So… Anduin suffers from some kind of PTSD, he goes to Kul’Tiras and there he finds a therapist who tells him all emotions have to be felt blah blah blah. Then the therapist dies, his daughter suffers and Anduin becomes a therapist to her himself.
That was in the recently published short story. Now I saw some screenies from today about Jaina who says we need to watch Thrall… Apparently, he’s still suffering from some self-identity crisis and can’t use the elements… a story that Blizzard has been cooking up from WOD ahead… you know, Thrall cheated in the mak’gora against Garrosh, the elements abandoned him, Doomhammer felt heavy and he still can’t figure what’s wrong lol. And now we have to take care of poor Thrall, to validate his feelings etc etc…
Soo… is that the direction The War Within is heading to?
I don’t think concluding much about the addon from the short story is reasonable. As far as I’m concerned supplemantary, non-mandatory material like this is exactly the right place to give people that like that stuff their deep-dive into the characters’ heads. Ideally putting that stuff there should free the rest of the game plot up to focus on the action.
That said…
That’s probably still true to a degree. Helping Anduin get his mojo back seems to be a good part of the Arathi storyline, as one would expect, other characters like Magni seem to be in need of some fixing as well, and sooner or later we’ll have to delve a bit into Thrall’s current situation, since it has been neglected for about a decade. And we won’t be rid of all the DF cuddlyness, so don’t be surprised when nerubian therapy becomes a quest somewhere.
It doesn’t have to be bad, though. I understand that the devs don’t really want their characters to be too one-dimensional, and well, you need some character exploration to change that. If it is well done it should elevate the plot’s action instead of distracting from it, by making us feel the much more relatable and personal stakes, and not just the abstract saving of the world.
But if it is bad it is usually very bad, and WoW hasn’t really impressed with its depth, so I can understand the scepticism that they’ll do better this time. But we’ll see,
It has been a while now since the writing has turned everyone fragile to a varying degree. Dragons, Centaurs, the Worgens in their campaign, everyone just loves to speak about fee-fees, how complicated and totally not black-and-white things are, and how we must remain open minded. I didn’t like TWW cinematic because it is just Thrall being the armchair therapist of Anduin.
You’d think that in a world where war and conflict is omnipresent, people would get used to it, but sadly how western writers’ level is abysmal , they just love to self insert their insecurities and point of view even if it does not fit. Just compare the Diablo 3 Imperius vs Diablo cinematic with the Diablo 4 Lilith vs Inarius cinematic, you have a fight in the former, and in the latter, a parody of a combat that somehow looks like theater scene, with shallow dialogue exchanges that last even as you have Lilith impaled.
You’d assume that a writer should be high-leveled enough to understand that point of view change depending on people and environements (You know, being so called “open-minded”), but sadly that does not seem to be the case.
The War Within is just a perfect ground for self-inserts for insecurities. The expansion is called The War Within, but not because it’s situated below Azeroth. It’s the war WITHIN US. Because the Void, of which Xal’atath is its biggest champion, feeds on your doubts, despair and panic.
And yes - literally every leader deals with some kind of internal turmoil.