The Horde doesn’t even need a navy they have Azerite Iron Stars and a rocket ship capable of mowing down dozens of flying machines with an Azerite machine gun.
Seriously, having done some of the invasions from the Horde PoV, all I could think of was “You… you guys are the underdogs how?” The Alliance having a fleet doesn’t even matter, they have Iron Horde tech enhanced by Azerite and not used by people who are idiots like our old enemies in WoD. They have equal air power, apparently, and sure as hell would win a land war.
The idea that the Horde feels it’s backed into a corner is laughable, just have some of the Loa dogpile Jaina and they’d win.
I don’t think the incursions we play are entirely canon. I don’t think they would have it canon a few random Tidesages and an Alliance adventurer wiped out the entirety of Blood Elf presence in Nazmir, the same way a single rocket bomber probably didn’t destroy a small army by itself.
The Incursion I think are canon, the powerlevels shows there are not! In the same way I dont think one Gryphon bomber can destroy an entire Horde base, I dont think the Iron stars are as powerful as they seem.
I know this is abit of a necro, but I just want people to know that as per Jes Tereth, the Alliance still has a fleet, she does mention it lost “almost” its entire fleet but that still implies it has one.
I’m sure the Forsaken and the Blood Elves still have some boats as well, since we haven’t seen a single Blood Elf schooner this entire expansion and those Forsaken warships have mostly been seen off the coast of Darkshore.
The point of Azshara’s action was to remove the fleets as a major plot point of the faction war going forward. It doesn’t matter if you have boats or not anymore.
Yeah, even by WoW standards, the navies have been this completely nebulous thing.
Remember the Cata-MoP story lines? When Garrosh blockaded Kalimdor? Well that fleet apparently evaporated at some point. Remember when the reference was made to the “few remaining Alliance airships?” Obviously not an issue for either faction.
Blizz treats boats the way it treats footmen and grunts. They just slather them on like BBQ sauce on ribs. Honestly, the awkward thing was having them suddenly be a big deal for a little bit- we’re just back to that status quo.
Lorewise the fleets of the two factions were fighting. Hence why we have blood in the water. And once we siege Ogrimmar proper I assume we destroyed Garrosh’s navy.
It is clearly gone, and there’s any number of good reasons why it could be. I mean, just for fun, it could be anything like:
Destroyed off screen by the Alliance of Vol’jin’s rebels during the Garrosh conflict.
Destroyed or reduced by internal fighting during the same.
Incorporated in whole or part into Vol’jin’s Horde, with rebellious remnants reduced to individual pirate ships and/or hunted down by Horde forces or Alliance airships off screen.
Wiped out by the Legion directly or subversively.
It was gone at some point between the Cata/MoP conflict blockade, and the start of Legion, entirely off screen. Which really goes to the point. It poofed. For effective purposes, it could have been destroyed by sand gnomes to the same effect. Blizz needed an effectively off screen fleet for a blockade, it existed, served its purpose, and then the numbers aren’t there any more. Don’t take that as a real criticism of Blizz- it’s just what, by now, part and parcel of being a WoW lore fan.
In other words: https://imgflip.com/i/36xjxu
EDIT: Well, Blood in the Water. Good point, I’d forgotten about that one- so it was on screen for a scenario! There’s that at least.
Some may find this a silly thought but until Garrosh was mentioned this expansion I genuinely wasn’t sure if he was canon even anymore.
Like the general events might’ve happened, but Zoram’gar was supposed to be destroyed, with the elves apparantly retaking most of Ashenvale. In the prepatch, Ashenvale sat as if we never stopped fighting in it. BfA feels like the Cata/Mists war never actually ended for some reason.
Even the Horde itself seemed like it was retconned and reimagined into some Warcraft 2 inspired group. The characters on Horde seemed to not adhere to their previous characterization, including the player. At least as the expansion unfolded things have become a bit more clear, we got reactions from the various leaders when Baine was arrested. But in the beginning I had no clue what was even real anymore.
Garrosh: "We need the Night Elves lumber! Our people are starving! (Because… Orcs eat wood… I guess?)
Also Garrosh: has the resources to build a fleet sizable enough to blockade an entire continent
Out of thin air it had been created, and unto thin air it has returned.