Eurogamer BlizzCon 2018 Interview - Sylvanas' Story and the Wrath Gate

Blizzard Posted 2018/11/12 at 8:55 AM by Squishei

Eurogamer

Click here to see Eurogamer's full Interview!

Highlights from the interview with Alex Afrasiabi

When Blizzard gets a player base that's divided in their support for a character, they feel like they're doing their job. If it's one sided, it's not as interesting.

The goal with Sylvanas was to have players that would still support her, despite the actions she has committed.

The Wrath Gate, the Blight and the Forsaken were all under Sylvanas' orders as well. Sylvanas' plans have escalated right now.

Here is the direct quote:

"I've heard these discussions on the internet about 'she's going off the rails', but is she? I've been writing Sylvanas personally since 2006, and this is pretty much - the Wrathgate and the Blight and the Forsaken - in character. Those were all under Sylvanas' orders. What we're seeing now is an escalation of the plans Sylvanas has, clearly, and we're in the middle of that."

Chronicle

Like most good lies, Sylvanas Windrunner's account of the rebellion in the Undercity contained some truth. Grand Apothecary Putress truly had attempted to overthrow her, and Varimathras truly was trying to claim the Forsaken in the name of the Burning Legion.

But the plague had been created at her direction. Sylvanas was willing to take vengeance against the Lich King at any cost, even by making a weapon as deadly as the plague. Whether she was aware that Putress and Varimathras were planning to use the concoction remained a mystery. Rumors persisted that she knew about the attack at the Wrath Gate beforehand, and her denials did not assuage the doubts of her detractors.

Player Choice:

The choice to side or betray Sylvanas is important as some of the player base is still excited about following her.

In Tides of Vengeance, quest lines will offer this choice to players.

Quests after the choice will follow the side you pick.

Sylvanas' Future:

"Sylvanas' destiny is to be found out and discussed by the player base, but it would be dismissive to think she'll just go down as another raid boss, because she's a little bit more than that.

"Does that mean you will not fight her?" he added. "Not necessarily true either. The reality is you can fight her every day of the week in Grommash Hold, in a raid, right now. But I do think there's a lot more to Sylvanas' story that hasn't been told yet."

Click here to see the Original Storyline.

Click here to see details on the Player Choice during the Questline.

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Comment by omedon666No way that they planed this since WOTLK.

Comment by etheldald"The Wrath Gate, the Blight and the Forsaken were all under Sylvanas' orders as well. Sylvanas' plans have escalated right now. "

Thanks blizz for making the horde and the alliance complete clowns for trusting sylvanas, varian should have killed them all in undercity, or that what your retcon is telling us.

at this point sylvanas probably planned that sargeras start a crusade.

this is @#$%ing stupid, i will not accept this.all of this to make her a supposed "MiLiTARY GeniUs"?Comment by DrorithI look forward to seeing what they do!Comment by Kurias"When Blizzard gets a player base that's divided in their support for a character, they feel like they're doing their job. If it's one sided, it's not as interesting.
The goal with Sylvanas was to have players that would still support her, despite the actions she has committed."

Those two points are contradictory and idiotic, because by the end of her storyline NOBODY will be happy, it will just be a race of who is less unhappy by what happensComment by Rahel5Please.. Talk about another character..

She's not the soul of warcraft..Comment by Nickname404Please.. Talk about another character..

She's not the soul of warcraft..Comment by abris1995Quests will follow the side you pick... Oh boy this is a problem for me. I really hate Sylvanas' character arc so I'm not gonna side with her with any of my Horde characters. That said, I really like to see all sides of the story, so I feel like I'll be missing out on stuff by staying true to my principles. This will be a tough choice to make.Comment by abris1995No way that they planed this since WOTLK.

Now they just come up with a random story for a wrathgateComment by MortenzI don't get how this whole Wrathgate thing is a surprise to people. The Lich King himself literally says it's Sylvanas in the cinematic.Comment by Rahel5Please.. Talk about another character..

She's not the soul of warcraft..Comment by DrakvulI hate they're still in denial about their own character.

I hate how they keep trying to be like "oh, y'know, she's complex."

No she's not. She's afraid of dying, and she wants to conquer the world and remake it under the banner of her loyal Forsaken. And only her loyal Forsaken. none of the other so-called death factions like her because she's insane.

"Oh it's so nice her sister apologized to her for betraying her trust!" You guys forgot she plotted to kill her sister and then raise her.

"Oh but she's done so much for the Horde" She tried to enslave a potential ally and risked alienating the Valajar from the Horde. She killed Forsaken citizens, including loyal ones who did not try to run away from her. Because they had hope. She blew up a city of only civilians because of hope, got the Horde involved into a war that wouldn't have happened on the premise that someday they would have war again, blew up the Undercity after killing Horde soldiers with Blight, leaving Silvermoon effectively exposed and alone, and eventually brought war to Zandalar resulting in the death of their king.

