Michael Martino Jr.

@BellularGaming Someone else described it as "Popcorn flicks" or just "fun" movies that don't have to be great cinema. That totally vibes with me. I prefer to have the XIV masterclass in storytelling but I can't see Blizz or even Metzen ever being able to sell a narrative experience like that.

@Jiromeru Edgy aesthetics without the required tone almost always backfires. The seems a lack of internal meaning in Azeroth these days - it’s too tonally homogenous, and picks a tone that they struggle to execute well.

Gotta be real: if we had a touch more Diablo 4: LoH tone in WoW, we'd be fucking golden.

@BellularGaming I think that is a pretty poignant way of describing the writing situation that I can agree with. Thinking about the stories that XIV tells for instance, they have an underlying theme and stick with it. WoW tries to cover all the bases /themes and miss landing them as a whole.

@SonOfZeusApollo @BellularGaming Tauren have been in the game since inception you absolute dingus. Same with Thrall being a Mary Sue for fucking Metzen. Tirion Fordring. All base "Heroes" are Mary Sues. Look at fucking Illidan, jesus. What is this blatant bullshitery? Nostalgia cope goggles taking full effect.

@BellularGaming No more furries, no more Mary sues, no more limp twisted males, no more shitting on lore. That's "all" it would take! ...

@frogpitgaming @LoochyTV Yes but you see, Diablo is grimdark fantasy. WoW also needs to be grimdark fantasy because o reasons. That's all it seems to come down to. Dark and gritty make a better game to folks I guess?

@LoochyTV ??? It's the same level of writing. The story is filled with orchestral swells and vague hopeful dialogue complete with an unearned redemption of a monstrous character.

Can the Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred writers please take over for World of Warcraft because holy shit. This reminds of what Blizzard USED to be. I’ve been having a blast.

@xin_xvi To be fair, I also low-key agree because I want a story on the caliber of FFXIV and I know that none of the current or past teams can ever reach that goal. If they had given head direction to someone like Christie Golden? We might be in a different place. Picture relevant.

@xin_xvi I think it's hysterical. People were so hyped for Metzen coming back and making meaningful changes to the story based on their own nostalgia when in reality, it's been like this the entire time. Legion? WoD? MoP? All of them have followed the same approach as TWW and Midnight.

I don’t wanna be harsh but I think the entire Warcraft writing team needs to go. Metzen included.

@Meteorbun @xin_xvi Because that's how media has devolved. Shorter attention spans, constant reiterating of facts or events to keep you up to speed etc. There are very few examples of storytelling, especially in America, where this doesn't happen. It's sad that media literacy has fallen so far.

@xin_xvi I just really don't understand why we've taken this turn into a place where the devs write the story like we are children incapable of understanding a deeper narrative😭

@corymissildine @Kexman I guess for me, I *DO* expect masterful storytelling in WoW. To be able to tell the stories as well as XIV. I have resigned myself to never getting that in WoW though. Your comparison to fun junk food flicks just kinda made it all come together. They aren't bad, just not cinema.

@Kexman The problem is expecting masterful storytelling from the questing in WoW. How is Blizz supposed to design story and still make it accessible for people who can't be bothered to read 😅 Realizing that WoW ain't FFXIV made me enjoy it for what it is - fun junk food story beats

Midnight is fantastic and it's actually even better when you don't have social media telling you it isn't 👍

@BellularGaming Stuff like this is making Evercold, more and more enticing.

Absolutely ridiculous, and completely unjustifiable.

@aelarynn I wouldn't say barely playable and the 12.05 bugs are being squished (I don't defend the state it launched in) but yeah ... this price gouge is crazy.

more expensive than the base expansion btw, more expensive than a character boost btw, games a buggy mess and barely playable btw

@Messenjoyer @BellularGaming Can we dissect the stupidity here for a moment. The event has been taking place since 2014, and became recognized officially by Blizz. You not knowing it existed doesn't mean it didn't exist. Not only that but when the fuck does Blizz decorate for an event *MONTHS* in advance?!?

@BellularGaming They are literally adding a pride parade, but go on, act like it's not happening. You still got a couple of months before it goes live. Also remember pic related, the guy would do or say anything for money. Yuck 🤮

Good lord how are these snowflake people real “EVEN IN GROUPS OF FOUR”

@RinKarigani I think people *should* experience the story but don't have to. If people prefer gameplay or whatever, you do you boo. Play how you want. No one should impose anything on you. Same for mods. I will draw the line at criticism of the story if they haven't experienced it though xD

I'm known for having a mouth so I'm going to say the quiet part out loud: If you're of the opinion that people have to watch the story or else x or y because of your own arbitrary rules that you're imposing on others then I'm Mourinho

@Glitchpuppi *Jenova's Witnesses

Some of y'all ffxiv anti-story skippers need to realize that you're not Jehovah's gift to casual gaming. You do not need to try to convert people or 'save' people because you think them doing the story is better. If they like they story, they wont skip. Its that simple.

@snark_talks This game has a story? XD In all seriousness, yes. They need a story skip that isn't a paid option. I love the story and it really is some fantastic writing, but not everyone enjoys story. Gameplay is imperative for long-term health and growth of the game. Especially as an MMO.

It’s 2026, we are gonna be 6 expansions deep into FFXIV soon. Can we stop with the weird gatekeepy behavior if someone doesn’t want to play through 250 hours of story to be able to play some of the best MMO raid encounters ever made? Heaven forbid someone asks you a small lore question if they start getting interested in the story after starting the game 10 years late. Are we really gonna keep driving people away with this weird NIMBY ritual? Just use your social skills (lol) and answer the small question, suggest they start a story alt on their downtime, or direct them to a synopsis video on YouTube. Crying about “story skippers” this deep into a game’s development cycle is peak cringe. If they set up a skip to Dawntrail for new characters to jump into the new story arc I and many others feel like it would be beneficial for the game’s long term health. While the Hydaelyn/Zodiark arc is great storytelling it’s also not a sacred cow for people to clutch pearls over. At the end of the day, it’s a game to be played. We’re all better than this and should start acting like it.

@BellularGaming We have saved the world countless times and never have been properly respected for it. We have been friends with Khadgar for years and should have been invited as one of its primary members. Most of the folks shown seem to have been there or known of it well before the Champion.

@BellularGaming I agree, but not for the same reasons. Can we come at this from a lore angle instead of a MLP angle? This was introduced as Khadgar's safe haven he created during his escapades in Outland. We have been working side with him for ages now and we only *NOW* have access to it.

Can we just delete the Arcantina please? Like, completely rip it out and pretend it never existed. I think I’d have to give myself clinical brain damage to get behind its creative direction. What the fuck is going on in California... Is there actually something in the water?

@BellularGaming @mindlessmindz I agree but not for the same reasons as your original pic here. I totally agree they have rushed to deliver the story in unsatisfying ways. This has really been the case for ... as long as I can remember. Every expansion feels the same when it comes to lore and story.

@Jiromeru @mindlessmindz Praised parts of* Midnight post 90 has been a huge letdown in terms of narrative & worldbuilding.

azeroth century of humiliation continues

@mindlessmindz @BellularGaming Previous expansions were truly no different. The only difference is that the faction war ended and characters have different perspectives now. Legion's story is heralded but it was mediocre at best. Midnight's story wasn't bad. Wasn't great either. Same with TWW, and DF.

@Jiromeru @BellularGaming No what I and many others want is good story. We’ve been rid of the faction story since bfa. It’s just coincidence that the story writing has gotten worse at that time. No one cares about these new age characters there’s no bond to them or depth. It’s just friendship wins only.