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achtungnight posted:Well, it takes time for souls to fully become part of the afterlife energy, they gotta do something while they wait. Why not become psychopomps, angels, demons, or whatever? Afterlife energy is also not infinite, they can’t just spawn infinite beings from it. At least that’s how it is in D&D, WoW may not be much different. This is one of the major problems facing the various afterlives with the flow of souls coming to a stop in Shadowlands. Souls bring Anima with them, which acts as energy and the lifeblood of the Shadowlands itself, and all the various Afterlives are now suffering an Anima Drought. Most of Bastion's mechanical automatons have been shut down to conserve it, and a certain other afterlife is having to make some very hard choices, but that will be detailed with the next lore post...
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Mar 21, 2023 19:35
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Due to a combination of technical difficulties and picking up another new game that's been eating my time like nobody's business, there may not be an update today.
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Mar 26, 2023 13:27
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If so, it will be missed, but I understand.
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Mar 26, 2023 14:18
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And, to be blunt, I've grown to hate this game and have a hard time working up the motivation every week to record the next episode. At least Warcraft 1 was just 12 missions per side and then it was over.
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Mar 26, 2023 14:41
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Cythereal posted:Due to a combination of technical difficulties and picking up another new game that's been eating my time like nobody's business, there may not be an update today. Take your time. What game, if may I ask?
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Mar 26, 2023 16:15
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Gun Jam posted:What game, if may I ask? Warhammer: Total War. I picked up 1 and 2 together in a bundle for twenty bucks during the recent Steam sale, and after a lot of false starts I finally got a grip on things and have a great game going (Thorgrim Grudgebearer in 2's Mortal Empires). As my dwarf troops have sometimes yelled while setting people on fire with flamethrowers, "Kill everything without a beard!"   Those who haven't played this game have no idea how satisfying those two notices were.
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Mar 26, 2023 16:30
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Cythereal posted:Warhammer: Total War. I picked up 1 and 2 together in a bundle for twenty bucks during the recent Steam sale, and after a lot of false starts I finally got a grip on things and have a great game going (Thorgrim Grudgebearer in 2's Mortal Empires). As my dwarf troops have sometimes yelled while setting people on fire with flamethrowers, "Kill everything without a beard!" Once you get 3, play Archeon and imagine that all his lines are being said by Jim Helwig. It makes the experience 90% better. (don't play Chaos without 3. They are very bad in 1 and 2) SirPhoebos fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Mar 26, 2023 |
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Mar 26, 2023 16:35
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Cythereal posted:Warhammer: Total War. I picked up 1 and 2 together in a bundle for twenty bucks during the recent Steam sale, and after a lot of false starts I finally got a grip on things and have a great game going (Thorgrim Grudgebearer in 2's Mortal Empires). As my dwarf troops have sometimes yelled while setting people on fire with flamethrowers, "Kill everything without a beard!" I like that quote because it very much means that manlings (humans) are exempted because they can grow beards!, everyone else? not so lucky
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Mar 26, 2023 16:37
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Cythereal posted:Warhammer: Total War. I picked up 1 and 2 together in a bundle for twenty bucks during the recent Steam sale, and after a lot of false starts I finally got a grip on things and have a great game going (Thorgrim Grudgebearer in 2's Mortal Empires). As my dwarf troops have sometimes yelled while setting people on fire with flamethrowers, "Kill everything without a beard!" THEY HAVE WRONGED US Warhammer Dwarves are great. 3 is good too (not sure if has gone down in price or not) and immortal empires is great fun, even if the pack in campaign is kind of bad.
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Mar 26, 2023 17:03
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Cythereal posted:And, to be blunt, I've grown to hate this game and have a hard time working up the motivation every week to record the next episode. I honestly suggest cheating immediately and not even trying to do the missions normally at this point, but I get it if that feels like giving up or similar your writing and thoughts on warcraft are far more interesting than the game's dlc levels with no interesting content
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Mar 26, 2023 17:06
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KHAZUK I love Warhammer Dwarfs very much and they have a great campaign in the setting. Alongside that if you do pick up three playing as Cathay is great fun too!
