I've never seen World of Warcraft before! | Cinematic Trailers Blind Reaction

[@SolitarySaturn]

Check out this updated WOW video as well for the trailers I missed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXqql4qnocujfc0

[@Minwolf]

Sylvanas has been a banshee and leader of the Horde's undead since I think the expansion for Warcraft 3.

[@TheWerns]

Wrath of the Lich King is the one you really needed to include here - the pinnacle of their "original" cinematics.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Ok might need a part 2 then

[@TheWerns]

@@SolitarySaturn For part 2 I would recommend Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Shadowlands, and Dragonflight in that order.

[@lockekappa500]

Yeah really surprised that Wrath didn't make it into the first one. Who was feeding Saturn these!? lol

[@SolitarySaturn]

@@lockekappa500 Nobody which was likely the problem haha

[@TheFnut]

Wrath of the Lich King cinematic is great, but it spoils warcraft3 quite a bit. Ideally you'd play through warcraft3 first, it's the bedrock of wow.

[@Guw4372]

Battle of Azeroth cinematic is my personal favourite. Even watching it now still gives me the spine tingling sensation when Sylvannas turns into a Banshee and yells ‘FOR THE HORDE’.

[@spurgurius]

The first cinematic is actually is 20 years old. In Battle For Azeroth cinematic the elf lady is an undead so shes in the horde and she technically was a high elf instead of Night Elves are different breed of elfs on the alliance.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Wow! No pun intended. Thanks for the info and for checking out the video!

[@talisredstar1543]

@@SolitarySaturn no we wow fans are about about the puns.

[@HavocR24]

All elves are descendant from Trolls > night elves > high elves/nightborne > blood elves/void elves. Trolls/Nightborne/Blood Elves are Horde, where Night Elves/High Elves/Void Elves are Alliance Sylvanas was a High Elf Ranger that was killed then turned into an undead Banshee Sylvanas became the leader of the undead after freeing most of them of their masters control and giving them free will Undead are part of the Horde

[@IgorEngelen1974]

i'm getting old 🙂

[@SolitarySaturn]

@@IgorEngelen1974 Tell me about it

[@charlayned]

The woman in the Battle for Azeroth trailer was the Warchief of the Horde in the Battle for Azeroth expansion, named Sylvanas Windrunner. She's a long-time established character. She was killed by the Lich King and turned into a Banshee. She broke free of him and joined, along with her "Forsaken" (undesd), the Horde. She was named warchief in the Legion expansion and her actions there stared the war. The young guy in the Battle for Azeroth trailer is King Anduin Wrynn. He is new to the throne, his father, King Varian Wrynn died at the start of Legion and left the 18 year old Anduin to succeed him. The worgen (big gray wolf) is King Genn Greymane, a friend of Varian's who has become advisor to Anduin. Genn has a big desire to kill Sylvanas because her Forsaken army came in and killed people in his kingdom of Gilneas, including Genn's son. This has made things a bit tough for Anduin, who believes they can settle this stuff without violence right up until the start of Battle for Azeroth. In Battle for Azeroth, Anduin is about 20-22. The last one, The War Within, is the expansion that will go live in late August. We're doing beta testing now on it and the pre-patch fun will start in late July. We're doing some fun re-do in Mists of Pandaria as a way to get people caught up characters and have some good story redo's. Yes, you can play a Pandaran in the game, both Horde and Alliance have them. The story and the places are beautiful, it was my favorite expansion because of that. If you want a giggle that happens just after the Mists of Pandaria trailer, go find a short called "Bottoms Up" put out by World of Warcraft. It's what the two characters (orc and human) are doing. The World Within trailer is the former warchief of the Horde, named Thrall. He's a beloved character and revered on both sides. He was in the early Warcraft games, the leader of the rebellion when the Orcs were slaves. He and Anduin were kidnapped, along with several others, by Sylvanas and taken to the Shadowlands (where souls go when they die, but Sylvanas and the others are not dead). She's working with the new bad guy in that one and they were tortured. Anduin was dominated by the Jailer when he showed he had the Light power. Sylvanas tried to talk him into willingly joining with them to "defeat death" but he refused and so he was forced. And the Jailer had him doing some very awful things, including stabbing someone. He had no free will and while he was dominated, he was still seeing what he was being made to do. Needless to say, this screwed with him brain a bit. After Shadowlands, he disappeared for a time, just traveling around trying to get rid of the memories and make peace with himself. A dandy case of PTSD, to be sure. In the World Within, Thrall comes to him to tell him that they need him. The hand on the shoulder reminds Anduin of the cut scene in the Shadowlands expansion where he managed to break free of the domination with help of the ghosts of his father and of Varok Saurfang, who was a friend. Thrall's hand triggered the PTSD. Varok Saurfang is a friend of Thrrall's and of Anduin, he's the orc in the Battle for Azeroth trailer in the red armor that gets turned into a pin cushion by the elven hunters. He survives, and he and Anduin end up working together, along with Thrall, to stop Sylvanas. The sword was stabbed into Azeroth in Silithus (the desert they're in) at the end of Legion by a Titan. They're not known why, but it was responsible, in part, for the Battle for Azeroth. The visions are, supposedly, the soul of Azeroth, but they're not sure. But we'll find out who and why is calling when the expansion comes out. I recommend a series of Catch Up videos put together by a KZbinr named Athelarius. It's made of cut scenes and will give you the entire history from the first expansion all the way to this next one. They're long, but very much worth it. I've been playing since 2008 when my adult kids got me into the game (I wanted to know what they were going on about at Thanksgiving dinner) by giving me the Burning Crusade expansion. I love it, been playing daily since then. I play for the lore, not so much all the fighting, raids, dungeons, etc.

