In terms of Camp Taurejo, you’re both wrong. The tauren did not get a chance to evac, this is true. But we learn on Alliance side that the General in charge, who is killed by the Horde PC later, left holes in the lines so that the civilians could escape through. However, what he didn’t know was that there was a tribe of quillboar in the same direction the civilians went, and so they were killed anyway. It’s actually one of the better examples of some actually grey writing when it comes to the faction conflict.
This thread’s somewhat riddled with misconceptions and twisting of lore, which is generally to be expected. People should keep in mind that this is the exact sort of mindset the writer’s want, in order to distract players from the fact that the end to this story is already pre-written, and it’s a retread of one we already had.
In terms of hypocrisy, as per the initial post, no that’s not really how it works. Jaina is one of the more fleshed out characters in WoW, despite the (often really odd) hate she gets. The line she says is completely logical, as the Mana Bomb was an incredibly traumatic moment for her, one that literally marked her for life in a way she can see every time she looks in a mirror. Everything she’d worked towards was erased, her friends literally destroyed in front of her to the point that there weren’t even bodies to bury. Given that the scene takes place right outside the ruins of Theramore, her comment is probably 99% purely emotional in terms of reaction.
In terms of the argument of whether or not Theramore was justified, at this point in time, they were at war. This was after the Shattering, after the Horde had already started their campaign, and Theramore was still part of the Alliance. However, the bulk of the forces seen in the Barrens were not Theramore troops, though some were present in Durotar (these are not the same troops as those pre-Cata, those were marooned Kul Tiran troops that were holdouts, not loyal to Jaina. Certainly that gives credence to the idea that it’s a legitimate target, but the Horde didn’t capture it. Instead they simply obliterated it, serving no purpose beyond using their shiny new weapon.
The attack on the Zandalari, however, was surgical. There were cases in the raid of civilians actively attacking the Alliance forces, and thus killed, but the Alliance troops by and large go through the defenses, kill the king (after offering him a chance to surrender) and then fall back. Jaina even explicitly says to not press the advantage. Also, as per the war campaign, the attack on Zandalar was only enacted in full after the Horde used Zandalar as a striking point to hit Boralus. The Alliance just had countermeasures in place, this time.
All this said, however, I’ll reiterate that this comes down to poor writing. The faction war itself was solved at the end of MoP, which lorewise wasn’t even more than two years ago. The writers just want us to think everyone on the Horde and the Alliance developed amnesia.
