Warcraft Retrospective 39: The Feel of Warcraft

And so we have traced the shaping of the Warcraft setting as we broadly know it: from a barely defined pseudo-medieval kingdom beset by savage evil alien invaders to a large, sprawling world of at least three continents¹ populated by many different races, with a history stretching back over ten thousand years, in a universe full of other worlds, where mortals are but ants compared to enigmatic cosmic forces, from the seemingly benevolent Titans to the omnicidal Burning Legion.

It’s been a wild journey, and now that we’re done with Warcraft 3, which formed the foundation of the modern Warcraft setting, we can finally answer the question: What is that much-lauded feel of Warcraft? What is it that gives Warcraft its distict flavor, separating it from the likes of Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy games, both tabletop and computer, that came before and after it?

What follows is merely my interpretation, which, of course, I don’t claim to be authoritative. Like I said long ago, Warcraft means different things to different people.

1. Four if you count Pandaria, but technically we don’t yet know where it is or whether it’s even a continent. ↩

Warcraft Retrospective 38: Where Sailors Fought and Died

Last time, we left Orgrimmar behind as Rexxar, Rokhan, and Chen Stormstout took a zeppelin south, entrusted by Thrall to deliver a message to Jaina at Theramore Isle.

Back at release, it took five and a half months and thirteen patches to get there, but eventually, players did get the remainder of this story.

Warcraft Retrospective 37: And Now for Something Completely Different

We have just one campaign left. Like I said, the Horde campaign in The Frozen Throne is disconnected from the three-campaign main plot. That’s why it’s called the “bonus campaign” in the main menu. It’s also very different from every other campaign we’ve played so far, being heavily custom-scripted in a way that’s a testament to the insane capabilities of Warcraft 3’s World Editor.

Warcraft Retrospective 36: Battle of the Edgelords

Before we leave Sylvanas behind, let me say just one thing.

Sometimes you hear accusations that Blizzard “ruined” Sylvanas by “turning” her into a villain in later WoW. I don’t think that’s fair to say, since portraying her as a villain is entirely consistent with her portrayal in The Frozen Throne.

She’s evil! She tortures her victim instead of giving him a clean death, she mind controls masses of unwilling people into blind obedience, she lies to Garithos and enters an agreement that she has no intention of honoring, and finally, she orders Garithos killed, unprovoked. The problem is that the campaign is set up so that none of her evil actions (other than mind control) are directed at innocent people; her victims are villains themselves, namely the dreadlords (who may have committed more evil than her), Arthas (who has definitely committed more evil than her), and Garithos (not only evil, considering his readiness to execute all the innocent blood elves, but a massive jerkass to boot). The end result is that when Sylvanas wins, we root for her, even when we recognize deep down that her actions are monstrous.

We’ll see later how this changes in World of Warcraft.

For now we’re returning to Arthas and Anub’arak. Leaving the shores of Northrend behind, they’re ready to descend…

Warcraft Retrospective 35: Code Charm: Sylvanas of the Rebellion

The Frozen Throne redesigned all faction themes to be more upbeat and more suggestive of action, but whereas it’s very obviously the case with the human, night elf, and orc faction themes¹, it’s less so with the undead one. There are more war drums compared to the original one, but overall it’s still sticking with the feel of the previous undead theme: slow, spooky, and eerie.

As for the campaign, we’re going to take a one-mission break from Sylvanas’s plotline and once again focus on Arthas.

1. Patience. We’ll get to the orcs. ↩

Warcraft Retrospective 34: Something is Rotten in the Ruins of Lordaeron

And so, Illidan, Kael’thas, and Vashj are preparing to storm Icecrown Glacier and destroy the Frozen Throne, and with it, the Lich King. Of course, the Scourge is hardly going to sit idle while an enemy strikes at their leader, and we’re about to find out what they’ve been up to since we last saw them.

Warcraft Retrospective 33: Somehow, Draenor Returned

Last time, we left Kael, Vashj, and their blood elves and naga as they leapt into a portal to the unknown. Now, on the other side, they behold…

Warcraft Retrospective 32: Ah Yes, the “Alliance” Campaign

As we saw last time, much of the expansion night elf campaign, especially the second half, might as well not have existed. Sure, it introduced Maiev, a now-iconic character, and the Broken Isles, which later became the setting of a well-liked expansion (albeit in a heavily retconned form), but most of the events of this campaign specifically are never mentioned again in later Warcraft lore.

The events of the next campaign, however, became very important and foundational to Warcraft lore as we know it now.

Warcraft Retrospective 31: Paved With Good Intentions

Before we proceed to the second half of the Terror of the Tides campaign, I should mention that Illidan gives me heavy Fëanor vibes.

One of the most skilled elves ever, whose pride and arrogance led to his downfall; thinking he alone could save the world, even if it’s to be accomplished through mass murder, betrayal, and by defying the will of everyone else, even the gods, because clearly they don’t have what it takes and don’t know what they’re doing. In fact, to hell with them and their “help”; they’d only be a burden. In fact, let’s not share one’s plans with anyone else and burn the ships to ensure nobody can follow.

And of course, both Fëanor and Illidan have massive fandoms insisting they have done nothing wrong.

Warcraft Retrospective 30: Inspector Maievert

Before we move on to The Frozen Throne, I should point something out: World of Warcraft was already long in development by the time the original Warcraft 3 shipped. The book The World of Warcraft Diary: A Journal of Computer Game Development, by Johnathan Staats, helped me appreciate just how far into development it was. Warcraft 3 and WoW were developed in parallel, and they piggybacked off each other’s worldbuilding. This might explain, somewhat, why there are some inconsistencies between them, both factual and thematic: the Warcraft 3 story went through a number of iterations, which were costly to change by the time WoW shipped.