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Mar 26, 2023 17:09
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Cythereal posted:Warhammer: Total War. I picked up 1 and 2 together in a bundle for twenty bucks during the recent Steam sale, and after a lot of false starts I finally got a grip on things and have a great game going (Thorgrim Grudgebearer in 2's Mortal Empires). As my dwarf troops have sometimes yelled while setting people on fire with flamethrowers, "Kill everything without a beard!" Ah, it's great to see the march of progress! By the heady days of Deep Rock Galactic the Dwarves have not only managed to get into space but also only shout "Kill anything with more legs than two!"
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Mar 26, 2023 19:23
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Honestly I don't think anyone would blame you if you wanted to cheat through each level, compress your summaries of what happened and put several into each update to get through it all faster.
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Mar 26, 2023 19:28
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Does facial hair that isn’t a beard count? Is my Skaven character safe? [puts on a false beard just in case] I enjoy this LP for reliving old gaming memories and the fanfic. If you’re losing your enthusiasm, though, I understand.
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Mar 26, 2023 19:43
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Jen X posted:I honestly suggest cheating immediately and not even trying to do the missions normally at this point, but I get it if that feels like giving up or similar Same, I don't really care for gameplay until Warcraft 3, I'm here mostly for writing
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Mar 26, 2023 20:13
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achtungnight posted:Does facial hair that isn’t a beard count? Is my Skaven character safe? [puts on a false beard just in case] Need-desire Dwarf-thing beards? Clan Mors have many authentic face-furs, yes yes!!
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Mar 26, 2023 21:05
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SirPhoebos posted:Need-desire Dwarf-thing beards? Clan Mors have many authentic face-furs, yes yes!! Clan Mors was the meat in a lizard and mummy sandwich in my game.  I was the one who actually destroyed them when I accidentally found and took their last settlement. Never even saw Queek. At any rate, I am getting working on this update. Fingers crossed I'll get it done this evening.
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Mar 26, 2023 21:14
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Great. Rooting for you. A level I fondly remember may be close.
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Mar 26, 2023 21:20
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Alliance 6: By Pyre's Light  This isn't good. According to the draenei we picked up, Auchindoun was a sacred place to his people. Nothing's sacred to the Horde.  We expected a massive Horde mobilization in response to our invasion, and it's on the way.  Colonel, you're the one who beat Doomhammer. Suggestions?  The Horde's cardinal vulnerability is their disunity. If Auchindoun is the central command for the Bleeding Hollow clan and home to their chieftain, we very well might take them out of this fight entirely. They'll be too busy deciding who will be the new chieftain, and that will probably mean a lot of violence. The timing on this is going to be tight, but this is an opportunity we'd regret not taking.This entire mission is really weird in retrospect.  I agree. A disruption like that would throw the entire Horde leadership into chaos temporarily. Colonel, your force will be on the clock at Auchindoun. Do your best. Our best bet will be the naval approach. The Talador River, as the draenei calls it, is wide and deep enough to bring us in close to prepare an assault. Veterans of WoW: The Burning Crusade or Warlords of Draenor likely remember Auchindoun. A draenei necropolis, a vast mausoleum and memorial for the draenei dead overseen by the mortuary priests of the Auchenai. It's a major site in both expansions.  Now, there is nowhere near enough water to support naval battles like this mission is going to have, but otherwise the geography lines up decently well for the Alliance base in this mission to be what is in WoW the modern-day Allerian Stronghold, the Bonechewers we'll see are well matched to Stonebreaker Hold to the northwest, and then Auchindoun in the southwest. The problem is that according to my best guess for the current lore (it's rather confused and contradictory), Auchindoun should be a massive crater because the orcs accidentally summoned a monstrously powerful extradimensional being as they were struggling to take Auchindoun from the draenei in the first place, and that this is where Teron'Gor originally died, the orc who later became Teron Gorefiend. Other lore states that the magical nuking of Auchindoun happened only after Beyond the Dark Portal.  