The Story Is Utter Garbage Now

[Overlordd]

So, the evil white-haired Prince with the sword that traps souls and serves a dark master but is the protagonist is totally stretching?






Very different concepts, you see. The difference is that Arthas ... Arthas, uh ... Arthas -

There's a difference!

We shouldn't ever produce anymore fantasy since almost everything fantasy related was inspired by Tolkien and therefor no other fiction is allowed to orchestrate from that; the argument.
But how is that a pop culture reference, something like the paris hilton bag or something.

[Le Conceptuel]

We shouldn't ever produce anymore fantasy since almost everything fantasy related was inspired by Tolkien and therefor no other fiction is allowed to orchestrate from that; the argument.
But how is that a pop culture reference, something like the paris hilton bag or something.

It's not that it's bad to produce fantasy from other fantasies. I'm pointing out that your argument is much like what you just said. All of Warcraft originated from popular pulp fantasy at the time, including Warhammer Fantasy and Elric of Melnibone.

Even then, another issue is that it used to be dark, which it still is. There was just a genocide of an entire race, which was then immediately funneled into superhell. Even if the baddy responsible for the whole thing is super-generic and uninteresting, the content itself is still dark.

Even then, you also mentioned the hyperfocus on certain characters. Like how Thrall made the entirety of Warcraft revolve around him under Metzen.

Even then, you mention the way the writers are entrenched in modern nerdy culture. Like how the creators of Warcraft III were Warhammer and Elric nerds who did things based on the culture of the time, including the internet culture (including referencing Ctrl + Alt + Dlt pranks)

[Ringthane]

C'mon now, you're having grasps here. Might aswell add LOTR on that list because Aragorn supposedly finds a sword aswell. (that's given to him but who cares)

Dude, Uldum is nothing but one giant pop culture reference.

[arr0gance]

Ah yes, the biweekly topic about how it's such a crime that WoW's story isn't God tier prose handed down from celestial deities themselves.

Can we be real here? You were never interested in the story in the first place. You just want to bitch about it now because it makes you feel better about your distaste for the game in general.

[Le Conceptuel]

Hot take: It was always garbage

I agree - though, solely for the sake of playing Devil's Advocate, I will add that it did used to be more entertaining. I honestly think they're getting more back on track with Shadowlands, though, not less. One of the components that really gave Warcraft III its charm was the snarky dialogue and the irreverent anti-heroes and it seems like they're putting the characters back on track with that. I noticed Anduin was allowed to show actual exhaustion with Sylvanas and snark at her, which was kind of refreshing. It makes characters seem more intelligent when repetitive behavior and stupid decisions are recognized by them.

What people don't really appreciate is that Warcraft has always been nerds sperging about their fantasy interests. It's never been good, but it can be fun, and I honestly think they're getting back on track with that.

[Josyel]

]
Would you like to describe how his lore was butchered? Instead of making blanket statements with nothing to support the claim?

Discuss the very little character development he received from Cata to MoP, apart from "Burning Legion bad, must stand together to win and save Azeroth" to wanting to stop N'Zoth in 'BFA'... who, if you remember from the LORE CONNECTING FROM THE PAST STORY, corrupted the Black Dragonflight and Deathwing, technical-grandfather of Wrathion, in order to save Azeroth?


Or do you mean "butchery" as you just don't like Wrathion's personality and it somehow was such a drastic change from his non-existent personality of Cata and MoP?

What do you want me to tell? Entire MoP storyline was about Wrathion trying to make us fight to beat Legion. Warlords of Draenor hes flying around like a retard doing exactly nothing. When Legion came, hes not even around to see how his trained army did. Then he comes back in BfA like nothing ever happened and "heeeey i can help ya with an old god".

Are you a dev or do you have Alzheimers?

[tommyhil622]

Warcraft has never been deep or layered. Even if we went back to WC3. It's been more comical/satire at best. I think some people have latched on to some sort of fanfiction version of the lore and now have woken up to the truth. Seems to be happening more often here idk why.

[Venziir]

You want Warcraft, a game where you can't walk 5 feet without running into a pop culture reference, to be grounded in gritty realism?

If you want better fantasy worlds, go play ESO for the Elder Scrolls world, it's very good.
Or play Neverwinter for the Forgotten Realms setting. D&D and Baldurs Gate is about as OG fantasy lore as it gets.
Or play Return of Reckoning for the Warhammer setting.

Warcraft is and always was comical and high concept, it goes out of its way to avoid dealing with realism and implications of things.

