https://x.com/Portergauge/status/1983421682611376551
Absolutely the development we all craved for what is our last somewhat relevant Orc character that isn’t Thrall
(no)
(delete this Blizzard nobody wants this I beg you to stop doing these sorts of things)
I’ve been of the opinion since BfA that the faction system as it’s historically existed is stupid and outdated so I support this, just as I’ve conversely supported factions like the Defias and Syndicate either joining the horde explicitly or at least working with the Horde as spies to against the Alliance.
Glad Eitrigg is doing his thing. Let’s give Baine the option to join and muddy the factions even further.
I will once again loudly point out that they stopped using Baine because everyone on the Horde hates Baine’s guts, but instead of reflecting on why everyone on the Horde hates Baine’s guts, they just decided to shelf him and start writing Eitrigg the same way they wrote Baine that ruined Baine as a character.
So … congrats on ruining one of the only recognizable orcs left in the game, I guess?
I honestly think Baine should have flat out defected/abdicated to the Alliance during BfA’s nonsense. Hell give the Alliance Tauren characters in the process to balance out what they did to characters like Sira and Delaryn going Horde. The faction system is stupid but as long as Blizzard’s going to keep it, it should account for outliers like Baine.
Factions are one of the three main devices this game offers you to carve out your character’s identity. First is faction, then race, then class. A faction is a spectrum of motifs, fantaisies, narrative tropes, shared struggles and common history, philosophies, value systems and aesthetics that forms a cohesive (though diverse) ensemble that you may feel like you belong to because it loosely encapsulates what you like about the universe, as well as who you are as a person.
Factions are quintessential to the way we as players inhabit the setting and interact with it. We need them. They don’t HAVE to be at war all the time, though I would say conflict (if only in words) is needed because it helps reaffirm these identities.
Now to Eitrigg. Eitrigg is the Horde’s last non-Thrall Orc character that has a tiny bit of story relevance. We need and want him for Orc stories (which mind you haven’t existed in this game’s MSQ since WoD, or arguably BfA). Not for blurring the lines even further by being associated with a historical group that’s integral to Alliance mythos.
No offense but I assure you that you being okay with the narrative disappearance of factions may be due to the fact that you’re on the winning end of this. Nearly every Horde player I know is very pro faction, if only because faction stuff is the only context in which the races, zones and things we care about are given a little bit of focus.
I agree with you but you are crazy if you think any actual Alliance fan likes this.
Oh no I have no doubt many Alliance players will hate this as well LMAO. I have no idea why they thought this was a good move.
Nah you make an excellent counter argument and points and I appreciate your words.
I’ve spent the past 5-7 years on SWTOR and I love factions. Only real difference between it and WoW is that SWTOR has a morality component to it - which results in a lot of quantum characters and storylines, at least in the base game. To use WoW terminology, imagine the Loyalist optional path from BfA but that’s for both factions and exists as an option throughout the entire history of WoW, not just BfA.
Your concerns about the Alliance essentially poaching Eitrigg from the Horde are valid and I haven’t considered it, and I know countless Alliance characters have been sacrificed at the alter of faction neutrality and it would be unfair for me to approve of it just because it’s happening to the Horde.
Honestly everything with Danath Trollbane is weird. I don’t like he seemed to become a completely different character between BfA and TWW — which is what, 4-5 years?
But yeah you’ve made excellent points and I’ll definitely mull over your words
They are just really struggling with having the Horde exist on it’s own or any of it’s members without something Alliance being linked. Again, I really feel like they need some Horde writers on their team. Their perspective is only able to wrap everything around the Alliance at the moment.
And it’s compounding the damage to Horde faction fantasy that BFA did.
Honestly I can see two options, both are bad:
OR
Works for me, time for the faction conflict to die its ignoble death.
Doubtless it was Danath who invited him. Khadgar would totally suppo this. Kurdran I’m not sure would be happy, but he’d be all for what the others thought.
I doubt either Alleria or Turalyon would go along without a protest. Alleria seems to have put her hate for orcs behind her, but I imagine enough would remain to not be happy to accept an orc into a group put together to fight orcs. On the other hand she’s probably too busy worrying about Xal’atath to launch much of a protest.
Anymore it seems like Turalyon would have a fit.
There goes the last relevant orc character that isn’t Thrall.
Every day I feel vindicated in my choice not to purchase Midnight.
I feel like this could be a move for Eitrigg to protect the remaining Blackrock Orcs in the Eastern Kingdoms from being wiped out by the Alliance. Probably still too many on the Alliance side that wants him dead just because since he’s been around since before the First War.
If this is the case, this is going to be hilariously awful reasoning, given he’s meant to be their Chieftain. Pardon and save those that want to be redeemed, or can be, and bring them to Kalimdor; kill all the irredeemable evil like Malkorok.
Even if you believe this, the appropriate solution is not to have all Horde individuality absorbed by the Alliance.
“I will happily take your heroes, and you can have our villains in exchange!”
Gee, how generous. 
Well, to be fair, we’ve seen hilariously awful reasoning before in this game.
The true balance to this would be Anduin going Horde. However, people won’t argue this; it is only about Horde races going to the Alliance, and it is never the other way around.
“What Horde individuality? Wait, what Horde?” -Blizzard Entertainment
I appreciate that you’re willing to consider others’ points. That is, sadly, far too rare in these discussions, so your post was a breath of fresh air. 