I mean, he was able to kill the prime naaru in seconds…and then face Sargeras himself head-on. Could you see Malfurion doing that?
I absolutely guarantee you that if illidan had been on the Alliance’s side during BFA he would have also experienced a severe power-nerf when it came to fighting any Horde characters, Blizzard completely ignores these things when it would be inconvenient for the Horde characters they seem to like hyping up so much.
In fact, if he had fought Nathanos during the supposed “hype moment” for the Night Elves in Darkshore he wouldn’t have won either, as ridiculous as that is against the unimpressive and nothing special Nathanos lorewise.
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Seems to be a very convenient way to look at things. One could also easily argue that Blizz’s power scaling on the Alliance has outstripped the Horde by a thousand miles; but they don’t care enough to try to make up the difference before tasking our little Red Faction with being the antagonists in this war. So rather than putting effort into the Horde … they nerf the Alliance.
Its sort of how like in Legion, Blizzard didn’t want to bother writing an expansion story that was inclusive to the Horde (despite the fact that the MU Orcs should have had a crack at the Legion); so they just painted over an Alliance story, in an Alliance city, with Alliance characters with a light coat of “neutrality” instead. Its a win-win of unadulterated laziness for Blizz.
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I can’t even see it as bias for either side anymore. The defining line really does seem to be “what’s the easiest story for us to tell? Okay, we’ll do that; just ignore anything that might require a little work.”
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Still pretending that it was an Alliance story eh? It was Order Halls and a neutral element in the form of Dalaran, whom are still neutral even now as Khadgar refuses to take a side.
Both Factions had their own story in Stormheim, both had their own part in Suramar. I could argue if I wanted that it leaned more toward Horde if I really wanted to because two of the zones are completely dedicated to building up races that are now Horde.
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Asking if x is more powerful than y in Warcraft is never going to yield a fruitful response, because power levels are never consistent. One minute, Malfurion is holding a tornado together and yanking Ragnaros from the Firelands, the next he’s insta KO’d from a single axe to the back.
Likewise, Illidan is as powerful as the plot demands he be. If he needs to kill something, he will overpower or outsmart it. If he needs to die, we’ll kill him or something will be granted the power to.
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And IMO this constant state of flux, in which nothing can be relied on, is part of why the stories of the most recent expacs have been so unsatisfying.
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Retroactive content is not really Legion content. And, outside of Liadrin, the ONLY Horde story we got had absolutely nothing to do with fighting the Legion (it was going shopping with Sylvie). As a Horde Player, I worked with (and for):
- Khadgar: Neutral he may be, but he is an Alliance Legend of the Second War … or do my eyes deceive me about what is supposed to be a statue of him right outside of Stormwind. He’s also the leader of the Kirin Tor, an Alliance Organization.
- Illidan: May not be an an Alliance character, but the guy certainly is a Kaldorei character. He may have been an antagonist, but as a Horde it was still fun to have to deliver his love letters to his Brother and Waifu anyway.
- Magni: Previous King of IF, Father and Brother to TWO of the Council Members.
- Velen: Leader of the Dreanei.
- Tyrande & Malfurion: Leaders of the Night Elves.
- Alleria & Turalyon: Alliance Legends of the Second War.
- Maiev & Sira: Wardens of the Kaldorei.
- Friggen Vareesa “Kill the Horde” Windrunner: Leader of the Silver Covenant.
Now remind me, which HORDE characters are the Alliance forced to follow in Legion again? ONE WQ from Aethas and TWO WQs from Liadrin on Argus if I recall?
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I agree, that’s why I have a problem with Rule of Cool. Characters are just pitted against each other with little regard for pre-established development. They never thought about how Malfurion was presented as the world’s most powerful Druid. They just said, “wouldn’t it be cool if he fought Sylvanas?” without considering if she actually matched up.
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It also means they can’t build narrative tension, because tension requires imbalance, consequences, doubt. When anything can be reversed or pushed through based entirely on authorial whim, the only tension isn’t in the narrative, it’s a meta-level “what are the writers going to pull next?”
So instead of creating tension, the writers go for shock value, and much like an overused jump scare, shock value grows stale very quickly.
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yeah I thought this especially in regards to the military power of the factions. its like infinite armies spawn out of org and stormwind. we have no idea if anyone is actually winning outside of the characters telling us.
rule of cool anime characters doing dragonball z battles with infinite army spawns, theres no tension unless a location is captured or destroyed like teldrassil, or an active character like jaina or nathanos dies(hasnt really happened yet). When saurfang backstabs malfurion theres not much tension as something like GoT because he can just hearth and heal, not until he actually dies is there any player surprise.
like it took an alliance player posting the dialogue where anduin says the alliance is winning after dazaralor before anyone actually knew, we literally had no idea which way it was going.
this is partially why I think tyrande’s revenge sucks, she is just fighting in darkshore so it doesnt feel like anything is going on. she can kill random mooks but theres no tension when we have seemingly infinite army numbers.
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I was actually looking forward to an epic fight where Sylvanas got to flex those vaunted Tactical Genius muscles by rolling in blight tanks, blight-bombing bat riders, and so on to destroy the flora around Malfurion so she could gain the advantage when fighting him. But no, they just throw each other into trees because that’s totally their style all of a sudden.
I don’t mind Sylvanas not getting instapwned by Malfurion - of all Horde leaders, her death powers are the best suited to counter his life-fueled ones - but their fight seemed rushed out and devoid of the Cool™ details that I thought the writers would be scrambling over each other to throw in.
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Well i think this is one of the main problems why everyone is pissed at the writing team and why everything is so unpalatable.
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“I should have just thrown an axe at him” - Raganaros’ gravestone.
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Malfurion casts Wrath
Sylvanas casts Black Arrow
Would it have killed them to throw a few flashy particle effects in there? It felt like I was watching two trash mobs poke at each other.
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You know i think blizz or its wrotters like writting passive chatacters more than agressive. While the alliance has a few powerful characters that are or were warhawks over all the faction is very passive willing to live and let live with the horde. I think that blizz knows of they gave the agressive horde the demigods this war would be over in days because they wouldnt hold back.
Welcome to WoW storytelling. 
If it’s not a cutscene or a cinematic, then it’s like watching paint dry.
To be fair, you can be magically powerful but have crap durability.
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That’s true, I’m playing a mage in Classic.
1 Like
On the other hand, one could argue that “mercy” is a position that can only really be taken by the strong. The Horde is bluntly in absolutely ZERO position to be merciful towards an opponent that has a entire roster of characters that can hold off entire armies by themselves (with now counter to it but to throw those armies at them).
And, as a note, the way that Blizzard writes the Horde and Alliance is less “Aggressive” and “Passive” and more “Active” and “Reactive”. The Horde is an ACTIVE Force meant to push forward whatever hairbrained plot Blizz happens to have created (in between big-bads); the Alliance is REACTIVE Force meant to act in response to that plot (which is why nearly every single questionable thing and act of aggression by the Alliance is inherently portrayed as more acceptable, because they are simply reacting to Horde aggression).