I actually think Shadowlands has the first interesting story hooks in years and the Eternal Ones are interesting, new characters. Denathrius freakin' rules as a villain.
I just don't give a shit about the mustache-twirling Generic Evil Man and I'm really tired of looking at Sylvanas's stupid fuckin' face.
I am most interested in the
Broker Megadungeon lorewise. They are basically the best open lore story yet
Renewing Mist - Cost changed from 2.1% of base mana to 1.8% of base mana
We're back in top tier, boys! /facepalm
Straygatsby on
0
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
They have at least planted some seeds that The Jailer has more going on than they have let on.
The only issue is almost every single time, when they do that, they NEVER follow through. Like it has been in quest text so far, and its like those people are completely in another dimension compared to the main plot. So they might just go "and then it was over" like the end of BFA with N'zoth and how it seemed like they had been building up some huge secret plot for him for 2 expansions. Then again, that was BFA.
Anyway I still just don't care about the plot. The thing I am waiting for is for us the be able to use 2 legendaries because that will open up a wonderful (even if likely unbalanced) new layer to this wild ride of gameplay changing options.
But the Banished One has a terrible new champion in his service—a cruel instrument of despair conscripted by Sylvanas Windrunner, capable of instilling dread into the hearts of Azeroth’s heroes like no creature of the Shadowlands.
Wowhead has a concept art of that "instrument" which should surprise exactly no one. Not gonna spoil it though.
Calling my shot:
The Jailer has somehow thrown the soul of Arthas into the body along with the one that's already there.
But the Banished One has a terrible new champion in his service—a cruel instrument of despair conscripted by Sylvanas Windrunner, capable of instilling dread into the hearts of Azeroth’s heroes like no creature of the Shadowlands.
Wowhead has a concept art of that "instrument" which should surprise exactly no one. Not gonna spoil it though.
Calling my shot:
The Jailer has somehow thrown the soul of Arthas into the body along with the one that's already there.
My take is that the gem he used to make Frostmourne MK2 was Arthas' soul, or part of it
Renewing Mist - Cost changed from 2.1% of base mana to 1.8% of base mana
We're back in top tier, boys! /facepalm
Is not just the mana issues, is that Disc/RSham/HPala not only have the most utility among the healer classes, but Blizz this expansion just couldn't get around balancing output so they are also the highest throughput classes. And on top of that there's the DPS that Hpala and Disc bring to the raid, and more DPS always makes things easier.
I actually think Shadowlands has the first interesting story hooks in years and the Eternal Ones are interesting, new characters. Denathrius freakin' rules as a villain.
I just don't give a shit about the mustache-twirling Generic Evil Man and I'm really tired of looking at Sylvanas's stupid fuckin' face.
I am most interested in the
Broker Megadungeon lorewise. They are basically the best open lore story yet
Agreed!
Even though, like every "mega-dungeon" people will play it briefly then leave and/or endlessly criticize it until it gets changed.
I really dig The Brokers and The Ethereals from a story and art perspective. Their voicework and vibe can feel a little George Lucas Trade Delegation now and then, but it's tolerable.
Oh yeah a big contribuitor to the M+ wall and toxicity was the fact that it was just not worth it to stick around for a depleted key unless you were working on your max key of the week, so they are also fixing that:
Completing a Mythic Keystone dungeon after the timer has ended will now reward a second item. The item level of the second item will be slightly lower (e.g. finishing a Mythic 7 Keystone dungeon, but not completing the timer now rewards the party with a 200 iLvl item and a 197 iLvl item.
Renewing Mist - Cost changed from 2.1% of base mana to 1.8% of base mana
We're back in top tier, boys! /facepalm
Is not just the mana issues, is that Disc/RSham/HPala not only have the most utility among the healer classes, but Blizz this expansion just couldn't get around balancing output so they are also the highest throughput classes. And on top of that there's the DPS that Hpala and Disc bring to the raid, and more DPS always makes things easier.
Totally agree. For me, I'm not even sure how they've made it this far without baselining a battle rez for all healers. The hard focus on M+ alone would seem to demand that.
