Portals and Gilneas

[Zhaei]

Keep in mind that there does exist powerful magical shields that could feasibly (almost probably) block teleportation. I'm thinking Ambermill and Transitus Shield. Hell, Transitus Shield manages to hide a settlement from Malygos. I imagine some mages in Gilneas could fend off attempts at teleportation.

[Wuvvums]

I'm just saying that we shouldn't need to explain every minute detail or else it can start getting tedious. What should matter is the overall story, and instead of trying to find excuses not to port out you could just say that most of the mages just chose not to.

This is, and I mean no disrespect to you personally Wuvvums, a really terrible way to handle things. If there's an issue or a problem, you don't just pretend it doesn't exist, you address it. I think Cappn's explanation pretty much fits the bill, even though that piece of lore doesn't make much sense either. It's not like we're teleporting from set destinations to set destinations, so there's still wear and tear in areas that -aren't- across the central Ley Lines around say Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Dalaran, etc.

Regardless, I think that that's the best answer we're going to get.

I'm just saying that even game makers and writers have to prioritize. It was probably more important for Blizzard to set up the questline than to explain every minute detail of what kept people inside Gilneas. Everyone may be a little different, but I think plot convenience has its purpose.

[Rigley]

I'm just saying that we shouldn't need to explain every minute detail or else it can start getting tedious. What should matter is the overall story, and instead of trying to find excuses not to port out you could just say that most of the mages just chose not to.

This is, and I mean no disrespect to you personally Wuvvums, a really terrible way to handle things. If there's an issue or a problem, you don't just pretend it doesn't exist, you address it. I think Cappn's explanation pretty much fits the bill, even though that piece of lore doesn't make much sense either. It's not like we're teleporting from set destinations to set destinations, so there's still wear and tear in areas that -aren't- across the central Ley Lines around say Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Dalaran, etc.

Regardless, I think that that's the best answer we're going to get.

...Eh.

the problem is that whatever we decide on? That's just fanon. For all we know the reason was "the Gilneans just didn't want to".

I would argue that if you wanted to leave? You left. Unless its people who left and regretted it, most Gilnean NPCs seem to long to actually -return- to their homeland, not escape from the wall. That's why you see people hanging out all around the gate instead of just moving on to Hillsbrad.

But even that is just my speculation. We're not going to be able to divine what Blizzard had planned-- heck, I personally believe they just completely forgot about portals when chalking that all up. While I don't think there's harm in attempting to find a way to justify it, we can't really just outright state 'this is why'; because personally if we're going to talk about justifying Blizzard's missteps I think we'd all have a few other issues we'd want to address.

...So I don't find it to be a terrible idea to just not address it. Recognize it's a problem, but that's what it simply is-- its a plot hole, an error, a blatant mistake on the part of the writers. It's one of many with WoW, amongst retcons and redacting of information and so forth. This is just a problem in general. x:

[Grakor456]

Grak was pointing out though that sometimes a game mechanic may be ignored for plot convenience. While it could make a "hole" and not make sense trying to explain around it (like why didn't mages port out) would just sort of add extra baggage to the story just like how Square didn't choose to step away from the cutscene to explain why a phoenix down didn't work.

To an extent. I think it needs to be accepted that, sometimes, game mechanics and story are a little segregated. Now, heaven knows I've trashed Blizzard's writing before, but the whole deal about Gilneans not being able to simply portal out never especially bothered me, because it's just one of those things I can accept as not being especially lore-breaking.

Also, I'll point out that Gilneas is not Dalaran. You don't trip over a mage just walking down the street in Gilneas, so it's quite likely that while there are some mages in Gilneas that can portal, they're in the minority. Consider that lore-wise, making a portal is probably a taxing and expensive prospect in the first place. There likely aren't many mages in Gilneas who could pull it off, and for most citizens of the country, it's just not an option.

[Beltharean]

There likely aren't many mages in Gilneas who could pull it off, and for most citizens of the country, it's just not an option.

That's probably true as far as the Warcraft universe goes, but not CotH. The vast majority of PC mages will and are able to teleport at will, so as soon as someone makes a Gilnean mage that kind of disproves the idea that there likely aren't many mages in Gilneas who could pull it off.

[Rigley]

There likely aren't many mages in Gilneas who could pull it off, and for most citizens of the country, it's just not an option.

That's probably true as far as the Warcraft universe goes, but not CotH. The vast majority of PC mages will and are able to teleport at will, so as soon as someone makes a Gilnean mage that kind of disproves the idea that there likely aren't many mages in Gilneas who could pull it off.

Players can also bring down all sorts of beasties on their own with a single shot as long as they're a few levels higher.

It really is a gameplay and story segregation bit. Yes, there are portals ICly; no, there's no justification as to why they didn't just use those when in Gilneas. The goblins apparently didn't think to portal themselves out as well, or else they may well have never joined the Horde.

