Unfortunately, most of the moderate suggestions I’ve seen tend to get ignored in favor of posters arguing with the easy target hardliners.
But, in terms of what I’d like to see to patch things up:
- Faction ambassadors at the other faction’s embassies. Have them have scripted conversations, which get updated each patch, to show what the sore spots are in faction negotiations, what they can agree on, and what they can’t. Mostly, they’d serve as a constant update to show that this plot thread hasn’t been forgotten and swept under the rug, even if it won’t be resolved instantly. They could steal common arguments from the forums to bicker about in-game easily enough.
- Night elves retake Ashenvale from Sylvanas loyalists in a playable scenario. Show off everything that’s cool about night elves, every neat unit and special effect from the Warfront, plus major Draenei and worgen support, and some appearances from other allies as well. Show them winning and winning big, with no ifs, ands, or buts. (Horde players won’t have to see/play through this scenario, and can get a Horde-focused questline somewhere else instead.) As part of this, reveal that the Horde/ex-Horde slain in the scenario were the ones who were eager to invade and unapologetic about the Burning, so they’re crossed off the revenge list.
- Have the Horde ambassadors tell/show the Alliance that the Horde is rounding up Sylvanas loyalists. Have the Horde turn over at least one character who’s confirmed (by SI:7 or so, not just taking the Horde’s word, and also giving some more successes to Alliance spy agencies to counter their Worf effect) to be someone who participated in the Burning. (I’d prefer a point of contention in A/H negotiations to be that the Horde won’t turn over all the perpetrators, however, choosing to deal with Sylvanas loyalists internally rather than submit to the Alliance. But at least one should be turned over.) Show to the Alliance player how the Horde is different rather than saying they’re different but showing no differences.
- Show that the Alliance isn’t toothless. The debates over which faction is stronger show what POVs players can have, so I’d like to see something cacnon confirming that each side could still savage the other if the war continued. (I think the Horde player should see this, but presented with the tone of “these guys are no pushovers, this is serious and maybe deadly” rather than “oh noes big bad Jaina can one-shot us all! Ok, moment over, go squish Alliance punies again.”)
- Let Rogers be a villain to the Horde. If Blizz wants to keep the faction divide, then the Horde needs an antagonistic Alliance character that they can resent without being prodded to feel guilty, but I think Jaina has too much history to turn into a full villain, and I think turning Tyrande into one would be terrible after Teldrassil - she at least needs to get some big successes for the night elves to build up their pride again before she can be tolerably be made into a villain and bumped off. They can be frosty with the Horde, but shouldn’t be full villains. Rogers, however, would fit the role to a T. (I’m fine with the Alliance having Garithos-style figures for the Horde player to unreservedly loathe, I just don’t think faction leaders should be turned into those kinds of caricatures. On either side.)
- Rebuild a capital city for the night elves and Forsaken - as the faction capitals for the expac after Shadowlands, so that they can be a major feature and take up a lot of narrative time and care. Let the player interact with a whole host of named faction NPCs, and quest to help the rebuilding process. Show how these societies are recovering and building themselves anew. (I like Stratholme for the Forsaken, and while I’d love a spot in Ashenvale for the night elves, that’s probably impossible, so maybe Hyjal or Nighthaven or even Auberdine or Lor’danel for another port city.) Additionally, I’d seed in a few minor story quests throughout Shadowlands showing night elf and Forsaken characters searching out and picking the spot to rebuild, maybe a situation where the player can periodically turn in current-expac resources as part of the rebuilding effort, like the Warfront contribution phase - just to keep the topic alive even when it can’t be in focus yet.
- Let the Horde visibly participate in neutral world-saving events in a major way. All too often, they get sidelined in neutral events while Alliance-themed groups are made neutral and take center stage, which I think is a big negative for both factions. This makes it seem, especially to Alliance players, that the Horde only participate in stories when it’s about murdering Alliance. Make Argent camps using recolored Orc buildings (instead of just a few orc NPCs in Human buildings), have Argent apothecaries on loan from the Forsaken and who don’t have a malicious ulterior motive, have some plains-themed Cenarion Circle camps with Tauren buildings and doodads, etc. Show that the Horde are an equal half of neutral organizations instead of a few NPCs shoehorned in. (And actually make neutral factions feel neutral, instead of Horde feeling they’re shoved into Alliance groups while Alliance feel like they’ve had major pieces flensed out of the Alliance to give to the Horde.)
I’ll probably think of some more points later, and this doesn’t solve everything, but I think this would salve over the worst of the current story’s festering wounds.