Yeah, weird that I post something like this, cause I've been a WoW fanboy during Reforged fiasco, but. While WoW did provide some(a lot) of good content, and ability to improve the Campaigns. It also butchered Warcraft 3 lore in many ways, for gameplay reasons mostly.
First of all there are some good things. Like Legion making Terror of the Tides Campaign ridiculous, but man does Suramar look awesome and fits the universe perfectly, and would it improve to have some Nightborne hints, Withered and Vrykul creeps on the Broken Shore. Uldum looks awesome, but the idea behind it was literally just let's add some ancient Egypt to this universe, and I don't think anyone would mind some new Silithid, Sand Troll or even air elemental creeps in the Barrens. I'm pretty certain that Chen Stormstout was just meant to be side, joke, uncannon character, to show the need to preserve the Panda in our world, and they made a whole expansion based on him, but man does Pandaria look awesome, fits in the World, and would it be a nice backround for some extra content. Sadly non of these has happened, or would ever happen.
However, from gameplay reasons, WoW did butcher many Warcraft 3 stuff. The biggest problem I have is with the race class identity.
To start with, the only race that wasn't butchered at all are the Humans. Humans in WoW and their zones are obviously based on Warcraft 3. And all of their classes fit and work almost perfectly. Human Warrior is a warrior from the middle ages, human Rogue a mysterious murderer from assasins creed, human Mage with the orbs tomes self cleaning brooms like Merlin inspired, human Priest a caster with all light and god and Catholic church theme, even the human Hunter which was added much later(Cataclysm) works well. The only thing about Humans for gameplay reasons is gender equality, with women being as common of Warriors, Hunters and even Priests. But it doesn't really break the whole Human middle ages theme that much.
However, almost all other races have been completely stripped of their race class identity. This is the most obvious with the Priest Class. For example there are Trolls, their Priests should be all about Voodoo rituals and Haitian Voodoo vibe, right? Wrong! Troll priest is a Human priest with blue skins, large tusks and hunched back. Forsaken priests should be Apothecaries, able to heal with medicines and poisones, wrong again, Forsaken priests are undead human priests, and they use Holy Light to heal other Undead for gameplay reasons which is autrocious from Wc3 point of view. Even the Dwarves, their priests should be all about runes and runelore stuff, yet they are short human priests.
Same goes for many other classes, for example Gnome Warrior should be a mechanic that builds a big suit to be large in combat not a very small human warrior that's just ridiculous, same goes for Goblins Blood Elf mage should be all surrounded with magics and Sunwell and that stuff, and not Merlin with long ears. Dwarven Paladin should be more of a rune mage with maces, and not a short human paladin etc....
Some core race philosophies from Warcraft 3 have been completely ignored for gameplay reasons, like both Humans and Orcs accapting Warlocks in their societies.
The things got even more rediculous with Cataclysm, there are just some totally unlogical things, like Dwarves being able to be Orc Shamans(Shaman is based on the Orc unlike really any other class that was based on Humans), Mages are all about the sophistication and that's the exact opposite of Orcs and Trolls, who can be mages. Tauren (large minotaurs) can be human priests and paladins etc....
However the race that was butchered by far the most are Night Elves, with pretty much every their lore aspect from Warcraft 3 being ignored for gameplay reasons. While they still do have that mystical-nature-night vibe, everything else has been butchered. Night Elf Priestesses are all about worshiping the moon, and night. They aren't just priestesses, but Warriors and Huntresses, even Rogues in some casses(Wardens and Watchers). All the Sentinels should be exclusively women, and thier warriors should be all about Night Elf glaves and stuff. No, their priests are human priests with blue skin and long ears, their warriors are human warriors with blue skin and long ears etc.....And for gameplay reasons they made them able to be of both sexes, even added many male Sentinel NPCs, which is just ridiculous. Night elf Warriors, Hunters, Rogues and Priests should be female exclusively. The other thing is that Druid class should be exclusive to Night Elf males. No! They made females as common as males, even NPCs, and even made Tauren druids (ridiculous from Wc3 point of view) of both sexes and made them as common as Night Elves. To top it all of in Cataclysm they made them except the Highborne, the race which slaughtered them, and represents the exact opposite of all that the Night Elves stand for, just so that Night Elves can be mages. They even added the customization of white hair which was exclusive to Highborne (something like Targaryen looks from GoT) and now you have white hair Night Elf druids running all around, which is again autrocious from Wc3 pov.
The thing with the Druids they could of done like they did with the monks, like sure other races can be monks, but the Pandaren train them, and every single monk NPC is a Pandaren.
