I think what’s being set up is the Hallowfall Arathi joining us when the Empire inevitably attacks. Faerin doesn t seem to like how things are back home.
THIS! This is a proper orc, gentlemen. Get this man an axe.
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Time to finally bring the Ulmat Thondr peninsula out of hiding!
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How did that go the last time? Or the time before that?
it was amply discussed in the last HvA containment thread
Elves should NOT be talking about taking Ls.
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Hey, I didn’t start this one!
Absolutely, the Arathi are definitely being coded as being the ‘wrong’ kind of Light users and I bet (if blizzard remembers the Lightbound exist) that once the Light rears the ugly part of its ideology that the two groups would likely co-operate in a radiant invasion of the rest of Azeroth.
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Seeing Scarlets come out of hiding to help us against the Arathi while going " You guys are a little extreme " is gonna be a trip
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Nah, I think setting the Empire as big bad villian is too blant and boring. However, I can imagine our arrival cousing some unrest. The Emperor would welcome us becouse we helped in Hallowfal, but as Faerin said that there would be less tolerance, a radical faction would emerge and start a civil war. Either they would want to retake the old human lands in EK or would be simply too zealous like Scarlets, maybe both. They would be let by some Emperor’s disgruntled cousin, who would stage a succesful coup and kill the Emperor and usurp the throne. We would have to then fight under bannners of the righful heir. More grounded villain, who wouldn’t want to see Azeroth destroyed, just conquered, like Lei Shen and Garrosh, still probably one of the best villians in WoW. These radicals could ally with the Scarlets, so they could last even longer than just one patch. One tier for Scarlet raid, one for the Arathi usurper. I would also like to see an “Ecumenical” Council between Church of the Holy Light and Church of the Sacred Flame, where they would unite, but there would be radical anti unionists on both sides. A dung could be from it too.
Anyway, these Arathi just make me more interested in human lore.
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For those not into human/elven idea of the Light it hardly matters, to be honest. And with how many races around are uneducated pagans in need of enlightenment by human standards, it can hardly mean much good for the rest of Azeroth. But sadly, we can’t have proper religious conflicts either, Scarlet zealotry aside.
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I’m all for fighting them, I get that the whole standard Human Crusader faction aesthetic tends to be very appealing but if they were actually made into good guys I worry that would just sort of mean that the whole “Light” identity would all fall further into this usual homogenous human crusader vibe and I’d not be super thrilled to see the “Scarlet Crusade+” becoming a dominant friendly power.
But in general I find the light to be a bit bland in portrayal, maybe I’m off base but it tends to feel very same-ey. Maybe we get to see them react more to non-Stormwindians at some point as I’m curious to see how that goes. But yeah I predict they’ll very much be the sort of “human light supremacist” faction and though I know a lot of fans identify with that I should hope that would not bee portrayed as a good thing.
If anything I’m just keen to see light worship become more diverse, rather than less, so hopefully we’ll see how they react to the different races of Azeroth.
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Honestly I agree.
I think it would be far more interesting and refreshing to have the Arathi Empire be more akin to the Hallowfall expedition, friendly and communal. It would feel really dull to just have them as some zealous villains. There’s already thousands of “Human crusader faction that is evil” in different medias.
I’m tired of the Scarlets enough as it is, and I didn’t care very much for the Army of the Light portrayal like that in the Mag’har quest line either. I feel that it is very overplayed. Not just in WoW but in media in general.
So I am all for the Empire instead being pretty nice folks as a whole.
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This is the plight we suffer since the order halls were implemented, and Tyr’s Guard didn’t make it better. The Light of the humans is more faceless than the faceless ones, but the cultures that do make it more personal, like tauren or Zandalari, still suffer from the lack of lore, not to mention racial tints of the abilities or, Rezan above, world-building to keep them relevant. Meanwhile the Arathi, at least for now, don’t seem to be more than Scarlets but better, and neither do anyone except humans and blood/high elves really follow along with them. So yes, it’s their way or high way unless the amount of in-game lore and relevant quests greatly increases.
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We can readily assume that when (or if) the Hallowfall Arathi make contact with their kin in this distant, unknown land, there will be a cultural shift and probably a big “if you aren’t with us, you’re against us” moment between the two factions. Whether that will be a violent cultural clash or a peaceful one is the bigger question, but the way Blizzard has phrased the narrative around the Arathi Empire, they sure don’t sound like an entire country of Uther the Lightbringers.
If they turn out to be turbo-violent, mega-dogmatic and hyper-xenophobic we can at the very least reference them to 40.000 without feeling too bad lol.
Or an Empire in civil war between seditionist/usurping extremists (egged on by Scarlets?) and the normal people. Someone else suggested the Emperor could be overthrown by a zealot, which would be a fun scene to enter.
Certainly beats a monolithic “I can’t believe this isn’t the Imperium” faction. Like you said: That trope’s been done too many times already.
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I just want to kill humans and half-elves and raise them into undeath, and I hope they join the Alliance so we can raze their capital, kill their emperor, and PAINT THAT CONTINENT RED!
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I would actually enjoy seeing Arathi Empire join alliance, something join Horde and post Last Titan we come back to faction war.
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Faction war is never coming back. Not the way you want it at least.
Where can I sign up?
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I dont need it to be overt BfAlike.
I do enjoy the default not being cooperation between horde and alliance - I find it has done a disservice to both factions as they lose a lot of their individuality through that.
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