That forehead.
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It’s the dead eyes for me.
What really bugs me is not black dragons being from the artisan home world. Or the faction war ending. I don’t care about that at all. What bugs me is how often characters and the story swings between polar opposites with little to no development to explain how or why the gap inbetween was bridged. Jaina is the postergirl for this with her jekyll hyde episodes.
Don’t just tell me we’re at peace now or that the black dragons are all painters now. Show me why it’s that way, show me how things got there. Which invariably happens far too infrequently.
Also DISMANTLE.
You’re gonna lose it when I tell you about this expansion called Battle for Azeroth and the armistice that was signed in the end of it
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It´s not really about more notable ones, but rather giving us reason why they formed and how. We know why Incarnates fought against Aspects, we know why dragonspawn don´t like dragons in general, but for mortals, who were the catalyst behind freeing Razsageth, there´s absolutely nothing.
It´s also these mortals who should be the most interesting Primalists, after all, they´re the people who were one of “us”. We don´t know anything about them, and it´s frankly quite lazy writing (which, IMO, if the expansion was as bad as Shadowlands in terms of gameplay, would be criticized much more).
You mean the expansion where Alliance and Horde had arguably their most brutal war, which ended with Warchief of the Horde saying she never really cared about the Horde, and suddenly the factions were OK with being at peace?
Btw, we still don´t know if night elves signed said truce. Blizzard kinda forgot to tell us what happened with them.
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Or why so many of them are night elves and vulpera.
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Faction war/wars was nice at the time I feel and offered some good stories and roleplay, and it was kinda a core of Warcraft.
But the game is over a decade old and with how the story has progressed & tried to progress, faction war at this point feels kinda outdated to me. It was fun, but it’s long had its time and very much a thing of the past.
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I’m going to have to disagree with that. In my experience, there was a lot of enjoyable RP to be had during BFA and there were lots of communities that prospered and told a lot of interesting stories. From my perspective, it was a very good time for RP.
At the same time, I accept that the narrative needs to move forward and that the faction conflict is now over. It’s just a case of seeing if Blizzard can come up with something compelling to replace it with, which it couldn’t with Shadowlands. We’ll have to see what the future holds for Dragonflight.
The Warchief that was the main perpetrator of the war and was holding most of the Horde hostage? Who started purging Orgrimmar when the rebellion got too close? That Warchief? It’s truly a shock that the war would end after her betrayal and abandonment of the Horde. I can’t imagine why the Horde would want to stop fighting a war she started and were actively losing after her betrayal. Or why the Alliance, who kept repeating through out the war that Sylvanas is responsible and must be removed, would end the war after Sylvanas’s removal amidst their own armies being devastated by the war. It’s unknowable. Characters should have no sense of self-preservation and sacrifice their people and civilisations for 1 more month of war. Anything else is out of character!
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As a slight up for BfA, Anduin consistently from day 1 of that godforsaken expansion was always emphasising that the minute sylvanas is out of the picture he’s pulling back everything and stopping the war in its entirety. So not really a shocker that. . .when sylvanas was out of the picture he pulled back everything and stopped the war.
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Was she personally doing all the purging? Was there a 1-man squad Sylvanas Windrunner holding most of the Horde hostage?
As per 8.2.5, Loyalist Horde had the only force strong enough to fight N´zoth.
The same Alliance that, even after 8.2.5 ended, had conflicting opinions (as per NPC text), and whose entire nation (night elves) refused to sign the armistice?
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Wait, are we talking about Garrosh or Sylvanas, I lost track along the way 
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Faction war would carry more weight if there was an actual shift in the power balance. Alliance and Horde are artificially kept even at the end of it all and while there are changes within the major factions a Nelf or Tauren character will still labor in favor of them.
Imagine in an ideal world where Baine feels much more ambivalent towards the Horde and Alliance post-cairne death or Theramore bombinh? Or the Gilneans growing frustrated over how the retaking of their kingdom keeps taking a backseat upon the new threats. Furthermore in this ideal world, dynamic faction upheavals take place where each race come and go because they see their interests hardly served in the Alliance and Horde?
But this ain’t no ideal world, so we get what we get.
