I received a free 3 days trial to play a Drac’thyr. I did the introduction zone, needless to say I am not impressed. It does not feel like Warcraft at all, I’ve been feeling like that since Shadowlands but this time I truly feel it.
I’ve been playing this game for over a decade, loved the Warcraft franchise so much that I went back and bought Warcraft 1, 2 and 3 to play them, because the franchise interested me so much.
But that interest is fading, it’s almost gone.
I am not tired of the Warcraft franchise of a decade ago, as I am thankful that Blizzard allowed us to play Classic during this trial aswell; for that I am grateful.
I think the best way for me to describe World of Warcraft of today is whimsical.
I know there are people that are going to tell me right now that Warcraft was always like that, but I think they’re wrong.
I think the best way to describe the difference between the Blizzard of today and the Blizzard that I loved is best used in the following example:
In Diablo 3 you had a hidden level in the game, where an area was unlocked. This area was called “whimsyshire”, a colourful level full with rainbows, teddybears, unicorns and pink flowers.
And you can just waltz through this level murdering, slaughtering everything. Blizzard didn’t hold back, limbs flying everywhere, blood spraying all over the ground. All the cute teddybears, unicorns and pink flowers got sent flying in the air with their limbs or heads torn off.
The Blizzard of today wouldn’t even dare to add a level like that, instead, they would be part of the storyline in a friendly matter, with a lot “quirky” interactions from them.
And yeah, Diablo is a +16 franchise at that time. But Warcraft had equal of grim and edgy moments like that plenty in the game and part of the storyline. The scars of Sinestra, the road of glory in Hellfire Peninsula, the Troll in Nagrand that eats babies, and on and on.
Sorry for drifting off, I just felt the point to make that statement because I’ve seen people trying to paint a different narrative that’s simply not true.
And I feel part of these people are doing that because of the new guard that has taken hold over Blizzard and that their views on life are similar to the devs, so they feel the need to protect them.
I don’t want to press on into that.
I do want to add another form of criticism towards the dialogue in this game.
The dialogue in this game doesn’t feel organic.
The cinematics were a bore, and sometimes felt odd. The only cinematic that was good was the one where Khadgar interacts with Kalecgos.
The rest of the cinematics and ingame voiced conversations feel like a social media conversation.
The dialogue between Lor’themar and Thalyssra is a good example of this.
Have you guys heard about the drama with Henry Cavill, how the producers of the Witcher show were trying to paint him as an incel, a toxic gamer, a misogynist, all because he wanted to stick true to the source material?
Have you guys heard the producers and writers of the Witcher series actually hate the franchise as a whole, and are rewriting certain things to reflect their view on life?
That’s exactly how I feel with World of Warcraft nowadays, and the so called devs that have only a few years or months of their CV at Blizzard but are claiming it’s “their” game now.
