those same unsubstantiated Chinese rumors. But I can’t see them being too wrong. The expansion is essentially over if they keep having you lose.
I mean, WE keep saying “oh it can’t possibly get any worse…” and then it does. So you’ll pardon me if I don’t put much stock in said rumors.
fair point. Call me an optimist, i guess.
To be fair the entire launch event was miserable for the Alliance. The devs were trying to sell this as our strike back moment after the Lorderon bit fell on its face as our supposed justice for Teldrassil. (As for how taking on Rastakhan for what sylvanas did makes any sense I have no clue aside from him having to be stuffed in a fridge for Talanji to take center stage)
Another faction war storyline was a massive mistake.
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I ask you to consider the following points:
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Teldrassil was massively played up with enormous pathos and guilt for the Horde player, whereas the loss of Lordaeron has pretty much not factored into the story even in the very slightest bit. I accept that Teldrassil is still worse, but not even getting the tiniest bit of acknowledgement that the Horde suffered loss too is very frustrating.
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The launch event lasted perhaps… two weeks? And even at that time there was datamined hints of an Alliance fightback. Since… oh, end of September 2018, it’s been a non-stop drip, drip, drip of Alliance rising and Horde failure. It’s now midway through February, so it’s been… four months-ish since there was ANYTHING resembling positive Horde news. Every new interview, every PTR leak, is just more division, more strife, more losing, and no sign of the Horde getting back up on its feet. Even the most plausible and oft-mooted scenario of bringing the factions back in balance through the Naga wrecking the Alliance fleet just leaves the Horde prostrate, too weak to even effect further moves in the war, and saved only by random deus ex.
In short, Alliance players got some silver linings VERY soon after their disappointment. Horde players have gotten months of bitterness and no sign that is going to change.
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If you want to say the story sucks for both sides you would be correct.
If you want to say the story only sucks for one side you are not being correct.
This is a stupid faction war. All gains for one side come at the expense of the other side. They have to balance things so one side doesn’t quit in mass. In the end we get status quo back, except for all things that were lost.
I get you don’t care about the Alliance story. That is plain as day. I don’t really care for the horde story. None of that changes the start of this expansion was garbage for the Alliance and it was at the Alliance’s expense for the horde.
So when is the Alliance’s victory? Teldrassil was a complete loss. The Horde smashed through the Night Elves in two zones and destroyed a third zone.
Undercity wasn’t a victory. The horde got all the civilians out in good order, set trap after trap for the Alliance, and then sacrificed the city in a bid to kill 4 major Alliance NPCs. You can call it a draw but only because Sylvanas didn’t get any of her targets when she took out her own city.
So here is the big payoff for the Alliance for suffering through Teldrassil and Undercity. We show up and wreck the capital city of a faction that wasn’t even involved in Teldrassil. Our big victory is to be the plot device to stuff Rastakhan in a fridge so Talanji can have character development. While the gender reversal on the fridge stuffing isn’t lost on me, the fact that our time to shine isn’t making Sylvanas suffer for what she has done but taking it out on a third party so we can be the catalyst advancing the shiny new character’s story isn’t exactly fulfilling. Then we still get to listen to horde players asking not to lose Sylvanas cause they don’t want to and the Alliance story be xxxxed for it.
As an Alliance player I keep asking two things: What is the point of this story? And why am I paying money for it?
Well at least the latest mount announced for the Alliance isn’t another horse (unless of course those mounts can be used by both sides in which case we do get another horse) except to get a non-horse we have to play the horde content…trolling at it finest (and in a troll expansion no less) cause if we had been playing the horde content instead of the Alliance content we would not be having the horse issue in the first place.
Yeah, this expansion sucks, but it sucks for both sides. And Blizzard is intentionally doing it.
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I have to agree with Jellex, though. The War of the Thorns, the Burning of Teldrassil, the Battle for Lordaeron, those all did really suck, and still suck. They sucked so much that they drained any interest out of Kul’Tiras for me. I was completely unmotivated to spend time fixing Jaina’s and Kul’Tiras’ problems. And then a number of dungeons and Uldir had no connection to the Alliance at all, so beyond the chance to get Zul after Pandaria, I didn’t even bother to do them.
