Board 8 > Anagram Ranks Anything Blizzard Entertainment-related

(+) Yeah! (+)

Anagram posted...

Murky: This is some post-WotLK thing, isn't it? I never really got the love for Murlocs. They're just little fish guys you're supposed to kill by the dozen, who cares?

The original Murky is from classic. He was the 2005 Blizzcon promotional item. He is based on Michigan J Frog.

Anagram posted...

Dr. Boom (Card): Alright, lemme just look this up... Just a generically efficient card that does its job well and slots into many decks, based off an extremely obscure minor boss in WoW. Well, okay. I don't know what you expect here.

Dr. Boom was one of the best card in the game (anywhere from 1 to 4) from its release (in GvG the first expansion) until it rotated out in Old Gods (3rd expansion). There was also an adventure between.

Anagram posted...

Yogg-Saron, Hope's End (Card):

So your initial reaction to this was what everyone said before it came out. However, it turns out that due to the spell pool most of the time this was just good to play when you needed a type of reset button or a oh shit card. This card was basically the prime example of something hearthstone did not want to have. A card designed on randomness that was competitively overpowered.

Anagram posted...

Sylvanas Windrunner

There's too much here for me but. The Scarlet crusade is fanatical to the point where they are paranoid. They think everyone but them could be an undead in disguise. Not to mention that they are secretly (well not so secretly now) been controlled by a dreadlord. But the biggest travesty was that they ruined Whitemane's model when she turned into one of the 4 horseman.

More recently Blizzard has walked back a lot of the "evil forsaken" stuff with more sympathetic characters like Calia and Lilian Voss taking center stage for them.

Also while a lot of people would agree with you on Sylvanas, I'm not sure about Illidan. He remains to be extremely popular and there is speculation he will play a huge part in the story (well like 2 expansions down the road) because it's going to be about Sargeras and Illidan is currently watching him so he doesn't escape his special jail or something.

Make Love, Not Warcraft

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Jade Golems: I had to look this up, because I sure haven't played Hearthstone. Okay, so they're just summons you get from playing other cards? I... don't know why this was nominated. Maybe these are a big meme in the Hearthstone community?

https://youtu.be/ci67Ky5gU2o?si=IDZsk678NAwYgZfV

KokoroAkechi posted...

So your initial reaction to this was what everyone said before it came out. However, it turns out that due to the spell pool most of the time this was just good to play when you needed a type of reset button or a oh s*** card. This card was basically the prime example of something hearthstone did not want to have. A card designed on randomness that was competitively overpowered.

Yeah, I can see this. I don't really play TCGs, but I can definitely see this working in a way Blizzard didn't intend and having to be nerfed.

KokoroAkechi posted...

More recently Blizzard has walked back a lot of the "evil forsaken" stuff with more sympathetic characters like Calia and Lilian Voss taking center stage for them.

Look, man, the Forsaken were always the most evil player race, and it wasn't close. No one else just casually lobotomizes NPCs and turns them into slaves. They deserved to get betrayed by deathlords. The fact that the Horde tolerated their shit after the first incident is just incredible.

NFUN posted...

Town of Salem

What game has a town named Salem? I can't find this, and don't remember it.

Un'Goro Crater

Raka_Putra posted...

Also I've never actually played any Blizzard game.

I haven't played any Blizzard game besides Overwatch....

Stop poking me

Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans

Anagram posted...

Jade Golems: I had to look this up, because I sure haven't played Hearthstone. Okay, so they're just summons you get from playing other cards? I... don't know why this was nominated. Maybe these are a big meme in the Hearthstone community?

Sorry, I assumed you knew at least a little about Hearthstone. There were three classes that could summon them, and one (druid) was particularly notorious about how they could do it to grind out games.

Nominate Jaina Proudmoore

I have only played StarCraft

Are the past threads' comments in this overarching "project" archived anywhere?
Other than that one site.

