Comparing Old WoW cutscenes to new WoW cutscenes

[Etheras-nordrassil]

@Teslasohn-silvermoon

But the hallowfall storyline is REALLY bad, really

It feels like a fanfic

[Ishayo-tarren-mill]

@Etheras-nordrassil

I saw at least 3-4 videos ripping at this scene. It is a bad scene in several ways. To say nothing of the characters themselves

Asmongold’s video on the topic alone has 1.2 million views, and another one of his has almost 2 million views.

Other content creators are hovering in the hundreds of thousands range.

Thousands of upvotes on /r/wow making fun of it before it got locked by moderators.

It’s viral on X with tens of millions of views. Grummz is obviously involved, but Dave Kosak is too, and there are many more.

It’s easily over 10 million views of people making fun of that cutscene, and tens of thousands of comments lamenting the drop of quality in Blizzard’s products and writing.

And we’re just gonna sit here and say “Oh this is fine. Good content Blizz thanks!”

Get real.

[Etheras-nordrassil]

Blizzard is having its simpsons “out of touch” meme moment again.

One of the videos was talking about an interview of Metzen where he more or less indirectly ranted about how the storyboard writing has been “democratized” which means “too many cooks in the kitchen” and generally any recent games with stories written by a Committee are mediocre to garbage

[Tah-earthen-ring]

@Teslasohn-silvermoon

probably since im very tired to play this game

Then stop.
You can quit any time you want.
Go do something that brings you joy.

@Teslasohn-silvermoon

Now im enjoyin less the game (not at the point to leave for good) and i notice more those things.

You don’t have to leave for good. Taking a break can already work wonders.
I know from experience.

But just because ‘you notice those things now’ doesn’t mean they weren’t always there.
Just like bad stories. WoW has always had bad stories (not all of them - just to make that clear). And silly, unrealistic, shallow elements.

I just think there’s a group of people who will put content down to a complete over the top degree simply because they have an agenda (while they themselves complain about agendas - oh the irony). And it’s getting more annoying the longer they do it.

[Teslasohn-silvermoon]

I was criticizing the hallowfall storyline. Not the entire game.

And i have already stopped and restarted after 3 months. And by now i having some fun with sirens and undermine.

Normally i try to be balanced in my opinions: probably if i had said “all the storylines s@ck!” i could agree with you. But this is not the case.

[Heramaar-argent-dawn]

@Linapriest-ragnaros

Just can’t with wow players defending blizzard all the time. Other games put you into cutscenes
Ff14 and gw2 does it, gw2 even has voice acting with real actors, wow could do that too but I guess they can’t afford hire those, or maybe the budget is super tight? Lmao

And those games have engines optimized for that. WoW doesn’t. What we have atm is only possible due to ongoing modifications of the engine WHILE developing content and WHILE maintaining the existing game.

You gotta get your expectations right. In a 22 years old game by now, it is not easy to make adjustments to the engine without breaking content (which is already happening). For example, parts of the BfA Starting Scenario cutscenes are already broken (you can see that when re-playing the events via the NPCs). Be glad it isn’t in content that is actually still available.

[Nightwalker-moonglade]

[quote=“Zujambi-argent-dawn, post:1, topic:578525”][/quote]

1. Cinematic - This is the worst cinematic I’ve seen in WoW history. Paying a premium price for expansion and subscription, developers didn’t have the time to make a good cinematic unless it was a person from DEI, which explains everything.

2. why is Khadgar in a wheelchair

When I saw “Khadgar in a wheelchair” I was shocked. How developers must be so creative to come up with this idea. Why do you need wheels on a wheelchair if it doesn’t serve any purpose? A wheelchair is flying is not the same as being on the ground. You don’t to show wheels on a wheelchair if it doesn’t have any purpose. Developers could come up with a magical disabled chair which fits game lore.

I can tell you something: this is a Microsoft push to Blizzard. Microsoft is full DEI, and only idiots are in charge of implementing. If it was s a smart person from DEI, we wouldn’t notice. However, many people from DEI are incompetent.

[Broduin-silvermoon]

@Etheras-nordrassil

To say nothing of the characters themselves

The designs of Danath Trollbane, Marran Trollbane, and Faerin are very boring. This has nothing to do with identity topics. I want you to compare Faerin Lothar and Senna from League of Legends. They have a very similar conceptual idea, yet one is really cool and interesting with a mysterious aura, and the other character is very lame and dull. Which is which? Simply put, Blizzard’s creative department seems to have a way too low quality standard.

[Teslasohn-silvermoon]

@Nightwalker-moonglade

Microsoft is full DEI

with the political scenario changing are we waitin for different things in the future?

[Nightwalker-moonglade]

It creates a department from DEI, and talented people can’t work with DEI people because it always prioritises DEI. I am not sure how many talented people are still working at Blizzard.

[Nightwalker-moonglade]

We will have worse games for bigger price. Thats the future. People haired to DEI policy and not what they bring to company (passion, skills, talent).

