That's the issue with the nature of stories and games like this.
That's the issue with the nature of stories and games like this.
change can't wait.
This whole "return to Azeroth" marketing is the biggest bullshit I have ever seen.
WoW's first literal expansion was TBC which was way more lacking when it comes to lore or stories than SL and we didn't need to advertise 3.0 with "we're back to Azeroth".
Also, BfA was way more grounded an expansion than WoD, Legion or SL even with the whole N'zoth thing at the end.
Hell, BfA was way more grounded on release than DF is from what I can currently see.
Do players care? No, because they say they want one thing but they don't actually want that.
I generally don't care about the bigger bigger bad but I would personally like a more Garrosh style villain that is built-up over multiple expansions.
And like actually built up, not just mentioned once or twice but physically present. Like with Garrosh we quested with and for him for 2.5 expacs before we killed him.
My general story issue with SL is not with the story itself but the fact that it followed BfA.
I mean, the build up was obvious with the whole Vol'jin questline but going to the Shadowlands immediately cut us off from many new interesting characters from BfA: allied race leaders, Flynn, Zekhan, etc.
Their presence went from 100 to 0 while they could have served as a new batch of characters to expand lore and create new stories.
And then we got what... Thrall, Jaina, Anduin and Baine for the 14th time... Real original.
It’s just the writing. They try to go bigger but fail spectacularly, so folks ask for themes within Azeroth; loads of themes haven’t even been explored yet and we’re already fighting forces stronger than the Titans. Going bigger with a cosmic pantheon, above a cosmic pantheon, ad nauseum just doesn’t work.
Yawn. Whatever, man. You're clearly not here to have your mind changed so there's zero point trying to discuss it with you. Of course you're totally right - in the LoTR universe, Bilbo destroys the ring in The Hobbit, and the LoTR trilogy is a story about Frodo squabbling with other hobbits in the Shire. No comic book series has ever done a crossover event entirely designed to wind in and consolidate power creep. In all literature, at all times throughout history, no protagonist has ever grown from their experiences, and has forever been engaged in collecting 10 kobold candles from a nearby mine in order to save a farmer.
Heh. Don't let them know about Gurren Lagann. At least Naruto stretched it out over like 900 episodes.
That being said, Blizzard didn't even go with the always bigger villain, it's always fluctuated. Biggest example being going from Cataclysm to Mists of Pandaria.
"El Psy Kongroo!" Hearthstone Moderator
Every expansion Blizzard surprises us with some scooby do shit where all of a sudden a new random bad guy shows up out of no where who's even stronger than the last one but we manage to find a way to defeat them with ease.
Which Naruto is also a prime example of, every couple episodes there's a new bad guy who's even stronger than the last but the protagonist manages to beat them with the power of hope and friendship! it's the Dragonball Z circle of writing.
We thought the "guitar-playing undead riding a t-rex, riding a shark with a laser on its head" was a joke, but it was completely serious.
- - - Updated - - -
It kind of fluctuated even within Pandaria, with the first big bad being a corrupted empress, jumping to Lei Shen (quoted by blizz with being "stronger than Lich King Arthas") and then jumping back to Garrosh (with more corruption).
People seem to forget that current Taza'vesh offers us the chance to be beaten up by random Kul Turan sailors (and murlocs).
While i am not in favor of roleplaying pointless peasants our primary "power" seems to be to be in the right place at the right timr, with the right allies and tools for the job.
A.k.a. our brute power level remains rather modest in spite of our achievements.
And while it is logical for those achievements to have in-game "social" consequences like being promoted to elite troops (Pandaria), to commander (WoD), order hall leader (Legion) or ambassador (BfA) it has no direct bearing on the power level of our enemies.
Even SL's maw walker status was more circumstantial than personal power related.
So bring on the mundane plots; let us slay some dragons by the power of our own two hands! (Disregard the absurd amount of magical artefacts we now haul along)
Oh and for the love of the pantheon: Stop confusing achievements with skill.
Doesn't matter if it's irl, in-game or in-lore.
Last edited by loras; 2022-08-13 at 03:14 PM.
This is a signature of an ailing giant, boundless in pride, wit and strength.
Yet also as humble as health and humor permit.
Furthermore, I consider that Carthage Slam must be destroyed.
Bigger and badder villains is somrthing I'd be okay with if it could be done so convincingly, each time they've crept in power we've needed allies to fight them during the encounters, Tirion with Arthas, the aspects with Deathwing, the titans with Argus. The Jailer is supposed to be a Titan++ threat yet all it took to beat that handsome squidward was a burger king crown and a bunch of murder hobos, this guy was supposed to be a cosmic theat unlike any we've faced before.
I feel they should stick to making small time villains because the current narrative team have proven they cannot write a cosmic threat well.
...Don't Game of Thrones and LotR qualify?
Especially in the former heroes mostly just get older, like everyone else.
Gandalf may be argued to "level-up", but he is literallyba servant god re-empowered due to his own failure, not exactly standard hero fare in any way either.
Pretty sure it's quite limited that heroes endlessly grow in strength in literature outside of the American comic book worlds. Which have been and still are frequently mocked in no small part thanks to such, well, juvenile tropes.
This is a signature of an ailing giant, boundless in pride, wit and strength.
Yet also as humble as health and humor permit.
Furthermore, I consider that Carthage Slam must be destroyed.
There's nothing wrong with "the next big bad" however infinite growth is also an issue. How ludicrous do the space gods have to get before you realise that a few puny humanoids (and similar) beating this thing is pushing it a bit.