I mean it is Lillian Voss of all Forsaken though alongside Night Elf dark rangers, not like they’ve got Faranell rocking up in his giant plague wagon blasting death metal while shirtless.
I agree, but we’re about 20 years too late to put this genie back in the bottle.
Most other still-somewhat-living MMOs I’ve played opted against having multiple factions in the first place, and that seems to have worked out better for them in the long run. Guild Wars 2 has very interesting take on it, where two of the races (humans and charr) were actively AT WAR right before the start of the game, when the world started to end and both sides’ leaders realized they needed to cooperate now. You, the player, are eventually tasked by the leaders to help maintain this fragile peace, like it or not, and that felt right for the story.
WoW was built on Horde vs. Alliance. It may not work well, it may be something they want to get rid of, but it’s always going to be there. DF’s sweep-it-under-the-rug approach is embarrassing, and lazy storytelling at it’s worst.
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Seems like more Dragonflight happy BS storytelling to me.
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But why is an undead involved with the emerald dream?
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Then I have a compromise I’ve offered many times in the past. If the Faction War must reignite for some convoluted reason, then two things need to happen:
- Factions become optional content rather than central to the gameplay. Specifically, entering War Mode is basically joining the Alliance or the Horde military engine and going on missions for them. This would necessitate an entire 1-Max PvP experience for them, complete with PvP questlines, locations, and objections. Even specialized PvP dungeons (maybe the next evolution of BGs). PvE instead becomes governed by a neutral guild akin to the Adventurer’s League or the Pathfinder Society, where heroes gather to join forces and tackle threats to the world, regardless of race, steering clear of the factions and their conflict, and approaching any requests for aid with a skeptical eye. Perhaps this Azeroth’s Heroes Guild would assist, say, civilians escape coming conflicts or assist refugees or survivors in getting back home, but they wouldn’t aid in or request assistance from military maneuvers.
- Races must be decoupled from factions. Sure, old hatreds will keep Orcs from being able to enlist in the Alliance ranks or Humans in the Horde armies, but since factions would be optional, all PCs would be able to group with, talk to, quest with, buff, and otherwise work together with any other PC, no strings attached, as long as they weren’t in War Mode.
These concessions allow the Alliance and Horde to go full-psychopath on each other without making players feel like scumbags because their characters are inextricably drawn into the confict behind ‘their leader’. Heroes get to remain heroic, while those hellbent on as much Enemy Death as possible can drink their fill.
Yes that’s true and when Anduin was under the control of the Jailor he would kill anyone the Jailor told him to kill and he admitted later that there was a certain thill which was driving his guilt.
Then there was Jaina who committed genocide against the Blood Elves in Dalaran because someone stold her silly bell. Of the three, she is the only one who doesn’t seem to have any regret for what she did.
Hmmm, well that does sound promising, but it also smacks of thought and effort.
Looks like we’re stuck with “everyone is friends now for some reason don’t look too close here have another kind of elf”.
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People (including me) have been suggesting this for years. The idea of “traitor races” was being floated for a long time, where you would have identical versions of existing races, just in the other faction.
Defias Humans in the Horde.
Grimtotem Tauren in the Alliance.
Dark Iron Dwarves in the Horde.
Lightsworn Undead in the Alliance.
Everyone ASSUMED that’s what Allied Races were all gonna be about. But then Blizzard wasted it on what we got, instead.
And instead the only extent was Alliance getting Blood Elves. (Well, and maybe Nightborne, but nobody plays those, so…)
Such a wasted opportunity by Blizzard. It’s sad, really.
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Nailed it. I skip most cutscenes on the first pass and actively avoid doing the storyline, this is totally why.
Looks at the real world.
No spark here. 75+ years, now.
The only reason Blizzard had a spark (actually, 2 sparks) is because their writers are bad, stupid, and short-sighted.
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To be fair, Shandris has always had a cool head and open to accepting help when she needs it. And Lillian has always been pretty chill with giving others the time of day and the respect they deserve.
Out of ALL of the Night Elves and Forsaken these two make the absolute most sense to be working together.
I just wish they’d give both ladies new updated models and gear.
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You misread me. I mean that choosing Orc does not automatically put you in the Horde. The Horde will accept your membership, but you never have to pledge it if you only intend to play PvE. This way you aren’t forcibly dragged into whatever idiocy your faction leader decides to act on.
… Uh… About that…
If you think there’s been a “spark” you didn’t live during the cold war like I did.
That’s because cooler heads prevailed, thank goodness. Plus, one faction completely collapsed. If, say the Horde collapsed, yeah, there’d be no worry of a spark, because there’d be no Horde.
It did.
Multiple times.
That’s the problem: Blizzard’s unrelenting Alliance bias.
They need two separate writing teams, one for the Horde, and one for the Alliance. They already have the Alliance writing team, they have for years. Now they just need a Horde writing team.
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Reads this post
Checks Orgrimmar
Mm… Nope, still standing. Still flying Horde logos and colors too.
Or is this a rant on ‘muh Warchief’, a position that has done nothing but get the Horde in trouble again and again, and had been doing so since WC2?
It’s more about Chris Metzen going on stage and proclaiming the Alliance was “the sole remaining superpower in Azeroth” like he did.
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Come on now.
Stories like this are not a result of cross faction play being introduced. Blizzard were very adamant about factions staying separate (gameplay wise) at the beginning of Shadowlands yet story wise, both factions were already working together.
OK, and? The Horde is still here. We’re not dead, but we keep poking the bear like we’d done in MoP and BFA and that could change. WC3 only happened because the Alliance felt like being nice to the Orcs.
Jaina, Bolvar, Bolvar’s daughter (or whomever that was), etc. front and center.
Thrall & Baine sit in the corner.
“working together” is just a euphemism around here for “Alliance story”
From the same people who claim that Legion was a “balanced expansion” vis-a-vis the factions. 
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