WoW
Well, Battle for Azeroth is only... what? A couple weeks away? I decided to catch up a little on the recent couple of outside-the-game stories Blizzard has put online to set the stage.
Jaina's was a very moody piece. It feels out of place to me in a literal sense - I don't recall any real Charon-like lore in the setting, so we have a powerful ice mage getting an undead to take her out to a sea graveyard to raise her father's ships from beneath the waves? And he is her father maybe? Honestly, the whole thing feels much more metaphorical than literal as she basks in guilt and resolves to fight the Horde. Given that ambiance, I'm not entirely sure it should be taken literally.
Sylvanas' story seems a good bit more literal. And... it seems to have evoked a community reaction that sort of confuses me. "This isn't morally gray!" "This is a war crime!" Well... yeah, this is Sylvanas, the same one who has been complicit to or directly behind other ruthless assaults, manipulations, and use of disapproved of weapons at least since... hmm... Cataclysm? Wrath? Not sure about Vanilla and Burning Crusade. This is not a good, peace-loving character being twisted by writing into a monster suddenly, and I have trouble understanding how anyone could perceive it that way. I guess you don't see/think about that stuff if you play Horde? I don't know...
Overall, though, I have to say I am still disappointed in general. The refocus (again) on the faction conflict and PVP opportunity just doesn't do it for me, especially after the semi-cross-faction order plotlines of Legion. And if the death knight story has no repercussions for whole expansion, that will be even more of a let down. So while my enthusiasm for the expansion is almost as low as it was for Warlords of Draenor, I'll probably still pick it up and play some to see. I'm waffling on whether it's better to get back in a few days early to get ducks in a row and then play or wait until release/after to avoid the first few days of utter chaos any expansion brings. Procrastination may make the decision for me.
All that say, I feel for the writers behind the game. They are dealing with a massive burden of previous lore and ongoing expectations from a huge player base. Nothing they do with any story character could possibly please everyone, and they try to tell a story in a medium that limits that in a number of ways. So even if I dislike the results, that does not make me respect the people behind the scenes working on it less.
Jaina's was a very moody piece. It feels out of place to me in a literal sense - I don't recall any real Charon-like lore in the setting, so we have a powerful ice mage getting an undead to take her out to a sea graveyard to raise her father's ships from beneath the waves? And he is her father maybe? Honestly, the whole thing feels much more metaphorical than literal as she basks in guilt and resolves to fight the Horde. Given that ambiance, I'm not entirely sure it should be taken literally.
Sylvanas' story seems a good bit more literal. And... it seems to have evoked a community reaction that sort of confuses me. "This isn't morally gray!" "This is a war crime!" Well... yeah, this is Sylvanas, the same one who has been complicit to or directly behind other ruthless assaults, manipulations, and use of disapproved of weapons at least since... hmm... Cataclysm? Wrath? Not sure about Vanilla and Burning Crusade. This is not a good, peace-loving character being twisted by writing into a monster suddenly, and I have trouble understanding how anyone could perceive it that way. I guess you don't see/think about that stuff if you play Horde? I don't know...
Overall, though, I have to say I am still disappointed in general. The refocus (again) on the faction conflict and PVP opportunity just doesn't do it for me, especially after the semi-cross-faction order plotlines of Legion. And if the death knight story has no repercussions for whole expansion, that will be even more of a let down. So while my enthusiasm for the expansion is almost as low as it was for Warlords of Draenor, I'll probably still pick it up and play some to see. I'm waffling on whether it's better to get back in a few days early to get ducks in a row and then play or wait until release/after to avoid the first few days of utter chaos any expansion brings. Procrastination may make the decision for me.
All that say, I feel for the writers behind the game. They are dealing with a massive burden of previous lore and ongoing expectations from a huge player base. Nothing they do with any story character could possibly please everyone, and they try to tell a story in a medium that limits that in a number of ways. So even if I dislike the results, that does not make me respect the people behind the scenes working on it less.
I think the disappointment with Sylvanas' characterization is how she was thrust into the position of Warchief "You must come out of the shadows". Horde wanted to see her turn face, to show change towards being noble and oh.. nope she's just as wicked and self-centered as ever.
ReplyDeleteAnd, see, I can sort of accept it as long as people acknowledge that's what it is - dashed hope that a character was going to reform. Once it's reframed as somehow surprising, that annoys me. ;) What was she doing as Warchief? Well, she spent some time cutting a deal with a goddess of death that seemed to be meant to bolster her power base/the Forsaken. Maybe she did more that I didn't see, but I'm not aware of her actually taking one step toward helping the Horde as a whole or becoming any more "noble."
DeleteReally, though, leadership in WoW almost never makes a person -better-. There's some "realism" to that because it means taking up the mantle of an aggrieved and vengeful people (ie. just about any race/faction in the setting), though it's very wearying given the number of times factions have had to pull together too.
It does beg the question again of what Vol'jin and/or the Loa were thinking. I've seen some comments hinting at something about that, but I don't know if those are suspicions or actually founded on something.