Blizz Gamerant interview doubles down on average Joe going to Shadowlands

[Skytotem]

https://gamerant.com/world-of-warcra...worldbuilding/

Just absolutely bizarre that they do this and don't explore the consequences it would have

And seem convinced that they're doing a good job despite the story being the most maligned aspect of the game.

[Soon-TM]

https://gamerant.com/world-of-warcra...worldbuilding/

Just absolutely bizarre that they do this and don't explore the consequences it would have

And seem convinced that they're doing a good job despite the story being the most maligned aspect of the game.

This only confirms what was evident since that cringeworthy rope analogy. The guy is full of #$&%, and completely oblivious about it.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

“[Eternity’s End] gives us the best of both worlds. We get to go to this really fantastic place that’s unlike any we’ve seen before

We've seen Titan gardens several times before. Sholazzar Basin. Ulduar. Eonar's garden in Antorus. Seeing the same zone for a 4th time isn't a "fantastic place unlike any we've seen before".

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while also getting that very Azerothian closure to some of these character arcs for people we’ve followed and fought alongside or against for years.”

No closure for Genn, whose son was MURDERED and his kingdom was gassed, or closure for Tyrande whose people were BURNED ALIVE... no sireee

[Lorgar Aurelian]

any chance for a TlDR? on one hand I don't care enough about shadowlands lore to read the interview, on the other I kinda want to know what train wreck they have put forth this time.

[Akta]

We've seen Titan gardens several times before. Sholazzar Basin. Ulduar. Eonar's garden in Antorus. Seeing the same zone for a 4th time isn't a "fantastic place unlike any we've seen before".

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No closure for Genn, whose son was MURDERED and his kingdom was gassed, or closure for Tyrande whose people were BURNED ALIVE... no sireee

LoL zereth mortis is nothing like sholazar basin, ulduar and whatever you are saying

[Varodoc]

Let this serve as a reminder of why the Ren'dorei are Blizzard's most hated race:

Old Emma, the random senile farmer, had more screentime in SylvanasLands than Alleria Windrunner.

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We've seen Titan gardens several times before. Sholazzar Basin. Ulduar. Eonar's garden in Antorus. Seeing the same zone for a 4th time isn't a "fantastic place unlike any we've seen before".

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No closure for Genn, whose son was MURDERED and his kingdom was gassed, or closure for Tyrande whose people were BURNED ALIVE... no sireee

Why Blizzard chose to waste time with the aforementioned senile farmer instead of featuring characters who have a rivalry with Sylvanas, like Alleria and Greymane, is beyond me and might be the dumbest choice Blizzard has ever done in its entire history.

Horde players then say "ohhhh but the orcs were not featured in Legion even though Kil'jaeden!!! blah blah blah", Yeah but at least the orcs lost the spot to other major lore characters like Maiev and Velen.

Greymane and Alleria lost the spot to Old Emma, let that sink in.

[Okacz]

Let this serve as a reminder of why the Ren'dorei are Blizzard's most hated race:

Old Emma, the random senile farmer, had more screentime in SylvanasLands than Alleria Windrunner.

Come on, they gave you the "almost high elves", that's good enough, right? Even tho all they did storywise is to turn a few raptors purple.

The whole interview sounds bizarre to me. "Yes, we did set the stage of Shadowlands in a completly alien world that feels unrelated to anything we've done, and we don't have any idea what to do with Azerothian characters that we placed there, but... yeah. So, Zerith Mortis is going to look cool as heck!".

Thats why I'm holding on to the theory that the 3d printer in Zerith will be used for a hard reset of this mess, so we can go back to Azeroth for some normal-ass dragon slaying or something similar. Because if another expansion tries to be a Final Fucking Fantasy I'm out.

[Super Dickmann]

In grand tradition, the interview says fuck all about any of this. The only references to Emma are from the editorial writer itself. The only thing the writers say about it is this, which is fuck all:

“There’s so much we want to explore,” Day said. “Some of those are like, ‘Can the bread guy walk through the portal?’ We don’t always have the opportunity to answer those questions.”

Blizzard have had the opportunity to answer this question but they entirely failed to address the enormous implications of it or even to clarify who can enter or leave. They don't double down in this, they don't take any position and in the process further reveal one of the most glaring problems in both BFA and SL which is the way the plot hinges on a handful of non-entities instead of caring for the world in the slightest. They're completely right that 9.2 is the culmination of this. The story takes place in what is presented as a crucible of creation and not only do no one of the interchangable sleep deprivation cures that are the main cast react to it in any way, robbing it and them of any verisimilitude, it doesn't even occur to the writers to consider the effects on the world. They don't care about the world, they care about their third-rate soap opera. Yet the world is the only thing with any bit of effort put into it. It's as consistent as it is bizarre.