"Oh, but she's broken and betrayed and tragic" Does not make her any less of a villain, but all her character is now is scheming for herself and herself alone. And with this retcon(?) she's got even less 'maybe she'll be redeemed' points.

"Oh, but the old gods fear her." Nope. !. The old gods have undead cultists. 2. the void can be used to perform necromancy, like the Shadowmoon clan does. 3. The tidesages have risen undead in their ranks. 4. All of Nazmir. 5.The void feeds on Alleria's negative emotions, and so the only possible shred of evidence people have for this comes from one line in the comic, which only happens after she sees Sylvanas in her banshee form.

"Oh, but I don't like the traitor Saurfang" Literally didn't betray anyone. A Good War shows that while conflicted over killing Malfurion, the choice is taken from him by Elune / Tyrande, and he's frozen in place. In Lordaeron, as opposed to suicide by Alliance he decides to keep fighting to defend the Horde despite what happened, because the Horde's worth protecting. Then Sylvanas kills their own people and says "oh, what, you don't like the Horde, I'm protecting it" literally minutes after she just wiped out the Horde's front lines. So he stays behind and fights the Alliance, protecting the throne room from their advance. When captured, he guides us to the Zandalari prisoners and wishes us victory. Meanwhile, in Battle for Lordaeron, A Good War, and in Before the Storm, Sylvanas muses on killing him.

"Oh, but I want to be the villain." Villains don't have a long shelf life in WoW if you haven't noticed. Also, it doesn't make sense that you who defended the planet time, and time, and time again, would want to side suddenly and unquestioningly with the plot of "start a war, wipe out all life, and then raise it"

"Oh, but now we have a choice to side with her, yay!" We never got a choice to not be there as she burns Teldrassil to ashes. We never got a choice to disagree with her "let's kill Malfurion despite being a druid, or a loyal follower of Illidan, or someone who remembers allying with Malfurion in Firelands and Val'sharah"

We rebelled against Garrosh for far less, remember? Sylvanas is equally as racist, she just hides it far better because that is a personality trait of hers. If everything you've seen so far isn't screaming at you that Sylvanas dies this expansion, then I feel genuinely sorry for you.

My hope for a compromise is that when she dies, she's returned to life somehow, maybe through the Light or whatever, so that way her spirit finds its way to the actual afterlife and not the hell she's otherwise destined to return to. I think that would be the most fitting ending for her.Comment by darkelemental1What? Yet another team Ion is talking out their rear and gets blasted for it? Say it aint so. They need to come out and clear up the statement, not spew hot air and make everyone deal with it. Nothing he said is official lore if he just makes it up on the spot.Comment by jaq1010Quests will follow the side you pick... Oh boy this is a problem for me. I really hate Sylvanas' character arc so I'm not gonna side with her with any of my Horde characters. That said, I really like to see all sides of the story, so I feel like I'll be missing out on stuff by staying true to my principles. This will be a tough choice to make.Comment by Kapax89I do not know, I think they just try to confuse us with their statements. But after seeing what they did with Illidan in Legion, then anything can happen.
I mean, Illidan died as a villain in TBC and years later ended up as an "antihero"Comment by linkhyruleYes it was under Sylvanas's orders to use the plague the wrathgate. But this doesn't prove she wanted use it while Horde allies (and Alliance too I guess) were in the crossfire.Comment by RomanthonySee the whole "quests after you pick" rub me the wrong way, Id prefer to know what the questline is, because what if siding with Sly gives you an awesome mount and siding with saurfang gives you... a puppy?

yea you can do it on alts, but still id like to know before handComment by LireesWe rebelled against Garrosh for far less, remember? Sylvanas is equally as racist, she just hides it far better because that is a personality trait of hers. If everything you've seen so far isn't screaming at you that Sylvanas dies this expansion, then I feel genuinely sorry for you. Comment by jaq1010We rebelled against Garrosh for far less, remember? Sylvanas is equally as racist, she just hides it far better because that is a personality trait of hers. If everything you've seen so far isn't screaming at you that Sylvanas dies this expansion, then I feel genuinely sorry for you. Comment by hotaru251"The Wrathgate, the Blight and the Forsaken were all under Sylvanas' orders as well. "

What the hell? Are they even aware of their own writing? There were multiple cutscenes and long questlines in WotLK specifically about how Varimathras and Putress betrayed Sylvanas. And now suddenly that's her doing?Comment by Nickname404Please.. Talk about another character..

She's not the soul of warcraft..

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