Renewing Mist - Cost changed from 2.1% of base mana to 1.8% of base mana
We're back in top tier, boys! /facepalm
Is not just the mana issues, is that Disc/RSham/HPala not only have the most utility among the healer classes, but Blizz this expansion just couldn't get around balancing output so they are also the highest throughput classes. And on top of that there's the DPS that Hpala and Disc bring to the raid, and more DPS always makes things easier.
Totally agree. For me, I'm not even sure how they've made it this far without baselining a battle rez for all healers. The hard focus on M+ alone would seem to demand that.
Is not just a brez, since you can get that from DPS. Is bringing something unique to the spec. Paladin has always had a ton of utility, RSham has SLT and Riptide is overtuned, and Disc has the best Damage Reduction cooldowns.
Meanwhile, no Monk spec has something unique so you bring one for Touch and Ring of Peace and that's it. Holy is just not designed for modern WoW. And RDruid can't be buffed for raids since they are god tier for M+ already.
But, if you give every Healer a BRez and a Damage Reduction CD and make it so their DPS is important, then all the people crying about homogeneization and about "I play a healer to heal" throw a fit.
0
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
To be fair, Monks bring phys damage amp. But the reason no one wants MW for that is because WW is a top tier dps spec right now and covers that naturally.
But the Banished One has a terrible new champion in his service—a cruel instrument of despair conscripted by Sylvanas Windrunner, capable of instilling dread into the hearts of Azeroth’s heroes like no creature of the Shadowlands.
Wowhead has a concept art of that "instrument" which should surprise exactly no one. Not gonna spoil it though.
does ANYONE care about world of warcraft's plot or protagonists? have they ever succeeded on selling anyone on any of that shit post warcraft 3? every time they do a "oh no you care about this character and something predictable has happened to them!" I just laugh and laugh that they think they succeeded in getting that character over for me in the slightest degree, when I actually hold them in sheer contempt. I think they only time they actually got a major NPC in WoW over with me was when Illidan blew up that Naaru in Legion that had been making us do tedious flashback quests to talk about how great Illidan was for a year.
For me, personally
I was happy Thrall got to retire and start a family...until they pulled him in again. I also like Saurafang, but he got to die to a single shot for no reason because I guarantee were going to forgive Slynavias by the end of this.
I also like Vol'jin but he got like no story focus until he died
The problem is that Blizzard is trying (and failing) to ride the fence on a lot of storytelling foundations.
Is the player character the chosen one or not? Are they just some rando? The game certainly started out that you are just some rando in vanilla. But now we are the Champion of Azeroth. We are the foremost Champion of the Horde/Alliance. We are the Maw Walker. And yet even with all of those "chosen one" accolades, much of the time the plot still treats us as if we're just generic nobodys. Half the time we get left out of the story completely. All lore characters turn up for a big moment cutscene, and my character is supposed to be right there in the thick of it. But isn't. So they need to decide. Are we important or not? It's a simple question. But they're trying to play it both ways simultaneously, and that leads to unconvincing narratives.
At this point it's a running joke that the player character is going to do 99.99999% of the work and then Thrall/Jaina/Khadgar/Tyrande/Anyone Else is going to show up and killsteal them in a cutscene. If you want this to be Khadgar's story, let Khadgar fight the big bad. It's so unfulfilling to carry the baton to the finish, only to have a lore character take it and cross the line. And it happens over and over. And over.
Furthermore, the stories lately have all felt obsessed with big setpiece moments, and the rest of the story feels like it was crafted fairly unnaturally to support the big setpieces. I get it. WoW is a themepark MMO. But the story suffers when they also are trying to tell a themepark story. They need to hire writers who can pull off a bit more nuance, a bit more characterization and slow moments. Big moments are most effective when they are rare and there is genuine buildup and tension leading up to them. But Blizzard doesn't do buildup or suspense. Blizzard does "wink wink, hey guys you'll never guess what Sylvanas is gonna do next, it's gonna blow your freakin' minds." And that's not compelling storytelling.
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reVerseAttack and Dethrone GodRegistered Userregular
edited February 2021
So, story speculation.
