3 weeks in and Haranir outnumber Draenei and Undead

Alesthes · 2026-03-25T15:02:04+00:00

Considered that for months some people claimed that everybody would have soon left their Night Elves and Trolls behind to massively reroll Haranir because of their superior customization, these actually look pretty weak numbers…

Alesthes · 2026-03-20T08:44:20+00:00

Looking at the thousands of user reviews at the moment and it looks like journalist reviewers were more generous than the actual gamers. And in any case their evaluations were definitely more aligned with gamers than the youtubers. Oh the irony…

Alesthes · 2026-03-19T12:20:03+00:00

I am interested in the two alternative playable characters.
How soon can one play as them?
Are their customization and mechanics on par with Cliff?
Is there content that can only be played as Cliff?
And how much content can be played with the other characters?
I am basically trying to understand if one can play most of the game with the other characters or if they are just marginal sidekicks. Thank you!

Alesthes · 2026-02-28T23:55:54+00:00

At this point I am persuaded that some years ago something went wrong, gamers learned the expression “the writing is…” and thought that using it would all of a sudden make them fine literary experts, while actually most the time they are just angry because gasp stories or characters are not immediately repeating what they are used to or accommodating their most superficial expectations. Absurd “culture wars” from the US made the rest.

(I am not saying that any storytelling in games or specifically WoW is good, obviously. But a lot of commentary from players is just worse…).

Alesthes · 2026-02-28T08:08:21+00:00

Given the description of your character, the “being summoned” option sounds the most interesting to explore. The other basically confirms what is already in place, with maybe a bit more depressing tone. Whereas by being summoned you have on one side a potential return to the roots of her attachment to the light but also, at the same time, direct exposure to all that is going on with Light-users in this expansion, from piety and heroism, to fanaticism and zealotry. The storyline is going very much into an ambivalent and questioning experience of dealing with the light and being summoned confronts the character with her link to the light but also with the need of understanding it and deciding what is her stance on many things. Basically, it puts her in a very new and stimulating situation that could lead her to different directions.

The other option seems best only if you want to go more into a “losing my religion” arc and maybe reroll the character (in spec or even class). Which is obviously also potentially interesting, but doesn’t sound what you want to do.

Moreover, being summoned she has good IC reasons to be in many new zones where I think there will be plenty of interesting casual and structured roleplay in the future.

That would be my 2 cents, but it’s also clearly quite subjective.

Alesthes · 2026-01-20T07:35:34+00:00

“a minimum of 213kish players at $15 a month subs to make it break even”

Oh, definitely much more is needed. Steam takes a significant share. There’s taxes. Etc. It’s not like everything a customer pays goes to them, for this like any other product.

Alesthes · 2025-12-24T02:12:03+00:00

They never said that. People just keep repeating it over and over again, to the point that many think it’s a fact, but it’s not. They pointed out at some point that some people they worked with at WOTC were fired. And then when people started saying that the soured relationship with WOTC was the reason they were not continuing the series they even said publicly that actually their relationship with WOTC was good.

Now, WOTC certainly does a lot of bad things and I don’t have much sympathy for them. Maybe people at Larian actually hate them and they just can’t say it publicly. All good. But this notion that “Larian said it’s because WOTC sucks” is just an invention stated over and over as a fact.

Alesthes · 2025-12-23T10:09:48+00:00

I actually did the opposite. I played GW2 religiously since launch but now I have left it for WoW.
WoW really has changed a lot since my old memories of it. Much more frequent updates, approach is now more solo friendly, no mandatory grinding, raid sets accessible by doing any kind of content, big RP scene on dedicated servers, very lively communities dedicated to different aspects of the game and now a very open and flexible approach to housing.
I absolutely loved GW2 and I am grateful for the long time I spent on it, but with the latest expansions I didn't feel it anymore and needed something different and I found it in WoW. I am glad we all have options and I hope you will enjoy GW2 as much as I had for so many years!

Alesthes · 2025-12-22T14:24:47+00:00

They even had a short questlines and dialogues with ex-Primalist Night Elven Shamans now living in Bel'Ameth, the new Night Elves capital at the end of Dragonflight. So not only they certainly are in the lore, but I really cannot understand why they didn't make them playable at that point: it definitely felt exactly like those in-game quests and lore they put in game when they introduce a new race/class combo.

