With all the discussion about dissolving factions, faction conflicts, themes, etc I’ve been thinking about a certain alt-history topic that I haven’t really seen talked about too often in the past. That question is…
What if faction roles were reversed?
By this I mean what if the state of the Horde and Alliance was different after the Third War through various means, resulting in an Alliance that was much less unified and with weaker positions whereas the Horde was held much more strongly together and had better fortified their holdings in Kalimdor?
I imagine either Stormwind is not fully rebuilt at all or perhaps humans are still stuck in Lordaeron as, say, the Scarlet Crusade where they have strong but much more limited holdings and take a more antagonistic leaning like the early Horde/Forsaken would.
Thoughts on changes to the overall story moving forward? What sort of characters would you like seeing instead of others? If the Humans were predominately Lordaeron exiles and Scarlet Crusaders they would certainly be much more zealous and have imo better leaders to start with such as Alexandros Mograine potentially, but still have that early corruption plotline similar to the Defias with the corrupt Saidan Dathrohan.
Then i guess that this alliance would need to become allies with the scarlet crusade and go into a little darker path.
As for the night elves, in this scenario they would join the horde
jaina outnumbered and alone in kalimdor starts searching for new powers or ways to defend her city.
i would like to see sally in this new alliance and bolvar/jaina having a more proactive role trying to keep moralilty in check.
muradin should return asap and have a bigger role in the story.
now the question would be, what this alliance would be willing to do in order to survive?
Indeed. I could see the Forsaken either being wiped out completely or maybe driven to actually ally the Worgen or something. Maybe brought back into the Scourge fold. Alliance likely could get the Blood Elves instead of the Horde despite racial differences their desire for power and revenge could unite them.
Did a quick conversion of the Classic WoW human intro. Feel free to read it in the Narrator’s (Earl Boen) voice.
Since it’s a re-imagining of sorts, I took a few liberties concerning the second option.
OPTION 1: SCARLET CRUSADE “The noble humans of Lordaeron are a proud, tenacious race. Though the recent invasion of the demonic Burning Legion decimated their kingdom, the remaining defenders of Lordaeron have rallied into the Scarlet Crusade and stand vigilant against the threats that remain in their lands. Nestled in pockets of the fields of Tirisfal Glades, the Scarlet Monastery is one of the last bastions of human power in the world, their sister kingdom of Stormwind still under reconstruction. Ruled by the Grand Crusader, Saidan Dathrohan, the people of Lordaeron stand alone against the tides of undeath, with few of their once stalwart allies left in the ravaged kingdom. You must retake the kingdom from the foul undead that still encroach upon it and hunt down the subversive traitors who seek to destroy the Crusade from within. Now is the time for heroes. Now humanity’s greatest chapter can be told.”
OPTION 2: ALLIANCE RESISTANCE “The noble humans of Lordaeron are a proud, tenacious race. Though the recent invasion of the demonic Burning Legion decimated their kingdom, the remaining defenders of Lordaeron have rallied into the Alliance resistance and stand vigilant against the threats that remain in their lands. Nestled in pockets of the fields of Tirisfal Glades, Capital City is one of the last bastions of human power in the world, their sister kingdom of Stormwind still under reconstruction. Led by the Grand Marshal, Othmar Garithos, the people of Lordaeron stand alone against the tides of undeath, with few of their once stalwart allies left in the ravaged kingdom. You must retake the kingdom from the foul undead that still encroach upon it and hunt down the subversive traitors who seek to destroy it from within. Now is the time for heroes. Now humanity’s greatest chapter can be told.”
Kinda sounds like a story of Humanity and friends trying to survive in a world that has been taken over by “Monsters”, the story would probably have the Horde be seen in a more negative light (Than currently) tbh to make humanity and friends look better if a story like this started at the start.
(Kinda boring tbh since it seems many stories kinda go with that angle, with the opposite usually surprising people)
But to answer your question we’d probably have a more extremely zealous Alliance wanting to retake the world since the “Monsters” who once destroyed them is now deciding to be the “Bigger person” and show mercy to their enemies.