Again, its just a flaw in the story that we have to accept for things to run well. To outline why I would be hesitant to go with any fanon on the matter:

Accepting that Gilneas banned portals out / put strict punishments on the heads of those doing so: This changes a good bit of the dynamic shown in the Gilneas starting zone. Never once do I really remember an NPC badmouthing Gilneas or expressing their urge to escape; they're fighting for their homes and homeland, and never really seem -oppressed- to stay. Some NPCs are escaping, but that only happens when bad stuff starts going down and -no one makes any move to stop them-, or tell them to get in line with the other characters.

It kinda changes the dynamic of the whole "WHOO RALLY UP SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GILNEAS" bit if we say that they were oppressed and pushed into their position. As I mentioned before it seems like there's a stronger desire to get -in- than out; I assume that if you wanted out you already would have got your wish.


Accepting that there's something actively blocking the portals, like a shield: That's putting a rather heavy set-up in that isn't justified in lore. Those shields at Ambermill and in Coldarra required high ranking Kirin Tor members, and they by no means were a light use of power. Its kinda giving Gilneas a big addition that was never shown-- to be honest they never really struck me as very magic-extensive at all in their areas. So to add in a magic shell above is a bit of a stretch.

[Grakor456]

That's probably true as far as the Warcraft universe goes, but not CotH. The vast majority of PC mages will and are able to teleport at will, so as soon as someone makes a Gilnean mage that kind of disproves the idea that there likely aren't many mages in Gilneas who could pull it off.

Not really, no?

If we're accepting a realistic population number of Gilneas, particularly considering that it's roughly based on High Middle Ages England, we're still estimating that the overall population of Gilneas is in the millions. PC characters are not average Joes on the street, and aren't representative of anything. Even so, let's go for a high-ball estimate and say that 50 people make Worgen Mages come Cata. Of those 50, how many are going to have had the proper skill to cast portals, AND had this skill before the wall came up? Learning to portal after the wall is meaningless, considering you'd kind of had to have been to Stormwind to safely portal there. Even if we assume the majority, that's not a very high proportion to the overall population.

[Holynexus]

I'm just saying that we shouldn't need to explain every minute detail or else it can start getting tedious. What should matter is the overall story, and instead of trying to find excuses not to port out you could just say that most of the mages just chose not to.

This is, and I mean no disrespect to you personally Wuvvums, a really terrible way to handle things. If there's an issue or a problem, you don't just pretend it doesn't exist, you address it. I think Cappn's explanation pretty much fits the bill, even though that piece of lore doesn't make much sense either. It's not like we're teleporting from set destinations to set destinations, so there's still wear and tear in areas that -aren't- across the central Ley Lines around say Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Dalaran, etc.

Regardless, I think that that's the best answer we're going to get.

Well, tbh, Wuwwums has it right. It's loopholes we can TRY to explain, but those were never MEANT to be explained.

[Xigo]

Ultimately we just have to deal with the fact Blizzard outright forgot Gilneas existed, and this loophole is what we gotta sit with. Is it annoying? Damn straight.

Do we need to have it in order to kind of keep the lore aligned? Yes.

[Rigley]

Ultimately we just have to deal with the fact Blizzard outright forgot Gilneas existed, and this loophole is what we gotta sit with. Is it annoying? Damn straight.

Do we need to have it in order to kind of keep the lore aligned? Yes.

Pretty much.

Yeah, don't get me wrong; I dislike loopholes. Its why I eventually branched into making custom settings because there, once you find a loophole or error, you can address it.

If you find it in a game like WoW? Well, you can post on the forums and generate an ultimately unofficial discussion on the possibilities. At best, you could force a dev to come up with an explanation on a lore panel.

Then again, maybe they'll just give you a completely pants-on-head answer and deal with it another time (Kul'tiras is apparently not accessible due to tectonic plates. :I).

[CappnRob]

I'm just saying that we shouldn't need to explain every minute detail or else it can start getting tedious. What should matter is the overall story, and instead of trying to find excuses not to port out you could just say that most of the mages just chose not to.

This is, and I mean no disrespect to you personally Wuvvums, a really terrible way to handle things. If there's an issue or a problem, you don't just pretend it doesn't exist, you address it. I think Cappn's explanation pretty much fits the bill, even though that piece of lore doesn't make much sense either. It's not like we're teleporting from set destinations to set destinations, so there's still wear and tear in areas that -aren't- across the central Ley Lines around say Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Dalaran, etc.

Regardless, I think that that's the best answer we're going to get.

Actually, there's some books in Dalaran in game that elaborate on why you can only teleport to certain places. Their leylinesa re much stronger, and its the portal destination that matters, not the point of entry.