There would definitely be those of my characters that would assist her.
There would also be those like Taalva that would go to the Scarlett Halls for the sole purpose of slaughtering every single sentient humanoid still present there, Dark Ranger included.
“Kill them all, let the gods sort them out”
Oh, I know. Believe me, more than half my Alliance characters and a good few of my Horde characters would prefer to go into this ‘potential’ scenario channeling Doomguy … but what if this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back?
What if what this Dark Ranger knows, and is willing to share, can end the war and finally cause the Horde to fall apart, completely? The PCs themselves are living proof that one person willing to do the right thing, at the right moment, for the right cause, can tip the balance of not just a battle or a war, but an entire world.
For all the hate, the loss, the pain and the shame, is letting one Dark Ranger live if she’s willing to give us the information we need to understand the Dark Lady’s plans, to not just react towards her moves, but understand the beginning of her scheme, the ‘root’ of it all? Knowledge of not just what Sylvanas is doing now, but what she was doing when nobody was looking, and why, could be that final piece of the puzzle that allows Anduin and the rest of the world-leaders of Azeroth to finally catch up to Sylvanas and stop her before it is too late?
I kind of wonder if that scenario will even go live.
I wish I had your faith in this questlines potential, gentarn. I feel like this is just an irrelevant sidequest meant for the Horde, but open for the Alliance for the sake of inclusion. I don’t see any suggestion that she’s remotely bothered by what’s going on in the Horde.
The reasoning behind Alliance helping her is insane. You get asked to save a Dark Ranger (probably the worst thing in the world that isn’t Sylvanas herself) and you’re asked by a blood elf, who you also are at war with. And his convincing pitch is “She’s nice, just trust me”.
How about you try, Blizzard? How about you put in like a SPECK of effort.
The secret is the story wasn’t written for the Alliance.
A simple (and cheeky) fix is just to add a line like:
“At the bottom of the letter, you see a few lines scrawled in Shaw’s handwriting: ‘This ranger might have valuable information about Sylvanas. See if you can get persuade her to our side.’”
Just a few words could cement an Alliance character’s reasons for doing this, rather than leaving it entirely up to the players.
There are moments it feels like the whole frigging game is meant for Horde and Alliance is only there for some weird alternative less-cool option.
See: pretty much the entire game since Cata, lol.
It’s not so much I have ‘faith’ in Blizzard’s ability to write a questline (or expansion, for that matter), but rather I could see ways that it could be portrayed or explained to even a hostile-faction player that might make them care enough to do the quest.
It’s a lot like writing adventures for the table groups I GM for. One player just wants to kill this faction, another is cautiously optimistic about peace with them, a third just wants their loot any which way they can and the fourth is about to go straight up Hamlet on the scene. Trying to portray the scene and breathe life into it in such a way that all four players feel some form of investment, even if it is not possible to make all four feel the same level of investment, is difficult but rewarding in its own right.
Baby come back~ Any kind of fool could seeeee~ There was something, we loved about your moneeeeey~
Oh baby come back!~ Just don’t blame it all on meee~ You have to admiittt~
Internet nerds are just whiny~