[@akse]

Cool recap.. Nowadays I would just rather watch this story from a TV.. the cinematics look stunning. The gameplay has not appealed to me in a long time. Last time I played was Classic and went all the way to the end of Naxxramas. In TBC I quit again since no point doing all that hamsterwheel again :) Originally I did play TBC to the start of Sunwell but once the guild stopped raiding I started to slow down on my WoW playtime. In WotLK I didn't even start raiding again.. just played to 80 and afterwards I paused my subscription and just came back every now and then.

[@christakoch5011]

thanks for your exact informations 😃 I love this game so much since 2006

[@jingthethief]

same here. i play for the lore too. dont care much for the other stuff.

[@elissahunt]

Excellent explanation. Also, I love that you mentioned the "Bottoms Up" video. That's one of the best things Blizz has ever done, imo. 😁

[@dickie8015]

So for a bit of context if you haven't found out already. There's 2 factions, The Horde, and The Alliance. The Horde is the orcs, trolls, taurens, undead, blood elves, and goblins. The Alliance has humans, dwarves, night elves, gnomes, draenei, worgen. The pandas can be either and since I last played there is another new race that can also be either. The "elf" you thought turned against her own is actually an undead and at the time of that expansion she was the Warchief over all the Horde and they were in a huge battle against the alliance. The best way to understand it better would be to watch all of the cinematics in order of the expansions.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Would you like to see me react to the in game cinematics as well?

[@leloo12n1]

YES YES YES YES

[@witnessforchrist7778]

100%

[@carro-xb9oz]

absolutley there are a ton of in game cinematics to watch:) 20 years of wow:)

[@leloo12n1]

In game cutscenes get really good around warlords of draenor expansion and beyond c: aalso I would advise watching the artsy cinematics. Namely, warlods, harbringers, and warbringers

[@JeF_91]

please also check "World of Warcraft - Warbringers" series, you will asolutely love it

[@Akeche]

3:30 For the very first time, just a day after Christmas of 2004. Fourteen year old me launching the game and seeing the cinematic. Remember this was a whole year before youtube even existed so seeing the opening for a game was a legitimate surprise.

[@VKill89]

Yup

[@talisredstar1543]

I would suggest you watch ALL of the cinematics and in order, it tells the best story! But yes even to today, that first cinematic can still get a wow player pumped up, and its graphics still hold up even today. The cow people are called Tauren, that undead "mage" is an Foresaken Warlock, and he was summoning a demon known as an Infernal. Every powerful demon, but quite unwieldy. Not so much anymore but back in the old days you had to be on top of controlling it, or it would start attacking every mob or enemy around you. The Night Elf woman was a druid, nature mage that can shapeshift into animals of Azeroth. Yes you can play as Pandaren. The were the first race that was allowed to choose which side they wanted to play on, Alliance or Horde. In the cinematic, that is Chen Stormstout, he is Pandaren, but from another place called the wandering Isle. An island on the back of a gigantic sea turtle, the travels the sea. Hence the name wandering Isle. When he learned of Pandarian's existence he had to come and check it out and rand into the Horde and the Alliance. In the expansion you actually quest along side him, and his niece Lilu at times. Its funny though this expansion was hated by the general public. tons of Kung-fu Panda memes, and people didn't want this. They thought it was a joke, but for those that stayed and played the expansion. It turned out to be one of best expansions in the game, because to the content, the story, the raids were amazing. (Raids are group content where 10 or more players coordinate to kill big bosses for loot) Azeroth is the name of the planet that all these mortal races live on. It is the name of the world Soul that incubates within it, hence it became the name of the world. That sword is an ancient elven blade named Shalamayne. Gifted to him. It obeys its wielder if they are honorable and righteous. When completely one with the blade, The wielder can separate it into 2 swords and dual wield it. Varian is Andiun's late father. The Wolf man is a Worgen, infact he is the king of the Gineans. King Genn Greymane. He lost his kingdom to the Worgen Curse, and then the Foresaken. The Nightelves took the Worgen in and helped them to tame the beasts within and they ended up rejoining the Alliance after years of self isolation. King Greymane, became one of Andiun's advisors upon Varian's death, and a sudo-father/grandfather figure for him as well. During the lose of Gilneas. Genn's son was killed by Sylvannas the banshee Queen. This was another reason why Genn took to Andiun, not really said, but kind of implied transferring his loss for his son, into making sure that Andiun had that kind of Father Figure, After Varian fell at the battle of the Broken Isles. Sylvannas was the leader of the Foresaken, Undead Humans, and elves. She did this as one of the first Undead Scourge of the Death Knight Arthas' army to regain her mind. No longer wanted among her people the High Elves, and not wanted among the Humans and the alliance for being Undead, the gathered the Foresaken and joined the Horde. In the Battle for Azeroth time period she was Warchief of he Horde, after Vuljin of the Dark Spear Trolls died from his wounds from the battle of the Broken Isles. During Shadowlands Expansion, Andiun was captured by Sylvannas, who was working for Zovaal, aka the Jailer. She tried to convert Andiun over to their side believing he would be stronger for them if he did it willingly, but when he didn't the Jailer used Corrupted Shalamayne, now know as Kingmourne, a runeblade now., to dominate Andiun's mind. Domination isn't mind control completely. It changes your thought to align with whom ever is doing the dominating. Basically Andiun became a passenger in his own body. And he was maid to hurt alot of people within the Shadowlands. The problem is, he felt exhilaration from it. He had incredible power, and why he is so distraught now is he doesn't know. Was that the Jailer's emotions he was feeling, or his own. Its not exactly the best description, but its the best way i know how to compare it. Imagine being almost mentally gRaped, and submitted, forced to do terrible things all the while he could do nothing to stop it. A part of you might of enjoyed it, or the person dominating you enjoyed it and you felt it as your own. That is where Andiun was when he finally regained control of his mind when we defeated him in the Specular of the First Ones, and the spirits of Varock Saurafang, and his father Varian Wrynn came to him and helped him break the domination. In The War Within cinematic, Andiun has been traveling alone for 5 years. He didn't return to Stormwind and take back his role as king. He doesn't feel worthy of it anymore. And he doesn't call upon the Light, because he doesn't feel worthy of it as well, and he is also afraid if he tries, it won't answer him. His whole life he's used the Light as trained Priest, to heal and aid. Its been a core aspect of Andiun. Now, he so scared that it won't answer him after what he's done, that he even refuses to call upon it. What Andiun doesn't know is that the Light answers the call of those that have conviction and righteousness. Its not a "purely good." Force. We know this because people that are "bad guys." Like the Scarlet Crusade, insane paladins and priest that want all undead destroyed. If you aren't one of them, you are against them. They can still use the light even though they are bad guys. One of the first Paladin's Tyrion Fordring, he was excommunicated from the Church and the Order of the Silver Hand. Stripped of his powers, and left to exile. Well, little did anyone know he was still able to call upon the light, because of his conviction and his righteousness. which was needed when he came out of Exile before Wrath of the Lich King expansion. He gathered up remnants of the Order of the Silver Hand, the Argent Dawn, and those that were not insane of the Scarlet Crusade, and formed the Argent Crusade. During the Battle of Lights Hope Chapel. When Arthas sent his Death Knights. (you the DK players) to it to destroy it and lure Tyrion out of hiding. the leader of the Death Knights wielded the Corrupted Ashbringer. A Very VERY powerful weapon that was originally used to destroy the Scourge, undead army. When Morgraine learned that he was just fodder for the Lich King, he was able to regain his own mind, and threw the blade to Tyrion. Who was about to face the Lich King at this battle. The instant the Corrupted Ashbringer touched Tyrion's hand. He was so powerful in the Light that he instantly purified the Corrupted Ashbringer back to its Original Form and used it to wound the Lich King and forced him to retreat. Hope I gave you enough context and lore about things. I'm sorry i know its a bit of a ready, but this is cliffnotes compared to the actual lore. Again I recommend that you find an anthology of all the cinematics, and watch them all in order. It is well worth your time even if you rewatch some of these that you have already seen.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Would love to do that if everyone would enjoy seeing that.

