It is quite possible, that this is the perspective of someone, who has played Warcraft III before trying out World of Warcraft (haven't played WCI and II). Maybe those, who played earlier WC games could even say similar things about WCIII. But the very setting of World of Warcraft always troubled me, with how... illogical it was as a continuation of WC3 story.
What I am presenting may or may not be viable for an MMO, but (I think) it would make much more sense for a sequel of Warcraft III story.
What I am presenting may or may not be viable for an MMO, but (I think) it would make much more sense for a sequel of Warcraft III story.
To start, this quote at the beginning of the intro cinematic:
How did that happen? By the end of RoC, humans, orcs and night elves have, as Medivh put it - "discarded their old hatreds and stood united against a common foe". Not only that, but the orcs have left the Eastern Kingdoms and travelled to the previously called "forgotten lands of Kalimdor". Thus, not only were humans and orcs now allied, but also - they had no more territorial, or other kinds of disputes. It was not a "tenuous pact". There was no logical reason for the two factions to fight anymore. But it goes further than that - the faction allegiances also make no sense. Which brings me to the next section."4 years have passed [...] the tenuous pact between horde and alliance has all but evaporated."
Night Elf:
Why in the world did Night Elves join Alliance? Night elves were a neutral race, that either wasn't aware of the war between Horde and Alliance, or wasn't concerned with it. Granted, Grom Hellscream has managed to rile them up quite bad, however, by the end of RoC three things happened:
Blood Elf:
Why in the world did Blood Elves join Horde? If Blood Elves were even aware of Horde's existence in Kalimdor, they would only be aware that the Horde consisted of orcs, who were essentially left-overs from the Second Invasion. Why in the world would they even attempt to make contact or befriend the Horde? And the Horde itself likely wouldn't be aware of Blood Elves' existence at all.
I realize, that the Blood Elves were not thinking very highly of the Alliance (though, for the most part, their problems begin and end with Lord Garithos), but joining the Horde wouldn't be their solution. At least not so soon.
Forsaken:
Much the same thing applies to Sylvanas, as does to the Blood Elves - IF she was aware of the existence of the Horde at all, she would only know them as left-overs from the Second Invasion. Not the kind of people she'd ally with. Not to mention, that the Horde themselves wouldn't allow an Undead to go anywhere near them. Especially considering, that we are talking about the time after TfT - the Lich King and the Scourge should be stronger than ever.
Also... Should Forsaken even exist?
After all, Sylvanas only got back her own mind because Illidan managed to damage the Frozen Throne with the Eye of Sargeras, making Ner'zhul's power "leak out". Simply said - Ner'zhul was getting weaker. However, after Arthas reached the Frozen Throne and fused with Ner'zhul, the Lich King got more powerful than ever before.
Consider that even before this merging, the Dreadlords were getting worried that Ner'zhul was getting too powerful. If I remember correctly, this worry was shared by Kil'jaeden himself. Which is why Kil'jaeden ordered Illidan to destroy the Frozen Throne in the first place (which suggests that current Lich King may rival Kil'jaeden in power, but that is another discussion).
Anyways, simply said - after Arthas became the Lich King, he very possibly would take all of Forsaken back under mental control. (though exactly how this control works was never properly explained)
Why in the world did Night Elves join Alliance? Night elves were a neutral race, that either wasn't aware of the war between Horde and Alliance, or wasn't concerned with it. Granted, Grom Hellscream has managed to rile them up quite bad, however, by the end of RoC three things happened:
- It was made clear, that Grom Hellscream did not represent the will of the Horde. Also, he was crazed by the demon blood in his veins
- The Horde has made an alliance with the Night Elves and helped them save the entire world.
- Grom Hellscream sacrificed himself to destroy a powerful and high-ranking demon.
Blood Elf:
Why in the world did Blood Elves join Horde? If Blood Elves were even aware of Horde's existence in Kalimdor, they would only be aware that the Horde consisted of orcs, who were essentially left-overs from the Second Invasion. Why in the world would they even attempt to make contact or befriend the Horde? And the Horde itself likely wouldn't be aware of Blood Elves' existence at all.
I realize, that the Blood Elves were not thinking very highly of the Alliance (though, for the most part, their problems begin and end with Lord Garithos), but joining the Horde wouldn't be their solution. At least not so soon.
Forsaken:
Much the same thing applies to Sylvanas, as does to the Blood Elves - IF she was aware of the existence of the Horde at all, she would only know them as left-overs from the Second Invasion. Not the kind of people she'd ally with. Not to mention, that the Horde themselves wouldn't allow an Undead to go anywhere near them. Especially considering, that we are talking about the time after TfT - the Lich King and the Scourge should be stronger than ever.
Also... Should Forsaken even exist?
After all, Sylvanas only got back her own mind because Illidan managed to damage the Frozen Throne with the Eye of Sargeras, making Ner'zhul's power "leak out". Simply said - Ner'zhul was getting weaker. However, after Arthas reached the Frozen Throne and fused with Ner'zhul, the Lich King got more powerful than ever before.
Consider that even before this merging, the Dreadlords were getting worried that Ner'zhul was getting too powerful. If I remember correctly, this worry was shared by Kil'jaeden himself. Which is why Kil'jaeden ordered Illidan to destroy the Frozen Throne in the first place (which suggests that current Lich King may rival Kil'jaeden in power, but that is another discussion).
