Canon, but not wholly accurate in places?
It was written by the Titans, yeah.
It was supposed to be a lore Bible, but they went and muffed that up.
continuity or the lack thereof exists to enhance activision-blizzardâs revenue, not to tie the hands of creators
3 Likes
Knowing theyâll face a staff turnover rate due to all the rot under the hood, avoiding solid lore foundations is actually a good move for them; able to rewrite material by problematic individuals consigned to the pit and declaring what ages poorly as the product of unreliable narrators.
3 Likes
Except theyâre also doing it with stuff that did not age poorlyâŚ
2 Likes
What do you mean exactly? Retconning lore because the writer did something bad or because it doesnât appeal to modern sensibilities? I donât know about you but I wouldnât want Tyrande to speak like a 21st century lawyer because people canât seperate fiction from reality. Most of the original lore (even the RPG manuals) is good stuff, seems silly to throw that away.
Yes.
She did in war crimes.
What exactly do you feel needs to be revised?
And it was dreadful.
I donât, generally. I want more lore in untouched places like politics and culture.
2 Likes
Yeah? What do you feel like needs to be touched on then from a personal stand point?
Write good, not bad.
Maybe less yikesy stereotypes but that ship sailed in 2002.
Just worldbuild for an hour before writing new lore or âfixingâ old stuffâŚ
4 Likes
Looking at Kul Tiras and Zandalar, even in recent times they can do good worldbuilding if they put their minds to it. Kul Tiras is probably one of my favourite places in Azeroth atm after BFA made the place feel unique and alive and not Another Human Kingdom But They Paint Their Roofs A [Different Colour].
7 Likes
For me whatâs important is that world doesnât end up like GW2 where it feels sterile and otherwise bland. Stereotypes whether theyâre negative or positive is good to me because I enjoy the atmosphere, or the story it creates. The reason I brought up Tyrande specifically earlier is because for a long time I used to really love night elves but as time has gone on I feel a lot of what made them unique was watered down until theyâve become closer to humans with purple ears. Whether thatâs male sentinels or the distinct lack of aggression towards the use of the arcane.
Settings like DnDâs Dark Sun have very inappropiate concepts, really bad things like slavery or cannablisitic halflings but the setting is interesting because all of these things help flesh the world out. Removing these things for me is carving away parts of itâs soul but more importantly it takes away from the established setting because they set the bleak tone, I respect everyone has their own personal politics but Iâve always really appreciated it when writers can create a setting where they donât factor in their own beliefs as hard rules.
The main complaint about Zandalarâs worldbuilding is that thereâs not enough of it. I get that the compress the world for the game but Dazarâalor is barely a âcityâ and itâs likeâŚthe only town in all of Zandalar.
Kul Tiras came out of this a lot better.
2 Likes
Agreed. What we had of Zandalar was good⌠but there should have been more of it. Kul Tiras took the W on that one (but Iâm an Alliance/Kul Tiras main so 
)
4 Likes
Ever since Cata I have said that if WoW was made today, each human kingdom, Dalaran being the exception would be as unique and different from one another as Gilneas is to Stormwind. Kul Tiras in BfA just supports it!
4 Likes
The biggest problem I have is that after a certain point entire areas are permanently phased with hostile mobs. Warport Rastari for example if you go there before you start questing has Zandalari soldiers sparring, Devilsaur in the background and itâs what you might expect of a garrison. After a few quests it turns in to a place filled with hostile mobs, they could have easily phased it back to normality after quest compeletion but I think itâs a perfect example of what theyâve done to many places in Zandalar and many other zones in general.
If they wanted to write a cultural shift, they should have done so rather than flipped a switch. At least the much maligned kaldorei/highborne mages got a hero moment with teldrassil, earning them some appreciation.
Agreed, though thereâs a difference between writing a bleak fantasy setting and the kalimdor book tarring the goblins with an old antisemitic conspiracy, having the chance to acknowledge it and trucking on to do it twice.
3 Likes
What did they write about goblins in the book?
Gold-loving, well-poisoning, sitting on their gold, pointy-nosed, greedy, green Je⌠semites.
6 Likes
Right but what context did they write? I havenât read the book but I wanted the context or the paragraph that encapsulates it, basically Iâm just curious because Iâve never heard the comparison mentioned before now so what does it say exactly? Is it a conversation between one person or is like a descriptive page that talks about goblins in general?