Okay, haven’t read all 1600 posts, skimmed the first one. About to go to work, here are my thoughts.
First, the mechanism by which to reform the Horde already exists. In the form of their shiny new leadership counsel, and in the banishing of their biggest jerks.
So the question how is how to stop it from happening a third time? Well, alot of suggestions are made that maybe the Alliance takes a turn being villain batted and having their themes crapped on to justify the next faction conflict, but in my opinion that’s a pipe dream. It’ll never happen.
So the next time the Horde starts trouble, Blizzard simply needs to give them a believable motive AND keep it consistent/relevant throughout the expansion. Consider the three motives that the Horde had in BfA.
- He who controls Azerite controls the future!
- If the Alliance were to stage a naval invasion of Durotar, Orgrimmar would fall.
- The Alliance are dangerous and Jaina Proudmoore is a mad woman.
The first motive got tied to a game play mode that was not popular, and then forgotten. The third motive never materialized in game, outside of a few weird comments by Rexar. The second motive… almost works.
So using the simple idea that the Horde’s motive needs to be believable and consistently portrayed to drive them lets make some quick edits to the BfA storyline.
1st. Sylvanas and Saurfang agree that the Horde’s military situation looks dire, and it’s only the mercy/naivety of a small human boy that stops the Alliance’s warmongers from invading them.
2nd. Throw in a shared cut scene where Genn and Anduin have a similar conversation about how Orgrimmar is vulnerable. In the Alliance version, witnessed by the Alliance player in a war council, Anduin shoots him down adamantly and angrily. In the Horde version, conveyed by a Horde spy loyal to Sylvanas, Anduin still turns him down, but Anduin’s dialogue is less certain, and he seems far weaker in his convictions.
3rd. Saurfang and Sylvanas agree to a plan to destroy the Night Elf fleet to temporarily diffuse the threat while a permanent solution can be found. By maintaining the Horde’s motive and using it to inform their next action, you decide what they would reasonably do. For reasons of plot convenience, Sylvanas convinces Saurfang that the only thing that would compel the Night Elves to amass their entire fleet in one place would be an impending invasion of Darnassus via Darkshore.
4th. War of Thorns goes as originally planned. It climaxes with the Horde on Darkshore’s coast, but the Night Elf navy and army, having hastily reversed from their trek to Silithus, making their way back just in time. The Horde, having prepared explicitly for this, rains fire on the fleet with severity and potency the Night Elves didn’t imagine possible. Somehow, during this attack, the Horde’s weaponry finds its way turned on Teldrassil. The tree burns.
5th. The Alliance is horrified, Anduin was wrong, he gives over control of the Alliance’s response to Genn. The Horde is also horrified, what was meant to be a lightning fast attack and withdrawal, a simple attempt to rock the Alliance back on its feel to buy time, has turned into an atrocity on the level of the Burning Legion itself. There’s no time to investigate, the Alliance’s response is sure to be quick, and present the fullness of their might.
6th. Battle for Tirisfal happens as planned. The Alliance can afford to look a little less stupid when they fail to account for the Blight.
7th. With Tirisfal gone, the Horde sets out reinforcing the pass to Ghostlands and looking for ways to defend Kalimdor. They seek out an alliance with the Zandalari. Genn, having anticipated or learned of this, orders the capture of the Zandalari flagship in order to quelch that possible alliance.
8th. Horde rescues princess, sets fire to Stormwind. Genn, now having to account for the loss of the Night Elf fleet and the likely recruitment of the Zandalari fleet, supports Jaina’s decision to return to Kul Tiras.
And so on. The expansion becomes a chess game around the idea of a naval invasion of Orgrimmar. The Horde takes steps to stop it, the Alliance takes steps to facilitate it.
