There are so many parts in warcraft lore I like, but so little effort for consistency, i have no confidence in the future, that when i like something or love it even, that it actually means something because tomorrow it will be retconned or thrown under the bus.
What made me think of this just now? Well it's all those instances - lore in game or novels has shifted, retconned, re-cast in a worse light, the failure to keep to the integrity of a good plot that was started and changing it for a seeming whim. The inability to care enough even to make the game lore play straight through. How long must i wait.
We're enjoying the little bone we've been thrown for night elvesin 8.1 - reason I'm not letting myself jump for joy? Because they'll forget about them totally in 8.2 against Azshara - that is their number 1 enemy, been part of thier lore from day 1, her naga always attacking night elven lands and trying to kill them. Yet, because Sylvanas has pissed Tyrande off so much, she'll have her "moment" in Darkshore, and that would be "night elves' high@
Quote: From Ion Hazzikostas https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/9usbtb/rwow_blizzcon_interview/
There has to be a balance between highs and lows in a story.
So after murdering them in the sundering to near extinction, robbing them of their immortality, stripping them of power from Well of Eternity, World Tree, making them look like noobs to the horde in cataclysm, leaving them out of the final push against the legion, then giving htem a second genocide - massive low *you don't get lows lower than that, it's massive sting of lows and critical lows" so where are the massive string of highs and critical highs? -- why do I feel like the night elf high - is a warfront where Tyrande looks the role she should have been for the last 14 years, in a warfront who's outcome is meaningless - and they will go, "there! we did something for night elves. Gave them their high"
Meanwhile lets find more things from night elves we can give to other races and the horde to make them even cooler. Left homeless, near extinction, still a civilizaiton in ruins, 10,000 years and still counting, most of the power still gone - yet it was okay to see BElves get a recovery going, Sunwell back, restored to thalassian lands, power not only back, but upgraded. Then blood elves written quite strongly (as i would expect) afterwards, but no such treatment for night elves?
Talk of consistency? Why isn't Thalyssra and the nightborne not in the alliance with the night elves - i mean a more perfect story for the night elf arcane rejoining the main branch and being redeemed from callous recklessness coudl not have been written - long have night elf fans waited for the night elves amidst 14 years of constant ruins to get 1 pristine city - and bang it goes horde.
First time night elves are a focus since wow, couldn't give em the send off against the Legion - the story writing this races civilziaiton ruined by this foe, then every group - Long vigil, Eldre'thalas, SUramar all in isolation because of this enemy, the long vigil group going to great extremes to prevent its return - their lives ALL about stopping the legion, even arcane magic they love so much, they ban, the well anathema not for the good it use to bring, but for the threat of returning the legion. Their immortality lost to defeat it a second time, and much of the nature part of their power - gone - and what role do the Darnassians play against the Legion ? ZERO - don't get me wrong, great to see new night elf groups like the nightborne, Farondis, Moonguard = applaud 100% - but then come 7.1 and 7.2 , firstly Tyrande, in her home city is reduced to counterpart to Liadrin (not even racial leader), goes about announcing the Alliance is here to help rather than the GOddess -- she is freaking high priestesss, her Order's capital, and main temple --
showing me how little they care - instead its more important for Liadrin to prance, than for Tyrande to get involved. Why did we not see The order of Elune, bringing the salvation of the goddess to the afflicted and the vengeance of mother moon against the evil destroyers? How I would have loved to see Tyrande Starfall a bunch of demons trying to devour some hapless nightborne, or set up radiance of the stars - areas where those intentionally starved have their hunger pangs subdued by the light of the moon - instead .. then don't get me started on the broken shore - where the main temple is, where we shoudl have seen the Order of Elune interact with every class order hall, and Tyrande herself as high priestess leading the charge to reclaim the Tomb/Cathedral - instead it was more important for Khadgar to be there.. Khadgar.
Velen and the draenei, 100% agree with taking us to Argus, illidan making it possible, great move also, it makes sense the new night elf groups would perhaps stay behind, but Darnassians? the group who has suffered most from the legion, and the ones who fought it from the start missing?
In-Game Continuity
As for that, it is such a mess, I can never go through and play /experience every change that happened in wow. The mere fact that Sylvanas is issuing quests that Thrall, Garrosh, Vol'jin all issued is so jarring, key lore events part of pre-expansion events, and end game patches removed - if you didn't play Mist of pandaria while it was playing you will never fully understand what is going on, the Vale of Eternal blossoms is cracked and broken before you can do the quest that explains it, key quests removed as the next state appears.. no attempt, i mean no attempt to make a way for you to actually go through all this.
Then there is the jarring inconsistency that is TBC and WotLK in the timeline, with 0 explanation - and the only way to understand the continuity is to buy 3 volumes?