The way things are going it seems to me like we're going to bonk Anduin on the head to make him good again, and then when we fight Sylvanas - instead of killing her - Anduin is going to make some half-hearted plea about how being good is good and Sylvanas should be good again, and Sylvanas decides to be good again, and then she'll be a major part of The Gang as we prepare to raid The Jailer's personal quarters in 9.2 or 9.3 or whatever. I'd be surprised if the story of 9.1 doesn't play out this way.
But I'm wondering where they'll go from there. The obvious play would be for Sylvanas to just playing us for fools, and as soon as we beat The Jailer she steals his powers, and Super Sylvanas will be the final boss of the expansion (or, bonus points, they set her up as a future villain, again).
But, there's also the chance that they'll play Sylvanas' redemption straight. She's part of The Gang now, all is forgiven, let's all move on with our lives. Oh, Tyrande doesn't want to move on, she wants Sylvanas to pay for the war crimes she did? Wow, what a petty bitch, let's go kill her.
I think they'll just go route 1, with Sylvanas getting juiced up on The Jailer's juices after we put him in the blender, and then we kill her, but trying to redeem her for real does seem like the kind of stupid shit Blizzard would do.
reVerse on
+1
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
Sylvanas finds a way into the future. The alternate future. Of Draenor. You know, after she escapes post defeat because Anduin felt bad for her.
Yrel will then be a super Draenei goddess and will be the final boss.... of a dungeon. Sargeras will be ripped through a portal from his current prison and we will kill him for real real because the expansion will suck and they need something dramatic.
Oh and Tyrande will kill Sylvanas offscreen when you finish an alliance only quest. She will forfeit her powers and kill Sylvanas by throwing Nathanos at her.
Sylvanas finds a way into the future. The alternate future. Of Draenor. You know, after she escapes post defeat because Anduin felt bad for her.
Yrel will then be a super Draenei goddess and will be the final boss.... of a dungeon. Sargeras will be ripped through a portal from his current prison and we will kill him for real real because the expansion will suck and they need something dramatic.
Oh and Tyrande will kill Sylvanas offscreen when you finish an alliance only quest. She will forfeit her powers and kill Sylvanas by throwing Nathanos at her.
I'm imagining a low resolution gif of an explosion being pasted over nathanos and sylvanas when they collide
Sylvanas finds a way into the future. The alternate future. Of Draenor. You know, after she escapes post defeat because Anduin felt bad for her.
Yrel will then be a super Draenei goddess and will be the final boss.... of a dungeon. Sargeras will be ripped through a portal from his current prison and we will kill him for real real because the expansion will suck and they need something dramatic.
Oh and Tyrande will kill Sylvanas offscreen when you finish an alliance only quest. She will forfeit her powers and kill Sylvanas by throwing Nathanos at her.
I'm imagining a low resolution gif of an explosion being pasted over nathanos and sylvanas when they collide
Nathanos has hearts in his eyes as he flies toward her.
I'd guess Blizzard is worried about the dissonance of having every player be "the big hero who did the thing", but I think for example FFXIV manages to pull it off by leaning really really hard into it, to the point of having your character in cutscenes (with your other raid members in the background, as "fellow adventurers").
I suppose that does limit what you can do in cutscenes, though (forcing them to be in-engine, not giving dialogue to the PC).
thinking about it after that shitpost something that the wow universe is actually really lacking is third parties that can be lightly antagonistic but still forced to work with you and azshara would be a genuinely hilarious get for that role
they won't, because that would be fun writing, but it would be delightful
But the Banished One has a terrible new champion in his service—a cruel instrument of despair conscripted by Sylvanas Windrunner, capable of instilling dread into the hearts of Azeroth’s heroes like no creature of the Shadowlands.
Wowhead has a concept art of that "instrument" which should surprise exactly no one. Not gonna spoil it though.
does ANYONE care about world of warcraft's plot or protagonists? have they ever succeeded on selling anyone on any of that shit post warcraft 3? every time they do a "oh no you care about this character and something predictable has happened to them!" I just laugh and laugh that they think they succeeded in getting that character over for me in the slightest degree, when I actually hold them in sheer contempt. I think they only time they actually got a major NPC in WoW over with me was when Illidan blew up that Naaru in Legion that had been making us do tedious flashback quests to talk about how great Illidan was for a year.
I mean, there are people who quit the game over the plot in BFA so I’d say yes.