I mean c'mon one of the most notable characters is a time travelling gnome, and we fight gods for dinner every expansion, what would even be the point of shifting gears towards a serious tone?

IMO it works better with the comic book world, that occasionally dips into more serious tones when it needs to. Rather than a serious world that breaks its own immersion by being silly.

Except for all the blatant LoTR and real world mythology rip-offs of course.

[Shadowferal]

The story took a rough turn at Cataclysm, but went back to fun with MoP. When it went to the shitter with WoD it seemed to me that things and events weren't being thought through, only given a casual brief layout as if the writers wanted to wash their hands of WoW.

[Poppincaps]

I'd say it's been pretty bad since WoD. Cata had some iffy moments with Deathwing, but was mostly okay. That being said, the story as told through the game has always been pretty lackluster, there are several MMOs who do story ingame far better than WoW ever has.

[Soon-TM]

The story took a rough turn at Cataclysm, but went back to fun with MoP. When it went to the shitter with WoD it seemed to me that things and events weren't being thought through, only given a casual brief layout as if the writers wanted to wash their hands of WoW.

Well, WoD's story was a complete trainwreck not only because of the wobbly premise, but also because the overall plot was rewritten like three times, as evidenced by the way players arrived to Draenor. First, it was an introductory scenario with us fighting some Infinite Dragonflight guys who banished us. Later, we would travel through a mcguffin called the Chronal Spire (meant to lie somewhere in Tanaan, which was going to be a full fledged starting zone, btw), until they eventually decided to reuse the Dark Portal.

[ParanoiD84]

It is and last time the story was enjoyable imo was in wrath.

[Itori]

Stories from triple A companies have to walk on eggshells with todays crowd, and blizzard being blizzard we wont see an amazing story to go with it. That being said SL imo is one of their best stories so far, expansions before aside from WoTLK were okay at best. Keep in mind im talking about the story, gameplay wise SL sucks ass.

[TheVaryag]

No, not literally every single piece of story/lore this expansion, but a lot to be sure. Let me give you a potent example of what I mean:

Kel'thuzad. He was a character I was looking forward to. What I wanted was for the Kel'thuzad of Warcraft 3 yore to return and give us an excellent performance. What we instead received was Kel'thuzad from Hearthstone - transported directly into WoW - a comical and one-dimensional sandbag solely existing to drive the terrible main plotline forward.

Kel'thuzad was a layered and interesting villain in WC3 and early WoW, by all accounts a sociopath in life yet terrified and feeble when faced with the might of the Scourge, transformed into a deathly loyal servant of The Lich King, willing to die by the hands of Arthas, knowing he would later ascend to Lichdom. Even afterward, one poignant scene with him and Arthas shows him being viewed as a friend by Arthas - an interesting twist of fate. He was at all times absolutely competent, yet evil, but not in a comical nature.

So... Why? Why can't we get more grounded, layered and mature stories in WoW these days? Isn't the majority of the playerbase in their late 20s/early 30s now? I can't imagine many teenagers are playing this game so late into its lifespan. Why this insipid adherence to Marvel-esque quip-happy storytelling? I feel like the writing team would love to just write all of WoW in the style of the Traveler series of children's books.

Blizzard writers are terrible, thats point one. Point two, they dont WANT to focus on the story. Their mantra is literally Gameplay First, Story Second. Which is ironic since their gameplay isn't even that good and story feels like a 9th step or whatever, somewhere at the back.

I suggest Final Fantasy 14 for a legitimately GOOD story. Yes It might be a little bit animu and weebu, but It's a GOOD STORY you cant deny that and whoever tells you otherwise Is just not very interested in story or knows how to spot a good story. AND, FF14 doesn't sacrifice other bits of It's game for the story to be good. Gameplay is amazing too, classes feel great, customization is great, housing is okay, PvPing is terrible but hey can't be good at everything atleast they admit as much, and the game is terrible alt unfriendly. But over all It's an amazing game that has been trumping WoW for the past 6 years.

So... you base the quality of the entire story based on 1 character's portrayal?


Are you even going to address his implementation in WotLK or does that not fit the narrative you are trying to spin here?


Oh, and to your point that KT was a "layered" villain in WC3... are you kidding? "I MUST SPREAD THE PLAGUE, THE MASTER TOLD ME. HE SEES ALL" is layered to you? Seems very simple and, in your words, "comical" in nature. Almost Disney. Great example.


One thing is for certain: this thread is utter garbage.




Because the game has never been grounded, layered and matured to begin with. It's a game for fucking kids and teenagers that adults play as well. It's a fantasy game. It's base ESRB rating is "T" for "Teen" for crying out loud.



