Draenei really only get wheeled out when The Legion is involved. Prob legit forgot they or their spaceship existed.
5 Likes
I think part of the problem with the Alliance is you have Velen and Malffurion who should be two of the most powerful characters in this franchise, and both of them get downlplayed often that the running joke is they are seniors with dementia.
4 Likes
Faction-aligned demigod characters shouldnât exist at all. The fact that all of them are in the Alliance makes it even more problematic.
Considering how prominent they are theyâre obviously not going away anytime soon, so the only solution is that the Horde gets some as well to restore the balance. In others words⊠Letâs hope Volâjin comes back asap.
13 Likes
Would also be nice to see some other Horde characters get buffs as well. Nightborne Trio ( Oculeth, Valtrois, Thalyssra), Rommath, Sunwalker Dezco, Aponi Brightmane, and Liadrin to name a few.
I also wouldnât mind seeing Helcular or Gunther Arcanus being mentioned again, too.
6 Likes
The problem is, Warcraft 3 established the power level of a lot of these characters. At least early on. Jaina was very talented young mage, but also, really, the only human rep at the Battle of Mount Hyjal. Thrall a capable young Shaman, but easily one-shot by Mannoroth. Carine, a mighty warrior, but old and past his prime. Tyrande, a cleric with a direct line to Elune, able to whole off waves of Ghouls with Divine might. Malfurion, a Mighty druid so powerful, Archimond knows him on a first name basis, and very clearly holds a grudge.
Keeping that in mind, the Night Elves joining the Alliance alone, is already unfair for the sake of faction power balance.
Though, I donât think power balance is necessarily important. Only when you nerf pre established powerhouses to force a balance in the narrative.
Frankly, I think instead of splitting things based on faction, it should be split based on location.
Alliand and Horde in Kalimdor should have been more cooperative and serving a more peaceful relationship between the factions.
EK should have been more about the faction conflict, with Orcs in Alterac and Humans wanted to retake Lordaeron.
3 Likes
Sylvanas was a powerhouse for the Horde.
Eh, Sylvanas has been pretty mediocre until recently. She is a ranger with some spooky magic. Not more or less powerful than Thrall, really.
7 Likes
I go back and forth on the idea myself. I think whatâs more important is relevance, instead of pure power level. The idea of Volâjin being made into some super strong loa sounds like total ick to me.
On the other hand, even unrealized power seems to be one of the primary ways the story decides characters are relevant to begin with, so I suppose itâs better than nothing. From a horde-only PoV I really wouldâve preferred an alternate questline during Valdrakken rep that would let me care about a horde character instead of regurgitating Tyrande and Malfurion yet again, but the faction has nobody meaningful to write about when it comes time for something setting-important like dragons, especially green ones.
6 Likes
Characters can and do grow. Mannorothoneshot shaman thrall. He wouldnât one shot world shaman thrall.
1 Like
Thatâs been downgraded to just a possible future.
5 Likes
TBH, the Alliance is kinda of saturated in powerful characters. Part of this is due to the initial settup; part is due to the MAGIC power creep; but yes part of this is do just neglect on the Horde side. Blizz only seems to âwrite the Hordeâ when theyâre villain batting the Faction. So theyâre building up PCs to nobly die, or PCs to die as villains. The rest of the attention is given to characters like Baine, who are sadly never written âas independent charactersâ ⊠but more âtoken Good Horde plot devicesâ to serve as counterbalances for the villain bat. But once the Villain bat is over, the Horde is largely forgotten. Moping in some hallway.
Like, theoretically as an example, Rommath should be one of the most powerful Horde characters; and easily one of the most potent Mages in the setting. Certainly should be the âgo-toâ Pyro Mage at bare minimum. But Blizz never uses him, heâs still stuck in largely a rut since BC. There are characters like Jin or now Voss, who dont âfit the moldâ of Alliance style jobs and classes; and due to being massively multispecialized are extremely underpowered. A Monk/Priest/Rogue or Warrior/Mage/Rogue hybrids donât fit into easy class boxes. As a consequence, Blizz doesnât really know how to write them and then just ⊠doesnât.