I phrased that badly, I meant does anyone LIKE them
I obviously care about them or I wouldn't get so mad when it's inevitably bad again
0
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
I think the big question is, if Blizzard did a FFXIV-style push to make the next wave of story a focus of the game and landed it, would that attract and retain more players than they'd lose to the gameplay and flow alterations they'd make to make it work?
My guess is that as much as WoW players may complain about whatever in the story, being expected to play through 40-50 hours of linear story content to get to the endgame would have a much worse effect on subscriber numbers. There's a bare-minimum of story quality you need to hit to retain players, but past that the level of commitment they'd have to make for it to actually be good wouldn't pay off in sub numbers.
I looked at the prices of all the legendary vessels on the AH and wow, leather/mail classes got screwed hard. Which I know people have mentioned here, but just finally seeing the difference for myself. Brutal.
Yea. It blows. My main and 2 'main' alts are all leather classes. And a couple more besides (that I won't be gearing mostly likely so not a huge deal).
And leveling up the patterns yourself sucks even worse. I think any made of the same type should level up all pieces instead of the specific slot.
It has made being a druid slightly more of a pain in the ass. Guess Mother Bloom as Resto is gonna be my big bad legendary for quite awhile. Thank goodness the spec had a fairly multi-purpose legendary, and I wasn't locked into choosing an overly obvious superior one for either mythic or raids.
I think the big question is, if Blizzard did a FFXIV-style push to make the next wave of story a focus of the game and landed it, would that attract and retain more players than they'd lose to the gameplay and flow alterations they'd make to make it work?
My guess is that as much as WoW players may complain about whatever in the story, being expected to play through 40-50 hours of linear story content to get to the endgame would have a much worse effect on subscriber numbers. There's a bare-minimum of story quality you need to hit to retain players, but past that the level of commitment they'd have to make for it to actually be good wouldn't pay off in sub numbers.
also, as we can see in every other game they've ever made, they don't know how to
I think the big question is, if Blizzard did a FFXIV-style push to make the next wave of story a focus of the game and landed it, would that attract and retain more players than they'd lose to the gameplay and flow alterations they'd make to make it work?
My guess is that as much as WoW players may complain about whatever in the story, being expected to play through 40-50 hours of linear story content to get to the endgame would have a much worse effect on subscriber numbers. There's a bare-minimum of story quality you need to hit to retain players, but past that the level of commitment they'd have to make for it to actually be good wouldn't pay off in sub numbers.
Oh yeah, I think if they went full long-form FFXIV it would be a disaster, I just meant centering the player as the protagonist and ignoring the theoretical dissonance of everyone being their own big damn hero. I figure that conflict already exists for raid groups, in a sense. I don't know who Complexity Limit are, my raid group was the one who killed Denathrius.
I looked at the prices of all the legendary vessels on the AH and wow, leather/mail classes got screwed hard. Which I know people have mentioned here, but just finally seeing the difference for myself. Brutal.
Yea. It blows. My main and 2 'main' alts are all leather classes. And a couple more besides (that I won't be gearing mostly likely so not a huge deal).
And leveling up the patterns yourself sucks even worse. I think any made of the same type should level up all pieces instead of the specific slot.
It has made being a druid slightly more of a pain in the ass. Guess Mother Bloom as Resto is gonna be my big bad legendary for quite awhile. Thank goodness the spec had a fairly multi-purpose legendary, and I wasn't locked into choosing an overly obvious superior one for either mythic or raids.
Heavy Callous is rough compared to the other disciplines.
+2
ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
Sylvanas finds a way into the future. The alternate future. Of Draenor. You know, after she escapes post defeat because Anduin felt bad for her.
Yrel will then be a super Draenei goddess and will be the final boss.... of a dungeon. Sargeras will be ripped through a portal from his current prison and we will kill him for real real because the expansion will suck and they need something dramatic.
Oh and Tyrande will kill Sylvanas offscreen when you finish an alliance only quest. She will forfeit her powers and kill Sylvanas by throwing Nathanos at her.
I'm imagining a low resolution gif of an explosion being pasted over nathanos and sylvanas when they collide
I think the big question is, if Blizzard did a FFXIV-style push to make the next wave of story a focus of the game and landed it, would that attract and retain more players than they'd lose to the gameplay and flow alterations they'd make to make it work?
