To Writers: From a Nelf Fan

Hi there.

I know putting story before a post is a gauche thing to do, but for the sake of honesty I feel it's necesary here. I am the original author of https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20769587656?page=1 this post, which I later copied https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20769617797#1 here at the request of many people in the first thread who pointed it out. The reasons why I could not elaborate further in those threads are mentioned in the post, but for backstory, basically, I no longer play WoW for the explicit reason that I dread its story. I'd love to play it again. But at its current state, I cannot. Now, on to the post, as I originally posted it...because it's literally the only place I can hope it reaches its targets. Anyways.

Fully knowing the dangers of posting an opinion in a public forum (ignominy, scorn, trolls, etc), I still do this in hopes it can reach its intended recipients. I hope the readers can understand this intends to share my feelings and experiences, instead of minimizing your enjoyment or concerns, if any, on the game's story.

If you happen to agree with any of my points, I do like the idea of more voices adding their similar experiences that the Devs can attribute more weight to them.

Now then...

To the Warcraft Storywriters

I am writing to connect with you as a long time player, and fan. I admit, I have always identified with Night Elves above all others, ever eager to learn more about their lore and see them represented in game. In the past expansions, however, I’ve begun to feel like I'm being punished for that love.

It was in Dolanaar, during that quest with the Satyr who tricked you, where I remember feeling like the cleverest person in the world for comboing Gouge and Backstab during a tough spot. Falling from the giant tree, Aldrassil, was my first experience dying in the game. I felt so privy to the world when I discovered the secret romance of the Rogue Trainer in Dolanaar to the one under the boughs of the Darnassus’ Cenarion Enclave. I spent so much time learning to use about Thottbot just to complete the quests of Gwyneth By’Leggonde to find those washed up monsters on Darkshore. And who can forget that damned gnome’s quest to get smashed? Ashenvale bears a large repository of similar endearing quests, and through all of those quests and so many others, I fell completely in love with the Night Elves: they introduced me to the World of Warcraft.

Then, the story destroyed all that connection in a manner as ignominious as possible. Killing all the above NPCs and places in a manner as contemptible as it's been handled is not empowering, or rallying at all.

My concern with the current state of the game is the ignominious sacrifice of characters and stories in the service of a defunct plot. And it's not the first time. For Night Elves, Deathwing’s passing through Darkshore causes havoc and tragedy (compare the tragic questlines on Darkshore to...claw marks on Stormwind). But it serves no purpose other than to say how sad and beaten Night Elves are and then they do nothing about it. I can understand the use of tragedy as a rallying point – but not when it leads to nothing. This repeats itself later, only a few steps away from Darkshore. All through Ashenvale, Hellscream’s rampage destroys a people who’ve fought for that forest for so long, and none of the questlines gave any sense of closure. There was no feeling of having earned them any sort of reprieve. And at the very end, Tyrande’s appearance in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid felt brief and unfulfilling, and paled in comparison to what was lost. It felt like the Night Elves had no part whatsoever in bringing him down.

It was at that point that the writing for Night Elves began to feel not as a series of blunders or part of the inherent difficulties of in-game writing, or wording mistakes, but as active malice.

Outside of the game, it was even worse: “The Shattering” had one of the coolest Classic late game NPCs slaughtered ignominiously: the druid who summoned the Ancient in Alterac Valley (Elerethe Renferal later returned as a monster to kill in Legion). In “Wolfheart”, the Night Elves are out-ambushed by orcs. At night. In Ashenvale. "Silly" is just the kindest description I can afford. In “Tides of War”, Pained becomes nothing but sentimental fodder to be killed for Jaina’s grief. In "Before the Storm", there is a brief, cool moment where a lovely gnome character seems to have a crush on a Night Elven captain and...the elf dies paragraphs after that. A night elf poking their head in a Warcraft written story is like poking into a guillotine’s lunette, the writers stepping into the role of the uncaring tricoteuses peddling hasty product nearby.

I’m not calling for revenge. It’s not about retribution. It’s not about making The Horde pay or suffer; I actually despise the idea of enjoyment in this story being based on a zero sum schadenfreude game. It’s about vindication. It’s about validation. It’s about what the Night Elves are and fought for; every life in Darkshore, every death in Ashenvale, their values and what they stand for, to be shown having some worth to the story. Something where their way of life is shown to be good for something more than just fodder for The Horde, or new models to be corrupted/burned/in need of rescue, as was Hyjal, A Little Patience, Val'sharah, The Wardens in Aszuna, and Vordrassil in Grizzly Hills (all storylines about how the Night Elves can't defend squat unless big heroes come and help them. It's not uplifting for any Night Elf fan to see them fail ubiquitously).

Now we have the new Battle for Azeroth Cinematics, quests, stories, the Warbringers, Terror of Darkshore and 8.1, and as ever, the Night Elves are just shown crying, burning, trying and failing, losing everything shown before for no reason whatsoever other than to serve as a module for the story of others. Yes. Even Terror of Darkshore. Let me elaborate: The story there serves as an extension of Sylvanas' in that it serves to expose her paralels to Arthas. But for the Night Elf side, there are only monsters invading their land, that do not reflect them in any way save physical.

Being empowered by a deity, and earning the power to bring ancient lands to...a standstill that logistically cannot have any victor (By virtue of being a gameplay element that does not have a clear victor, since it changes every other week) does not feel like an empowering victory in any shape whatsoever: it just presents a mild inconvenience, and stepping stone for The Horde that will lead on their advance (Consider that in Blizzcon, patch 8.2 has been hinted to be a 'Horde Strikes back' sort of patch last Blizzcon).

Everything there is about them is systematically stripped, literally burned, ignored (via neutrality, such as the Ancients, Jarod, or Malfurion, and when they do join, they achieve nothing), and it's nothing a new eye color model update makes one feel rallied for. The savage and sometimes melancholic Night Elves one quested with so long ago feel like punishments for having ever empathized with their stories and values. The people who had the ‘Icon of Wisdom’ as a symbol of what they strived for; those who learned to treasure wisdom from the follies of the past and thus strove for a better future in fixing their mistakes and working with nature become proxies for someone else to shine.

As it stands, I'm dejected, dissapointed, even angry and sad. It's not just because of a recent thing, it's the pattern. The promises for fulfillment in the past have been hard at work earning mistrust. It was claimed last expansion was a love letter to the players, but to Night Elves, it feels like a creepy love letter Charles Manson would write its victims. And the future writing just feels like a looming threat. When it comes to Night Elves, Blizzard's writing turns into a Grand Guignol play written by a vindictive, drunken ex.

I don't demand anything out of this. Like any nerd worth their salt, of course I have ideas and fantasies, theories and desires for the story but right now, but with this post, I want to expose something different to the Devs. I just want to expose the feelings WoW's story once brought for me. I am sure anyone who's read this far can remember their first levels in their game, their first NPCs and quests and how and when they learned the tricks of the trade of their class. But only for one race in the game, have those memories been replaced with slaughter for the purpose of mockery, contempt and 'empowerments' made fruitless by logistical stalemates for the sake of a story that, going by precedent, feels like you, via the people you identified with, will never have a place in.

If you read it, thanks for your time and understanding.