Creative Development Q&A 5

[Hawki]

I'd go with the colossi/ideology thing. It better fits the Conclave's persona. Not to mention that while I can accept Kindragen's distance explanation, it doesn't explain the colossi on Aiur not being activated by virtue of said explanation.

A lead-on question regarding this issue (and more about the creative development/process in general) would be whether they think WoL panders more successfully to the SC newb or the old fan and (especially if the WoL devs think it's neither or both) whether both can be done effectively using WoL as an example?

As much as I like WoL, I'll admit that it's probably more newb friendly than veteran friendly. Just because I don't have problems with the Tal'darim (at least, not how they were portrayed, the 'missing link' between them and the Aiur/Shakuras branch bugged me more) doesn't mean I can't appreciate the argument. I guess the best thing to do IMO would be to give HotS and/or LotV codex treatment, albiet doing a better job than D3.

There, there Hawki. You should content yourself that you already seem to know the answers to these inane questions before Blizz answers them and just ignore all the Q&As from now on.

Even if I don't like the answers I'm obliged to accept them. And it's not just the questions - there are some good ones, but even then we're not getting proper answers most of the time. But on the other hand, I can't call it true arsepulling either. Especially with last week, I wouldn't have asked any of these questions because I thought the answers were self-explanatory.

[Kimera757]

I thought that they were sealed in asteroids?

Most of them were, I suspect, for cultural reasons. "Get these things off my planet!" A few were kept though. (In essence, we have two conflicting sources, and Blizzard probably tossed in the colossus in that mission just for "rule of cool" rather than for reasons that made sense given the existing lore.)

I'm still waiting on why preservers are now equated to mystics instead of being living preservers of protoss culture, history, and knowledge; ala Dark Templar Saga.

That, and why three of them were on the same planet. I suppose they could have been captured and brought there, but Zeratul had already said that all of them were on Zak'hul long before he knew a hybrid was using them as a power source (second question: how was it doing that?).

The preservers were inaccessible and pretty much gave their knowledge to no one but the Conclave, from what I can tell. That's a bit of a guess; one did accompany Tassadar to Char. I suspect very few protoss ever see them, making much something like religious rock stars.

The preservers used to have a Sanctum on Aiur, so presumably you can run into more than one. Zhakul was an "archive world" so its religious significance may have warranted three of them.

The protoss in general believed all the preservers were dead at one point, but were curiously blase about this in Twilight. I suppose Zeratul looked up some old records and realized there might be a few on Zhakul, untouched by zerg (and hopefully not by Ulrezaj).

How was the hybrid sucking their energy? It's a hybrid. It has strange, unexplained powers. (Hopefully unique ones too.)

[mr. peasant]

I'm still waiting on why preservers are now equated to mystics instead of being living preservers of protoss culture, history, and knowledge; ala Dark Templar Saga.

That, and why three of them were on the same planet. I suppose they could have been captured and brought there, but Zeratul had already said that all of them were on Zak'hul long before he knew a hybrid was using them as a power source (second question: how was it doing that?).

What I'd like to know is why the Preservers on that planet were so cordial with Zeratul. By virtue of being Preservers, they are absolute devotees to the Khala, more so than even the Conclave. Meanwhile, Zeratul, as a Dark Templar, is the embodiment of everything they stand against. And as they were reclused on their little planet, away from Aiur, they wouldn't have been enlightened by Tassadar's new teachings.

A lead-on question regarding this issue (and more about the creative development/process in general) would be whether they think WoL panders more successfully to the SC newb or the old fan and (especially if the WoL devs think it's neither or both) whether both can be done effectively using WoL as an example?

I can almost guarantee that they will answer "both". Specifically, they'd comment to the effect that catering to new players and old fans are not mutually exclusive, that they want the story to be accessible to the unfamiliar while at the same time providing something for the devoted, and that they are simply striving to tell the best story that they can.

If you try to back them into a corner and trap them with a question, you'll just force them to answer diplomatically; which gives us zero useful information.


The million dollar question I'd like to see asked, and keep wishing someone would touch on, would be that:


With WoL being the first time Blizzard has worked with branching missions (both: multiple storyline endings and non-linear mission progressions), what were the challenges faced and what were the lessons learned from the experience, in terms of telling stories in such a format? What effect has this had, moving forward into Heart of the Swarm (and Legacy of the Void)?