[@vertraeumtemoewe]

Wow, exactly this! Would be cool to watch all in order. It just gives a little more to it. Would recommend that aswell. But including only the trailers or all cinematics made? To be honest, all cinematics together are a movie but totally worth and would love to watch it together / seeing an reaction! :D

[@knighthawk3749]

Just to add that Anduin was a Priest when growing up, but became a Paladin. That's why he wears plate armor in BFA cinematic.

[@HavocR24]

Never seen someone call a druid a nature mage 😂

[@Red14548]

some of the earlier cinimatics were just uploaded 14 years ago but they are actually older, like the first one came out before youtube was a thing, they were just RE-uploaded, so to know the time line of releases (cinimatics are usually out about half a year before the actual expansion) World of Warcraft (the original game) 2004 WoW: "The Burning Crusade" 2007 WoW: "The Wrath Of The Lich King" 2008 WoW: "Cataclysm" 2010 WoW: "Msts Of Pandaria" 2012 WoW: "Warlords Of Draenor" 2014 WoW: "Legion" 2016 WoW: "Battle For Azeroth" 2018 WoW: "Shadowlands" 2020 WoW: "Dragonflight" (current expansion) 2022 WoW: "The War Within" should drop this year 2024

[@JekyViews]

War Within release date is August 26th 2024. :)

[@martinoresnik4435]

I played WoW for many years, started playing about a month before the second expansion (Wrath of the Lich King) came out and have played all but one or two expansions total. Every time a cinematic comes out, it makes me want to play the game again. Their cinematic team is on another level.

[@Anjoma]

when i watch these trailers i actually get goosebumps again... FOR THE HORDEEE!!!

[@VKill89]

Yessss

[@Gumblethebear]

I've seen the BFA trailer well over 100 times. I still get emotional when she yells that (even with everything)

[@CertavusGrey5450]

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but there is a follow up video to the Mist on Pandaria cinematic called Bottoms up. It’s a quick(under a minute) video of the two soldiers being drunk at a bar after their little fight 😅

[@PsiChoCybia]

Anduin, the human in the final trailer is the adult version of the young man who called down that Light from the heavens to ressurect the Alliance. He's lost his Light.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

Blizzard do not allow for this yet but Anduin have respecced class at least twice now. In Mists of Pandaria he is clearly a priest. In Battle for Azeroth he is paladin. If he now lost his light he is now probably a warrior. He definetly show that he can build up the rage needed to feed warrior abilities. 😅

[@artaq227]

Wandering around The Maw will do that to ya!! 😔

[@Hybrodon]

he didnt "lose" it. He could still do it, if he was mentally capable of it. He doubts himself and feels he isnt deserving of the light after the entire ordeal with the Jailor.

[@MegaChickenfish]

"Saurfang's Mak'gora" is a good compilation of the major cinematics of Battle for Azeroth and might give more context to Anduin's changes. Between Legion, BFA, and Shadowlands, the young prince has been forced to grow up very fast.

