World of Warcraft: Dragon Desperation

[hello friend]

looks like a furry game now

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the new race art looks worse than 12 year old worgens lmao

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

the new race art looks worse than 12 year old worgens lmao

Dracthyr were designed by a transgender furry so that lines up.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Why is game development full of degenerates? In no other professional area do we see so many of these abominations.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Why is game development full of degenerates? In no other professional area do we see so many of these abominations.

For one, the entertainment industry is a place where this person can find a cushy job. You don't see trannys digging trenches and laying down gas pipelines in 90 degree heat.

The fall of Blizzard is the same story as the fall of Bioware. Studio attains unprecedented success and becomes an industry benchmark. The studio begins rapidly expanding, which means a corporate bureaucracy is established. SJWs naturally seek out the entertainment industry because it has a preestablished audience, which means people they can preach to/indoctrinate/condition, and the corporations are so big that within some genres, there sometimes isn't any competition.

Corporate cancer begins in the HR department. The HR department gets a couple of people who are lefty, and then they hire their friends who think like them (rather than finding the best candidate). During the hiring process, the interviewers ask political questions, and then filter out people who don't align with their beliefs. The board of directors can't oversee everything. They have to delegate tasks and hope that the chain is made up of normal, sane people. Removing the cancer is hard, especially when they have government protections. HR used to be the bad guys who fired people for fuckups on large scale. Now they lecture people about sexual harassment and liability and stuff.

The OG Blizzard devs were passionate and were incentivized to make the best game possible because of their juicy stock shares. As HR's grasp over the company tightens, the OG devs becomes increasingly dissatisfied with working at Blizzard. Brain drain ensues. Over time, the hiearchy is replaced by people who aren't passionate, but are just here for the paycheck or to get the name "Blizzard" slapped on their resume. Or SJWs. Blizzard's production output slows. Old timers become even more frustrated and jump ship faster. Fast forward to today and Blizzard has been completely converged.

 

[Hobknobling]

Quotas are especially insidious because people with actual skills in this heavily tech-driven industry are almost always men. This means that every job that only requires "soft skills" tends to be filled with diversity hires. The companies become lopsided because they can't fill quotas evenly.

You can see this same effect in the FAGMAN companies where server-side software is amazingly complex and well thought-out and then easier things like the user interface is filled with rookie mistakes. Smaller companies can't get away with this, but big entrenched monopolies or companies with their own money printer (World of Warcraft) easily fall into this pit of incompetence.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Why is game development full of degenerates? In no other professional area do we see so many of these abominations.

jews have nothing on the power of trannies to thoroughly infiltrate a corporation/government and use it for their own goals

 

[rusty_shackleford]

It's amazing how the quality of blizzard art has declined, they used to be some of the absolute top-dogs for video game art. When I was younger, my friend who was an illustrator wanted to work at Blizzard, don't think he ever made it.
But I know one thing, he could draw circles around the crap they put out now so it's sad to see the people they actually hired.

This is some amateur hour garbage. What the fuck is that even supposed to be?

 

[Tyrr]

Quotas are especially insidious because people with actual skills in this heavily tech-driven industry are almost always men. This means that every job that only requires "soft skills" tends to be filled with diversity hires. The companies become lopsided because they can't fill quotas evenly.

You can see this same effect in the FAGMAN companies where server-side software is amazingly complex and well thought-out and then easier things like the user interface is filled with rookie mistakes. Smaller companies can't get away with this, but big entrenched monopolies or companies with their own money printer (World of Warcraft) easily fall into this pit of incompetence.

 

[J1M]

It's amazing how the quality of blizzard art has declined, they used to be some of the absolute top-dogs for video game art. When I was younger, my friend who was an illustrator wanted to work at Blizzard, don't think he ever made it.
But I know one thing, he could draw circles around the crap they put out now so it's sad to see the people they actually hired.

This is some amateur hour garbage. What the fuck is that even supposed to be?