My guess is that as much as WoW players may complain about whatever in the story, being expected to play through 40-50 hours of linear story content to get to the endgame would have a much worse effect on subscriber numbers. There's a bare-minimum of story quality you need to hit to retain players, but past that the level of commitment they'd have to make for it to actually be good wouldn't pay off in sub numbers.
also, as we can see in every other game they've ever made, they don't know how to
this is the real issue, there's no logistical reason they couldn't do their current game structure but also have a Good Plot. It doesn't need to be strict "no you MUST play the whole story from the beginning in order on every character" like FFXIV's, where the tedium of that is mostly irrelevant due to being able to change classes on the same character at will so you don't usually ever have to redo it.
Another night of attempts on Heroic Sire. Best was 15%. That - 4th? 5th? - Fatal Finesse when it lines up with Hand of Destruction is such a pain.
Typically ending phase 1 as soon as the 5th cleansing pain goes out. When we're doing good, we push him to P3 before the 3rd set of adds comes out. But if we're even slightly slow, we get the third set of adds almost exactly the same time he hits 40%, which seems like an almost guaranteed wipe.
Maybe another week of upgrades will help keep that transition consistent.
From my group's experience, do NOT push him to 40% if there are adds out or about to spawn. Call out for the group to stop hitting him when he gets close to 40% and clean them up, or at least get one side clear and get the other side low so you can finish them in a few seconds of their moving to the middle. There's no big time pressure to get to phase 3 before the third add group spawns, the only downside to a longer phase 2 is that you have more chances to lose people to massacres or knockback swirlies from dying adds.
*snip*
My guess is that as much as WoW players may complain about whatever in the story, being expected to play through 40-50 hours of linear story content to get to the endgame would have a much worse effect on subscriber numbers.
This is exactly what they did in Shadowlands. It wasn't 40-50 hours, but the campaign was absolutely required before the player could get to the endgame. No world quests, no covenant sanctums, no Torghast, no Maw. None of that until you finished the main story campaign.
0
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
From my group's experience, do NOT push him to 40% if there are adds out or about to spawn. Call out for the group to stop hitting him when he gets close to 40% and clean them up, or at least get one side clear and get the other side low so you can finish them in a few seconds of their moving to the middle. There's no big time pressure to get to phase 3 before the third add group spawns, the only downside to a longer phase 2 is that you have more chances to lose people to massacres or knockback swirlies from dying adds.
Also do not get excited and push him the second you kill the final 3rd set add. Because that ends poorly!
Did my first +5 of this expac last night (Sanguine Depths, ick). I normally sit around +2/+3 max. I think I did alright as WW DPS. I did kind of feel sick to my stomach the few times I did die, though (fat panda + tight corridors + those damn mistdancers, scribes, and overseers = sad dead panda). There's something about the pressure of not letting down your teammates plus the timer that may not be my preferred method of extracting joy from this game, but I can definitely see the appeal for people who want the added stress/rush. Who knows, maybe you just get used to it and start to like it.
I'd still really dig a version of M+ completely without the time system that can be matchmade and backfilled, but I don't see any way to fairly balance it out in terms of reward.
I looked at the prices of all the legendary vessels on the AH and wow, leather/mail classes got screwed hard. Which I know people have mentioned here, but just finally seeing the difference for myself. Brutal.
Yea. It blows. My main and 2 'main' alts are all leather classes. And a couple more besides (that I won't be gearing mostly likely so not a huge deal).
And leveling up the patterns yourself sucks even worse. I think any made of the same type should level up all pieces instead of the specific slot.
It has made being a druid slightly more of a pain in the ass. Guess Mother Bloom as Resto is gonna be my big bad legendary for quite awhile. Thank goodness the spec had a fairly multi-purpose legendary, and I wasn't locked into choosing an overly obvious superior one for either mythic or raids.
Yea, I got the circle of life and death for feral/resto and the thrash one for bear (since I only do mythics, not raid). No way was I going to get 3 (or more). And my alts I found I could get by with wrists and cover it adequately if not 'best'.
