Dragonflight prequel novel...where are you?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Hope they never release books again that are directly connected to the game.
The story should be IN THE GAME. [b]It is so barebones storywise allready.[/v] They should not outsource part of it.

Use the books to flesh out the history of wow. Like a titan book. A book from the point of view of a draenei during the fall of argus. Something like this.

I don't think their issue is that they lack the actual story to tell. They simply lack the means to tell story in general (both the quality and quantity), so I can see why they did it tbh. It is kind of lame though that they can't do the few bits and pieces of a book ingame, I mean even the books only have a handfull of plot points. Surely there is some intern that could script it out to be shown ingame. But I also wouldn't be suprised if most of the books only exist because there was a mandate for x amount of cross media use of the franchse by some vaccuous twerp in a suit.

[Nyel]

Blizzard cannot tell a story in WoW. They do not have cutscenes (or just very few) and players don't want to read texts - and you can't make dialogues too long because players would get bored. That's why the story aspect in this game is so terrible. You need to limit everything to very short exchanges between NPCs that are barely more than a few voicelines.

So stories in this game have too be shallow and short so that average John and Jane Doe can grasp it - for players heavily invested in lore this is a major issue that only books can cover.

[Soeroah]

asked for titans blessings
each aspect was empowered by a titan
each dragon given unique ability
neltharion was the earth warder and felt everything that the planet felt
nozdormu was able to see all timeways and was shown his true death
ysera was given the ability to travel to the emerald dream
cant remember the other two

I know what powers they were imbued with, but I don't remember them undergoing the transformation or whatever that took them from proto-drakes to modern dragons, so I thought the actual, official Aspect-ing came after.

[Revamp Man]

I know what powers they were imbued with, but I don't remember them undergoing the transformation or whatever that took them from proto-drakes to modern dragons, so I thought the actual, official Aspect-ing came after.

They used the two moons eclipsing which only happens once every 430 years or something like that to channel the powers of the Titans to them

[Balrog]

Necroing this thread, but Amazon cancelled my preorder on this today saying it's not an available product. Looks like it's either cancelled completely or delayed indefinitely.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Necroing this thread, but Amazon cancelled my preorder on this today saying it's not an available product. Looks like it's either cancelled completely or delayed indefinitely.

Given the nature of these kind of books and them being kinda pointless way after the fact, I would tend to the former: It's been canceled most likely.

[Raisei]

Maybe after Shadow's Rising was destroyed by the readers for how pointless and blatantly Horde-biased it was, they gave up on it. Much like they gave up on content beyond dungeons and raids in Dragonflight, because everyone hated their previous tries.

It probably doesn't bode well for expansion if even things outside of the actual game are canceled.

[Hobbidaggy]

You are aware that there is still ZERO confirmation any books are coming. Sure The Dragonflight Codex had a very nice indepth post on Amazon, but the only thing from blizzard was that “no Khadgar is not a dragon that’s an error” not really a confirmation to me. Just an error someone wrote for a post about a book that nobody has said even exists. I wouldn’t go throwing money at these things until you have confirmation from the company producing it.

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Maybe after Shadow's Rising was destroyed by the readers for how pointless and blatantly Horde-biased it was, they gave up on it. Much like they gave up on content beyond dungeons and raids in Dragonflight, because everyone hated their previous tries.

It probably doesn't bode well for expansion if even things outside of the actual game are canceled.

Yeah totally…… *eye roll* the book that never existed and was never announced got cancelled. The game in beta has no development for the future. It’s such a failure you should all stop playing…….. *end eye roll*

[Cheezits]

Maybe after Shadow's Rising was destroyed by the readers for how pointless and blatantly Horde-biased it was, they gave up on it. Much like they gave up on content beyond dungeons and raids in Dragonflight, because everyone hated their previous tries.

It probably doesn't bode well for expansion if even things outside of the actual game are canceled.

Why should they keep making books if people hate them?

[Lupinemancer]

It’s good. I don’t want any books. At least for now. It’s better that the story is all included in game.

Well, most people with normal brains like to read and we like new novels. So it's not good, its bad that there are no books. It's not a matter of opinions, it's about being right, and wanting new books is the right decision.

[Caerule]

Honestly they skipped ahead three years, and a novel would have been good to have. It's a lot of time where stories could have happened. And to set up things we missed. Or just delve deeper into tales hard to represent in the form of quests.