Overwatch x My Hero Academia

Anagram posted...

What game has a town named Salem? I can't find this, and don't remember it.

Town of Salem

DireKrow posted...

Are the past threads' comments in this overarching "project" archived anywhere?
Other than that one site.

No, sorry. I don't even have any of them saved. I probably should have saved them, but I assume they're available in the archive somewhere. Each list is only one topic, though.

EDIT: I do have the lists themselves, but not the writeups.

Power Overwhelming
User Map Settings
Leeroy Jenkins

Jacked Up and Good to Go
True Colors (StarCraft mission)
Corrupted Blood Incident
Make Love, Not Warcraft: Maybe I'll one day do a South Park topic, you'll learn about my secret controversial opinions about it then, but for now, let's just say this is the definitive South Park episode to me. Everything you associate with South Park is here: crude humor, mocking something that's popular... I guess that's really about it. Of course, us true fans know that the boys' plan wouldn't have really worked because you can't gain experience from mobs more than ten levels lower than you, but it's fine. But let me show you the single greatest cosplay ever: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c9c89ded.jpg
Witch Skin (Mercy)
Battle.net (Original)
Zeratul
Zerg Rush
Auction House (WoW)
Terran Theme 3

Stay a While and Listen
Jeff Kaplan Dinoflask Videos
Galvadon (Theme)
Roadhog
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker
Jaina Proudmoore: Jaina has a huge advantage over basically every other WC3 character who's in WoW: she played almost no role in Vanilla, BC, or WotLK. I'm aware that she's ruined later on after Garrosh nukes her city and she dyes her hair to show that she's serious about revenge (take me seriouslyyyyyy guyssssss), but I stopped playing well before then, the result of which is that basically every WC3 character in WoW loses points for being in WoW, except for Jaina, Malfurion, and maybe some other less important people I'm forgetting about. Is that fair? No. Anyway, Jaina is great in WC3. She's another foil to Arthas: a leader who's capable of stepping back and listening to advice and thus who avoids all of the corruption that overtakes her boyfriend, though to be fair, no one ever really attempts to corrupt her anyway. Unlike Thrall, though, she actually interacts with Arthas and sees how he's ruined by his goals and emotions. She's empathetic, all of her actions make complete sense, she gets to be in two of the best scenes in the game (Arthas pronouncing that they have to destroy Stratholme and Daelin Proudmoore's death), she's more useful in actual combat than Arthas is, and she gets a 100% unique model, which I don't think anyone else does besides Malfurion? They don't even put her on a horse like the normal archmage. Never mind how she's an archmage at age 18, that's fine. The idea that Jaina is the only member of her generation of leaders to survive, that she had to watch everyone else either die or get corrupted, is really strong... but they do nothing with it ever, and even in WoW when she has revenge hair, she's still not like "kill all the orcs raggghhh," she still behaves a little too reasonably. Basically, I'm saying that I think Blizzard had no idea where to take her character after WC3, but wasn't willing to kill her off like Cairne, so she's now just awkwardly hanging around. At least Sylvanas does stuff, even if it's 100% stupid! ... So, now that WoW established that Kul Tiran humans are all 8 feet tall and fat and muscular, why does Jaina look like a regular human? Actually, how OLD is Jaina? Because I'm reading the WoW Wiki, and it talks about how her brother was killed thirty years before being raised by Sylvanas, and it's like, Jaina would have to be at least 45 now, right? Probably even older.
Tyrael
Light v Tempest
Stop Poking Me: One of the all-time classics. Too bad the genre is dead, this is the only genre where you really click on things a lot to select things this way.
Nukes
Sombra ARG: This ARG was a fun little thing at the time, I don't think I even knew what an ARG was. It's a shame that Sombra's introduction set the bar a little too high; compare the leadup to her to, I don't know, Venture. Does literally anyone care about Venture? I stopped playing well before they were released.
Tychus Findlay
Wrath of the Lich King Opening Cinematic
Ilios Bottomless Pit
Overwatch SFM Pornography: I think we all have to admit that part of a franchise's appeal is how much porn it can produce. Do you think Danganronpa would be as popular if the characters weren't all sexy anime girls who can easily be in porn doujins? I doubt it. And I think this is doubly true for Overwatch. I've never gone out of my way to find Overwatch SFM porn, but I've still stumbled onto it a few times, and it's not a surprise that it's mostly about Mercy. Like, people want to masturbate to sexy women, it's fine, I'm not judging. And 2016-era Blizzard clearly understood this, because Overwatch's character models are flawlessly designed to fit into SFM, I just don't think that's a complete coincidence, I think that had to have been intentional to at least some extent. Again, I haven't gone out of my way to look for Overwatch porn, but I can't recall seeing any Overwatch 2-era girls in it, it's always some combination of Mercy, Tracer, Dva, and Pharah, and Brigitte. Maybe there's some Ashe stuff out there, I dunno. There HAS to be Kiriko porn I haven't seen, right? Maybe that's the reason why Overwatch has tanked in popularity, they stopped designing heroes to be in fan pornography.
Diablo (Game)

