Lets say the whole prepatch, Lordaeron, and the War Campaign is written out of the story and all that’s left is Zandalar and Kul Tiras. What do you guys think 8.1 would be without the faction conflict? Furthermore, lets assume that Blizzard has to have something LIKE the War Campaign, just about something else.
Better, it would be better. Probably much more centric on the Faceless and Naga upfront too. Maybe a greater lifespan on threats like the Ashvane Company, Heartsbane Coven, and G’huun too.
18 Likes
this is basically what I was going to say. How long are we going to let the naga keep being annoying while major threats are going on? Time to take out the trash.
it would be an insanely satisfying story,
the story of the reconciliation,uniting and “redemption” of an entire family and nation with one of our most iconics characters? gime that!
without this feeling that SOMEONE needs our help RIGHT NOW (nelfs)
hell i may even would be able to play horde without feeling like hitler.
while i see the fall and rise of an empire!
also they could have focused more about internal conflict as well. especially in kultiras with ashvane, or zul could have lasted longer.
and of course, dazar’lazor never happened where blizzard will try to push all this “muh cycle of hatred”
9 Likes
Pre-patch dealing with the fallout of azerite popping up and the sword itself. Major resurgences of Old Gods and elementals all over as Azeroth basically writhes in pain from being, you know, stabbed. The fleets and military might of both factions is all but shattered after fending off the Legion (remember, all the invasions were supposed to be still ongoing while we were on the Isles and Argus. This prompts a consideration of going to Zandalar and Kul Tiras for their fleets, as before. This consideration is sealed when Jaina has visions of her home being in danger, in this case from Azshara, given to her by the Tidemother (Jaina’s bloodline is very tied to the sea and the magic there, as shown by the summoning of the fleet). Horde go to Zandalar just for the military help, dealing with all the issues with Azerite and (fully half their territory is right on top of Silithus). Initially rebuked, but Talanji supports them, and so does Zul, because he sees this as part of his plan.
Everything else plays out as normal. The war campaign, however, is instead different racial campaigns. These would be somewhat shorter than the main one, true, but it would help show each race dealing with the fallout, as well as re-affirm their various lore and identities, and at the end they can get their heritage armor. This is in addition to the Jaina/Talanji chains, which were done well, in my opinion. The only difference to those is that the former doesn’t kill Gorak Tul.
Here is a major difference, however. Gorak Tul, Bwonsamdi, and Helya all occupy different realms in the Shadowlands and are vying for dominance. Each made their play to get a greater grip on the physical world, but thus far only Bwonsamdi has been the most successful. Sylvanas and her undead are the exact weapons against the two others that’s needed. Sylvanas sees others being dragged into the hell the Valkyr showed her, and her mindset goes from keeping herself out of that grasp, to keeping everyone out of that grasp. She doesn’t need to find a way to make the Forsaken all live forever, she needs to beat down the forces that turn the afterlife into a nightmare for her kind.
We still have Old God stuff lurking around, but the invasions are now forces from the various realms of the dead boiling up to attack the living on Horde lands, and naga attacking Alliance. The next part of the War Campaign shifts to dealing with the naga on the Alliance side, while the Horde deal with the realms of the dead. At the end of the Horde campaign, the Horde manage to find the spirit of Derek Proudmoore, revealing that even the souls of those pledged to the Tidemother are being stolen by either Helya or Gorak Tul, who are fighting over the spoils. Sylvanas sends that spirit to the Alliance, spurring them to action.
The second raid, with Uldir progressed as normal, is ‘Siege of the Underworld’, where the Horde and Alliance go to take down the tyrants of the Shadowlands and the realms of the dead. Helya and Gorak Tul are killed for realsies, but this has the side effect of Helya and her forces no longer keeping the naga busy, and they are able to devote all their power to attacking the surface.
Next major patch is naga and Azshara, patch after that is N’zoth.
4 Likes
Probably Thros and the Blighted Lands as the next raid.
OK. Nothing special. The Horde still fails in the entire story quest line.
So a step up from what we have now.
The expansion would be considerably better. The Faction War has always been the weakest story.
1 Like
Horde story, ignoring the war campaign, was 100% not about the faction war to begin with. We were handling Zandalari traitors. It was fun. Except Vol’dun. I hate the foxes.
I agree with you up to this extent. I enjoyed the vulpera…Vol’dun just felt really long with all the side quests.
How about this? The Azerite situation still happens and leads to a massive arms race. However, it never escalates to point of war. The rest of the story plays out more or less the same. But in place of the war campaign, there are quest lines that have you securing resources and forging alliances while at the same time trying to avoid doing something that could spark a war. There could even be little things in the background to show how tense things are. Like, Alliance or Horde forces amassing uncomfortably close to the opposing side’s borders or diplomats running back and forth between capitals.
I could see it as a pretty pleasant expansion. I rather enjoyed Zandalar. Even if we didn’t succeed, having more build up and time with Zul as Zul and not ‘lol I’m a crazy old god follower’ would have been pretty delightful.
If they could salvage some of the more charming parts of the war campaign without the war itself, that’d be pretty ace. I mean, Gallywix and Eitrigg in Drustvar was definitely a bright spot.
Beyond that, maybe they could have expanded the island expedition quests into actual happenings. Like, we could investigate the resurgence of the Mantid.
Maybe actually build up on the lore of the islands we visit. A lot of people bemoan the inability to just explore the islands. Imagine if part of the “war” campaign was literally just going to these islands and learning about them! Then maybe a way to revisit them later without the constraints of the expedition system.
1 Like