Either way, here we go.  Remember everyone, we're here to raze the Bleeding Hollow clan's central command and get out of here. Engage other Horde forces as you must, but stay focused on the ones wearing orange. For the record, the Archmage came up with a purification spell for our food stores. As long as no one goes opening a magical portal straight to Stormwind, contamination from that fungus shouldn't be an issue. Get in the transports. Azélie, find us a landing site. Have one ready for you. A small Warsong base sheltered by the mountains and poorly defended. Hmmm. Anyone else got a bad feeling about this place? Worse than usual for Draenor, I mean. If our information is accurate, this and that ruined city to the northwest were sites of two of the largest battles on Draenor before the Horde invaded Azeroth. Coupled with the Horde's foul magics, and I suspect we should not investigate any strange magic we detect here. It looks like we're at the mouth of a very big lake. Twiggy, sunshine, we'll probably need more ships once the landward threat is dealt with. Noted. Commencing the old bait-and-bash. Colonel Perenolde. A question, if I may. Shoot. You've defined your recent life by your devotion to the Grand Alliance, forsaking your homeland and all Alterac's woes. I understand and respect that. Assuming we are victorious in Khadgar's quest, what do you intend to do when the dust settles? Second gold mine to the south. I've had a few sleepless nights wondering about that myself, Commander. I'm no warlord, but this war has had a way of... narrowing my horizons, you might say. To date it's been easy to say 'I'm focused on the war at hand,' but I get the feeling you wouldn't accept that. I've been at war as long as you have. I've begun a family and know there's a whole new order of paladins to work with, teach, and learn from. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what the Knights of the Silver Hand will become. Arator asks so many questions about the future, and I'm excited to be a part of deciding what the future will be. So what about you, Azélie? Air recon has spotted a major Shadowmoon base across the river. Sunshine, have the construction battalion prepare guard towers and expect dragon attacks. If you want to kill the Shadowmoon base - it is optional - bring sappers for this entrance.  I don't know, Turalyon. I really don't. Primary target identified. So. You and the Colonel? Maybe. She is... dealing with personal matters, at the moment. Fair enough. Honestly, Turalyon, I'm strongly considering the merits of a hair shirt and being a crazy hermit in the woods for a while. Our target may be the Bleeding Hollow, but I strongly recommend we deal with the Bonechewers to the northwest first. They're mounting transport and naval attacks. That's a funny mental image, but I don't think it suits you. You, Azélie Perenolde, strike me as a woman who needs a cause to live for. I don't think so. I'm no paladin and never will be. A cause can salve the conscience, but I never needed one before this war. There's a saying in Stromgarde. In war you find yourself, or find yourself wanting. This war, Danath, has brought me nothing but suffering and loss. The coming of the Alliance has only meant troubled times for all of Azeroth. Don't blame the Alliance for the Horde's actions, or your uncle's. Don't be naive. The Alliance is a symbol and always will be. The only question is what that symbol means. Random people may fight just because, but symbols create armies and generations of allegiance and hatred. Go ask the Greymanes what the Alliance represents, or my uncle. Unity. A higher purpose. A common cause. An end to independence. A presumption that the common good is good for the commons. Why couldn't the Alliance have left Alterac alone? Too many people died because of your uncle's actions to let him go unpunished. You expected us to forgive Thoras' war against us twenty years ago and all the people who died in that war. That was different. Thoras didn't intend to kill every man, woman, and child in Alterac. And you think my uncle meant genocide upon all of humanity? His allies did, and his actions threatened to weaken us all at a critical moment. There is at last. Fear. The root of every us-or-them conflict in human history. Of course we were afraid, Azélie. The Horde gave us ample reason to fear deeply and well. They wield terrorism adeptly as a tool in war, not subtle but undeniably effective. Accusing the Alliance of being rooted in fear is no grand revelation to anyone who was at the Council. If you intend to resign your commission as an Alliance officer at the end of this war, by all means do so. The Grand Alliance will always be grateful for your service and your heroism, and I wish you the very best with whatever you decide to do with your life. The Bleeding Hollow is destroyed and it is time to withdraw. You've won us another battle, Azélie Perenolde. My greatest wish right now is that you could see your own worth. Mark my words, Commander. The war between the Horde and the Alliance will never truly end until both are no more.