It's an afterlife forest creature that uses the satyr skeleton (because blizzard has apparently lost the ability to rig and animate, new models must always use an existing skeleton). Pulls inspiration from theatrical/film versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I wouldn't be surprised if the base watercolor image was actually done by someone else and this person just drew the clothes on top in a different art style.

This is nothing. I'm sure someone will post what they did to Hogger shortly.

 

[Keshik]

Other than the lack of facial expression, seems ok.

 

[J1M]

Other than the lack of facial expression, seems ok.

How long have you worked at Blizzard?

 

[Cyberarmy]

They're the same picture!

WTF, Carbot's version is better...

 

[Sunssarathi]

new look more fairy-taily and is sminling, not threatening like the old one. Old looks wild, new looks like someone putting edgy clothes on his toy dog

 

[RaggleFraggle]

I think your memories of old Blizz are slightly inflated by nostalgia. While the artists, musicians, and programmers were definitely better in the past, Blizzard’s writing quality was always flimsy.

The Warcraft movie is apparently a faithful take on the story according to Metzen. It’s terrible.

It’s not even remotely recognizable anymore. I really think the franchise should be rebooted. Not sure that’ll ever happen, but it’s nice to dream.

(I feel the same about Starcraft and Diablo.)

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I think your memories of old Blizz are slightly inflated by nostalgia. While the artists, musicians, and programmers were definitely better in the past, Blizzard’s writing quality was always flimsy.

The writing quality varied. True there was garbage, but there were a lot of legitimately great storylines. Arthas. Grommash. Garrosh. The Cata-MoP faction war. Most of MoP. Some of the early novels were noteworthy at times too.

The Warcraft movie is apparently a faithful take on the story according to Metzen. It’s terrible.

The actual story events of the First War was not a problem with the Warcraft movie. That movie suffered from the human actors being given poor directions and thus did not make for interesting characters. There was also a conceptual problem in that the filmmakers did not leave the film with a definitive ending that provided closure. It just sorta ends on a "to be continued" that leaves audiences hanging. There is also another conceptual failure in that the movie focuses on setting the stage for "the good part" that it never got to. The movie would have done better with audiences had 1. the humans been more likeable, 2. the movie had a definitive ending, and 3. the movie wasn't about backstory, but was a great adventure in of itself.

I really think the franchise should be rebooted.

A reboot won't save Warcraft. You're still going to have the same crappy writers on it that will ruin it just like they ruined WoW's story after MoP, except without the nostalgia of old storylines people that the good writers got people to care about like Arthas or Garrosh.

(I feel the same about Starcraft and Diablo.)

Starcraft 1 and Wings of Liberty had legit great stories. HoT and LotV were bad, though.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Starcraft 1 and Wings of Liberty had legit great stories.

I disagree.

 

[J1M]

Not sure how Wings of Liberty slipped into that otherwise good post Val the Moofia Boss.

One additional major criticism I would add about the Warcraft movie: horribly miscast.

The first movie should have been the Human Warcraft 3 campaign. It has adventure, action, a decent menagerie and a killer ending. The first two wars can have their highlights shown in some flashbacks after it is successful as a film franchise.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Not sure how Wings of Liberty slipped into that otherwise good post @Val the Moofia Boss.

If we take it on its own merits, the problem with WoL is that it’s a very generic “plucky rebel hero vs cartoon dictator” plot. Then it takes a bizarre swerve into “hero must rescue girlfriend from bugs by collecting macguffin.” My brain hurts trying to think about it.

It’s also an RPG plot forcibly shoehorned into an RTS format, when that does the RTS genre a disservice. RTS is basically the only genre, other than maybe 4X, that lets you tell military, political, and economic stories with appropriate scales. WoL doesn’t take advantage of that.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Speaking of, I take issue with the plot of SC1. I think it’s hypocritical to criticize SC2 for sins that also afflict SC1. In particular the writer ignores or bulldozes their own worldbuilding multiple times. But I suppose I’m in a minority since most people I talk to dismiss or belittle any concerns I bring up. It’s very frustrating.

 

[J1M]

Not sure how Wings of Liberty slipped into that otherwise good post @Val the Moofia Boss.

