share with the world your super unique opinion about disliking Shadowlands but I promise you there are better ways to communicate your position.

Oh, and the last bit was a meme. Lighten up, friend.

[belicus]

Care to explain to me how you, a random person on a WoW forum, have a better idea of what WoW's afterlife should be then the people who made the video game? I'm curious to learn more.

A company made the video game. They hired people to write the story. Those people moved on so they hired other people to continue writing the story in the style of the people before them. They didn't and someone familiar with the original material can tell. Why is this a difficult concept for you?

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Discussing? There's no real discussion to be had here. You're just asserting an entirely subjective claim.

And "i'm not alone" is not a useful quantifier. Even an opinion that only 1 in a million has is held by thousands.

Are all your 27k posts here this high quality, dude?

[Relapses]

A company made the video game. They hired people to write the story. Those people moved on so they hired other people to continue writing the story in the style of the people before them. They didn't and someone familiar with the original material can tell. Why is this a difficult concept for you?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if a company owns an IP they can do whatever the fuck they God damned well please with it. No? Did I miss a memo?

[Kiwijello]

Jumping to conclusions? What are you even on about? Did you even read the OP? He's talking about aesthetics not the systems. I get that you want to share with the world your super unique opinion about disliking Shadowlands but I promise you there are better ways to communicate your position.

Oh, and the last bit was a meme. Lighten up, friend.

There are better ways to communicate my position? Doing EXACTLY what you are doing? Using a forum? Yeah, I'm the special one here. Clearly.

Got another meme to mark the occasion with? Because sharing memes on a forum, well, there MUST be a better way to communicate...

[Valandale]

I mean, I guess you did? Because the company didn't write the story, writers wrote that story. Sure the company can tell new writers to do whatever with the story but that's kind of the point, the company and the writers were kind of the same thing pre-Legion with Metzen and Afrasiabi sitting on the panel, now it's the company and writers working for it instead of a united thought line.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

There's so many call backs and connections to Azeroth + other realms in Shadowlands I'm wondering wtf OP is talking about.

[Chronic]

Previous expansions all added new places and creatures, but they brought existing elements there as well. You would find the classic races of Azeroth building settlements there, you'd see murlocs, goblin towns, human castles and so on.
Shadowlands doesn't have any of that. It's all completely different to the point where it feels like I'm playing some chinese knockoff of wow.
Even the loading screen looks more like something out of Narnia and that movie sucked.
Also, the fact that they added a bunch of existing characters that just sit in a corner in Oribos doesn't help.

This is my main gripe with the expansion and wanted to ask if anyone feels the same way.

This is a you problem. Unsubscribe, simple. Bye

[BrintoSFJ]

Nah, pretty sure it's just you buddy.

Apparently people can't accept any fantasy that doesn't align to their own fantasy. They don't understand the term fantasy at all.

[Relapses]

There are better ways to communicate my position? Doing EXACTLY what you are doing? Using a forum? Yeah, I'm the special one here. Clearly.

Got another meme to mark the occasion with? Because sharing memes on a forum, well, there MUST be a better way to communicate...

Brother, you got upset with me for clarifying my position of ambivalence towards the OP by going on some completely off topic rant about how you dislike Shadowlands because of its systems. I mean, you're free to have that opinion but I don't know why you're so upset about my lack of enthusiasm and support for this very hot take. I award you zero memes for a lack of effort. Have a nice day, friend.

[cateran100]

I don't feel the same because even though it's supposed to be otherworldly, you can clearly see warcraft in it.
Shadowlands feels like High Fantasy inside an already High Fantasy setting, which is pretty hard to pull off, but they did it.

High fantasy? Warcraft and high fantasy? Hahaha....nice one...

[Relapses]

This is my last reply because your style of communication is completely destructive and you seem to lack an ability to differentiate between a statement of an opinion and a fact, but anyway here it goes:

Of course they can do whatever they want, that doesn't mean that what they do is coherent, has any continuity or inherent quality. I believe it doesn't and I consider it a failure in story-telling. Many people agree with me. You don't, that's completely fine.

You're right -- it's a completely reasonable request for Blizzard developers not to use any creative liberty at all when making their games and simply contact each individual player and make sure that their game lives up to their individual needs. Blizzard is a multi dollar company, after all. Surely they can afford to develop millions of versions of WoW to appease its many fans!