Systems Functional
Un'Goro Crater: Un'Goro Crater is a good example of WoW adding stuff. Let it not be said that all of WoW's decisions are bad, just most of them. It's a fun little side area, this random crater where everything looks like the Jurassic age, and dinosaurs run around, and the only civilization is some archeologists hanging out in a camp on the northern rim. I hate that one quest to find colored crystals, though, you're always drowning in crystals you don't need while you search for the one color you do. And there's always some dick Horde rogue waiting by the gryphon rider to stab you while you're AFK after you land.
Yogg-Saron, Hope's End (Card)
Town of Salem: Boy oh boy, do I know nothing about this game. Okay, so this is just a werewolf social deduction phone game, got it. Okay, lemme just check out some gameplay... This is exactly what I expected, yeah. This is fine, I like these kinds of games, but... what does this have to do with Blizzard, exactly?
Death Blossom
Vaelastrasz the Corrupt
Warriors (WoW Classic)
Mass Carriers
Mercy Multi-Rez
Thrall

Warsong Gulch: It's actually kind of incredible how, in Vanilla at least, every PvP battleground had the Horde be totally in the wrong. Here it's that the orcs want to chop down sacred Night Elf forests that were left alone for thousands of years. I mean, these are the "peaceful" orcs who have quests to genocide the quillboar because Thrall wants their land. I'm just saying, the Forsaken are the most evil, but it's not like the orcs are innocent, either. Anyway, this was the simplest BG, just capture the flag, there's not a lot to it. It was super annoying to play as Alliance until they added the ability to queue from cities, since it's so far away from every Alliance capital. And it was annoying to have to actually guard the flag, because no one wanted to do it, because capturing the enemy flag is much more exciting. Remember when they started adding experience gain to BGs to make sure you couldn't twink your character and fight regular people, and could only fight other twinks in special twink lobbies? I'm sorry, Blizzard, but the appeal of twinking out a low level character is 100% pwning some noobs.
Heroes of the Storm
Javelin Amazon
Nazeebo
Bob, do Something!
Overwatch and TF2 Comparisons: They were more valid when TF2 and Overwatch were the only games in town, but the comparisons are still valid. I think it's uncontroversial to say that TF2 was better-designed, every detail polished to a mirror shine, while Overwatch just had way more ideas that weren't really balanced, or even attempted to be balanced, correctly... but both games eventually went to shit. I don't want to say that TF2 got abandoned, but to some extent, your PvP multiplayer game just needs more content at regular intervals to keep people invested, and TF2 stopped getting more. Overwatch, on the other hand, just sort of disappointed everyone and Blizzard gave up on it. Like, TF2 is infamously just pure bots now, to the point where it's unplayable. You at least have to give Overwatch credit that it's not just bots.
Jade Golems
Dr. Boom (Card)