Which would most likely be infuriating to those who were originally the one with power and domain over the “Monster” races.
It would have virtually been impossible for the Horde to be more powerful than the Alliance during the inception of Classic. The entirety of the western Horde was getting antagonized by a single Kul’tiran fleet and Theramore, and they weren’t even the playable Alliance in Classic.
Personally, I’d rather have a weaker Alliance from the beginning of BfA. The Alliance felt like it had a more active role in repelling the Legion so they should consequently be more drained of resources than the Horde. Then we initiate the faction conflict over Varian’s promise.
That’s the modern WoW story. Humanity and friends trying to survive a world full of monsters.
No, the modern WoW story is humanity and friends completely dominating everything and being right in all things because the Horde have been perpetually afflicted by stupidity.
The sort of thing I would hope a reversal like this would be the Horde actually being smarter about things and the Alliance being less… dominant.
Yah, and it’s pretty dull when the “Survivors” side are hardcore handicapping themselves.
It’s like having a reality, live in the wild type show but one contestant didn’t realize how outmatched everyone is at surviving compared to them and begins hardcore handicapping themselves to give the others a chance
Were they really that different from the start? Certainly the Night Elves have a very strong starting presence though always felt as if Classic, or anything after, never really treats Hyjal as something that was devastating for them as it should have been. Regardless…
Almost on all fronts its pretty even. Stormwind might be rebuilt and Elwynn fairy secure but you go outside of that into Westfall, Redridge, or Duskwood and its a very different story. The Barrens seem in a far better shape than Westfall and Redridge do. Ogrimmar is stable, though Durotar is just plain uninhabitable.
Similarly Thunder Bluff and Ironforge, while one far more established than the other, are stable and thriving cities. The dwarves are split among the three clans and the tauren are recovering from centaur attacks, though still have a wide presence in Kalimdor. Both are fairly stable.
Trolls and Gnomes are both without a home and are working on reclaiming/creating one.
The only real uneven match ups are, again, Night Elves and Forsaken. Even then the Forsaken are presented as cunning and relatively strong. At the very least have enough distance so that they are ‘safe.’
IDK, I just dont think there are too distinct of roles to begin with to create a situation where flipping them makes a huge difference.
The Horde is plenty smart. They know that the Alliance can outmuscle the Horde’s armies and their champions. Instead of slugging it out they use underhanded tactics. Why would they risk their lives when they can just plague bomb instead?
Arguably the game has always been Horde dominated. The story only moves forward whenever the Horde wants it to. The Alliance races have banded together to defend themselves from aggression.
That can easily be fixed if Blizzard actually develops Horde characters instead of killing them every expansion.
They were completely different. One of the reasons Blizzard did the cata overhaul of Kalimdor and the EK was because of the zone imbalance between the Alliance and Horde.
Westfall, Redridge, and Duskwood are the sole domain of Stormwind. 1/4 of the playable Alliance race. The Barrens, by contrast, was shared between 3/4 of the original Horde. It suffered from the constant skirmishes with the centaur and quilboar.
Orgrimmar was never stable. Durotar was always threatened by quilboar, Kul’tiran, and centaur raids. The centaur camp south of Sen’jin village was organizing plans to attack Orgrimmar directly.
In Classic the Dwarves fully controlled three zones. Tauren only controlled Mulgore and with the help of the Orcs, had some control of the Barrens. Stonetalon, 1K Needles, and Feralas were mostly controlled by other powers like the centaur or nelfs.
The Forsaken were presented as always under attack. It was always either the Scarlets from the monastery or the Scourge from the eastern plaguelands. Nelfs in contrast only had Ashenvale to worry about.
They were completely different. One of the reasons Blizzard did the cata overhaul of Kalimdor and the EK was because of the zone imbalance between the Alliance and Horde.
