History YMMV / Warcraft2016

** [[spoiler:In the film, Gul'dan uses his fel powers to kill Durotan in their mak'gora is proclaimed an honorless cheater for it. In the games, this is almost exactly how Thrall used his shamanistic powers to kill Garrosh Hellscream in their mak'gora, lending credence to the accusation that he cheated and lost his honor because of it.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[EvilOldFolks Gul'dan]] is a ruthless orc [[EvilSorcerer warlock]] who [[BigBad reigns over the Horde]] with an iron fist. Addicted to dark fel magic, Gul'dan seeks to expand the Horde into the world of Azeroth to conquer. Opening a portal by [[PoweredByAForsakenChild draining the lives of hundreds of innocent Draenei prisoners]], he sends the Horde out to conquer and destroy all in its path. Eventually it is revealed that Draenor was rendered a dying world by Gul'dan's own abuse of the fel, and Gul'dan has zero compunction about doing the same to Azeroth. Rounding up human captives to empower his magic, Gul'dan tortures one by [[LifeDrain slowly draining his life]], plotting to use the rest to open up the portal for the rest of the Horde. When the honorable chieftain Durotan tries to stand against Gul'dan, Gul'dan orders his clan slaughtered, including [[WouldHurtAChild Durotan's baby son]]. When Durotan challenges Gul'dan to a duel, Gul'dan cheats to win by using his magic to drain Durotan's life after he finds himself without the advantage and promptly murders several orcs when they turn from him in disgust. Even at the end, Gul'dan demonstrates he has no loyalty to his people or their traditions when he orders the heroic Anduin Lothar killed after Lothar defeats Gul'dan right-hand orc Blackhand in fair combat. Greedy, power-hungry, and insatiable in his desires, Gul'dan will happily condemn any world to destruction as long as he can fuel his addiction to the fel.

* WTHCastingAgency: Ruth Negga and Travis Fimmel as siblings. Not only do they have completely different features, they have different ''skin color'' to the point that Negga has to put on an entire white makeup to lighten her skin. They also have very little chemistry in the film itself. That's not to mention that Fimmel uses a FakeAmerican accent as Lothar, while Ruth Negga keeps her natural Irish accent[[note]]Negga has what's known as an upper-class 'D-4' accent (named after the Dublin 4 area code) that has a few American pronunciations[[/note]].

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: A rather ''unconventional'' example of the trope, to say the least. Universal were reluctant to make the movie in the first place due to the common perception from audiences and critics that VideoGameMoviesSuck, and as such spent minimal time advertising it before it came to theaters. While they were proven right with the movie's weak $24.3 million domestic opening, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the film's performance overseas]] made up for that shortcoming. Of special note is China, where the movie set new records and quickly put the movie on-course to become one of the highest-grossing films Universal ever released in the region. It ended up being the highest-grossing video game movie worldwide despite its domestic failure.