Bigity on
0
StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
Finished the kyrian campaign on my Paladin. Kind of torn for the weapon token. I already have sorrowbane which is 181 and I plan on mostly doing ret but I do like tanking sometimes so I kind of want to get a 1h weapon or a shield. Having trouble choosing.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Finished the kyrian campaign on my Paladin. Kind of torn for the weapon token. I already have sorrowbane which is 181 and I plan on mostly doing ret but I do like tanking sometimes so I kind of want to get a 1h weapon or a shield. Having trouble choosing.
If you can stomach it, you can PvP up to 197 weapons and Offhands with honor. It's not TOO bad, just stick to the epic BGs.
Also you will get up to 194 stuff from WQs at max rekown. So don't worry about it, up to ilevel 197 it's basically just a question of time.
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We're back in top tier, boys! /facepalm
The only issue is almost every single time, when they do that, they NEVER follow through. Like it has been in quest text so far, and its like those people are completely in another dimension compared to the main plot. So they might just go "and then it was over" like the end of BFA with N'zoth and how it seemed like they had been building up some huge secret plot for him for 2 expansions. Then again, that was BFA.
Anyway I still just don't care about the plot. The thing I am waiting for is for us the be able to use 2 legendaries because that will open up a wonderful (even if likely unbalanced) new layer to this wild ride of gameplay changing options.
Calling my shot:
Is not just the mana issues, is that Disc/RSham/HPala not only have the most utility among the healer classes, but Blizz this expansion just couldn't get around balancing output so they are also the highest throughput classes. And on top of that there's the DPS that Hpala and Disc bring to the raid, and more DPS always makes things easier.
Agreed!
I really dig The Brokers and The Ethereals from a story and art perspective. Their voicework and vibe can feel a little George Lucas Trade Delegation now and then, but it's tolerable.
Totally agree. For me, I'm not even sure how they've made it this far without baselining a battle rez for all healers. The hard focus on M+ alone would seem to demand that.
Is not just a brez, since you can get that from DPS. Is bringing something unique to the spec. Paladin has always had a ton of utility, RSham has SLT and Riptide is overtuned, and Disc has the best Damage Reduction cooldowns.
Meanwhile, no Monk spec has something unique so you bring one for Touch and Ring of Peace and that's it. Holy is just not designed for modern WoW. And RDruid can't be buffed for raids since they are god tier for M+ already.
But, if you give every Healer a BRez and a Damage Reduction CD and make it so their DPS is important, then all the people crying about homogeneization and about "I play a healer to heal" throw a fit.
For me, personally
I also like Vol'jin but he got like no story focus until he died
Is the player character the chosen one or not? Are they just some rando? The game certainly started out that you are just some rando in vanilla. But now we are the Champion of Azeroth. We are the foremost Champion of the Horde/Alliance. We are the Maw Walker. And yet even with all of those "chosen one" accolades, much of the time the plot still treats us as if we're just generic nobodys. Half the time we get left out of the story completely. All lore characters turn up for a big moment cutscene, and my character is supposed to be right there in the thick of it. But isn't. So they need to decide. Are we important or not? It's a simple question. But they're trying to play it both ways simultaneously, and that leads to unconvincing narratives.
At this point it's a running joke that the player character is going to do 99.99999% of the work and then Thrall/Jaina/Khadgar/Tyrande/Anyone Else is going to show up and killsteal them in a cutscene. If you want this to be Khadgar's story, let Khadgar fight the big bad. It's so unfulfilling to carry the baton to the finish, only to have a lore character take it and cross the line. And it happens over and over. And over.
Furthermore, the stories lately have all felt obsessed with big setpiece moments, and the rest of the story feels like it was crafted fairly unnaturally to support the big setpieces. I get it. WoW is a themepark MMO. But the story suffers when they also are trying to tell a themepark story. They need to hire writers who can pull off a bit more nuance, a bit more characterization and slow moments. Big moments are most effective when they are rare and there is genuine buildup and tension leading up to them. But Blizzard doesn't do buildup or suspense. Blizzard does "wink wink, hey guys you'll never guess what Sylvanas is gonna do next, it's gonna blow your freakin' minds." And that's not compelling storytelling.
