I think anyone is in for a letdown if they tie their character identity too much to their race over their faction.
Race or faction, itâs all just a bunch of bits on a server somewhere in California.
I mean, I donât think thereâs anything wrong with some investment into a gameâs story or aspects of fantasy. That can lead to enjoyment. But ultimately it is very easy and common for perceived issues that come up with races in Warcraft specifically.
Hence why we see it on the forum a lot. Either âmy race isnât getting enough exposureâ or âthis other race is dominating exposureâ. Or replace exposure with general lore. Like how aspects of the War of Thorns bothered Night Elf players or losing Undercity for some Forsaken.
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Iâm not particularly interested in the woe is me night elf stance but I can think of moreâŠlikely ways to to resolve the whole âidentity crisisâ night elves are facing within the logical bounds of the gameâs limitations.
That means no, the night elves wonât suddenly find themselves leaving the Alliance or being the super power to challenge the full might of the Horde on Kalimdor.
- Focus on the Militaristic Sentinels and the Elune Priesthood. Diminish the role of Druidism overall.
- Likewise to above, diminish Malfurionâs primary protagonist role, move him to a secondary role behind Tyrande.
- Move night elf roles in future storylines to a more proactive role. Letâs say next expansion involves going somewhere new, the Sentinels are the one leading the expedition, commanding the other Alliance troops. They would be the ones in charge and using their know-how to properly command and lead the Alliance forces in this new area. Night elf structures can be used to give it that night elf feeling.**
- In the interest of at least implying each player race has a âhome baseâ for gameplay purposes Iâd create a phased area at Hyjal for the night elves. Similar to how the nightborne and Highmountain tauren has a instanced part of Suramar and Highmountain respectively.
**This does not mean the night elves are the only ones handling said situation. They are leading the Alliance forces there, which means humans, gnomes, draenei, pandaren, ect are also present.
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Yeah dungeons filled with mogs for them
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Pick 1.
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Iâd rather get mogs by killing someone for trolls at least once.
But I donât want to hijack this thread.
To stay on topic, I am supporting idea of new capital at Hyjal.
And WTB Malfurion being mad at Anduin for releasing Saurfang.
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Somewhere in that power fantasy of yours, you might just want to remember that there are players who choose other than night elves and they might want some of that developmental love as well.
Others might be engaged with the idea of riding a shrubbery, but not this huntress.
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That was also my idea. Recapturing Ashenvale to keep the darn dirty horde out.
Also destroy the Wall in the Barrens.
???
Why that hilariously impractical wall that does pretty much nothing?
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The first isnât going to happen as Blizzard really hates the idea of player capitals and the second is kind of moot since Saurfang did catch a rather acute case of death.
The wall has held.
Personally, I think just giving them a good, self-contained, personal story of healing and strength would do wonders for the NE Racial Fantasy. Granted, the same could be said for every race, but weâre talking about the NEs right now. I got crazy ideas for everyone though!
For example, for me, turning Hyjal into their new capital was never just about Nordrassil. Its about how amazing the natural path for a questing experience could be with Hyjal being the start and center. There is this beautiful natural transition from Hyjal spiraling out from Nordrassil to each zone that should be more fully, visually, and mechanically brought into the NE civilization. Hyjal -> WInterspring -> Moonglade -> Felwood -> Ashenvale -> Darkshore. As well as moving forward through time in each of them dealing with increasingly painful and more recent memories. Each zone designed to be âzonedâ to a complete status.
All ending at the Northern Shore of Darkshore, where the story of healing and recovery ends with the planting of a new World Tree in the husk of Teld; and the NE player is sent to Aviana to bare witness and gather the first healthy seed from the now revived and healing GâHanir. Creating not just a child tree of Nordrassil, but perhaps the first genuine sibling of it. Or ⊠at least thatâs my headcannon fan fiction lol!
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I actually like that âŠ
But Iâd do it the other way round.
Spiraling up the mountain and with reaching lvl 10 or so you finally stand before Nordrassil and the well.
Maybe even a quest where you get your first talent there by getting blessed or so within the well or so, explainng a bit where your power as a character comes from.
Just a bit head canon. But it would weave smoothly togather
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And not to get too off topic, but you NEs getting such a story in either direction could functionally help out my favorite PC race. The Steamwheedle Cartel did fund the Horde war effort under the table, and even since Vanilla Iâve found Everlook to be a disgusting blight on what I expected to be a NE winter wonderland. So, the NEs find out what the Steamwheedle did, and are able to at least get a bit of satisfaction kicking those war profiteers out of their territories (as the Cartel is neutral).
Thus, Everlook is gone, and it directly enhances my Gob player experience as we Bilgewater get to pick up Ratchet, Mudsprocket, and eventually Gadgetzan ⊠on our story south to build a transcontinental Horde railway from Bilgewater Harbor to Tanaris. Its not like the Kalimdor Alliance had any reason to trade with the Kali Steamwheedle anyway, and Gazloweâs shrewd absorption of Steamwheedle acquisitions could finally build up to the Gob Cartel War Iâve been dying for!