[@albertplayayays6019]

Really cool video! I always love seeing a new perspective on some of the cinematics and things, and they have definitely improved over the years with their visual storytelling

[@SolitarySaturn]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheWerns]

Also, if you want more WoW recommendations, I suggest reacting to the Daughter of the Sea song - the title of the youtube video is "Warbringers: Jaina"

[@Fluffyfoodog]

Honestly, please react to the Harbingers and the Warbringers series, they have amazing Art and Stories

[@dragosmahuev4686]

Here's list of cinematics in chronological order if you need (Battle for Azeroth is only one that had several complete cinematics): World of Warcraft 2004 The Burning Crusade Wrath of the Lich-King Cataclysm Mists of Pandaria Warlords of Draenor Legion Battle for Azeroth - Old Soldier Battle for Azeroth - main Battle for Azeroth - Lost Honor Battle for Azeroth - Safe Haven Battle for Azeroth - Reckoning Shadowlands (+Beyond the Veil cinematic) Dragonflight (+Lauch cinematic) The War Within (+Date announcement cinematic) Also, ingame pre-rendered cinematics got good after Pandaria and Draenor so you may watch these too if you get interested in the story: Mists of Pandaria - Patch 5.4: Siege of Orgrimmar Siege of Orgrimmar final cinematic Thrall vs Garrosh cinematic The Broken Shore Nighthold finale Rejection of the gift Raising a King cinematic The Negotiation Shadowlands features trailer (helpful to understand what's goin on) Kingsmourne Anduin Raid finale (There are many other cool ones but those are best for person who's not into story yet)

[@SolitarySaturn]

Thank you this is really helpful!

[@shawnmorris906]

I can't believe you left out The Wrath Gate, it was their first real in game cinematic. They created a tool just for it, that people still use.

[@dragosmahuev4686]

@@shawnmorris906 forgot that Wrathgate and Fall of the Lich king got remastered and are watchable nowadays, sure.

[@mgamer327]

this was fun to watch from your perspective! the first video made me & my 20 year toons tear up lol!! the music in all expansions never fails! nice commentary!

[@shalakabooyaka1480]

Blizz has an insane CGI crew making these trailers.

[@Salerias]

One of the few things you can still count on today from Blizzard. The art style, soundtrack and cinematic teams havn't disapointed a single time. Would be nice if that could be said about the other aspects of their games in the last few years

[@chillyspoon]

Really enjoyed watching your reactions to these! - and it's great seeing all of the commenters filling in the gaps and explaining who is who for you, particularly when you fluked selecting the BfA and War Within combination end to end - Anduin before and after the Shadowlands broke him (and the rest of us ;p ). The music in WoW may be the most consistently high quality thread through all the years, it's always stunningly put together.

[@RatelRegalement]

Sylvanas - the one you thought was a siren - was a high elf in life, a different set to night elves. Her backstory(and elves in general) goes fairly deep, but very brief sum is she's an undead Banshee, leading an undead people (The Forsaken) who are part of the Horde. It's complicated. :P

[@SolitarySaturn]

Haha I liked the “It’s complicated”! Thanks for checking out the video!

[@zarasha8220]

@@SolitarySaturn "it's complicated" is probably the understatement of the year lol :) with the game being 20 years old, with many expansions, there's a ton of lore leading up to the next expansion that's releasing in a few months - The War Within. As someone who's just now getting into the franchise, it's easy to get overwhelmed with all the info that's out there. I'll echo someone else's comment that you should look for & react to the cinematics (both rendered cinematics as well as in-game cinematics) in chronological order. It will help you make sense of the storylines and better appreciate the world building as you get further and further into your exploration of the WoW universe. I'm currently taking a break from WoW until the next expansion comes out (I'm in my 3rd full playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 & absolutely love it! but that's a franchise to delve into another day) but I have always enjoyed seeing a game that I've played since it's 2nd expansion (The Burning Crusade) through the eyes of someone who's never played it before. Thanks for the WoW reaction, and hope to see more of them.

[@SolitarySaturn]

@@zarasha8220 Appreciate you!

[@NoFutureZine]

This game is a large part of my life, has been since I was a kid. Really enjoyed your video. It's nice getting to see other people enjoy what I enjoy so much.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Appreciate you stopping by for the video!

[@dannya8614]

So many books written, so much lore and retcons since 2004. The rabbit hole goes very deep when it comes to WoW. Definitely worth to watch all cinematics for sure!

[@SolitarySaturn]

It is in my plans. Thanks for the support!

[@BaldChimpanzee]

Its always very nice to see someone appreciating the game you've spend so many years into, especially cinematic art of WoW, which is carrying the entire company on its shoulders

[@grm0402]

awesome reaction thanks for getting the cinematic volume right. Great personality too

[@SolitarySaturn]

I appreciate that!

[@MREmusique]

I don't know why, since I'm a diehard Horde player, I STILL find that moment in the War Within trailer where the ghostly hand of Anduyn's father on his shoulder brings tears to my eyes. In a way, it's like a mirror of the final cutscene in Wrath of the Lich King when you finish the raid.

[@wanderingangelstudio1359]

Long time player here. I’ve watched these cinematics dozens of times. They still give me goose bumps.

[@BrewmasterAdaryn]

I’m not sure if you caught it, but the guy in the last trailer (anduin) is the same guy that calls down the light in the battle for Azeroth trailer. The last one is the next expansion and battle for Azeroth is a few expansions ago. The orc with the nice voice in the last one is voiced by Chris Metzen who also voiced Varian Wrynn (Anduin’s dad). The ‘my son’ in the trailer is Varian. Edit - it releases in August.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Oh I didn't piece that together actually. Thanks!

