i have not felt so uninterested in a patch since shadowlands. how do you followup undermine with a bag fumble like this. i feel so sorry for the human enjoyers rn
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Its kind of unfortunate because outside of the really stilted dialogue (and the Alliance getting a decently-longer version of the patch vs Horde lmfaooooo) thereās some neat ideas here by themselves. Humans who want a return to 7 strong Kingdoms overseeing the Eastern Kingdoms, who almost want some sort of proto-revival of the Old Alliance of Lordaeron wherein each was represented by a strong leader/monarch.
The idea of the remaining Alteraci trying to help a coup against Strom in attempt to restore Alterac back to what it once was.
Hell, even the brief lore about alliance trade convoys and supplies being hijacked and sabotaged is good by itself, its a good explanation for why the Alliance couldnāt immediately hand wave the situation away.
But in the context of the storyā¦ with the current dialogue and disjointed way it goes for Horde or Allianceā¦ it feels incomplete. Maybe thatās intentional and they have some crazy big thing cooking for the Eastern Kingdoms as a whole, but there is definitely a pervasive feeling of āThatās it? Thatās the faction tension? That was just the Horde and Alliance uniting together to beat up Scarlets again!ā
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So far the expansion keeps on looking like another mixed bag. What few Wās that are present are undermined (heh) by just very odd decisions that really donāt track or lack strong support.
This isnāt helped by how skewed the cast is. Thereās clearly a bit of a quiet identity crisis here.
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I feel like all of this could work, with a few foundational changes.
a) Make Danath Trollbane the villain. The Alliance deserves an actual long-term character to represent their darker side, not a disposable throwaway character. He has all of the experience and history required to shape him into someone who hates the Horde and everything that it stands for. Sadly, his personality in 11.1.7 goes against all of this.
b) Feature Turalyon as Faerinās mentor figure rather than Danath. His relationship with the Light provides an immediate connection to Faerin, and his connection to Danath could be the source of a lot of tension. What does he value more, the armistice between the Horde and the Alliance, or a comrade who he has known and fought beside for decades? Does he put politics or friendship first?
c) Make the Red Dawn an entirely Stromic organisation. No shoving in every villainous human organisation in order to eliminate any moral complexity. Instead, the Red Dawn should be contain the majority of the local population, along with some of the supporting 7th Legion, all of whom have a bone to pick with the Horde.
d) Put the Magāhar in a supporting role. The argument that the Horde are just invaders makes a lot more sense when the Magāhar only moved in a couple of years ago. Instead, the Magāhar should have come to support Eitrigg and the true long-term inhabitants of Hammerfall, who had decades to put down roots, raise families and see the Highlands as their home. That makes the āHorde are just invadersā argument flimsier.
Itās not perfect, but I feel like that those would have been steps in the right direction.
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(headdesk)
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I canāt be the only one thinking that Faerin is being set up to take over leadership of Stromgarde one day.
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Gonna make it even funnier when she joins the Horde and brings Stromgarde with her 
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I feel like she is being set up, and taught, to eventually replace Emperor Thoradin the XIth as Empress Faerin the Ist.
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Also, lmao āthe Sons of Lothar promote tolerance and mercyā said by the Lightsā strongest orc racist, who was a member of the organisation that went on a suicide mission to the orc homeworld to kill more orcs. 
Thats difficult point.
I mean people still consider some real life peoples invaders even when theyāve lived on those lands for 150/200+ years.
And the fact thereās still quite alot of people alive on Azeroth that remember the pre-Orc times of Azeroth will keep that sentiment alive for a long, long, looong time.
That would be cool!
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God I hope not. Sadly I think it a strong possibility.
Itās all so heavy handed. As I said earlier, thereās genuine reasons for the populace at large to be displeased with how their respective factions - and enemies - have behaved.
The racial leaders attending weddings and Winter Veil events together have a vastly different, out of touch perspective to the regular civilian or soldier who have seen over half their bloodline wiped out by the enemy.
āno they just racist111ā is such infantile, reductionist writing. Yes, racism is bad - but when youāre dealing with individuals and races who have defiled the dead and risen them into undeath like the forsaken or hunted down innocent civilians to torture and murder like Vereesa Windrunner then thatās not the sort of thing you just āget overā and brush under the carpet, no matter how desperately the current batch of writers tries to retcon the āuncomfyā elements of the setting.
Itās also so very stilted and comes across as a parody. That scene with Marran being spared, despite being completely unapologetic. Nobody will be held accountable for the death and destruction she will inevitably be culpable in at a later date, I bet.
At any rate, it looks like Iāll be focusing almost exclusively on āadventuringā role-play moving forward.
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Ye, I had hoped this patch could ignite my passion in Warcraft again, alas from what I see and read so farā¦ Guess Iāll spend my time on something that does pique my interest
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The natural story progression is that he is then killed by Marran in another attack and we must all learn that some folk just have to be stopped. Theyāre not wrong, waiting for the right argument to change and theyāre donāt have the good half of their souls locked in a hell cabinet. They just need to face the natural consequences of their actions.
The one rickety barrier between Stromgarde and Forsaken Hillsbrad???
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Just another nail in the coffin as the Horde is the global hegemon with a sprawling continental empire, naval dominance via vast island possessions, interstellar colonies and then another continent(?) as a subject nation.
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T- The Alliance are villains in this patch??? Dear Senior Quest Designer, the Alliance arenāt even involved in this patch, its just Stromgarde which is its own Kingdom under the Alliance with its own leadership as your own quest shows. Also, neither the Defias, Scarlets or Syndicates are Alliance or even Alliance-adjacent, theyāre all kill-on-sight by the Alliance.
Also lmfao @ āyeah we tried adding relevant Orcs and Forsaken to the story but I didnāt like it soā¦ā
How on EARTH does it become LESS relevant by adding the Defilers and Internment Camp Orcs?
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I wouldnāt trust WoW story devs to write an episode of Bluey.
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Also there was this whole Forsaken story about Prince Galen Trollbane being raised alongside his people allowing Strom Forsaken to be a part of the story 
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Exploring the camps history is too contemporarily political for Marketing?
Also the Alliance arenāt villians in this story, if anything, its whitewashing any darker or grey areaās out of the Alliance again
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Marran should have escaped not through being let go ājust becauseā but simply due to another character revealing that they agree with her, creating a distraction or taking someone hostage only for Danath and Faerin to very reluctantly agree to let Marran slip away with her tail between her legs.
Every character involved would then walk away from the scene in a more satisfying manner and whilst it may still be a tad predictable, it doesnāt involve hitting everyone with the idiot stick.
1 Like