The Legion invades the capital cities, which one falls?

[CaptainV]

So, lets assume the invasions attack the capital cities of Azeroth, all 8 of them (not including post TBC capitals or Shattrath, aka: Faction only capital cities) which one would be the most likely to be destroyed if any?

My, money, personally would be on Thunder Bluff.

Why?

Thunderbluff is a mostly peaceful city, filled only generally with hunters and nomads with very little defences. It has a high vantage point, which would usually work to its favor, but the Legion is invading from the sky, and has a tactic that usually involves setting everything on fire.

And TB happens to be literally the most flammable city, even Darnassus has more water to go around to help put out the fire.

I am also not suggesting this as some kind of bias but logic, TB is the weakest city of them all, the others, possess at least some kind of magic defence, stone fortifications, points of retreat, or points of counter attack.

E.g.

Why not Ironforge? Because Ironforge is a solidly defended fortress with multiple moat bridges serving as a natural retreat point, and the deeprun tram in the event the city needs to be evacuated cause the Legion might attempt to destroy it by caving in the mountain from above.

However, mountains can take a hell of alot of hits before finally being destroyed, and this works unfavorably for Thunderbluff, which in contrast, is a vulnerable site from a skyward vantage that works against it when the Legions general invasion point, is above.

By now, the Exodar is probably operational again and can probably fly, even if it couldnt, it has at least 2 evacuation points, and a nearby harbor for escape and retreat. Thunderbluff has only got elivators leading down to the surface, and zepplins that could come to evacuate, if, they werent being hounded by fire.

If the Elivators were destroyed, TB would be a death trap, with people unable to leave because they'd be grounded, even with wyverns to evacuate, it'd still be a hard pressed escape.

Silvermoon has solid defences against the Fel, though the fact that they've been invaded from within multiple times makes it a risky place to be.

Undercity has multiple layers of defence both above and below, and a point of retreat into Silverpine if they need to run from the Legion.

Orgrimmar's canyons might seem like a weakness, but much like its steel defences, they work as a solid natural barrier from skyward attacks and keep the place mostly unharmed as it would survive many blows from such strikes.

Stormwind has been fortified multiple times and has the largest number of evacuation points, and defences, making it one of the best cities to defend against the Legions attacks due to its access to reinforcements from multiple areas within its own districts.

Thats my take anyway, whats yours?

[Enitzu]

I would say Stormwind falls. Just because Jaina is the new Dread Overlord and will block all entrances and destroy Anduin herself. All hail Overlord Jaina!

[XDurionX]

Orgrimmar could be overrun by 10 casuals....

[Raiju]

I wanted to make a joke about Dalaran falling but apparently it doesn't.

[Kazlehoff]

My bets would be on Thunderbluff as well. TB's primary defense is its elevation. doesnt help much from people attacking from the sky. at that point, instead of keeping out attackers, it would keep out reinforcements.



IMO the hardest to crack would be, imo, Ironforge and Undercity, followed by Silvermoon. UC and IF are both underground, not many entrances, easily held by small numbers. and silvermoon is just FULL of chokepoints.

[Derpleton]

tbh I think the Legion could take out most of the major cities unless they happen to have several powerful magi ready to defend them. When the Legion attacked Dalaran if it weren't for the council they would have destroyed the city. Dalaran like Stormwind is made out of stone. I think that the Legion could destroy Stormwind, Orgimmar, Thunder Bluff and Darnassus with ease.

However, Ironforge, Undercity, Silvermoon and the Exodar remain another problem. I think that with the Alliance and Horde devastated by the loss of Stormwind and Orgrimmar the Legion could use its mass numbers advantage to lay siege to Ironforge and eventually capture it. The Exodar meanwhile would have to survive all the Legion ships and would likely either be destroyed or flee to a new planet.

So that leaves the Undercity and Silvermoon. Silvermoon would get hammered pretty hard and would put up a good fight but eventually the Legions numbers would wear down its defenders and it would fall, probably faster than Ironforge did. So now the Undercity remains as the final major city for the Legion to capture. It's underground and well defended and unlike Ironforge it's people do need food air or water to survive. However, the people of Undercity are undead which by extension are a creations of the Legion. I think that the Legion would conserve it's forces sending troops to occupy the ruins of Lordaeron and then again raising the fallen forsaken to serve as a new scourge. These risen defenders would "retreat" into the Undercity and cause havoc destroying Sylvannas' storage of the plague and ruining undead moral. Once the damage was nearly complete the Legion would resume it's assault making it's way to the throne room where the Sylvannas, Khadgar and the last defender's of Azeroth would make their stand. The defenders of Azeroth would send thousands of demons screaming back to the twisting nether but eventually the Burning Legion would make it's final push and wipe them out and ultimately claim victory on Azeroth.

... This is all of course if the Legion were actually smart and attacked Azeroth's major cities in full force. Even if they didn't capture them simply stopping Azeroth from mounting a counterattack on the Broken Isle's would secure a Legion victory as it would buy them the time to summon Sargeras. So tldr Blizzard's writers are bad and the Legion should be able to easily win.