[@Knight-of-Sarcasm]

Welcome to the Warcraft universe and Azeroth (the planet/plane)! I don't plan to provide spoilers, but I will share some of the basics with you. The base/core races were Night Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Humans for the Alliance; Undead/Forsaken (the dead warlock), Tauren (minotaur), Trolls, and Orcs were for the Horde. At the next expansion, Blood Elves and Draenei were added. Blood Elves joined the Forsaken after many events in Warcraft 2 and 3 and the D,raenei or "space goats" as many call them joined with the Alliance. Fast forward to the Battle for Azeroth trailer and you see the narrator Sylvanas The Dark Lady Queen of the undead, who is the Banshee Queen. She was a Blood Elf until Arthas (Warcraft 3) took her soul when he killed her and rezzed her as a banshee along with her rangers. You can see the rangers on the top of the wall (Keep firing!) along with the Forsaken and others of the Horde. She is the best archer in Azeroth and my favorite NPC. After she behaved BADLY she and others of the Horde had to protect her home city which lays under the ruins there. The Alliance laid seige to it led by the boy-king (Mr. Baby face there) Anduin. He was one of the most powerful priests in Azeroth and you can see his mass rez of his army there. Sylanas did not turn on her Horde there in that cinematic; she was leading them. For the last cinematic, we see a broken Anduin after the events of the 2 expansions between BfA (Battle for Azeroth) and the upcoming War With (TWW) that drops 8-26-2024. He's wandering, lost mentally trying to get his pieces of his soul/heart back together. The orc you see there that comes to him was the GOAT Troll named Thrall. If you've played Warcraft 3, he's one of the two characters you can play as there. He's a shaman that's been through hell himself. From the beginning, he's been voiced by Chris Metzen one of the creators of WoW and that's his voice that you comment on. The sword? Well, the meme goes "What sword?" It's been driven into a desert in Azeroth and hopefully we learn more about it in this expac. Hope you enjoy you trip--we fans are VERY ENTHUSIATIC about our game!

[@TarlaPrettyPaws]

I have yet to see someone find a list of all actual cinematics available, but if you find what you can, especially in-game and in order, you'd get the opportunity to follow the story pretty well. The later expansions especially. The first you'll find in game are from Wrath of the Lich King, they start to really pick up in Pandaria, and are now included quite often. I've played the game since vanilla, it's always fun to watch someone explore the lore/game that I love.

[@lycos94]

the human in the final trailer, anduin, was the same guy from the trailer before, the one with the divine light power at the end there, not sure if you noticed that

[@Eluarelon]

still get goosebumps watching the original first trailer. Man do I wish to be able to return to that moment, when everything was still new and exciting about the game.

[@miamianz]

lots of catching up to do its only been about 2 decades

[@SolitarySaturn]

lol!

[@skipaiotter]

Yeah, you can play Pandarens in the game. Same for Worgen (werewolves), Tauren, Vulpera (needs to be unlocked) and Dractyr (might have spelled that wrong) I only started playing WoW around Burning Crusade time so that's when I got into it. They used to put said expansion trailers on dvd/bluray in their collection editions before they stopped doing that. So I sopped buying them. Think last CE I got was Legion, only started with that with WOLK to Legion expansions. Back in the day, I got the Battlechest of Vanilla/TBC discs for £9, was on sale. Wanted a new game, wasn't interested in the RTS side of Warcraft.. Not sure what made me buy it, probably the cost of other games being £30-40 at the time and wanted to give something a go. That was 18 years ago... Might've started 19 as in 2005 or 2006. Around that time.

[@Uquitake]

Silvanas the elf that screamed for the Horde was a blood elf. She was killed and turned into an undead. For the Horde, we have Tauren (The bull-like people), Goblin, Orc, Blood Elf, Undead and Trolls. For the Alliance there are Humans, Worgen, Night Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Draenei. As well, there are Pandarian and Dracthyr (humanoid dragons) that are neutral fractions (Both sides can use them)

[@swtorfan6756]

The final cinematic features Anduin who is the young king in the lion's mask in the BFA cinematic. Since then, he's gone from a young boy who lost his father in Legion to a semi-broken and jaded king after what he's witnessed and endured. It's been interesting to see his character grow over the expansions/years. I am curious to see how he develops in the next 3 expansions.

[@mammybelle7302]

I'm always overwhelmed when I watch the first cinamatic of wow 😭💗

[@jdmayor9060]

To answer your question on BFA, "Sylvannas" is no longer part of the Alliance (as she was a night elf). This time, she's the leader of the Horde (Orcs, troll, taurens, undead, blood elves and etc). She made a terrible mistake on destroying Teldrassil, the home of the night elves which was the big reason of this war.

[@warmwaterpenguin]

Only 'first time' react I ever found credible, that's a sub!

[@CoDwithSwords]

For someone recalling information from Warcraft 3 all these years later you did a pretty good job with the lore lol

[@eviljbrian]

All of the races in World of Warcraft: Alliance Core Races: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei (Space Goats), Worgen (Werewolves) Horde Core Races: Orc, Forsaken/Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin Neutral Core Races (They chose whether to be Horde or Alliance): Pandaren (Panda people), Drakthyr (Dragon people) Allied Races (Races that are unlocked through a short questline): Alliance Allied Races: Void Elf, Lightforged Draenei, Dark Iron Dwarf (Fire Dwarves), Kul Tiran (Humans that are taller, stockier, broader), Mechagnome (Half-gnome, half-robot) Horde Allied Races: Nightborne Elf, Highmountain Tauren, Mag'har Orc, Zandalari Troll, Vulpera (Fox people)

[@Gray-soul_81]

The dynamic between humans and orcs have change immensely since WC2. Almost since the 2nd expansion (Wrath of the Lich King), the horde and alliance have been teaming up to a certain degree to battle the "Big Bad" of the xpac. The xpac Battle for Azeroth would be considered the 4th war like how WC1-3 where each their own wars, respectively. And even then, there is a team up for that xpac. The War Within will be coming out August 26.

[@Dajova]

Fun fact; The VA voicing the elf lady in the azeroth trailer is the same one voicing Livia (the white armor lady in FFXIV).

