Alliance, Who are you?

Lore Story Forum
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The alliance problem is not really that the alliance lacks characters. It’s not that there’s no material for interesting stories, it’s that Blizzard only knows one narrative in the alliance:

The Forgiving Knights of Justice. The problem with that is the lack of nuance it used to have. Many races are absolutely ignored and are really only there for style reasons, and other races get stories all the time, but are now hard on the depression edge because it’s made everything their race was about and actually something they were proud of ad absurdum, or the other extreme that one race overshadows everything.

The Horde complains to be a pure plot device, well, somewhere understandable, the Alliance on the other hand has been for years, now decades (since wc3) in a kind of default mode without clear structure, border or any value at all.

This starts from the softening of clear views of the alliance, represented by their past and experiences (anti-witchmaster, anti-undead) goes to the absolute forgiveness culture ala Anduin and just never stops because the alliance only reacts and no longer acts. Thus, one does not really know what the alliance really stands for or what is really important to this League of Nations.

Every nation in the alliance has massive narrative problems, even the people of Stormwind.

I would like to use this thread to collect the problems now, and make no claim to completeness, I would rather just collect and note the things that you notice so.

Given Solution

  • A dark sphere of influence within the Alliance whose very purpose symbolizes deterrence. With the monstrous Worgen, the terror and fear-spreading Voidelves, the ruthless Darkiron and the Savage Night elves. Each of these four embodies terror in its own way and spreads fear among the enemies. Their task is not to hold back, but to end a conflict, no matter who started it. As a leader, I would honestly suggest the Hammer-Than of the Darkiron from the Heritage Armor questline, or alternatively Umbric.
  • Just give the humans a big damper in terms of power and “greatest force of the alliance” and rather give all peoples a stage where they can shine. The night elves - despite all the bad - slowly manage to peel themselves out of the shadow “human” and be independent again for themselves, I hope this will be granted to all other peoples.
  • "They´re the perfect Warriors, yeah, make the Nightelves nightelves again, give them victorys and let them spread fear to every savage who tried to invade their lands. An uninvited guest can only expect one thing, an arrow in his chest.
  • Make Dwarfs a REAL Powerhouse, its even criminal how negleted they are! Wtf, an entire race of the alliance…absolutely unused.
  • Give the Alliance their fangs back, lesser this “White knight” immage, lets the leader and characters not be given away frivolously all the time, but they should keep their rough edges. Give them back flaws.
  • Let the alliance really stand up for its own interests, the alliance as such has certain long-term goals that unite and bring the peoples together. Lordaeron, the night elves also have an interest, not in the kingdom, but to heal the land, to heal nature. The dwarves now have Tyr’s burial cities on site, humans might want to make a pilgrimage there as well, there are enough reasons to do something, and develop common interests.
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Dwarfs:

Lets start with the master of Forgery, a proud but absolutely negleted Race, the Dwarfs of WOW.

The dwarves and their Council of Three Hammers would actually be a highly charged and interesting topic. There is no lack of political or cultural depth and 250 years of hatred, rejection and mistrust cannot be settled because of the words of a 30-40 year old, certainly not among dwarves.

Dwarves could become a truly new powerhouse within the Alliance.

I would elevate the dwarves to the new spearhead of the alliance. It’s time to ring the bells of Ironforge anew and bring the dwarves back into the narrative.

With leaders like Kurdron, Moira, the Hammerthan of Darkiron, Muradin, the character roster would be there, and so would the story.

Militarily, the dwarves are also a power not to be underestimated. Steamtanks, mighty warriors, griffin riders, pyromancers of the darkiron, priests of shadow and light.

But just this religious aspect is missing a bit and even if the Explorer League is considered an aggressive arm of the dwarves, it would be nice to see the Explorer League not only constantly in the neutral content.

Gnomes:

Well, Gnomes. Now they have Mechagon, but what about Gnomeregan? Gnomes are like trolls, no matter where gnomes appear, there is always a gnome instance, only there hasn’t been a raid with gnomes as opponents (If you exclude Ulduar), but now that they have Mechagon, what happens to the tinkering masters? The biggest problem is their extreme technique focus which is treated very stepmotherly in WOW, since the technique as well as the magic are used absolutely arbitrarily and their possibilities cover everything from “very limited” to unrestricted.

Thus, I would like to give them a new focus, but keep the old one. The gnomes - start as mimiron’s assistants - to instant the titan machines again which are defective or damaged. This can A) give them access to their heritage, B) not completely abandon the tech focus, and C) create interesting titan gnome tech stories, I imagine generally very adventurous.

Machines that can partly be called AI, after millennia without maintenance gone absolutely insane, against the gnomes under the guidance of Mimiron.

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The sad thing about Night Elves is, Blizzard actually knows very well what the Night Elf fans would like to have and even manages to capture it graphically in pictures, yet Blizzard unerringly always manages to do exactly the opposite! Sometimes you could really think it’s intentional.

