The new WoW cinematic is causing a lot of discussions. Was Blizzard lazy and sloppy here? Or are the fans overreacting a bit?
Last night, the new cinematic “Afterlife: Maldraxxus” was released and featured the story of the orc woman Draka. After her death, she ended up in Maldraxxus and lives there as a warrior and spy with special powers.
While the reviews for this video are rather mixed and many criticize that the video was boring and lacked a strong message compared to Afterlife: Bastion, there are also other flaws. Some users quickly noticed that Afterlife: Maldraxxus shared some scenes with previous cinematics.
Lazy or cleverly implemented?
Old scene reused: For example, there is a scene from Harbingers: Illidan that was used in the new cinematic with minimal changes. Here you can see the two images in comparison:
The first reactions to this on Reddit were consequently amused and a bit mocking. Comments like “Can I copy your homework? I’ll change it a little bit …” and similar remarks were made.
Many fans probably thought that Blizzard had gotten lazy and simply reused scenes from the old cinematics that fit somewhat. This would certainly have saved production costs, and one could mockingly say, “how bad Blizzard has become”.
However, there are also some fans who believe that this was indeed intentional and a conscious decision. After all, they could have copied much better images that wouldn’t have stood out so much.
This suggests deliberate use: In the cinematics, Blizzard usually places a high value on the details used. The image with the demon sentinels provides several arguments why it was used intentionally:
- Demonic creatures do not exist in Maldraxxus as far as we know. Showing “wrong” creatures here would be a serious blunder that players would have noticed immediately – just as it is the case now.
- There is a new image with the demons directly afterwards. This time they are seen from the back. This artwork has not been used before, so it was (presumably) made specifically for this scene. It would be nonsensical to use “wrong” creatures then.
- In the background of the second image, you can see trees. However, Maldraxxus is known for having absolutely no trees there. This would be another serious blunder that does not occur elsewhere in the whole cinematic.
All of this at least suggests that Blizzard deliberately reused this image. This connects them to the Burning Legion, which may become important for the storyline’s progression. After all, we know that the Legion must have been in contact with the Shadowlands in some way, Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination were crafted in the Shadowlands and ended up in the hands of the Scourge and later Arthas through the Legion.
Maybe Blizzard will comment on this in the coming days and clarify why they chose this depiction.
Meanwhile, WoW had just fulfilled a wish from the fans and reverted many of the GCD changes …
What do you think? Was Blizzard simply lazy and reused old images to save money? Or was this a deliberate connection of story elements across different narratives?