The NEs being given the story and love they so desperately deserve can absolutely trickle down into my fav PC race getting a great story experience too.
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That Warsong Border Wall between Barrens and Ashenvale? Thatâs the One Iâm talking about.
I never understood what Everlook actually was or why it was there, though never had a grudge with it to be honest.
But having Winterspring become a real NE zone would be a dream come true. Simply beacause it suites the tranquill theme so well and the zone is beautyfull. The soft purplish pink with the snow and the big trees it looks so peacefully.
But probably will never happen. Blizzard only knows how to destroy stuff, they donât seem to be able to build ⊠especially since they for some reason have the expression every zone needs to have half of it destroyed, blighted, burned, exploded, void corrupted or whatever else.
So maybe they should just keep their fingers off winterspring.
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I love the ideas here. Iâd very much rather see nelf players start in Nordrassil going forward in part because it WAS such a sacred and important place culturally - unlike Teldrassil, which always felt a bit wtf. Remake Winterspring into the totally nelf controlled beautiful wonderland it always ought to have been, naturally flow through Felwood into Ashenvale and end in Darkshore indeed. Gorgeous idea. Not sure how we fit Feralas into this mind you⊠and I do love me some Feralas still.
And if we see nelf paladins built in but cast specifically as Moon Priestesses of the WC3 kind who wield the light of Elune while wearing plate and riding a blessed saber⊠diminish the far too often egregiously neutral druids** and shift the focus back to the matriarchal arsekicking of yesteryear⊠that would be great.
And also, as a note⊠I donât think the main NPC instigators like Belmont should be killed per se.
Sylvanas will be whatever she is.
But we know VERY well what night elves do to truly dangerous enemies: they put them in prison by the Wardens. Rebuild Aszuna, fortify the Wardenâs place there or perhaps build a new place in Feralas for them, and then have people get imprisoned. Theyâre not DEAD per se, and who knows, could escape later for an expac of blood and rule of cool (we know Blizz, they need these), but it WOULD be lore appropriate nelf justice.
** we need to STOP with the nelf-only druid themes. Give nelf druidism back to NELFS, and letâs see more interesting delving into druidism by other races. Kul Tiras was a superlative start on that front with the Drust. Iâd love to see that expanded, and recognition that within nature, there is no single path, but many, and the cycles of nature include life and death, etc etc.
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Only way Night Elf identity would be fixed for me is if the the left the Alliance and became their own nation again. Back to their WC3 roots and no longer playing second fiddle to humans. They can make their own choices for their own people.
They would need a lot of their own allies though to be up to par with the Horde and alliance, ideas below.
Kaldorei Empire (name pending)
Core races
-Night Elves are the main race, like their counterparts Humans/Alliance and Orc/Horde.
-Furbolgs, long time NE allies, revamped race to be upgraded large bearmen (like tauren are bullmen), and not fat pandaren.
-Dryad/Keeper, long time NE allies, Have a unique armor setup thats different than any other race.
-Dreanor Aaroka males and harpies, now we have bird people. sorry owlkin, you ugly.
Maybe they are joined by the Worgan too, and possibly the Drenai?
For faction parity, i could see the Forsaken leaving the horde. Possibly taking the Blood Elves and Nightborne with them. Making their own Faction on the Eastern Kingdoms. Now WoW would be back to 4 factions, like WC3.
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The problem with that is, there is no real reason for the Draenei to ditch out of the Alliance for the Kaldorei. Yes, they owe them, but culturally speaking they have a lot more in common with Humans than they do NEs, due to the Light Worship. The Worgen are in a weirder spot, where their entire heritage questline was reinforcing the idea that while all Human Worgen are Gilnean ⊠not all Gilneans are Worgen. Thus, their priority is back on reclaiming home on EK.
The BEs on the Horde are in a similar spot with the Forsaken as the Draenei are with the NEs. There is some territorial defensive motivations to side with the Forsaken ⊠or there were before BfA. The Forsaken are left in such a wretched spot, and their leader burned the other races of the Horde so badly, that they probably do not bring enough to the table atm to justify the BEs leaving the Horde for them. Especially when the BEs just got the NBs into it.
There is more to rebuilding a Racial Identity or Racial Fantasy than Power Fantasy. Races donât need to be arbitrarily built up to be as as powerful (or more powerful) than every single other race combined to be special. That might make some of their fans happy, but that sort of foci always comes with the risk of coming at the expense of other PC Racial Fantasies. Culture and Characters, and how those are presented has always been what should be the priority and what should make each PC Race shine. Power Fantasy is important too, but more as an extension of the first two.
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