[shadowmouse]

and Undercity

You forgot Undercity's secret defense. Once they trigger lag, the elevators kill everyone trying to get in.

[ArmatisUlv]

Man, if the legion was to invade our cities, they would all get destroyed. Some quicker then others.

Look how all the stormwind guards were demons after the broken shore event, look how the portals were there. You say ironforge would be the safest city but that is actually wrong. The demons could use the tram just as easily as we can. Any city that doesn't have a natural barrier would fall in seconds to a full legion ship invasion. The cities with natural barriers would take a little longer but they would fall too.

Blow the water in the tram, it can't be used anymore. Block off the exit to the sky with a ship and start pouring fel energy down, everyone will die.

No where is safe, not under orgrimmar, not undercity, not ironforge.

[Diggsworth]

Definitely Thunderbluff and/or Darnassus.
They seem to be the least fortified of the cities, and if we were to consider player density, they're also the least likely to be immediately defended.

I'd say maybe the Exodar might run into trouble, but they wouldn't be able to get their Ships overhead, since there's no flying allowed in the zone.

[lunchbox2042]

The legion can barely take over starter zones. There's zero chance they'd destroy a city.

[Sevarin]

stormwind falls, the park in particular. the newly repaired park is going to be a giant hole in the ground.

why? so alliance can complain about it for the next 6 years, of course! grats on your park back, it looks amazing.

[Deleted]

The goblin capital... oh wait...

[Profyrion]

I can really only postulate on the Alliance cities:

• Stormwind - Probably the best defended in terms of number of allied fighting forces present, active patrols, and defensive weapon stations. The city is especially well defended from attacks by sea. But its proximity to lowland/forest areas means the city is highly vulnerable to siege warfare and attacks from the air. Overwhelming airpower would cripple the city's defenses and completely nullifies its other natural barriers. There's also a narrow passage from Burning Steppes that could allow a covert force to infiltrate the city from a barely-defended section in the Northeast. Its biggest advantage might actually its popularity -- the number of "heroes" in the city at any given time would make it a very hard target. Stormwind is also of notable strategic importance, which I'll cover in a moment...
• Darnassus - Its position atop Teldrassil is a massive advantage. It's basically invulnerable to land and sea attacks, having only a small port area to defend against naval landings. And even if an enemy navy made landfall the elves could shutdown or destroy the portal up to the city. Darnassus is still technically vulnerable to air attacks, but the Great Tree's massive height is still a significant barrier to air forces. Also the elves are known for their glaive throwers.
• Ironforge - It's in a freaking mountain. You don't take Ironforge without cheating... unless you first control Stormwind. The tram is effectively a back door into Ironforge, and any invading force would definitely want to control that access point. If you hold the front gates and the tram you can siege the city very effectively, as anyone inside is a trapped rat. But that's a big IF.
• Exodar - It's Ironforge Lite. All the inhabited parts of the city are underground. The Exodar only has 2 ways in or out and one of them is a crazy chokepoint barely big enough for a Dwarf to fit through. It's packed full of awesome Naaru magi-tech defenses and it's on an island, so you won't be marching any ground forces here. The Exodar is the least important of all the Alliance home cities and best of all, if push came to shove I'm sure the desperate Draenei could find some way to get her airborne again. If that happens, LOL good luck to any invading force.

So I'd rank them in order of most likely to fall:

1. Stormwind
2. Darnassus
3. Exodar
4. Ironforge

[Raetary]

exodar can fly, ironforge is a mountain and hard to take over, stormwind is well protected.
only darnassus would fall unless the alliance holds their ground, the legion wouldnt even have to focus darnassus but the world tree itself.

shoot fel fireballs at teldrassil -> burn it to ash -> automatically destroys darnassus in the process -> win.

[Joodas]

Thunderbluff definitely.

Start by attacking the elevators to cut off access to the city. Destroy the bridges connecting the 4 sections.

Thunderbluff is now defenseless.

[bufferunderrun]

let's put it this way only ironforge and undercity (and probably exodar don't remember) being undergroud have an heavy protection from the raining infernals so they have the best protection all the other cities, that if legion don't teleport their troops directly inside like they do during invasions, if that happen no city is secure. In that case the city with the biggest military present is more likely to resist.

[Markhan]

I agree with Thunder Bluff. Maybe if the Legion had to invade from the ground, it would be somewhat okay. But since they can rain down from the sky, TB is the weakest in terms of defense.

[WoolferRU]

Darnassus in fact very vulnerable from earth and sea - you just need to cut big tree and it is done. Yes that a big work to do, but NE will have a hard time to defend all tree. Ironforge basically can close the gate and tram and successfully live for many years. Stormwind have too many guards and multiple level of defense including tram to Ironforge.

[Igi]

Thunder Bluff, because legion attacks from the sky.

[Sodniss]

Thunder Bluff, because legion attacks from the sky.

i go for thunder bluff to..but i think Exodar to..Ironforge and stormwind have a great defense system in my opinion!