Take away the mythology, and what's left is a chunk of cliche.

Neverdyne

 

[This thread contains story spoilers]

 

I've always been a huge fantasy lore guy, and Warcraft lore was one of my favorites. Ever since I played Warcraft III, I felt the world had something different to offer. There was something unique about World of Warcraft's setting that made me ignore the cliche plots and characters. I liked to think about the mysteries of the world, about the Ancients, the Titans, the Old Gods, the Aspects, the Forgotten, etc. At the beginning we didn't know what they were, what they wanted. At most we would see a lieutenant, like Onyxia, and we were left wondering what Deathwing was like, what he really wanted. The Titans were a myth, a legend; the Old Gods even more so. The aspects were mysterious dragons with incredible power hiding somewhere without much concern about mortal affairs. I liked the "mythology" of WoW, it made the setting interesting.  

 

Even though most of Warcraft's stories were pretty cliche and "expected", I put up with it simply because the setting was awesome. I know that Blizzard wants its players to feel like heroes. They do this by letting us kill major plot characters, like Illidan and Arthras. Even though I honestly don't like how "xxSephirothxx" and "Legolazzz" killed them, I think it's fine. After all, we were just killing plot characters, of which there would be more in the future.

 

But I feel like they have slowly destroyed every interesting thing about the world. Old Gods are nothing more than loot pinatas now. The "Forgotten" are simply thralls of them. We've seen every elemental lord, from Al'akir to Neptulon, and either killed them or talk to them like if they were our neighbors. We've seen Malorne and all the ancients, and they appear to be nothing that special honestly. And now.....

THE ASPECTS are no more.

 

I feel like the "setting" is not interesting anymore. They have destroyed the mythological setting to leave room for more cliche character plots (Thrall and his baby, Garrosh, etc.). I feel like World of Warcraft has become shallow; a sad excuse for a fantasy world catering to 12 year-olds who want to feel like gods. I supose in the end this whole rant is pointless, since I'm only a single player among millions. But I just wanted to say that Blizzard has lost a loyal lore fan with that Cataclysm ending. I guess it's time to move on to other games, but to be honest that doesn't make me happy, but rather sad. I'm sad that WoW ended like this for me.