Divide the Alliance

By definition, Alliance is a organization brings together many members with common interests or goals. But what about times when they have nothing in common? When there is no war, no world threats? During such phase, Alliance members should be more concerned about their own individual interests. Although they may form friendly relationships, their main motivation is not to seek their own place in the world like the Horde or to deepen bonds with other members. Each of them should have their own ambitions, matters and opinions.

The title doesn’t literally talk about the collapse of Alliance, but I feel that internal division would greatly help refresh blue faction. Now all members seem to be henchmen of the Wrynn family, they have to run to the High King of the Alliance with every decision, send him troops without question (when this title become hereditary?) and panic when any human character is in danger.

Let Stormiwnd try to unite humanity perhaps even by force. Survivors from Dalaran and other places should seek refuge in Stormwind, but they promise help only if they pledge full loyalty to the kingdom. Prohibition to make own decisions without Alliance consent, and the ban to cooperate with Horde are conditions that many may not like. Let this infamous and terrible Stormwind nobility finally shine.

Increasing importance of Ironforge. Dwarves are in the best position to rival or even surpass power of humans, and Council of the three hammers should be aware of this. Let them put pressure on other alliance members to transfer title of the High King to Dagran. Bring the shady Moira back!

Gnomes: let them finally get Gnomeregan back. As the Dwarves closest allies, their support for Ironfoge should be absolute. Their reunion with Mechagnomes would be a cool reason to entire race slowly transitions to being more mechanical and emotionless. Let them create a new religion based entirely on machines/titan worship. Create our own version of Adeptus mechanicus in Wow.

Night Elves: Feeling betrayed after the 4th war all Kaldorei forces should return to Kalimdor and go into semi-isolation. Distancing themselves from the rest of the world won’t be so drastic like before wc3 but military assistance outside of Kalimdor and nature related threats is completely out of the game.

Draenei : make them a bit more fanatical. Humans worship the Light wrong, Kaldorei worship its strange filter, the coexistence with Eredar, dark iron and VE is pure heresy. Let such voices appear more often on the lips of some npcs. Make the cultural divide between Broken, draenei, Lightforged and Eredar more visible, causing problem for Velen. It’s impossible for everyone to just get along. Division in society is inevitable. At this point, the Draenei are a bit too perfect as it is.

Worgens : Some worgen shoudn’t not see the new queen as a worthy leader. Let Tess make mistakes. Her lack of Goldrinn curse has become a topic of discussion as to she truly understands her cursed people. Retcon Heritage quest. Let the dilemma of becoming a worgen return.

The two general things affecting the entire faction I would most like to see, are struggle for the crown of the high king. The human kingdoms and the Draenei would side with Anduin. On Dagran’s side, all the dwarven clans and gnomes. Part of the story would be about trying to gain support from other members and the competition between these two candidates. I don’t want it to be too brutal and a cold battle only about power, both sides believe that their vision of Alliance is simply better for the entire organization.

Of course with Scarlets causing chaos from the shadows.

The second thing is the territorial aggression of the Night Elves on Kalimdor, especially when it comes to North. Let them take over Warsong Clan role and with some more extreme members of society invade the Horde outposts in the Azshara. Bring back these aggressive Night Elves from Season of Discovery. Show dissatisfaction with the presence of other races in Cenarion Circle and other parts of northern Kalimdor. Removing Goblins from Winterspring and Felwood would reignite faction tension.

Both of these threaths can be connect in interesting ways.

Kaldorei support for both candidates would be a key element of the campaign. But they won’t vote for you without getting something in return. Officially acknowledging and support for Kaldorei aggression would be a ticket to having most of the Alliance on your side. But this would risk damaging long-repaired relations with the Horde. This would be very interesting dilemma for both camps. Is it worth risking world stability to seize power at the price of a better future for the Alliance according to your own beliefs?

This is the kind of conflict I would like to see inside Alliance.

Of course, I am in favor of the Dwarves winning the crown. From the beginning, wow, Humans rule the Alliance, which is terribly boring, especially if we look at the warchief representation of the Horde. During competition, I wouldn’t mind if some characters died or became bosses.

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Nah, no thanks. The Alliance is always at its best when its UNITED. It is suppose to be the Overwatch/Star Fleet of Azeroth.

Yes it can have problems and disagreements. But its best when its various factions united to actually solve the problems plaguing it.

In the entire history of WoW the Wrynn line and Turalyon have never tried to turn Stormwind into the defacto human empire. And in Turaylon’s case he is literally letting a Horde character into The Sons of Lothar.

Every major current human leader, Jaina, Anduin, Danath, have literally worked and have(more or less) some positive interactions with them.

The Alliance isnt stopping Dargan from being high King of the Dwarves.