Fifty DKP Minus
Sombra
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness: I said this before, and I'll say it again: StarCraft is the first good RTS. The genre was garbage until then. And real talk, there are fewer than five good RTSes total. There were just too many minor improvements that had to be made in order to create a good game, Warcraft and Warcraft 2 had to walk so that StarCraft could run. It's not their fault, they were in uncharted territory, but it is what it is. Same reason why MGS >>>>>>>> MG1 and MG2, the technology had to catch up with the idea and the bad ideas had to get ironed out with developer experience. WC2 is where we start to have the humans and orcs have more unique units, and StarCraft is what finally gives us completely unique factions. WC2 gives us a SLIGHTLY more complex storyline, where not all of the humans are good (even though all of the orcs are still bad), and Starcraft takes it to the next level. It's actually kind of incredible, imagine if a game like this came out today, where the plot really is just this simple. I don't think you COULD make this kind of simplistic plot anymore in a real video game. It's also funny how the art for the box is Daelin Proudmoore, who's like the least important human leader and goes out in WC3 as the villain of the second orc campaign. I have thoughts on Daelin Proudmoore and Garithos, man, but they can wait. Anyway, this is the last gasp of the pure, untainted high fantasy. I know that we have steam engines and bombs and whatever, but WC3 is where things get a little more original, although the irony is that WoW was SO influential to the genre that it's now the default high fantasy setting instead of Lord of the Rings (yeah, I said it). Can someone explain to me why high fantasy ripoff settings always have humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs, but halflings are extremely rare? Anyway, this is a step up from WC1, but you still shouldn't actually play it.
Ana
Lost Vikings II: Norse by Norsewest
Jeff Kaplan Videos
Sarah Kerrigan
Lost Vikings
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans
Murky
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans: I didn't know about this, I'm actually shocked that Blizzard had the idea of sympathetic orcs back in 1996. An adventure game, lol. Adventure games SUCK, yeah I said it. Don't tell me about Secret of Monkey Island or whatever, one good game doesn't redeem an entire genre of unplayable trash. The idea of playing as Thrall visiting downtrodden drunken orcs living in shitty reservations is kind of interesting, but it's probably a little too real? I don't know, I'm not sad that this game was cancelled, the specifics of how Thrall became the new leader of the Horde don't really matter, we just need to know that he reunited his people after they were reduced to living in squalor.
Hero Shooter (Genre)
Warcraft (Film)
Blackthorne (Game)

An Ancient Evil Returns
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls: Jesus Christ, this is already ten years old? Well, anyway, the idea of an angel turning evil and you having to fight him isn't terrible, but that's about all this game has: one idea that "isn't terrible." D3 is such a disappointment. I've heard D4 is better, but I don't know firsthand.
Microsoft Acquisition
Auction House (Diablo 3)
Ready Player One: You nominated this thinking I would have to look it up, but I embarrassingly did see that movie in theaters, and I remember the one second Tracer cameo. Nice try. I had to listen to the audiobook version because my friend wanted to while we were on a road trip, and in a story all about 80s nostalgia, it's like... I'm okay with the movie also including 90s nostalgia, so be it, but Tracer? From 2016? She stands out so much compared to even like the Iron Giant. And like, at least the Iron Giant had been out for well over a decade, including someone like Tracer in your "future where everyone is nostalgic for the past" scenario, please. Tracer will be well and truly forgotten by then. It's like including Rey from Star Wars. Oh, do you want a ranking of the book itself? It suckssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
Do You Guys Not Have Phones?
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Bobby Kotick
Always Online
Nova
Activision

