If I could change the story

Lore Story
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So, the faction loyalty thread inspired me to write this. I am going forward to ask a simple question and then you can let out something you really want. The way Battle for Azeroth story goes. What is it in changes of writing the story, if you would be the lead writer and had a relatively free hand to do almost anything?

One simple set of rules first. No hyperbole regarding factions. No changes just to simply spite or hurt the other faction as hard as possible(Not counting Teldrassil never happening or stuff like that, you can change that as you feel like). Has to involve a bigger threat, for the bigger picture of the plot(If the change you wants has a bigger impact only). And, of course, if it is something smaller, feel free to include that too. A sidestory maybe, extra development for a character you feel like it was robbed of deserved screentime etc etc etc.

Alright. Let’s go.

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I would change


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Varian doesn’t die in Legion. There, problem fixed.

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Tirion survives to become the 4th Horseman and thus Sylvanas wisely decides not to go start the Blood War.

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Jesus, too many to name.

If I were to change as few gameplay elements as possible.

I’d start with Outland most likely. De-villain bat Kael and Illidan, establish some proper legion lore and give us a pique at their civilisation (Because whatever Argus was supposed to be wasn’t civilisation). Outland would focus on Kil’jaeden’s assault and his minions. The Sunwell isn’t restored and remains defunct. Final boss is still Kil’jaeden (But not in the Sunwell). He survives the encounter still.

Moving forward to Wrath I’d make the Lich King feel more dangerous, have him actually win a few battles. I’d tone down Sylvanas a lot so she comes off as less nasty and evil. Give her a bit of humanity, and I’d change her model to make her actually look a little more undead.

Cata
 ugh, it’s a mess in general. I guess I’d start by making deathwing less big roar dragon and more scheming strategist like he was in WC 2’s novelisations. Then I’d delete all the meme quests and use the world revamp to actually answer some lore questions. TBC and Wrath would become optional ‘timewalking’ areas via the caverns of time while Azeroth would scale to 85. I think that’d help the storytelling and cohesion of the narrative by a ton.
The plague would still be used in conquering Gilneas and the Northern Eastern Kingdoms, but against Sylvanas’ orders. Giving her a bit of drama to deal with. Thrall dies during the initial Cataclysm or is assassinated by Deathwing masquerading as one of his advisors, naming Garrosh as his successor before he kicks the bucket.
Deathwing isn’t the direct cause of the Cataclysm, that’s actually due to an old god managing to break out of its prison.

In MoP I’d de-villain bat Garrosh and have a resurrected Y’shaarj be the final boss. Theramoore still gets nuked, but Garrosh’s reasons are different. It’s a retaliation against the Barrens conflict. He also doesn’t pursue the civilians once he lets them escape. Internal drama is still caused but he doesn’t go insane.

WoD
 wouldn’t exist.

Same goes for Legion.

And BfA.

I’d take the story in another direction and overall tone down the factions having to team up to deal with big bads.

That’s a basic overview. I could go into a detailed several hour rant to be perfectly honest, but I don’t have the energy to care.

Edit: Wait, is this for the current expansion only?

I’d have Anduin dethroned somehow and the High King position is dissolved. The Alliance attack first, led by Genn and Tyrande. In retaliation the Horde invade and have Teldrassil occupied rather than burnt. Efforts are, however, made to kill the tree to stop the Druids using it against the occupiers. Give Sylvanas some kind of epiphany that makes her care about more than just herself. Maybe Nathanos almost dies or some cringe like that.
Have Baine killed off for treason when he inevitably betrays the Horde. Make his treason very god-damn visible so that the rest of the Horde acknowledges there’s no saving him.

Lordaeron is occupied by the Alliance, the Undead don’t do very well there as the Alliance wants vengeance for Gilneas and Southshore.

Talanji dies in Dazar’alor. Not Rastakhan, this drives him towards the Horde. The Alliance also fail to detonate the Horde fleet, making their invasion much rougher. Fortunately for them most of the fleet bought their distraction. Heavy losses on both sides. Jaina actually dies during the retreat while Mekkatorque survives unfrozen.

By 8.2 Arathi is in Horde hands and Darkshore in Alliance. Both factions are gearing up to retake their cities. Both of them succeed after a long campaign and a raid.