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Mar 27, 2023 00:36
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Blessed are the Meek Last week, Bastion and the Kyrians. For those who have played Shadowlands, though, I'm going a bit out of the order the expansion introduces the afterlives in. Today's subject, Ardenweald.  Ardenweald is unusual among the afterlives, because this realm is powerfully tied to Death's equal and opposite: Life. To come to Ardenweald is not meant to be permanent, though some do stay for eternity. Ardenweald is a part of the natural cycle of life and death created by the Pattern of the First Ones, and is an important mechanism in that cycle. The purpose of Ardenweald is to fuel the rebirth of powerful nature spirits. Troll loas, the Wild Gods revered by the night elves, especially powerful green dragons (a Dragonflight we haven't discussed yet), and other beings powerfully connected to the cosmic power of life. It was long-established fact in Warcraft lore that death for such beings was rarely permanent and they would be reborn. Ardenweald is the means by which that rebirth occurs, as the souls of such beings are sent to Ardenweald where they are placed in great seed pods and nourished with anima, the very stuff of souls, until they are ready to be reborn. Exactly what qualifies a being for Ardenweald, we don't know. Even the troll loas live here and maintain their own little section of the realm.  The more typically mortal souls drawn to Ardenweald are those who loved nature. This does not exclusively mean druids and hunters and farmers, for the love of nature and the natural world can be found in all walks of life. Ardenweald is filled with warriors and paladins who fought to defend the land itself more than any particular people or ideals, artists inspired by the world around them, scholars and scientists who devoted their lives to unraveling the mysteries of the natural world, seemingly normal and urban people who just found peace after a hard day sitting on their back porch or going jogging in the woods, and even mages and warlocks who saw their work as the very opposite of unnatural and that magic was obviously just a natural part of existence (and factually, in Warcraft, they aren't wrong). Players even ran into a necromancer who felt that understanding death was nothing but the other side of the coin of understanding life. These mortal souls mostly then spend the rest of their existence frolicking with Ardenweald's resident Night Fae among the eternal forest. Many voluntarily shed their humanoid forms, and much of their anima, to permanently take on the form of an animal that they feel best suits them. It's implied that choosing to do this also tends to severely diminish an individual's memories, similar to the Rite of Purity in Bastion, but the souls of Ardenweald who choose to do this see it as relieving themselves of the worries of the world. The anima they release from doing so is then directed into the slumbering nature spirits to fuel their eventual return to the mortal world. However, it must be stressed that this appears to be a strictly voluntary process for souls in Ardenweald. Some people keep their mortal forms, particularly those of a martial disposition. Ardenweald is defended by Warcraft's version of the Wild Hunt, and in addition to native Night Fae, the Wild Hunt includes the souls of some of the greatest hunters (and not just by that class) who ever lived.  The native Night Fae who live in Ardenweald are explicitly stated to simply spring up out of the ground as needed, and they are tasked with tending to the slumbering spirits awaiting rebirth. Most of these Night Fae take the form of traditional winged faeries, bipedal fauns, and centauroid people based on deer rather than horses. Left to their own devices, the Night Fae have only a very loose society separated into groves that gather and focus anima for spirits placed there, each overseen by a single leader. Each grove's leader reports to the Winter Queen, the Eternal One who governs Ardenweald. One very interesting detail is that there's a very strong implication that Ardenweald was never intended to be an afterlife for mortal souls at all. Players who allied with the Night Fae in Shadowlands were treated to a cutscene suggesting that the Winter Queen and her kin were very surprised when the Arbiter sent the first mortal soul to Ardenweald, and out of all the normal afterlives in Shadowlands, Ardenweald places by far the least importance on the mortal souls there. The mortal souls mostly just hang out and help the Night Fae, who regard the dead mortals as friends and companions.  Such is the nature of Ardenweald and the souls drawn to it, though, that most mortal souls eventually pass on as well. From what we've seen, it's implied that most mortal souls in Ardenweald eventually choose to either shed their last vestiges of sentience and memory to become indistinguishable from any other animal frolicking in the forest, or completely give all of their anima to the slumbering spirits, effectively ceasing to exist. In both cases, the idea is that the person is choosing to join the natural cycle themselves, giving back to natural order that gave them so much. There's no actual evidence that reincarnation is a thing in Warcraft beyond the wild spirits of Ardenweald, but for what it's worth there's nothing explicitly denying the idea that a soul doing this rejoins the natural cycle of the cosmos. Unlike every other afterlife, there's also no inner turmoil with Ardenweald to discuss. Ardenweald was functioning perfectly, and its threats came entirely from without. Those threats, and how they affected Ardenweald, I will discuss when it's time to finally examine the nipple man himself in a few weeks.