Though honestly, it feels like they only thought of the 3 year time skip last-minute, to justify a story they liked where Thalyssra and Lor'themar get married, even though their relationship is still rather new. So bam, time skip, it's fine. There's even NPCs on the beta right now that still reference how it was only months ago that we were fighting the undead, and here we are exploring a new island.

[Raisei]

Why should they keep making books if people hate them?

Truthfully the only book that was hated was Shadow's Rising. The prequel novels were pretty successful when Golden wrote them, but because Golden was busy trying to somehow write a novel about Sylvanas that Danuser wouldn't rip apart because of his personal worship of the undead Kween, they gave the job to Madeleine Roux.
A Horde fangirl that wrote a novel for Horde players and forgot about the other 50% of the playerbase, turning all the Alliance characters into evil maniacs (Alleria and Turalyon) and making a strong-willed guy like Anduin into a depressed wrack.

This time, I guess they didn't even bother with that. I am unsure if this is a sign that they are listening to the feedback, or that they couldn't afford the additional expense.
Dragonflight is in many respects a "caving in" to some feedback suggestions, but it feels like a "we give up" too. Instead of improving things so that they wouldn't be hated anymore (like Torghast and Islands and borrowed power and so on) they just gave up on any extra feature, instead of releasing a good novel again, they release no novel.

I find it both understandable and worrying at the same time.

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Yeah totally…… *eye roll* the book that never existed and was never announced got cancelled. The game in beta has no development for the future. It’s such a failure you should all stop playing…….. *end eye roll*

There has been a book released before every expansion in the last 10 years that filled the gap between the end of the last expansion and the beginning of the new one. Breaking this concept is the same as cancelling it, no matter how much you roll your eyes.

[Jaggler]

Truthfully the only book that was hated was Shadow's Rising. The prequel novels were pretty successful when Golden wrote them, but because Golden was busy trying to somehow write a novel about Sylvanas that Danuser wouldn't rip apart because of his personal worship of the undead Kween, they gave the job to Madeleine Roux.
A Horde fangirl that wrote a novel for Horde players and forgot about the other 50% of the playerbase, turning all the Alliance characters into evil maniacs (Alleria and Turalyon) and making a strong-willed guy like Anduin into a depressed wrack.

This time, I guess they didn't even bother with that. I am unsure if this is a sign that they are listening to the feedback, or that they couldn't afford the additional expense.
Dragonflight is in many respects a "caving in" to some feedback suggestions, but it feels like a "we give up" too. Instead of improving things so that they wouldn't be hated anymore (like Torghast and Islands and borrowed power and so on) they just gave up on any extra feature, instead of releasing a good novel again, they release no novel.

I find it both understandable and worrying at the same time.

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There has been a book released before every expansion in the last 10 years that filled the gap between the end of the last expansion and the beginning of the new one. Breaking this concept is the same as cancelling it, no matter how much you roll your eyes.

People hated Prequel-Novels, because very relevant plot points were tucked away in them and not in game, that is why they moved away from that with the most recent books (like shadow rising).

Honestly they skipped ahead three years, and a novel would have been good to have. It's a lot of time where stories could have happened. And to set up things we missed. Or just delve deeper into tales hard to represent in the form of quests.

Though honestly, it feels like they only thought of the 3 year time skip last-minute, to justify a story they liked where Thalyssra and Lor'themar get married, even though their relationship is still rather new. So bam, time skip, it's fine. There's even NPCs on the beta right now that still reference how it was only months ago that we were fighting the undead, and here we are exploring a new island.

You really don't need a three year timeskip to justify Lor'themar's and Thalyssra's marriage.

It's probably just to let the world "cool down a bit" considering, we have been in some world ending crisis or world war for well over a decade now.

[Hobbidaggy]

There has been a book released before every expansion in the last 10 years that filled the gap between the end of the last expansion and the beginning of the new one. Breaking this concept is the same as cancelling it, no matter how much you roll your eyes.

Yes and everyone kept complaining about them and telling blizzard to stop it because plot points for each expansion were in the books and not the games.

Also not doing something because it was never planned is not the same as cancelling something. It’s literally not the same thing at all. Just because they have done something before and decided not to do it now doesn’t mean it’s cancelled it means it was never planned and that they decided to put the story into the game.

