How are we supposed to believe that a civilization that’s advanced enough to master space travel got genocided by a bunch of savages with wooden sticks and mud huts?
How much of a LOSER do you have to be to fail when you’re so far ahead of your opponent?
Frankly, these prehistorical Protoss are pathetic. I could never lower myself to play as one.
You’re referring to the Orcs killing the Draenei on Draenor?
There’s a novel (Rise of the Horde) that covers that whole story, so you could read that.
Probably also some YouTube videos that summarize it if you search a bit.
I think a struggle with WoW’s story is sometimes that the depiction in the novels and the lore is different from the in-game experience. The WoW game experience is really just a game experience – it’s not a story experience. It doesn’t convey societies and populations and landscapes and technology very well. The game looks the way it does and tells the story the way it does in order to have a compelling gameplay experience, not a story experience.
So yeah, read the novel, or find some YouTube person that goes through it in detail.
I’m sorry but this is just bad writing all around. Some games manage perfectly fine to combine the online/multiplayer part and weave an engaging story longterm.
The problem with WoW is that the way they tell their stories is simply awful. If you need to buy and read books that will give you more info about lore and characters (often times key info to understand or make some sense out of this mess of a story), you’ve done a terrible job. I know they’re doing that since ages to milk people more.
The game should give you all the keys to understand the story, if gameplay/budget is an issue you can still circle around that and find ways to tell your story points, may it be with an in-game journal, side-quest… anything really.
This has been a long-time problem with WoW’s writing, why its storytelling has been subpar for years with a crazy amount of plotholes or nonsense. Because someone will tell you to read X book to understand a character’s motivation. It’s like going to a movie and at the end they tell you to read the wiki or some article to understand why X character does Y. It’s just dumb.
Throw yourself on a deserted island with tech lost/destroyed and no knowledge of survival… and see how long you’ll survive.
For real, I’d say the majority of us would perish.
You don’t have to tell me that, I’m not the author or writer of WoW story and lore.
I’m just explaining where to get the information to make the story more understandable.
Osho’gun wasn’t made by the draenei iirc, the Naaru had it and gave them a lift off Argus with it. I vaguely remember the Exodar being a joint effort. In that sense one could argue it wasn’t just knowledge the draenei had themselves, they were guided and taught.
Another thing is that the draenei split at some point (Xenedar and Genedar) which meant those with most of the battle prowess (Lightforged) were not with the regular draenei on Draenor. Among these draenei were a lot of artisans and such, and the main goal was to live in peace hidden away as much as they could.
I firmly agree on this btw, I wish books just gave a bit more flavour and background but the story itself should be in the game at least, even if it is the abridged version lol.
Because in OG draenor Kil’Jaeden empowered the orcs?
Alternate because the orcs got new tech from Garrosh.
A lot of knowledge and technology was lost from the very rushed exodus from Argus.
Imagine it like your highly advanced Nation suddenly breaks down into a Civil War and remnants have to flee a death sentence (or corruption in that case). Do you really expect them to sit there and first plan their escape step-by-step while the enemy is knocking at the door?
To make a more relate-able example. Imagine you sit at home and suddenly you hear Jets above your house, you look outside and see already Bombs being dropped. Do you really think you have the time to pack all your belongings and drive away with your family? No. You just grab the most necessary things and run.
Same the Draenei did when fleeing from Argus. The entire Escape was basically happening within 3h at best actively. Not counting the contacts of Velen spreading the Word in secret. Taking a lot of things with them would have looked suspicious and in the end it didn’t matter with the Secrecy, since Talgath(?) did betray Velen anyways, despite being one of his oldest friends.
Exactly that. There are so many details in the books that are simply left out in the game due to there not being enough time and interest of the game devs to make it a part of the game. Like, they have to make the choice between making a few quest chains with good (enough) story telling (i.e. with voice acting) or making a lot of quests with a lot of lore but almost all of them require you to read quest text or speech bubbles to even hear the story.
I mean, they have been adding optional lore books in the recent patches within the game, some can be picked up, others can be read while in the open world.
All WoW needs is just a Codex-Feature like Mass Effect has, not even necessarily with a Narrator voice.
I know I wouldn’t even make it 2 full days. Simply because I am so reluctant to even kill an animal to have food for survival. Shelter I could manage probably, but that’s all.
Did they master space travel or did they just hop in on ships that weren’t of their design and weren’t even controlled or powered by them? On Draenor, it was probably like Rome Vs barbarians for them, only that overwhelming numbers or barbarians were now magically enhanced and used weapons (like dark magic, necromancy, etc) given to them by their technological counterparts, Eredars.
OP: (I don’t like a race in WoW, so I’m gonna shame people for playing it)
Honestly though, I have always told myself that none of the Draenei “technology”, is actually technology… but more of a “advanced magic”. And that their “technology”, isn’t at all their own making, but rather directly comes from being empowered by the Naaru godlike cosmic entities…
Because the idea of an alien StarCraft race in WoW, kind of ruins the fantasy. 
Which is exactly why every time I think of Zereth Mortis, I get barf in my mouth… Every other bad thing about that zone, is DWARFED by the fact that Blizz made magic into “advanced technology”… 
To me personally, this one thing is the worst crime the WoW writers ever introduced into the game, and made canon…
BUT… I will say that while I don’t AT ALL like the Draenei lore, I DO LOVE the Man’ari Eredar Burning Legion lore. 
I know, still puzzles me why they’re unable to tell a full story in their own game.
They cut a lot of stuff as they deem an expansion a failure like Shadowlands but damn, we got too many amputations now and not lil cuts lol.
For a real life explanation, Look what the Zulu’s did with the British aka spears vs guns.
(I’m not saying they are like orcs before someone twists it around or describing the same way Slapface described orcs but more the technology difference comparison)
Also another comparison. Who would have thought the vietcon would do so well against the mighty power of the USA? Territory and situations matter.
Another example Russia turning things around in WW2 when the weather hit and the Germans couldn’t cope with it.
I could go on.
But look how Sexy and red I am.
Draenei got their power, i.e. these crystals, and their spaceship, gifted by the naaru, but they are also very good engineers too in the game
No, it’s not bad writing, only bad storytelling
I think the other posters have addressed the rest of your comment, however I’d like to focus on the highlighted bit:
How are we supposed to believe that the most magically adept society that’s advanced enough to create a magical font of energy that empowers everyone in their society got genocided by some whiny undead human that couldn’t hack it as a paladin and his slow moving skeleton buddies?
How much of a LOSER do you have to be when you’re so far ahead of your opponent?
Frankly, these degenerate trolls are pathetic. I could never lower myself to play as one.
There was more to it than just savages. First, the orcs had greatly superior numbers and they became gradually more fel-empowered during the war, both physically and magically. Next, the draenei society had a civil conflict of its own, with a part of their people calling themselves sargerei and working for the Legion. And finally, when the siege of Shattrath began it was not as much a war with the orcs as opposing a full-scaled demonic invasion, both summoned by the orcs and arriving on their own. So in the end it wasn’t about losing to some bunch of barbarians, it was cementing a loss in the civil war that already happened.
Google Ner’zhul
In the book the Naaru came to save them. The Ships weren’t their technology. They simply studied and adapted them. But on Draenor there was no need to build space ships since they wanted to stay hidden from the Legion.
On Azeroth on the other hand during Legion Expansion, the Draenei built the Vindicaar.