Honestly, it was rather obvious this would end up being this way.
As I said in the past, the circumstances that facilitated the inclusion of the Zandalari mimicked that of plenty other “allies of convenience” such as the Forsaken and the BEs.
And it’s obvious that given both narrative restrictions and ingame storytelling, said differentiation couldn’t last.
As Roux said, she’d love to have a future about a third faction, but as of now, that’s not the case.
Called it a few days ago 
but honestly it didn’t really make that much sense anymore the Zandalari would just be allies without being in the faction properly…for several reasons, the main one is that Blizzard want to go in the direction of unity with the Horde and the Horde council (even with all the problems this might entail for the Horde in the future and all difficulties the united leaders might have to surpass even together), and leaving the Zandalari outside of the faction after all that happened to them would be the opposite of this. But make no mistakes, Trolls are Trolls so they will still retain their pride and their need of vengeance anyway even in this case
This basically.
Being part of the faction doesn’t necessarily mean they are to lose their own sense of individuality. Plenty other races managed to maintain certain degree of independence regardless of how affiliated they are to the faction.
Yeah this is rather sad.
Their alliance was a nice homage to WC2 Zul’jin and the Forest Trolls. Oh well, can’t have nice things I guess.
You know Blizzard and you know better than this. Yes that’s what it will boil down to at the end.
Well, the last allies that joined under similar terms enjoyed for quite some time of a certain degree of independence. To the point players addressed them as the “EK Horde”.
Lets hope that with a council this possibility about homogeneity, is reduced even more.
It made sense for the Amani but not for the Zandalari? Seems rather odd to me.
I won’t count on it with Blizzards track record and this “change” (more like they’ve forgotten).
I feel like it would take their pride away.
They’ve been saying for like 3 years that the Alliance might risk breaking apart from internal divisions. Eventually they might fool one or two turds.
As long as she makes Baine good and interesting, I’m happy.
It won’t fall, but ir’ll have division. Anduin and Tyrande won’t be the reason though (I think), it’ll have something to do with Turalyon and the scarlet crusade.
Is it possible to make such a flat and dull character as Baine interesting?
that’s not what he’s saying at all.
he’s worried that this new book, and SL as a whole, will follow Blizzard’s usual pattern of throwing up a new perspective on a character’s scummy actions then expecting everyone to act as if this new perspective legitimises everything.
just because someone refuses to accept justifications for a character’s crimes doesn’t necessarily mean that person is an unthinking “hater”. sylvanas is guilty of some pretty heinous stuff, and while fresh perspective might explain her actions it doesn’t excuse them.
Thanks for defending me. Zarao is not that far off, though. I mean… I am implying that she has become a cardboard bad guy and that I am not open to changing that. Mostly because she already was a more complex bad-ish guy before, and has become a cardboard bad guy. I lost any interest in her with that. I am not willing to invest emotionally in her again. Just like with Jaina, I don’t care for their explanations for flip-flopping anymore, it’s just a waste of my time.
And yeah, that’s not about the lore facts. They can give me an explanation that perfectly fits her every word and action since forever, and I still won’t care. It’s because trying to make me accept a character I gave up on again is an uphill battle against my emotional resistance.
And since it’s a story, how I feel about it is very much more important than the fictional facts. They failed at manipulating my feelings in an entertaining way with her story, and any explanation they give now will just be throwing good attempts after bad ones.
I’d be very, very surprised if it made me care again. I mean… I’ll certainly find something I’ll enjoy arguing about, but I don’t really think that’s the goal here.
This, pretty much.
I don’t like what they did with Sylavanas but the damage is done, and to such an extent that it made the character unsalvageabe for me.
That’s not to say I’m no longer interested in the conclusion of her arc, but at this point I fully expect it to be equally bad und unsatisfying and that makes it hard to feel any investment at all.
The Scarlet Crusade is no more.
Even if I’m of the same opinion, and in no way expect nor want Sylvanas character to magically flip back out of her villain role, I also think that if Roux manages to throw in some curve balls that make me understand her goals beyond “Lol, she crazy now”, then I’ll welcome it.
The point about liking characters like Thanos, Hades, or any other villain in any fantasy setting, is the fact that they gave them at least some point that makes their actions somewhat understandable to some degree.
As of now, Sylvanas goals and stance seem to be based around her turning suddenly crazy and stupid evil.
And if Roux manages to extend this courtesy for the likes of Nathanos, they might yet salvage some of their traits and mend some of the damage done by the villain bat.
Bringing some reasoning to this whole mess, can still save the Forsaken from losing the traits they had, the ones that were expressively demonised to create BfAs antagonism.
“Turning suddenly crazy and evil”, if you were blind and missed her torturing civilians in Classic, or becoming increasingly similar to the Lich King in Cataclysm (which is even stated multiple times).
Oh but it is! How else would you expect division among the Alliance? Every member actually likes and respects Anduin but Turalyon? I do see him and Genn fighting for command over what to do! Afterall, we know Turalyon did not die because of a supposedly future role.
NEs telling the rest of the Alliance to go eff themselves if they truly want to force on them some stupid peace treaty with the Horde that invaded their lands.
Alternatively, having the rest of the Alliance members waking up to the fact that more often than not the factions interests are dependent on what Stormwinds kingdom and king, want.
Having division amongst the Alliance isn’t hard. Blizzard just needs to start writing its members as not being magically hypnotized by Anduins shiny…hair.
While having them be more conscious regarding the role they are often forced to play.
The different races, including the Night Elves, are tired of war. Obviously they seek justice for what was done but Anduin’s actually level-headed and Shandris, for example, has expressed that Tyrande is being reckless. I would see Turalyon being much less understanding in that aspect while Genn would support the Kal’dorei who still want war (there is a division even among the kal’dorei though). With that said, I think in the end, Anduin won’t be the reason for the Alliance dividion, but Genn and Turalyon will.
As for Maiev, she’ll end up siding with Genn but Tyrande/Shandris will be more likely to side with Anduin that though there should be justice in the sense that the night elves should get their hands back, but with compromise.
I’m cautiously hopeful in this regard, too. The excerpts look promising so far and I like her portrayal of Nathanos and especially the trolls.
It’s good that she wants to try and do every character justice and paint a more diverse picture instead of just singing the praise of her personal favourites.
If she’ll succeed at that in the end remains to be seen, but so far she’s done a pretty good job.