I was just rolling through Tomb of Sargeras on Normal with some guildies (no, I don’t have SL, yes, I need help to clear Legion content) and the final confrontation with Kil’jaeden reminded me of something I see so regularly: the desire for playable Eredar. You know, the red fel-infused demon versions of the purple-blue spacegoats?
…why in the name of the Titans, the Light, and Dadghar would either faction ever allow the Eredar among them?! Why the hell does anyone think they would be welcomed? They’re genocidal monsters who’ve murdered entire planets repeatedly for thousands of years. There are players in this game who want to exterminate the orcs for Draenor (never mind that, as far as I know, most of the OG Horde who had a hand in that are dead now, courtesy of Warcraft 1, Warcraft 2, and Burning Crusade) and yet somehow the EREDAR need a rope thrown to them for redemption’s sake?!
I wish they had made the Lightforged Draenei Eredar that were converted by Xe’ra which is totally way cooler. There’s definitely room to play an Eredar that was converted as the Army of Light needed to fill it’s ranks from time to time during it’s 1000 bajllion year war across space and time. I think this is a good way to fit in Eredar as a playable character. Otherwise you can also be an Eredar that was like, oh crap the Legion fell and then walk into Stormwind and be like, how do you do fellow Alliance despite obvious fel corruption lol. Not that I would ever do that…
The other possibility is the whole group were immortals and the chase sequence in the jungle actually took hundreds of years. Thus making the movie a covert Highlander sequel.
Hm. Mel Gibson. Braveheart. Highlander.
It tracks! /s
For exactly that reason.
Redemption’s sake.
It’s sort of Blizzard’s MO at this point to take horrific monsters and make them bastions of all that is good and right.
That said, it did feel like that was the initial idea they had with the Draenei back in the day, with the Night Elves initially seeing them as Eredar.
I’ll second this point to really also highlight how tone deaf it makes people after all that’s happened.
The Alliance hadn’t seen much or any good will from the Horde, while the Alliance has taken efforts to help the Horde or accept their aid purely for Azeroth’s sake alone. I appreciate players who look back and say:
“Doesn’t matter how many ‘good people’ the Horde has. They’re doing next to nothing to stop their warmongers from waging war and having us suffer from their inaction.”
Is this the best mindset to have? No, but it’s an extremely believable view to adopt after everything that has happened since the Wrathgate onward. Characters who grandstand for the Horde in front of Night Elves honestly come off as extremely ignorant to their pain which they’ve always been the direct victims of the Factional war.
I’d much rather have had playable Broken. Argus was even the perfect setup for that happening. They’d also be somewhat valid as warlocks and rogues, so that’d fit the “draenei-but-darker” vibe without bending all suspension of disbelief out of shape.
I must admit I refuse to play a Lightforged Draenei purely out of spite. We got Golden-Eyed Blood elves for free but add golden eyes and some rad new tattoos to a Draenei and it’s a whole new race. I’d have 100% preferred to play a Broken… and I was kinda mad that the Lightforged required a whole new race.
True, to a point. I admit I liked that the Nightborne and Void Elves are similar to their other-faction cousins, but on the other side. That was nifty. Kul Tirans and Zandalari are also pretty unique in terms of model at least - same with Vulpera. But yeah the rest could pretty much be customisation options.
I used to feel this way. Now I just kind of see WoW as an extended family drama in which Weary Single Parent Alliance is raising Evil Baby Horde the best they can.
I really don’t see it, and even somewhat resent this sentiment. People always bring up the Shado-Pan an alleged example, but that implies Chinese history doesn’t have covert agents skilled in espionage, stealth, and deception. Which is obviously false.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there is anything bad about people taking inspiration from non-Chinese media for their characters. But Pandaria as presented in WoW is very explicitly Chinese.
