We're just a week and a day into BFA (ok, more like two days,) and so what we're currently experiencing is the first chapter of the expansion. Given the story found in leveling content, that's a pretty big chunk of the game's story (though thankfully, in recent expansions that don't include Warlords, there's still a lot of story to come afterwards.)
Given that it's at the center of this expansion, what can we say about the war between the factions?
The expansion began explosively. The Horde launched a strike against the Alliance, ultimately destroying Teldrassil and killing a huge portion of the Night Elf population - most of whom were civilians. The Alliance responded by attacking Lordaeron, besieging the Undercity, which Sylvanas more or less scuttled with Blight in an attempt to trap the Alliance leadership and deny them a base of operations. Two major cities are gone, and both sides have lost a great deal of territory while making contested gains on their "home continents"
The first chapter of BFA is generally less concerned with that conflict than it is with the acquisition of new allies. The Horde has sought out the Zandalari after they discovered their crown princess was locked up in the Stockades of Stormwind. Facing the Zandalari's powerful navy, the Alliance decided it was time to bring Kul Tiras back into the fold to counter this new threat.
Thus the main plot of both leveling experiences is largely about resolving some of the issues that these two nations are dealing with and showing your faction's usefulness as allies. The Alliance story in that regard is, apparently a rather complete success. Coups are thwarted, cultists purged, and the Kul Tiran fleet returned (along with Jaina's brother Tandred.) The Zandalari are still in a bit of disarray, with their Loa of Kings slain and the threat of an Old God (or Old-God-like-entity) at the heart of their island.
The Horde barely sees the Alliance at all in Zandalar (at least from what quests I've done, though I've gotten the achievements for each zone.) The Alliance, on the other hand, repels an invasion of Brennandam, the largest town outside of Boralus in the country, by a sudden and intense incursion of the Horde. Indeed, the Horde has a rather large base of operations in Stormsong Valley, and while Alliance players torch the place, Horde players later arrive to salvage and rebuild the base.
I have not completed the war campaign quests (I've got two more chapters on my Alliance main and my Horde Shaman is nearing 118 and nearly done with his third zone, so I suppose he'll be doing a ton of side-quests when that's done,) so there might be some big reveals here, but I suspect that we're still in a place-setting phase. We're getting to know these new continents before we blast them apart with war.
Each side has one or more bases on the other continent, and one decision I think was quite wise on Blizzard's part was to make parts of each city open adventuring space for both factions - Alliance players can fight and quest through parts of Dazar'alor while Horde players stalk the streets of Boralus. It seems logical that it will be from these places that they strike against one another.
One thing I wonder is how these places will look by the end of the fight. It seems logical to me that the Horde will seize more territory in Kul Tiras over time while the Alliance makes gains in Zandalar. Each of these new countries will have to pay a price for siding with their faction.
The alternative, however, is that we might see these more as jumping off points. To my mind, this is the closest we're ever getting to a "South Seas" expansion, what with its nautical theme and the island expeditions. There are, of course, other places that have been mentioned that we could visit. We do actually wind up returning to Kezan for the MOTHERLODE!! dungeon (their spelling) but we have yet to see Tel'abim or Zul'dare or, of course, Nazjatar, which seems the logical place for us to go fight Queen Azshara.
One thing Legion did quite well was have its major raids push the story forward. Nighthold ended with us fighting Gul'dan, but it also brought Illidan back, pushing us toward the Tomb of Sargeras. Tomb, of course, opened the way to Argus, which defined the last chapter of the expansion with the addition of three zones.
I don't know if G'huun's demise will herald anything other than the relief that the thing is dead (though if it's a true Old God, how dead will it really be...?) but I could certainly imagine that if we kill Azshara, it's going to cause some really catastrophic consequence she will have set up in advance.
On one hand, she could have rigged a dead-man's switch of sorts, but it might be more in character for her to have some kind of system designed to keep running as long as she's alive, with her assumption being that she will always be alive.
Anyway, we're very much in the dark about what comes after Azshara. I hesitate to speculate about the number of raid "tiers" (especially since tiers don't really apply now that there aren't any tier sets) after I got burned in Warlords (I was so convinced we'd have an Infinite dragonflight-themed mid-tier.) Still, I really have to wonder what to expect from the rest of the expansion, and what order it will come in.
I've said before that I think it likely we'll get some kind of PvE representation of the faction conflict at the raid level. The question is how that will work: will we have bosses with different looks but identical mechanics? Also, who will we be fighting?
There's also the question of Sylvanas. With players and Saurfang alike feeling seriously disillusioned with the Horde thanks to her actions, one wonders how she can remain Warchief through subsequent expansions. We have yet (I think - again, haven't done max-level Horde content) to understand why Vol'jin named her as his successor.
It would seem very obvious and repetitive to simply have her go the way of Garrosh, with a rebellion of honorable Horde members striking down another Warchief. But how do they deal with what she has done?