[VladlTutushkin]

We've seen Titan gardens several times before. Sholazzar Basin. Ulduar. Eonar's garden in Antorus. Seeing the same zone for a 4th time isn't a "fantastic place unlike any we've seen before".

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No closure for Genn, whose son was MURDERED and his kingdom was gassed, or closure for Tyrande whose people were BURNED ALIVE... no sireee

Because Blizz dont see Alliance as players, they see Alliance as content for Horde players.

Or NPCs.

Thats why i always said and will keep saying that if you are an Alliance fan only way to win in WoW is to stop playing and move to another game. A game that does not shit on you for your money.

[Magnagarde]

No closure for Genn, whose son was MURDERED and his kingdom was gassed, or closure for Tyrande whose people were BURNED ALIVE... no sireee

Don't worry, Sylvanas won't have lost her sharpness and wit! An incredible development indeed.

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Let this serve as a reminder of why the Ren'dorei are Blizzard's most hated race:

And here I thought it is because they're blood elven void mutants and very edgy.

It is obvious players won't recieve void mutant blood elves very well when they've got the Silver Covenant, a group of perfectly healthy high elves that remained loyal to the Alliance for around 15 years worth of lore.

[ONCHEhap]

This only confirms what was evident since that cringeworthy rope analogy. The guy is full of #$&%, and completely oblivious about it.

Yeah no one had the heart to tell him that he wasn't actually that great, and because of that he managed to convince himself that he was god's gift to modern storytelling.

That's why they've been disregarding previous established lore so hard. The writing team is convinced that they can do better and easily supplant it. And whether or not you like the older Warcraft lore, it's not hard to see that the writers just aren't good enough to replace it

[Varodoc]

And here I thought it is because they're blood elven void mutants and very edgy.

It is obvious players won't recieve void mutant blood elves very well when they've got the Silver Covenant, a group of perfectly healthy high elves that remained loyal to the Alliance for around 15 years worth of lore.

Even if you wanted to argue that, the Silver Covenant aren't getting any role! LOL!

Tell me where Vereesa is in the Shadowlands

Literally the only role Vereesa played was in some random novel and she served as a plot device to inform the players that Sylvanas' soul was split and so she's getting redeemed.

[Magnagarde]

Even if you wanted to argue that, the Silver Covenant aren't getting any role! LOL!

Tell me where Vereesa is in the Shadowlands

Literally the only role Vereesa played was in some random novel and she served as a plot device to inform the players that Sylvanas' soul was split and so she's getting redeemed.

The Silver Covenant had its time to shine in WotLK and MoP, while also making an appearance in Legion. The void elves are a poor attempt at giving the Alliance what was part of it since Warcraft 2.

Either way, the introduction of the void elves is a massive mistake and it should've been the Silver Covenant high elves that the Alliance gets as an AR. It's even more pointless with the upcoming cross-faction instanced content and them considering cross-faction guilds. There was absolutely no reason not to do this, save for reasoning which is completely invalidated by their upcoming moves when it comes to factions.

[Varodoc]

The Silver Covenant had its time to shine in WotLK and MoP, while also making an appearance in Legion. The void elves are a poor attempt at giving the Alliance what was part of it since Warcraft 2.

Either way, the introduction of the void elves is a massive mistake and it should've been the Silver Covenant high elves that the Alliance gets as an AR. It's even more pointless with the upcoming cross-faction instanced content and them considering cross-faction guilds. There was absolutely no reason not to do this, save for reasoning which is completely invalidated by their upcoming moves when it comes to factions.

Missed the point completely.

It doesn't matter what your favourite race is, Alleria was entitled to screentime due to being Sylvanas' sister and the same can be said for Vereesa. The same can also be said for Greymane, who lost his child and kingdom to Sylvanas. They were all entitled to screentime in this expansion.

But none of them got it because Blizzard thought featuring Old Emma or that burger Baine (who spent 1 year staring at a wall) was a better idea.

In the 9.1 raid, instead of including Alleria, Vereesa, and Greymane, all of which had a very strong personal history and connection with Sylvanas, they instead chose to feature Thrall and Jaina YET AGAIN, even though they barely interacted with Sylvanas at all in that raid. This is the definition of a missed opportunity.

[Ersula]

https://gamerant.com/world-of-warcra...worldbuilding/

Just absolutely bizarre that they do this and don't explore the consequences it would have

The interviewee doesn't give an answer about the existential ramifications: It's just the interviewer interjecting.