Azeroth keeps having problems. The constant earthquakes cause N’zoths chains to weaken enough that he frees himself. Azshara isn’t even in this expansion, but her Naga are.

By 8.3 both factions are too weak to keep fighting, but at the same time are unwilling to stop because of what the other faction did while occupying those cities,. They defeat N’zoth despite one another rather than because of one another. Similar to how Arthas was defeated.

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To make this clear again, anything pre BfA still happens. This is about all after Argus and Sargeras are taken down post Legion.

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If it is just BfA
 just play it for laughs, really. I would tell the writers to stop pretending the story was to be taken seriously and tell them just to make it a parody. Leave the cheesy dialogue in, but put something in that hints that you are aware that this is laughable. Put some Horde grunts in discussing how ridiculous it was to destroy Teldrassil with catapults. Make hidden references to Blizzard’s writers as wilfull gods.

Oh, and reduce the number of automatic cutscenes and cinematics. You shouldn’t have to deal with the story, now that it’s unsavable.

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In that case then Liadrin is caught transporting corpses to Sylvanas from Light’s Hope (so many potential powerful knights to use) and promptly stopped by the Ebon Blade. Hence, we don’t get to hear DARKNESS CANNOT ABIDE WITHIN THE LIGHT so many times and Sylvanas is still kept in check. Tirion’s body still goes missing and he turns up to replace Mograine. The latter steps down and resumes his duties as the (other) Highlord.

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Teldrassil and Darkshore are attacked after UC is sieged. As a consequence of it.

First half fixed.

Sylvanas doesn’t order the burning of the tree. Azshara manipulates the situation to make it seem such from an Alliance POV.

Second half fixed.

The rest goes as it naturally would.

There you go, expansion fixed.

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I would change the following:

Lordaeron or Silvermoon would be destroyed first. Intel could reach SI:7 that Forsaken and Blood Elves have been creating Azerite Manabombs and plans are discovered to attack Stormwind.
So either city falls - personally, Silvermoon would be the better target for story sake as it would drive the Elves to Sylvanas’ Horde.
Either way, this assault would be led by Genn, Jaina, Alleria, Anduin and Shandris.

The defence would be led by Sylvanas, Nathanos, Lorth, Saurfang and Thalyssra

This pushes Sylvanas to attack either Darnassus or the Exodar. Now destruction would only make sense and the Exodar would be the easier target. This could be where we see a darker side to Velen and we see a final confrontation between Velen and Sylvanas.
This assault would be spearheaded by Sylvanas, Lorth and Saurfang, with Nathanos and Liadrin as chief commanders.

The defence would be led by Velen, Turaylon and Tyrande, with commanders being Ishannah and Tess Greymane/Lorna Crowley

Now as for the expansion’s nitty gritty - my change would not result in a rebellion 2.0 and Sylvanas would be “my Warchief.”
I would also go back to the common fights that we’re used to.
The Arathi Warfront would have been Humans, High Elves, Dwarves and LF Draenei vs Forsaken, Sin’dorei and Shal’dorei.
The Ashenvale Warfront (not Darkshore) would be Kaldorei, Worgen and Draenei vs Orcs, Trolls, Tauren and Goblins.

Queen Azshara would pop in every now and then in Stormsong Valley and Nazmir, but she would not be as big as she is now. Due to this, Azshara’s Warbringer would be Tyrande’s Warbringer.
The Night Warrior thing would not happen.

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I’m just gonna do BfA. So, what would I change, hmm. I would go full-on faction war. If I was responsible for WoW, I would do it like this:

