WoW: Shadowlands Raid Finale Cinematic is out and...
- Thread starter Deleted member 2840
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Saying the savage raids are a "hard mode" of the normals is, while not entirely wrong, also misrepresents the endgame. Personally I think it's actually more accurate to say that the savage tier is the normal endgame, while the normal raids are stripped down versions for storytelling purposes and casual players. Savage (and the ultimate & extreme trials) are where the coordination, communication and player skill of an endgame MMO raid is required. As casual players we wouldn't bother, but it is the content that people pay for, the thing that a MMO player might pay a level boost to skip to.
Yes, I get that you are expected to gear up and learn the boss sequence, its just not interesting for me and are basically where the most judgmental players reside just like WoW.
It's true for everything except this.
The FF14 team doesn't really do this (there's some fun optional lore stuff out of game, but it's also freely accessible on their website and not really integral to anything), but the physical book is both extremely hard to acquire (they barely make any copies and it's basically always sold out) and, since they rarely do this, most people honestly don't even know about it, so it's not really like anyone is intentionally lying to you or something tbh if that's what you're implying.
I know plenty of people who live and breath this game for tens of thousands of hours and didn't know. It's not really widespread knowledge.
The excerpt is readable here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/iiyeeu/chronicles_of_light_the_hunt_begins_the_offical/ fwiw. It's pretty good tbh.
This feels like a weird comment.
And I'd argue the info about Zenos isn't really relevant actually since it's trying to imply that they were trying to make him a sympathetic character but that wasn't the intention.
Zenos is basically the player who skips all the story to get to the endgame content. Which for some this really works for others this really doesn't work. For me at least thematically I like his inclusion in Endwalker and what his character ultimately says in relation to the overall story but again it's not something that works for everyone.
And obviously that's fine. No one is right either way and both feelings towards the character is 100% valid, hence a certain choice in the game.
Yeah I'd agree with this, personally I would've enjoyed seeing that story come up as part of Garlemald in endwalker because I do think it's a significant part of why he is who he is, but you're right that they weren't trying to make him into a sympathetic character in the last hour. He specifically asks another character from Garlemald if they would've been happier if he had a better reason for his actions- the dude did not care.
It is, however, one of the smaller reasons that I think 6.0 probably tried to cover too much ground in hindsight and could've been split into 6.0 and 7.0. All the funnier considering this thread is about the desperate lack of story in wow over the last 2 yearsā¦ shouldn't complain really.
Yeah Zenos is a terrible character.. he's nothing more than that a typical DBZ villlan that just wants to fight the protag and he never evolves beyond that. That said he's still far better than the Jailer.
And the end entire storyline that's been set up since WC3, apparently.
At least, that's what the devs said when they talked about this patch.
A lot of people are going to disagree with you, but I think its always going to be at least a bit clunky.
It is purely on the strength of the cinematic and cut-scenes. As individual piece that set up the story to come like the Warbringers or 4 Covenant intros, they are really good. The rendered cut scenes like Sargaras stabbing Azeroth, are great on their own.
Legion was the last time the story told in the animation matched what was being told in game. BFA started the endless mystery box/cliff hanger method of telling story. Deliver shock and awe animated, but not having the game writing match.
Example, look at the Ashara- the hype it generated for her and N'zoth. The great underwater kingdom of Naga was reduced to a tiny daily quest zone and we beat her in the chapter she was reintroduced. N'zoth got two existing zones reskinned with dailies, nightmare version skits in Ogr/SW, and DBZ edout of existence in a raid. (Let's no forget the gift that you got to chose to keep, but story wise never came up again).
The Sylvanas plot over BFA and Legion still has not been explained adequately in game. So much so, we are getting a book "cough cash grab" what possible made her the dumbass she has been since BFA. She went from being cold, calculating general who fought on her terms to a zealot who blindly put faith in a guy nicknamed "The Jailer" who was going to set us all free. She joined the guy her tormented her in the Maw from "Edge of Night" and turned her back on the Forsaken.
Through Legion, we champions were valued for our service to Azeroth- we were made to feel like we were part of a team taking down the big bads. BFA and SL, naw Champion, you're just a servant to the story of Sylvanas. Will give you some pointless choices and daily quests while you sit back and watch the "story". You like Arthas? We are going to bring him an his cast back for cheap hype, then destroy the foundation of the story everyone has loved with our "cool" twists. Ner'zul, Kelthuzod, Arthas, all were retconned to appear for hype to go out like chumps. Kael'thas was at least fun to quest with.
