i dont fault anyone for being an enthusiast for the faction war but after all these years of it an utter lack of breakthrough of any level of peace feels more jarring than not being at each others throats. there are more things to make war on than just the factions. nuance is not blizz’s strongsuit but i at least have been enjoying seeing the culture clashing thats come from darkspear trolls being social with gnomes. at least it doesnt feel stagnant
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I’ve always been (/tried to be) pretty clear that I have no issue with Faction War Enjoyers. It’s mostly that I get a bit 
when it’s described as the only worthwhile theme to explore in the game, or when someone bemoans that it’s “meant to be World of WARcraft!!”
Every expansion has war as its axis. This time, we’re at war with the Primal Incarnates and their army.
Relating to the factions, we get the aftermath of a story centred on conflict that played itself out over about sixteen years of the game. The “path to peace” hasn’t been done super well, but it has been there.
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I don’t remember MoP having an excessive usage of the words peace, adventure or even war, maybe conflict but that’s mostly Taran Zhu being justifiably irked.
Notice how there was more than just war as well to MoP, it’s not just single themed. However I’ll give the benefit of time to DF as I’m not judging a finished expansion here.
The obtuse nature doesn’t personally bother me, I just would like more flavors into this dish even if it’s satisfactory so far.
They don’t fully work since they’re nobodies and there isn’t much Blizzard can do about it. If it lacks setup of course people won’t resonate and long for just another dreary faction war because at least they have a history with the NPCs faced.
i understand that and its exactly how i feel. do people watch star wars and get mad when the stars arent always warring… /s
but your 100% right the theme of war is always present. today its the primalists. yesterday it was war with the legion. at one point it was war with the mogu. at another warring against the scourge. we’ll always have war. and even if some day somehow the factions have a lasting peace… border conflicts will always be there. resource conflicts will always be there. pvp is not going away.
"Because war, war never changes."
MoP had an excessive usage of the words “balance”, “harmony” and the like.
(Still the best written expansion. Though it’s not like the bar is that high.)
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And back then the same people were moaning about wanting something new instead of recycling same NPCs and enemies.
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The primalists and incarnates are cool enemies and I think honestly Blizz did a great job with them.
Their existence is a little bit of an “out of nowhere” thing since they never came up before, but their motivations are generally clear and - even if you disgree with them - comprehensible, their actions are ones which requires a response from the player, they feel ‘Warcraft’ in that they’re based in Azeroth and things we’ve seen before (elements, dragons).
And most importantly their character designs? Kinda slap.
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I maintain that Blizzard right now has a very unique opportunity to undo the disasters of BfA by devoting an entire expansion to patching up and updating the Old World by introducing new questlines that take you through all the different old zones to the next max level.
Throughout these zones, you as a representative of the Alliance/Horde/A Champion of Azeroth, will be helping to rebuild, negotiate and settle old hatreds that yet remain in the wake of the Fourth War. This current three-year peace is a perfect set-up for a new level of world-building and storytelling where we can return to the old zones with a new purpose to rebuild them (some zones every few major patches will be updated to HD to show the progress and have new quests as a result).
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With the current emphasis on Deathwing’s past and the Aspects regaining their power, I can easily see that becoming a segue into the expansion you’re describing - the Aspects helping us patch up some of the Cataclysm stuff etc etc.
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That would be too cool/make too much sense, which is why they’ll never do it.
(Also, I posit that the whole “buh muh WARcraft!” could all have been avoided if they’d been more ambitious with the name back in 2004. Yes, World of Warcraft does a good job tying it to the RTS games, but its super annoying when people cling to semantics for the sake of a mono-thread argument imo…)
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Although I enjoyed faction war RP and RP PvP, perhaps the most aggravating part of RP in that time period was having faction war bros acting (both IC and OOC with little to no barrier separating them) that every second not committing violent war crimes for no reason other than cheap shock value makes you a traitor.
The levels to which people were polarised and took things to heart during BFA because you disagree with their takes re: the war was extremely embarrassing.
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I don’t think it’s too much to ask for them to be hinted or worked into the world before being ethered into existence. Even the Cult of the Damned has some lore. Primalists have a pinky finger deep motivation, few figures bar the main incarnates and just not enough plain old conversation with the people in their ranks. Are they all Shamans? Do they irrespectively like dark Shamans use elemental energies without consent? What’s the position of the elemental Lords about them? What do the Primalists intend to do should their goal ever be attained? Pure anarchy with everyone for themselves or build anew? Question I’d be happy to explore.
So unless they’re here to stay beyond just DF, yeah I think it’s fair to just say these guys have still a lot to prove.
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While these questions might be things we want answers to, ultimately none of them are that crucial to them. They’re additional fluff, but you could raise the same questions about other villain factions we’ve had before which have nevertheless been enjoyed just fine.
Though on the question of if they’re using elemental energies without consent, it certainly doesn’t seem like it - the primalists all seem to be calling on unbound elementals, the polar opposite of dark shaman control. Indeed the elementals seem pretty on board with the primalists. And perhaps future patches may explore that.
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Most of these villain factions have had some background, even if it was just created at the same time when they appeared.
Primalists (outside of Incarnates) have none of that. We don´t know how they were created, who created them, how they even came to find out about the Incarnates. Basically, they just appeared one day. We don´t even know why they want what they want, it´s literally just “here are guys who want to undo what Titans did”.
And, given how much prominence is given to Incarnates and Sundered Flame, I´m going to press X for doubt that we´ll ever learn about the mortal Primalists. Which definitely doesn´t sound like a good storytelling.
There was also a lot of weird escalation and attempts at one upmanship with some.
“You burned that village? Well I’m going to mana bomb that town!”
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Personally if I have to choose between Dragonflight and BfA I will choose Dragonflight a thousand times over with absolutely no hesitation. Some of the worst periods of RP, gameplay and story in this game came from BfA.
The faction war ended in MoP and should have stayed there, repeating the mistake 5 years later because your sub numbers are low is 
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“The Alliance entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.” ~ Aerilen “Aerial Cremation for the Stromic Nation” Ashforge.
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I won’t disagree that getting some more time with notable primalists (like Kurog, who seems to have been completely wasted, unfortunately) would be nice, it’s not a deal breaker.
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Blizzard, put in minimum effort, I beg you.
Or, y’know, hire people.who give a damn and then don’t oppress and burn them out, kthanxbye