Nothing here is really new, it’s mostly just stuff that we’ve already been shown on Twitter.
One thing that was shown in a screenshot was the Gilneans, who seem to be wearing a new uniform that actually looks good. Hopefully it’s a look that players are able to get for themselves, though I don’t recognise all of the pieces. It certainly looks better than the heritage and the Gilnean noble sets.
https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/guide/images/29916.jpg
There’s also an important section at the bottom of the article called “United, But Distinct” that makes some important points, but also misses a couple of points.
A frequent critique from the community since the events of Battle for Azeroth has been the notable lack of faction presence. While such an absence made sense in the realms of Death, their absence as distinct entities was felt during our time on the Dragon Isles, where groups like the Dragonscale Expedition played a minor and ultimately neutral role. Likewise, the presence of organizations with long-standing preferences towards Alliance races such as the Kirin Tor and Cenarion Circle led to an absence of relevant Horde storylines for much of the expansion’s main story, especially given the notable lack of a group like the Earthen Ring against such an obviously elemental threat.
These were fears echoed by the community often going into The War Within, where the only notable Horde character seemed to be that of Thrall, who during testing was revealed to leave almost immediately into the leveling story of Khaz Algar. As a result, we’re left with characters like Moira and Dagran Thaurissan, Anduin Wrynn, and Alleria Windrunner as our main characters for the four leveling zones - a cast distinctly lacking in any Horde presence. This led to the fear that, like with many other expansions not explicitly featuring faction conflict, Horde stories would take a backseat to the stories of Alliance characters, ones that have their own frequent issue of being posited as neutral and lacking in a uniquely faction-oriented focus.
It’s good to see someone at Wowhead recognising the relative lack of Horde representation (especially Kalimdor Horde representation) in Dragonflight and now in the War Within, in comparison to Alliance representation.
Thankfully, the max level campaign of the expansion seems to be dissuading those fears, for the moment. Not only do we see the factions present here, we see them shown as distinct entities amidst their unity against Xal’atath. Rather than forming an external organization like the Dragonscale Expedition, the Horde and Alliance are present as their own groups here, fighting for the same cause but helping our new allies amidst Khaz Algar in distinct ways. While these beachside training exercises are taking place, Thrall trains the demoralized Stormriders of Dornogal how to harness the power of the elements while Kurdran Wildhammer teaches them how to ride their gryphons, and in the depths of Azj-Kahet, Lilian Voss takes a role alongside our nerubian allies in understanding the tactics of Xal’atath and her allies.
As we head into a new expansion and begin speculating on its patch stories, there is hope that the factions which so uniquely define the Warcraft setting will continue to play a notable role in the fights ahead, beyond the premise of active conflict with one another. Quests like these show that in the modern era, the factions can be informed by their presence alongside each other without needing to jeopardize their unique identities for the sake of faction-neutral stories. Hopefully this presence will be felt not only in the future zones awaiting us in Khaz Algar, but into our adventures in Midnight and The Last Titan as well.
This is the bit that I disagree with, personally.
It is good that the Horde is getting representation here… But only alongside equally strong Alliance representation. This portion of the post-levelling story has a strong focus on both of the factions, but it doesn’t change the fact that the levelling story is almost exclusively focused on the Alliance and Alliance-adjacent characters and factions.
Similarly, Thrall’s storyline with the Stormriders has him mirrored by Kurdran Wildhammer from the Alliance, so there’s equal representation there as well. But equal representation still doesn’t solve the imbalance. I would personally appreciate it if there was a point in the narrative where the Horde gets as much exclusive narrative focus as the Alliance and Alliance-adjacent characters and factions have gotten, where it gets to shine alone in the spotlight just as much as the Alliance has.
So far, the only example of this is Lilian Voss, who dominates a portion of the post-levelling Azj-Kahet story. More of that would be good, though preferably with characters from the Kalimdor side of the Horde. Less focus on elves and undead, more focus on goblins, trolls, tauren and yes, even orcs would be nice. Warlords of Draenor was a decade ago, I’d like to think orc fatigue has worn off by now.
