Personally I really loved the story of Year of the Dragon. All our old enemies return to work together to take over a magical city with henchman, Then flying to the desserts of Uldum to uncover an ancient curse while the League of explores rush to stop them and finally end up with a showdown in icy Northrend.
Now i understand the card quality was a bit up and down and many people dislike the highlander and Galakrond decks, however im mostly looking at why i think the year long stories and rise of shadows this time last year felt much more enjoyable IMO than ashes of outland this year flavor wise:
1: The Main villian in Outland was not even made into a card:
Mecha-Jaraxxus is meant to be the main villain of the single player making a Rusted legion, however has not been made into a card. I feel like this is a huge disappointment from a flavor point of view. I know he is a playable hero, but so was Maiev Shadowsong and she got made into a legendary this set. I understand that we will see him in the single player mode, but its a bit like if Arch-Villain Rafaam was not made into a card in rise of shadow and he was just there in the back ground. Telling a story of a set should include the main villain making an appearance as a card, like what if the Litch King did not become a card in frozen throne? or Nefarian in Blackrock? It just seems like a disappointment and a missed story telling opportunity.
2: The Main "Villian" seems to be the hero?:
Demon hunter is meant to be the hero of the set in the single expansion, yet due to their unbalance cards and several nerfs, the flavor of the set of these powerful "heroes" coming to fight the evil demon of the legion is kind of gone. Even seeing a Demon hunter previous to today's nerf made many people feel pissed and unhappy. You dont feel like you want to fight with them, more than fight against demon hunter this set, which takes away the hero side of the demon hunter for many.
3: The main mechanics of the expansion does not feel played very much and not interactive:
Twinspell was very popular among the hero classes this time last year and lackeys have been super powerful from day one. Dormant minions as a whole seem to feel rather weak/ not played/ a few which are low level frustrating to play against. Flavor wise Dormant minions feel really good and i do like it, but playable wise they feel much weaker than the mechanics last year and most of them barely playable. the only one which sees alot of play is the most powerful one being Imprisoned Antaen and sometimes Imprisoned Scrap Imp, The others dont which seems pretty disappointed and all primes are almost not played at all, another blow to the flavor when your two main mechanics are barely seeing any play.
What is my point? (Summary):
I am not saying its a bad expansion. I am saying that the story and flavor wise seems much weaker than Rise of Shadow's this time last year. The main mechanics are barely played in any main Meta decks unlike the Twinspells and Lackeys of last year. The Main Villain has not turned up yet and is not a card which feels odd considering he literally is the person people are meant to fight in the single player. Finally the "Heroes Demon hunters" of the single player feel more like the the villains due to the negativity towards the class.
The question is this: Do you think the flavor this expansion is as good as the same expansion a year ago?
personally the year long story telling, Year Long mechanic, all the Villains and heroes being made into cards etc made last years flavor much higher.
The answer is definitely, yes Rise of Shadows was a much more enjoyable expansion. I really enjoyed the comedy they somehow included in a story of villains destroying the world. I genuinely got so into the story, that for the first time in my life I had a lot of fun trying different cards, even if they were bad. In Ashes of Outland I definitely don't have this feeling. Just like you, I don't think it's a bad expansion, but I started playing without much fun from the flavour of cards, just like before the year of Dragon. Expansions from the year of Mammoth and the year of Raven where nice and flavorfull, but they didn't really have any story to tell. I enjoyed year of Dragon for it's funny and interesting motif. Sadly i don't think we will get a story this year.
The answer is definitely, yes Rise of Shadows was a much more enjoyable expansion. I really enjoyed the comedy they somehow included in a story of villains destroying the world. I genuinely got so into the story, that for the first time in my life I had a lot of fun trying different cards, even if they were bad. In Ashes of Outland I definitely don't have this feeling. Just like you, I don't think it's a bad expansion, but I started playing without much fun from the flavour of cards, just like before the year of Dragon. Expansions from the year of Mammoth and the year of Raven where nice and flavorfull, but they didn't really have any story to tell. I enjoyed year of Dragon for it's funny and interesting motif. Sadly i don't think we will get a story this year.
Thanks, this is exactly what i mean! The story this year in the first expansion feels really low in flavor. The comedy between all the villains last year felt like a cross over episode of your favorite TV shows, however this expansion just feel lacking anything. I have no interest in playing many new cards as the heart of the story feels muddled and lost.
I think it's too early to say anything as we haven't seen the adventure yet.
True, the adventure could be amazing, but my argument would be that the main villain of the set is not a card, which lacks already some flavor unlike last year where nearly all heroes and main bosses were cards in Rise of Shadow.
I love Illidan as a character since I've met him for the first time in Warcraft III years ago, so it's not really up to debate for me. I also in some masochistic way like how the current gamestate reflects his polarizing nature - a new hero, hype and so on. But also hate, because he single-handedly took over the entire meta.
I am not a DH player, I too don't like facing hordes of them, but the fact that Illidan came to the game and like a badass he is showed everyone their place is kinda fitting.