Anyone found any other case when WoW butchered Wc3 lore?
First of all there are some good things. Like Legion making Terror of the Tides Campaign ridiculous, but man does Suramar look awesome and fits the universe perfectly, and would it improve to have some Nightborne hints, Withered and Vrykul creeps on the Broken Shore. Uldum looks awesome, but the idea behind it was literally just let's add some ancient Egypt to this universe, and I don't think anyone would mind some new Silithid, Sand Troll or even air elemental creeps in the Barrens. I'm pretty certain that Chen Stormstout was just meant to be side, joke, uncannon character, to show the need to preserve the Panda in our world, and they made a whole expansion based on him, but man does Pandaria look awesome, fits in the World, and would it be a nice backround for some extra content. Sadly non of these has happened, or would ever happen.
However, from gameplay reasons, WoW did butcher many Warcraft 3 stuff. The biggest problem I have is with the race class identity.
To start with, the only race that wasn't butchered at all are the Humans. Humans in WoW and their zones are obviously based on Warcraft 3. And all of their classes fit and work almost perfectly. Human Warrior is a warrior from the middle ages, human Rogue a mysterious murderer from assasins creed, human Mage with the orbs tomes self cleaning brooms like Merlin inspired, human Priest a caster with all light and god and Catholic church theme, even the human Hunter which was added much later(Cataclysm) works well. The only thing about Humans for gameplay reasons is gender equality, with women being as common of Warriors, Hunters and even Priests. But it doesn't really break the whole Human middle ages theme that much.
However, almost all other races have been completely stripped of their race class identity. This is the most obvious with the Priest Class. For example there are Trolls, their Priests should be all about Voodoo rituals and Haitian Voodoo vibe, right? Wrong! Troll priest is a Human priest with blue skins, large tusks and hunched back. Forsaken priests should be Apothecaries, able to heal with medicines and poisones, wrong again, Forsaken priests are undead human priests, and they use Holy Light to heal other Undead for gameplay reasons which is autrocious from Wc3 point of view. Even the Dwarves, their priests should be all about runes and runelore stuff, yet they are short human priests.
Same goes for many other classes, for example Gnome Warrior should be a mechanic that builds a big suit to be large in combat not a very small human warrior that's just ridiculous, same goes for Goblins Blood Elf mage should be all surrounded with magics and Sunwell and that stuff, and not Merlin with long ears. Dwarven Paladin should be more of a rune mage with maces, and not a short human paladin etc....
Some core race philosophies from Warcraft 3 have been completely ignored for gameplay reasons, like both Humans and Orcs accapting Warlocks in their societies.
The things got even more rediculous with Cataclysm, there are just some totally unlogical things, like Dwarves being able to be Orc Shamans(Shaman is based on the Orc unlike really any other class that was based on Humans), Mages are all about the sophistication and that's the exact opposite of Orcs and Trolls, who can be mages. Tauren (large minotaurs) can be human priests and paladins etc....
However the race that was butchered by far the most are Night Elves, with pretty much every their lore aspect from Warcraft 3 being ignored for gameplay reasons. While they still do have that mystical-nature-night vibe, everything else has been butchered. Night Elf Priestesses are all about worshiping the moon, and night. They aren't just priestesses, but Warriors and Huntresses, even Rogues in some casses(Wardens and Watchers). All the Sentinels should be exclusively women, and thier warriors should be all about Night Elf glaves and stuff. No, their priests are human priests with blue skin and long ears, their warriors are human warriors with blue skin and long ears etc.....And for gameplay reasons they made them able to be of both sexes, even added many male Sentinel NPCs, which is just ridiculous. Night elf Warriors, Hunters, Rogues and Priests should be female exclusively. The other thing is that Druid class should be exclusive to Night Elf males. No! They made females as common as males, even NPCs, and even made Tauren druids (ridiculous from Wc3 point of view) of both sexes and made them as common as Night Elves. To top it all of in Cataclysm they made them except the Highborne, the race which slaughtered them, and represents the exact opposite of all that the Night Elves stand for, just so that Night Elves can be mages. They even added the customization of white hair which was exclusive to Highborne (something like Targaryen looks from GoT) and now you have white hair Night Elf druids running all around, which is again autrocious from Wc3 pov.
The thing with the Druids they could of done like they did with the monks, like sure other races can be monks, but the Pandaren train them, and every single monk NPC is a Pandaren.
Anyone found any other case when WoW butchered Wc3 lore?