The Night Elves have lost a lot of their profile since WOW started, as a former faction on its own it has of course had much more profile than for example Dwarves, who were always just a subfaction of the Alliance. With characters like Tyrande, Malfurion, Shandris, Maiev, Jarod Shadowsong, Broll and many other little and big treasures, the Night Elves really lack one thing NOT - characters.

But what the night elves are missing is their bite, it’s because blizzard refuses to let beyond the fangs show even the night elves really strike once in a while. Areas like Ashenvale or Hyjal are so integral to the night elf culture and people that they have become part of the culture and many thousands - and millions - of players have fallen in love with these people.

What the night elves are missing is perspective, revenge is a short term goal, but long term, rebuilding, yes, but where, and how? Sylvanas, the Horde, all of them can certainly be punished, but in the end, revenge is worth nothing if you yourself still have nothing and you are not better off, but rather worse off, because you have also lost the last sense.

So what kind of perspective?

Humans.

The role of “jack of all trades but master of none” is normally held, but in WOW this role has become “jack of all trades and master of everything”. This causes extreme displeasure and rejection, because it makes the other races simply superfluous.

I would therefore weaken people in the field of arcane magic, reduce their talent a little (they are after all strongly degenerated Titanforgeds and Vyrkul also do not have such an extreme magic talent but were rather warriors, not mages).
It is difficult to name the role of the Humans, especially the Humans of Stormwind, because the Humans of Stormwind don’t really stand for anything longer except “Default Humans”. But otherwise they lost everything interesting, everything under the “Anduin’s umbrella” and any peculiarity absolutely lost.

I would therefore say the Church of the Holy Light back into focus more.
I would say again abolish the High King and call him Supreme Commander
I would say to focus more on the Council of Nobility and their intrigues.

As of now, Stormwind is by far the most boring kingdom and if it didn’t have Anduin…I don’t think anyone would care.

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Worgen

The Worgen would actually have more than enough with three characters, but once again there is a clear lack of narrative investment.

I mean, how can one degenerate from an independent kingdom to an absolute foot dragger?

The Worgen would have a lot of potential as a monster race and a lot of interesting possibilities would be possible. Besides colonizing Gilneas, by the way, they really lack any goal once more, so how about if one goal of the Gilneans is to wipe out the Undead. Here I would clearly push the envelope and say they become regular undead hunters/witch hunters specializing in undead.

Draenei

Also here you can see, blizzard would know exactly how to do it, they showed it with Draenor, what it means to be a draenei, even if we never saw Shattrath, but it would be really cool if our draenei finally stop living in a crashed spaceship and build a real city…like Shattrath. I mean, they never spread out on Azeroth for fear of the Legion, but now, that reason no longer exists, so THEY could, so why not let them? Let them spread out, let them finally become a culture again and not just refugees waiting to leave the world at any time.

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Here i´ll add to another moment the Allied Races, but now, i dont want to write it XD

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Players: A collection of nations drawn together in a pact of trade and mutual defense; consisting primarily of classic fantasy races such as humans, dwarves, elves and gnomes.

Blizzard: Anduin.

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Worgen had a load of potential as the “We don’t want to but we will” branch of Alliance Shock Troops. The ones that they only “unleashed” in dire circumstances because of how brutal they are in warfare. They should be giving the war-hungry orcs pause with their ferocity, making them wonder if they’re in over their head. Remember leveling in Silverpine as a low-level Forsaken in classic, and spotting a Son of Arugal? There should be that sort of “uh oh” feeling to setting the worgen loose on a battlefield. You stay out of their way or get added to the body count.

Instead, they’re played for “lololol dog jokes” or just, “Here’s an Alliance soldier in footman gear who is also a worgen I guess”.

The only time we’re told of worgen ferocity is when they’re pushing the Forsaken back into Silverpine in Cataclysm, except on the Forsaken side of things you’re uncovering every worgen infiltrator and then gunning them down by the dozens while they slowly swim across a lake. Arguably also the cutscene where Genn breaks Sylvanas’ night-light in Stormheim, that had some good werewolfy vibes to it.

Moreover, if the above premise were enacted, it could add to some “Alliance drama” to the extent of, “What are we if we’re willing to let wolf monsters tear our enemies apart when we’re pushed back against a wall? It’s not war, it’s slaughter.” Combined with worries of standard citizenry not wanting these worgen around and potentially spreading the curse. Instead it’s, “Nah, we’re all pals. I’m sure you’ll get used to the Gilnean accents coming from big wolf people. Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? You are!”

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Darkiron, Worgen, and Voidelves could serve perfectly to show the dark side of the Alliance for just such roles. They all have the potential to be much worse monsters, the voidelves could even easily outrank the undead in terms of dark humor.

I mean, just imagine if they enslaved a spirit and then made it wipe out an entire village in a night and fog action, the psychic terror of the void elves combined with the horrors of the worgen they leave behind on the battlefield and the absolute ruthlessness of the darkiron who burn everything down, it would be an absolute horror combination.

