I get what you mean, but at the moment I’m like… Uldaman is one of the “capitals” of the Earthen and because of proximity them appearing in Khaz Modan to aid their fleshy brethren makes sense. Also more customisations is always good, same with the sand trolls.
And the Ulduar and Deepholm earthen can still remain neutral.
I dont mind them adding Wildhammers and Sandfury the way they did, or with a lack of explanation, it gives us agency to make our own stories on how/why your sand troll joined the Darkspear (and Horde) or not etc.
But if your point was that it would enable more story, doing such only warrants that they will NOT get expanded canon story.
Freedom to engage in headcanon is the opposite of an actual canon story development.
Focusing on customisation options, and doing such with the current angle they have in mind, does nothing to nurture the actual game story.
They are basically throwing it as a transmog.
In this case Customisation freedom=/= Story development.
Oh I had completely forgotten about that… Although I appreciate the extra “tmog” like you said, it’s such a missed opportunity.
The Wildhammer Dwarves don’t need new explanations, they’ve actually already been part of the Alliance, and got a representative in the council of 3 hammers, or whatever it’s called. The Sandfury Trolls and whatever other tribe’s colours was included during SL prepatch though are really wasted. They could have made a lot of interesting stories, most of them don’t even need to be complicated, for example:
Once the news that the Zandalari joined the Horde hit Zul’Farak and generally Tanaris, it created conflict amongst the Sanfury tribe. Some felt the need to explore and join a united Troll nation, and happily renounced their blood magic. Others decided to remain loyal to their Loa. This led to an exodus of Sandfury Trolls from Tanaris, seeking help from the Horde and the Darkspear tribe.
Tadaaa, consistent with the current political climate, explains why there are Sandfury Trolls in the Horde whilst there are also hostile ones down south… I just don’t understand why Blizzard insists on not using and expanding on what’s already there, and instead gives us extravagant, alternative universe, timey whimey mumbo jumbo all the time.
I mean if they were to do what Connie suggest further up, and essentially create an expansion that doesn’t add new insane cosmic wars and instead focuses on expanding everything that already exists, theeen we’d have a win-win!
In fact, i think that the game is bloated with redundant races that should’ve been piled in a more cohesive character selection screen like the one Baldur’s Gate has for example.
But in order to warrant actual good racial storytelling, the obstacle here is Blizzard’s mindset. Not the way they implement said racial differences.
And pushing for the inclusion of certain factions, if done through the customisation options, while Blizzard tackles them this way…bodes ill for the development of the lore behind them.
True.
But the issue is…they are not acknowledged as part of the playable cast.
When you play a dwarf with said options on, the game won’t ever acknowledge you are such.
In the meantime, if you play a Dark Iron (to name the most comparable case), you have racial stories weaved around you: a racial leader, quests that acknowledge your clan, heritage armour, racial mounts, etc.
All of it and the compromise to not be left hanging storywise speaking, regardless of how long it takes for it to happen.
You are par on Orcs, Humans, and Forsaken. A “proper” game race acknowledged as such by canon.
If we were to talk about stuff like the obvious references that came through customisation options, my best guess would be a single word: laziness.
Laziness to adapt plots or stories that explain how the distinct troll tribes joined the Horde.
Laziness to tackle properly the inclusion of human segments that enable a multiracial human race with several ethnic groups.
Laziness to tweak old quests in order to acknowledge your Wildhammer or your Dragonmaw Orc status in a way that its significant for the setting (or at least makes it react to it).
Laziness to acknowledge High elves working for/with Silvermoon (and by proxy, the Horde).
Laziness to note the distinct Tauren tribes, and expand on the significance of their newly introduced markings.
And a looooong etcetera of laziness.
As i said to Shadowtwili, we’d first have to hope for a radical change in Blizzards mindset regarding how to tackle the story.
Not asking Tolkien’s levels of investment, but at least some degree of professionalism when they do their job (there are people getting paid to write this universe you know).
We can start having improvements when the ones in charge of the narrative start taking obviously relevant features with the proper care, and weight stuff like “consistency” with the proper gravitas.
Oh yeah I see what you mean, that’s defo a problem.
Here’s to hoping they get a solid cast of writers and devs, or that the current upper management sees some sense and changes how things are prioritised or whatnot… I’m being foolishly dreamy again aren’t I?
