World of Warcraft®

I've been reading the heated discussion about the perceived disparity between the factions in Cata. I had planned to add my own thoughts to the debate, but then I found someone who desrcribed, far better than I ever could, what I feel to be the root of the discontent among alliance players.

The texts are on a website called "The Children of Wrath". They are rather long so I will only quote a few select parts of them and leave you to read them yourself if you are interested. Of course, you might all have read this already, I don't know (I haven't seen it quoted anywhere on the forum at least), but here are the links nonetheless:

Forum Angst and the Confluence of Events:
http://childrenofwrath.blogspot.se/2011/12/blizzard-forum-angst-and-confluence-of.html
(This is mostly just a summary of the complaints, albeit a good one!)

When Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp: Rushed Development Hurts the Story
http://childrenofwrath.blogspot.se/2011/12/when-your-reach-exceeds-your-grasp.html

Cataclysm took a lot of luster off Blizzard's good name. There was a running joke when it came to Blizzard, Soon™. Much like Valve's "When it's done!", Soon™ meant that Blizzard wouldn't do this. They wouldn't rush an unfinished project out the door to make it in time for the Christmas rush. When players asked a question and got Soon™ for an answer, they knew that they were in for a wait, but they knew that the wait would be worth it (Except for Starcraft:Ghost, but what's a little vaporware between friends?). With Cataclysm, Blizzard has lost the trademark to Soon, and with it, they've lost the trust of the player base.

The Problem With Thrall:
http://childrenofwrath.blogspot.se/2011/12/problem-with-thrall.html

Which brings us to the quest Elemental Bonds. One of the centerpieces of the 4.2 patch, Rage of the Firelands, this quest served as Staghelm's coming out party as an actual villain. Malfurion and the four Dragon Aspects unite to attempt to restore the World Tree. Five of Staghelm's most hated enemies, and Staghelm's hatred has brewed for millennia. Malfurion would go on to lead an assault into the heart of the Firelands, and eventually permanently destroys Ragnaros, Staghelm's new master. Not only does Staghelm hate Malfurion, but Malfurion is also a present threat to Staghelm's new employer. It's a two for one deal for vengeance, always a good move. So, with Staghelm's history, circumstance, and new found power, he crashes the ritual. His five most hated enemies, caught distracted and vulnerable. So what does he do? He attacks Thrall.

What?

The Flaw of Neutrality:
http://childrenofwrath.blogspot.se/2011/12/flaw-of-neutrality.html

On the other hand, there are the multitudes of Night Elf associated characters in Hyjal who went neutral. The two standouts were Cenarius and Malfurion, who began as characters in WCIII. Both were staunch defenders of the Night Elves. Malfurion's first words in game:

The horn has sounded, and I have come as promised. I smell the stench of decay and corruption in our land. That angers me greatly.

Malfurion felt the desecration of Ashenvale even in the depths of the Emerald Dream.

I felt our land being corrupted, just as if it were my own body. You were right to awaken me.

He feels the destruction visited upon ashenvale as if it were commited upon his own body. This is extremely strong language to use. Strong reactions mean strong emotions, and strong emotions mean lasting emotions. You can see similar reactions from Cenarius' in game text.

Who dares defile this ancient land? Who dares the wrath of Cenarius and the Night Elves?

Cenarius identifies with both Ashenvale and the Night Elves as a people. He was willing to fight for them, he was willing to die for them, and die he did. Both of these prominent heroes turn up in Mount Hyjal, where they distribute quests and aid heroes from both the Alliance and the Horde without a second glance.

TL;DR:
Above are the links to some very well written blog posts (not by me!) that points at the root of the alliance player's discontent. Read them!

Read them as well, and I can't help but agree with them(exceptions to prove the rules exist, as always).

Some day, I'm gonna have to put up a blog of my own, methinks...

Just a reminder why even the most die-hard horde fan should take a step back and consider the situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amS4bz-yygg

It's no fun playing king of the hill when it is just you and the hill.

Staghelm being corrupted and killed off instead of being developed and expanded upon as an intriguing counter to Malfurion and Tyrande really ticked me off. This thread thankfully highlights that I'm not alone in that mindset! I really wish the zealous, grittier side of both of the playable elven races was expanded upon and shown more often, especially considering how that is in itself what drove them to such heights of popularity way back in WC3.

read them and I agree 100%

Thrall is a sue, he stole Varian lore, he made Fandral revolve around him, the alliance content was nfinished, the neutrality made no sence, and the quests on both sides were basically the same with horde showing no discomfort working with Cenarius who might (and should) attack them on sight and Malfurion who never says a bad word to the horde even though he should be having a fit from what happened in Azshara.

