Going back to the OP, I find it difficult if not outright impossible to resolve (specifically) the Ashenvale issue in a way that both sides deem fair.
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which is why it should be unfair, either tyrande took it back in 8.2.5 or the horde handed it back as a show of good faith, there done till the next faction war.
Then please explain to me why you want to keep Ashenvale and use it as a constant reminder for BFA?
I’m sorry, what?
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Why do you want to keep Ashenvale? It would be nothing more than a constant reminder of the huge injustice of Pre-Patch BFA.
the same horde that burned tens of thousands of innocents alive for no reason?
Good faith? Don’t make me laugh.
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…it would seem to me the most logical solution would be for the Horde druids to undo Daelin’s deforestation so that the Horde stop chopping down Ashenvale. Or perhaps start pulling lumber from an unclaimed place like say… Un’Goro Crater?
Just an idea and all.
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Just report the trolling and move on.
Because the Horde has fought for Ashenvale much longer than BfA has been around.
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While Trisfal was never shared between the Alliance and Horde Hillsbrad Foothills was once was. It can also be argued that Silverpine forest is a 80/20 Horde/Alliance zone. Sylvanas managed to force a truce on the GLF, Ivar Bloodfang and his pact did not agree to it and have been terrorizing Forsaken territory for years.
If you want to know a zone that been treated unfairly then I point you towards Durotar. The most important province in the Horde that’s home to two of its major settlements is being shared with the Alliance. Northwatch Foothold in the south of the peninsula and Tiragarde keep on its eastern coast. If you want fairness similar to that than why not have a Horde enclave inside Elwynn forest?
To answer your question, I think there are several reasons to why Ashenvale should be divided.
The first reason is because the Horde needs its resources. Unlike the Nelfs, Humans, or Dorfs, the Horde and the governments under it has only been around for like a decade. Their starting zones are literally called the Barrens. What little lumber they have had to be cut down to build settlements and farms. The Horde regularly faces resource shortages since Daelin launched an aggressive scorched earth attack during Durotar’s founding. It doesn’t help that the Horde has to constantly use new resources in order to compete with the Alliance’s more established groups. Ashenvale is full of trees, and considering that the Druids have no qualms of accelerating tree growth in Ashenvale it is a potential source for an infinite amount of lumber. The Horde’s lumber problem disappears at an instant.
The second reason is because it’s thematic. Rising power vs established power. There is a wonderful post about it last month. I’ll just link it since I don’t want to regurgitate what I’ve read.
The Ashenvale question is what I can comfortably call “morally grey.” I think this can be my third reason. Blizzard gave good arguments on both sides. Ashenvale is a good reversal on the “DIS BE SACRED TROLL LAND” argument. Instead of having subhumans get righteously wiped out, now the land owned is from a “pretty” race. The conflict can never end because Ashenvale is coveted by both sides. The grass is turely greener on the other side for the Horde until Blizzard remembers that Feralas exist, or do the Nelfs think Feralas is sacred too?
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If I was going to take a stab at “fixing” the Ashenvale issue for both factions, it would require significant revamps of two zones.
Ashenvale:
An important distinction to make is that, while the night elves have rebuked the treaty, the Horde accepted it. The terms therein are in limbo, but it’d be easy enough to say (after all that has happened) that the Horde withdrew from the ancient forest as a sign of good faith. That includes from Zoram’gar, no sneaky little outposts remaining under the radar.
From there, a major rework of the zone would come into play. I’d make extensive use of the Night Warrior aesthetic, especially at the borders to Horde lands, lending that spooky and menacing vibe to ward off intruders. Have the ancients and druids raise living barriers of roots along each river crossing in the east, showing them being mindful of Orgrimmar and the Barrens. Transform Astranaar into a night elven fortress.
Ashenvale has endured a lot over the years. Showing how the wars have changed the forest and its people, displaying them being prepared for another invasion, would go a long way for weary night elf fans.
Stonetalon:
To compensate for the Horde pulling out of Ashenvale, the night elves would withdraw begrudgingly from Stonetalon. They’ve lost a lot during the last war and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to claim they’re having to make some sacrifices to consolidate their homeland again, abandoning their few holdings in the zone to reinforce elsewhere.
In return, the zone is reworked to have the Horde settle more of the land than previously seen. Perhaps the tauren and highmountain rebuild Cliffwalker post? I’d personally make use of the few Botani that fled from Durotar after the Mag’har escaped Draenor. A potential Botani infestation changing much of the zone to resemble the Everbloom would keep the Horde occupied, and give them a good questing antagonist to uproot.
Going along with that quasi-Gorgrond aesthetic, having the Mag’har themselves spearhead the settling of the zone would be the perfect excuse to move them out into Azeroth (they’re losing that one building in the Valley of Honor come Shadowlands anyways, it seems.)
So, yeah… That’s how I’d do it.
No more warring, but the factions going their separate ways and consolidating with some tense atmosphere around the borders to reinstate that “cold war” vibe.
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ääh, okay, wow, That’s just so…that’s no reason, that’s just an “I want it”, honestly, people like that make it hard for me to have a spark of love for the Horde, they know it’s wrong, but they want it anyway.
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Or… Azshara perhaps ?
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The Horde does not want Ashnevale as a place. The Horde traditionally has indicated it wants to clearcut it / exploit all the resources and abandon it. Orcs seem to have a thing about trees. Which given they are descendants of a giant robot gardener I guess makes sense?
If you say so.
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How does that change the fact that it has been a Horde strategic objective since Vanilla?
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What is Ashzara?
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The strategic objective has been ‘get resources’. So… why not get them from places that are unclaimed? Other than to justify the existence of WSG as a battleground.
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You’d think by now the Horde would just go get those resources from Feralas where the Night Elves have a much smaller presence and it’s far away from their capital.
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The Horde has no good reason to get ressources from Ashenvale, they just got Azshara for that and how did they thank for that? With genocide and a war of extermination.