(NOTE:) I’m adding this after the fact as I’m pretty sure my original intent in writing this post has been missed. If you care to, reread the post and keep two words in mind. Sarcasm and irony. There is no way to tell an engaging story of war without conflict. Conflict is going to generate winners and losers. People don’t like losing and most don’t like winning if they had to cheat of be cruel to win. If you change the story in a way that makes one side happy it’s going, to some extent, make the other side unhappy.
This bit here is just my opinion: People (who pay attention to the story) like playing Horde because it’s fun to be the ‘bad boy.’ The thing is that eventually the ‘bad boy’ all too often becomes the ‘bad guy.’ It’s in your character. Similarly playing Alliance plays into the desire to be he ‘hero’, the knight in shining armor. It also sets you up to be the goody two shoes who gets his lunch money stolen by … you guessed it, the bad boy.
Bottom line: I’m going to live with my loses. Horde should live with your bad (self)image. Then wait and see how it all works out. We might not know how good the story is until we read the last page.
Final thought: While I’m not sure anyone read my original post all the way to the end, and thus missed the point, some of the responses were very good and showed real creativity. So good ya’.
- Original post starts here.-
As a nelf there are things about the current story I really hate.
Ashenvale was lost and its people massacred. Darkshore was taken. My Sentinels were killed. My home was burned. A large proportion of my people died in agony. A Warden I respected and a Sentinel I had come to love were killed and raised into undeath as enemies. Our sylvan lands are now being clear cut and strip mined by our enemies. I don’t like this.
A lot of people on the Horde side also seem unhappy about the way this story is playing out. Members of both the Horde and the Alliance are saying this is a bad story. They are saying it in very loud voices.
They are saying it’s bad, but no one is telling me how the story should be. So, I’m now asking … Starting from before the pre-patch, tell me the story of The Battle for Azeroth as is should have been told.
But there are conditions based on current player discontent.
Newton’s Third Law applies: Any action taken by one faction must be met with an immediate and proportional response by the other side. No one like to feel like they are losing.
No leader can be portrayed in a way that would call into question their competence, intelligence, morality, motivations, loyalty or integrity. At no point may one of these leaders take an action unless the short, and long-term goals, and immediate and long-term consequences are fully understood by players of both factions so as not to cause short term unease. These plans may be a surprise to the opposite factions npcs but not to the opposite faction’s players. These plans may succeed or fail, but then Newton’s Third Law must apply.
Characters will, from time to time, die. When this happens a character of equal prominence, importance to the story and number of devoted fans, from the opposing faction must also die. These deaths must come at the same moment and both factions must be aware of this. Their deaths must be quantitatively equal in gruesomeness and nobility.
Essentially nothing can happen that makes anyone unhappy in any way at any point. It doesn’t matter how your story ends. No one can ever dislike what is happening in the moment. We’re supposed to be having fun.
Okay.
Now go …
Enthrall me.