Cataclysm was really bad, and I still am annoyed that my worgen got sent to Kalimdor and not lv in a phased gilneas or have a district in stormwind, I have not leveled him past 20 as I already did kalimdor on a night elf.

I hope MOP delivers more because if not and if blizzard do not acknowledge these problems MOP will be the straw that breaks the camels back for me.

My biggest concern are along the line of what they said about Theramore, Theramore is by no means the "Alliance Pearl Harbor" it is "Dunkirk". I don't think I've got to tell you what happened at Dunkirk and how it was perveiced by both sides even when the reality was obvious.

It left the British desperately low on equipment. The whole affair was an absolute disaster from top to bottom, and one of the low points of the war.

The only saving grace is that it could have been much worse. And, when you're looking for a story to boost morale, sometimes that's all you've got.

This leaves us as they said in a very uncomfortable spot, as they Alliance would need to first break the Hordes back and then build up an extreme momentum on their side. Said momentum would be used to utterly crush the Horde and somehow Blizzard would've to come up with a reason for the Alliance not to. And as they said it would be somewhere along the line of

Thrall shows up in a giant robot forged from the remaining scales of Deathwing and the Shards of Frostmourne? I don't know what it'll be, I just know that it'll be hackneyed, unconvincing, and a complete !@#-pull on Blizz's part.

.
Another big problem is that Blizzard can't ever compensate the Alliance for the losses they've constantly taken. We all know that neither side is going to win this war, so from the very start we know that neither side will get to actually pay the other side back for whatever they did and since changes to the game world rarely happen the "siege of Orgrimmar" and helping the Horde to replace Garrosh with Orc Jesus are most likely the best things to happen to the Alliance.
While we got to destroy a great many place, curbstomp the Alliance for the whole of Cataclysm (and partly Wotlk for that matter) and now destroy Theramore.

Sidenote about Cenarius: At that time, the orcs destroying the forest were Red, demon corrupted orcs. Later, due to the prophet requesting, the orc (and tauren) and elven people fought side by side to save the World Tree from the demonic invasion.

20/04/2012 06:43Posted by Aphandra

Sidenote about Cenarius: At that time, the orcs destroying the forest were Red, demon corrupted orcs. Later, due to the prophet requesting, the orc (and tauren) and elven people fought side by side to save the World Tree from the demonic invasion.

No, they weren't. It was the warsong clan under Grom that destroyed the forrest and invaded the night elven lands. Only later when finally cornered did the Orcs under Grom resort to becoming fel Orcs once more.
As for the temporary grand Alliance it was exactly that, temporary.

20/04/2012 06:50Posted by Erìs

Sidenote about Cenarius: At that time, the orcs destroying the forest were Red, demon corrupted orcs. Later, due to the prophet requesting, the orc (and tauren) and elven people fought side by side to save the World Tree from the demonic invasion.

No, they weren't. It was the warsong clan under Grom that destroyed the forrest and invaded the night elven lands. Only later when finally cornered did the Orcs under Garrosh resort to becoming fel Orcs once more.
As for the temporary grand Alliance it was exactly that, temporary.

Small correction: It was still the Orcs under Grom who resorted to fel, Garrosh didn't show up until way later.

Still, the point is the same. Cenarius attacked the Warsong Clan for their attrocities before said clan resorted to Fel. The current Horde is distressingly similiar to the Warsong Clan of old, making Cenarius' neutrality... questionable... to say the least.

Small correction: It was still the Orcs under Grom who resorted to fel, Garrosh didn't show up until way later.

Still, the point is the same. Cenarius attacked the Warsong Clan for their attrocities before said clan resorted to Fel. The current Horde is distressingly similiar to the Warsong Clan of old, making Cenarius' neutrality... questionable... to say the least.

I think it's fairly obvious that I messed up their names there, and they're increasingly similar anyway. Like father like son I guess.

20/04/2012 08:58Posted by Ehi

Still, the point is the same. Cenarius attacked the Warsong Clan for their attrocities before said clan resorted to Fel. The current Horde is distressingly similiar to the Warsong Clan of old, making Cenarius' neutrality... questionable... to say the least.

