Partly so I don’t derail another thread and partly because I am curious I thought I would ask; What is the best way to advance the Alliance’s story?
In particular I’m curious what the Alliance’s story should be after Shadowlands. I know some people have strong opinions on this so I wanted to keep this an open question.
Realistically I do not expect anything from the current team, because the alliance they see, and the alliance I played as, are fundamentally different. What the alliance is in the eyes of the current narrative lead:
“The Alliance is like a family. Brothers and sisters can disagree, and things can get heated, but there’s still a deep and abiding love and trust there.”
© https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/15/18183772/wow-battle-for-azeroth-alliance-tides-of-vengeance
That was never a theme of the alliance. Being family-alike was the origin of the early WoW / W3 horde. The approach both easy to emphasise with, yet flawed because things like nepotism can grow from it.
Similar was the alliance one, also with something good, but some flawes. A good summary was given yeas later, but still true:
Justice is something easy to consider good. Indiscriminate justice can be both satisfying and flawed.
I’d argue it was this contrast that originally made the faction concept work. Different ideas. Different strong point. But also, room for error in the things that are not bad by themselves.
So, what do I mean by that? That I do not care much what would the retail team do, because they do not get nor care why I started playing the alliance in TBC days.
But, if in some miraculous way we might get a team actually interested in going back to what made both the alliance and the horde interesting to begin with, then maybe it would be nice to revisit those things with more polish first.
So, I’d say, looking back would be the 1st thing to do. There are many changes to actors and motivations, so digging out things long lost might reveal some things, modern players do not even consider.
gl hf
Hello, fellow Alliance players. Ignore the blood elf warlock behind the curtain!
re: Gilneas
re: Kul Tiras
Seems suspicious. I’m not sure I trust that curtain.
I can easily agree with this.
I will only accept this if Flynn is able to sing a shanty. This is non negotiable.
One of the most important thing for the alliance would do is to be less human. They could get a small intern identity crisis ( not a big bad one like Mop or bfa one). A small one that doesn’t include a civil war and which allow every alliance leader/race to say their opinion instead of just being lead by human.
It doesn’t need to get to big. Just enough so the alliance can really feel like a alliance of many race/culture and not just feel like they are all human underling. This could also lead to the reclaiming of other race city ( gilneas/ gnomeran).
It is asking too much but I would find it interesting if we came back to Azeroth to find that a Holy Crusade to reclaim the seven kingdoms had been called by the Church of the Holy Light (which has been infiltrated by the Scarlets). The call has been answered by Turalyon, who is committing alliance troops, and the Lightforged, who have been feeling without purpose without an enemy to attack. Seeking to ensure a Light-granted vision of victory where Azeroth is at “peace” and one within the Light, they let Yrel and the Lightbound into Azeroth.
The Kaldorei are still largely withdrawn from the Alliance, but have heavily built up Hyjal, which serves as a base of operations for the early expansion (and gives them an excuse to refresh the zone). Velen is strongly against the crusade but is being overruled. Genn’s stance is… mixed, to put it lightly. The council of three hammers is reluctant to commit to the crusade, and quickly becomes a target of ire as stormwind becomes increasingly extreme in its actions.
Thematically - and this is true for the Horde as well - the Alliance would be improved by showing that its respective parts a) are awesome, b) have a unique identity, and c) have their own agency.
We don’t have that. The entire world is a narrative tool for the aggrandizement of a handful of characters, and as a result: if you feel represented by a tool that Blizzard abused, you’re not going to be satisfied with the story. Future writers need to respect that each playable race is a selection that someone sees as their protagonist.
Walk back humanities overarching role, destroy SI:7 let’s night elves, void elves, and gnomes handle infiltration and stealth stuff. Kill Anduin, create a power vacuum in Stormwind where various noble houses and factions try and decide who will lead next in an heirless kingdom. Except never have any of them win so humanity in wow can have something interesting going on forever.
Give Dwarves more of a lead, they should probably be the ones with a bulk of the military might.
Let the alliance have some shady war crimes go on. Incinerating the vulpera in Vol’dun was a good start. But walking back the purge squad was cringe behavior on blizzards part. I wanna see brennerdam level stuff go on occasionally. Not muh taurajo let the civilians through the lines or whatever.
I dunno something slightly gritty and fun. Give ally a bit of an edge. Let ally do something gnarly but while still giving the people who enjoy being the goody two shoes paladin role a chance to do their thing.
Overall take emphasis away from the faction leaders and big big characters. Enough Jaina, enough Anduin, enough Velen, enough all of that. Back in the day seeing a big name lore character used to be a big deal. Wow actually excels at small time goofy story quest lines. More emphasis on that and less on grand world spanning crusades.
I typed up a big post but I deleted it because the truth is Blizz and I just fundamentally don’t see the Alliance the same way. All the things I think would help are never going to happen. Sorry for the negative answer, but I’ve been seeing threads on this subject since Cata, and things never, ever get better.
I don’t think there is one best way. It would take a multifaceted effort. A bit of an overhaul on various fronts. It isn’t an issue of a rising tide lifting all boats, when there are spaceships and floating cities in the mix.
And what is best for some is not best for others. If Stormwind suddenly had Noble Lords flexing their grip, and civil unrest, it may create interesting stories, but the folks who relish in Stormwind’s aesthetics may revile the sudden tonal shift.
There are folks who want the Alliance to make a play for Lordaeron or Quelthalas. There are others who want to reestablish holdings on Kalimdor that may have been uprooted in the War of Thorns.
