Oh, someone should tell Metzen his former bosses are using the tagline "It Matters" to up the real-world stakes to sell the impending race war underlying the upcoming expansion.Just in case he's arguing for fans to be more ....casual.
If these story decisions were made months in advance why did none of the team notice the obvious plot holes in the alliance side of the burning of Teldrassil? People reacted negatively because it was poorly written and thought out, simple as that. We found out about the attack when the horde were in Ashenvale, plenty of time to send out messengers to the Exodar and Darnassus to alert the leaders. There was no aid from even the Exodar although its within spitting distance, thats the most shocking part to me.. after helping the Velen and the Draenai redeem their homeland on Argus. There are direct portals to and from Darnassus yet none of the mages of the alliance thought to use them. The Night elves had the high ground being atop Teldrassil, perfect for their glaive throwers. It just doesnt make one bit of sense why THE TREE OF LIFE was so quickly written off as undefendable.. The writers shouldn't be surprised that people are very upset about the story decisions for the game they love when those decisions made are half-baked ideas.
"But the Horde doesn't have a 'space ship' how is that fair?"Solid question.During the evac Syl fires some ballistae tipped with Blight (aka perfect plottium) at the space ship and Velen says "if that gets in here everyone will die because space ship" and the ship whizzes off. Later Velen tells the Alliance they can't use the ship for anything that's not literally life or death for a civilization because it's irreplacable and seeing how the NElves are being treated they kinda don't want to have to trust anyone to give them a home if their ship is crashed.And they have stuff to do offscreen relating to whatever the Dranei actually are doing ie probably Argus.Space ship removed from plot, BfA progresses as usual by being ostensibly about each group's navy.
This is also an unhealthy attitude to have. When you enjoy something with as much depth as WoW, Star Wars, Star Trek, D&D, and others, you do not just 'quit' them. You constructively point out the bits that you feel do not belong to those universes, and why you feel they do not belong there, as well how it might be made better and more fitting. 'Quitting' it is equivalent to kicking you significant other of ten years to the curb because you don't like the way they say "that's so funny" after every joke and during funny movies. It's just not a fitting or healthy response.
I was reading Metzen's interview today, and I have to say, a lot of what he says is actually quite spot on. I remember reading about something that happened several years ago, on another fandom community. like, apparently this young female fan was making fan art of these cartoon characters on this major social media site, but apparently some others in the community thought her art was "offensive" to fat people or other petty reasons, and they pretty much destroyed her, it was apparently really vicious, some of the attacks. Legitimate constructive criticism is one thing, but treating these things like they're a matter of life-or-death is another. I don't know if she is still active, but she ultimately received hospitalisation b/c she almost killed herself out of depression over the ongoing threats and attacks. Point of the story, some communities really can be very extreme and unusually toxic, and some younger people these days care more about fictional worlds and characters than the real one, Metzen has a good point in what he says, some of us are just too sheltered to realise that. Thank God Warcraft and other gaming communities' fanon doesn't seem to be that extreme (yet at least).
It's a strange time for creators. Once upon a time, audiences or consumers would react negatively to certain aspects of movies/games/books, but before the internet and social media, what would you have done? Probably complained verbally to friends/communities, or maybe sent a strongly worded letter. But with the advent of new technology, people have a direct line to creators. I think this can be a good thing, in some respects as it allows creators to connect directly with their audience and keep a finger on the pulse. It also can encourage a general sense of community.Unfortunately, it seems to be more the case it allows anyone with a keyboard and a strong opinion to engage more directly - generally with little to no constructive goal. I think Mass Effect 3 was one of the first times we saw this happening. It really was an eye opener, and not for the better. I get you're invested in the series, and you didn't like the way it ended - but so what? Plenty of people did. In what realm of existence do they owe you an explanation, or worse - to change/adjust said ending to suit your childish tantrums?Since then it appears to have given way to a mindset from some consumers that they're entitled to some aspect of control over creative endeavours.It's okay to dislike something. It's okay to have an opinion on something. It's okay to share your opinion. It's not okay to launch a hate campaign against someone because you didn't like the way their movie ended, or that they killed your favorite character off in a book series - whatever you're unhappy about, it's never okay to go after creators. They don't owe you anything. Sure you can be angry if you're sold or delivered an incomplete product, or were misled about some aspect of it - but if your grievance is related to the way the story played out, I'm sorry but you need to get off the internet for 5 minutes and get some perspective.I'll never be ashamed to be a gamer, a fan, whatever - but I'll always lament and feel bad for people that have to cop crap from entitled children on the internet. All you're doing is damage to your favorite hobby, your favorite franchise, your community and people's happiness in general.Stop it.
As much as I'd love to hear Chris speak on these topics, I just can't bring myself to listen to Scott anymore.
I see a lot of people just saying "you are wrong because X is bad writing/bad writer/etc".That's just your opinion. Don't portray it as fact, please.
The word "toxic" is such an annoying buzzword used by people to make excuses for their failures.
I try to avoid getting in on these out-of-control fandom rides (Star Wars, Iron Fist, etc) and just keep to myself and my friends about my feelings, because tone and context are both vital for discussion, and impossible to establish in text.But, I feel the need to speak my peace into the world. Because WoW means a lot to me.I feel as though fandom in general has lost the idea of compartmentalizing. We're increasingly a binary group; either we hate something or we loves something. If there's one or two things we don't like, the whole franchise is "dead". It's such an immature way of looking at things, it allows no discussion or learning.WoW has always been a mixed bag. Some expansions, for every one feature that was amazing, two were just frustratingly terrible. Some, for every one annoying mechanic, two were so, SO satisfying. It's been that way for 14 years.For me, yes, the flippant-ness of the Burning of Teldrassil felt like sensationalist, shock value writing. The Sylvanas I know is smarter than that. But damn if Anduin isn't being his truest self.For me, yes, I'm done with the faction divide. I've seen the same war for over a decade now and after Legion it just doesn't make any sense. But damn if my main classes don't feel interesting and new.For me, yes, I think forcing the Horde to be ok with their friends dying to Blight robs them of their voice and agency, two things players NEED in a video game. But damn if Jaina isn't my new Sarah Connor, my new badass survivor girl.You get the idea. For every Zandalari allied race (I'm sick of trolls) there's a Kul Tiran (LOVECRAFT DRUIDS). You take the good with the bad.You act like an adult when speaking to other humans. You cry foul when you see something wrong, but accept that someone else might have seen it better. Your opinion doesn't make you right, it just makes you opinionated. Everything I said above can be debated, and I welcome it. But don't mistake blunt, aggressive, dehumanizing criticisms for "passion". Its childishness. Don't confuse slamming your opinions on every platform you're given as "providing feedback". It's narcissism. And don't try to weed-out people who disagree with you by trying to debunk their opinions. You aren't improving the world, you're making an echo-chamber.