If you could add to that the precision of the night elves, who could fulfill the terror of the woods from the other side, you would have a faction of four races that could perfectly balance this “anduin-all is well” theme of the light religion.

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works for me :stuck_out_tongue:

Well It doesn’t mean that I don’t want to see other races stories. I’d also love to.
I like all the starting zone and unique stories of every alliance races.
And for now, Nelves vs. Sylvanas or Genn vs. Sylvanas.
I’m quite okay with Anduin sitting on the throne quietly and giving the quests. Actually I kinda hoped that he would be like that in SL. :expressionless:

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The Alliance needs the same treatment as the Horde.

Each race having their own identity free from the narrative of the main race (humans).

Night elves only get to be put out there when humans are involved to help them because they can’t win anything or have any kind of development without them.

The draenei…

The gnomes just seems to be there to tag along.

The dwarves seem to occupy the same position as gnomes. Just there for the ride, but when they do get some attention they always need the humans to be involved in everything.

The void elves has some potential there, but… nothing is certain. They did have really good exposure in bfa, but we’ll have to see where it goes from there.

The Lightforge…

So, yeah…

The Horde gets all of their races to stand out among each other, but still being able to work with each other (for good or bad) without the orcs just dominating everything in the story that would make everyone else look like stranded whales on a beach.

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The other races do get some time for their own stories, but it’s usually just short and forgotten within a patch and never brung up again unless a Teldrassil happens, but even then considering how they handled that one… yeah…

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Also note, the verocity was something that the night elves used to be known for that even caused the orcs and Grom himself to take a step back because of how ruthless they were.

Now, they’re just tree people that can barely fend for themselves.

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WC3:
“They’re the perfect warriors.” - Grom Hellscream, the Warriorest Warrior who ever Warred

WoW:
Tall purple humans whose main skills include:

  • Gardening
  • Getting bullied
  • Crying
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Pretty much.

And it doesn’t help how everyone else just feels like they’re just there to be there.

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Dwarves are criminally underutilized. I guess Blizzard thought having their racial leader become the voice of Azeroth was good compensation for years of neglect. :-1:

:pancakes:

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I agree that the Humans occupy and drive too much of the narrative and screen time, to the detriment of the other races. But as far as some wholesale unifying philosophy, the Horde and Alliance are two different animals.

The Alliance is a military coalition of common defense. It is more practical and less philosophical. The Human Kingdoms are the back bone of that military force. So in that regard, I understand. Night Elves and Draenei have had pretty consistent narrative space. Worgen sort of straddle the Human and Night Elf stories, and they can get lost in the mix unless there is direct focus on them. Dwarves and Gnomes could use more love. I suppose Blizzard might ignore them because Players don’t select them as much. And Players wont select them as much because they aren’t showcased enough to drive interest. It is a vicious cycle.

A military coalition for mutual defense will often have a narrative based on reaction to a threat. Maybe we will see some sort of philosophy drive them going forward. Perhaps they will unite behind reclaiming Lordaeron while the Forsaken are in disarray, and become more aggressive.

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To be fair the void elves and dark iron are responsible for what may be the more morally grey or dark actions of the Alliance in BfA.

Rendorei sending Horde ambassadors into the void and corrupting Zuldazar wildlife.

Dark Iron using banned shaman practices to kill hundreds of Goblins.

I don’t doubt that they’ll continue to do such stuff.

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Is this a question of what it is that Alliance players like about the Alliance or what direction individual Alliance players might like for the faction?

For me, I like that the Alliance is made up of a sense of striving for higher ideals and the fundamental, unshakeable belief that the world can be made a better place by even the smallest actions.

I like that doing the right thing is considered important in its own right even when it’s hard, and especially because it’s hard. I like the idea of sacrificing myself for higher ideals and to defend the weak. I like the idea of bringing light and hope to the darkest reaches of the world and beyond.

And I like the moral quandries that come with that premise; does a positive end justify terrible means? Is sacrificing my own moral standing or sense of righteousness so that others might live a worthy sacrifice in itself? Is it possible to create something good without destroying things that aren’t?

Some of Blizzard’s strongest writing has come from exploring these themes, particularly in Warcraft 3, and despite the fact that the Alliance got dragged through the mud in Warcraft 3 it’s that game that resonated strongest with me and made me want to play Alliance.

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Its about what you want for the faction.

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Well to put it bluntly I’d like to see it succeed in bringing light to dark places for once. Especially dark places in the Eastern Kingdoms that the bulk of the Alliance should feel it has a stake in. As it stands it seems like the best way to do that is to be neutral instead of Alliance.

I want to see places that were horrible, ghastly ruins in the full throes of despair transformed into paradises by the Alliance. I want proper physical symbols that the night is always darkest before the dawn. In some way Stormwind City itself symbolizes that, but for me it’s one of the big reasons I look to Lordaeron so often.

Andorhal was the closest we’ve ever gotten and we all know how that ended. It was a punch in the gut that I’m still salty about over a decade later.

1 Like