Shadow Hunters are the peak of Troll martial and magic disciplines. Sunwalkers, Prelates, and Blood Knights all have unique relations with the Light all of their own. All Druids of all races and cultures are consumed by GIANT FEY FORESTS; rather than Druids of respective Biomes more relevant to each culture. And Iâm not talking about mechanically, of course thatâs unreasonable to expect. I mean more on a story level. Nearly every Horde counterpart barely exists. Thus, they donât get written, and donât see powerups. So when you combine that with Blizz having no idea what they want to do with Shaman, the Horde is very weak in roster.
11 Likes
Even now, the horde has several very powerful Nightborne Magi they can call on in times of need. But blizz wonât write them that way naturally. Heaven forbid some of that spotlight gets taken off of Jaina though.
Itâs annoying that, like you said, the horde never gets any of their own powerhouses time in the limelight or written into the story in any meaningful manner.
6 Likes
Well, part of the issue is, the Horde doesnât really get time in the limelight period.
When we get focus, its all the wrong kind. Its all negative and destructive. The barely taped together broken bat that Blizz uses to hit the Alliance (sorry Alliance players, I know it sucks). But afterwards? Nothing. Blizz doesnât âlike writing the Hordeâ ⊠rather they seem to merely âlike using itâ. So, its either villain bat ⊠our roster gets continuously culled ⊠to the other side of the Pendulum. Where we donât get written at all. And like Biane, and God heâs the perfect symbol for the current Horde in his current state, get forgotten on some hallway floor for several years. Just like we did in Legion. Till its time for Blizz to tape up the bat again.
Blizzard doesnât want to build up the Horde as a Faction, because like Baine is not written as a character ⊠the Horde is not written as a Faction. They donât seem to know what they want to do with the Horde, but they sure as hell seem to know they donât see value in writing âTwo Heroic Factionsâ of various flavors.
5 Likes
Iâd say its predominantly due to power creep. WC3 characters were relatively even. Some stressed raw destructive power, others stressed utility.
Its certainly a part of it. But I do think part of it is that Blizz doesnât really know what they want to do with the Horde outside of the Villain batting; which renders what strengths our roster does have rather moot. A more recent addition, but a great example of this, is Lillian Voss. A bizarre Monk/Mage/Warrior/Rogue hybrid Lil is massively multi-specialized. Even more importantly tho, on paper, Lil is the closest thing to an âAnti Light Wielderâ specialist in this setting. Sheâs built to take them down, far beyond her anti-Necromancer focus.
But ⊠do you think weâll ever see the self immolating, teleporting Warrior Rogue pop off? Probably not. Hell, despite how forced she is in her current role, she does better represent the Forsaken themes and ideals of âForsaken Free Willâ than about any other Forsaken left standing. Yet, time and time again, Blizz reminds us sheâs just a seat warmer for Queen Self Insert. And I donât hate Calia like most, but Iâm getting real sick of being constantly reminded that sheâs getting what focus should be going to the better of the two undead characters.
5 Likes
Problem for me is we donât know what the rest of the forsaken think. They do have an extensive cast including executors, high executors, a grand executor, various reps from RAS, several magistrates and others. None of whom are permitted to speak. And yet these two blow ins are somehow running the show. Let the forsaken speak for themselves. It is well past time we had a dialogue from and among the forsaken themselves.
I feel the same way, not to mention why we are given a âUnique Light risen Undeadâ while most forsaken are not even given the option to look like Nathanos and Calia⊠Iâm happy that we got Darkfallen Skins for elves⊠but it be nice if others got to roleplay as undead or better yet be part of a cosmetic option for Forsaken, zombie, Darkfallen and Lightrisen body options.
Iâm still championing for Evokers to get a Undead Draco Lich like the undead Dragons we fight in WotLK cosmetic options and maybe a spec dealing with Decay, Nightmare etc. and some opposite to the Aspectral powers, if the devs are still against giving them a Tank spec base on Black, Twightlight and Nether dragonflight theme or something like that I readâŠsomewhere.
We will have to see where DF leads I guess⊠
5 Likes
WoW character development got DBZ fanfic brain, and has had it for a while. Once upon a time, it took the combined armies of Thrall, Jaina, and the Kalâdorei to slow Archimonde down long enough to set up a trap for him. I really wish there was a way to reset this game to WC3 boundaries and start again instead of deleting every interesting corner of the cosmology in a dungeon or raid.
16 Likes
Honestly I feel like the issue partly started as far back as classic. It is, unfortunately, just kinda coded into the MMO, fundamentally.
3 Likes
As a reaction. Obviously it will come to this, why otherwise let him mature now while he is away?