See, this is an interesting stance to take. Because for a long time, conceptually, I’ve always felt that while Ashenvale was the single most important zone in Kalimdor for the NEs strategically … thats not the case for the Horde. Stonetalon should be. But Blizz keeps making us mash our heads into brick walls in Ashenvale over … and over … and over. I don’t ever want to step foot in that forest again! D:
Just like Ashenvale is the gateway into every single Northern Kalimdor zone. Stonetalon is the gateway into every single southern one. Most importantly, Desolace (which as we’ve seen can be nursed back to health, has fresh water, and can be made into arable farmland). Feralas is a bit of a weird spot … but ST and Desolace alone would solve a TON of the Horde’s basic resource issues … with the right TLC from the Horde races themselves. And the right oversight by the Tauren to keep them sustainable.
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Piera Coppola was better. Prove me wrong.
Did you hear her wrath voice in patch 3.3? Only in cinematics- where they heavily tune out her nasal sound- does she sound okay.
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I think that Stonetalon would also be a great opportunity to incorporate some much-needed Tauren lore. That’s where we find Stonetalon Peak, which has significance for the Tauren because that’s where their Oracle was supposed to live. You’ve also got the Grimtotem which, bluntly, I think need to be incorporated into the Horde.
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God do they ever need it. I cannot believe they are so neglected as a race. Their lore, their characters, their stories … are all almost non existent. It would be very cool to see them make their own version of Moonglade in one of their sacred spots in Stonetalon. I love their relation to the NE Druids, but the Tauren need to be able to have some sort of distinction themselves too.
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Again, no disagreement here. For the Horde I can see how it feels that their opportunities for cultural distinction are swallowed up by the Cenarion Circle in that fashion, and it’s insistence on pushing a Night Elf flavor of druidism. From my side, I see themes that used to be associated with the playable race slowly drift away into this neutral morass.
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Honestly, I don’t think her voice is generally bad. It just sounds very nasal on some occassions… it was really jarring in WotlK to go from her OG voice actor to Patty.
I also just want the NEs to get “Druid” back. Mechanically I understand that Druid the class really only refers to Life Cosmology Users, but culturally “Druid” means so much more to the Kaldorei. That is there thing! Or it should be. The Tauren being allowed to differentiate themselves, just as the Trolls now can with Gonk … could be a good thing for the NEs as well. They could get “Druid” back in a far more meaningful way, while Tauren Life Users become something wholly Tauren Flavored.
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Well, no one can top Piera, I’ll give you that. But the new VA for Sylvanas is pretty good in my opinion anyway 
Druids…Kaldorei, Trolls, Tauren and Worgen all should have unique takes on the class. And two of the races have direct ties to a Wild God/Loa. Tauren, I’m not sure how you can differentiate them though since they did learn from the Kaldorei
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check this out, and tell me it doesn’t sound nasal/heavier to you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXNJvA2rDv8&feature=emb_title
(Apologies for the side topic)
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Consider spells tied to their natural biomes. With Night Elves, it’s natural for them to favor spells that work really well in a forested environment. Tauren Druids could be more oriented to the plains and mountains. Trolls jungle (incorporating diseases or poisonous animals perhaps).
There are a lot of choices, it’s just that Blizzard doesn’t play with them.
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Don’t worgen get tutored by night elves directly? Trolls aren’t really that much better; I think it was “something something a loa named Gonk made the others play nice, now go train with the Cenarion Circle.”
Simple, expand the Lore on the Earth Mother. The Tauren Druids may be the students of the NEs, but they’ve come far enough to start branching out to their own paths on that journey. Just as Malf was taught by Cenarius, Hamuul was taught by Malf … but its time for the student to spread their wings.
Earth Mother Druids. Druids of the High Steppes. Druids of the Plaines. Savannah Druids. The Tauren have entirely different ecosystems they call home, and its time they begun to explore how their reconnection with the life cosmology can relate to their prime deity. Not just “The Lord of the Forest”.
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Which is kind of sad because that’s one of the few areas where blizz could really let their imagination run wild and get creative
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It’s one of many - which is unfortunately precluded when the writers forget that they’re writing about a world and instead insist on a good versus evil narrative… but involving two factions that are supposed to feel balanced (yes, in every way, not just on the whole) for the competitive multiplayer PVP environment.
I do need to loop back to that. 
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That works really well actually.And it would give the Tauren some much needed lore on their religious practices/beliefs and such.
Earthmother druid? What would they use an spells? Arcane?
True enough.
Sigh … I think alot of these types of threads always boil down to one truth. No matter how flawed Cata was, it was ambitious. I would not be opposed to seeing that kind of ambition placed into a full-expansion “Anti-Cata” experience. Just, over the course of the expac, redo series of zones with exclusively local and racial narratives … to rebuild. If recent dungeons have shown anything, its that you do not need “Big Bad” narratives to make fun dungeon/raid experiences. Just a goofy concept taken to its extreme. Take that principle and just rebuild the world as a true pallet cleanser. 
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If the rumored time skip is true, the next expansion would be the perfect time to do that. Or at least the one after that 
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I mean, nearly all other Tauren classes have connections to the Earthmother. Tauren Paladins, Tauren Wariors, Tauren Hunters, Tauren Priests, Tauren Shaman, etc… Its actually sort of abnormal that the Earthmother is not the inspiration for their Druids.
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