i miss the "medieval" fantasy of WoW

[SirBeef]

wow is only medieval from lvl 1 to 10 classic
warcraft 1-2-3 was never medieval

Outside of Aliens invading Azeroth, WC1 was pretty straight Medieval. The steampunk tech came in WC2.

[Nerovar]

back ??? how even warcraft isnt medieval

I can't believe there are people who play wow for 15 years and still don't know even the basics of lore

In Warcraft 2 and 3, you already have a notion that warcraft has nothing medieval

I only wish Lore had simplified after the defeat of the Burning Legion, but now, in the shadowlands the level of power of the titans doesn't seem to be much

Yeah. A story structured around different human kingdoms who literally believed in 'God' back then defending themselves against corrupted barbaric invaders. Totally not a medieval fantasy story because there is gunpowder. Damn, how could I overlook that?

[klogaroth]

Warcraft started out with the very same "good vs. evil motif" you mentioned. They subverted it later on, but the starting point was in the most archetypical medieval fantasy and the universe expanded from there on. Extra-planar creatures like demons are also not an eliminator when it comes to determining whether or not something is medieval fantasy (why would they be?). You're acting like this is some very clearly defined term but that's simply not the case. Medieval fantasy is a term used for pretty much any fantasy setting that incorporates some degree of medieval european systems of governance, warfare, norms, social structure etc. in order to evoke that period of human history. This is written all over Warcraft even after all the years of fucked up lore developments.

It explicitly started as Orc vs Humans, it's in the title. And in the story of the game, orcs are established as not being evil.

Especially once we get to WoW, which the thread is about, Horde vs Alliance is real far from good vs evil, and is meant to be one of the core pillars of the game. Which is why we keep going back to the faction war.

Any way you want to swing it large areas of the game deviate massively from medieval fantasy. Whether that's the Northern American themes we see from tauren, the technology of gnomes, the space orcs, the cosmic horror old gods, the colonial era pirates, the voodoo of the trolls, and so on.

WoW incorporates parts of medieval fantasy, but to describe the entire work as medieval fantasy is missing huge portions of the game. It's like you only played one of a handful of classes, on a human, and never left human lands.

[Maatix]

what i'm getting at is that, as WoW's story continues do you think it will ever be grounded again?

No.

Once the cat is out of the bag, you cannot put it back in. To go back to "grounded" fantasy would feel stupid - Why are we unable to crush these random dudes with swords and bows when we've toppled an intergalactic demon army full of futuristic technology, hellbent on destroying the universe? It simply would make no sense.

There was a time Blizzard could have taken the game in the direction you like, but it was a LONG time ago, and they have done nothing but continue to get more extravagant with every expansion. There's no going back at this point.

[Scathan]

Did you not play WC3? In the Undead campaign, Kel'thuzad mentioned how the Legion is an inter-galactic army that ravaged countless worlds. The bulk of the Blood elf campaign took place in the shattered remnants of Draenor, Outlands, which are literally floating in space.

Medieval fantasy and Cosmic fantasy, castles and spaceships, knights and robots, these things have always coexisted in Warcraft, and this is a fact. The Warcraft franchise stopped being exclusively medieval-themed in WC3, because I can assure you, nothing about this stuff screams "middle ages":

Personally I'm cool with all that. I just hate spaceships. Traveling to distant worlds via demonic portals is cool. Spaceships in wow just seem cheesy to me. That is of course just my opinion. Also it immediately means the faction with the spaceship that can nuke from orbit the other faction. So yeah... I think everything would work a little better without them

[Schattenlied]

WoW never was that, it just wasn't "in your face" about it.

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Why are we unable to crush these random dudes with swords and bows when we've toppled an intergalactic demon army full of futuristic technology, hellbent on destroying the universe? It simply would make no sense.

Literally what happens every time an expansion launches, lol. We go from being the force that defeated the BBEG to fighting boars and shit again while we level to the new cap.

[Jastall]

Warhammer Fantasy is more grounded than Warcraft. Yes, even with Skaven.

Eh, only just. The Realm of Chaos is trippier than anything Warcraft has ever produced, and conflicts like the first grand war of the Lizardmen against Chaos dwarf anything Warcraft has done in terms of scale. Warhammer also has interdimentional gates just like Warcraft, as well as gatling guns, massive armed zeppelins, rockets, flamethrowers, tanks, choppers, laser guns, nukes and so on. The Draenei and Legion's spaceships, as well as planet sized beings like the Titans, are really the only things that one-up Warhammer Fantasy. The two aren't that far from each other.

And I've seen someone say Warcraft is whackier than 40K... like, yeah, no lol. 40K is above pretty much any fiction I've seen in terms of sheer, absurd scale and stupidity.

[HitRefresh]

No.

Once the cat is out of the bag, you cannot put it back in. To go back to "grounded" fantasy would feel stupid - Why are we unable to crush these random dudes with swords and bows when we've toppled an intergalactic demon army full of futuristic technology, hellbent on destroying the universe? It simply would make no sense.

There was a time Blizzard could have taken the game in the direction you like, but it was a LONG time ago, and they have done nothing but continue to get more extravagant with every expansion. There's no going back at this point.

