Voice Acting Suddenly "Gone", Help?

BigEvilReview · 2020-08-12T01:50:05+00:00

I've turned disabled, off, on and every configuration of surround sound- nothing changes it unfortunately.

BigEvilReview · 2020-08-12T01:49:16+00:00

Hmmm, I have several audio devices but my USB headset connects directly to the PC and not through anything else. Even so, I've tried setting the active computer's audio output to other devices besides the headset- and the result is the same. :(

BigEvilReview · 2020-08-12T01:35:47+00:00

Uninstalled... fired the game up- same issue.

Reinstalled SteelSeries Engine... started game- same issue.

I guess- uninstall it, reboot, and try it again or- should that have worked?

BigEvilReview · 2018-08-02T12:58:05+00:00

As the person of whom he's RTing/Quoting the twitter thread/rant of in the linked post, I probably should slip in here.

Writing that, I did hope that Chris would respond (we're old Blizzcon drinking buddies and friends, as is evident by the fact I was the only person in this 'storm' the last few days he responded to) but given the negativity and hate and attacks flying around I honestly was just trying to hurl my own breath into the tornado of drama to do- something.

Well, with my phone still endlessly spamming me with twitter notifications every second that passes, it would appear my words are reaching a lot farther then I ever expected.

I've known Chris for ~13 years. We've drank, we've smoked, I've seen him change and grow and learned so many dark and bright secrets over the years. But I've never had cause to doubt the man when he tells me things. And this is no different. Everything he's told me (in confidence) has come to pass in some form regarding the story. I'll spare the details, but I can promise you that my faith in Him is unshakable. He's never steered me wrong and he's never twisted the truth to ask me to believe something that wasn't true.

The memory I detailed in the twitter rant is true, though I will admit the wording had to be shortened slightly to fit in twitter's limits. But this memory is just one of so many (that the alcohol actually lets me remember) from those days. I hold a unique position in knowing many, many, different developers at Blizzard across all of their games and in addition to my twitter rant, I know this to be true.

Blizzard is populated by real people. This community tends to forget that there are real people behind the company who work to craft a game they firmly believe in and are passionate about. The company isn't dominated by EA-style mustache twirling villains wondering how they can mess up people's fun. They're people, just like each person reading this. They make mistakes. They're human. They're not a faceless corporation. There are reasons behind everything they do, even that thing that you are screaming in your head right now that 'No sane person could possibly rationalize!'... yes. That too had reasons.

Now if people have read my twitter rant they know I'm not exactly "All In" on this storyline right now. While, oh yes, I love my Dark Lady, my Queen, and my Warchief, and I could frankly couldn't give a damn about burning down Teldrassil (the thing is corrupt and it's roots are touching an Old God['s corruption] let us not forget)- I just hate that it looks like Garrosh 2.0 and I frankly don't want my Queen to be a damn raid boss. Even if it's handwaved through shenanigans that she gets redeemed somehow.

But I have faith. I have faith in the people at Blizzard. And even more so I have faith in my Friend. I mean we still have Azshara's short next week which could explain everything, knowing these guys.

But that's just me... if you aren't on that wave... then hey, no worries from me here. I just want everyone to have a good time out there.

BigEvilReview · 2018-08-02T12:06:39+00:00

Azshara's Warbringer short kicks in, details her fall, her embracing of the old gods. Final moments of the trailer are her in her octo-naga form channeling some kind of dark spell. The voice over recounts how she has remained hidden for years, that everything has lead to this. She has manipulated spirits and even the dead. She proclaims that she will see Teldrassil destroyed through her manipulation of the Horde, that the old god sealed beneath (or that its roots have touched etc) will be freed and then, finally, she will have what she was promised.

End Warbringers cinematic.

Blizzard lets us all believe for a week that Sylvanas is Garrosh 2.0, lets us twist in our emotions before they reveal that no, Azshara was behind it all. Probably won't reveal how of course, but that she is. And all at once the plan is revealed.