It would be interesting if Cenarius is neutral out of fear, rather than reason. Maybe dying caused him to get a phobia against orcs and now he doesn't want anything to do with them and especially their armies.

It would be interesting if Cenarius is neutral out of fear, rather than reason. Maybe dying caused him to get a phobia against orcs and now he doesn't want anything to do with them and especially their armies.

Doesn't make much sense. The only reason they were able to hurt him was that they utilized the power of the burning Legion. (Chaos damage vs divine armor). And since death was a slap on the wrist he should be less afraid of it now then before.

It would be interesting if Cenarius is neutral out of fear, rather than reason. Maybe dying caused him to get a phobia against orcs and now he doesn't want anything to do with them and especially their armies.

Doesn't make much sense. The only reason they were able to hurt him was that they utilized the power of the burning Legion. (Chaos damage vs divine armor). And since death was a slap on the wrist he should be less afraid of it now then before.

Well phobias are rather irrational things. For example if it is common (according to a documentary I saw a while ago) for someone who sees a spider before being in a car accident to become arachnophobic, even though it would be more rational to develop a fear revolving cars.

Also this is under pretence that Cenarious can't fight the orcs, which is something I think he should be doing.

Still, the point is the same. Cenarius attacked the Warsong Clan for their attrocities before said clan resorted to Fel. The current Horde is distressingly similiar to the Warsong Clan of old, making Cenarius' neutrality... questionable... to say the least.

It would be interesting if Cenarius is neutral out of fear, rather than reason. Maybe dying caused him to get a phobia against orcs and now he doesn't want anything to do with them and especially their armies.

Doesn't really work though, because he sure as hell didn't seem to have any trouble telling me to go kill the Twilights Hammer for him in Hyjal before we went and /bonked Ragnaros back down into the Firelands.

Honestly, if he'd responded to my char with revulsion or thinly-veiled hostility, that would have been more appropriate. Like "Ugh, orcs. Your kind still blight Ashenvale, I see. Very well, I will work with you to save this mountain, but once we've dealt with Ragnaros, I will be coming after you and your misbegotten kind next."

Well Cataclysm is finally over, we can all move on now and forget about it as fast as possible. Then we can pretend it never happened and keep our dignity. So maybe starting with MoP we will finally see the Night Elves back from the brink, jumping into the fray with Malfurion, Cenarius and some other people remembering what faction they belong to?

I mean afterall Thrall finally remembers where he belongs and is coming back, so is it to much to hope that some former Alliance figures do the same thing? Well, I'll guess it is but one can still hope.

20/04/2012 10:08Posted by Bebbix

Still, the point is the same. Cenarius attacked the Warsong Clan for their attrocities before said clan resorted to Fel. The current Horde is distressingly similiar to the Warsong Clan of old, making Cenarius' neutrality... questionable... to say the least.

It would be interesting if Cenarius is neutral out of fear, rather than reason. Maybe dying caused him to get a phobia against orcs and now he doesn't want anything to do with them and especially their armies.

That wouldn't be interesting in the WoW environment we have. It would be more "ALL MUST FEAR THE MIGHTY ORCS. EVEN DEMIGODS QUAKE IN THEIR PRESENCE".

I'm pretty sure Cenarius has fought against things far more horrific than fel-tainted orcs, so having him be terrified of them would only serve to make him appear incompetent.

20/04/2012 16:34Posted by Caelheim

I'm pretty sure Cenarius has fought against things far more horrific than fel-tainted orcs, so having him be terrified of them would only serve to make him appear incompetent.

Actually, that could endear him to the Alliance. I mean afterall they're shown as completly incompetent and useless most of the time. ;D

20/04/2012 16:34Posted by Caelheim

I'm pretty sure Cenarius has fought against things far more horrific than fel-tainted orcs, so having him be terrified of them would only serve to make him appear incompetent.

Having him be hostile towards them, but cooperating because he has no choice at this point, however, would make sense.

20/04/2012 18:01Posted by Kurgul

Having him be hostile towards them, but cooperating because he has no choice at this point, however, would make sense.

Yeah, I suppose this highlights how important flavour text is. I can only hope the development team spend less time making gimmicky characters have in-depth quest chains and more time handling the intricacies of how major lore figures interact with each other.