  • Kul Tiras and Zandalar are still the main continents, but there’s no Nazjatar, I think it would be better used in an expansion with different theme
  • Pre-event would be different for both factions: Alliance would focus on capturing Hillsbrad while the Horde would conquer Ashenvale/Darkshore
  • Change Anduin’s character, let him try to make peace in the beginning, it doesn’t work, Horde starts weaponizing azerite anyway and attacks, thinking him weak, his response is a normal human one and he says “no more”.
  • First raid wouldn’t be Uldir (though G’huun would still appear - I’ll get to that later), but Teldrassil/Undercity - the attacking faction would have 6 bosses in the enemy city, while the defenders would have 3 bosses - “the defense” would mainly focus on evacuating the city and protecting the escaping civillians, so 9 bosses total, mirroring each other in abilities of course
  • No “le Jaina saves everything” at UC, actually use gas masks, make a lot of the raid revolve around blight mechanics, Faranell would be the last boss
  • Teldrassil doesn’t burn, Horde captures it and uses the wood for resources, basically slowly killing the giant tree, final boss of that raid is some lunar avatar of Elune
  • Have a naval battle with Kul Tiran and Golden fleets, I wanted that since announcement and I’m willing to sacrifice all Saurfang cinematics for it, both fleets are badly damaged, Kul Tirans underestimated the trolls, but they win in the end, by summoning some mumbo-jumbo from the depths (imagine gigantic CGI kraken grasping ships and sinking them)
  • Battle of Dazar’Alor still happens, but the objective is to crush the Zandalari, not to “discourage” (lol) them from joining the horde. Of course that doesn’t go according to plan, the loa arrive, small force of the Alliance can’t stand against them, in the last moment someone from the Alliance team (Genn, Shaw, Tandred?) shatter the last seal and release G’huun on the world, then they escape in the chaos
  • 8.2 focuses on dealing with “bigger” threats on each continent, Crucible and Uu’nat on Kul Tiras and G’huun in Uldir on Zandalar, both raids accesible to both factions, cut some bosses from Uldir to make them both around 6 encounters, and add Mechagon and Kezan as zones, why not, at least it’s something new to do

Since it’s supposed to be this large battle over Azeroth, abolish all neutral factions with ties to either playable faction. Kirin Tor and Silver Hand go over to the Alliance, Earthen Ring and Steamwheedle Cartel (eventually) go Horde, Cenarion Circle falls appart.

Also, and this is what’s really important to me, add actual “morally gray” moments, for both factions, though obviously, Alliance needs that more. I’d use them to tie in why neutral factions aren’t neutral anymore.

  • Make Liadrin sabotage Vindicaar when Legion finishes. It’s pretty apparent Blizzard doesn’t want to use it, so it would just get it outside of the picture. This also explains the end of the paladin unity from Legion. Turalyon comes back, filled with hatred against the horde, and leads Silver Hand back to the light (The Alliance)
  • As tensions rise, night elves ban tauren from Moonglade, that’s why Cenarion Circle falls appart
  • Civil war in Dalaran. Have Ansirem Runeweaver come out to us, saying that he’s willing to get Kirin Tor over to the Alliance (with popular support, as shown on Isle of Thunder). Alliance players help him imprison the traitors, and Khadgar is forced to flee
  • While we invade Lordaeron, the remnants of the Scarlet Crusade, fighting guerilla war against the forsaken for years, join our ranks and we purge Brill
  • General Hath and some of the remaining Alteraci soldiers swear their loyalty to us, combine forces with the remnants of Stormpike Guard, which forces Frostwolf Clan to fight besides the horde again, we also get updated Alterac Valley out of this

Another thing I would do is much more focus on the old Azeroth. Initally there would be two fronts, from Stromgarde to the Plaguelands and from Stonetalon to Hyjal. Later two more would be introduced - The Barrens and Stranglethorn.

  • There would be only one official faction (reputation) in each of the fronts, but it would be comprised of many different members
  • In Northern EK, we would have League of Arathor, Gilneas Liberation Front, Kirin Tor, Silver Hand + Scarlets + some npcs from original Hilsbrad, Alterac Loyalists and Wildhammer Dwarves versus Defilers, Frostwolf Clan, remnants of the Undercity, Blood Elf expedition from Quel’thalas + Nightborne and orc units from Hammerfall
  • As for Kalimdor front, it would be mainly night elves and draenei, with some worgen here and there versus the might of the orcs, trolls, tauren, goblins and some forsaken units. Have some of the ancients actually help the nelves, but they are weakened (either thanks to Xavius or the wound in Silithus). But also have some who will choose the side with the horde, and have something akin to an “ancient civil war” in Hyjal
  • Barrens front would start in a later patch, we would get there with the aid of the kul tiran fleet. Some Northwatch npcs appear (still alive according to missions), but this front is mainly guerilla warfare, trying to cut off the horde pressure from nelf territories, no big battles
  • Stranglethorn would start even later, as both fleets are basically ruined, the horde succeeds in making allies with Steamwheedle goblins and could threathen Stormwind, this forces the Alliance to make truly morally gray allies - Bloodsail and Brashtide buccaneers - if they lend us their ships, plunder from Booty Bay is theirs

Also, add a lot of cosmetic things - tabards, mounts, transmog sets, toys - representing the different factions in our ranks. Each day, a different zone would be available, with wqs, rares and different vendors selling different cosmetic stuff, one in EK, one in Kalimdor (Barrens and STV would be always up).