Then the Night Elven History
Blizzard introduced the night elves with such flair and imagination - reading about them being the first to study magic, build a civilziaiton unparralled, the first to master druidsm, build a world tree - Elune the goddess watching over them, and they knowing her, specialists at spellcraft and ranged fire power is what the manual said - then the game showed, incredible things, the novels reveaeled even greater things.
And then wow came, and only a fraction of the race was shown. Only the peaceful , serene side (which I like) but without the aggressive, dangerous side - they just look like chumps, only the druid side shown, where was the priest? and what about the great hope of the arcane returning now the legion was back? Teased with ruins all over the place, night elves can use magic again, why aren't they rebuilding or progressing?
Answer came in Cataclysm - it was simple. NEglect, time spent focusing on blood elves, draenei, humans, orcs, Lich king, and in cata, they had to update the old world, so naturally finally new stuff came, but the focus was goblins, thrall, dragaon aspects, and we saw no updates for darnassus to accomodate returned highborne nor worgen - i.e. NEGLECt - time taken to show everything else, but them.
With people like Tyrande and Malfurion around, why Tyrande wasn't in Outland trying to get through to Ilildan, silent till MoP, Malfurion - plays a minor role in Hyjal, HYJAL - Thrall ofc is the man, MAlfurion just fades away - you could argue it makes sense for the shaman to be in control here being an elemental thing.. okay (even though there is no reason why such a powerful characters like Malfurion and Tyrande won't play a key roll) but okay, however when it comes to matters that are back in their court, like the Legion - Malfurion gets the EMerald dream, but no where to be seen in the final push against the legion, - i didn't mind that too much, because his brother Ilildan was shining.. but Tyrande? what's her excuse... ah - i get it, they showed her in 7.1 ..so that was enough.
So come 8.2, because we have seen the darnassians in a warfront, means we won't see them agianst Azshara, an di'm supposed to be happy with this. Lets not even go to the retcon of night elves coming from trolls, and troll history being shifted from post sundering to pre-night elf - i wonder what was so unsatisfactory of the original version that this twist was soo necessary, it just seemed going out of the way to be different rather than actually doing something cool that was different. But let's not even go there
Then the Nightborne
I didn't even get to talk about the nightborne going horde, and what an insult it is to night elf fans, and the fact that they dind't even have to have all of them over, but it's okay for the alliance to get an exiled remnant of blood elves, with no city, no assets, no sunwell, but when it comes to the nightborne, we can't give the horde a remnant of the night elves greatest civilization, no, we have to give them the pristine city and all the nightborne too, because the horde clearly needs more arcane wielding elves, and clearly needed more elven cities too, blood evles weren't nearly enough, and apparently weren't the ones living only at half mast with the nature half waiting for a full arcane halt to make them whole.
The Thalyssra character who if you have read WotA, is a fusion of Tyrande and Malfurion - there is no more fitting a bunch of people that match the kaldorei like a glove than the nightfallen rebellion characters, Thalyssra, Ly'leth, occuleth, and their own Sylvans' horde that has committed genocide against their own people who helped them - after the talk of defending the world, working so closely with VAlewalker Farodin, the Moonguard, the Suramar kaldorei refugees, and her desire to help and do right that reminds me so much of Tyrande and Malfurion - and you mean to tell me she all of a sudden U-turns and decides to go horde, and get this - b/c Tyrande is strict with her? Dont' get me wrong, I can understand a cocky nightborne from the city having that reaction, or Elisande having that reaction, but humbled Thalyssra, and all the others too? And it wasn't even necessary - horde could have gotten the nightborne without the nightfallen rebellion, who i say should have stayed neutral to both factions, while some of the arrogant city folk, in search of more power and glory, join the horde because they believe their best chances at reagining their power and control lie with joinign the stronger faction.
But no, they all had to go horde, but a tiny fraction of exiled thalassians is enough for the alliance followed by genocide of their race.
Where does This Leave Me?
Wondering why I have botehred and allowed myself to get so invested in something i know is going to let me down - like the people who keep going back to the bad boyfriend (or girlfriend), they know is no good, they know is a waste of time, they know is not fulfilling them because they aren't being decent about it.
You know who would get continuous involvement and relevance, who they would make sure everything about her character and lore is in line? Sylvanas. Yes, the favourites will always get good treatment.
I have been meaning to quit the lore until better treatement came for night elves - and I think I shall and will give it till 8.2 to turn things around. If 8.2 indeed fails to actually follow the consistency of the story by failing to include night elves against Azshara, then i would know, Darkshore was the "high" and that's all they are getting and i'm not waiting around another 14 years to actually see things pick up.
If blizzard can't see they have a winner in the night elves, that can carry the franchise better than Orcs and are more appealing than humans, and instead prefer to squander them to push favourites like Sylvanas and her nasty ways, then their choice. It's their game, they can throw away their greatest gem if they want, but don't expect me to respect them for it.
RANT OVER.