Sure, I wouldnt mind this particular. Let it be Operation Gnomeragan 2.0. Gelbin in particular giving one of my most favorite lines concerning the Alliance:

“You never really understood, did you? It is our loyalty to our friends that provides our truest, greatest strength. This is what separates us from the ogres and troggs—and even the goblins. This is why the dwarves helped us back from near extinction, even surrendering a portion of their hallowed halls for us to call home. And this is why there are dwarves, humans, draenei, and night elves dying alongside us in the surrounding tunnels to reclaim a city that was never theirs. They are here because they are our friends, Sicco. My friends. It is a power that numbers cannot match.”

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This is just Blizzard’s lack of consequences for the alliance since their harmony shall never be allowed to cease. Going by logic alone void elves and Lightforged alone should cause a schism to some degree as polar opposites of the eternal battle between light and darkness.

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our heroes don’t have to suddenly change 180 degrees. I was thinking more about the nobility of Stormwind, who were written to be villains from the very beginning of Wow. They may have manipulated or pressured our leaders into making mistakes

Sure, you can have two high kings, but during a war, which of them should you give leadership over the united troops?

You’re right. At the time of the Cataclysm, the Alliance seemed firmly united, but the honeymoon period was over. Over the year, many things happened that changed the core of the Alliance. We didn’t have that many different members. Wars, tragedies and other unexpected events scratch our unity.

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I’m not sure I agree wholeheartedly with your specific proposal, OP, but I do think it’s the Alliance’s turn to deal with some fun internal tension. An identity crisis, if you will. The Horde’s been through a few.

There’s a bit to work with. An upswell of human supremacism in the fringe human realms. The night elves more or less cutting contact with the rest of the Alliance as per post-BFA book lore, due to the lack of support they received in Darkshore. The Void Elves and High Elves literally being about as ideologically opposite as you can go (the latter being exiled for using dark powers too much and the former for not using dark powers enough), and so on. There’s fun stuff to work with that would make at least interesting storytelling in the Alliance space.

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I feel like a good nuance story would be to have a human supremacy city have their leader forcibly de-throned then force to accept X race of people into their nation, only to have that group particular group be some heinous faction or their own brand of race supremacists — and have it royally backfire, giving validation to the ‘radical’ human kingdom’s concerns :joy:

  • Especially if such remains unchallenged and unable to be simply ‘resolved’ by ‘the heroes’ or adventurers in quests or via dungeon / delve / raid.
  • Have the new coupe ruling of the kingdom be solidified and: “Tough luck, this place is ours now and we’re changing everything to favour our people, our culture and our way of life.”
  • Furthermore, have it happen in a few odd OTHER places too.

Such news which spreads across Azeroth — particularly amongst the Alliance, making various communities, factions and kingdoms grow weary and become more uneasy, distrusting, skeptical and difficult.


The benefit to the Alliance?

There’d be heaps of fun interesting questlines and story for the Alliance through that, in mending relationships overtime — especially with the races or splinter factions from some of the overtakers, who to your surpise - disagree with their peoples actions & what they’d done, and want your aid in seeking to make things right.

That along with convincing other nations to play nice with one another and to mend the Alliance moving forward would open up lots of juicy narratives, banter and character developments ahead :grin:

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This is where I’m at too with this, yeah. I don’t agree with the plot beats listed in the OP at all, but I definitely think that in a post-Blood War world, there is more than enough room for tension between the different members of the Alliance.

Hell, there was a juicy cut they could have taken with the Darkshore frontline, since they weren’t sending aid to the Kaldorei because they prioritized Stromgarde, but they kind of just let that fizzle out. I recall Genn had much frostier dialogue towards Anduin over it in one of the builds before it got turned to something more respectful.

I kind of wanted to see where that thread went, but I supposed that wasn’t a story they were interested in telling over their master stroke of Shadowlands.

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They played around with ideas of draenei discrimination against the Krokul but it didn’t last much beyond the starting zone. It definitely didn’t survive TBC.

I would love some more edge on the draenei. Especially the Lightforged. I had assumed thats why they existed but so far they’ve been exactly what they look like. Draenei but gold eyes.

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They played with it for one line in Legion (when Nobundo says some would consider them an acceptable loss during the Battle for Exodar), but yeah, it still doesn’t really go anywhere. I think they’re reluctant to tell any real storylines about class or race unquiet because A) they often lack the chops to tell it respectfully, and B) they know what kind of people make up a heavy fraction of their playerbase, and how they’ll run with that narrative.

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That’s what led to the dissolution of the original Alliance, the Alliance of Lordaeron. The first point of contention being paying the bills for running the concentration camps. Both Gilneas and Quel’thelas started distancing themselves over the cleanup costs for the Second War.

The Humans of Stormwind Keep were busy rebuilding and expanding their settlement into a proper city state. and Stromgarde was in a process of depopulation as many left the city for greener pastures in Southshore and Hillsbrad. And Alteraac was pretty much going its own way by that point.

War was the only thing that kept the original Alliance together, it was the thing that formed it, and without it the Alliance quickly fell apart.