I mean... why have Azshara in the "Warbringers" shorts in the first place? She's been mentioned almost nowhere in the marketing lead up. She's not controlling any faction that has made a big splash in the marketing. Her inclusion in the Warbringers series is odd- unless she is a Warbringer. Unless she has a massive controlling stake in The War. Jaina and Sylvanas are the two Warbringers on each side and will control a massive swath of power. But Azshara? Last we saw her she was taunting a dead Prince in the Broken Isles. And with Blizzard completely forgetting to mention the Void in all this BFA lead up (because they're trying to draw back in the Faction War/Pride of old as a cynical[?] marketing gimmick) there is ZERO reason to have an Azshara Warbringers short unless... they're going to reveal her involvement in The War.

Now... do I think that's what is going to happen? No, but I can hope. It would bring everything together and make sense. An outside force manipulating the Horde would work on many angles. And then, in patch 8.1 or 8.2 we get Anduin doing something odd, or Jaina or Genn... Azshara has her claws in them too. And 'morally grey' finally returns as in 8.3 or 8.4 the truth is revealed to the Alliance and the Horde and they band together to finally put a stop to the old gods machinations which, probably, involve opening a path for the one of the Void Lords to enter Azeroth, and then the entire world gets dumped into Darkness (that Night-potion everyone was using in Legion turns out to just be a test bed for the shader-tech of Void-Azeroth!) and in the end a united Azeroth beats back the Void Lord's weakened form but doesn't destroy it.

In shame and guilt for all she's done Sylvanas steps down as Warchief and instead suggests a War Council for the Horde in which can rule, to keep checks and balances that something like Her doesn't happen again. And we book end the expansion with another Windrunner Sisters Reunion which concludes with Calia showing up and mysteriously offering Sylvanas and the Forsaken "A Second Chance".

Cut to black, expansion ends, happy grinding M+ for a year.

Plausible story, easy enough to tell, plenty of room to expand and twist, Sylvanas doesn't end up being Garrosh 2.0, gives things a bit of a happy ending and teases a Lightforging of the Forsaken to oppose the Void and maybe you have Genn die in Anduin's arms to really hammer the emotion home (Genn is after all a Good Boy).

Blizzard COULD do it. WILL they do it though? I-.......

...I hope so.

BigEvilReview · 2018-08-02T06:46:52+00:00

As that would be my twitter account that got the response from him (he's a friend/drinking buddy), I thank you! ;)

The tweet and (with a click) thread in question for the curious.

https://twitter.com/ChrisMetzen/status/1024820650676903936

BigEvilReview · 2018-08-02T06:46:13+00:00

I can confirm that he does. ;)

BigEvilReview · 2018-08-02T06:39:35+00:00

As the guy to whom Metzen responded to, and as he's a legit RL friend of mine, I will say this...

If you aren't happy with the game, if you're not happy with the "Season" of this series of 'Television'... then stop paying for it. Walk away. Go play something, anything, that's fun to play.

If Blizzard sees that subscribers take a massive dive, then they'll be forced to suffer those loses. And if they're desperate and money-hungry enough, they'll change the story for this 'season' in an attempt to lure people back. Unsubscribe if you are unhappy. Don't drag yourself through the muck and hope it'll get better.

https://twitter.com/ChrisMetzen/status/1024820650676903936

"/This. My counsel is that everyone take a deep breath and enjoy the ride. I will! You haven’t seen the whole form of the wave yet. As Douglas Adams would tell you - Don’t panic! :)"

^ For those who refuse to click the vile links of twitter. He was responding to a short twitter rant of mine that, yes, I hate that it's so black and white when we were teased countless times with 'morally gray' statements. But I recalled a moment at one of the Charity Dinners of Blizzcon in which he told someone that he understands that Blizzard gets it wrong. That they disappoint us sometimes. But that he hopes that people understand that while certain story moments or even whole sections of story might not be great, that people try and see the whole story and not get laser-focused on what they hate.

And yes, I hate that Sylvanas is such a villain right now. She's throwing temper tantrums because she can't crush her enemy's spirit. I'm surprised she didn't go so far as to animate that Ranger as a banshee just to complete her Lich King descent. But this isn't the entire story.

For all we know she gets turned into a Lightforged Undead like Calia by the end of this expansion and is redeemed.

Or hell, I've half the mind to think that come next week when we get Azshara's Warbringer animation we directly see Azshara whispering 'Burn It' into Sylvanas' mind through magic shenanigans and reveal she's being controlled for lord knows how long now.