But things have changed since Tides of Vengeance. Everything has been going right for the Alliance. Everything we’ve done has succeeded in making things better for the Alliance one way or another. It doesn’t make the parts that sucked suck any less, but at least for all practical purposes it hasn’t added new parts that suck for the Alliance.
However, that can’t really be said for the Horde. Practically everything in Zandalar ended up in failure. Every bit of their efforts in the Horde War Campaign have been undone. They gained practically nothing in the Battle of Dazar’alor.
Things have sucked for both sides. But things have been sucking more ever since launch for the Horde.
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Getting back to the original subject. My impression is that Alliance had the head start heading into the city thanks to their ‘suicide squads’ keeping the better part of the forces following the false trail in Nazmir. That by the time we arrive back at Dazar’alor after realizing we’ve been duped, Alliance is already making some good headway into the city. However the wrench in that line of thought is Grong.
Horde had to kill him first for him to be rezzed by Bwomsamdi then sent after Alliance for them to fight Revenant Grong. I was going to say it could make sense because second wing is when Horde does the ‘narrator/flashback’ part of the raid as Alliance but that doesn’t work because Grong is in first wing. Okay this is making my head hurt trying to make sense because light forbid, Blizz could have stuck the Grong fight in second wing so that it made sense but no…ugh now I’m confuzzled.
Okay it makes no sense. Damn timey wimey flashback stuff…
Edit to add one last thought I haven’t done wing 2 on Alliance yet, so I’m not sure what part it is on that side, is it the same bosses?
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I didn’t say things didn’t suck for the horde. I said both sides have been sucking. My point is the Alliance story shouldn’t be short changed due to the horde. That isn’t a point Jellex shares and that was my point in calling out how bad things have been this expansion for the Alliance.
They gained nothing in Dazar’lor? What did we gain in Teldrassil and Undercity? Nothing. Nothing but failure. Both events were terrible as was the initial follow up stuff. As the intro stuff this isn’t something they ran out of time on. It was something they didn’t put any time in on. Just a slop and go.
Blizzard wrote a massive narrative check in the launch event at the Alliance’s expense. Alliance players deserve to have that check cashed and deemed good, not bouncing fraudulently.
I haven’t even finished pathfinder part one yet. I keep putting off the horse riding mini game. I haven’t touched an instance at all in BFA. I only have two level 120 characters (and since I multibox that isn’t even really more than one). I didn’t even touch the war campaign’s max level stuff until 8.1. I won’t touch darkshore ever.
Between how I have been going and what you said you did, this isn’t how players should be going about things in an expansion. Especially one touted about faction pride. They have bungled this one badly.
I’m not even convinced Dazar alor is a win for us. We destroyed some ships, and we killed a king, but we definitely didn’t stop the Zandalari from joining the horde.
How terrible is the story if the only way either side really gets to feel good is based on “well, the other side just got hit in the face with a brick, so there’s that I guess.”
Schadenfreude doesn’t really equate to fun.
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I mean, maybe? But the raid is full of Alliance power and success, from the war campaign gambit to the opening cinematic and presence of Mekkatorque to the fact that the Alliance kills four bosses in the time the Horde gets one to the Jaina Misery Parade. Even if you want to argue that the ultimate strategic goal was not achieved, it sure LOOKS like a win, and the Horde leadership is talking about how much you are winning right after.
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Jaina sales away into the sunset victorious, but scarred!
CUT TO SYLVANAS
I…uh… I can make this work. Drag that corpse over here, you valkyr, raise it! Now someone poison this knife for me whil…BAINE NO! OMG!
It’s all Jaina’s fault. She kept freezing us and slowing us down as we attempted to get to the Jadefire Masters.
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Narratively, it definitely is a win. Where Blizzard keeps dropping the ball is in not giving the Alliance wanted victories, while still making Horde eat the defeats.
It’s like asking for a puppy, and getting a pony instead. “But we got you a pony,” Blizzard says. “Ponies are better!”
“But we don’t even like ponies,” the Alliance replies.
Meanwhile, the Horde is left going, “At least you got something. Blizzard ran over our dog.”
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