Why are you asking us? You can't imagine people from ages like 7-8 up to 19 - 20 playing this game? Is that being dense???



That's more of a testament to your ability to use your brain rather than the current state of affairs. So, dense it is then.




Because you have no real point to argue other than you don't like it. Your examples are bad and your reasoning above is worse.


Jesus what is with the influx of these whining threads lately.

Bruh, Blizzard's idea of an expansion story is focusing on 5 characters and their story as if they're the only interesting chars that can lead the story forward. Like a movie or a novel more than an actual expansion. I don't want us super focused on a few chars terrible writing but on the whole world. If Shadowlands is so interesting lets focus on that, rather than some manchild whose becoming Arthas 2.0 and Sylvanas "rule 34" Windrunner's redemption arc that she doesn't deserve, aka Kerrigan.

[A Chozo]

Story Is Utter Garbage Now

It is "utter garbage" since at least The Burning Crusade, probably before but I don't remember much anymore of WC3.

[TheFirstOnes]

Everything in the Warcraft Cosmic War: *Happens*

Sargeras, the Void, and everyone else: NO! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO MANIPULATE US INTO FIGHTING EACH-OTHER FOR DOMINANCE OVER EACH-OTHER, ONLY FOR YOU TO TRY AND CLAIM VICTORY YOUR OWN WAY ONCE WE'RE ALL WEAKENED!

The Jailer: haha Death go brr

- - - Updated - - -

It is "utter garbage" since at least The Burning Crusade, probably before but I don't remember much anymore of WC3.

WC3 was a masterpiece. WoW's always been dogshit tho regarding Story.

[czarek]

WoW is dying since 2004 lol. Please. Story is ok maybe not great but ok. Community blame lore since BC as i remember xd when BE joins horde LOL. KT was always memic or is it just me?

[TheFirstOnes]

WoW is dying since 2004 lol. Please. Story is ok maybe not great but ok. Community blame lore since BC as i remember xd when BE joins horde LOL. KT was always memic or is it just me?

Kel'Thuzad is legit just a vibe tbh. Dies once, but doesn't. Then he dies again, but he just vibes in the Shadowlands. Now he's in the Maw, vibing with the Jailer and the chick he and Arthas fucked over years ago.

[Akibaboy]

No, not literally every single piece of story/lore this expansion, but a lot to be sure. Let me give you a potent example of what I mean:

Kel'thuzad. He was a character I was looking forward to. What I wanted was for the Kel'thuzad of Warcraft 3 yore to return and give us an excellent performance. What we instead received was Kel'thuzad from Hearthstone - transported directly into WoW - a comical and one-dimensional sandbag solely existing to drive the terrible main plotline forward.

Kel'thuzad was a layered and interesting villain in WC3 and early WoW, by all accounts a sociopath in life yet terrified and feeble when faced with the might of the Scourge, transformed into a deathly loyal servant of The Lich King, willing to die by the hands of Arthas, knowing he would later ascend to Lichdom. Even afterward, one poignant scene with him and Arthas shows him being viewed as a friend by Arthas - an interesting twist of fate. He was at all times absolutely competent, yet evil, but not in a comical nature.

So... Why? Why can't we get more grounded, layered and mature stories in WoW these days? Isn't the majority of the playerbase in their late 20s/early 30s now? I can't imagine many teenagers are playing this game so late into its lifespan. Why this insipid adherence to Marvel-esque quip-happy storytelling? I feel like the writing team would love to just write all of WoW in the style of the Traveler series of children's books.

Warcraft 3 was about as deep as a Saturday morning cartoon, and that's totally OK. For a mostly-action focused series, that's all it needed and needs to be. Notice how cutscenes in Warcraft are never all that long, how motivations and dialogue are typically pretty basic and straightforward. I'd say a majority of people's love of characters and their stories revolve around the gaps and subtext we fill in for them, and that's perfect for this format.

[Nerovar]

Ah yes, the biweekly topic about how it's such a crime that WoW's story isn't God tier prose handed down from celestial deities themselves.

Can we be real here? You were never interested in the story in the first place. You just want to bitch about it now because it makes you feel better about your distaste for the game in general.

Ah, yes. The famous "I don't think you actually believe what you say so I win" argument.

Warcraft has never been deep or layered. Even if we went back to WC3. It's been more comical/satire at best. I think some people have latched on to some sort of fanfiction version of the lore and now have woken up to the truth. Seems to be happening more often here idk why.

Can you point out to me which part seems like comedy or satire to you?