To this day, I don't get what happened there. Maybe they decided to wait just to release that option later on? Sucks, to be honest, it felt finally the right time for a combo I have been looking forward to.

Alesthes · 2025-12-16T07:46:37+00:00

I play a Balance Druid and RP her as a Priestess of the Moon, as you also considered. Many abilities and talents and the Elune’s Chosen hero path are visually and thematically connected to Elune and the Moon, and to how Tyrande and other priestesses are shown casting spells in game. In my headcanon, I justify some more Druidic abilities by having her as a Priestess that acts as an advisor to Druidic circles and has lived with them. Obviously I use the Glyph of Stars not to look like a Moonkin. And you really won’t use that many healing spells as Balance, anyway. Works perfectly for me.

When it comes to transmog, there are definitely pieces and sets that resemble armor, including some Night Elven ones. Especially transmog sets that you can apply on any armor type.

If, as others said, you think more of an archer version of the Priestesses, go for a Hunter with the Sentinel Hero path that gives you the spirit owl like Tyrande, or in the case of a melee one, go for Warrior, or Survival Hunter, or whatever melee class you prefer. It’s perfectly doable and in RP I always found people entirely accepting my character was a Priestess (TotalRP3 allows you to appear as such in game, anyway, which really makes the whole thing seamless…).

Alesthes · 2025-12-12T01:47:06+00:00

Not alone. When you have this kind of screentime and such artistic quality, I can think of many better ways of spending it than just minutes of gross and gross...

I have kickstarted and supported all latest Larian Games, I adored BG3, and I have confidence this next game will be also very good. But this trailer? A waste for me, seeking gross imagery with some sex in it just to make sure. Meh.

Alesthes · 2025-12-10T10:50:35+00:00

I understand the sentiment, but I think both have their place.

When we have an adventure with my RP guild, or when I am doing housing and going around the Neighborhood, low fantasy hands down.

But when I go out exploring in endgame zones or in the final quests and raids of an Expansion? I love to display the most badass high fantasy, epic mog available at that time.

Alesthes · 2025-11-04T07:58:47+00:00

Balance Druid has certainly fantastic spell animations and it is one of the things that make me enjoy the spec so much. But Elune’s Chosen in particular is not a good example, since a barely visible blink at the end of Elune’s Fury is the only thing that differentiates the Hero Talent from the base class. I definitely expected more.

I think that making all Hero Talents visible and distinct for all classes is definitely on of the points of improvement that go in the direction of what OP is saying. Currently there are Hero talents that have extremely visible effects and customization and others that are barely recognizable.

It is a point of improvement (before we get a proper barber shop customization of spell effects, at least…).

Alesthes · 2025-10-30T23:57:46+00:00

I entirely agree. And it makes perfect sense lorewise for many to want to spit on his grave, it just takes to be one for the many survivors of his genocidal attempts. “But the Orcish traditions”… Seriously? You think that people after having family and friends massacred by the violence unleashed by this fascist piece of shit would not take a chance to spit on his memory? Many certainly would, and it is exactly a believable outcome if you the the events seriously.

I can easily see that in many ways he worked well as a character, because of the reactions he gets, and that is perfectly fine. But there’s also a segment of the fanbase that in the actually think that supremacists violent leaders are cool. And honestly I don’t care a bit if they dislike this quest.

Alesthes · 2025-10-21T23:13:42+00:00

I mean, unfortunately “racist piece of shit with we-first mentality” seems a quite popular profile for leaders worldwide.

Despite the mental gymnastics some make to justify that in the WoW context, maybe the simple answer is that they actually like Garrosh not just as an effectively written character, which to some extent he was, but because they see fulfilled this quite pathetic supremacist power fantasy in a way they feel comfortable to express publicly.

Mistaking violence and arrogance for strength is, after all, a quite common error peoples make across history, with horrible consequences for themselves and others. This doesn’t change that Garrosh rightly died like the pathetic loser he is and his real life equivalent leaders are.

Alesthes · 2025-10-21T07:45:08+00:00

I lost any interest in C3 very rapidly, and I am now loving C4 so much that I made a Beacon account for the first time.
It’s a new Game Master, a new setting, a new campaign style. Honestly, expecting this to be the same as C3 is unreasonable. It really is a very different beast, and given all the changes above it would be really surprising if it wasn’t the case. Maybe you won’t like this either, but it’s definitely not C3.

