Give me something largely subterranean.
Twilight dragons, nerubians trying to reclaim their land from the dead, void shizzle.
Update parts of the above world too. Not all of it, but parts that need a bit of a shift.
Yeah you dont get to feel that Azeroth is in peril. Like in WoD, the Iron Horde didnt even get out of the Blasted lands. Then they got owned in their homeland. Conquerors and Warlords my a$$. Burning Legion invasions were cool because of its atmosphere. It was nice to see the settlements you know get attacked, with voiced leader and all. SL scourge invasions were average at best.
Honestly tho, if not for roleplayers and their own writing/events the story would have been absolutely trash. It makes me feel sorry for OOCers lmao
3 Likes
Okey, Iāll blame Denuser more next time.
Because someone has to take responsibility.
Thatās very disingenuous. They are responsible for much more.
We didnāt get another Rhonin. Thatās good enough for me.
1 Like
Like what? What negative story beats can you attribute directly to Golden? She hasnāt written that much for WoW, and the novels she did write are generally the well-received ones.
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Christie_Golden
Yeah, Iād prefer a writer that enjoys fleshing out character depth than the one who makes his OC go back in time and wound Sargeras.
1 Like
I donāt really want to derail the thread and if you donāt see it, I doubt anything I could say on a forum would change your mind.
We must have different meaning for what well-received means. Thatās not what I saw.
Bottom line is, to address my first point, I donāt really care what an expansion is about as long as it stays true to what Warcraft is and is well written. And itās obvious that the current writers are not up to the task. Simple as.
Thereās also The Collapse:
Clicky for Words
āContinuity exists to enhance a story, not to tie the hands of its creators.ā
World of Warcraft: The Collapse
Cinematic opens on the sands of Tanaris. In the distance is the entrance to the Caverns of Time. Shot holds on low music, no movement. Suddenly a dead bronze dragon falls to the ground. Then another, then another, and another, and another.
Camera pans down through the sands to show the Caverns collapsing into ruin, the great central hourglass shattered. Dragons roar as they die from wounds cut by invisible weapons, bronze sand pouring out of them. Timewalkers of every race are in a panic, rushing around. Camera moves towards Chromie who, in a moment of fear, jumps through a portal as the shot is filled with falling rocks and cuts to black.
9.0.1: Players log in to a summons by Queen Varianne Wrynn in Stormwind (Alliance) and King Kaelāthas Sunstrider in Silvermoon (Horde), advising you that the time has come to finally put Lord-Regent of Lordaeron, Aedalas Blackmoore, to death and rescue the Menethil line. The new levelling zones are a remake of Gilneas/Silverpine (Alliance), Eastweald (previously WPL/EPL, Horde), Tirisfal Glades (shared) culminating in the first raid, Capital City.
Patch 9.1 will have players log in to a summons from Queen Alleria Windrunner in Silvermoon (Alliance) and Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer in New Gromāgol (once called stormwind, Horde) confirming the worst: Queen Tyrande Felwind and Malfurion Chaosrage have sailed from the west and are making war on the shores, threatening the tenuous ceasefire that the Alliance and Horde have come to. Features a new max level zone Hyjal and a raid related to cleansing the world tree of Tyrandeās corruption. Also killing her.
Patch 9.2 is a holiday! Moira Bronzebeard has been born a healthy baby girl to her father Magni and heās throwing a celebration and YOU are invited, along with all your friends! Take part in numerous games around the lands of Dun Morogh and Loch Modan. Compete in not one but two tournaments for glory and gear, earn unique mounts and transmog and have fun. Peace is great!
Patch 9.3 is the release of the Icecrown Citadel raid. Strike hard and fast into the depths of the Lich Queenās fortress. Though Jaina Proudmoore may be beyond redemption, her most trused Death Knight Arthas Menethil may yet be swayed. Shatter Frostmourne and free Azeroth from the grip of fear that the Scourge has planted in it.
Expansion Features
Time-Lost Campaign: Meet Chromie periodically (sort of) throughout the expansion to try to get to the bottom of what is going on with the timelines and try to save the entire timeway from failing. Maybe youāll even succeed. Or maybe not. Depends how many people stay subscribed.
Time-Touched Talents: A new talent row for everyone with a set of time-themed talents, a residual result of being wrenched through rivulets of time. Repeatedly.