Earning reputation on one front would unlock story quests there - like the current War Campaign we have.

I could go on and on about details, but this post is far too long already. So TL/DR: make the damned faction war expansion about faction war ffs.

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I would not make Blood Elves join the Horde, because of reasons. :roll_eyes:

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Alright, so.

The War starts in Stormheim.

The Alliance believes that Sylvanas is responsible for what happened to the Alliance on the Broken Shore. Further more, she is an unrepentant war criminal, Gilneas cries for vengeance, and so, the Alliance has its justification for the conflict.

The Horde perceives it as an attack on their Warchief and sovereignty during a world crisis, and are unwilling to stand for that. So, once the Legion is defeated, we settle into a cold war situation kind of situation which explodes over Silithus, where we deliberately leave out who struck the first blow.

Calia doesn’t exist, there’s no Desolate Council. War erupts everywhere where the Horde and the Alliance share a border or an ambition, it is bloody, costly, and most importantly, inconclusive. Both factions are bleeding each other dry.

The Undercity is attacked first, the Alliance having prepared gas masks, while the Horde tries to defend it while evacuating the civilians.

The city is taken, the Forsaken forced out, yet they remain entrenched in the Eastern Kingdoms, using the Blight and scorched land tactics to out-maneuver the Alliance. The new Forsaken base is Alterac, and so, the warfront in Arathi makes more sense.

Teldrassil is attacked in retaliation, the night elves also evacuated their civilians, and Azshara burns the tree in a plot to escalate the war, blaming Sylvanas for it. The night elves wage a guerilla war against the Horde through out Northern Kalimdor, and the Horde is in the same situation as the Alliance in the Eastern Kingdoms.

There’s also no need for edgy rituals, since the night elves are fine, just displaced, so cut that out too.

The Zandalari and Kul Tiran fleet almost destroy each other on the open seas, an only then Azshara intervenes, aiming to slaughter or subjugate the surviving commanders in order to weaken the factions further.

That’s about it. Also, Anduin isn’t the commander of the Alliance, only a ruling figure, while the High Command does most of the job.

This would include Shandris, Turalyon, Alleria, Fareeya, Greymane, Halford, Muradin, Moira and Gelbin. And I guess Tandred for the Kul Tirans.

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Burning still happens due azerite stored in the tree from silithus the Alliance and nelfs mined.
But in fight of malf vs sylvannas saurfang still aids by throwing axe in back and then Sylv fights Tyrande while Saurfang goes away (told to by sylvannas)
Ultimatly a lighting blast from azshara in heat of battle sets fire to it and Horde belives night elves did it to drive them away and Ally thinks horde and sylvannas did it.
And burning is as whole less severe. Most civilans wouldve been out alreayd, few die from staying behind or getting struck by the lighting.

And Goldrin aids with defense of their lands aswell as Cenarius but both arrived to late to stop/prevent it but after they came and burning of tree horde had to retreat.

Malfurin is heavly wounded and With cenarius help of cenarius gets healed but not enough to fight yet, and they over expac heal their lands and the tree.(except azharas lighting scar which will take years to restore)

id make sylvannas sitll use plague at undercity as last resort after Tyrande and Jaina show up, but saurfang still stays behind and ultimatly wounds Anduin heavly and he has to be brought away asap to get treatment from velen and other healers.
Jaina and Alleria help escape with portals.
Saurfang gets subdued by alleria and Turalyon.

Tyrande later still goes nightwarrior and kills the valkyr and 99% of horde troops there and while nathanos escapes he gets shot of out sky and his body is half burned away by moonfire and she destroys some ships aswell. But she then is exhausted from pushing herself bit to hard (plus she is new to the dark side of elune powers)

Nathanos wouldnt be seen for quite a while and is presumed dead but later shows up in zandalar found by some fishers.

