AFR #257 – Recognition accomplished

<<First comic <Previous comic | Next comic> Latest comics>>

I’m sorry.  I tried.  I really tried to not let the past decade of news influence my reaction to the Siege of Orgrimmar, but some thoughts once thought cannot be unthought.

And a side note to all world leaders of all nations and political stripes: if the video game king of a made-up kingdom filled with talking pandas riding around on dragons has a better rationale for his foreign policy than you do, you are doing something wrong.

Well, there you go.  That’s this week’s AFR, for what it’s worth.  Next week I promise to be more silly and less angry.  I hope you’re all enjoying 5.4!

AFR #252 – Racing for last

<<First comic <Previous comic | Next comic> Latest comics>>

I feel for Blizzard.  WoW’s fanbase really is unpleasable.  If you believe the internet (and why wouldn’t we?), Blizzard is both Horde-biased and Horde-hating simultaneously.

It’s been really interesting to see the discussion develop as we get closer to the Siege of Orgrimmar raid.  There are two distinct sides in the discussion who seem to keep completely missing each other’s point of view.

On one side, there are people of both factions who want to see their faction win and the other faction lose.  To these people, the Siege of Orgrimmar is a huge blow in favor of the Alliance, because it means Alliance players get to attack the Horde capital and take down the Horde leader.  From their public statements, it seems that Blizzard is very much with this camp.

On the other side, there are people who want to see their faction take charge of the story.  To these people, the Siege of Orgrimmar is a big win for the Horde and a let-down for the Alliance, because it’s a Horde-driven story in which the Alliance plays only a supporting role.  If the Alliance were not involved in the siege, it would make no difference to the story.

For my part, I have never found the Alliance-Horde rivalry interesting.  The more Blizzard keeps going back to that well, the less engaged I am in the story.

AFR #236 – Sharing

<<First comic <Previous comic | Next comic> Latest comics>>

Sadly, this has kind of been the Alliance story this expansion: not so much an effective opponent to the Horde as a spectator to the Horde’s self-destruction.

AFR #225 – Inspirational

<<First comic <Previous comic | Next comic> Latest comics>>

We found the kid.  Why are we still in Pandaria?  Yes, I know we’re there because it’s a new place to explore and do quests and kill bad guys and take their stuff, but story-wise?  The Horde quests say something about seizing the new land’s resources, but unless the ability to grow huge vegetables is critical to the Horde’s war effort, I don’t really see what the Horde stands to gain in Pandaria that is worth the commitment of troops and effort.  And the Alliance really needs a better mission statement than: “Stop the Horde from doing stuff.”

AFR #175 – Spoiler alert

<<First comic <Previous comic | Next comic> Latest comics>>

Despite my hope that the Alliance might get some time in the spotlight in Mists of Pandaria, the info from the big press event is that the Horde are still running the show when it comes to story.  Chris Metzen’s interview with WoW Insider was very telling.  He spent the first half of the interview talking about how amazing the upcoming story is for the Horde.  When asked what Alliance players had to look forward to, he essentially said: “Don’t worry, Allies, this time you get to be part of the awesome Horde story, too!”