If we take it on its own merits, the problem with WoL is that it’s a very generic “plucky rebel hero vs cartoon dictator” plot. Then it takes a bizarre swerve into “hero must rescue girlfriend from bugs by collecting macguffin.” My brain hurts trying to think about it.

It’s also an RPG plot forcibly shoehorned into an RTS format, when that does the RTS genre a disservice. RTS is basically the only genre, other than maybe 4X, that lets you tell military, political, and economic stories with appropriate scales. WoL doesn’t take advantage of that.

Main problem is that the characters act as if they were written by someone who had a story they wanted to cram into StarCraft (like Metzen having marital issues or something) instead of a logical continuation of the points of view we saw in the first game.

Making the player a disembodied camera instead of a character the protagonists gave orders to was also a mistake.

 

[J1M]

Speaking of, I take issue with the plot of SC1. I think it’s hypocritical to criticize SC2 for sins that also afflict SC1. In particular the writer ignores or bulldozes their own worldbuilding multiple times. But I suppose I’m in a minority since most people I talk to dismiss or belittle any concerns I bring up. It’s very frustrating.

Can you be more specific?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

blizzard was never known for their writing, so there's little point in arguing over it
the stories were serviceable

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Can you be more specific?

Main problem is that the characters act as if they were written by someone who had a story they wanted to cram into StarCraft (like Metzen having marital issues or something) instead of a logical continuation of the points of view we saw in the first game.

I think this same problem afflicts SC1. It’s just less obvious because 1) most people didn’t read the manuals, 2) most people played it as kids and thus didn’t notice oddities and feel nostalgia for the story, 3) SC1 has much lower production values and thus leaves much more up to the imagination.

The basic issues with SC1 is that Blizz didn’t have a coherent creative vision for the plot. The exposition dumps say one thing, the cinematics say another, and the script says yet another. Which got worse when the expansion was made.

It’s incredibly difficult to summarize and it’s especially difficult to convince people if they aren’t already critics who go over this with a fine-toothed comb.

The lore and plot of SC1 is basically a patchwork of too many cooks. That’s the best way I can think of to summarize the problems. It’s honestly a miracle it has as much coherence as it does.

