I remember people saying in the beta that Ardenweald wasn’t a night elf focused zone and was as much troll as night elf… Can we just now admit that Ardenweald was clearly a zone for night elf player???
If you don’t choose them as covenant, you won’t even see the troll story at all. Worst, we have no hint at all to the other side… If i didn’t new that troll had story form the beta spoiler, i wouldn’t even know that the other side and troll have any relevance in that zone.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest plot of the main questline is to revive Ysera who is really night elf aligned. We even see some night elf character in her dream. When we have to ‘‘escort’’ Ysera guess what music do we heard? A remake of many night elf zone soundtrack.
I don’t say that i hate the zone at all. The zone and the quest was awesome. But i feel bad for troll to see that their whole after live, which is important for them, is nothing more than a side quest for a night elf zone…
It’s not a night elf zone. I just finished Ardenweald last night, and aside from one single quest where you see a memory of Tyrande and Malfurion, it has absolutely nothing to do with night elves. Nothing.
To be fair a huge part of the story of the zone revolves around bringing Ysera (who is neutral and an aspect I know, but has still somewhat become/been a icon for Nelfs) back only to tell her all about the roasting of Teldrassil and her to be very sad about it, plus we have references to the Winter Queen saying “my sisters pet” about Ysera which many people are coming to assume means Elune. Feel as though some sort of “Earth Mother” or more “Loa” could have been referenced.
The whole zone is aesthetically Nelf 100% say what you want about “having trees” or whatever there is no denying this. I have nothing against the zone, it’s actually my favorite zone and the covenant I chose. The zone is beautiful and should be enjoyed by players from both factions.
Visually, while it share some themes (nature and night) the visual identity doesn’t match Night Elf visual identity, the lack of stonework being the most responsible for that, everything is made of Wood in ardenweald.
About the questing experience, I do have to agree that the focus on Ysera could be interpreted as a Night Elf thing, since Ysera is very related to some major Night Elf characters, but I think is something that couldn’t be avoided really, and Ysera is still a former aspect and has no grudgr towards any horde race, so of all the plotlines in ardenweald, is the most neutral one, since the bwomsandi plotline is clearly for trolls and the Night Warrior plotline is for nelves.
It isn’t just Ysera, the only wild god/loa that we see (cinematic) is also alliance affiliated. We don’t even see any horde loa and have any clue to the troll after life dungeon.
Finally, they stop trying to hide it when we escorted Ysera and they use a night elf soudtrack…
I can deny it, because that wasn’t true for me. The first thing I thought was that it reminded me of celtic fae stories. I honestly felt like my nelf-inspired transmog was a bad fit, because I stood out with my bright brown and green, whereas Ardenweald has a much darker color palette. My nelf in Val’sharah = natural fit. My nelf in Ardenweald = outsider. That’s what I thought.
Plus, there’s also the fact that the quests and storyline had nothing to do with night elves. Going by some of the logic in this thread, I can just as easily make the argument that Ardenweald is a Kul Tiran zone, due to the heavy presence of the Drust, who are intriniscally tied to Kul Tiras.
It certainly would get my Kul Tiran druid’s attention, given the forms he takes as a druid, and add to the fact that I play him as an inquisitor of the Order of Embers…
It’s not a night elf zone at all. Ysera isn’t a night elf, Aliothe isn’t even from Azeroth, and night elves don’t own the monopoly on pretty forests.
The covenant campaign does involve Tyrande and souls from Teldrassil, but that’s only a part of it, equal time is spent on both the Drust and the Loa. The big bad of the campaign is Mueh’zala, a Loa.
