OOC: This is not tied to any present TL.
What if Chris Metzen didn't leave the World of Warcraft development team to work on HeroFall(OOC: a superhero RPG made by Blizzard) halfway through the planning of The Burning Crusade expansion but before development really kicked in. As a result of his departure, the Warcraft story team tended to rotate. At certain points Drew Karpyshyn, Chris Avellone and even Joss Whedon worked on parts of the lore.
While the game is praised for it's gameplay, and maintains the largest playerbase for any MMO, the story under several writers have been hit-or-miss. On one hand you have the superb handling of the faction war once tensions arose, as well as Kael'Thas character arc. On the other hand you have some really polarizing storylines such as Whedon's decision to redeem Arthas in Wrath of the Lich King by giving him a Darth Vader-style death and the attempts to push the Old Gods, not the Burning Legion as the main villains of the setting(in fact story writers have argued back and fourth as to who the main villains of the setting are). And there are some really bad storylines such as the fate of Saurfang and how they almost ruined Malfurion....
But what if Metzen didn't leave the Warcraft development team? How would this affect the story? Would some of the more polarizing elements of the lore be reduced? How would this affect the gameplay and Warcraft's place in pop culture?
What if Chris Metzen didn't leave the World of Warcraft development team to work on HeroFall(OOC: a superhero RPG made by Blizzard) halfway through the planning of The Burning Crusade expansion but before development really kicked in. As a result of his departure, the Warcraft story team tended to rotate. At certain points Drew Karpyshyn, Chris Avellone and even Joss Whedon worked on parts of the lore.
While the game is praised for it's gameplay, and maintains the largest playerbase for any MMO, the story under several writers have been hit-or-miss. On one hand you have the superb handling of the faction war once tensions arose, as well as Kael'Thas character arc. On the other hand you have some really polarizing storylines such as Whedon's decision to redeem Arthas in Wrath of the Lich King by giving him a Darth Vader-style death and the attempts to push the Old Gods, not the Burning Legion as the main villains of the setting(in fact story writers have argued back and fourth as to who the main villains of the setting are). And there are some really bad storylines such as the fate of Saurfang and how they almost ruined Malfurion....
But what if Metzen didn't leave the Warcraft development team? How would this affect the story? Would some of the more polarizing elements of the lore be reduced? How would this affect the gameplay and Warcraft's place in pop culture?
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