Out of all members of the Horde present at the War of Thorns, why were they not one of them?
These guys have been fighting the Night Elves since WC3 and the time when the entire Horde moves against Teldrassil, they’re absent. Even in the Darkshore Warfront, not a single member is requested.
These guys could have been the bridge between Sylvanas and Saurfang. They have the best understanding of Night Elf tactics in the Forest, while also maintaining the orcish way of fighting. This would even bring forth another MU orc character into the story by way of the new Warsong Chieftain.
Where are my green boys in purple?
I just kind of assumed that the Warsong Clan, what remnants survived Garrosh’s story-arc at least, were present. It’s not as if the Azerothian Orcs returned to the Clan system after the Horde was formed. Some Clans ended up being around, but more in name than anything else.
The Frostwolf Clan, as long as BFA says otherwise, is still operating as they always have.
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True, a fair point.
I guess in Vanilla the Clans just didn’t feel more than PvP factions to me, but that’s a very solid point. The Frostwolf and Warsong Clans did exist after Thrall brought the Horde to Kalimdor.
Turns out they probably wouldn’t have been very knowledgeable or effective against Malfurion and Tyrande.
From Terran Gregory at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEHc8le_Qpk&t=10m04s :
Here name is Shendruk. She was created for this cutscene. We imagined that this is someone who’s been actually probably a soldier on the battle lines in this region, you know, between like the orcish line of going into Ashenvale. She’s probably a character who’s been there, right, and that had some experience. And I know there’s been some conversation about the way she talks about Night Elves. Part and parcel, right, when you’re not talking about the game mechanics, right - we know that Night Elves are insanely powerful - but part and parcel, if you’ve lived in this world, there’s going to be a lot of Night Elves in this forest that are just civilians, right? When she’s been patrolling that area, by and large, she’s probably only witnessed, you know, conflicts between the normal Night Elves. You know, the ones that just live [there]. You would have never encountered the Archdruid. You never would have ever encountered [a “single Night Elf” that “could do all that”], right? So a lot of her impressions are just based on like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen- I’ve had scuffles with the Night Elves for however many years and I’ve never had any trouble with them,” right?
From Terran Gregory at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEHc8le_Qpk&t=52m58s :
She’s very dismissive. And the faces even, right? Incredibly well animated. While he knows- * Points dramatically at Nathanos * - He knows exactly how serious this is. And she’s all like, “Pff. Whatever,” because again, as we talked at the beginning, she has dealt with, you know, ordinary Night Elves probably her whole career defending, you know, the Barrens fronts. Never personally encountered Malfurion. But he has * Pointing at Nathanos again. * He knows exactly who he’s talking about.
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the shattered hand also still exist as the horde’s spies. In vanilla, back when class quests were still a thing, rogues got quests from them.
Additionally, lots of horde members kept practicing burning blade clan’s cultural practices, such as having those distinctive banners and blademasters.
I personally wouldn’t mind seeing clans be made more prominent in Orcish culture again. I know a big part of Thrall’s Horde was having no clans but I find the clan system much more intriguing.
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It’s funny because Nathanos has very little experience fighting Night Elves as well. Seems disingenuous of Blizzard to say that orcs fighting in Ashenvale would have never seen a Druid before.
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Orcs never fought Malfurion before.
No, but they have fought Cenarius before. While Malf might be more powerful, they would have similar tricks.
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We just defeated the Legion. No more demon blood to power them up.
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Very true. However, this is my point though is that if there was a group of people that would know the Night Elves from an enemy standpoint and still be affiliated with the Horde, it would be the Warsong Clan. It’d give both sides that much needed time in the forefront fighting the correct battles. As opposed to letting the Forsaken fight the Orc’s battles for them, making the Night Elves fight a foe with less of a personal edge.
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The Warsong maybe made an appearance in the Alliance side introductory questing for the Darkshore Warfront. While Tyrande is performing the Night Warrior ascension ritual the Alliance forces are flooded by Horde troops, a number of which, perhaps even the primary group, are Orcs. Tyrande even uses an Orc’s severed head as a sacrifice to Elune to perform her ritual. Once she becomes the Night Warrior she Moonfire AoE one shots all of the Horde forces. After that we don’t see any more Orcs around.