It's clear, and the devs have commented about it before: In the context of the story, our characters are not coming & going to the shadowlands: Just like WoD or TBC, all major figures are there for the entire duration. Plus, we also know none of these areas exist in real time: (at least before whatever Living World is gets implemented) if you take a portal, you're visiting a version of that place that exists in a different era. If you go to Northrend, you're not visiting present day Northrend, you visiting it during the reign of the lich king, etc.

[Vakir]

"We had the opportunity to feature an ensemble of characters with differing perspectives, so we picked the least interesting ones and trimmed back the influence of the ones who were even advertised as relevant in the first place." (That is, Bolvar)

Like, holy fuck.

[Magnagarde]

Missed the point completely.

It doesn't matter what your favourite race is, Alleria was entitled to screentime due to being Sylvanas' sister and the same can be said for Vereesa. The same can also be said for Greymane, who lost his child and kingdom to Sylvanas. They were all entitled to screentime in this expansion.

But none of them got it because Blizzard thought featuring Old Emma or that burger Baine (who spent 1 year staring at a wall) was a better idea.

In the 9.1 raid, instead of including Alleria, Vereesa, and Greymane, all of which had a very strong personal history and connection with Sylvanas, they instead chose to feature Thrall and Jaina YET AGAIN, even though they barely interacted with Sylvanas at all in that raid. This is the definition of a missed opportunity.

I know what you meant, but what you meant is an idea that shouldn't have existed as an opportunity in the shape and form it exists in right now.

The three sisters having more screentime definitely is a missed opportunity, but I still prefer having a missed opportunity than having to see more of the void mutant blood elves, with all their "thouands truths" and "thousands of voices screaming in our heads".

[Jastall]

In grand tradition, the interview says fuck all about any of this. The only references to Emma are from the editorial writer itself. The only thing the writers say about it is this, which is fuck all:



Blizzard have had the opportunity to answer this question but they entirely failed to address the enormous implications of it or even to clarify who can enter or leave. They don't double down in this, they don't take any position and in the process further reveal one of the most glaring problems in both BFA and SL which is the way the plot hinges on a handful of non-entities instead of caring for the world in the slightest. They're completely right that 9.2 is the culmination of this. The story takes place in what is presented as a crucible of creation and not only do no one of the interchangable sleep deprivation cures that are the main cast react to it in any way, robbing it and them of any verisimilitude, it doesn't even occur to the writers to consider the effects on the world. They don't care about the world, they care about their third-rate soap opera. Yet the world is the only thing with any bit of effort put into it. It's as consistent as it is bizarre.

At this point I'm convinced there's two groups of writers; the "main" or senior ones including (but certainly not limited to, let's try not to create strawmen) Danuser and Golden, who mostly care about said soap opera and/or writing for their pet characters. Everything else is secondary to keeping the focus on what characters they love and throwing money and time at their story. Back during BFA Afriasabi was in this group for example which is why Blizz spend millions making those cinematics telling us how sad he is.

And there's the rest who aren't high up the hierarchy and so are stuck making the lower deck content, what we could call the the world-building. For whatever reason they're far better at their job and actually try to write cool side stories and let the world live and breathe outside of the shadow of the main cast (which is now basically limited to Anduin, Sylvanas, and whatever NPC gives us quests and show up in raids during the current patch). Not to say that they do stellar work all the time, not at all, but it feels like they actually try at least.

That's just my impression, things probably aren't as simplistic with a game of this size. But damn if the writers aren't working overtime to give me said impression, the way they focus so much on obviously pet characters while throwing scraps at the rest. It started in Cata and hasn't really stopped since, even if some expansions were worse about this than others.

[Magnagarde]

And there's the rest who aren't high up the hierarchy and so are stuck making the lower deck content, what we could call the the world-building. For whatever reason they're far better at their job and actually try to write cool side stories and let the world live and breathe outside of the shadow of the main cast (which is now basically limited to Anduin, Sylvanas, and whatever NPC gives us quests and show up in raids during the current patch). Not to say that they do stellar work all the time, not at all, but it feels like they actually try at least.

That's just my impression, things probably aren't as simplistic with a game of this size. But damn if the writers aren't working overtime to give me said impression, the way they focus so much on obviously pet characters while throwing scraps at the rest. It started in Cata and hasn't really stopped since, even if some expansions were worse about this than others.

That is the impression I've been getting since the start of Legion, although I can't fault the main plot of Legion either. Haven't played WoD at the time, but having gotten the pathfinder achievement much later and going through all the individual zones, I could say that the same applies to WoD too.

[Kralljin]

This raises a few questions.

Most importantly: How will they pin this on Afrasiabi?