wow Controversial Embassies Concept with Buildings from Allied Races in Orgrimmar

[Starym 3,800]

 

A while ago redditor ktullshak took a swing at upgrading the embassy section of Orgrimmar with a quick paste of the various buildings and styles representing all the Horde allied races and got quite a bit of negative feedback. Let's take a look, keeping in mind it's just a concept that was quickly thrown together to present the idea of a section of Orgrimmar showcasing the Horde 2.0, meaning focus on the idea, not the execution itself:

A whole lot of comments were related to the look, specifically how it detracts from Orgrimmar's orc style and is a mish-mash of themes in one place. Personally I think it's a pretty good idea and concept, having a part of the Horde capital integrating the (now quite a few) different races that make it up, especially after the recent/long running bad luck with Warchiefs. Obviously it would need more iteration, and the probable addition of the old-school races that make up the Horde, but it's a good starting point.

I wanted to bring this particular piece of fan art up since I was pretty surprised at the negative reactions it got and wanted to know why exactly it was so off-putting to people, so I put the question to everyone here: would you implement something like this or is a consistent orc aesthetic more important?

Source.

[Teufel 331]

If we are talking a concept like this, the solution would probably be to keep the general architectural style, but add some "Horde touch" to it, showing the influence the faction has.

Given, Highmountaineers and Mag'har are blending in seamlessly and Zandalari and Vulpera aren't that aren't far behind, it's mainly nightborne who look sorely out of place. Blood elves are generally having enough red in their general artstyle to pass, maybe Zandalari buildings in Orgrimmar can use a tamer color scheme, but I'm not quite sure what to do with nightborn given their artstyle is just screaming 'night elf', so a simple recolor won't do.

[Koxsos 38]

I think it does well on reflecting the rag tag band of unlikely allies the horde is, but I guess a bit of touch up with spikes, horde banners and fortification could not hurt. 

[darkgreenwax 412]

War banners are the correct answer to reach content with the most parties possible. They can be 20 feet tall for all it matters, it may even help newbies identify at a glance the race leader they're looking for (at the base of the banner). I understand the dislike of removing the orcish flavor of Orgrimmar, with that said, I think people can be entirely too aggressive in the defense of their preferences.

[P333j 1]

They should not only blend them in a bit more as mentioned above, but also spread them out, don't keep em all in one area. It would feel more city-like that way. 

[Grumar 188]

I mean clearly yes that pic is terrible but it's also clearly thrown together in 2 mins, I like the idea and concept of the new races influencing and changing org, a city that really needs another redesign in my opinion it looks terrible and still feels very garroshy 

[Starym 3,800]

2 minutes ago, Grumar said:

I mean clearly yes that pic is terrible but it's also clearly thrown together in 2 mins, I like the idea and concept of the new races influencing and changing org, a city that really needs another redesign in my opinion it looks terrible and still feels very garroshy 

Yea exactly. It's the idea that's good, the pic was clearly made quickly to start a discussion, I don't get why a lot of people are so focused on the excecution.

[darkgreenwax 412]

2 minutes ago, Starym said:

Yea exactly. It's the idea that's good, the pic was clearly made quickly to start a discussion, I don't get why a lot of people are so focused on the excecution.

Because the idea of it threatens their reality of WoW and attacking the idea at face value is the easiest thing to do in defiance of it.

[Migol 433]

Honestly the way Orgrimmar looks (and I say this as a 15 year Tauren player) is outdated.

The Horde looks like savage Barbarians still in hide-bound huts and barely in the medieval period at best for technology if you come into Orgrimmar for the first time.    The height of their architecture is pointless metal spikes!

This might have worked for Vanilla/Classic at a bit of a stretch (having gunpowder, blimps and various engineering robots and such), but since then we've gotten space-tech from the Draneii and Legion, we have full magic tech from Dalaran, Silvermoon and Suramar, and mech-tech from goblins, gnomes and so forth.     The dark ages look should be well in the rearview mirror.

Up for debate of course what it should have evolved into.   For my take, it should still look menacing and warlike, but with a much bigger embrace of magic and a "heavy metal" style of architecture (little or no wood!).    Think Lord of the Rings and the ominous towers, primordial dragons barely restrained on leashes.    Some unholy combination of goblin technology and the Silvermoon golems patrolling and looking suspiciously like fel reavers.       Giant bonfire near the middle where flame spirits are being constantly summoned or maybe centers for all 4 elements.    Than sort of thing.    Right now there's just a few middle sized buildings of note and then a bunch of small huts.    Gates are good as is though

 

[durdyenglish 298]

If you're worried about the classic Horde aesthetic, it's been gone since Blood Elves joined and absolutely decimated by the unfortunate inclusion of the Nightborne, who I felt leaned more toward Alliance/Khadgar until a random departure late in Legion.