Not Even Death Can Save You
Sylvanas Windrunner
Warcraft III: Reforged
BlitzChung Incident
Overwatch 2's PvE Cancellation: It's actually incredible how much this disappointed people. I'm around college kids a lot, and I've heard many 18 year olds complaining about this. I think Blizzard didn't realize how much people wanted this, which is confusing, because this was also 95% of their justification for "updating" Overwatch with a sequel. And without the PvE, what do we even have? Just Overwatch 1, but with one fewer player per team? Like, when Overwatch came out, it put a big emphasis on "a world worth fighting for" and all its implied backstory and lore. Then Blizzard says, explicitly says, "we're updating the game so you can focus on the lore," and then that just doesn't happen. So the only actual effect the sequel has is to replace lootboxes with battle passes, and boy oh boy, I hated lootboxes, but I'll take them 10000% over battle passes. Complete flub by Blizzard, effectively killed the game. And for what? What else is Blizzard even making that takes resources? More WoW expansions?
Blizzard (Weather)
Cosby Suite

Veto
BlitzChung Controversy: I already ranked this!

Cannon rush

Warcraft characters getting corrupted and turning into a raid boss

Final Fantasy XIV

Psychopath Mei

The Three Bs: Bethesda, BioWare, and Blizzard

Anagram posted...

Make Love, Not Warcraft:

It's stunning to think that Trey Parker wanted to throw the episode in the garbage and never air it. During production he thought it was the worst thing they ever did, begged the network to not show it, and thought it would kill the series for good. It's one of my favorite episodes ever.

Also, I recently learned that PC killer character guy was based on a real person at Blizzard.

Backstabbing in SC1

Edit: oh, I searched and I guess that can mean more than thing. I'm specifically referring to when you un-ally your teammates and attack them

Grand_Kirby posted...

It's stunning to think that Trey Parker wanted to throw the episode in the garbage and never air it. During production he thought it was the worst thing they ever did, begged the network to not show it, and thought it would kill the series for good. It's one of my favorite episodes ever.

I had no idea, everyone loves that episode.

Warcraft III

a team of 6 Bastions before Overwatch added character limits

WoW has way too many steampunk elements to be definitive high fantasy!

As far as fantasy races go, dwarves, elves, and orcs all have roots in real world mythology (even though most modern takes on them are ripping off Tolkiens spin on them as opposed to their mythological origins). But Halflings (aka Hobbits) are just a Tolkien original. So we probably see them less because they make whatever they appear in even more obviously derivative of Lord of the Rings.

Red Shirt Guy

Anagram posted...

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness: I said this before, and I'll say it again: StarCraft is the first good RTS. The genre was garbage until then. And real talk, there are fewer than five good RTSes total.

wow (no pun intended)! WC2 and 3 is the franchise's peak, and I play WoW (Classic). I don't care how many units you can select in a modern RTS, WC2 is essential as far as I'm concerned. WC1 has its moments.

Daelin Proudmoore may have gone down as a villain, but he had good reasons to despise the orcs (I think Jaina was the jerk here).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMhpHgqIQdQ

Somehow I missed that youd already done the BlitzChung thing.

Call of Duty being on Battlenet

lordjers posted...

wow (no pun intended)! WC2 and 3 is the franchise's peak, and I play WoW (Classic). I don't care how many units you can select in a modern RTS, WC2 is essential as far as I'm concerned. WC1 has its moments.

I can't stand the slowness and ancient UI of 1 and 2, sorry! And how the factions are identical except for spells.

Daelin Proudmoore may have gone down as a villain, but he had good reasons to despise the orcs (I think Jaina was the jerk here).

I have thoughts on him and Garithos, as I said.

