Breakfast Topic: The Importance of Lore
by Elizabeth Harper 
May 12th 2006 at 9:00AM
One of the reasons the world of Azeroth made a decent starting place for an MMORPG was its long history in the Warcraft series of games. Azeroth already had a detailed history that potential players were aware of and that could be built on in the construction of a larger virtual world. However, as WoW's appeal has broadened beyond the traditional gamer demographic, we're seeing new players who may be visiting Azeroth for the first time - with no knowledge of the world's history. What do you think - is the deep history of the world an important part of your play experience, or is it all about the gameplay?Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Losic May 12th 2006 9:33AM
To be honest I entered the game with very little knowledge of the lore. Before actually entering the game I tried reading some of the story on the community website but didnt get very far. For me, a bit part of the fun that I have playing the WoW is learning about the story as I go on. I have since gone back and played some of the other Warcraft games and love seeing the story unfold in front of me, that was before so confusing. I think having a deep lore really enhances the game for me and increases its appeal.
Bri May 12th 2006 10:23AM
I'm a relative newbie to WoW (my main toon is a 35 pally) and I had no knowledge whatsoever when I started, and I still know very little, but WoW is the best game I've played, period. With the upcoming release of the expansion pack's new races, I've become more interested in learning about the history of Azeroth, but it hasn't caused me to *love* the game any less!
PodMonkeys May 12th 2006 10:38AM
I think its a bit of both. The lore won't keep you in game if the gameplay totally sucks. The game play can keep you in, but learning the lore helps make some of the quests make sense. It adds to a feeling of purpose in the game. Its also fun to learn the lore.
Learning the lore as you play can also help you immerse yourself into the game. Its like in real life, you know a few things, but you don't know the full story behind your country, or state, or neighborhood from the moment you were born. You learn about it as your grow.
srammij May 12th 2006 11:06AM
I have to agree with PodMonkeys. I think the Lore definitely helped with the initial success of the game. I was never really hardcore about knowing the entire storyline, but i had played WCI, WCII, WCII:BTDP, WCIII, WCIII:FT, along with Starcraft. When i first read about WOW, in the brief preview in the WCIII box... i had no interest. After seeing previews of their failed attempt at Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, i thought this would be another cheesy attempt at keeping the WC series alive.
It wasn't til i had played my first MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI (sorry guys), i realized how great this could possibly be.
So i guess the initial knowledge of the series dragged me in, as probably most people, but i think the fact that this game is so tight as far as gameplay, is probably the reason it has done so well. The people talk about it, the more people get sucked in.
:)
can't wait for Burning Crusade.
Penguintine May 12th 2006 11:26AM
I just think it's interesting to see what Blizz did with Warcraft's generic fantasy. Remember Warcraft 1 and 2's lore was not particularly inspired. I'd say they did a pretty good job of improving it.
Nuno May 12th 2006 11:54AM
The lore is one of the biggest reasons I'm so interested in WoW. I've played through all of the games in the WC series, and I like how the pay homage to even the finest details of the series (Sorrow Hill's tomb to Uther Lightbringer for one). The stories in WC were pretty good, and the bittersweet victories in the WC campaigns left room for cool gameplay opportunities/scenarios in WoW.
Now if Blizz made a StarCraft MMORPG, we can call them truly evil...
Sloktor May 13th 2006 4:26PM
Well when I first started to play WoW during the betas I really loved the gameplay and kept on playing it just due to that. But if they could use some of the things that happend in WC3 and TFT a bit more they game might become even better. When I played WC3 and TFT i loved the history in the campaigns. In my opinion they are some of the better in any recent strategy game in my opinion. I think of the history of a campaign as the backbone of any game. (if that makes any sense to anyone)
After playing WoW for a few months I started feeling that the game lacked a bit of the history that the strategy games had. But at the same time i knew it would be hard to put it in the game. A bit of history and more lore in the game just too keep the game going forward.
If you think about it your basicly doing quests because it gives you XP not because you want to. Ex: I need you to kill "X" amount of monsters. Then you will able to choose from one of these rewards. And like that the game continues until lvl 60. At that points its all about the gear you wanna get.
Involving some WC history/lore in the game would be great but i can see some of the problems creating a MMORPG just built on the events of the latests WC games.
One bright spot is that it seems that they are involving lore more in the Burning Crusade. I remember reading your gonna be able to meet all the guys from TFT. Like Illidan, Arthas (not sure) and maybe some other guys maybe.
"Gonna buy it, gonna love it" is my thoughts about Burning Crusade