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 MadcocogirlCan't wait for the reveal!
Interesting though that he confirmed Sylvanas was responsible for the Wrathgate..Comment by dexarisThe Wrathgate, the Blight and the Forsaken were all under Sylvanas' orders as well.Comment by Tinkerer"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 EumalfaSo Afrasiabi is just retconning things now? We knew Putress was working for Varimathras in his dialog, then Varimathras tries to kill sylvanas in the Battle. What he's saying makes no sense, it has to be a retcon. We can't have morally ambiguous characters? She has to be a cartoonish supervillain? I hate thisComment by FixiLooking at the best "bad guys" in media, at this stage of the story Sylvanis' behavior is unjustified and has no foundation when compared to say Walter White from Breaking Bad or Kingpin (or Punisher or even Bullseye) from Netflix's Daredevil (actually, Electra is on par with Sylvanis and was the worst written of the crop). Should we expect that much, or is that way too much to ask - that good writing finds a home in the game?Comment by Purplefire17Quests 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.

Also if part of the Horde will follow her and the other part won't, how are they going to make it so both sides are happy in the end?Comment by CronoveyWhile Putress was working with old Varmy in Undercity, it's already been stated that the creation of the plague they used was ordered by Sylvanas from the start. She told him to make it, she just wasn't expecting the betrayal against her and the coup in Undercity I'd imagine.

So the Wrathgate may not have been ordered by her but its events were certainly influenced by her orders to create that plague strain.Comment by KsaneSo... When we will hear that it was Sylvanas who confused and corrupted great noble titan Sargeras?Comment by FistonladinI think they just gave up at this pointComment by deathlavitzFirst character shown on opening cinematic dies. She will die by that logic - unless they make an exception for her which would be kinda unfair.Comment by Joshmaul"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?Quests 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.Also if part of the Horde will follow her and the other part won't, how are they going to make it so both sides are happy in the end?Comment by rezzykThis is where I have problems with some interviews.. in general (not just games). Like, push back on his comments about Wrathgate. Because what he said does not stand up to the established lore in the game. Make him clarify what he's saying. Don't just move on to the next question.Comment by Skrauhg"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 WillbladeWelcome to Blizzard 2018 where we believe it's great that players feel our story is trash and are forced to continue illogically following a genocidal maniac outside a single decision point that gives the player the illusion of choice.

What we want is the audience to not like the story we are telling and to be divided so that everyone is disappointed in the end.

We believe we are doing a good job!Comment by EumalfaQuests 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 TreckerI kinda hope she orchestrates her own "death" and resurrection with the help of the playerbase in secret. Then sends supporters in covert missions in support of the forsaken and against the Alliance without the Saurfang/Thrall supporters knowing for a while.

Then we can have an event where, for a patch cycle, all horde players in Orgrimmar are flagged as neutral. Certain items/quests will temporarily reveal loyalty. Attacking an opposing horde player will also reveal loyalty. Sporadic combat can break out in Orgrimmar, but it's all opt-in pvp unless you reveal loyalty by attacking, ala SWG.Comment by Vibriss

I'm wondering about this one, too. I mean, we know that Sylvanas ordered the Royal Apothecary Society to make the Blight, but the Battle for the Undercity strongly indicated that Varimathras was acting on behalf of the Legion (and of course he screwed up, and we kicked his ass - and then killed him in Antorus later), and Putress was working for him. But if the Wrathgate was a false flag operation, then that means either Blizzard had this in mind all along - which I'm kind of doubting it - or as you say, they've forgotten what they already put out there. That's my major complaint with Derek Proudmoore as well, but I've beaten that horse pretty bloody already...

Comment by DegnoOk, this I really don't understand, I LOVED the wrathgate moment of WOTLK, I mean first curscene IG, that was so epic, I read every single quest texts and even made a freaking horde DK so that I could see it from the horde perspective because I wasn't sure they wouldn't get a cutscene as well.

Blizzard went to great lengths to assure us that the nuking of the Wrathgate by the apothecaries and Putress was not a decision from Sylvanas, it was a plot devised by Varimathras and Putress, so this sudden "oh yeah Sylvanas was the mastermind behind it all along" doesn't make any sense.

She wanted Arthas dead before anything else so why would she kill the troops and leaders able to achieve that and reinforce Arthas's ranks ? It's after Arthas's death that I think she really took a turn to become what she is now.

When you think about the consequences of the damn thing, Undercity fell under horde control, every guards (maybe not the sylvanas elite one) was replaced by orc grunts. The forsaken lost a big part of their independance, which they crave. You had horde officials poking their nose in all their business, I can't imagine how Sylvanas would have wanted that (because she's smart), and she was not in a position of strength like she was when she became warchief.

I'm angry because they don't have to suddenly change some great moments in WOW history to kinda make it fit with the direction they're taking now, yeah she wanted to produce the plague but she wasn't ready to nuke her own allies. Of course she wasn't an angel even at the time, but she clearly DID NOT ORDER to launch plague and kill young Saurfang and Bolvar and all their soldiers. This interview says it is obvious she ordered the whole thing, IT'S NOT, first because it's no what they've written, and because if it was obvious the whole world would have killed her long ago.Comment by WepstarSo Blizzard are Sylvanas fans. That why story began to suck...Comment by WinterfailSylvanas' character arc was my favorite up until right now. Everyone is acting totally out of character and doing things that make no sense: Turalyon, Alleria, Saurfang, Tyrande. It feels like Ion & Alex never even played Warcraft games because these characters are unrecognizableEVERYONE

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