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Mar 27, 2023 00:36
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The... the nipple man? You make that sound so ominous.
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Mar 27, 2023 01:37
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Ardenweald was extremely niche for everyone not interested overly much in what I’m going to call the “nature stuff” subplots that pop up in every expansion with minimal connection to anything and anyone else, outside the druid and sometimes shaman classes But god drat was it gorgeous
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Mar 27, 2023 02:13
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Also for what it's worth, the Troll Afterlife is the one I mentioned us visiting in a dungeon, De Other Side is not actually an intended part of Ardenweald, it is the domain specifically of Bwonsamdi and Meuh'zala before him. Psychopomps revered by the Trolls as the Loa of Death (Bwonsamdi much more widespread, Meuh'zala is an older being). It is Bwonsamdi who comes to claim the souls of his faithful, not the Kyrians, because he tends to make deals for the eternal souls of mortals. The reason he's set up a connection between De Other Side and Ardenweald (where he is unwanted due to what is implied to be an interesting relationship history with the Winter Queen). Is because he's been working overtime during the period the Arbiter was broken to grab every Troll Soul and every Loa Soul, and the Loa who are Wild Gods as well need to go to Ardenweald (not all Loa are Wild Gods, so not all of them go to Ardenweald, Bwonsamdi is for example an ascended Troll Priest). So yeah, De Other Side is one of the only Afterlives we visit that is not part of the major machinations of the Shadowlands. Even if it is loosely connected in purpose/alignment to Ardenweald.
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Mar 27, 2023 03:06
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Ah Ardenweald the least hateable part of the expansion to me. At times I could almost convince myself that I wasn’t interacting with Shadowlands.
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Mar 27, 2023 05:27
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Another bit of lore I won’t comment on. Lack of knowledge or care. Regarding the mission, I found this one easier than most. I liked to wipe out all the enemies, not just orange. It’s doable, especially with artillery bombardment at range. Just always be ready for air or sea defense. And protect your Heroes. Later missions will not be as easy. 
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Mar 27, 2023 10:58
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I've seen a let's play of this mission where the player used their starting forces to wipe out orange and then retreat. No idea how difficult that is but it's certainly a lot faster. When I attempted to play this mission without cheating I brilliantly decided to set up at teal instead. It was not exactly a tactical masterstroke.
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Mar 27, 2023 16:58
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Poil posted:I've seen a let's play of this mission where the player used their starting forces to wipe out orange and then retreat. No idea how difficult that is but it's certainly a lot faster. It's sort of a trade-off. You need to be careful with your forces, since they have a bit more stuff than red, and the proximity to black's base... but so long as you don't get careless, it's definitely the quick and daring way to finish the mission. And if you think about it, it's actually sort of encouraged in the briefing, suggesting a raid against Auchindoun instead of taking on the brunt on the orcish army.
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Mar 27, 2023 19:02
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While I don't have much to add about the Night Fae themselves - they're probably the most in-your-face and philosophically simple of the big afterlives - there is one gem to the bunch. If you joined them in Shadowlands, the Night Fae put on a play about the major events of your life for the Winter Queen and other ranking fae, and it's very blatant that the people who made that scene were as frustrated with the quality of the writing and how little sense it made as the players were. It also had this little exchange that for some reason made me cackle, when the play is covering the player's battles against the Burning Legion. Audience Member 1: "The Burning Legion? What's that?" Audience Member 2: "Remember that time a whole planet died at once? That was the Burning Legion."
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Mar 30, 2023 13:25
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There are a few good moments from that play. Including a certain spoiler character facepalming upon the reveal that the Horde and Alliance started fighting again immediately after beating the Legion.
