I found it telling when a PTR patch went through changing the wording of a few Alliance achievements surrounding Vol'jin's rebellion. At first, Alliance players would be getting the same title: "Darkspear Revolutionary," and the achievement wording was "Aid Vol'jin in his fight against Garrosh's Kor'kron forces," or something to that effect. In a later patch, the Hordebreaker title was introduced, and the wording was changed to "Pit Vol'jin against Garrosh's Kor'kron forces," implying that there was a little more ruthlessness and a little more Alliance-central action to be taken.
But the overall structure of the Alliance quests turned out to be unchanged. You went there to help SI:7 and then piloted a robotic cat around until you met Zentabra and pretty much synched up with the Horde chain.
It's a little underwhelming, but not nearly as disappointing until you see things from the Horde side. The defense of Sen'jin, Thrall's grim announcement of going back to Orgrimmar, and the truly amazing, epic march on Razor Hill, with a whole Darkspear Army.
So the problem is this: not only does the entire patch focus on the Horde - Horde leaders, Horde internal politics, Horde territories (though this last part I'm fine with - it's exciting when quests send you where you're not supposed to be) - but the Alliance doesn't even get to see the juicy bits.
And this is just one example of a long pattern of this kind of stuff. Alliance players don't get to see what happens to Gilneas post-evacuation. Alliance players simply arrive in Twilight Highlands without seeing the battle that took place on the way there.
The promise of Mists of Pandaria was that the experiences on this new continent would change both factions in dramatic ways. The Horde is clearly falling apart, and Garrosh's decision to try to have Vol'jin assassinated is clearly the root of his downfall.
But the Alliance just. hasn't. changed. They went from unified, with shared common values like honor and justice, and have... continued to share those values.
Now, one could say that it's not Blizzard's fault. The nature of the Horde is just more compelling, with its dark and troubled past and the fact that it's all about several societies completely reinventing themselves or just plain inventing themselves (seriously - consider that, among the western Horde, not one race is living where they did fifteen years ago, and that among the eastern Horde, both races are not even called what they used to be called - High Elves became Blood Elves, Humans became Forsaken.)
But that falls squarely on the shoulders of the writers.
If the Alliance is not compelling enough for Blizzard's writers to give them something to do, then they need to make them more compelling. There's a whole lot of rich lore to delve into here, and we've had some great stuff in the past.
The Alliance has what I am going to call Superman Syndrome. Superman is a good guy, through and through. Practically his defining characteristic (after "having whatever superpower he needs at the given moment") is that he is always good. Something really weird has to happen to ever make him do anything bad. There is no selfishness, no ambition, no flaw in his character.
And that's why Superman is super boring.
The narrative of the Alliance has always put them on the good side of things. Every wrongdoing they perform is in the name of reacting to something far worse. In the Southern Barrens, they torched Camp Taurajo, but A. the commander tried to minimize civilian casualties in a justified attack on a military encampment, and B. we had just come off of seeing Krom'gar murder hundreds of school-aged druids with an enormous bomb. Taurajo pales in comparison.
Alliance plots often feel like afterthoughts. Take the new scenarios this patch: the Horde is delving into the titan facilities of the Vale and discovering the remains of an Old God, or discovering a bunch of really worrisome stuff in Ragefire Chasm. Meanwhile, the Alliance is dealing with one random Zandalari guy who's rallied the Frostmane over on Shimmer Ridge. It doesn't really tie into the plot at all, and certainly has nothing to do with Pandaria. All we get out of it is Moira, another Alliance leader, reaffirming their solidarity.
So what can we do?
If Blizzard wants to make the Alliance plot interesting for 5.4, we've got to see a few things:
- The Alliance needs to truly work like an Alliance.
I want to see the vast contingent of Draenei, pledging to put down this dangerous Horde before it can go all genocide on them again. I want to see the Night Elves pushing back through Ashenvale, swallowing up logging camps with magic tree stuff. I want to see Worgen guerrilla squads performing hit-and-run attacks on Horde positions. And I want to see Dwarf and Gnome siege tanks rumbling toward Orgrimmar.
- The Alliance needs to demonstrate how they've changed.
What change is marked in the Alliance since Pandaria? Unity isn't really a change, as Alliance forces have always been fairly unified (think about how Warsong Hold and Vengeance Landing in Northrend were totally different, while Valiance Keep and Valgarde were very similar.) A more interesting change (that Blizzard has yet to really follow through on) is that the Alliance is truly taking the initiative now.
Whatever 5.4's outdoor content will be, I want to see Alliance forces moving in in force. If Durotar is where we're getting our big confrontation, I want to see an actual Alliance presence there. Right now, it's just Sully and Amber. I want to see a phased version of the Kul Tiras base totally occupied by Alliance forces - make that the staging ground.
- Turn that asymmetry around!
Really, the crux of the complaint here is that there just seems to be more happening for the Horde than for the Alliance. You have real, compelling stories for the Orcs, for the Trolls, and for the Blood Elves, and we get to check in with the Tauren (the Forsaken haven't gotten a lot of exposure, but they're not exactly lacking in good stories.)
The few times we've had a good balance of Alliance/Horde stuff (Jade Forest, for instance,) it's served to reinforce how evenly matched the two sides are.
One of the big, inherent problems in the Darkspear Revolution story is that if Vol'jin and his ragtag rebels are able to accomplish what the entirety of the Alliance can, it once again makes the Alliance seem like chumps. Garrosh is on home turf, which is why it makes sense that the Alliance isn't just going to steamroll him despite his current disadvantage, but the Darkspear Rebellion ought to be in an even weaker position.
The main presence during the Siege of Orgrimmar has got to be the Alliance. Even Horde players need to find themselves doing things for the Alliance, and it should be emphasized that without Alliance support, the Darkspear would be ground into dust.
- Let no story exist in a vacuum
Right now, the Horde could exist in a vacuum. There's a compelling story, a villain, twists and turns, and the entire thing exists within the Horde. Even if the Alliance were nowhere to be seen, the conflict between Garrosh and Vol'jin is great stuff. While internal stories are great, the consequence is that, with half your audience outside of that, you are obligated to create a second story that is equally compelling. The Alliance has not even remotely had anything approaching the Horde's story this expansion.
As I was saying earlier, I can point to Garrosh, Vol'jin, Baine, Lor'themar (admittedly only recently,) and Sylvanas, and see exactly what is going on with them, and get excited about the direction each of their stories are going in. As characters, and also representatives of their respective people, the various differences between them interlock in interesting ways to make their stories go somewhere - that's what this rebellion is all about.
But in the Alliance? I literally only see Varian and Jaina doing anything. And though Jaina's actions unintentionally foiled some of Varian's plans, we aren't really getting anything else. Tyrande and Moira each got their own scenarios, but the ultimate conclusion of both? They are both just going to fall in line and do what Varian wants.
So it may be too much to hope that the Alliance will get something really compelling to do in 5.4. In the long term, though, Blizzard really needs to change their attitude toward team blue. Don't just give us lip service, and don't sell an Alliance that is totally homogenous. Sit down, and really figure out what can make the Alliance compelling, and delve down in there and mine it for all it's worth.
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