There is a book coming. It will be a lore book like the shadowlands one. Not a novel to read. They might do a novel but it’s highly doubtful as the writer they have just finished a novel so chances are they aren’t releasing a new one until mid expansion at best. It might tie into the last raid like the last novel did

[AtomR]

"I no want book"

Do these people that don't seem to want to read books think that whatever would be included in a 500-page book will now be magically included inside the game. Whatever you were going to get in the game you are still going to get. The only people that will be missing real character and world building is going to be those of us excited to read a book. Not because we want to fill in what the games don't tell us but BECAUSE we want and look forward to the pleasure of reading a well thought-out, slow-moving story. It's not homework for us.

WOW was not built with storytelling in mind, and they have done a stellar job in including a lot of really good ways to keep us in the loop of what we are doing and why. But the average player doesn't want to read quests texts and doesn't want to see 10-minute long cutscenes. So, all there is left to tell the story is a book.

And I for one was really excited for today because it was what amazon had as the release date for a new book that now displays 2026 as release date.

[Segus1992]

Well, most people with normal brains like to read and we like new novels. So it's not good, its bad that there are no books. It's not a matter of opinions, it's about being right, and wanting new books is the right decision.

Wow. Careful you don't cut yourself on all that edge.

"I no want book"

Do these people that don't seem to want to read books think that whatever would be included in a 500-page book will now be magically included inside the game. Whatever you were going to get in the game you are still going to get. The only people that will be missing real character and world building is going to be those of us excited to read a book. Not because we want to fill in what the games don't tell us but BECAUSE we want and look forward to the pleasure of reading a well thought-out, slow-moving story. It's not homework for us.

WOW was not built with storytelling in mind, and they have done a stellar job in including a lot of really good ways to keep us in the loop of what we are doing and why. But the average player doesn't want to read quests texts and doesn't want to see 10-minute long cutscenes. So, all there is left to tell the story is a book.

And I for one was really excited for today because it was what amazon had as the release date for a new book that now displays 2026 as release date.

There's a difference between world building standalone books that are just there to make the world more exciting and flesh out characters - and books that give important plot points for the game that you'll be lost without, especially when those books aren't free.

I love reading and I've read many of the WoW books, but if I ever feel like I have to read a book to follow along in the story I pass on it entirely. That shit is just dirty.

[Xilurm]

"I no want book"

Do these people that don't seem to want to read books think that whatever would be included in a 500-page book will now be magically included inside the game.

No? That's exactly why we don't want a book. I want the story that I'm into to be told in the medium that it's centered around. It's not too much to ask.

Whatever you were going to get in the game you are still going to get. The only people that will be missing real character and world building is going to be those of us excited to read a book. Not because we want to fill in what the games don't tell us but BECAUSE we want and look forward to the pleasure of reading a well thought-out, slow-moving story. It's not homework for us.

I don't see why you can't do that without taking away the experience from the people that enjoy stories being told in games.

WOW was not built with storytelling in mind, and they have done a stellar job in including a lot of really good ways to keep us in the loop of what we are doing and why.

For 2004 yeah. But it's not 2004 anymore.

But the average player doesn't want to read quests texts and doesn't want to see 10-minute long cutscenes. So, all there is left to tell the story is a book.

The average WoW player? Yeah, probably. The average video game player? Not at all. Games with narrative at the forefront are one of the most popular media in our times. It's been well over a decade where games are made that can tell a really good story and have good gameplay. The people who aren't interested in video game stories, watching cutscenes etc. are in the minority.

[AtomR]

No? That's exactly why we don't want a book. I want the story that I'm into to be told in the medium that it's centered around. It's not too much to ask.
I don't see why you can't do that without taking away the experience from the people that enjoy stories being told in games.
For 2004 yeah. But it's not 2004 anymore.

From where I'm standing you lost absolutely nothing by them not releasing a book. Whatever lore/story was going to be left out of game, was. It's not because they want you to suffer but because some things don't play well in game and/or are boring.
I hope I'm wrong and that they did include every story beat in the game. I too want to play in game every story relevant to warcraft. And I agree that the story should be told in the medium it's centered around.
In the meantime, I'd still love to have read a more detailed book of these events.

[Mace]

It’s good. I don’t want any books. At least for now. It’s better that the story is all included in game.

I gave up on books when it seemed to turn out most of the lore was either irrelevant or ignored. And what was left was retconned.

I mean what is the point then if the story doesn’t even mean any thing in your imaginary world they doesn’t mean anything ? /shrug