Id make the horde not fall for stupid trap and sending all their military away from dazaralor.
Some still go and no night elves are there outside few but not loads. More other troops.
Id make them not destroy entire fleet and have rastakhan be pushed back and defeeated but not die and talanji take a hit for him then back up arrivés and Alliance still retreats after temple rumbles from rastakhans fury.
And id make the loa aid more aswell in the defense.

They still fight Jaina on seas and ultimatly Talanji gets fatal hit(or is just in coma for long time) there combined with her earlier wounds.
Jaina is alive but actully has a slightly cracked staff( she pushed herself freezing a part of the ocean which is hard) and have a few scars left from the fight.

Id make Baine just sit out the war on kultiras and zandalar .
And focus on defending his homeland from Alliance and some angry night elves aswell that wanna kill the horde(as they think its all hordes fault for the tree)

Ratsakhan fully joins the horde with zandalari. Weakend but still strongest/biggest navy there is And bwonsamdi dint betray him and he tries to convince rastakhan to give him part of his soul or so or alot of souls in general to save his daughter where rest of loa failed.

Also id make Kragwa Eat some Alliance soliders in a cutscene while he hops after some ships but then returns.

Alliance has to regroup and they try to push for some important soliders back or else saurfang will die which they have captured.
And be strive between the nelfs, lightforged,void elves worgens and rest of Alliance, those who wanna go to extremest ends to end them and others who wanna regroup get more organized again.

Azshara’s nagas start invading over the world and ultimatly the sea opens up like does now but its lot grander of a underwater city and zone (more like vashjir + surumar and Nh)
Tyrande is there she comes to check it out after heearing or seeing azshara open the see, malfurion who isnt fully recovred stays in darkshore to defend and work to heal the tree with cenarius.

Also id do no ashvane there really, she’d be there but quikly kileld by the naga after they got her plans for more weapons. Also no jaina there.

Azshara still lives and escapes but thalysra and tyrande bond bit closer but both still return to factions And both help their troops escape from there with teleportation for thalysra and tyrande making some highborne makes make portals back. and sea beings to close again but the hearth of azeroth was aslo broken after the fight and it collapsed the prison of n’zoth which makes so he couldnt escape at all.

Then war continues and Night elves have since gotten lands back ,malfurion is healed the tree is restored and no fire anymore but still has some visible dmg from azsharas lighting that will still need time to heal on its own.
They get Most of Azshara lands aswell and Orgrimar is under siege aswell by Alliance and horde has to defend.

Where nathanos dies and ultimatly is little of ogrimar left after Tyrande helped the siege but she pushes herself overtop completly destroying the city(like few small parts would still stand basicly ruins).

Sylvannas gets heavly injured in fight with tyrande but both live ultimatly.
The orcs move Further back while only area of horde land is part of azshara where galywix is.(see it as him making deals to keep it from horde and Alliance as his own)

On EK horde gets ghostlands fully and plaguelands outside argent dawn/crusade area. Arathi aswell.
And silvermoon is fully restored by now (as is exodarand the isle its on) and has extended outposts in ghostlands adn runestones for barrier to protect themself. And 1half is largly nightborne while other mostly Belf.

At end of war sylvannas steps down as warchief as Rastakhan takes over(who has become better leader aswell) and zandalar is the captial of horde But Silvermoon is now exapanded is is big port city of horde along with zandalar and has all the magic stuff and tons of portal networks and was aslo sued to keep civilains safe in their lands from other races.(which fits for lorethemar keeping his people as priority and explains why they arent seen all over).

Ultimatly war ends as both cant push it anymore due troops. But Anduin is aslo after the war removed as leader and its more of council instead of high kin as Genn,Alleria and Tyrande did way more during war then he ever did. ANd he just stays king of Stormwind.
And saurfang at end of war woulde been released but he retires from active fighting.

Also Calia stays death and no lightforged undead.
Mechagon id cut and save as for after all rest and is actully undeground from the vault not on Island.
thrall does come back in end for new warchief rastakhan and to help rebuild a new captial for orcs further down Kalimdor.

Cenarius will often patrol the night elf lands aswell to stop a invasion ever being a thing again in the nelf lands.

The sword id keep around for now aswell but the bleeding is stopped and is kept watch over by magni,earthen ring and cenariun circle and some ancients.