Anyways, simply said - after Arthas became the Lich King, he very possibly would take all of Forsaken back under mental control. (though exactly how this control works was never properly explained)
To begin, if we still set the story at the same time (4 years after WCIII), I believe that the story shouldn't focus on the conflict between Horde and Alliance at all. The main focus of the sequel to WCIII should be the menace of the Lich King, who would now have become stronger than ever before, and would surely be amassing forces to descend upon the world of the living. Which includes retaking control of all the undead in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, (possibly) including the Forsaken.
This essentially eliminates the need to explore the possible race and faction allegiances. However, if we were to suspend our disbelief for a moment, and say that some sort of conflict DID occur between Horde and Alliance this soon (for whatever reason), this is how factions should look, in my view:
Considering how powerful the Lich King should have become, I don't even think he should be defeated in a single expansion (or ever).
The story could begin with the Scourge having already descended upon Eastern Kingdoms (and from there spreading to Kalimdor), and Alliance would be hard-pressed to keep them from spreading further south from the Plaguelands.
The end goal of this first game (Vanilla) would possibly be to advance far enough into the Plaguelands to reach ruins of Lordaeron, where either Sylvanas/Varimathras or Balnazzar would be the final boss of the expansion.
(Alternatively, this could be the middle point of the Vanilla game, and the end goal of the game could be to rid the plaguelands of the Undead, and thus, isolate the Scourge in Northrend.)
As for later expansions - war with the Scourge would come to a stalemate, with the Scourge not being able to get an inch in Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor, and likewise - the Living not being able to make any ground in Northrend.
This looming threat of the Scourge would become a constant. That is, until Sargeras himself would become aware of what's happened and would (attempt to) claim the power of the Lich King for himself, or help the Lich King finally annihilate the Living in Azeroth.
This essentially eliminates the need to explore the possible race and faction allegiances. However, if we were to suspend our disbelief for a moment, and say that some sort of conflict DID occur between Horde and Alliance this soon (for whatever reason), this is how factions should look, in my view:
Horde:
They would remain neutral. They had an alliance with both orcs and humans. They'd have no reason to prefer either one, and such petty wars would be of no concern to them.
The faction should be non-playable or in mercenary mode - players can choose either faction.
The Blood Elves:
They would remain neutral. They could stay with the Alliance, but would at least try to stay out of the conflict as much as they could. Also, they'd have their hands full with restoring Quel'thalas. And also, they would be cut-off from the rest of the nations by the plaguelands.
The faction should be in mercenary mode.
The Forsaken:
They should be hostile to both. As said before, the most likely scenario - entire Forsaken would be taken back under Lich King's mental control. And if not - they'd be indistinguishable from the Scourge. They ARE the Scourge, technically.
The faction should be non-playable and hostile.
The Draenei:
I guess I forgot to talk about these guys. Well, considering the alternative story - they'd likely meet the Night Elves (neutral) first. So, quite possibly, they'd also be neutral in the war between Horde and Alliance. They'd be neutral, but considering that they were refugees who just crashed in Azeroth - hardly they'd split themselves to fight in either faction. Still, for gameplay reasons...
The faction should be non-playable or in mercenary mode.
- Orcs
- Trolls
- Tauren
- Humans
- Dwarves
- (?) Gnomes
(Did gnomes even exist before WoW? I got the impression, that dwarves were technophiles of Alliance)
They would remain neutral. They had an alliance with both orcs and humans. They'd have no reason to prefer either one, and such petty wars would be of no concern to them.
The faction should be non-playable or in mercenary mode - players can choose either faction.
The Blood Elves:
They would remain neutral. They could stay with the Alliance, but would at least try to stay out of the conflict as much as they could. Also, they'd have their hands full with restoring Quel'thalas. And also, they would be cut-off from the rest of the nations by the plaguelands.
The faction should be in mercenary mode.
The Forsaken:
They should be hostile to both. As said before, the most likely scenario - entire Forsaken would be taken back under Lich King's mental control. And if not - they'd be indistinguishable from the Scourge. They ARE the Scourge, technically.
The faction should be non-playable and hostile.
The Draenei:
I guess I forgot to talk about these guys. Well, considering the alternative story - they'd likely meet the Night Elves (neutral) first. So, quite possibly, they'd also be neutral in the war between Horde and Alliance. They'd be neutral, but considering that they were refugees who just crashed in Azeroth - hardly they'd split themselves to fight in either faction. Still, for gameplay reasons...
The faction should be non-playable or in mercenary mode.
Considering how powerful the Lich King should have become, I don't even think he should be defeated in a single expansion (or ever).
The story could begin with the Scourge having already descended upon Eastern Kingdoms (and from there spreading to Kalimdor), and Alliance would be hard-pressed to keep them from spreading further south from the Plaguelands.
The end goal of this first game (Vanilla) would possibly be to advance far enough into the Plaguelands to reach ruins of Lordaeron, where either Sylvanas/Varimathras or Balnazzar would be the final boss of the expansion.
(Alternatively, this could be the middle point of the Vanilla game, and the end goal of the game could be to rid the plaguelands of the Undead, and thus, isolate the Scourge in Northrend.)
As for later expansions - war with the Scourge would come to a stalemate, with the Scourge not being able to get an inch in Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor, and likewise - the Living not being able to make any ground in Northrend.
This looming threat of the Scourge would become a constant. That is, until Sargeras himself would become aware of what's happened and would (attempt to) claim the power of the Lich King for himself, or help the Lich King finally annihilate the Living in Azeroth.
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