Sure they can. They just gotta buckle down and hire me, Mara, Micah and Zarrin for a reasonable amount of real world money, not gold, and let us write the story going forward.
Gotta warn you though, if they did this?
Addie Fizzlebog. Queen of all gnomes.
It would happen.
I think you underestimate stupidity, keep in mind the current narrative lead though GoT season 8 was “brilliant”.
Yeah, this is my kind of thinking at this point, just more “wait and see” where we wait but the see part never happens.
You go above and beyond! I like your ideas, but I know a lot of people would not want to lose azshara, maybe make a slight buffer zone at the boarder of azshara and ashenvale, but if we were being real I would love your idea.
Yes! I think we would make a great writing team. And I would also love to see a new leader for the gnomes, one who can actually recapture gnomergan, even though Kelsey Steelspark is my favorite, I don’t know if she would make the best leader.
I have heard of this and did see the tweet and while I have zero love for this man and I think he should be selling insurance in the most god forsaken place on earth. Indiana.
I think he meant it as a joke. He was making fun of himself.
I always loved the Night Elf Fortress model in Warsong Gultch. Perhaps having massive NE gates and fortresses barring the way would be better. Assuming we ever get a revamp.
Again not keen on letting the Horde have any agency whatsoever when it comes to NEs and their business.
Hell. Ban their druids from the cenarion circle while we are at it. Horde druid player can keep being an honorary member but everyone else?
True. Hopefully they’d be willing to make that trade and losing southern Silverpine in exchange for what I’d give the Horde in return; Southern Barrens back, Dustwallow Marsh (because, uhm… For some reason it looks like there’s no Alliance bases there…) and uncontested Stonetalon Mountains. It’s to further this idea that northern Kalimdor belongs to the night elves, central kalimdor is where the Horde lives, and southern south-central Kalimdor is all contested/unclaimed beyond any current holdings.
Maybe, but I think it was more of a “we in the creative industry need to stick together and I love what they’re doing”, it could have been a joke, but I think it was probably him saying it was an ambitious idea and they were taking risks (or whatever people say when someone puts out a lousy story). I could be wrong though.
I will say that I love the updated night elf WSG base, I forgot when they did it, but it looks so good. I would like to see more stuff like that.
Oh yeah this would be great to have them take duskwallow in exchange for azshara and secure the barrens, giving them a kind of nice solid area. I love your ideas!
I think, I actually would like to see that. 
Again, won’t see this, but heck. Your loss, not mine.
I’d just have it explained (in-game, because this is literally the easiest change to make) that the Cenarion Circle sided with the night elves, tauren included (though trolls should be doing their own thing with loa and all that), but for political reasons the tauren Cenarions sat the war out in Moonglade.
I mean, of all the Horde races, Tauren have the least blood on their hands. And the Cenarions were apolitical. It’s not unreasoinable to have their members choose the Circle over Faction. Then when a freshly minted tauren druid goes to Moonglade to do ambiguous druid things, have their tauren teacher explain that while they chose to leave the Horde behind in favor of the Circle, they will still teach their kin (but to leave their nonsense behind).
I’d like to see the neutral factions be largely neutral where ever possible, going back to how they used to be by acting as a unifying body in emergencies for the Horde and Alliance, but brooking none of their faction shenanigans in their dojos. But at the same time, have them like… React to the world around them.
Horde’s burning down sacred trees? Cenarion’s gonna do something.
Forsaken kinda acting a little Scourge-y? Argents would like to have a word with you.
Alliance are doing… Something… To the elements or something? Earthen Ring’s got questions. IDK, Alliance don’t really have these kinds of problems.
Neutral, but still part of the world. and their members are actually removed from the factions (with obvious exceptions for characters like Thrall and Malfurion).
It need not be, it depends on the presentation. It’s more like I have no trust that would not be done in the same way BFA and SL were- pleasing to no one.