In BfA, the Worgen were in Darkshore and Genn was in Zuldazar as well. But if the choice becomes more aggression in the Eastern Kingdoms, what would Genn do? I guess that depends on what happens with Sylvanas.
Sylvanas could be an Undead High Elf and work with Bolvar and the Death Knights, or the High Elves in the Alliance. That might lead to drama. Or she might symbolically consider herself an Undead Sindorei, and rejoin the Horde. Or die fighting the Jailer. But she may have an impact on the Alliance. If she dies, or rejoins the Alliance, Genn might just be fine with peace, and be averse to more bloodshed.
And Yrel is around. I can see a scenario where Azeroth is peachy keen, and the Horde and Alliance focus on peace and rebuilding… and then Yrel comes with a vengeance.
That is a long way of saying that there is a lot to it, and many variables and loose ends still, to determine a best route.
The Horde’s position in the northern Eastern Kingdoms having collapsed should be an obvious story hook for future Alliance narratives but lol
A lot of those are good ideas.
I see the Night Elves leaving the Alliance like the Blood Elves, to rebuild their civilization. Perhaps growing a new world tree on another island on the other side of Azeroth in a secret location.
Lightforged Draenei invading Azeroth and forcing the Alliance to convert or die in their campaign to kill all non-titan-forged races.
Split between humanoid and non-humanoid Forsaken over the future of Lordaeron and what faction it should belong to.
But this might be asking too much of the writing team.
Blizzard seemed to be going in a similar direction with a “Light bad” expansion by bringing in a villain-batted Yrel and AU Draenei - or as I call it “Scarlet Crusade 2: Electric Boogaloo. Starring AU Draenei and Naaru”. This is something I’m against for various reasons (especially since villain-batting Yrel was a horrible idea - especially since her first victims are her former oppressors).
To be fair, Turalyon’s plan to expand Alliance borders being manipulated by the Scarlet Crusade is a good idea as long as the “grey vs grey” conflict is kept in mind and it’s not “Alliance bad, Horde good”.
I think a better way to advance the story is to have infighting within the Alliance. Maybe the Night Elves plan to secede from the Alliance in response to how the Fourth War handled. Maybe the Dwarfs get super-fixated on Azeroth, secede from the Alliance and go all isolationist.
I think a good compromise with Light-related things is having Void Elves vs Lightforged Draenei. The Void Elves have the Void Lords whispering in their ears, some succumb to the corruption, but some don’t. A group of Lightforged Draenei, maybe under Fareeya, get carried away trying to solve the problem (Turalyon’s not as involved as his experience with Alleria shows Void Elves can do good). I think that would satisfy those who want Alliance bad guys, those who want Light bad guys and advance the story without dumping on or retconning existing lore.
The best way to advance the stories of all the races, the Horde, and the Alliance, is to do away with big overarching stories that are catch-all advancements of the entire faction. There needs to be a focus on the homefront again, defining and fleshing out the races and zones once more and advance the story that way. Advancing the faction as a whole should be done via crossovers, not via a massive meta story that ends up being ‘Stormwind and Friends’.
The scope of the advancement for both factions right now is basically two huge lakes with the depth of a puddle. The story for either of them cannot advance in a meaningful, complex way until there’s a solid base again, that base being the races that make them up.
If there had been a possibility for Night Elves to be still part of the story after Shadowlands, I’d obviously have wanted them to build a future for themselves and ensure that the Horde can never commit a genocide on that level again. Get a new home, their zones back, build defenses and a future for themselves.
Also Anduin needs to stop being the supreme ruler of all Alliance races, and the Alliance has to stop being a plot device for the Horde’s stories, meaning that it needs to stop forgiving the Horde when it’s most convenient for the Horde.
I want the Alliance to stop being the victim of the Horde’s atrocities and I want them to actually strike back, especially when it’s inconvenient for the Horde.
But well, I’m not really interested in the Alliance anymore since Night Elves and everything they had can’t be part of the story or the Alliance anymore.
I’m a bit biased here because I really just want Night Elves to be part of the future, and I couldn’t ever see myself play another race if they aren’t allowed to.
Yes, playing a Night Elf “aren’t allowed to”…
You can play a Night Elf, tho…
I know you prefer to simply post and be ignorant of gameplay. But people can play Night Elves in the story.
Probably it’s like with the gnomes. Wait fifteen years (I don’t know the exact time) waiting for any significant plot.
There were gnomes. Their “trick” was the complete lack of history. No?
You can also play a Forsaken, whose leader abandoned them and won’t in all likelihood return to them, whose territories were lost to story contrivance, whose identity doesn’t exist, and who couldn’t be given substantive representation that was truly their own because… phadaphafoo-flebleh. That option is yes, certainly available to play. You can select as your avatar a man or woman with no home, no identity, no real leadership unless you want to count Calia, and certainly no sense of a future to look forward to.
Yes, it’s unappealing and forsaken players have told me that they hate that - but I guess we’re supposed to pretend that such is alright because hey - at least they haven’t greyed them out on the select character screen. Right?
No - it is not alright - or ALL right. There are wrongs.
But, Night Elves are Playable. As are Forsaken. I feel drunk that I have to even say that. (But I am also drunk from some booze)
A large-scale Alliance campaign against the Forsaken is not a “story contrivance.” The only contrivance is that it didn’t happen 4 expansions sooner.
I know that you think that the Forsaken are just the EK equivalent of Night Elves and thus subject to 1:1 comparisons Kyalin, but that’s extremely, totally wrong. There’s a history between humans and the undead that is approximately a thousand times more complex than the history between Orcs and Night Elves.