You literally did it for me lol.
Yet they still supply the Horde with equipment to deforest Ashenvale and networked Horde cities together with Zepplin transport. Which were even used in military operations before Bilgewater joined the Horde officially.
Then you would be wrong. If they the Horde was supplying and arming Gnolls in Elwynn, that would be truer to a Cold War analogy.
And that is why “Laymans terms” is the polite why to say “The dumbed down version”
My favorite GoT character was Tywin Lannister for this very reason.
I hated him for how blind he was to Tyrion’s talents due to his dwarfism, but I couldn’t help but cheer him on in every other element of the story.
He played the game and he played it well, and he had motivations that made sense.
“Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner.”
If the Alliance had someone like that… And Blizzard could write them well (A tall order), that would be great. Honestly, would be interesting to see Maiev kind of fill that role. Take that ruthlessness and apply to to statescraft. She has been shown to be cunning where she needs to be. I don’t think it would be out of character to take her in that direction. Maybe they could even make a new model for her, out of armor. Show off the scars on her face.
It’s a bit of tragic irony- if not blinkered by his prejudices and ambitions, Tywin could have been a great hero, and a great king. Aside from his ambition to put his house above all others (which is hardly an uncommon ambition in this story) Tywin’s greatest flaw is not simply his ruthlessness, but the fact that once he’s made up his mind about something he absolutely refuses to change it regardless of evidence to the contrary- “My dwarf son is worthless; Robb Stark is a callow youth who cannot possibly stand up to us in battle.”
Right, if Tywin could recognize Tyrion’s talents, he would have had his 1,000 year dynasty.
Honestly it’s just bizarre to me that the Alliance I’ve RPed with is so much more interesting than the one Blizzard presents.
And I’ve to imagine I do the same for the Horde.
This guy’s a red eyed undead shadow magic user that will eat people and kill them in horrific ways.
If need be. He doesn’t do either for fun. Okay he maybe he gets a little Hannibal Lectory with his food. But it’s ethically sourced. In that nobody finds it unethical to butcher ogres, quilboar or murlocs in this setting.
He never knowingly or willingly harms civilians. Generally tries to solve conflicts non violently or less than lethally. And also uses light magic because he genuinely likes healing people. He’s an Apothecary of the non mad variety. He’s basically a doctor.
So it was fun when Alliance RPers would be genuinely prejudiced. Assume the worst and confront him with often wild accusations.
Because of course he wouldn’t take that BS, and if they wanted to see a blood hungry creature of the night - he’d be more than obliged to show them how terrifying one really looks.
So it’d be quite funny when he’s levitating in shadowform and some MHP is doing the monologue that he’s interrupting and critiquing because trust me he’s heard a lot of these and wants someone’s last words to be unique.
And then one of the Alliance characters he was friends with would turn up. Of which there were quite a few. A Priestess of Elune from the Conclave, a Knight Paladin from the Argent Dawn, a Gnomish Wizard he’d exchange research with and a Worgen Pirate he’d become drinking buddies with.
And it was never not hilarious to see some guy mid speech about purging this abomination and a Nelf Priest walks in.
“Oh, hi Franzis”
“Oh, hi Aeriara!”
Then he’d ghost through the now bewildered Paladin to ask her if the orphan he found in Darkshore is doing alright and if they found any family. He’d found an infant stashed away by a presumably now dead parent and rescued the kid, eventually managing to get him back to his people through his contacts.
And the Crusader behind him is shaking his head, still making sure this isn’t something bizarre hallucination brought about by the black arts.
Benedikt genuinely hated war in the way only healers can. But he still dutifully served and tried to reduce the amount of harm that he could. He was still undead though, so a prick getting up in his face and picking a fight had volunteered as a menu item, far as he was concerned.
That led to genuinely interesting stories. And idk seems pretty Warcraft to me to have a situation where of the two things standing there, the extraordinarily monstrous looking one is the actual genuine hero.
Weird amateurs can tell a story like that and Blizz is either unwilling or unable to.
It’s because it’s not possible for the canon narrative to accommodate every theoretical RP scenario. In that sense Stormwind’s genericness is actually the reason why it’s the RP capital of WoW; it’s bland and doesn’t have too many interesting qualities about it which makes it the best canvas for RP because you have relatively few restrictions on what would or wouldn’t be possible in the setting, while simultaneously having a large city where it’s realistic that a bunch of people would be at the same time
If Stormwind itself was more interesting then the RP would probably become less interesting, ironically enough
I hear you on that note.
But more just having actual moral grayness in the storyline.
I’ve mentioned how the Alliance being nothing but boyscouts causes a ludonarrative dissonance. Because with WM on or in a PvP server simple human nature creates a story where there’s heroes and villains on both sides.
You’ll run into many cruel enemy players. You run into still hostile but honorable players. You’ll run into ones that more or less are happy to ignore you if you’ll return the kindness. And you’ll run into genuinely friendly ones.
I was never into camping or spawn jumping unless it was retaliatory. And as I’m no longer a very frustrated teenage boy I don’t gank either. Even if I will argue there was a skill to it at like level 47 in Redridge because they could still call their big brother.
I actually think Warmode kinda ruined that experience as it seems to be more pick a fight mode.
Back in Legion at Argus I remember turning up to a WQ quest and waving at the Alliance who had gotten there first so of course I’d wait my turn.
Then some Worgen DK ran in and attacked me and they did nothing as I flung him into oblivion with a shining force. I’d been respectful so they weren’t going to help out this random aggressor. It’s actually a bit faith restoring to know sometimes people are cool even when they’ve no incentive or obligation to be.
But with the dawn of WM those experiences became rarer. By SL I started not bothering turning it back on after I left the Maw where I just didn’t need the extra hassle for what was already a chore to me. Because running into groups who’d mercilessly camp went from an occasional occurrence to a frequent one. And instead of marshaling a response to give them the what for and probably a taste of their own medicine people would just run to an inn and turn it off.
And I’m good but I can’t fight off 3 people by myself. Not until Blizz gives me unlimited shields again. So eventually I had to do the same if I wanted to accomplish anything.
What would’ve been a better story, Jaina Proudmoore ended up in prison for her unjust rampage. She did not care for the war which was waging in the barrens nor that the troops were match through her port.