[@abbiejo6822]

There are different factions of elves in WoW, though they all were originally Night Elves who in turn evolved from a group of trolls due to the influence of basically a giant lake of magic. To keep things fairly simple: About 10,000 years ago the narcissistic queen of the Night Elves and some of her favorites known as highborn meddled with too much arcane magic and attracted demons, who she was totes cool with slaughtering many of her people as long as she and her favorites were ok. There was a big war and the main continent was split apart, after which most of the Night Elves outlawed arcane magic because they didn’t want the demons to come knocking again. Some of the highborn who defected from the queen’s and demons’ side refused to swear off arcane magic and instead of execution they were exiled. The rest of the Night Elves built a culture that revolved around nature and their moon goddess. Those are the elves you see in the original trailer turning into a panther and sending a volley of arrows at the orc in the Battle for Azeroth trailer, as they became part of the Alliance some 10,000 years later. The exiled Highborn founded a new kingdom on a different continent and a new font of arcane magic called the Sunwell and evolved into shorter elves with more human skin tones. They developed a culture around the sun rather than the moon, basically opposite that of their kin that kicked them out, and called themselves High Elves. They eventually became part of the first version of the Alliance due to some history of them and humans banding together against their common enemies: trolls. Until a fallen human prince turned death knight brought an army of undead that decimated their population and corrupted their magic fountain, causing severe withdrawal issues. A few of the High Elves stayed with the Alliance but most renamed themselves to Blood Elves in honor of all the ones they’d lost. The leader of the High Elves’ defense during the attack of the undead was named Sylvanas. She was killed by the fallen prince Arthas and raised as an enslaved banshee, as were some of her rangers. She was later able to free herself and many other undead from his control and recover her body, and became the leader of the freed undead who joined the Horde. She is the red-eyed elf with the banshee scream and the ones firing beside her are some of her undead. Sylvanas used her influence in the Horde so the Blood Elves were able to join when they needed new allies. A small group of the Blood Elves dabbled in the powers of the void and were exiled. They joined the Alliance for the very important plot reason of…Alliance players wanting to play High Elves or Blood Elves. Also 10,000 years ago when the big demon war happened, a city of Night Elves was able to protect themselves with a giant dome-shaped magical shield under which they stayed for 10,000 years, sustained by their own magic fountain called the Nightwell, which changed them over time to skinnier elves. They’re called the Nightborne and also get big withdrawal issues if cut off from the Nightwell. The Nightborne eventually joined the Horde because the Night Elf leader was suspicious of them and rude to them and the Blood Elves were more sympathetic to their magic withdrawal problems. Also for the very important plot point of if Alliance players could have a version of Blood Elves in the form of Void Elves then Horde players should get a version of night elves. So in short: Alliance has Night Elves, Void Elves, and a very few High Elves. Horde has Blood Elves, Nightborne, and a very few undead elves. And pretty much all elves are susceptible to magical addiction.

[@ajraynemaker5339]

There is a cinematic of sorts that took place during the Shadowlands expansion that helps to explain the character of Sylvanas. It's called "Shattered Legacies". If you are interested in understanding her character and how she "fell", then that would be one to check out. Not as flashy as the ones you sampled, but more lore-driven.

[@PocokPresents]

You should watch all the cinematics! There are full compilations on yt.

[@SolitarySaturn]

I would love to. I will add it to my list.

[@maartenl.1365]

Technically the "elf lady" in the 3rd cinematic didn't turn on "us" (yet). She was (her peoples greatest general & ranger), against her will, turned in an undeath (a banshee queen). And her people (the now extinct high elves, not night elves) despise the undeath. She was banished and became the leader of a faction of undeath called "the Forsaken" and joined the Horde. Here she is Warchief (leader) of the whole Horde side of the war. Being turned into an undeath against her will, kicked out of her home, hunted by her own people. Being Immortal and thus seeing the fall of her own people. Witnessing her whole race go extinct. It turned her a bitter. Very low moral sense too. Her private army likes to go after the young ones back at home, with fire and poison. To end the next generation of soldiers before they are raised. She is definitely evil, althought in this cinematic/expansion her evil is still sort of contained.

[@TaliesinCeawlin]

Can't help but think of "Shadowlands"...I will say no more on that ;-)

[@robertomanfredi342]

They actually used a real actor as reference for Anduin in The War Within cinematic

[@SolitarySaturn]

It looked amazing!

[@u3pyg]

No they 100% did not. That was the whole point, and they said it like 20 times. They said that they did not use SGI on top of real actors (motion capture). It is 100% SGI, which is a lot harder.

[@BardouSia]

Nice vid❤ strange order tho 😅

[@Knightfang1]

The king who summoned the healing light in the Battle for Azeroth trailer and the man in the War Within trailer are the same character. during the Shadowlands expansion he was captured, tortured and forced to do terrible things under the control of a being known as the jailor, which is why he looks so rough in the War within trailer, he's traumatized by the events of that expansion

[@aaronreynolds1504]

So the Elf woman is a character named Sylvanas. She is an undead High/Blood Elf who was killed and raised as a banshee in Warcraft 3 by Arthas. She is the racial leader of the Forsaken and War chief of the Horde at the time this trailer was released.

[@jimmiekarlsson4458]

Anduin suffering from some heavy PTSD id say

[@dacsus]

You should watch all of them btw. Especially the BfA series.

[@kaelyn828]

The confusion with Sylvanas. 🤣🤣🤣 Our Banshee Queen! I've played long enough that for some reason, I view Thrall as THE Warchief, no matter who else held the title. Lol.

[@oeheaven]

Great video! I never noticed that Anduin (The Alliance King of Stormwind, he is wearing lion helm) has the same hairstyle as his father Varian Wyrnn! Varian was killed in the previous expansion.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Thanks! Check out my most recent upload if you want to see my reaction to the rest of the trailers also. :)

[@phaseryo7471]

Great reaction my guy! Really enjoyable after playing these games for 15 years on and off

[@SolitarySaturn]

Appreciate you! Plan to check out more of the trailers/cinematics as well, so stay tuned :)

[@phaseryo7471]

@@SolitarySaturn i subscribed for this! :D

[@Ghostface4k]

As many people should have mentioned it by now. Sylvanas, the elf lady with the red eyes, is basically a former elf. After she fought against the Lich King protecting her kingdom, and eventually fell, the LIch King instead of killking her, turned her into an undead banshee, so she will suffer for all eternity.. Later she joined the undead race and became their leader. Therefore she is on the Horde side...