Necromancer (Diablo 2)

- Power Overwhelming
User Map Settings
Warcraft III: It was never as good as StarCraft... but it came close. This and StarCraft are the only good RTSes, it's an entire genre of just two games from twenty years ago, that's it, that's the entire genre. Adding RPG elements like leveling and items via the hero system was a great idea that actually set it apart from StarCraft (I couldn't believe SC2 was smart enough not to port that and to just have static hero units), the user-made maps were even better than StarCraft, the story was WAY better than the first two games, even the blocky aesthetic was well-handled and distinct. It knew exactly which parts of the first two games to keep and which parts to innovate on, it has a lot of really cool and memorable moments (mostly involving Arthas or Illidan), and it just sort of did everything right. This truly is one of the definitive early 2000s games despite being in a super niche genre, and it deserves a lot of credit for that. Best of all, it never had all of its characters ruined in an MMO sequel that just needed a constant source of new raid bosses.
Leeroy Jenkins
Necromancer (Diablo 2): I think it's probably uncontroversial to call this the most fun D2 class, right? There are certainly more efficient ones, like the smitadin and lightning sorc, and more mechanically compelling ones, like the trapsassin, and faster ones, like the whirlbarian, but just summoning an army of skeletons and running around letting them kill everything for you is just so much fun... What cool build did the druid have? I don't think I've ever played a druid. Anyway, there was one boss, I don't remember what it was, that was so strong in my playthrough that it killed all of my skeletons, so I had to just keep summoning more by using every damn corpse on the map, and they still weren't enough, and I barely killed him using my basic attacks because I'd invested every point into my skeleton army. That was fun! Way more fun than my smitadin! I never played the D3 necromancer, fuck paying for a DLC class, but I recall people saying that you could only summon a few skeletons at a time, which sucks. The entire appeal of the class is just summoning an army of spooky skeletons, that's the whole POINT. It's why I'm glad WoW never got a necromancer class, because there's no way they would include that element, they would surely make it a limited pet class like warlocks and hunters. I also enjoy how, like the witch doctor and barbarian, the male version is an ugly older guy, and the female version is a hot waifu, that's the way it goes. Oh wait, I'm supposed to talk about the D2 necromancer, god, the only other spell you should ever take besides the summons is corpse explosion, and only because it's funny. The entire concept of fighting the hordes of Hell using shitty undead skeletons and zombies and whatever is great, this was always going to be the best D2 class, nothing else need apply. Alright, you want to know the truth? I've played the first three Diablos, and here are the best classes, here's my dream lineup of classes for a theoretical Diablo V: Barbarian, Paladin, Wizard, Necromancer, Demon Hunter. And I can stand barbarian being dropped, it's really not as much fun as the others. And yeah, I said it: Diablo 3 isn't great, but it's not the WORST thing, and the Demon Hunter and Wizard are actually kind of fun! ... I still can't believe how much it screws up the Monk, though, holy shit, how do you make a monk class that pulls out its weapon for regular attacks, puts it away for special attacks, and then pulls it out again?

- Jacked Up and Good to Go
True Colors (StarCraft mission)
Corrupted Blood Incident
Make Love, Not Warcraft
Witch Skin (Mercy)
Battle.net (Original)
Zeratul
Zerg Rush
Red Shirt Guy: There are three Red Shirt Guys, but I assume you're talking about the first, Ian Bates, who showed up to a 2010 BlizzCon lore panel and asked a question about obscure tertiary dwarven leaders to Chris Metzen, who awkwardly responded that he thought the character was already dead despite it being his job to know Warcraft lore. Such a meme did this guy become that WoW now has a "Wildhammer Fact Checker" hang around the dwarf king who wears a red shirt. 10/10 job, this is the power of caring about things more than the writers do.
Auction House (WoW)
Terran Theme 3

