In this thread, I’d like for people to discuss possible conclusions to the current plot line you can personally come up with, with the intent also being that these endings are as mutually positive as possible. By that I mean, an ending that all the various fan groups can accept and be happy enough with to move on.
Personally, the main one i’ve heard comes from a leak that was going around, detailing how we defeat sylvanas, but it is revealed that sylvanas was replaced when she impaled herself at ICC with an oldgod or other evil being’s doppelganger. We then free the “real” sylvanas and she returns to the forsaken, meaning forsaken keep their character and get her how they would like her back, and everyone else can get their justified revenge.
I am open to discussing other ideas for endings here too, but i thought i would posit one i personally like first off.
it might seem that way at this point, but imo the goal of a story in a game like wow should be an ending that is satisfying for the audience in general, whether they are horde fans, alliance fans, nelf fans, forsaken fans, etc. It’s disheartening how unlikely that seems to me at this point, so I wanted to discuss possibilities for one still.
N’Zoth corrupts Nozdormu, and we use this to go back in time to fix everything that went wrong.
Alternately…
We learn that the true mastermind of all that is wrong with Azeroth was none other than Crithto the Pug. He’s in the process of fixing up King Mechagon’s machine, so we try to stop him. Unfortunately, we’re all too late and Recorgination occurs. All races are now returned to their original state. Azeroth is now at peace, but everyone is now a Corgi. A world, if you will, in which the worst thing that can happen is Woofrunner does Andogiin a heckin’ bamboozle.
We wake up and hear the shower running. Investigating, we discover it’s Teldrassil! It was never really burned down at all and the last season, er I mean, expansion was all just a dream!
…sadly, that’s honestly the only possible mutually happy ending at this point.
They kinda have already. Elegy/A Good War states how elves were outnumbered 8:1 and at the end there were more horde casualties at the hands of the city guard all while everyone else were evacuating.
That is like the only good thing that came out of this whole mess and it makes me a proud NE fan XD
That’s gonna be a hard ask. Most Alliance won’t be content to see Sylvanas survive the expansion after everything she has done. Most Horde don’t want to lose her. No matter how it ends, one side will be unhappy.
Having Saurfang, believing that she truly thought she was doing what was best for the Horde, exile her to a far corner of Azeroth might be the best way to do it. Give her a couple expansions at least away from the story for everyone to cool off on her (kinda worked for Thrall, I think most would be okay with him coming back now) and then bring her back later if the story allows.
Question, when you are talking about a mutually satisfying conclusion, how many different player factions are you talking about?
There is at least three at the moment with the Alliance, "Honor’ Horde, and Sylvanas’ crew. That is at least three different conclusions that have to be compatible with each other.
That just seems like a massive copout that would only satisfy fans of Sylvanas and only a portion of them at that, and absolutely no one else.
It doesn’t satisfy Horde fans because it just shows that we’ve been easily manipulated halfwits this whole time who couldn’t catch on that dark forces are manipulating them. Also that the fact remains that we’re still complicit mass murderers, Sylvanas being an old god doesn’t wash the blood off our hands. Not to mention it continues the trend of Sylvanas never reap what she’s sown and face any kind of consequences, while every other Horde character is left to futilely wash their hands of all the blood spilt.
It doesn’t satisfy Night Elf players because, once again, it’s still the Horde that was heavily complicit in the genocide of their race. Manipulated by dark forces or not, most of the Horde still said yes to this $hit.
It doesn’t Satisfy Alliance players because yet again, they have to sit back and let the Horde rebuild after the incompetence of their leadership led to so much death and destruction. It would be an insult to the Alliance to let them walk off again without making sure the Horde is incapable of causing such damage again.
It doesn’t satisfy fans of a clear and coherent narrative, because it’s a massive copout and shows that the writers are incapable of handling such heavy narrative decisions.
It doesn’t satisfy the Sylvanas extremists who enjoy the story and crave the bloodshed and inflicting pain on the Alliance because they simply don’t like the Alliance, because then it gives them the perception that what they want to do is the wrong thing.(which it is btw)
I’ve said it a year ago and I’ll say it again now; Blizzard has written themselves into a narrative checkmate. No matter where they move the story from here on out they’re always going to lose and the only solution is to find the most dignified way to do so.
To put it bluntly; there will be NO satisfying conclusion to BfA.
It will either be unsatisfying, less unsatisfying, or terribly unsatisfying. It’s simply a matter of picking your poison.
Imo, to provide the ‘least unsatisfying’ conclusion BfA, several things need to happen.