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Personally I think Lightforged Draenei should’ve just been a customisation option for standard Draenei :person_shrugging:

The whole “Oh the light prevents shamanism” thing is stupid and doesn’t quite make sense if Blizzard knew their OWN lore that’d already been established … Same ordeal of stupidity with the narrative of alternate Draenor orcs not being friendly with the Naaru and the light :upside_down_face:

  • as per the original lore (main universe) which I’m fairly certain & sure applied to the alternate universe Draenor lore too: Shaman orcs use to perform rituals at Oshu’gun to help the Naaru there and that very Naaru — K’ure – had actually become close friends with the orcs, their spirits and their ancestors spirits.

So the Lightforged Draenei being unable to be shaman seems silly, since the older lore showed a harmonious relationship between shamanism and the light — same with the elemental spirits, as they literally were able to be born, created, awakened & come into being with shards of light that imbued the creation of their spirits (as per Chronicles) in the first place. lol


TL;DR:

  • Lightforged Draenei should :100: percent have Shaman.
  • Mag’har and/or shaman in general having taboo with the light and VICE-VERSA with ALL the Naaru being opposed to them — is just brainrot stupidity.

Additionally, it’d also be incredibly fun to dabble with light-themed spiritual magic, elemental spirits and shamanism :grin:

i imagine they might’ve existed for that at some point, they keep introducing races to bring edge to the alliance only to sand them down so the alliance just gets up as grey goo.

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It’s very likely the only Alliance infighting I’ll ever see in this game is the two people who were arguing over intrusive/disruptive yard decor in the Alliance neighborhood I was visiting.

It was incredibly entertaining though.

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That would indeed be interesting and varied, exactly what the Alliance needs, instead of always being a perfect faction that never makes mistakes. I don’t agree with everything the OP wrote.

We have recently seen hints of this in the Arathi Highlands and Blizzard could expand on this idea further. Nobles might secretly support it, and it is entirely conceivable that some citizens and soldiers could adopt this ideology as well. This could lead to discrimination, marginalization, or political pressure against allies such as dwarves, gnomes, and others, which in turn could cause internal conflicts within the Alliance between its races.

I would like to see more of the dwarven clans and their internal conflicts.

What I definitely support, though, is the recapture of Gnomeregan!

We saw this in BfA, until Blizzard changed it again in Shadowlands.

It would make sense for the night elves to continue distancing themselves from the Alliance because of what happened in BfA.

One could also introduce a group of Draenei and Lightforged Draenei as particularly fanatical followers of the Light who view all those who do not follow their example as a disgrace.

The Man’ari could face widespread disgust and hostility as a result.

With the Krokuul, the racial segregation that was briefly mentioned in TBC but unfortunately later forgotten could be explored further.

That’s my favorite point.

The Worgen citizens could be branded by the human population as a stigma upon Gilneas and treated not as equals, but as second-class citizens.

Ivar could act as a driving force against this development, as he is a staunch supporter of the Worgen and strongly opposes such discrimination, while accusing Tess of inaction and of not understanding what it truly means to be a Worgen.

Ultimately, as mentioned, Tess herself becomes a Worgen and openly embraces this identity, in contrast to Genn, who long felt shame about his Worgen form.

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Moira just being friendly with Stormwind after Varian strongarmed a council into Ironforge would be the lowest point of this game’s story if not for Shadowlands and BFA IMO.

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A good story requires conflict. I think more internal conflict would be good for both factions. Though I would say that, bland as it is, the Alliance needs it more.

(And note, villian-batting a leader and having the faction unite to overthrow them is not what I’m talking about. We need two sides with valid views. Though as I write this, that sounds kinda too nuanced for Blizzard to pull off.)

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Which would be the perfect excuse for the dwarven council to openly challange Stormwind authority. Leader should unite, not divide.

The War of the Three Hammers was started even before the beginning of Wow and it was only fully resolved in BFA. Dwarves clans should take a looooong break from fighting each other. Dagran’s existence essentially solves all their problems.

The night elves should rekindle their old alliances with the wild gods and dragons. Even from a lore perspective, I don’t believe Tyrande would expel them from the Alliance, but certain consequences must be drawn. The only major Kaldorei presence outside of Kalimdor could be in Gilneas.

I’m really surprised no dwarf has expressed any greater dissatisfaction when some human king enters their home and dictates them how to run their country. First leaving the night elves to their fate in bfa and before that this? Lack of voice of opposition seems almost impossible in such a situations

That’s what I’m talking about, I don’t want Dagran or Anduin to suddenly become 100% evil I want to see a war of ideologies that both can bring a lot of good and bad to the organization.

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The faction system has to die for good, for any meaningful changes to the factions.

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Its because stormwind’s royal family gets to be perfect, make the right choices every time and never do any wrong.

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Windrunner and Vrynn names are the biggest curses of modern WoW writing.

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