What has blizzard given them? The faction is ignored until next time they are made villains. Faction has no characters.
Why do you keep bribing up Gilneas it was never there in wow to begin with. It is not like the goblins have a capital. Even if you count up all the cities or towns the alliance has more. Alliance still has more zones.
My primary issues are:
Night Elves got punked. HARD. They need some sort of a retaliation to show they are strong again… retake ashenvale maybe? So they aren’t just a victim.
Trust in the Horde is none-existent and canonically I think we can say it will never return for many, many generations. So NEs have to assure their own safety.
Build defenses, have a permanent Alliance outpost for further assistance. Anything really to showcase a boost in defense.
Rebuild. Good lord they have been getting their face kicked in by the Horde. Its Players. Its NPCs. Elements. Demons. and then some more demons for years. The whole northern kalimdor need to be rebuilt imo with big “No Horde Allowed” signs outside the door.
Do I really have to explain what the /s means?
@Alynsa
no u
ha! gottem
Edit: Oh, I see what you think you did. But you just look silly now.
Hard reset isn’t likely, so acknowledging the failures of BFA in-game by spinning it into something to work with would be nice. Alliance have no reason to ever trust the Horde again, given Garrosh and Sylvanas. Despite how awful the ride here has been, that is still a mighty convenient springboard to keep Faction tensions flaring. Alliance have genuine grievances and the Horde are once again backed up against the wall with survival on the line. Again, the ride here has been a travesty, but that doesn’t mean the climb out of this hole needs to be.
It irks me that the takeaway from the past two expansions has been “well, I guess faction conflict is a bad idea durrrrr, can’t do that no more.” No, idiots, the dogturd writing was the problem. Letting a hyper edgelord sexual deviant fall up into Creative Director was the problem (and while the descriptors don’t fit, I reckon current Narrative Lead did a lot of upward falling himself). Faction conflict is in this game’s DNA, it just needs to be written by people who understand the Factions instead of hypergeneric monsters/white knights and Robots All The Way Down.
I agree post BFA the factions are exactly where they should be, its kind of like Vanilla right now.
Night Elves are recovering from a Horde attack instead of a Legion Attack, Jaina has begun to rule a port city. Thrall is figuring out what the Horde is and how to deal with a new country. Dwarves just chilling in the mountains and so on.
We are almost exactly where WC3 left us but… slightly differently and at higher stakes.
For the Horde themselves I would just make Lorthemar actually be more proactive. Like he finally learned his lesson and is going to take charge and Blizzard needs to introduce a whole new set of Horde characters for players to love an hate. Hire the people from Hearhtstone. Their character designs and writing is on point.
Horde needs new characters untained by their innactions against their tyrants and their overt alliance pandering like baine or calia.
I agree with you in principal. A faction war doesn’t have to be this bad.
But…
a) The current factions feel old and stale.
b) A two sided war probably has the least amount of scope to be interesting.
Both of those are byproducts of poor writing/presentation, though. That staleness is due to zero effort invested in dealing with the peoples who make up the factions. I wouldn’t really present the conflict as a straight up war, either. Two world powers with old grudges. . . everyone just getting along and playing nice flat out doesn’t make sense. Night Elves seeking vengeance and reclaiming their ancestral lands, for example, isn’t “The Alliance making war.” Having Turalyon be like “hey, I get it, but stop k?” to Tyrande and Genn, the two of them saying “no, k?”
A faction within the Horde - let’s just call them Peacekeepers - that positions itself ARROUND Ashenvale, denying the Horde any access. With warnings, with clear rejections, yes, even force of arms, they are thereby quasi the border into an absolutely demilitarized zone - which was created by them. Directly between Ashenvale and their posts there are no weapons, nothing, any intruder caught will be arrested.
You know…someday the sins might catch up with them, someday the night elves might recover and turn on them too, but they do it anyway…not because it benefits the Horde, but because the peace is worth the risk that they too might become victims of the night elves’ wrath.
