I mean, they are cool, have a huge background, are numerous, and relatively powerful.
I know that in-game they are somewhat of a meme for being portrayed just as “super religious thugs,” but lorewise they are quite powerful.
They managed to maintain an HQ practically next to Undercity (even currently), held their position for a significant time against the Lich King in the Death Knight intro and then recently in Gilneas against us. Additionally, one of their former leaders was so influential and “strong” that she was resurrected to be one of the Four Horsemen.
They are influential enough to keep recruiting more people, even though they are always suffering some kind of massacre in their numbers, yet they always come back with an even larger number of Scarlet Crusaders.
But unfortunately, in the game, they are often portrayed as “second-tier villains” and almost never seem to pose any kind of serious threat.
However, lorewise, they have background and potential to be awesome.
It would be cool if one day they returned “full power” and somehow presented a truly significant threat, worthy of having a patch and a raid entirely focused on them.
I would like to see this happen tbh. This game needs more simple stories that people can care about, heck I miss just being an “adventurer”. That or they need to hire competent writers that can tell a story. I wonder if people that enjoy WoW story telling have ever read a good book?
Fair, but I’m not sure if it would be “correct” to say this… considering that, despite always getting wiped out and the current leader being killed…
…they always find a way to come back with a big army, a new leader, and acting heavily in some specific situation OUT OF NOWHERE.
For example, just like now in Dragonflight. We thought they were “dead” or at least disbanded, but suddenly they appeared in force in Gilneas, with a new leader and practically held their position in the city until we resolved the situation…
So who knows when and where they will reappear again with a massive army?
No. The Scarlet Crusade is now basically the Team Rocket of Warcraft. They exist for the sole purpose of providing a tiny threat before they’re easily defeated, and then, some time in the future when Blizzard needs a small villain faction to do villain things, they’ll use them again and the characters will be like “Somehow, the Scarlet Crusade returned.”
If I recall correctly, the Ebon Blade made their mission to completely destroy the Scarlet Crusade when they marched on the Scarlet Monastery to raise Whitemane as a Death Knight and one of the Four Horsemen.
“Therefore, our work here this day will not be done until every crusader has fallen, every stone has crumbled, and every banner burned.”
And yet, they keep coming back. They always have a new force somewhere, a new commander and they’re always doing something that will piss off both the alliance and the horde.
Dragonflight brought back the Scarlet Crusade again for the Forsaken Heritage Questline and for the Reclamation of Gilneas, and both times they were easily defeated.
Yeah, sadly. Would be so cool if they got a bit more attention in a future story to be relevant enough for us to “worry about” them.
I hope that one day something happens to Turalyon (maybe he goes crazy) and becomes a “Yrel 2.0” and becomes their new leader against everyone who doesn’t like the Light lol
(Note: It’s a joke, but I wouldn’t mind because it would be cool lol)
