This has been the case for years now, but it still boggles my mind. Gaming is an overwhelmingly male hobby. 90% of the people playing enthusiast level video games are male. Yet the clear majority of protagonists in these products are female.
New resident evil? Female protagonist.
New Ghost of Tsushima? Female protagonist.
New Hollow Knight? Female protagonist.
New Silent Hill? Female protagonist.
New World of Warcraft expansion? Female protagonist.
And that’s just the biggest trailers of the night. Gay ass indie is almost entirely female (or queer coded) characters.
Is there another industry that hates its own core customer base this much?
Yeah I haven’t played retail since Cata, though admittedly I dipped my toes back in for a couple private servers and a month of classic. To me, it became a directionless zombie with Cata/WoD, just shambling on to collect those sub fees instead of ever aiming in a direction and going with it
Pandaria and Legion were good and for me Legion was a good ending. I didn't need anymore.
Everything since has been treading water and pulling random new big bads out a hat then promptly throwing them in the trash.
I quit with the Lich King. Went back maybe a year later with Cata for a bit. Stayed maybe six months and it wasn’t the same. Haven’t been back to official since. As far as I’m concerned WoW died alongside Arthas.