Person don’t need DEI policy if person smart, passionate and have skills.

[Tah-earthen-ring]

@Teslasohn-silvermoon

I was criticizing the hallowfall storyline. Not the entire game.

And i have already stopped and restarted after 3 months. And by now i having some fun with sirens and undermine.

Normally i try to be balanced in my opinions: probably if i had said “all the storylines s@ck!” i could agree with you. But this is not the case.

Oh, that last part wasn’t aimed at you specifically.
That was more a general observation.

Like I said earlier in the thread: I’m not claiming the storyline was good. It wasn’t.
I’m just saying it’s not quite as horrendous as some people make it out to be.
Especially if you take into account that this storyline is just ‘a little something extra’.

You’d think Blizzard shot a puppy on a livestream, the way some are reacting.

[Heramaar-argent-dawn]

@Etheras-nordrassil

I saw at least 3-4 videos ripping at this scene. It is a bad scene in several ways. To say nothing of the characters themselves

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/1lnv24u/one_of_the_cinematics_of_all_time/

[Broduin-silvermoon]

@Nightwalker-moonglade

When I saw “Khadgar in a wheelchair” I was shocked. How developers must be so creative to come up with this idea.

I think using common sense and feels to be inclusive and diverse is better than using hard statistical tools, but that requires hiring talented people with good faith, yet I don’t see talent in the creative output of Blizzard nowadays. The only thing I can praise in that area is Xalatath’s character simply for having an interesting vibe, yet I think she shines more due to contrast of other content being so bland.

Wow’s designs nowadays are comparable to soggy toast with ketchup. They need to do a 180 degrees turn, else they will become a meme and another lesson for talented game studios to not do what they’re doing. That means for example that Blizzard needs to move away from this “democratized” organization to design content, and centralize the creative vision more on the few talented people they have with more checks and controls, so they stop producing slop after slop. Right now it looks to me like their creative output is way too centered around American corporate micromanagers and moral panic mentality.

[Sylvare-argent-dawn (Sylvare)]

The main difference between a spear and a lance is its size and if we’re gonna be really nerdmode on this then Faerin’s lance, even tho it is shaped like you would expect a cavalry lance to be, is too short to be an actual lance and would technically fall in the spear category, normally you can change hand position so there’s not a lot of spears with handguards but onehanded as she is her design to incorporate a lance like handguard is actually smart, as much as I hate to give credit for a character that exists so that HR can tell us about latest intercommunal company policy.

Her shield being pasted to her shoulder makes absolute 0 sense tho, that thing should not work the way it is shown in the cinematic and this goes beyond fantasy

For the rest yes I agree but I also think its a natural outcome of blizzard trying to up their patch cadence and are willing to sacrifice anything for it, from storytelling to quality of the actual patches, its crazy.

[Teslasohn-silvermoon]

will end for sure in this way. and she will die heroically saving the world from xalalath cuz she discovered she was betrayed and manipulated.

[Tah-earthen-ring]

@Broduin-silvermoon

That means for example that Blizzard needs to move away from this “democratized” organization to design content, and centralize the creative vision more on the few talented people

What constitutes ‘talented people’ though?
Those who make what YOU like?

[Broduin-silvermoon]

@Tah-earthen-ring

What constitutes ‘talented people’ though?

Christie Golden, and Metzen are for sure talented. There are probably also few no-names in their company, that are talented too. For example whoever designed xalatath, has talent and creativity. Some of the people designing the zones also have creativity. Yet generally, they need to centralize this aspect, because I think they have too much moral panic, when designing content, which ruins creativity and atmosphere. “Democratically” creating a video game is a very bad idea, because too many cooks in the kitchen will mess with all the spices, and some have no clue what they’re doing. The result is a soggy mess that has a very strong, bad taste, hence my comparison to soggy toast with ketchup

[Nightwalker-moonglade]

I mean, a disabled chair doesn’t need to be looked at as a wheelchair, but it gives a message about what a disabled chair is. Developers could make a nice, magical disabled chair that goes with the game’s lore.

Did we see any wheelchairs with four wheels in the wow game’s story? Or NPC? So, how did they come up with this design if no one had invented it yet in WoW lore and suddenly a flying wheelchair with four wheels?

My endpoint is that developers think about a purpose, is it going to fit this character, lore?

A magic carpet with a chair shape would fit a wizard as example. And as players would would understand what is a disabled chair. This is a fantasy game.

This shows how stupid DEI developers are. It is crazy. This is about the message and the lecture to a modern audience on how to recognise a real wheelchair shape in reality. This is not about being creative.

[Broduin-silvermoon]

@Nightwalker-moonglade

A magic carpet with a chair shape would fit a wizard as example. And as players would would understand what is a disabled chair. This is a fantasy game.

A magic carpet for Khadgar would have been a way better solution, and it’d also have added cultural diversity in a way that fits beautifully to Dalaran. That’s why it’s important to use common sense and feels, not hard-statistics and mathematics