Cortyn regularly praises Blizzard for Cinematics and many content. However, especially in World of Warcraft, Blizzard fails at something that should actually have devastating consequences – genocide.
There is no doubt a category in which no one can match Blizzard: Cinematics. The big, significant moments in WoW, StarCraft, or Overwatch are always wrapped in nearly perfect Cinematics that have an unmatched quality and intensity in the video game industry. Whether it’s the brilliant CGI videos, the in-game cinematics, or the “2.5D-Cinematics” like those from Warbringer: Azshara, they leave viewers in awe.
When King Terenas begins to speak in the cinematic for “Wrath of the Lich King” and says, “My son, on the day of your birth even the woods of Lordaeron whispered the name … Arthas,” a shiver runs down my spine.
When Sylvanas was about to lift the Helm of Domination as if she wanted to put it on, I held my breath briefly and was then surprised when she destroyed it.
At the moment Sargeras, who towered over the entire planet, plunged his sword into Azeroth, hundreds of images with the implications of this act raced through my mind.
No question: These big, bombastic moments where heroes (or villains) do something impressive and significantly advance the plot are simply something Blizzard excels at. Visually, dramatically, and content-wise, it is always a spectacular display, and I am convinced that they are the best in the world in this area.
World of Warcraft has one “extermination” after the other
Unfortunately, Blizzard often fails to translate the visual power into a logical representation within the game world. Or to put it a bit more provocatively: Blizzard simply can’t seem to pull off a (convincing) genocide.
Let’s take the two larger elven races in World of Warcraft, the Night Elves and the Blood Elves.
The Blood Elves were nearly exterminated during Warcraft 3. When the Scourge invaded Quel’Thalas and Silvermoon, hardly anyone was spared. A figure that repeatedly circulated was a destruction of 90%. The death toll that literally runs through all of Quel’Thalas is largely made up of skeletons and corpses.
The Night Elves suffered a similar fate in more recent history when the World Tree Teldrassil was set ablaze and a large portion of the Night Elf population was burned alive. Here, more than just “a great city” of the Night Elves was lost, but a significant part of the entire species. As stated in the accompanying short story to the incident:
“Then, my dear, I shall name you Finel. ‘The Last’. For you are the last Kaldorei who escaped with your life.“
The World Tree was more than just a city. It was a whole land, home to countless innocents. How many Night Elves existed in other places of Azeroth? Far too few. Now they were all that remained of their people.
Sylvanas Windrunner had committed genocide.
It can therefore be assumed that the Night Elves are now little more than a splinter group, a small part of what was once a vast race.
The humans and Worgen are not doing particularly well either. Even before patch 8.2, Genn Greymane told Anduin that they now had no soldiers left and would have to send “farmers” next.
But that is not all. In other events, massive destruction and annihilation were depicted. If we take the pre-event of “Wrath of the Lich King”, it was a renewed attack by the Scourge that had claimed many victims. Even more pronounced was the Legion’s attack in the pre-event of Legion. There, nearly the whole world was besieged, with demon attacks occurring at all corners of Azeroth, which claimed many lives.
This story continued in the campaigns of the Order Halls – some regions, such as Darkshore in the Duskwood, have been completely destroyed and almost all inhabitants killed or converted to the Legion.
All these events, which in most cases are global, lead to only one conclusion: There is a lack of capable humanoids on Azeroth, and each catastrophe of recent years has only worsened the problem.
Since the history of Azeroth has been entirely story-driven over the past 10-15 years, it is also virtually impossible to have spawned enough new Elves, Humans, and other races in that time. Even if all survivors were hanging around in Goldshire all day long, that wouldn’t compensate for the losses, let alone the necessary time for growing up.
All races are “bleeding out” and most of the major species must be so decimated that thinking of huge armies operating on multiple fronts is hardly conceivable in most cases.
Genocide without consequences feels empty and meaningless
However, precisely this circumstance is not well conveyed or represented in the game, but is almost brushed aside. When the next threat arises, there are again several hundreds of Night Elves or Blood Elves fighting for a cause. The next conflict will again have thousands of humans in the best gear fighting for it.
But it’s not just that that bothers me; it’s also the almost nonexistent effect on the psyche of the beings. Sure, terrible things happen in World of Warcraft, and disastrous events are an ongoing theme. That one can cope better with certain atrocities and has thicker skin than would be the case “in real life” is somewhat logical.
Nonetheless, I am firmly convinced that there is a difference between beings dying from “natural evils” like the Scourge or the Legion, or through military actions of a faction with which one would conclude peace or at least a ceasefire a year later.
Each and every living Night Elf has likely lost family, acquaintances, and friends on Teldrassil – and most of the time not just one person but a significant portion. The fact that “peace” is now being made in the name of the Alliance should, in my opinion, lead to huge disputes, protests, or even worse actions within the Alliance. No matter how tired people are of the war. When one’s own family has been wiped out, and one suddenly makes peace with the murderers, one would expect that at least some elves would snap.
Only Tyrande as the Night Warrior is seeking Sylvanas together with the other elves who have undergone the ritual, thirsting for revenge. Yet that is an even smaller splinter group within a splinter group.
Of course, at the end of the day, World of Warcraft is a game rated for ages 12 and up that does not want to delve deeply into the horrors of war with psychological or social consequences as it maybe could. After all, it is still a game that aims to provide entertainment in a colorful fantasy world with ever new tasks. But I find that unfortunate. With each passing year and every world-changing incident in Azeroth, these acts become slightly hollower, somewhat less significant, and somewhat less impressive. And that, while the cinematics are almost perfect.
If I want to leave a lasting impression in a fantasy world by annihilating an entire people, it would be nice if that were also reflected in the world.
Or what do you think?
Ihr wollt mehr zum Spiel? Tolle Specials, heiße News und interessante Infos zu World of Warcraft findet ihr auch auf unserer WoW-Seite auf Facebook.