[@TechMaxPCTech]

The last one the Orc Thrall, is my favorite character in Warcraft and has been for 30 years the voice of Thrall is actually one of the founders of Blizzard Chris Metzen and many of us see him as the savior of Blizzard and bringing WoW back to the right path.

[@SolitarySaturn]

That is so cool!

[@ADHD_Gamer]

watch the MOP bar scene between these two - CLASSIC!!

[@mikeriley2475]

If you wanta be in for an experience, i recommend finding the chronological order the expansions were launched in, then watch all CG Videos in order then watch all of the ingame cinematics in order! See the evolution of WoWs story telling!

[@jwranson]

There are 4 different reaces of elves, 2 are horde, 2 are alliance. The lady in the video is actually neither, she's undead.

[@Maschenbro]

Man Battle for Azeroth still hits. It's too bad what they did to Sylvannas. I liked when she seemed to embrace the Warchief mantle in the trailer.

[@maartenl.1365]

Yes, graphics have increased since the original cinematic release in November 2004. But the best WoW cinematic in my opinion is : "Patrick that's the Ashbringer" (The soundtrack is the best soundtrack of nearly 20 years of world of warcraft and really shines.)

[@Kriscoyote]

I've been playing since vanilla wow so almost 20 yrs I've been playing. I'm 42 now. Still play

[@michellerenee92580]

Ive been playing 20 years and its still the funniest game ive ever played

[@DraconX3]

"She did turn on us" I MEAN You're totally not wrong..... Just..... context lol

[@TaliesinCeawlin]

Shadowlands ;-)

[@carinaejag]

You have Night elves on the Alliance side and Blood elves on the Horde side.

[@TheTwitchyBrownGuy]

Do a part 2, but watch all of the cinematics in order, inducing the Battle For Azeroth cinematics called Saurfangs Mak'gora, it's sooooo good!!

[@TheCotzi]

The first cinematic was crazy graphics for the time it was made

[@reedacted214]

The woman who yells 'For the Horde' is Sylvanas Windrunner, the former Ranger General of Quel'Thalas, home of the Blood Elves. In Warcraft 3 she is slain and raised as a banshee and turned on her people as a weapon by Arthas Menethil, a Death Knight who became the Lich king. Her and her people join the Horde because of 1 racist douche in Warcraft 3, a Human Knight who used the Elves of Quel'Thalas as canon fodder and a meat shield when fighting the undead Scourge and Horde. At the time of BFA she was Warchief, leader of the horde. The man in that same cinematic is Anduin Wrynn, current king of Stormwind, the Human capital. He has always been a very powerful vessel of the light. He once said he could feel the light course though him like a raging river when he called upon it in times past. In the Shadowlands he was dominated by magic, mind body and soul after the Jailer saw him do the almost impossible task of summoning the light in The Maw, which is bassicaly hell. Much like Sylvanas and Arthas before him, he was turned into a weapon against his people and allies. So when he says "I have no light. Not after what I've seen. Not wafter what I've done!" he is talking about when he was domianted against his will and forced to kill people, all the while he was aware, but unable to act, a prisoner in his own body. Anduin at that point has very sever PTSD due to the Shadowlands expansion. The Orc talking to Anduin is Thrall. He was born on Azeroth not long after the Orcs came from Draenor, their homeworld, via the Dark Portal. He was raised as a slave and a gladiator by a very cruel human who essentially ran pavlovs dog experiments on him. He was taught tactics and allowed a room to himself, but he was viciously beaten for failures or lost combats by his 'owner'. Thrall managed to escape, and in Warcraft 3 fled to another continent (Kalimdor) where he built The Third Horde, which had a much more prevelant focus on peace, alliances and keeping the factions cultures strong as it comprised initially of Orcs, Darkspear Trolls and the Tauren. Any questions Warcraft I'd love to help, if you wanna understand some lore. Nobbel87 on KZbin does fantastic videos.

[@reedacted214]

Also; there is no motion capture used in WoW cinematics. So they are even more impressive.

[@mammybelle7302]

"it's hard not to like a fighting Panda in it! haha!! Soo true..x

[@TheBlaert]

Blizz really pulled out the stops for the cinematics.

[@MREmusique]

the Battle for Azeroth scene has Sylvannas, the Banshee Queen. She leads the Undead, who are a Horde race.

[@SolitarySaturn]

I just watched the other trailers in my newest video and learned a bit more about her which was cool!

[@Linerwood2000]

This game got me hooked for 5 straight years and I keep coming back when an expension is highly regarded. Last one, Dragonflight, got me for 3 months. Usualy i just level 2 or 3 characters to top level, do the regular instances and stop but Dragonflight was good, i did raid and everything. I hope the next one will be good too because i still love this game. Too bad pvp is kind of "dead", it take way too much time to get in a fight because of the matching system with rank and everything. Still an awesome game, if you like gaming, you have to give it a try and take all the time you need to progress. For my first lvl 60 character, vanilla, it took me hundreds of hours the get there, it's much easier now and perfect for a newcomer.

[@en21b]

Oh how I would love to sit down with someone who was interested in knowing the lore of the Warcraft Universe. No matter how you view the game and the direction it has gone the lore is rich and marvelous. Oh and what sword? 😉

[@jamesmcmillan7845]

In current WoW, the world is awakening and all we knew is coming undone

[@MegaChickenfish]

It took like 20 years for tauren to finally get that kickass 2h totem weapon from the cinematic.

[@SolitarySaturn]

I’m just picturing this comment with the “It’s been 84 years” meme haha

[@litebkt]

Night elves and void elves are Alliance. Blood elves and Nighborne elves are Horde. There are a lot of elves to keep track of.