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She authorised purging of dissenters, up to and including civilians who held differing opinions and sought to protest, making her as the Warchief responsible for those acts committed by her own orders. You know damn well you’re reaching right now lol
Which is why the Horde decided to pardon them and reunite to fight said N’Zoth, yes. What does that have to do with wanting to continue the war with the Alliance?
A plot line that’s later explored and resolved with the night elves moving to Hyjal and are willing to negotiate with the Horde if they prove they’ll turn Sylvanas and her Dark Rangers in!
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And who was carrying out those orders?
That they clearly weren´t on the verge of losing when even after some rebelled, they still had the most powerful army in the world.
Let me guess, in a book? And did they turn those Dark Rangers in?
Her loyalists. She’s still personally responsible for all acts committed in her name.
We’re told in the war campaign that Horde forces were rapidly losing ground across all warfronts. Since the rebels deciding not to fight anymore, even the loyalists were losing. Alliance won every single warfront, but it was costly. They had no desire to continue fighting.
They were killed actually. Only Sira was left alive by the Horde and delivered to Tyrande for judgment.
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And so are they. Except, as we see in the Loyalist questline, all they have to do to be pardoned for them is to say “we´re sorry” (bonus points if they do it in the same way as BP CEO in South Park)
This was taking place after that. Somehow, Loyalists themselves were stronger than the Alliance still.
Good to know. Now if only this plotline, that started with Tyrande and Genn saying how Horde will attack again, in the game, would also be resolved in the same medium by also providing some resolution for their arguments.
However, in this book, did Tyrande actually sign the armistice then?
Shadows Rising then goes on to confirm that anyone with discovered sympathies to Sylvanas were exiled from the Horde. They were offered the pardon, and if it was proven to be disingenuous on their part (like the loyalist who whispered “Praise Sylvanas!” to loyalist players), they were exiled.
“Torn out by the roots” is the wording used to describe the thorough vetting the loyalists were subjected to after pardon.
And yet the Horde leadership didn’t want to continue the war after reuniting with the loyalist forces to bolster their army, which is all that matters to the original point of:
The factions were in fact okay with being at peace for the myriad of reasons being listed. They’d rather fight N’Zoth and not continue waging a world war that already devastated them. Despite what RPers think, it’s specifically in character for the faction leaders to prioritise the survival of their people and not want to sacrifice them for the sake of waging one more month of war after the main perpetrator got removed.
Baine and Calia allowed Yukha to corral them back toward the path of glittering solid water. Thrall remained, only taking slow, careful steps, never showing Tyrande his back. For his trouble, Tyrande directed her final words to him and only him.
“You will find that justice less sweet than the sorry excuse for punishment you faced, and when this justice comes, there will be no armistice to save you."
Tyrande abides by the armistice, but doesn’t like it, and promises to deliver the real justice to the Horde if they don’t fulfill their promise. She’ll entertain peace only when Sylvanas and her Dark Rangers are delivered to her. The Horde was banned from Hyjal until that pledge was fulfilled.
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It´s frankly kind of insane that things like this get developed through a book though, when in the game we see Horde trusting them (and, at the same time, the Loyalist PC also doesn´t get killed despite still being Loyalist).
All those leaders (except Geyarah) were Rebels, so it´s understandable. However, the factions aren´t just 10 people who lead them and this is exactly what Blizzard never tried to resolve.
But, given how in recent years, entire races seem to just be represented by one person, I don´t know what else i was expecting.
This seems like two opposing statements. On one hand, she already abides by it (although I wouldn´t call letting in Horde delegation abiding by armistice, even nations in war can allow in enemy diplomats), on the other there isn´t going to be peace until her demands are met.
Armistice is not the same as peace (which is what we currently have, as has been repeated 285 times during DF). In the book, Tyrande abides the armistice for now, because she’s willing to give the Horde one (1) chance to prove if they’re worth saving after hearing both Shandris’s and Maiev’s perspectives*. If they fail, she’ll wipe them out. No fighting was taking place for as long as the Horde was on the mission to hunt down Sylvanas and her Dark Rangers.
*Maiev thinks the Horde needs to be culled, even those who had no role in Sylvanas’s crimes and actively stood up against her, Shandris wonders if they should then be imprisoning Maiev for her own past crimes (despite receiving absolution), or start culling their own innocents for the crimes the Alliance committed in the war. If you administer justice once, you must do it twice. The blade cuts both ways.
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