PTR Spoiler/Discussion Thread (Part 3)

Agreed. Aesthetically ‘meh’

Really does, it looks rather bland now.

When in doubt, add a gem.

Cool, we weren’t talking about Alliance honour but about orcish one.

Dunno, I kinda like the clean and simple chest!

I think that the point was to highlight how Blizzard’s writers are the ones responsible for writing actions that contradict the values of the ones acting them out, no matter the race or faction.

This is a good opportunity to criticise Blizzard for its poor writing, that a lot of people take as an opportunity to dunk on orcs and wax philosophical about hypocritical and pointless their honour system is, when it’s just bad Blizzard writing and it’s Blizzard who should be focused on, instead of sneering at a fictional race for the crime of being poorly written.

But we’ve moved on and it looks like Wowhead has made an article for the Peculiar Fish quest line.

I still find this pretty intriguing. I’m not sure I agree with the theory that this is Ozumat, but it does seem like there’s a faction of the Void that isn’t entirely supportive of Xal’atath’s shenanigans.

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Fair enough, there’s a lot wrong with Blizzard writing, and there’s a lot of contradicting lore for every race and culture!

I can’t remember who or what that was D:

The kraken that kidnapped Neptulon in Cataclysm.

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If it happened before 8.3, I’d say we might have N’Zoth back in action. The kraken, including Ozumat, are mostly his domain, not to mention that talking through a fish is his thing thoroughly. Now… I suppose the one trying to build the Black Empire out of our world wouldn’t want a humongous voidwalker just to eat it all.

I was just reminded of the lore blurb of one of the creatives at Blizzard about how Old Gods are outside the cycle of life and death. That feels like a copout from having to explain how whichever Old God makes a return in an expansion despite NPCs or the game’s developers stating that the Old Gods are dead in TWW/Blizzcon.

Again, one can hope they will get back someday… somehow. Because reducing the Void to all-devouring beasts from beyond with a knaifu as the cute face of it is terribly boring.

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I still harbour the opinion that there are different factions within the Void.
The Old Gods aren’t necessarily mindless servants of the Void Lords but may be vying for their own supremacy over Azeroth, which makes them opposed to Xal’atath’s plot. I fully suspect that the Old Gods trapped her in the dagger long ago when she tried to usher in the end of Azeroth before, because ‘the time was not right’ and they wished to perpetuate the Black Empire rather than be consumed by the likes of Dimensius.

Not to say that the Black Empire and the Old Gods are good guys, just that their desire to keep on living/ruling might have led them to save Azeroth from being eaten by a Void Lord long ago.

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I’d consider the Void being this unified, singular front to be the complete antithesis of what we know about it.

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The actual eldritch madness of the Void is trying to understand what the hell Blizzard’s lore intentions are for the Void.

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I was going to write how I don’t like the cosmic forces having willpower beyond the entities wielding it, and then I started reading about the void on warcraft wiki and the first paragraph starts mentioning the First Ones and fungus and I just kind never want to talk about the void again.

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I mean, the Old Gods and the Void Lords aren’t the Void any more than the Naaru are the Light, they’re just beings closely associated with it. So perhaps I should have said “under the umbrella of the Void” instead of “within the Void.”

And yes, Shadowlands has thoroughly poisoned Wowpedia and made it difficult to research lots of topics without having unwanted Shadowlands lore thrust into your face.

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Being that person, I have to disappoint you. It’s all very basic with familial connections, rule by strength when wisdom fails, coming of age rituals and death worship in a very crude pastiche of honour culture ranging from vikings to samurai. The writers didn’t want nor care to elaborate very far so the ridiculous contradictions and hypocrisies might as well be regarded canon.

Honour is everything and nothing, you cannot get the same definition out of two orcs in a row and they’ll likely fight one another to the death over theirs.

Saurfang’s guilt is a personal problem, recognising fault and wanting to do better. In this, you have actual canon to go on: there’s no such thing as apologising. In a classic Asoiaf line; words are wind. You did wrong? Time to act contrary to your error and redeem yourself. Murdered 40 kids in a sacking? Time to go out of your way to save 50 from others like you. You failed your clan in battle and was taken prisoner? Arm yourself and fight to the death to redeem yourself trying to escape. Your blood oath to horde and warchief means nothing if your horde and warchief fails to act to uphold honour. Actions supercede words.

Strength is a single word call to action. The weak don’t survive, but the wise know that strength is more than force of arms. The willpower to push through, the courage to stand up for yourself and so on. Seek Strength. Therein lies honour.

It’s inherently incoherent which is why there’s always a fight over it. This sort of honour culture is a product of a society without institutions to protect individuals, demanding of them to personally correct slights, take vengeance and enforce norms. This is contrary to the new horde’s unified elective kingdom with laws and a central authority that erodes clan identity as more than cultural markers and the self devouring tempest of orc clan culture should rightly be dying out in favour of a more harmonious society.

Now you’re getting it.

Victory redeems dishonour. Lok’tar ogar. Victory or death. A thought terminating cliché validating that you either win or die with no inbetween. Demonstrably, the orcs and indeed the Horde as a whole, running on this logic, have a lot of “what have I done” moments as a result. That, at least, is consistent writing demonstrating the consequences of this mindset in a cycle of violence that does not end until you let go of the cause.

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Why did the First One’s make a system where they need 6 powers like this to be eternally in conflict (but apparently balance), instead of just, uh, not making a system like that? Why do you need “merciless and cruel beings that seek only to twist reality into a realm of eternal torment.” and " Its positive energies,[20] residing in every living being, in every heart and soul,[21] is everywhere, binding all sentient beings together as one,[21] as it pervades and shines through everything, resonating within all things in the universe." to be in conflict when one exists solely to unmake everything that you created in the first place? Wouldn’t it be more logical to just not design that and instead do that yourselves if you feel its necessary to have something like that in place? Why did the First Ones make it look so unabashedly horrific and monstrous if its meant to be natural? Why did they make it feed strictly upon evil-made-manifest and commit itself to evil-made-manifest if its meant to be a natural part of the system? Why did they— Aurghghghghg.

Do all the other Pantheons know about this? Is it just the Titans? Why did they only tell the Titans? Does that imply they don’t actually have a 6-forces system but instead they favoured the Titans? Does that mean they could’ve just made the Titans instead of all the other convolutions and hypocrisies? If the other Pantheons know then what is the point of this system even meant to be?

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What the hell are you guys on about? First Ones? 6 forces in balance? Shadowlands?

There is nothing known about the Shadowlands except that deceased mortals go there? (All winged creatures go to Avianna and G’hanir in the Emerald Dream, tho)

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The First Ones are just the unseen hand of the writers being passed off as all seeing and all knowing. Should a plot or lore make much sense you can just mumble “The ways of the First Ones are impenetrable.” or something.
Now that I think about it, the 6 forces of the universe just seem like a DnD alignement chart with neither the wealth or depth of DnD and its other sister franchises.

PS : The absolute state of moderation on forums where they think they ought to censor the word tidy with an extra d. So ignoring the hellscape of general is fine but exerting your power here for a single word of internet slang so common is where you take action? Good to know…

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