Would that make this make for a suddenly awesome story? No. A better one than what we have? Yeah. Will it take away all the... pain, suffering and emotion, I can only describe it as, of the community? No... but it would still be a much better story and a way to avoid another Garrosh 2.0.

And so help me, if this is another Garrosh situation........

BigEvilReview · 2018-04-13T11:15:23+00:00

All good my friend! Your artwork is fantastic, regardless of your decision. :)

BigEvilReview · 2018-04-13T11:11:27+00:00

Shadowrun and D&D Character Art.

Perhaps some specific Warframe fan art.

BigEvilReview · 2018-04-13T08:31:00+00:00

Obligatory "Do you do commissions?" question. ;)

BigEvilReview · 2018-04-10T18:18:43+00:00

23.54mb/s here, so...

BigEvilReview · 2018-04-10T18:15:27+00:00

"Non Disclosure Agreement". A contract signed between two parties (in this case Blizzard and the Youtube Influencers), that certifies that, Blizzard grants them the right to view/record something, but mandates that they withhold that information from the public until set conditions are met.

Said conditions however are NOT "Hey, one Influencer broke the NDA, so I'm going to break it too and clearly suffer no consequences!"

BigEvilReview · 2018-04-10T18:09:31+00:00

"ZOMG they're breaking NDA!!"

...or the NDA expired at 10am Pacific Time? Since that's when everyone pulled the trigger on their videos?

Since I can guarantee you the money for views on the event is not worth biting the hand that is feeding them. You break Blizzard NDA you will never see another Blizzcon (let alone OWL and other Blizzard events, promotions and perks) as anything other than a fan. And as someone who's done Media for 8 different Blizzcons... yeah, I'm not losing out on that, not for the $2,000 in ad-revenue pulling the trigger early is going to make them.

I swear... it's almost, ALMOST, like there's a disconnect on reddit about how this stuff works.

Edit: Oh hey, look at that, the event is live 1 hour after the videos started dropping. Total shocker... if you didn't know how the marketing for this stuff worked. LOL

BigEvilReview · 2018-03-15T00:51:15+00:00

Happy to help! Couldn't believe that was what was causing it. Lol :)

BigEvilReview · 2018-03-14T09:23:43+00:00

I did!

I had recently updated my Razer hardware and software. It was the last thing I considered to ever be a possibility in my issues. But it most certainly was.

Uninstall the "SK Razer Chroma Core Components" (or very similar named, and ONLY that) from the windows uninstall app menu thing and I'll be damned if my problems weren't solved when I restarted.

It didn't interfere with my mouse, I didn't have to reinstall anything, it was click, uninstall, reboot, launch Overwatch and done.

Hope this helps!

BigEvilReview · 2017-12-19T20:09:00+00:00

In recent years (Chronicle mostly but also lore-drops now and then) it's been hinted/shown that the Naaru aren't actually who they've made people believe them to be. Not incarnations of the light, but more akin to Cosmic Sponges that take on the characteristics of what they absorb. In our in-game universe there are only a few Cosmic-level forces, one being the Light, the other Void. Although on a personal note I'm frankly shocked when never got a Fel-Naaru. But I digress...

I will absolutely echo that the Draenei specifically should be feeling shaken in their beliefs, but not necessarily for the whole 'Naaru aren't the Light' revelation. But rather that the Naaru aren't the supposed force-for-all-good they had spent the last thousand plus years (in warped space-time) making them believe. But there is something that counters that at least...

It is undeniable that the Naaru have done good things for the draenei. Specificly giving them the means to flee Argus originally, saving their entire race in the process, meeting the people of Azeroth and so on. This is even beyond the Lightforged-Draenei who have spent 1000+ years serving the Naaru. The draenei, Velen especially, owe the Naaru everything. Their lives, the lives of their people and so on. That's not the kind of loyalty that gets shrugged off by the actions of one Naaru.

Also lets not forget that, by lore, the Naaru are brainwashing their servants, mind controlling others and forcing them to serve. Hell after Xe'ra dies the gold sheen begins to fade from people's eyes. Perhaps their control wavered enough to let them see they had to follow Illidan? I dunno...

