Gamerant lists MMORPG's with best stories, FFXIV #6, WoW #1, uhh

[Shougun]

Since both you and Vyrerus brought it up in this context, I did go and find an article talking a bit about how Dark Souls does story and I do think it's at least somewhat similar to the sort of thing I liked in WoW. The example of the archer, at least as presented in the article, is exactly the sort of thing I like. The game assumes you're smart enough to put the pieces together and let's you do so. FFXIV would just have some throwaway messenger NPC show up to report that the legendary archer is dead, while Alphinaud is on hand to say anything that that needs to be said on the player's behalf and can't be expressed with a single emote.

What you liked about WoW, that I've read so far, Dark Souls (and in general all the soul-like games from FromSoft, like Bloodborne, Demon Souls, Sekiro) does in massive spades and I would say not only does it more but does it better (the environment is pretty rich in detail and the characters pretty much never give themselves a huge introduction and backstory, you pick it up overtime through objects, environment, and small quips).

That isn't to say I don't think has WoW doesn't have story or whatever, there is a hilarious amount of books for the universe, there is loads of flavor text and hidden npcs and other things, WoW has a story and a very big and expansive one- I often see people who favor FFXIV kind of discount that WoW has any story or lore at all just because it's not forced on you or as obvious (I don't mind FFXIV forces it, but it's clear one game is like "HEY U DO MSQ" and the other is like "eh, pay attention or not, wahtevs- I don't care"). Personally I'm worried the longer FFXIV goes on and forces MSQ it might scare people away though, it's going to be like 300 hours to catch up lol, I spent half that time to nearly 100% Witcher 3 XD.

Although in a big critique of WoW- I think they handle retcons poorly and their general quality, I feel from watching random story / lore / game announcement videos, is that it has gone down over time, I enjoy the ideas and concepts of the new things they try and I wouldn't say anything like the team is devoid of skill or interesting concepts (and I feel often players here give it an unfair shake, especially since many of the ideas one game uses another seems to be influenced on in a back and forth), but that there appears to be lack of funds and time they need to do what they should have done well (which I feel the earlier days of Blizzard that wouldn't have happened, Blizzard used to be my favorite company for "whatever happens, it'll be done good" but I wouldn't trust anything until it's been thoroughly reviewed first (there are still a few companies out there that'll refuse to deliver anything but excellence but they seem to be fewer and fewer).

[Nixxe]

What you liked about WoW, that I've read so far, Dark Souls (and in general all the soul-like games from FromSoft, like Bloodborne, Demon Souls, Sekiro) does in massive spades and I would say not only does it more but does it better (the environment is pretty rich in detail and the characters pretty much never give themselves a huge introduction and backstory, you pick it up overtime through objects, environment, and small quips).

Maybe I'll go give Dark Souls another shot then. I have the trilogy for PS4, but never really got around to it properly, largely because Monster Hunter World/Iceborne ate up almost 2,000 hours of my life and virtually all of the time I spent playing console games this console generation aside from the couple of weeks I spent on Nier Automata.

Although in a big critique of WoW- I think they handle retcons poorly and their general quality, I feel from watching random story / lore / game announcement videos, is that it has gone down over time, I enjoy the ideas and concepts of the new things they try and I wouldn't say anything like the team is devoid of skill or interesting concepts (and I feel often players here give it an unfair shake, especially since many of the ideas one game uses another seems to be influenced on in a back and forth), but that there appears to be lack of funds and time they need to do what they should have done well (which I feel the earlier days of Blizzard that wouldn't have happened, Blizzard used to be my favorite company for "whatever happens, it'll be done good" but I wouldn't trust anything until it's been thoroughly reviewed first (there are still a few companies out there that'll refuse to deliver anything but excellence but they seem to be fewer and fewer).

Absolutely. Warcraft III and early WoW had a serviceable story, though I always felt WCIII and anything related to it, such as WotLK, was generally overrated in that regard. Following MoP, however, Blizzard basically gave up on doing anything genuinely new in favor of an unending stream of returns and retcons in a cheap attempt to cash in on nostalgia regardless of the demands it placed on the universe. A lot of the retcons they introduce actually make even bigger problems than they fix, like the Legion being the same Legion in every reality. Why should any player want to care about the lore when the people making it obviously don't and change it regularly to suit their most immediate needs?

[Shougun]

Maybe I'll go give Dark Souls another shot then. I have the trilogy for PS4, but never really got around to it properly, largely because Monster Hunter World/Iceborne ate up almost 2,000 hours of my life and virtually all of the time I spent playing console games this console generation aside from the couple of weeks I spent on Nier Automata.

It's pretty good I think, so long as you don't mind dying lol. Your experience with those other games you listed will help you a bit with Dark Souls. The story I think is nice, and how they tell it through the locations, music, npcs situations, and monsters is subtle- so you have to prepare your thinking cap because it's unlikely they'll just straight up tell you things. Like each time you talk to an npc in a new area they might sound a little bit more broken and then later you fight them, but the game wouldn't have made this long cutscene screaming to you about how that was them, if you noticed you noticed if you didn't you might have just thought "what a strange situation" and for some reason never see that npc again lol, and at the locations and small quips of dialog (the game doesn't go on extended rants) and through items you learn what they were trying to do and their troubles. May even be your fault, depending on your actions .

There are a number of youtube channels dedicated to piecing it all together after you finish the game, which can be fun.

Absolutely. Warcraft III and early WoW had a serviceable story, though I always felt WCIII and anything related to it, such as WotLK, was generally overrated in that regard. Following MoP, however, Blizzard basically gave up on doing anything genuinely new in favor of an unending stream of returns and retcons in a cheap attempt to cash in on nostalgia regardless of the demands it placed on the universe. A lot of the retcons they introduce actually make even bigger problems than they fix, like the Legion being the same Legion in every reality. Why should any player want to care about the lore when the people making it obviously don't and change it regularly to suit their most immediate needs?

I never understood why they made so many changes, I don't think gently massaging things to fit your gameplay needs is a problem but there were a number of moments where someone was telling me some change they made and I'm just like "...but y tho?". What did they achieve that they couldn't have achieved by doing something else that wasn't against the story.