I mean, there are factions who certainly shouldn’t be too happy about what Sylvanas did to the World Tree and its civilians. Factions who also have night elves in them and are very close to the nature, such as the cenarion circle/expedition or the dreamweavers?
Surely they would react to an unprovoked genocide against their own people, and the destruction of a huge chunk of nature? Why didn’t they react at all?
I mean this wasn’t just a normal act of war, Teldrassil was way different than that, and blizzard has made that clear.
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Because nobody but night elves care about night elves to Blizzard.
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Because they are neutral?
I mean there have to be some ties of loyalty and understanding within the neutral factions themselves that have kept them out of the faction this long. Teldrassil would certainly be a big strain, especially on the cenarion circle, but the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, as they say.
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Probably 'cuz Blizzard decided that they aren’t part of the story they want to tell in BFA.
This is what happens when you have devs and writers who don’t care 'bout continuity and cohesion in their story… they just want “cool and awesome dungeons”.
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Lore reason, they camping in front of giant sword soaking up the sweat and tears of player because of the Azerite system.
Real reason, if they actually bothered to spend the time writing those reactions scenes then it it would take away from them polishing the fourth and fifth Sadfang cinematic.
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we didn’t see any reaction… just like from any of the others horde leaders apart from saurfang or sylvanas because it would be kinda incovenient for whatever plot they are planning.
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As far as the story is concerned, I would think that it’s a complicated matter. Most of the neutral factions perform important duties that I doubt the membership would abandon lightly. Since Azeroth just got stabbed and is bleeding everywhere and the Horde and Alliance are busy with their biennial renewal of pointless conflict, I’d normally say that’s enough to keep their attention.
However, since we’re talking about the destruction of a world tree, Sylvanas displaying more and more Scourge-like tendencies, and the rise of Old God influence that directly ties into Azeroth’s well-being, I do think that it’s odd that the druidic orders, as well as the Argent Dawn and the Knights of the Ebonblade haven’t at least acknowledged what’s going on.
Realistically though, what Degawaza and Surma just said. Blizzard seems to struggle with juggling the ramifications of some of the factions, weapons, and technology that they introduce. So they usually just ignore them.
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Being a neutral organization means they don’t take sides in the Alliance/Horde conflicts. Specific members may have a problem with Teldrassil but siding with the Alliance after it means they lose their Neutral status along with any funding, resources, perks, etc being on good terms with the Horde may give them.
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Dragon Aspects: “Well, we are mostly dead, dispersed, and depressed. Oh look, some of the filthy mortals burnt down that Old God tree we didn’t wanna bless. Who cares?”
Under most circumstances it would be because this just isn’t “their expansion,” so they’re ignoring everything so the Devs don’t have to write for them.
BfA at least provided an excuse; per events in Silithus groups like the Cenarion Circle and Earthen Ring in particular are occupied with trying (albeit unsuccessfully) to heal the planet’s Azerite problem.
Also since this ia a “faction war” expansion they naturally lean into the idea that the Alliance and Horde are both unstoppable juggernauts that no neutral faction would dare oppose, despite both factions pathetically getting their faces kicked in and having to sit out most of the Burning Legion’s invasion while said neutral factions did their job for them.
After Legion the Alliance and Horde should be largely militarily irrelevant, but we just gotta have our idiotic PvP storyline, so they pull massive armies out of nowhere and everyone just gets out of their way or becomes a subservient Allied Race.
Which serves largely to just make me despise both factions because it means while players and their neutral allies busted our backsides saving the world from annihilation, the Alliance and Horde were apparently holding out on us in the face of Armageddon so that they’d have plenty of manpower and resources left afterward to waste fighting each other.
It all just makes it feel like neither the Alliance nor the Horde really belong in their own world and universe. Both factions are bad for Azeroth and everyone else living there, and they’re bad for the overall story because their continued existence forces the Devs to continuously mangle WoW’s overall worldbuilding just to keep accommodating them.
I mean, neither of them meaningfully participated in the defeat of their shared ultimate antagonist. The Burning Legion, which was effectively responsible for the Horde and Alliance existing at all, got taken down without either because the fundamental basis for their continued presence in WoW has become so incompatible with anything that isn’t about an inter-faction conflict that they had to be sidelined for the conclusion to their own mutual origin story.
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The ‘neutral’ factions haven’t really responded to anything happening in the war.
It’s because once they start to intervene on one side or the other, they stop being seen as neutral by players, which can make it hard for them to be branded as such in later expansions.
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Blizzard can barely show the effects of the UC being destroyed in game so the fact they can’t do thst there is no way they can show other groups reacting.
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During the Battle for Stromgarde we see the restored Order of the Silver Hand fighting alongside Turalyon. They have seemingly purged the Horde elements from their ranks and now fight for the Alliance.
Remember that in Legion the paladins of Azeroth unite under the new Highlord into a reformed Order of the Silver Hand, and operate out of the catacomb beneath Light’s Hope Chapel. BFA has seen this unity undone, and It remains to be seen if the Argent Crusade has split from the Order and become a neutral faction again.
Edit:
Thinking on it, the new Silver Hand may have dissolved. The knights at Stromgarde being the original members that, up until Legion, remained in the Alliance.
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The partisan members of those factions have either deserted or have taken an open-ended leave of absence to join their respective faction armies.
That might leave only skeleton ranks for the Cenarian Circle and Earthen Ring and those remnants who haven’t joined the Faction war seem to have coalesced around Magni for leadership.
During the Ideas Can Come from Anywhere quest Galzowe - who you talk to for the quest credit even Alliance side - had the following to say to me:
Gazlowe says: Beat it, chump. Ya ain't in my crew, so I got nothin' for you.
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Yeah, Gazlowe’s a good example. The Horde player character is the only member of the Horde that’s “part of his crew”. All the rest are goblins working for him as part of a Steamwheedle expedition to explore Mechagon and he’s not in cahoots with any Horde leaders or the military.
But he’s now pretty much considered a Horde character now.
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In a contradiction, though, looking at the Gazlowe NPC at Mechagon, there is one broadcast text quote that he says but that I haven’t seen yet:
Gazlowe says: Huh, this partnership wasn't half bad. Reminds me how profitable working with you Alliance mooks can be.
Anyone know when he says this?
Well some of the factions such as the Cenarion Circle and the Earthen Ring are focused on healing Azeroth from the stabbing. Khadgar mentioned that he was pursuing this as well and as the leader of the Kirin Tor, it’s a rather safe assumption that the Kirin Tor is as well. The Argent Crusade took a major beating during the Legion Invasion and then further split when the paladin orders returned to their factions.
As for the others? I have no idea what they are doing and what not.
After King Mechagon is killed in Operation: Mechagon Prince Erazmin, Gazlowe, Prince Erazmin, and Tinkmaster Overspark appear/run into the room and have a dialogue moment. That’s where Gazlowe mentions this. Not sure if faction plays a part in who says what or what either side sees though.
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Thank you. I haven’t run the dungeon yet.