Furthermore, I really want to see more internal conflict among the Alliance. Burning Teldrassil achieved the opposite of the goal capturing it was meant to accomplish - it was meant to divide the Alliance between Night Elves wishing for its liberation and Worgen eager to start by taking back Gilneas. The infighting, Saurfang had hoped, would leave the Alliance less unified in defending their core territories. But instead, the surviving Night Elves are now bolstering Stormwind's defenses and the Alliance is about as unified in cause against the Horde as they've ever been - Anduin, always a champion for peace, marched on Undercity and left the Forsaken homeland in ruins.
Now, part of me loves the idea of Sylvanas' clever plan blowing up in her face (I would have absolutely loved it if Sylvanas had begun her villain speech in the Lordaeron throne room only for Anduin to cut her off and say "kill her," and for Sylvanas to have to flee with several arrows in her back. It would have been a great moment to see her underestimating him. But oh well, I'm not the writer here.) Still, I think the Alliance needs internal conflict to help them stop simply reacting to the Horde, and I also think there needs to be some brutality and cruelty on their side to help motivate the Horde, whose main motivation to fight the Alliance so far has felt mostly "we just don't really like them for some reason, despite all their offers of peace."
So if we were to have a big AvH raid, where would it be? And would it even be in the same place?
We have a dungeon in Boralus, so it might be cool to have a fight through Zuldazar - maybe making our way from the harbor up to the top of the pyramid. Another option would be a fight through one of the remaining capital cities. We've done Orgrimmar, though, and I feel like the Alliance needs a turn to be on the attack (yes, I know they just attacked Undercity, but I think narratively the Horde needs an opportunity to be against the ropes in a way that isn't "this is actually going according to my plan anyway.") That actually only leaves Thunder Bluff and Silvermoon as Horde capitals that would make sense. Frankly, with the Void Elves joining the Alliance, a battle over Silvermoon would make a lot of sense, with Alleria and Vereesa leading their contingents against Lor'themar. At this point, I'd imagine the Blood Elves are still a majority of Quel'thalas' inhabitants, but it's very interesting to now have a full-fledged playable Alliance race that has a legitimate claim to the city.
I think the last question I want to deal with is the order of things.
Generally, my take on the plot of BFA is that it starts with us fighting one another more bitterly than ever before, but we eventually realize that there is a much larger threat that requires, if not unity, then a sort of armistice to deal with it.
But I could be wrong. Ironically, Old Gods have never been the final bosses of expansions - yes, C'thun is now sort of the ultimate vanilla raid boss, but at the time it was the original Naxxramas that was the last to come out before Burning Crusade. Yogg-Saron was also the middle tier (there was also Trial of the Crusader, which in retrospect probably should have counted as a sort of half-tier like Trial of Valor or the original Zul'Aman raid) before going to Icecrown Citadel (hm, Old God raids have always been followed by Scourge raids... interesting.) So it's possible that after Azshara, we'll go fight N'zoth, but that the final raid of BFA will actually have us turn back to the faction conflict.
The real question, though, is if there's a major Alliance/Horde raid, what are the implications? The last time we had something even like that, the Horde's Warchief was unseated and replaced. Any Alliance/Horde raid is going to involve major characters at least being beaten and possibly dying. Who could it be?
Personally, I don't want it to be Jaina. Her overreaction in Dalaran during the whole Divine Bell fiasco was bad... for an Alliance character. But her supposed villainy was nowhere near as horrific as things many Horde characters have already done - and she was taking prisoners, not just killing indiscriminately. What she is now, however, is someone who can instill fear in the Horde, and that's something the Alliance needs - and something the Horde needs.
Frankly, if there were one Alliance leader I could imagine dying soon it would be Velen. The only problem with this is that we already saw a different Velen die in Warlords of Draenor (and if you were only half-paying attention and played both Warlords and Legion, you must have been really confused.) Still, as a 25,000+ year old guy who has truly finished his life's mission, he's definitely more expendable these days.
On the Horde side, Saurfang frankly is looking forward to an honorable warrior's death - but he doesn't actually deserve it. The thing is, he talks a lot about honor, and tries to instill it in his followers, but the reason he's so conscious about it is that he keeps failing to live up to his own ideals. Throwing his axe at Malfurion was one that gave him pause and stayed his hand when he could have killed the Archdruid, but the truth is that his whole preemptive strike against the Night Elves was dishonorable. Sure, Sylvanas talked him into it, but the whole thing (minus burning the tree, of course) was his plan. This is a guy who drank demon blood when the Horde found itself unable to break through the defenses of Shattrath and Karabor.
Dying to a swarm of Alliance soldiers would be an ideal way for him to die - but I think that's why he shouldn't get that. It also doesn't seem likely he's going to be fighting the Alliance anymore through this current war - not while Sylvanas is Warchief.
There is an upcoming Q&A for BFA, which might shed a little more light on what we'll be getting as the expansion goes on. But at the moment, I think it's very up in the air. I'm fairly certain that the whole Death/Necromancy/Shadowlands-themed stuff feels more like a future expansion, given that it's coming at us from so many different angles - it would be hard to incorporate the Drust, Bwonsamdi, and Sylvanas all into the same single raid - but I could be wrong. Maybe the final boss is Bolvar. Maybe it's Azeroth the Titan. Maybe it's Lady Ashvane. Who knows?
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