For the life of me, Blizzard seemed intent to make the same mistake with Nightborne that they did with Blood Elves, try to shoe horn them into the Horde with a backhanded explanation. The idea that Blood Elves would team up with undead after the scourge destroyed their city is beyond me and one of the only truly unforgivable missteps in WoW lore. I guess the Nightborne make a little more sense, as former baddies and be it that they were shunned by Night Elves for continuing to use magic after their role in the War of the Ancients. 

Ironically the savage Night Elves and the exiled Void Elves make more sense on the Horde than Nightborne and Blood Elves do (especially with new eye tints for Blood Elves). Of course, Night Elves couldn't and now can never be considered for Horde because of obvious lore reasons, but thematically, they are the most Horde-like elf race.

[durdyenglish 298]

I do agree that capital cities need to be updated to reflect a more inclusive nature. Orgrimmar and Stormwind are absolutely Orc and Human cities respectively, and that no longer fits the consolidated nature of capital cities in game.

I don't agree that they should be all smashed together like this. It doesn't seem like the races are one faction that way, but rather a bunch of cultures camping out in someone else'e backyard. 

Instead, having districts, sections, or redesigning/opening up empty storefronts and buildings to just show citizens of all races coexisting without hard boundaries marking their existence. There are so many unused buildings in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, let's start opening those doors to the citizens of the faction.

[Badadada 184]

Well, if they can back up their existence with some kind of lore on how the hell Mag'hars got Draenor building materials to present day Orgrimmar then sure, go ahead. A few well-placed distraction won't hurt the overall landscape, only makes it more vibrant. But mixing all kinds of totally different major buildings next to each other like on the picture - nah that wouldn't work for me. Not even if they are reshaded with red Durotar dust.

[Halock 156]

I'd say it looks fine. Sure, it overwhelms the orcish aesthetic, but it'd be a vibrant spot of colour in a corner you don't frequently travel through. I think Horde looks good as a mishmash. They are a mishmash.

I think the buildings aren't the best. They're too tall, particularly the Forsaken and Goblins who have plenty of much better, squatter, buildings. I like the Nightborne one, though the plants on top of it are jarring. It's hard to see through the buildings to Orgimmar beyond -- which is the trouble. Mishmash they may be, but they need to be unified in one place. And I don't think the solution is covering them in spikes and banners, but just scaling them down so you can see the cliffs, the red towers, beyond. 

[BobTheHuman 72]

Why is there a need for this theme park crap in Orgrimmar? Flags, banners and crests are not enough to represent a race they have to stick an out of place tower in there... 

[Yevhen 18]

I would try every variation for every building, then pick the best one for every one and put them in one by one.

So, (correct me if I'm naming the 3 shown buildings wrong):

 - Goblins (right) - would stay as is.

 - Forsaken (middle) - either put it inside a cave, or into an underground facility.

 - Dalaran (left) - put it on the other side of city, with fully orcish architecture.

[Yevhen 18]

7 hours ago, Migol said:

Honestly the way Orgrimmar looks (and I say this as a 15 year Tauren player) is outdated.

The Horde looks like savage Barbarians still in hide-bound huts and barely in the medieval period at best for technology if you come into Orgrimmar for the first time.    The height of their architecture is pointless metal spikes!

This might have worked for Vanilla/Classic at a bit of a stretch (having gunpowder, blimps and various engineering robots and such), but since then we've gotten space-tech from the Draneii and Legion, we have full magic tech from Dalaran, Silvermoon and Suramar, and mech-tech from goblins, gnomes and so forth.     The dark ages look should be well in the rearview mirror.

Up for debate of course what it should have evolved into.   For my take, it should still look menacing and warlike, but with a much bigger embrace of magic and a "heavy metal" style of architecture (little or no wood!).    Think Lord of the Rings and the ominous towers, primordial dragons barely restrained on leashes.    Some unholy combination of goblin technology and the Silvermoon golems patrolling and looking suspiciously like fel reavers.       Giant bonfire near the middle where flame spirits are being constantly summoned or maybe centers for all 4 elements.    Than sort of thing.    Right now there's just a few middle sized buildings of note and then a bunch of small huts.    Gates are good as is though

 

I would agree, but since it is a big city (lorewise), in order to rebuild it you need to put all those people somewhere else. Or they could do it slowly, street by street.

[dartbodman 64]

.

Edited May 16, 2020 by dartbodman

[Ariecho 15]

A bit too flashy for me, but I welcome the initiative to display each embassy in the style of its sovereign faction.