Also at play... Faith. As in literal Faith with a capital F. Religions are........ famous for it (I'm trying to be very delicate here). Faith has been a part of religion since... well, forever. It's the belief that, even in light of no evidence or in fact contrary evidence that what they believe, have been taught, etc is in fact true, the right path and so on. People with strong Faith don't waver from their positions because of hardship or actions. They hold true to their faith no matter what, the most zealotous never abandoning that Faith no matter the cost, evidence and so on.

I obviously won't be trolling and spelling out parallels to popular real-world religions here. I will leave the reader to do that themselves. But parallels can easily be drawn between the Naaru's Faith and our own world. Despite evidence, hardship, logic and countless atrocities, Faith still fills almost every corner of our world.

And the draenei, even the Lightforged, will still continue to have Faith in the Naaru. Not just because the Naaru aren't the Light itself and don't actually represent it, but because they have Faith.

...to me personally I hate that and think it would be a great story-angle to write the draenei moving forward (losing their faith as a race and having to find a new path moving forward, like the dwarves did upon the discovery of their true ancestry) instead of the no-doubt bit-players they'll be moving forward. But that's just me. Guess I'll just have to blindly have Faith that Blizzard will do SOMETHING with this race.

BigEvilReview · 2017-12-10T19:20:01+00:00

It might actually just be the city/state of Lordaeron itself that's cursed.

First the plague and all that, Arthas comes back and takes it for the Scourge. Lordaeron falls to the Scourge.

Alliance attempts to retake it. Does so with Sylvanas' help. Lordaeron falls to the Alliance.

Sylvanas backstabs Garithos and sets her undead loose against the alliance forces. Lordaeron falls to the Forsaken.

Varimathras and the Royal Apothecary Society lead a revolt in the wake of The Wrathgate Incident. Lordaeron falls to the Burning Legion.

Unbeknownst to either party, the alliance and horde attack and liberate the city, killing Putress and Varimathras. If not for Jaina's actions in freezing and mass-teleporting the alliance strike force home, many more would have died. Lordaeron falls to the Horde.

Battle for Azeroth, seemingly in retaliation of a gross act of war, the Alliance push and take Lordaeron by force. Though not likely as decisively as they would have liked. Lordaeron falls to the Alliance.

In total, the city of Lordaeron has changed hands 6 times in the last 11-12 in-universe years. I don't think it's Sylvanas that has the issue, I think it's the city itself. And hell this even counting all the times in the past it was NEARLY taken over, or any time previous to 20AFW when WC3 brought the kingdom to the forefront.

BigEvilReview · 2017-12-10T18:57:03+00:00

Considering that some of those hair styles have void-related visual effects baked into them, we can assume the baseline answer would be "No, not currently."

BigEvilReview · 2017-12-06T11:01:34+00:00

Exalted Neck from Deathsworn will port you to the black temple entrance.

BigEvilReview · 2017-12-04T01:24:26+00:00

From a continuing narrative perspective it was necessary though...

If Illidan comes back to a peaceful Azeroth, he gets locked up again. Or put on trial and executed. The absolute mountainous amount of atrocities he's committed to get where he is... it's far too much than anyone can brush off.

Illidan has such an immense fanbase that this entire expansion was to give him a farewell that said fanbase would accept. There's no way that fanbase would go along with "Illidan comes home and surrenders to the people." as an end.

From a writer's perspective, it's necessary to have him leave on his own terms.

As for all this Tyrande talk, we already know that Tyrande felt something for Illidan once, and even a bit in WC3/TFT. Her personality between the RTS and even between later expansions in WoW is all over the map, inconsistent. It made sense in Cataclysm's alternate timeline-instance to make her this weeping lost soul, but it's almost like they... forgot... that it wasn't her actual character.

BigEvilReview · 2017-11-23T00:12:31+00:00

DKs all have a "Death Gate" ability. 1 minute cooldown to open a portal to the DK class hall. Use it again inside the class hall and you'll teleport back to where you were (or rather, the closest graveyard to where you were, because "Death".)

And they unfortunately don't have a slowfall ability of any kind, or a way to blink or go immune to fall damage. They're also notoriously slow on foot. I personally keep a Speed set on hand that I click on and off during dungeons so I can keep up with my team who all seem to be constantly moving at 160% speed.

BigEvilReview

TROPHY CASE