New mage specialisation: Chronomancy. Join a region-wide effort to have mages spec this to fix the timestream and hope the bar fills up before 9.4! Itās just like the AQ War Effort except not at all.
Bronze dragon corpses everywhere but only you can see them and no one will ever react to them.
Also featuring: New zones (sort of). New mounts! New dances! New quests! New dungeons and raids! New monsters! New items! Level cap stays the same. Then raised to 130. Then dropped to 60. Then to 80. Then raised again? Maybe? Dance studio (we mean it this time).
I dunno about you guys but after the problems weāve had with BfA Iām pretty excited for The Collapse. Itās good to have Blizzard recognise the problems that theyāre having with telling a coherent story and address them in the best way possible.
2 Likes
Knaaks biggest problem was that he just re-wrote his Drizzt and Dragonlance novels with the names find and replaced for legally distinct warcraft names.
1 Like
My take is that sheās better than a lot of the crap this series has pushed out in the Knaak years and beyond, so Iām pretty satisfied. 
People who donāt like Golden tend to just rag on Anduin as if the character has one writer and one writer alone, without any actual explanation besides enjoying having a scapegoat for why WoW sucks now. They did the same with Metzen; and when Golden leaves, whoever is next in line will get the same explaination-less drivel.
I still have the visual novel with the whelpling that says āknaak knaakā. It makes me happy that I didnāt touch a WoW novel growing up.
ngl Iād be pretty up for this
Scapegoating is just as bad as them hiding behind the āwell, itās a really large story team etc.ā argument to avoid any sort of criticism.
There is a reason people are made leaders of a department and/or are chosen to go on stage. Being the face of something comes with both benefits and responsabilities. If you get the praise when things go well, you must also take the blame for when it fails.
Which is why I disagree with you: she isnāt in charge, or the face of the narrative. I donāt think Iāve seen her on stage at a Blizzcon in years. Her biggest influence in the media isā¦ tweeting about how she likes Anduin?
People made her their scapegoat with no just reason. Rag on Danuser if you wanna critique the story direction, because heās at least explicitly in charge. Golden is just a novelist that started out freelance and then became a Blizzard employee in like 2017.
1 Like
I mean, sheās been there, she gives takes on the lore on twitter rather regularly, and has written the last book about exploring the Eastern Kingdoms. Not to mention plot points and characters developments she did hardly push for.
I think is fair to say that she is influential enough to be opened to criticism.
But sure, the buck stops with Danuser I suppose.
Every writer is. Iām not calling her an amazing author. A lot of it is trash; but, to me, itās well-intended trash that does a lot more for character-building than just having a meteor hit the planet every year whilst the heroes go āAHH, I LOVE A CHALLENGEā.
Join me against our true enemy, Rainwatcher.
Itās impossible for me to feel excited for WoWās lore anymore. The direction it has taken just too different from what Iād like displayed. Mysteries are no longer mysteries, power levels are going to ridiculous rises, the world cruelly lacks real commitmentā¦ I understand the monster that is an MMO with the sandbox/theme park vision but itās hard to ignore now.
Moreover with Blizzardās mantra of consistency no longer being of much importance is a soft admission than āWe will break the rules of this universe if it gets in the way of us wanting to tell this next story.ā rules encourages creativity but at this point I question theirs now.
9 Likes
Blizzard has never been consistent with story.
Every entry in the warcraft franchise has retconned large elements of the previous ones.
2 Likes
Yaungol are tauren but tauren are yaungol and yaungol are yaungol and tauren are yaungol and
'member how she got blamed for Warbringers: Sylvanas not being very good despite not being involved with it at all
I do
2 Likes
Apart from that one expedition led by Zaela that somehow managed to get all the way to Blackrock Spire and almost blow Stormwind to hell.
On the topic of Shadowlands, I just have no ideaā¦ as others have said, the whole mystery behind everything is disappearing, and itās all becoming too -grand- for my taste. I could live with a giant, cosmic threat now and then, but we seem to be getting them every other year now, almost to the point of reaching Warhammer 40k levels.
And I honestly canāt help but always feel a bit strange when after we beat a big, terrifying enemy, we go back to killing quilboars and stuff. (Although I too would love just seeing a new continent on Azeroth again, Kul Tiras and Zandalar were nice, but we got dragged into the faction war and Nāzoth shenanigans all too soon).
1 Like