Especially considering that his previous iteration in HS was so underwhelming so it was almost an insult to such a powerful character in Warcraft lore.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Personally I really loved the story of Year of the Dragon. All our old enemies return to work together to take over a magical city with henchman, Then flying to the desserts of Uldum to uncover an ancient curse while the League of explores rush to stop them and finally end up with a showdown in icy Northrend.
Now i understand the card quality was a bit up and down and many people dislike the highlander and Galakrond decks, however im mostly looking at why i think the year long stories and rise of shadows this time last year felt much more enjoyable IMO than ashes of outland this year flavor wise:
1: The Main villian in Outland was not even made into a card:
Mecha-Jaraxxus is meant to be the main villain of the single player making a Rusted legion, however has not been made into a card. I feel like this is a huge disappointment from a flavor point of view. I know he is a playable hero, but so was Maiev Shadowsong and she got made into a legendary this set. I understand that we will see him in the single player mode, but its a bit like if Arch-Villain Rafaam was not made into a card in rise of shadow and he was just there in the back ground. Telling a story of a set should include the main villain making an appearance as a card, like what if the Litch King did not become a card in frozen throne? or Nefarian in Blackrock? It just seems like a disappointment and a missed story telling opportunity.
2: The Main "Villian" seems to be the hero?:
Demon hunter is meant to be the hero of the set in the single expansion, yet due to their unbalance cards and several nerfs, the flavor of the set of these powerful "heroes" coming to fight the evil demon of the legion is kind of gone. Even seeing a Demon hunter previous to today's nerf made many people feel pissed and unhappy. You dont feel like you want to fight with them, more than fight against demon hunter this set, which takes away the hero side of the demon hunter for many.
3: The main mechanics of the expansion does not feel played very much and not interactive:
Twinspell was very popular among the hero classes this time last year and lackeys have been super powerful from day one. Dormant minions as a whole seem to feel rather weak/ not played/ a few which are low level frustrating to play against. Flavor wise Dormant minions feel really good and i do like it, but playable wise they feel much weaker than the mechanics last year and most of them barely playable. the only one which sees alot of play is the most powerful one being Imprisoned Antaen and sometimes Imprisoned Scrap Imp, The others dont which seems pretty disappointed and all primes are almost not played at all, another blow to the flavor when your two main mechanics are barely seeing any play.
What is my point? (Summary):
I am not saying its a bad expansion. I am saying that the story and flavor wise seems much weaker than Rise of Shadow's this time last year. The main mechanics are barely played in any main Meta decks unlike the Twinspells and Lackeys of last year. The Main Villain has not turned up yet and is not a card which feels odd considering he literally is the person people are meant to fight in the single player. Finally the "Heroes Demon hunters" of the single player feel more like the the villains due to the negativity towards the class.
The question is this: Do you think the flavor this expansion is as good as the same expansion a year ago?
personally the year long story telling, Year Long mechanic, all the Villains and heroes being made into cards etc made last years flavor much higher.
The answer is definitely, yes Rise of Shadows was a much more enjoyable expansion. I really enjoyed the comedy they somehow included in a story of villains destroying the world. I genuinely got so into the story, that for the first time in my life I had a lot of fun trying different cards, even if they were bad. In Ashes of Outland I definitely don't have this feeling. Just like you, I don't think it's a bad expansion, but I started playing without much fun from the flavour of cards, just like before the year of Dragon. Expansions from the year of Mammoth and the year of Raven where nice and flavorfull, but they didn't really have any story to tell. I enjoyed year of Dragon for it's funny and interesting motif. Sadly i don't think we will get a story this year.
Thanks, this is exactly what i mean! The story this year in the first expansion feels really low in flavor. The comedy between all the villains last year felt like a cross over episode of your favorite TV shows, however this expansion just feel lacking anything. I have no interest in playing many new cards as the heart of the story feels muddled and lost.
I think it's too early to say anything as we haven't seen the adventure yet.
True, the adventure could be amazing, but my argument would be that the main villain of the set is not a card, which lacks already some flavor unlike last year where nearly all heroes and main bosses were cards in Rise of Shadow.
In terms of design, rise of the shadows has better flavours design.
In terms of reality, i feel flavour of current expansion.
As warlock player i'm trying to do my evil plan,
But i need to deal with horde of demon hunters sent to hunt me.
Also horde of mages try to open their portals to my world.
So I command my own horde of random demons, to kill them with even more stupid way, than their approach.
And Reno Jackson is not a dragon. It's my own puppet since a couple of years.
I love Illidan as a character since I've met him for the first time in Warcraft III years ago, so it's not really up to debate for me. I also in some masochistic way like how the current gamestate reflects his polarizing nature - a new hero, hype and so on. But also hate, because he single-handedly took over the entire meta.
I am not a DH player, I too don't like facing hordes of them, but the fact that Illidan came to the game and like a badass he is showed everyone their place is kinda fitting.
Especially considering that his previous iteration in HS was so underwhelming so it was almost an insult to such a powerful character in Warcraft lore.