What you loved never really happened- it was all our new generic bad guy's doing, who was just trying to save you. Sargarus, silly Titian was afraid of the Void, cause the Jailer manipulated him. N'zoth- he was just messing with head to get free. You may or may not have killed him, doesn't matter cause we need to get to the Jailer. The Jailer, despite Sylvanas' googly eyes for his great plan, tells you straight up he wants to dominate everyone. At the end- no wait, Zoval just wanted to unite everyone under one rule to fight a bigger bad, just like your boy Arthas. But I told no one what that was because "gack" cliff hanger by death.
But your not..?
Other MMORPGs have done stories just fine. It's just Blizzard who is constantly dropping the ball.
Is there a real quick summary on how this relates to completing the WC3 story? Maybe it has been far too long since I've completed the campaign. Is the relation just being that Arthas was under influence of the Jailer?
You could argue that wotlk and warcraft 3 were fine, but for me it is was a generic. In my eyes the main thing carrying WoW is the art style and nostalgia. WoW is the last place I would look for high quality story.
That's not even a WoW problem, that's a blizzard problem, they just suck at storytelling.
I feel like this is an exact example of the kind of story that video games have a reputation for from non-gamers. People just expect that they're all this bad.
Basically the Jailer has orchestrated every significant event in the warcraft universe with the nathrezim, who were under his command. This includes sargeras going evil and anything arthas ever did.
Absolute trash. What started at WC3 according to your sell ends in another tease for another bigger baddie. Absolute trash.
If only there was an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.
Can you drop the ball if you never had the ball in the first place? Blizzard has had some of the worst writers in the industry for a long time now. Just look at Diablo 3.
And they gave the bloke a 2 minute outro after supposedly doing all that? Goodness.
I mean, Blizzard can always press the Bronze/Infinite Dragonflight button and pull a "Crisis on Infinite Earths."
It feels like this would be similar to the "please don't reboot Marvel titles" though. You'll have a small but vocal "hardcore fanbase" screaming with a large group of new players or people wanting a refresh being happy to see things start from the beginning.
I think Classic proved what worked. It really showed us what we had loved about old Wow but most people realized they missed the QOL improvements and new systems and progress they made.
If we can find a way of doing this or a Draenor-like side world maybe we can bring it back. Maybe. I doubt it but I want to believe.
There is no guarantee the story will get better if they put someone else in the role. WoW has had, like, 4 or 5 head writers throughout its life cycle and very little has changed in how the story has been told in-game and the general writing quality. It is an issue with the company's culture.
Stormblood in general is weird. I don't think the "backstory" for him really has anything but flavor. He was very barebones from the begenning and they did the best that they could with him in Endwalker I felt.
OP
OP
"Wait and see"
I feel like this "wait and see" style of storytelling isn't working for them. It feels like J. J. Abrams mystery box; something interesting is implied to happen later on, but is never able to deliver.
Come the hell on
A cosmos divided will not survive - Zovaal Lincoln
Also whadda ya mean they madeca sword out of Arthas
Also whadda ya mean they madeca sword out of Arthas
Even Sargeras just got yeeted out of the story in about 2 minutes
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It would be pretty funny if the next expansion truly is focused on the Bronze Dragonflight and is just a huge reset button.
Heck, have it reset back to where Burning Crusade juuuuuust ended and you can wrap Classic and retail into one neat package :p
Heck, have it reset back to where Burning Crusade juuuuuust ended and you can wrap Classic and retail into one neat package :p
At least Zenos had charisma in endwalker and was fun to kind of scoff at and a curiosity whenever he appeared to try and suss out what his current state of mind was. He gets denied so early in the narrative and it's kind of a mystery how they intended to tie it up and that was the charm really. But he got a big moment and you got to kick his ass and that's all that he was really needed for.
The writers had the fucking audacity to tell the audience to forget about Arthas by having Sylvanas tell his spirit "Let your name be forgotten" but I will never forget Arthas. Blizzard may have butchered him again and again, from Wrath to Shadowlands but Arthas will never be forgotten.
I wouldn't say terrible, but not great. Zenos never evolves his goals, or as a person period - but that's also kinda the thematic point of his character in Endwalker.
He is also relegated to a secondary threat for the majority of the game, as the writers (and your characters) eyes turned to the greater story about life and suffering.
However, I would take Zenos over Zovaal 100 times out of 100 - both in performance, and writing.
He's been dead for like 13 years. yeah, it's time to forget about him.
