Yes I’d opt to retcon the burning.
As much as I would prefer to have the Alliance attack Lordaeron first, that means you’d have to include retconning Before the Storm otherwise it also wouldnt make any sense with Perfect Angel Boy of Peace Anduin incharge.
In any case, I’d be OK with BTS being retconned as well.
Blizzard escalated it way too much.
The alliance didn’t need more reasons to attack the horde.
Hell i was actually hyped when i saw that anduin was attacking lordaeron
that would have go in line with his previous quest about becoming “a king”
and him, being persuaded by his advisors decided to put his big boi pants.
“hey, the horde is preparing weapons of mass destruction with azerite! ATTACK NOW”
-we would also have a plan for the blight and there is no need to have deus ex flying dutchman to save the day if we were prepared for it.
instead… we got… this…
At least make tyrande a protagonist FFS just like jaina was in mop after theramore in mop.
Yes, i would retcon it. all of it.
but that would not erase all the negative emotions that we all feel during all of this mess.
yes.
Malfurion would be dead and the tree would be captured.
Zanjin inspires a retcon I hadn’t thought about: Yes, Malfurion kills Sylvanas and the Horde retreats in disarray.
I sure would. Assuming the outcome has to remain the same, have Sylvanas actually succeed in her plan. Malfurion dies but Tyrande performs the Night Warrior ritual anyway out of rage at the loss of her husband and succeeds in driving back the Horde forces with the Alliance champion and her remaining forces + whatever reinforcements eventually show up. Instead of having a bargaining chip, Sylvanas only succeeded in martyring Malfurion and giving the Night Elves more reason to destroy the Horde entirely.
No. but I would retcon the way some horde characters reacted to it. It should have been universally supported by the horde for what bfa’s story was sold as.
I’m also pretty convinced that Sylvannas’ war crime, like the abysmal time suck that is the Horde’s city layout in zandalar… Are both just Blizzard’s way of trying to shift players from the overpopulated horde side to the alliance.
Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
Long long answer: I’d honestly retcon all of the War of Thorns, the entirety of the pre-patch stuff should have been dealing with attacks from insane elementals due to the Wound, and Azerite concentrations all over the world wreaking havoc on the wildlife and nature itself. We could have had a bit of a faction conflict this expansion but honestly there are far more interesting fish to fry, like the fact that the Shadowlands are apparently divided up by various gods of death who trade in the souls of the fallen. Make them Sylvanas’ focus.
God I hate that place on my only Horde character. I hearth into the Inn, go to the bank, oh I want to go to my mission table? Time for a pointless flight down to the docks. I want to do a profession quest? Back up to the temple where I have to leap off the side or walk down a million steps. Capital city utilities should not be far enough apart to be separated by a flight path.
For sure, no question.
the only people who liked the burning of teldrassil are the fashy horde bros who think the horde is the triumph of the will faction and/or bizarre masochist alliance people.
anybody who thought blizzard was capable of telling such a tale that involved the burning of teldrassil in a way that was good and well resolved is delusional.
so naturally the majority of answers to “would you rewrite or erase the burning of teldrassil?” are all gonna probably be “yes, dawg, of course”
You have my permission to say ruined here. It did.
Male human paladins?
Grandblade excepted.
Of all the groups done disservice by this plot, I have to actually admit that the Night Elves in general are the least ruined. This isn’t the first genocide the Night Elves have gone through, and they’ve actually bounced back remarkably well. Delaryn, Sira, and the Undead Night Elves that join the Forsaken specifically are certainly ruined in their current states, yes. But for the living Night Elves, though the loss of Teldrassil is sad, are still themselves, and took the fight back to the Horde. Do I want more Night Elf successes after the loss of the War of the Thorns, such as Battlefield: Ashenvale and beyond? Yes. But, asides from potentially being unfairly ignored, Alliance Night Elves and their allies at least have gotten to stay true to themselves, unlike the Horde.
I love Teldrassil. It is still my preferred place to log my characters out at and where to set my hearthstones to. But, the simplest retcon I would go for would simply to have had all of Teldrassil have been evacuated before the burning.
They can even keep the catapults so we have something to laugh at still.
I’ll never be able to properly express in words how violated it makes me feel to take part in a story that has framed the undead night elf plot the way it has. The fact that Blizzard’s heads are on record saying they used it to show the Kaldorei are not a monolith is so beyond abhorrent. The story and its writers insisting that they’re “willing”, after death is forced on them, to propagate that same evil to others. That this is a case of them being won over by ideology and nothing else. They’re willing. Some of them? They secretly wanted it. This was a gift that freed them despite all their begging, struggling, crying.
And that no sort of impactful narrative counter is presented? No revenge? No recompense? No relief or catharsis? They are utterly ruined for me. The narrative is clear. The Forsaken and their genocide is a fair point. Not one that galvanizes and utterly unites. It persuades. Some people will surely come around to see it as a good thing. After all, no race is a monolith who can all agree being murdered is a bad thing!
This story is a ruinous trash heap and night elves are the centerpiece of it all. I am beyond demoralized to learn there are human beings who actually think what they have committed to perpetuity here was in any way not completely and utterly vile. It wasn’t enough to have bad things happen. They took it further, opened their septic mouths, and felt brazen enough to say genocide is something some victims could find agreeable.
I don’t think the burning ruined the Night elves, so much as delusional developers’ recent statement about how killing a single val’kyr, some no-named forsaken grunts, and fighting an endless stalemate is the complete fulfillment of the Night Elves vengeance.
THATS what “ruined” the Night elves.
Not totally true. You could (and still can with a bit of bronze dragon help) fly via air taxi from Teldrassil straight to the Exodar. Just like how you can fly from the plaguelands to Silvermoon City.
Sadly, for all of the seeing that this was MoP 2.0, I already expected this. Night Elves didn’t get vengeance in MoP or after, either. Instead we got Battlefield: Barrens, and a token appearance in Siege of Orgrimmar.
If anything, I am honestly surprised we got “Terror of Darkshore” and most things indicating that we won the Darkshore Warfront. I honestly expected the Night Elves to be completely ignored for the rest of BfA after the pre-expansion event.
Now, if we extend desired retcons passed the Burning of Teldrassil, I would completely retcon the Undead Night Elves. Tyrande as the Night Warrior should have saved the souls of the fallen Night Elves before they could be raised and instead they should have been presented as stars in the sky Ysera style. But that’s beyond the burning of Teldrassil itself.
Fair.
But what about Gran…
Oh.