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Story changes? Oh well there are many. I’ll tell only three connected.

  1. Vol’jin would not die in Legion and keep the cursed throne as he is one who would do everything for the horde, bot not the one who would cause unneeded casualties, like Sylvanas did in BfA.
  2. I would also let Varian survive because of 3.
  3. I would let Anduin die by the hand of one of Horde’s Leaders that would let Alliance with more aggressive leaders, giving Varian a reason to hate the Horde more than everything else.
    Just for drama: Let Saurfang accidentally kill Anduin. After all the story about his son and how Varian shown mercy, it would be a huge moment to develop or to break chars.

Why this all? It would be an everlasting war between Blue and Red without need to unite against a common enemy.

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  • i’d write as though i was writing for an MMO instead of a comic book. acknowledge the world is a persistent, slowly changing place which players experience through their characters, rather than treating the game like it’s a long-form superhero comic that players only engage with because they care about how jaina’s doing or want to help out sylvanas or whatever.

  • sack any writer trying to impose their pet narratives on the universe and demand writers conform to pre-existing lore

  • blightcaller goes in the bin

  • put the faction stuff in the background and let the cultures of the individual races shine through more. faction membership would be an undercurrent, instead of a big badge that basically controls what actions and feelings are permissible to members of the various races

  • anduin also goes in the bin

  • humans rewritten to be less boring and american

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I’m going to focus solely on BfA for this, as there are myriad little tweaks and touch-ups I would do all throughout WoW’s long history. But no-one wants to read a post that long, and I am not inclined to write it while at work. So! BfA changes I would make, here we go:

Teldrassil is still destroyed. But not by the Horde. Instead, the Horde are framed and Sylvanas takes the bag as the ‘villain’ for an atrocity she tried to prevent. How does this work?

Imagine this, folks- we know that the Twilight’s Hammer was making a resurgence in the lead up to BfA. We know they began operating in Silithus and Darkshore in great numbers. In Silithus, these fanatics find a fragment of Sargeras’ sword and claim it for their own. The Horde catches wind of a plot- these cultists plan on using the shard to destroy Teldrassil, frame the Horde and ignite a war. So Sylvanas forms an elite strike team to stop this atrocity and try preserve the fragile peace. Meanwhile, the Alliance ALSO catch wind of this plot. But all they hear is the undoctored version. “The Horde plan on destroying Teldrassil.”

So, the Horde arrive and are kicking Twilight butt. Victory is within sight! They can stop the ritual and save Teldrassil! Then the Alliance show up. What do they see? Sylvanas and an elite Horde strike team, in Darkshore, near Teldrassil. What do they assume? These guys are here to destroy Teldrassil, because they’re filthy Horde goddammit. Throw Genn, Grand Admiral Jes-Tereth and Vareesa into the mix as they are very anti-Horde and unlikely to listen to their pleas of innocence. The Alliance charge the Horde, a fight breaks out. Sylvanas is fighting Vareesa, her sister! Time is wasting, the ritual nears completion! She has a choice
 Spare Vareesa, but as a result, witness the destruction of Teldrassil. Or kill her, and try stop the ritual in a last ditch effort.

Sylvanas has always been ready to make the hard choices.

She mortally wounds Vareesa, and rushes to save Teldrassil
 But too late. The Alliance intervention was just enough and at the last moment, the shard of Sargeras’ blade ignites as its Fel-power courses to life. There is a blaze of light - and Teldrassil burns. The tree was not destroyed by catapults that can fire flaming rocks over an entire ocean, but instead by the twisted dark magic of a Fallen Titan’s blade. A shard of evil that our artifacts were unable to nullify, as it had broken free from the main sword.

Sylvanas returns to find Vareesa dying. She tries to explain this wasn’t her fault, but Vareesa doesn’t believe her. She curses Sylvanas as she dies. The surviving Alliance escape, try save as many as they can on Teldrassil just like in the actual event we got. They return to Stormwind and say “We tried to stop them
 But Sylvanas and the Horde destroyed Teldrassil. Sylvanas killed her sister.”

BfA proceeds as it did up until this point, with the war igniting and the Alliance retaliation at Lordaeron. But this time Saurfang and Baine don’t get all sour and mopey.