- Stay a While and Listen
Jeff Kaplan Dinoflask Videos
Galvadon (Theme)
Roadhog
Saviors of Uldum Trailer: Honestly, this is a pretty good trailer. I've never played this game and never will, but if we're being honest? This is a quality trailer, it sort of makes me want to play. I think it's also kind of interesting that the only pop cultural archeology reference is still Indiana Jones, a character whom no one under the age of 30 cares about. I guess what I'm saying is, the market is open for a new fictional archeologist, you know? ... Dammit, this song kind of rocks, I think I'll just go ahead and put on a 10 hour loop of it, thank you YouTube.
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker
Jaina Proudmoore
Tyrael
Light v Tempest
Stop Poking Me
Nukes
Sombra ARG
Tychus Findlay
Wrath of the Lich King Opening Cinematic
Psychopath Mei: Lemme tell you this, I once played a random PUG as Roadhog and saw our McCree get frozen by a Mei. She was right about to put an icicle in his head, so I just stepped between them and took it to the stomach, saving the McCree while Mei ran away. After that, that guy was so insanely impressed by my quick thinking and kept complimenting me even though it was like half a second of good gameplay by me. Anyway, the idea of mild-mannered scientist nerd Mei as a sociopath is funny, of course, which makes this good. It's funny how her gameplay forces you to act like an insane murderer in a way that makes sense for, say, Reaper, but not really for her. Why is she even in this game? Everyone else is like an adventurer or a soldier or a freedom fighter or an assassin or whatever, and she's just a random climatologist? She has no possible reason to be involved in all of these wacky shenanigans the rest of the cast is in, I think she's actually the most confusing character in the game in terms of why she's fighting. Although, I haven't actually read Illari's, Venture's, Juno's, or Lifeweaver's lore, maybe they're dumber, let me quickly check... Wow, okay, this is all way dumber than OW1's "I'm a cowboy" or "I'm a crazy war veteran," never mind.
Ilios Bottomless Pit
Overwatch SFM Pornography
Diablo (Game)
Griefing: I won't pretend I didn't do this when I was a dickhead fourteen year old. I stopped in WC3 when people started getting banned for real, and I was able to avoid that fate despite deserving it. The only example I remember is when I played WC3, announced that I was a backstabber, killed my own base, and told the opposing team exactly what my allies were building at every moment. And then my allies won anyway, despite being down a man and having their actions told to the enemy in advance, because the enemy was just THAT incompetent, and they shat on the enemy team nonstop once they realized they were going to win. And you know what? The enemy team deserved it, 100%. How do you screw that up?

- Systems Functional
Un'Goro Crater
Yogg-Saron, Hope's End (Card)
Town of Salem
Death Blossom
Vaelastrasz the Corrupt
Warriors (WoW Classic)
Mass Carriers
Mercy Multi-Rez
Thrall
Warsong Gulch
Bethesda, BioWare, and Blizzard: They were all good companies twenty-five years ago, and now, one is in the dumpster, one is teetering over the dumpster, and one is basically okay. We've already discussed Blizzard at length, there's nothing much more to be said. Too bad what became of the company, but it is what it is. BioWare, man, they published the BEST WRPGs of our childhoods, 1998-2007 was pure gold from them, and then they fell off of a cliff. I guess Mass Effect 2 was good, and ME3 was tolerable if you can accept its flaws, but boy oh boy, did Dragon Age go in a different direction. DA4 does not look good to me at all. And I never played Andromeda, but I've heard it's trash. It's a huge shame, too, but that's the fate of companies that get eaten by larger, soulless companies. Activision for Blizzard and EA for BioWare. I don't even think of them as the same companies that made the good games of my teenage years, it's whatever. And as for Bethesda? Nothing's changed at all. I know a lot of people champion Morrowind as being infinitely better than Skyrim, but you know what, they're both good. Fallout 4 isn't awful, even if it's not as good as New Vegas (I am aware NV wasn't made by Bethesda, shut up). Like, sure, there's been a dip, but TES6 might very well be a great game, Bethesda has not completely burned its goodwill like the other B-named companies.
Heroes of the Storm
Javelin Amazon
Nazeebo
Bob, do Something!
Overwatch and TF2 Comparisons
Jade Golems
Dr. Boom (Card)

- Fifty DKP Minus
Sombra
Warcraft II
Ana
Lost Vikings II: Norse by Norsewest
Jeff Kaplan Videos
Sarah Kerrigan
Lost Vikings
Warcraft I
Murky
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
Hero Shooter (Genre)
Warcraft (Film)
Blackthorne (Game)
Call of Duty on Battle.net: You know, ideologically, I shouldn't have a problem with this, it's not like anyone is forcing me to buy it... but I dislike it anyway. It's like, it's so at odds with everything else on Battle.net, in the sense that everything Blizzard has ever made is very nerd-oriented except for Overwatch, and then you have the most mainstream basic bitch dudebro series ever. It just sort of becomes emblematic of how modern Blizzard isn't 90s Blizzard anymore, and never will be again.