So when people say “SC2 has terrible writing! Retcons! Insults to player intelligence!” I just hang my head because SC1 suffers similar problems. There are countless inconsistencies and other issues I could mention. For example:
• The manual says at one point that khaydarin is only found on Aiur, while at another that it is foundational to xel’naga tech and their experiments across the galaxy.
• The manual says khaydarin compatible species is extremely rare and powerful at one point, then commonplace at another.
• The manual says the Overmind is a bodiless entity at one point, then a physical entity at another.
• The manual has a bio for the Kel-Morian Combine that doesn’t seem to account for the Guild Wars, at it says the KMC is a non-confederate organization that receives special treatment for some reason.
• The manual says the zerg invaded terran space to consume humanity as a species, because their shtick is consuming species. In the game script, they leave after capturing Kerry and never show any particular interest in consuming humanity.
• The SC1 manual says the Koprulu colonists were lost in an accident and permanently cut off from Earth by 60,000 light years. In the BW manual, Earth magically has a spy network that watched Koprulu for centuries.
• The manual paints the invasion of terran space as the main plot. In the terran campaign, the alien invasion is mostly a background element and the aliens leave after the conclusion of the campaign.
• The psi-emitter is introduced in the script as a lazy plot device to let Mengsk destroy the Confederacy (given the invasion already going on, it’s not clear why he would need it), but it raises questions about zerg behavior. After serving its purpose in the terran campaign, the psi-emitter is never brought up again as a potential weapon against the zerg to lure them into traps (similar to how the Asgard lured the Replicators in Stargate SG-1). It operates purely according to plot convenience: it’s always convenient for Mengsk, never inconvenient for the zerg.
• In the manual, Tassadar resolves to never again glass planets after Chau Sara. This is shown in a short story from the time where he helps rescue people on the surface of Mar Sara. In the terran campaign, he goes on to glass several more planets. This doesn’t seem to be remotely productive, either, as the zerg just steamroll all opposition anyway.
• In the manual, the protoss hold an empire of many hundreds of worlds across an 8th of the galaxy on the galactic rim, with numerous alien allies. In the game script, they hold one planet that is easily conquered.
• The protoss carriers have planet glassing lasers that would come in handy at numerous points when dealing with their enemies, but don’t use them after the first episode (terran campaign) concludes.
• The protoss are psychic and can detect psi traffic, but this only works when plot convenient. So they detect the zerg chrysalis, but not the psi-emitters.
• The manual says the zerg know where the protoss homeworld is (as they acquired navigational data by eating their creators, and are also spying on it with schools of deep space probes for centuries) and the website from around the time says the zerg can see the psi matrix from many light years away (because this a thing psychics can do because radio logic or something). In the game script, the zerg suddenly have no idea where the planet is until it is revealed by an intel leak. In an interview regarding BW, it is confirmed that they still had the deep space probe network in place because that’s how the protoss followed them to Koprulu.
• In the manual, the zerg are explained as spending centuries preparing to fight the protoss and still not being remotely ready by the time they invade Koprulu. In the game script they have no such limitation, invade the protoss immediately, and steamroll the protoss easily.
• The manual spends pages and pages explaining the zerg’s history and motivations. The text plays them up as being the main villains of the franchise because they want to eat everyone! In the game scripts, that all gets tossed aside in favor of making QoB and her personal vendettas the main plots. The zerg cast is all killed off (and can’t be brought back because of a lawsuit brought by Games Workshop that was never legally sound), and their backstory is never referenced again (until SC2 HotS anyway).
• In the manual, the dark templar nearly annihilate their species by accident and are “exiled” by the judicators in self-defense. In the game script, the judicators are just generic irrational bigots.
• In the game script, the Overmind and cerebrates have magical immortality that can only be defeated by plot device and this is why they steamroll the protoss. In the manual, the zerg are terrified of the protoss and believe the protoss will annihilate the zerg if they don’t R&D a trump card first just to stand on equal footing. There’s no implication the cerebrates are immortal even though that would hugely relevant to mention here.
• The UED arrives and already has detailed and seemingly foolproof plans prepared to enslave the second zerg overmind. They only know the zerg existed for a few months at this time. The second Overmind didn’t exist by the time they sent the fleet. The first Overmind was never encountered by terrans other than Raynor’s and Schezar’s men on Aiur. (According to the timeline on the fandom wiki.)
• The Earth’s communications with Koprulu operate on plot convenience. They have a spy network providing them with up to date information on Koprulu, allowing them to send a fleet that leaves/arrives in only a few months after the battle of Chau Sara when they learned of the zerg and protoss. This network suddenly stops working as soon as the UED fleet arrives in Koprulu and they are unable to send updates back to Earth on their progress.
• In the BW scripts, everyone trusts QoB implicitly even though she is clearly untrustworthy and let her get away with ridiculous crimes like publicly murdering foreign heads of state in front of an entire army of witnesses.
• In the BW script, Aldaris starts a rebellion against the dark templar just by telling the refugees to rebel rather than telling anyone he suspects the DT matriarch is under zerg mind control. The refugees just go along with this despite being, you know, refugees. The zerg are currently trying to kill them all and they do this?
• In the BW script, Duran betrays the UED in front of a literal army of witnesses and nobody besides Stukov notices.
• In the BW script, Stukov tells DuGalle multiple times that they should use the psi-disruptor. When Stukov predictably assembles the disruptor against orders, DuGalle immediately suspects his childhood friend Stukov who spoke his intentions multiple times and in front of literal armies of witnesses is attempting to usurp him and orders Stukov to be assassinated. DuGalle only realizes he make a mistake when Stukov tells him Duran is a traitor with his dying breath, which DuGalle somehow believes despite ordering his death just five minutes ago. Who proofread this script?

There’s plenty more where that came from but got I tired of listing them.

 

[abija]

Other than the lack of facial expression, seems ok.

That was some wishful thinking.