Boom, already they have not ignored the issue of genocide, created a group that embodies the guilt but also the honor to deal with that guilt(in a heroic fashion) …and that productively works for peace, even going so far as to act against the Horde - should they try to invade - before they reach ashenvale although should the night elves ever demand revenge…violently…they would be the first victims, and do so their duty in full knowledge anyway.
To the question: Can this be done without making the horde look bad? Partly, yes, it won’t change the fact that the troops who are _IN_Ashenvale or IN night elf territories…are doomed to die, abandoned by the Horde, no reinforcements…their lives are forfeit…and none of the Horde should even be screaming for them anymore.
They are at the mercy of the wrath of the night…and it will not be merciful.
You have to show BOTH but actively, on the alliance side you are the embodiment of the wrath of the night…in a night without starlight you take bloody retribution…you drive out any invaders, even hunt them down.yes, you hunt them down as they try to escape, no one will survive, and mercy is in vain, there is none. The night elves should become the embodiment of a Damocles sword, and so should Elune’s wrath continue to swell, the dark moon should become an absolute fear-filled image, something the horde fears…and it should be portrayed accordingly, with no hope of redemption, ever. Tyrande is still filled with the power of the night warrior, the eternal vigil is proclaimed anew only this time…watch not for demons, but for their diminished people against any intruder. Hyjal is also forbidden to the Horde from now on. Winterspring is expanded and the goblins driven from there, the trolls in Darkshore are deported to the border down to the last child…they are no longer tolerated, never again.
The Worgen on the other side, Gilneas…is complicated. Actually Gilneas should be abandoned, but we all know Gilneas is like Schrödinger’s cat. It’s kind of contaminated and kind of occupied and kind of abandoned. Getting clarity on that would be a start, don’t you think?
And depending on what the scenario is now, abandoned, occupied or contaminated, the procedure would also be different that I would start.
First Szenario: Abandoned …its kind of the most boring szenario: they will simple take it
Second Szenario: blighted gilneas, The worgen have learned well from the night elves, their powers in druidism have multiplied, there are a number of druids - led by the worgen archdruid from felwood - who heal the land. The forests of Gilneas are said to be hateful to the plague, and there is something left in it, be a kind of “dark presence” left in the land that attracts the undead…the worgen are the measure against it, and it is a selfless act for the people to voluntarily become that to protect the land from the undead, the undead that has already destroyed Gilneas once. This dark presence can be harvested from the ground and it will take a long time to heal it completely. It also attracts former Scourge members, but also reckless apothecaries who want to come to Gilneas with expeditions of the Forsaken…the Worgen are already waiting for them…the pack is ready for the hunt.
third scenario: Occupied Gilneas, I don’t think I need to embellish much on what the scenario is. The Worgen will land and there will be a reconquest campaign, in which case…no, the Horde can’t be spared being portrayed as evil because…like in Ashenvale…they’re still occupying the damned land.
I like #2 of reconquest of gilneas most
regarding the Night elves: To solve the “competence problem” of the night elves it takes a very long time and a lot of scenarios, this can’t happen over one night but I want to establish as permanent, that the night elves are competent, so I don’t write a scenario about it…because they should be, they are the mortal guardians of Azeroth since 10.000 years…blizz…its such a shame you did this to one of your most unique races
bless your zambie bones
You forget the bit where the Alliance leaves the Ghostlands in complete ruins. So even though the Alliance loses and retreats, it still destroyed the zone. Also, it’s incredibly lazy to gloss over an Alliance equivalent for UC. Was it too hard for you to come up with a scenario in which the Horde look like incompetents like the Alliance was when they attacked UC with no countermeasure for the Blight? I’m curious how you would invert what happens there.
But yeah. Once you add those in, then it would be a true mirror.
I know this feel.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/380912732884697088/964077497014697984/Crushing_Despair2.JPG