But I'm wondering where they'll go from there. The obvious play would be for Sylvanas to just playing us for fools, and as soon as we beat The Jailer she steals his powers, and Super Sylvanas will be the final boss of the expansion (or, bonus points, they set her up as a future villain, again).
But, there's also the chance that they'll play Sylvanas' redemption straight. She's part of The Gang now, all is forgiven, let's all move on with our lives. Oh, Tyrande doesn't want to move on, she wants Sylvanas to pay for the war crimes she did? Wow, what a petty bitch, let's go kill her.
I think they'll just go route 1, with Sylvanas getting juiced up on The Jailer's juices after we put him in the blender, and then we kill her, but trying to redeem her for real does seem like the kind of stupid shit Blizzard would do.
Yrel will then be a super Draenei goddess and will be the final boss.... of a dungeon. Sargeras will be ripped through a portal from his current prison and we will kill him for real real because the expansion will suck and they need something dramatic.
Oh and Tyrande will kill Sylvanas offscreen when you finish an alliance only quest. She will forfeit her powers and kill Sylvanas by throwing Nathanos at her.
Then we burn another tree?
Streaming 8PST on weeknights
I'm imagining a low resolution gif of an explosion being pasted over nathanos and sylvanas when they collide
she's getting beat up by helya this time or something
Nathanos has hearts in his eyes as he flies toward her.
I suppose that does limit what you can do in cutscenes, though (forcing them to be in-engine, not giving dialogue to the PC).
they won't, because that would be fun writing, but it would be delightful
I mean, there are people who quit the game over the plot in BFA so I’d say yes.
I obviously care about them or I wouldn't get so mad when it's inevitably bad again
My guess is that as much as WoW players may complain about whatever in the story, being expected to play through 40-50 hours of linear story content to get to the endgame would have a much worse effect on subscriber numbers. There's a bare-minimum of story quality you need to hit to retain players, but past that the level of commitment they'd have to make for it to actually be good wouldn't pay off in sub numbers.
It has made being a druid slightly more of a pain in the ass. Guess Mother Bloom as Resto is gonna be my big bad legendary for quite awhile. Thank goodness the spec had a fairly multi-purpose legendary, and I wasn't locked into choosing an overly obvious superior one for either mythic or raids.
also, as we can see in every other game they've ever made, they don't know how to
Oh yeah, I think if they went full long-form FFXIV it would be a disaster, I just meant centering the player as the protagonist and ignoring the theoretical dissonance of everyone being their own big damn hero. I figure that conflict already exists for raid groups, in a sense. I don't know who Complexity Limit are, my raid group was the one who killed Denathrius.
Heavy Callous is rough compared to the other disciplines.
No, it'll look great, it'll feel vapid and empty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
this is the real issue, there's no logistical reason they couldn't do their current game structure but also have a Good Plot. It doesn't need to be strict "no you MUST play the whole story from the beginning in order on every character" like FFXIV's, where the tedium of that is mostly irrelevant due to being able to change classes on the same character at will so you don't usually ever have to redo it.
Typically ending phase 1 as soon as the 5th cleansing pain goes out. When we're doing good, we push him to P3 before the 3rd set of adds comes out. But if we're even slightly slow, we get the third set of adds almost exactly the same time he hits 40%, which seems like an almost guaranteed wipe.
Maybe another week of upgrades will help keep that transition consistent.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
This is exactly what they did in Shadowlands. It wasn't 40-50 hours, but the campaign was absolutely required before the player could get to the endgame. No world quests, no covenant sanctums, no Torghast, no Maw. None of that until you finished the main story campaign.
Also do not get excited and push him the second you kill the final 3rd set add. Because that ends poorly!
I'd still really dig a version of M+ completely without the time system that can be matchmade and backfilled, but I don't see any way to fairly balance it out in terms of reward.
Yea, I got the circle of life and death for feral/resto and the thrash one for bear (since I only do mythics, not raid). No way was I going to get 3 (or more). And my alts I found I could get by with wrists and cover it adequately if not 'best'.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
If you can stomach it, you can PvP up to 197 weapons and Offhands with honor. It's not TOO bad, just stick to the epic BGs.
Also you will get up to 194 stuff from WQs at max rekown. So don't worry about it, up to ilevel 197 it's basically just a question of time.