So you think they should just keep going higher and higher? It's already ridiculous. They say the Jailer is Titan++ level. After the Jailer we'll probably fight something even more powerful, and more powerful, and more powerful, it's like DBZ or some shit. No one is going to really care if they step it back for once as long as it's interesting and not a boring Alliance vs Horde conflict again.

[Verdugo]

People are going to take your argument as it is and say that Warcraft was never what you claim it was, and I'd agree

BUT

There certainly was a time when it was LESS science fiction-y, certainly was a time where players felt more like adventurers rather than superheroes, and yeah, I do miss that, definitely.

Its the same with people saying that just because Warcraft always had some hidden jokes, Harrison Jones and his Uldum recreation of entire Indy trilogy is perfectly fine.

[Swnem]

Well... realm of afterlife is bonkers, but it might become more grounded in a Draenor kind of way when we discover new continents on the lower half of azeroth or when we got to an undiscovered planet.

But, you see... we cannot go back, cause we need enemies to kill. Going back to hunt Hogger is below our pay grade now and we killed all the bad dragons. They are mostly our friends now.

Only other possibility is a time skip and having relative peace, but it's always gonna end with a big threat.

[Djaye]

fail to see the medieval WoW times. the game has always been about the celestial cosmic baddies not being able to get along, their creations and the peons that have to deal with it. while im not a fan of the crystal space ships or afterlife BS, it fits WoW better than a king arthur/knight is shining armor feel.

my big wish complaint would be to stop introducing new, forgotten islands and continents and start to use what we have in azeroth or expand it. silithus is a prime example of modernizing a zone for end game without redoing the whole of azeroth. Still surprised they havent gone underground with an Aqir expansion. at least they could explain no flying a little better.

[Jawless Jones]

To be fair, the whole "inter-dimensional star destroyers" from legion was a bit fucking stupid (and poorly thought out).

Why not just glass us from orbit? why put yourself in a situation you could lose when you have that sort of advantage?

Blizzard needs to cut the "rule of cool" crap, esoteric Titan tech should have been the upper-most limit (mainly because it was so poorly understood by non-titan races, and it only involved terramorphing).

[ohwell]

I mean, Revendreth has a strong medieval Transylvania vibe.

Seems more Victorian honestly. Like Jack the Ripper era.

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Personally I'm cool with all that. I just hate spaceships. Traveling to distant worlds via demonic portals is cool. Spaceships in wow just seem cheesy to me. That is of course just my opinion. Also it immediately means the faction with the spaceship that can nuke from orbit the other faction. So yeah... I think everything would work a little better without them

If you can make a portal, why can't you make a ship that harnesses that power? that's not even a leap.

[huth]

Yeah. A story structured around different human kingdoms who literally believed in 'God' back then defending themselves against corrupted barbaric invaders. Totally not a medieval fantasy story because there is gunpowder. Damn, how could I overlook that?

Gunpowder is an invention of the medieval age at the latest. It's the other parts that don't really fit, like the knights in full-plate armour which was primarily used in the renessaince. Heck, Stormwind is somehow able to field entire armies of footmen in full plate. That would be akin to a modern army deploying tanks instead of infantry at a 1:1 conversion rate.

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If you can make a portal, why can't you make a ship that harnesses that power? that's not even a leap.

I don't see much complaining about Dalaran flying around, either. And they're capable of teleporting it as well. These "spaceships" aren't really that much of a difference.

It seems more like people have some weird mental disconnect that spaceship must automatically mean "not fantasy", even if said spaceship is a literal wooden ship in a magical airbubble propelled by magic.

[Cazze]

God, how I miss the the WC 2 medieval vibes. Where I had to farm oil for my submarines.

[Nerovar]

Gunpowder is an invention of the medieval age at the latest. It's the other parts that don't really fit, like the knights in full-plate armour which was primarily used in the renessaince. Heck, Stormwind is somehow able to field entire armies of footmen in full plate. That would be akin to a modern army deploying tanks instead of infantry at a 1:1 conversion rate.

Everything you said in that post is completely irrelevant. Not a single person looks at a medieval fantasy setting and thinks: "Heh, actually full plate armor wasn't as widely available therefor this obviously can't be medieval fantasy setting."
Also do you look at a painting depicting e.g. the Hundred Years' War and think it's not "medieval" because there are soldiers in full plate armor? Is that honestly what you want to argue?

[Stardrift]

Have they? Or have people been reading too much into stuff that's happening in game assuming there is a link.

They wouldn't bring up a scrapped zone for nothing. They're letting us know it's still on their minds.

Nobody gives a fuck that you think it's nothing. The only thing to take away from it is that Blizz hasn't forgotten about it.

[Ardenaso]

bruh we literally had helicopters and airships in WC2 and then tanks and mechs in WC3

[MORGATH99]

what game have you been playing man ?

[Musta]

This whole cosmic nu-lore is utter garbage in my opinion. The big bads were always the worst part of WoW's storytelling.

Yeah.. Arthas, Kil'jaeden, Gul'dan... all pieces of shit storytelling right? /s