Link to the whole video, and summary at the end of it in said webpage.
One of the most revealing bits, was when Danuser stated that they didn’t want the story to hamper in any way the freedom players may have regarding what they wanted to be ingame (referring to a question they made him about whether they’d care to create a more solid/specific plotline for the lore implications behind certain new customisation options).
In short, and targetting specifically the WH option, they simply wanted people to be able to look as one, and imagine being one.
But that doesn’t mean the story will in any way reflect on that. And in the rest of cases, even if it clashes, it still doesn’t matter. They just want the players to have said “freedom”.
In short, its the equivalent to drilling every single player with the same motto they have about not being tied to consistency in regards to creativity when dealing with the overarching plot.
To have the LEAD NARRATIVE DIRECTOR, saying this…man.
This. Our characters have always been < insert champion here >. “Welcome to the Cathedral of the Light, Death Knight!”. Nice to hear that they are consioulsy aware of that.
There is still certain degree of interaction between the player and the agents of the story.
An RPG requires certain degree of cohesiveness between the setting and the playing protagonist. Certain changes are have impact beyond facial features and skin colour.
And its just immersion breaking if the veil is lifted, nothing matters anymore, and you can start strolling around as a Blood Troll, or as an Eredar, or as some weird asian elf,… in a setting where those changes should matter.
Not talking solely visuals.
EDIT:
Another bit that highlights once again the problem is the one Wowhead summarised as this:
Chronicle introduced a good framework, and in Shadowlands the devs can put “meat on bones.”
A certain number of retcons seem to be on their way.
PS:
And don’t you, as member of the roleplaying community, think that having Blizzard opening the gates for a ton of elements that will clash with the natural course of the story or what may seem logic for the setting, will affect negatively your gaming experience as a whole?
I do not roleplay, but if freedom is all that matters, to the point it may trump story barriers, then…whats the point of a story?
That’s the transmog restictions argument, eh? Nah, I’ll disagree.
I do roleplay. And that has about nothing to do with what kind of character the “Champion” is. And it isn’t like any roleplayer who wants to play a stupid thing is stopped by the lack of optics. Dragons? Succubi? High Elves in droves? Vampires? You can be sure there are roleplay flags of people RPing them out there. If it’s you just ignore these guys. No reason not to do the same if the optics look better.
We would only have a problem for RP if Blizzard DID claim that it’s okay in lore. Them saying that the option doesn’t imply any lore is actually great.
And “Toys” that transform you into all kinds of things or make you go “Chaga-chaga-TCHOO TCHOO!” don’t already do that for you? >_>
There’s a myriad of ways my immersion gets ruined in a MMORPG. The lack of plausibility of certain customization options within the context of the story ranks fairly low.
I’m a bit disappointed about this as well. Many of the customizations look good so far, but I would have preferred to get some backstory to it. It’s like they’re saying “Be what you wanna be and write your own story, because we can’t be bothered.”
Overall though, it’s more of a minor complaint for me. I’m happy to get Sand Troll skin
So we are to expect that none of the relevant customisation options are “canon”? That’s the only alternative left in order to concile their existence?
An important choice that reflects on the very aspect of your gameplay, ranking just below the character selection in terms of story relevance, is largely to be considered “not canon”?
That’s one way to put it.
But if it is, and we are to see it that way, then its frankly some disappointing turn for a company that started being more about the cohesiveness for an online D&D offshoot.
Guess that we’ll sit and wait for a time when i can play as a talking cow that saves the universe.
But your character won’t be one. You may look like one, but your intro quests will address you as a Darkspear.
The questgivers will address you as a Darkspear. Vol’jin, or Rokhan or Zekhan, will be your canon factional boss. Not Urkoz.
You won’t have a story regarding how your character came to be one.
You won’t have a plot regarding a Sand Troll working for the Horde.
It’ll be as if you chained on CD the toy that gives you wings. Zero canon story about it, and something about as forgettable.
This, is in my opinion some rather sad fact.
And its even sadder to see once again how they are rather willing to spread this sort of philosophy not only to some player aspect, but to the story itself.