Why would I make this change:

The Horde are not the villains, hooray! They actually tried to do a good thing, but Alliance extremism causes them to assume the Horde, and specifically Sylvanas, are up to no good especially after her ‘cowardly retreat’ at the Broken Shore. This also sets the Twilight Hammer (perhaps allied up with the Naga?) as future villains much more powerfully and sets us up for what’s to come. Now Saurfang and Baine don’t have to be all mopey and Sylvanas doesn’t have to be an insane war criminal. The Horde were in the right, this is all a big, tragic misunderstanding and we get to keep some faction pride.

It also sets the story up for the inevitable truce between the Alliance and Horde that we all knew would come. The Alliance discover the truth- it was the Twilight Hammer (and Naga?) who did it. The Horde really were innocent. Oh, the humanity, what have we done? Of course, we don’t have to make the Alliance the sole bad guys. Still have Sylvanas make use of mindless Undead and the Blight - real questionable tactics - because she’s backed up against the wall and will use ‘every arrow in her quiver’ to win the fight. So while Alliance begin the war through their bigoted views and misunderstanding, the Horde prosecute the war dirty. Flaws on both sides, like there SHOULD ALWAYS BE!

P.S. I would also change the Void Elves from having been rogue Blood Elves. Blizzard seem to forget the Sin’dorei are already a minority race that is nearly extinct. Taking a significant chunk of them away to give to the Alliance (which they already did with the High Elves) is a little insulting. The High Elves of the Alliance should have just begun to follow Alleria’s teachings (in my example, in the wake of Vareesa’s death) and begin to turn themselves into Void Elves - simple as that.

P.P.S. I WOULD NOT HAVE DESTROYED ALL OF OUR ARTIFACT WEAPONS! A SIMPLE RESET OR REWORK WOULD HAVE SUFFICED!

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I would burn the second and last tree and then with no horde traitors have the exactly equivalent of SoO, Siege of Stormwind.

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I’d bring back the Kul Tiran fleet, just so I could sink it all again.

Delicious KT tears

Daelin sucks.

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Nice thread Erevien.

Seems you read my mind, since this topic has going around my head a lot, lately.

  1. Faction pride.
    None is ashamed of his faction, everyone gets told to grab arms and man up.
    For the Alliance players: time to rejoice, things are looking good, victory is imminent.
    For the Horde: War came in the worst possible time.
    Either everyone backs up Sylvanas honoured or pragmatic, no matter, she is the Warchief, if the Horde falls, the next expansion, will be spent on the internment camps.

  2. Respect for prisoners.
    They are a valuable asset, can be used as bargain or to help rebuild vital infrastructures damaged during siege or combat.

  3. Alliance attacks first.
    The Horde had his turn during Garrosh period it’s time for the Alliance to have his turn.
    The Horde retreated during, Broken Shore battle, Varian died and none in the Alliance knows that Sylvanas ordered the retreat because Vol’Jin was mortally wounded.
    It’s time for payback, after Stormheim failure, Genn convinces Anduin to lay siege to Undercity.
    Which the Alliance ultimately manages to come victorious.
    Undercity is now on Alliance hands.

  4. The Horde launches a desperate attack on Darnassus, which they manage to succeed, sustaining heavy losses.
    Tyrande and Malfurion manage to escape.

  5. Sylvanas has to use necromancy to fill up the Horde ranks.
    Which Baine and Saurfang protests.
    Conflict erupts, but loyalty remains.
    Players that stand for Sylvanas are asked to do more “pragmatic” quests.
    Players that stand for Saurfang, fight on the front line.
    In the end both Baine, Saurfang and Sylvanas have to accept each other points of view.
    Sylvanas has a faction to run and a war she can’t afford to lose, but she accepts without Honor none is whiling to die in the battle field.
    Saurfang and Baine have to accept that if Sylvanas fails to sustain the Alliance offensive, there will be no tomorrow for them or the Horde.

  6. Azshara comes when the Alliance is about to crush the Horde fleet in a all out naval battle.
    Both player characters are dragged to Nazjatar, where they end up being deceived by Azshara and end up freeing N’Zoth.
    As it’s happening now, but Jaina, Genn, Lor’themar, Thallissra won’t be there.

  7. Azeroth is in danger.
    Hostilities cease immediately.
    Now both factions have to find a way to imprison N’Zoth again.
    Starts the next expansion.

Cheers.

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