I know: not technically a 'lore' question and it's more of a game/story design question; but I feel it's one that could bear an interesting response.

[Visions of Khas]

What I'd like to know is why the Preservers on that planet were so cordial with Zeratul. By virtue of being Preservers, they are absolute devotees to the Khala, more so than even the Conclave. Meanwhile, Zeratul, as a Dark Templar, is the embodiment of everything they stand against. And as they were reclused on their little planet, away from Aiur, they wouldn't have been enlightened by Tassadar's new teachings.

How do Preservers gain new the knowledge and experience of others? Is it tied into the Khala on a level that only Preservers have access to?

I agree it is a bit weird, but Blizz would likely hand-wave it, saying the Preservers have seen and experience all that the Dark Templar have done on behalf of Aiur through the senses of those now dead.

[Gradius]

I want to know if the protoss actually have the industrial capability to build colossi & motherships. This "lost weapon" answer makes it sound like it's old incompatible technology and they can only use the ones that are currently in existence.

They originally didn't have the industrial capability to build immortals/dragoons according to the original sc2.com page, but I think that was retconned because obviously it was absurd.

[Kimera757]

How do Preservers gain new the knowledge and experience of others? Is it tied into the Khala on a level that only Preservers have access to?

I agree it is a bit weird, but Blizz would likely hand-wave it, saying the Preservers have seen and experience all that the Dark Templar have done on behalf of Aiur through the senses of those now dead.

This was explained fairly clearly in the Dark Templar Saga. Each preserver can access the memories of all those dead protoss were part of the Khala, and at least some of those cut off from the Khala (the ones from the Aeon of Strife, although that's likely because those protoss were at the end and survived to join the Khala) and apparently the drugged-up Tal'darim of Aiur.

They explicitly cannot access the memories of dead Dark Templar, and Dark Templar cannot have their own preservers.

The preservers would have listened to Zeratul because he has knowledge that only they're supposed to have, and of course he rescued them. While possible, it's a little hard to hold a prejudice against the Dark Templar after that. Furthermore, Zamara didn't seem to hate the Dark Templar, not surprising, since she knows the truth about them, rather than the Conclave's propaganda. I would expect any other preserver to be in the same position.

[Visions of Khas]

They explicitly cannot access the memories of dead Dark Templar, and Dark Templar cannot have their own preservers.

I didn't mean to imply that the Preservers had DT knowledge; just vicarious experience derived from Khalai who fought alongside Zeratul and his warband on Aiur.

But you're right, they are privy to secret information by their very nature. The Conclave would want to keep a short leash on them. I just wonder what knowledge they had that Maar was trying to suppress.

Sorry, it's been a while since I've read the Dark Templar saga.

[Kimera757]

I didn't mean to imply that the Preservers had DT knowledge; just vicarious experience derived from Khalai who fought alongside Zeratul and his warband on Aiur.

More importantly, information from when the Dark Templar were kicked off of Aiur. That's probably more important in relieving prejudice.

But you're right, they are privy to secret information by their very nature. The Conclave would want to keep a short leash on them. I just wonder what knowledge they had that Maar was trying to suppress.

Same thing Ulrezaj was trying to suppress. But we don't really know what that is. The information about the xel'naga procreation cycle was secret knowledge, which I suspect only a few Shelak way back when knew about, and it seems that quite a few people who have learned this knowledge... start making hybrids.

[Robear]

That last answer was just terrible. The guy asked:

Why is it that you can completely understand the Wings of Liberty storyline by playing through only StarCraft 1's campaign? I feel like anything unraveled in Brood War is *not* mentioned anywhere in Wings of Liberty.

and the answer was all about why Brood War wasn't in the recap. No one ever asked about the recap!

Now, you might say that since the recap didn't need to mention Brood War, that's a sign of how little it was represented in the story.

Yes, I would.

I reference this in another answer somewhere, but I'll paraphrase here: most of the events of BW had their impact in terms of characters.

So... why wasn't Brood War's character development referenced at all? Fenix is never mentioned, Raszagal is never mentioned. Seriously, how do Raynor and Zeratul confront Kerrigan without mentioning those two? Not even a throwaway line! ("You swore to kill her after what happened to Fenix." "Times have changed, Matt." That would have done it.)

[Hawki]

Yeah, the answer was assinine. Though in Kindragen's defence, the question wasn't much better either. Word of advice, don't answer questions that are based on supposition.