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Mar 30, 2023 15:24
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Cythereal posted:While I don't have much to add about the Night Fae themselves - they're probably the most in-your-face and philosophically simple of the big afterlives - there is one gem to the bunch. If you joined them in Shadowlands, the Night Fae put on a play about the major events of your life for the Winter Queen and other ranking fae, and it's very blatant that the people who made that scene were as frustrated with the quality of the writing and how little sense it made as the players were. Guild Wars 1 had a similar bit in the Nightfall expansion. A bunch of bad actors put on a play about the events of the first campaign, Prophecies, where they brutally lampoon a character that was a laughingstock to everyone I ever played with.
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Mar 30, 2023 15:54
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Cythereal posted:While I don't have much to add about the Night Fae themselves - they're probably the most in-your-face and philosophically simple of the big afterlives - there is one gem to the bunch. If you joined them in Shadowlands, the Night Fae put on a play about the major events of your life for the Winter Queen and other ranking fae, and it's very blatant that the people who made that scene were as frustrated with the quality of the writing and how little sense it made as the players were. I thought it was the Death Star. Again, not much experience with WoW, not much to say about the Lore.
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Mar 30, 2023 16:08
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Cythereal posted:Audience Member 2: "Remember that time a whole planet died at once? That was the Burning Legion." ...it got better (?).
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Mar 30, 2023 16:40
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One of the local, smaller-scale leaders watching the play also gets really, really into it whenever the player is fighting the Legion during the play. She's a Wild God from a world the Legion annihilated, so she stays in Ardenweald full time. Just in the back going "DESTROY HIM"
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Mar 30, 2023 22:02
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Cythereal posted:If you joined them in Shadowlands, the Night Fae put on a play about the major events of your life for the Winter Queen and other ranking fae, and it's very blatant that the people who made that scene were as frustrated with the quality of the writing and how little sense it made as the players were. Oh god, I remember that! This entire subquest was hilarious and another proof that WoW is the best when it doesn't take itself so seriously. I'm glad that Dragonflight embraced deliberate cheese with it's "literally Dragon Power Rangers" plot.
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Mar 31, 2023 07:55
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Poil posted:I've seen a let's play of this mission where the player used their starting forces to wipe out orange and then retreat. No idea how difficult that is but it's certainly a lot faster. Alas, such a tactic demands someone good at the game, which I am manifestly not. I do not like feeling challenged in games, as a rule. I almost always play on minimum difficulty, and if I still feel it's too hard, I cheat or use mods. There are very few games where either I enjoy the gameplay enough to knuckle down and overcome the challenge or I believe that gritting my teeth and overcoming the challenge will lead to something I value enough to be worth it. That second case also means that if the reward of whatever kind isn't what I was expecting, I'll often deeply resent the game for tricking me, as I see it. One reason why I tend to spoil myself so much before buying a game.
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Apr 1, 2023 14:45
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I’m the same way as you, Cythreal. For the mission to which you referred, I would probably eliminate Orange last. Defeat all enemies ideally. Distractions from main goal first. That’s priority for me. If the game had a timer or something else preventing me from defeating all enemies, like say, Dynasty Warriors type games, then I would have to concentrate on the main mission excluding distractions. We have not yet reached the missions in WC2:BtDP that demand that skill level. Unfortunately, they are coming. Cythreal, you are warned. 
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Apr 1, 2023 21:19
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Honestly just godmode cheat through the rest of the campaign and spare yourself the trouble, since it seems like you are really not enjoying this at this point.
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Apr 1, 2023 21:48
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Feldegast42 posted:Honestly just godmode cheat through the rest of the campaign and spare yourself the trouble, since it seems like you are really not enjoying this at this point. Agreed. I did that every time I played this game to completion back in the late 1990s when I played it regularly. And I think I enjoyed this game way more than you are enjoying it now.
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Apr 1, 2023 21:58
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Feldegast42 posted:Honestly just godmode cheat through the rest of the campaign and spare yourself the trouble, since it seems like you are really not enjoying this at this point. Currently I'm still sticking to my rule of trying legit once or twice before I turn on cheats, but it grows more tempting all the time.  Not to say other games I'm playing haven't hit their share of snags.