* ClicheStorm: A common criticism of the film is that it lacks the charm and soul that was put into the games it was based on, and replaces said charm with a DarkerAndEdgier plot similar to those of many other fantasy films, making it seem more depressing than exciting. Reviewers with no knowledge or gaming experience of the ''Warcraft'' universe meanwhile just treated the film as such, unfavorably (and kind of unfairly) comparing it to ''The Lord of the Rings''.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Thanks to the movie having the foresight of twenty years of lore to draw upon, it's able to make sure that its timeline can have many of the later developments planned and worked in from the beginning instead of having to rely on retcons.
** The film changes the origins of Garona's heritage from the official lore, this time going from half-draenei to half-human again, [[spoiler: with the implication that Medivh was Garona's father.]] Though the change was controversial as per usual, many fans found this explantation to be superior than the one in game lore, citing how the Garona's heritage in the games was a subject of ContinuitySnarl with previous attempts to {{retcon}} or explain away her half-"human" status only leading to [[VoodooShark more complications]] while the movie simply implies [[spoiler: that Medivh [[AWizardDidIt travelled to Draenor through his powers]] and had an affair with an Orc woman there.]] Additionally, it also makes the [[TheScrappy fan-unfavorite Me'dan]] unlikely to appear since [[spoiler:Medivh and Garona's status as [[{{Squick}} father and daughter]] makes their original lore status as lovers [[ParentalIncest incompatible with each other]]]].
** In the game lore, Durotan and Draka, as well as most orcs, are already green before he is born because of merely being ''around'' fel magic, making exposure to fel a bit inconsistent. Here, they are still brown, and Thrall's skin turns green as a result of Gul'dan himself breathing [[LifeDrain stolen life into him]] after delivering him because Draka's passing through the portal caused his premature birth. With this, Thrall's birth is directly tied to one of the most important events in Warcraft history, and his connection (and, [[ItWasHisSled presumably]], ideological opposition) to Gul'dan gains a personal element [[spoiler: (in addition to [[YouKilledMyFather Durotan's murder]] below)]].
** Many people like that the film version of Durotan is much more proactive in rebelling against Gul'dan. In the game lore, Durotan reluctantly goes along with almost everything the Horde does so that his clan doesn't face persecution and the one time he tried to rebel against Gul'dan, he's killed by assassins loyal to the warlock. In the movie, he is openly critical of Gul'dan and his abilities, tries to negotiate peace with King Llane and almost averts the war and [[spoiler:challenges Gul'dan to a mak'gora. And although he dies to the warlock's fel powers, he upsets Gul'dan's respect and authority in the Horde by showing everyone how much of an honorless traitor he really is]].

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler:In the film, Gul'dan uses his fel powers to kill Durotan in their mak'gora is proclaimed an honorless cheater for it. In the games, this is almost exactly how Thrall used his shamanistic powers to kill Garrosh Hellscream in their mak'gora, lending credence to the accusation that he cheated and lost his honor because of it.]]

** The film changes the origins of Garona's heritage from the official lore, this time going from half-draenei to half-human again, [[spoiler: with the implication that Medivh was Garona's father.]] Though the change was controversial as per usual, many fans found this explantation to be superior than the one in game lore, citing how the Garona's heritage in the games was a subject of ContinuitySnarl with previous attempts to {{retcon}} or explain away her half-"human" status only leading to [[VoodooShark more complications]] while the movie simply implies [[spoiler: that Medivh [[AWizardDidIt travelled to Draenor through his powers]] and had an affair with an Orc woman there.]] Additionally, it also makes the [[TheScrappy fan-unfavorite Me'dan]] unlikely to appear since [[spoiler: Medivh and Garona's status as [[{{Squick}} father and daughter]] makes their original lore status as lovers [[IncestIsRelative incompatible with each other]]]].

* NewerThanTheyThink: While an adaptation of the First War (which was covered in the first RTS in 1994), almost all of the lore drawn on for this movie was established well after that game. Even the story of Khadgar, Karazhan, Moroes, and the pair that ultimately brought Medivh down comes from the novel ''[[Literature/WarcraftTheLastGuardian The Last Guardian]]'', which came out shortly before ''Warcraft III'' in 2002. While the idea of the orcs having been corrupted by fel blood was introduced in ''Warcraft III'', the idea that their skin was originally brown wasn't established until the first expansion to ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', ''The Burning Crusade''. Fel corruption causing strange mutations and not just skin color changes wasn't shown on this level until the end of ''Warlords of Draenor'', which was the current ''World of Warcraft'' expansion at the time of the movie's release (in 2016).

* NewerThanTheyThink: While an adaptation of the First War (which was covered in the first RTS), almost all of the lore drawn on for this movie was established well after that game. Even the story of Khadgar, Karazhan, Moroes, and the pair that ultimately brought Medivh down comes from the novel ''The Last Guardian'', which came out shortly before Warcraft III. While the idea of the orcs having been corrupted by fel blood was introduced in Warcraft III, the idea that their skin was originally brown wasn't established until the first expansion to World of Warcraft. Fel corruption causing strange mutations and not just skin color changes wasn't shown on this level until the end of Warlords of Draenor, which was the current World of Warcraft expansion at the time of the movie's release.