[belicus]

This is my last reply because your style of communication is completely destructive and you seem to lack an ability to differentiate between a statement of an opinion and a fact, but anyway here it goes:

Of course they can do whatever they want, that doesn't mean that what they do is coherent, has any continuity or inherent quality. I believe it doesn't and I consider it a failure in story-telling. Many people agree with me. You don't, that's completely fine.

Thanks for writing that so I didn't have to.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if a company owns an IP they can do whatever the fuck they God damned well please with it. No? Did I miss a memo?

That wasn't your original point, though.

Care to explain to me how you, a random person on a WoW forum, have a better idea of what WoW's afterlife should be then the people who made the video game? I'm curious to learn more.

Blizz can do whatever it wants, of course, but we're talking about writers as individual employees. So the specific writers who came up with the storyline for this expansion may not be in line with the values set by Blizzard for their company.
Among these values it would be reasonable to expect to see being faithful to the existing body of work for their creations.

[Relapses]

Blizz can do whatever it wants, of course, but we're talking about writers as individual employees. So the specific writers who came up with the storyline for this expansion may not be in line with the values set by Blizzard for their company.
Among these values it would be reasonable to expect to see being faithful to the existing body of work for their creations.

So the fans know the game better than the people making the game. Huh. Are you sure we're not talking about Star Wars here?

[Frai85]

Yeah I don't get your perspective at all. Feels just like Warcraft to me. New people with new problems. Reps to gain, dailies to do, mounts to farm. This is the Warcraftiest Warcraft that has ever Warcrafted.

The only possible connection I can make with your opinion is that this xpac feels less campy and cartoony than most. Largely because technology has advanced and allowed the art team and systems teams to do things that couldn't be dreamed of 10+ years ago. Also Shadowlands as an environment bears very little resemblance to Azeroth. Because it's not on Azeroth. And thank God for that because after BFA I almost don't care if the jailor did take her.

[dayne87]

I think it's just you. The little bird people with the Kyrian look distinctly WoW, as do the little grudge slaves/servants in Revendreth. Maldraxxus reaks of having inspired the Plaguelands, while Torghast clearly inspired Icecrown Citadel. Ardenweald was clearly inspired by (or inspired it, in this case) the Emerald Dream, and the fairies fit in-universe, along with the centaur-type people. Ardenweald is literally where the nature gods go to slumber before awakening.

Did you say the same thing when they add the Tuskarr walrus people in Wrath?

It's meant to be the realms of Death, of course it's going to look odd. I think they made good choices in making some characters from Warcraft past be associated with each faction. This helped connect us emotionally to the characters and therefore the covenant. Like when playing Maldraxxus, I can't wait to see Draka one day meet Thrall in Oribos and that reunion. Or seeing Kael'Thas with the Venthyr and having to learn humility, etc. I imagine there will be more of that throughout the expansion.

It's only going to get weirder with future expansions. All signs are pointing to a Void-themed expansion after SL, so if you think those ethereal brokers are strange, I imagine the Void-realms/worlds are going to be just as weird or weirder.

[Greengrim]

Shadowlands feels surprisingly good so far. I wish the story moved a tad faster. But gameplay-wise I don't really have any complaints, apart from rets and mages 1shotting ppl in pvp, but that's not a biggie.

[Kiwijello]

Brother, you got upset with me for clarifying my position of ambivalence towards the OP by going on some completely off topic rant about how you dislike Shadowlands because of its systems. I mean, you're free to have that opinion but I don't know why you're so upset about my lack of enthusiasm and support for this very hot take. I award you zero memes for a lack of effort. Have a nice day, friend.

I never got upset. I have been LOLing at this whole exchange. It's ridiculous. You are projecting in order to justify your reactions to some flat text. It's a human thing. Everyone does it. It's okay...

You have a high opinion of yourself. Are you some kind of forum royalty and I missed the memo? Going to "award" me. HAHAHA. You ARE funny and you didn't even have to use a meme to do it. YAY! You can be taught

[shadowmatrix]

Shadowlands feels different because it isn't centered on Azeroth, the Alliance/Horde rivalry, or the player character. It is the first time we really get a solid feeling that Azeroth isn't the center of everything with the rest of the universe on pause waiting for us to show up.