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Apr 2, 2023 01:05
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Horde 7: Fire the Canon Reminder that canonically the Horde did not openly attack New Stormwind.  I think the whole thing was covered in a novel. Which also featured the King of Alterac being held prisoner in Stormwind, a raving madman.  There's a dropped plot hook if I ever saw one. It's one reason why I killed him in the narrative for the Alliance campaign, in addition to my general penchant for tormenting my protagonists.  In canon, Kul Tiras just sent a couple of ships and a platoon of marines to assist Stormwind, who were duly massacred.  So with this mission being complete nonsense as far as the canon is concerned, let's move on.  Hey at least you start with a base this time.  No joke, this is where my legit attempt at this mission ended, ten seconds in, even if it took a while afterwards to realize it. I tried building a second tower to secure the southern approach, guessing correctly that that's where most of the attacks will come from, and a destroyer sailed up, destroyed the tower and killed my one (1) starting peon, and things went downhill from there.  Stormwind to the south attacks early and often, with the standard AI land composition. Based on the geography, it seems plausible that this mission is around Westfall.  I should have built more trolls or defenses in the north. Kul Tiras, in addition to dominating the sea, will continually send gryphon riders.  Note that while you start with a tower in the south, there's just barely enough space for Stormwind to squeeze past safely and hit your peons. This, Blizzard, is just a cheap shot.  Thank God for cheats.  Stormwind has a large base to the south.  An island to the west has a huge gold mine (worth 2-3 times the amount of a normal gold mine) and is covered in defenses.  Note that the Kul Tiran fleet includes a lot of gnome submarines, just in case you're playing the Horde campaign and forgot about them.  Unsurprisingly, the Kul Tiran fleet is enormous and covers most of the map.  A base in the northwest corner is the source of the gryphon attacks.  Note that this oil patch I claimed, the closest to my starting position and close to the gold island, is a trap for reasons I won't appreciate. One downside-ish of the invulnerability cheat, I was hearing explosions for a while but didn't figure out where they were coming from.  Juicy.  As I hate naval combat in this game, and especially the old 'take out a land base then transition into a naval war' thing WC2 is so fond of, I opt for dragons.  Now time for a bit of an odd digression. Yes, I've been playing a lot of Warhammer: Total War (specifically TW2, I picked up 1 & 2 in a bundle together a few weeks ago, bought one race DLC, and was gifted another) lately and have gotten a decent handle on it.  Fans of Warcraft are probably aware that for decades there have been rumors that Warcraft 1 was in fact originally meant to be an adaptation of Warhammer Fantasy.  According to former Blizzard executive, and Producer for Warcraft 1, Patrick Wyatt, these rumors are true-ish.  Specifically that when starting work on what would become Warcraft 1, some at Blizzard had hoped to get a license to make the game an adaptation of Warhammer Fantasy, a tabletop game that some of early Blizzard's leadership were fans of.  But the idea was very divisive with Blizzard's leadership and production teams.  Blizzard had already had bad experiences with making other licensed games working with other properties, mainly interference about how the IP could be depicted and controlling business terms.  Games Workshop, the makers of Warhammer (both Fantasy and 40k), also have a long history of being really lovely about any licensed adaptations of their properties, and the interview with Patrick Wyatt alludes to Games Workshop being difficult when Blizzard approached them.  This is why that oil patch is a trap. In another one of those little middle fingers from Blizzard, the oil patch is within ballista range of the island.  Additionally, most of the creative team at Blizzard, while fans of Warhammer, wanted the creative freedom to make their own IP and own fantasy universe.  Ultimately no deal materialized, and by all accounts I could find there's no truth to the supposition that the premise and design of Warcraft 1 was originally built for Warhammer.  Many people at Blizzard were fans of Warhammer, and even played it on the tabletop, so there's undoubtedly some inspiration there.  The fact of the matter is, though, both settings are very different and have been since the very start of Warcraft 1.  Warcraft humans, for example, are flavorless leavened flour product that could generously be called white bread.  The protagonist human nation of Warhammer is a barely functional trainwreck of a feudal empire based on the historical Holy Roman Empire (itself a barely functional trainwreck) and an extremely strong Early Modern period German aesthetic.  I'm not claiming one is objectively better than the other, mind, and I hope that this won't spark a Warcraft vs Warhammer mess in the thread.  They're just different, and have always been so.  But if Kul Tiras in general and BfA!Jaina in particular had looked like this, I don't think anyone would have minded. Just saying... 
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Apr 3, 2023 00:21
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