[@Charrulez]

Sylvannas Windrunner, former Ranger General of the High Elves of Silvermoon, now known as the "Blood Elves", "Banshee Queen" of the Scourge and ruler of Lorderaen, and the LAST appointed Warchief of the Horde.

[@dangerbook4807]

To be fair to Sylvanas and the undead, the Alliance decided to be against all undead, even those that broke free and wanted to return home peacefully, so they all joined the Horde. Doesn't mean any particular undead character isn't a complete maniac or evil dude or dudette.

[@sputnikalgrim]

I haven’t played WoW in a decade and this really made me twitchy. Makes me want to login and go exploring.

[@leeann3065]

The music is bangin'!!! Always has been!!

[@Kriscoyote]

The war within comes out August 24th or something so it's not out yet.

[@TaliesinCeawlin]

They will be releasing the pre-expansion content for The War Within on July 23, 2024.

[@Goochi05]

Definitely should watch them in order in your free time!

[@mammybelle7302]

"What sword?" 😂

[@Dhalin]

Pandaren Monks, at least during Mists of Pandaria, were the funnest race/class to play, ever. Remember the hours of fun playing a WW Monk, all the punches, the kicks, the backflip kicks, all performed by a chubby panda girl was always hilarious. But so addictively fun! Sadly, the expansion that came after this heavily nerfed monks and made them not fun anymore... but that's how it always is with a class introduced by an expansion.. they always nerf the frick out of it the expansion after.

[@carro-xb9oz]

im on lvling a restoration shaman panda atm and i love it

[@carro-xb9oz]

u need to watch em all from the start to the end atm and aslso if ure into the lore theres a ton of ingame cinematicts to watch¨ panda is awsome i main a restoration shaman panda and i love it!¨

[@stfreed]

The Horde and Alliance are against each other and are a coalition of forces. The horde is made up of Orcs, Taurens, Undead (Foresaken), Blood Elves, Goblins, & Trolls. Alliance is made up of Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Draenei (Space Goats), & Worgan (Warewolf). The woman that took out the siege tower is an Undead Banshee Queen and the Leader of the Horde. The human man with the Lion Helmet is King Anduin of the Humans and the leader of the Alliance.

[@gigawatt70]

the Legion expansion had some great trailers too

[@MrRyRino]

I know others have said it, but skipping burning crusade and wrath almost feels criminal. Lol! This game was a huge part of my childhood and teenage years. Each of these cinematics takes me back in time, and when I hear the music from the first trailer, it still gives me goosebumps and a brings a tear to my eye. : ' )

[@SolitarySaturn]

Be sure to check the video in the pinned comment. I fixed this.

[@MrRyRino]

@@SolitarySaturn watched and liked :)

[@swtorfan6756]

If you're interested in WoW lore, I'd highly recommend Accolonn and Nobble as they are very knowledgeable and provide way more info than I have.

[@Archermit]

As others have said the Lich King is probably the best cinematic from "OG" wow On another note, regardless of what people's opinion on the game is now, one thing that has almost always stayed consistent is the amazing high quality of their launch cinematics. They have managed to hype up expansions that went on to bomb with the player base and made people salty and want to quit the game...then the next expansion movie comes and people just forget all that and love the game again....till the cycle repeats and after 20 years, it's repeated a lot haha

[@ShadowCreed7192]

King's honor, friend.

[@johng448]

In the Battle for Azeroth Trailer I think you mistaken Sylvanas as being with the Alliance. She is undead banshee who basically wears her own body as a skin suite. She leads other undead humans and elves that were no longer accepted by the Aliance after they became undead and they ended up joining the Horde

[@calronkeltaran493]

if the last warcraft was warcraft 2, you realy missed quite a lot. even to the point, that you don't recognize most of the races. so Tauren (the beastmen) and Nightelves (the purple elves) are from Kalimdor. An entire Kontinent, that was introduced during WC3. same with most of the important Chars. Sylvannas (the Darkelf Lady on horde Side) was a former Highelf but was turned into an undead and enslaved by Arthas, a Deathknight and former prince of Lordaron. Eventually the grip of his Control vanished and Sylvannas, along with some other undead where able to regain control of themselves. most of those undead where former citicens of the now destoryed Lordaron and they founded a new City in the ruins of old Lordaron, naming themselves "the forsaken" with Sylvannas as their leader. however the alliance didn't want to have anything to do with undead, even if most of them where former friends and family. instead the Horde took them in. That is why we see Sylvannas fighting on the side of the Horde. The City was later attacked as seen in the trailer. another thing is, that many chars age during the expansion. Anduin, the Guy you see in the last trailer is the same guy, who you saw at the siege of Lordaron in "battle for azeroth", just ofc much younger. in the first version of WOW, anduin was just a child as the prince of Stormwind where you can see him standing in Stormwind Castle about other trailers, there are still many. unfortionalty, without some knowledge of WC3, you will prob not recognize the featured chars. in chronological order: the burning crusade, feasturing Illidan, a Nightelf turned demon wtraith of the lich king, faturing Arthas as mentioned above Cataclism, featuring deathwing. actucally a Name you should know form WC2 warlords of dreanor, featuring guldan. could have also been around during WC2 but not sure Legion, featuring Vaian, Anduins father and also Sylvannas again

[@Nialyah]

Wrath of the Lich King is a must watch trailer

[@SolitarySaturn]

On my list. Please stay tuned. Thanks!

[@RetroFrito]

Really wish you'd watched them all in release order.

[@SolitarySaturn]

Yeah my bad. I may create another video where I watch them all and just include these reactions in it.

[@NorscanWarlord]

if you liked this, check out Total War: Warhammer 1, 2 and 3 Trailers and Faction Cinematics