…but it isn’t affecting the story. At all. That’s the point. “We don’t care how you make your character look, nothing in the story will ever refer to it.”
No. But the philosophy about “We just want to have flashy things that seem cool, and off with any story barrier that stands in its way”, is very much affecting the story.
And this seems to be a philosphy used for both the overarching plot and now the playable races.
This, regarding something that could be tagged as a “cosmetic” may be the lesser evil. But is still indicative of a bigger one.
So… we’re not complaining about the stuff they do anymore, but the ideas that the stuff they do might reflect? Because those ideas might lead to stuff we could legitimately complain about? Damn, the content draught really gave some posters here blue balls, didn’t it?
This is about an example of a feature, that would naturally have story implications, being sidelined and handwaved, and how it reflects on the underlying problem about writers not caring once again one bit about their game’s consistency. Even when dealing with elements that should naturally depend on it.
And this is me lamenting a wasted chance, while simultaneously being a tad bitter about having the usual problem with these writers, seeping in once more.
Would it really? We are not talking about greater populations, we are talking about a single hero. Sure, depending on its origin the hero will have faced different kinds of prejudices on his way to the top, but considering how powerful the player character is supposed to be, they can kind of choose whatever team they like at that point.
Let’s take the Blood Trolls. They certainly are antagonists who dealt in very evil stuff. That is the generalization. Could there be ONE blood troll, who left his people behind and rose to be something greater? Could he have found respect enough within the Horde, after demostrating his prowess often enough, to be accepted as someone who you would rather have on your side? Sure it could!
The hero is not the typical member of their race. The hero is, by definition, exceptional. And the limits of exceptional cases are virtually nonexistent.
Choosing a specific race/faction should have direct implications regarding your gameplay and the story experienced through it. That’s one of the basics regarding any RPG.
And several customisation options certainly are exactly that (i.e. Wildhammers).
Only where it matters. In the new starting area it doesn’t matter. When you are the champion of Azeroth or the Maw Walker, it doesn’t matter. The story relevant part of your identity is not bound to your race anymore. It can be just as unimportant as your relationship with your parents or your personal backstory. Certainly vital in a situation where you want to roleplay that character, but totally irrelevant in the linear story of WoW.
Without looking far, we already have several spoilers that point at a dominant plot regarding NE and Tyrande.
In said kind of plots, as in any RPG, the race chosen to experience or deal with the problem should be key in terms of how the gaming experience went.
The story should react to it.
It already strains against several elements, regardless of how much Blizzard has tried to create workarounds that facilitate it. But further loosening the restrictions?
That’s anathema to one of the core aspects of any RPG.
The character thrown into the setting should be relevant to the gameplay and should have a “custom” experience in terms of narrative.
If races do not matter anymore, then why bother? Why create several playable races?.
Are we seriously at a point where we are to expect Blizzard to discard the RPG traits of their own game, and we must work on ways to keep it around ourselves?
I’m sorry, i may be going round in circles here, but i simply disagree that race (and changes that affect it deeply) is in any way not relevant to the story that players should experience. Regardless of how significant said impact ends up being.
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Anyway, i don’t want this to be a full fledged rant without any more to it. Sorry about that.
Regarding the rest of the interview, anyone feels like throwing in some imput regarding any piece that caught their attention?
That hasn’t been the case for ages, if it ever was. Have you seen how many races we have at this point? And race class combinations, which would make all the difference in other situations? Come on, that was never coming back anyways. Never. Ever.
Because they look cool. Simple as that. For your characters story you can make up whatever headcanon you want, but for Blizzard you can only be treated as the Champion.
Yes, I have to say that the interview was really lacking compared to the one yesterday, in terms of both questions and answers.
Felt like Taliesin didn’t really prepare many questions beforehand and mostly just asked what popped into his head.
It also seemed like he didn’t really ask and critique Steve about the shortcoming of the BfA storyline and just mentioned Night Elves and Forsaken out of necessity because he’d be criticized if he didn’t mention them.
you just ignore these guys. No reason not to do the same if the optics look better.