Sylvanas needs to temporarily leave, everyone just needs a break from Sylvanas right now. Either she needs to get exiled or flees and goes into hiding for a time, evading Night elf justice and the Alliance. It’s for the good of everyone, even if it may not seem so. It’s good for Forsaken fans because their Idol is still alive, It’s good for Night elf/Alliance fans because it gives them a goal to work towards(hunting Sylvanas), It’s good for Horde fans because we don’t all have to roleplay as Forsaken anymore.
The Night elves need closure for Teldrassil, whether it’s a decisive blow to the Hordes forces(an army of nameless grunts), regaining lost territories(Silverwind Refugee), restoring their livelihood, ect. They deserve something that shows them coming back from such a tragedy like Teldrassil, lest they be left as a mere band of refugees like the Gilneans.
No Warchief Baine or Saurfang plz, like Sylvanas, I’ve had enough Saurfang this expansion. The character has been turned from hardened war hero suffering PTSD, to whimpering sad man who is constantly sad. As for Baine, like always, if he were ever to be written as a Horde character for once, literally 90% of Horde players’ issues with him would vanish over night. But as they are right now, none of them are fit or deserving of the Warchief title. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure most Night Elf fans would not be particularly pleased allowing one complicit in the murder of their people roam free and unpunished.
I could list far more, but I think my post has gone on long enough. Bottom line is, they can only numb the pain, but they can’t get rid of it…
Unless they do exactly this, which is the only way I see everyone being satisfied with the current story, by completely erasing it’s existence.
Ashenvale is in due need of an update (please get rid of the Ashenvale Thunder Peak volcano already). And this makes an obvious continuation to the Darkshore Warfront storyline, since Ion said the Night Elves were preparing to get in striking distance of Orgrimmar, and Malfurion did send the message meant to tell Sylvanas that we are coming. On top of that, if we are really going to see an end to the faction war after BfA, we need both Saurfang and the Horde to demonstrate acts of atonement for the War of the Thorns so the Alliance can see the Horde as not purely evil.
Patch 8.4: Siege of Stormwind:
The Horde and Alliance make it to Orgrimmar only to find that Sylvanas is no longer there. She has already left to attack Stormwind, and has taken all her loyalest Forsaken and Horde soldiers (lets say some of the raid bosses even admitting to having been manning the catapults and using their magic to burn Teldrassil) and takes the city in a surprise attack, going to execute her final plan of razing and raising Stormwind even without the rest of the Horde. Alliance and Saurfang and the Horde rebels make their way to Stormwind and save Anduin and the city and defeat Sylvanas together. This would place the Horde and Alliance in a position of nearly nonnegotiable peace, and with having started atonement with the Night Elves before this, there’s no one to mess it up any more.
Sylvanas escapes again, but we kill her later, like we did Garrosh.
However, the suggestion above will not satisfy Alliance fans who do not want to work with the Horde, and Horde fans that do not want to work with the Alliance. Though, at the very least, it would be mutual in that sense, too.
that’s an extremely hard question, verlius since i don’t even know what the horde player would want since i am not attached to the horde in the first place.
i don’t know what could be “positive” for them that isn’t “lol kill the alliance xd”
Even if we somehow discover that it was a sylvanas doppelganger
we still have this problem about horde leaders (and people) supporting her.
so i think that i am going to need more good faith, baine
and maybe thrall trying to repair relations with an old friend. would be a good example.
But i still haven’t seen anyone do anything for the nelfs who are the actual victims.
Saurfang in the other hand… still tell us “or a king murdered in their own home” like bruh… coming that from you, really?
wasn’t he trying to stop sylvanas? so why he tell us something so massively hipocrital?
in any case the best that i can think of is…humm…ahm…
time travel or some dragon ball revive the fallen
or my personal favorite, we fight but n’zoth give us a blow so devastating that would make us forget about all the previous meaningless wars.
and like i said, a far lot more of good faith from horde leaders.
because i think you know what about it should happen.
the sad true is that someone, probably 50 % of the players that care about the story will be angry,very, very angry, many will probably quit.
maybe we all will have to quit. or all of us will end up angry.
So sylvanas conquers the capital of the alliance and even survives after outsmarting all of them again? i don’t know about that, amadis.
that would only increase the anger of alliance players.
it might seem that way at this point, but imo the goal of a story in a game like wow should be an ending that is satisfying for the audience in general, whether they are horde fans, alliance fans, nelf fans, forsaken fans, etc. It’s disheartening how unlikely that seems to me at this point, so I wanted to discuss possibilities for one still.