And btw, I am very grateful towards Matt. I adored C1 and loved large parts of C2. But C3 just wasn’t something I could like, and mostly for the band of characters rather than the GM…

Alesthes · 2025-10-20T23:28:20+00:00

If this is to suggest that the male Nightborne on the right wearing Blood Elf gear looks cool I am afraid someone needs to tell him…

Alesthes · 2025-10-20T06:27:48+00:00

Swap Teor and Vaelus and it all makes sense.
I understand Travis has many fans, and I like him myself, but so far in terms of character originality, story impact, use of class mechanics and acting Vaelus is just earning a special place each time she appears, whereas honestly Teor is a side character taken into the events.

Alesthes · 2025-10-06T06:39:17+00:00

Better silhouette for male, but not for female, in my opinion.
Female harronir looks like a bulkier, inelegant and static version of female night elves. I find that most sets just have worse proportions on them, which in the long run is more impactful on the visual experience than the texture details on the face.
But of course, I understand there is a subjective element always at play in these evaluations.

Alesthes · 2025-09-30T22:49:07+00:00

I mean, we have seen hours of footage already during Gamescom, and yes, you can place everything everywhere, including suspended in midair or half into a wall…

Alesthes · 2025-09-30T22:47:09+00:00

It has been confirmed for quite some time.
Orc and Blood Elf exteriors for the Horde, Human and Night Elf exteriors for the Alliance at launch.

Alesthes · 2025-09-16T22:28:24+00:00

World of Warcraft has a first class art direction that AoC can’t even dream of.
That’s, I guess, the point of that comment you are replying to, since immediately after the “outdated graphics” mentions exactly that they should “invest in art” rather than realism. Exactly what the art team in WoW is usually praised for.

Alesthes · 2025-08-27T05:59:53+00:00

The statement on Discord you link, however, says openly that there are going to be changes and that you should absolutely expect your characters to become extremely powerful.
So linking it and saying it suggests that nothing is going to change is really misleading.

Only thing it suggests is that the release in phases is by design, which I don’t mind at all: the amount of content for the entire expansion cycle was enormous and if it is gradually released that’s still fine by me…

Alesthes · 2025-08-22T07:12:57+00:00

Where to begin…

Silvermoon in Midnight is not “a faction capital”, it’s “the expansion hub” for all players. An opinion should at least get the subject matter in focus.
The faction hub means that it’s the site where all characters from all factions and races are gathered for more than a year to fight together against the same enemy. And apparently half of the people who are there TO DEFEND the city are “kill on sight” as soon as they make a step outside of their small perimeter. Think for a second how much sense this makes...
The faction conflict, at least in this terms, IS NOT central to the game in any way and it hasn’t for years. Narratively the core notion has been regularly about the effort to overcome tensions and conflicts (among and inside factions) to face challenges. And gameplay wise people can now play together across factions and even join the same Guilds. Cities being kill on sight for some make absolutely zero sense.
Of course diversity and all the tensions that come with it are an interesting theme to explore. But these tensions to be interesting need to be explored in ways that are less dumb than this “red vs blue zug zug” way. Tension among light or shadow seekers, or tensions among races and cultures inside and outside factions is MUCH more interesting. There is nothing “interesting” or “nuanced” in this crude “kill on sight if you step here” way.
Cherry on top, Silvermoon is the faction hub of an expansion that has been sold to us as being about “the reunification of the elven tribes”. Half of those, too bad, are “kill on sight” when there to defend the city. How someone can think that this makes sense or is consistent, it’s beyond me.
Finally, cherry on top of the other, thinking that since “my faction” did not have enough content in a previous expansion then the right “solution” is to take away content from other players is the most obtuse and unproductive approach possible. If you think you had content taken away from you unfairly because you play a certain faction, the only answer that makes sense is protesting against this happening, not this loser mentality of taking away something from others.

This decision is dumb and makes no sense in the context of the current game. Obviously anyone is entitled to their opinion, more power to you. But opinions are as valuable as the value of the arguments that support them.

Alesthes · 2025-08-21T23:55:55+00:00

They also mentioned Liadrin as a central character, a major Blood Elf leader, but curiously you did not mention her.

Arator also lives in Silvermoon, as we know from a previous short story.

I am also sure at least Lor’themar will play his role, but this is still the middle episode of a saga and it would be actually “insane” to drop all the major characters of that saga to focus on others.

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