- You Are Not Prepared
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
6 Bastion Team: Ugh. It sounds funny, and it is, but as soon as two people chose the same character, suddenly everyone did, and your team is fucked. Well, it's either fucked or it's suddenly way too strong. Most characters aren't good when you have multiples of them, but sometimes you get six Roadhogs or Torbjorns or something, and it's a nightmare. Bastion is one of the ones who benefits from multiples of himself. I know limiting the teams to just one version of each hero is kind of lame and bad, but the alternative is six Hanzo teams, so I'll take it.
Microsoft Acquisition
Auction House (Diablo 3)
Ready Player One
Do You Guys Not Have Phones?
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Bobby Kotick
Always Online
Nova
Activision
Being Corrupted into a Being Raid Boss: "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." I guess that's not really true, since Gelbin Mekkatorque has been around since 2004, done nothing the entire time, and is still the King of the Gnomes, with his only plot development being that there are now more gnomes for him to be the king of. What WC3 characters are even left to be corrupted into being raid bosses? I think it's just Jaina, Tyrande, Malfurion, and Thrall, right? Everyone else is either already a raid boss or dead, right? Am I forgetting anyone? Fucking Shandris, maybe? Honestly, it's possible that any or all of them have been raid bosses already, and just not been killed in the lore. In any case, the most undignified example is surely Kael'thas, I don't think anyone can argue that. Illidan is also REALLY bad, but at least he didn't become a drug addict.

- Not Even Death Can Save You
Sylvanas Windrunner
Warcraft III: Reforged
BlitzChung Incident
Overwatch 2's PvE Cancellation
Blizzard (Weather)
Cosby Suite

- Veto
Final Fantasy XIV: I've never played this, but I'm aware this is WoW's only real competition ever. Good for it, I guess. Doesn't seem to have forced WoW to improve, though.

Jaedong

Less sexy characters, battle pass, and no story more... OW2 is doomed.

Nominate: Blizzcon

Sadly, the most notable new pop culture archaeologist is probably Dwayne Johnsons character from the new Jumanji movies.

Anagram posted...

Dammit, this song kind of rocks, I think I'll just go ahead and put on a 10 hour loop of it, thank you YouTube.

Mission Accomplished. 8)

Anagram posted...

one is in the dumpster, one is teetering over the dumpster, and one is basically okay.

Without reading your follow-up, I wouldn't have had any idea which one was which. I thought they were all (in some sense) in the dumpster. I guess Starfield was better than FO76, but it still left much to be desired.

Anyway, nominate: Demon Hunter (Diablo)

(Someone needs to immediately follow this by nominating DH from Warcraft.)

I was primarily thinking about the auction house controversy when Diablo 3 launched.

Anyway.

The Diablo 1 recreation event in Diablo 3

redrocket posted...

Sadly, the most notable new pop culture archaeologist is probably Dwayne Johnsons character from the new Jumanji movies.

Ugh that's true.

Pokemon RPG Starcraft UMS Maps

Anagram posted...

There are three Red Shirt Guys, but I assume you're talking about the first

That's correct.

Starcraft

it's an inferior clone of sc2 mafia

The original name of Blizzard, Silicon & Synapse

Winston

Siege tanks

Units available in the campaign that are unavailable in multi-player

This Witchwood trailer for Hearthstone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtIbKXd5fWo