Do you want a neutral city in the next expansion?

[Kiea]

I liked having capitals in the new zone, but I hope that they, like Shrine, keep them separated, make them significantly different.

But to add onto that, which also is a problem with all of WoW, is how similar the two factions go, we might not be the same faction, but we might aswell - let me list some examples:

- Jade forest we both became friends with the pandaren, we both enlisted warriors from the locals (Hozen/Jinyu).
- Valley of the Four Winds was shared so irrelevent.
- Krassarang Wilds we again follow very similar stories, a warmongering leader with a guy who don't believe in war, and we both reach the same conclusion.
- Kunlai Summit both of us help out the neutral pandaren in the start, we both go and find the exact same looking base with each of our pandaren allies, afterwards we both follow the same quests, help the Jinyu, help more pandaren, help Cho discover stuff in the mountains.
- Townlong Steppes is shared again and so is Dread Waste.

Now, what kind of differences do I want? I want clear separation, which happens sometimes, but mostly in the old world (pre-cata).
Stranglethorn vale, it had the goblins in the south, but the horde had a fairly big fortress and the alliance only had their tiny camp in the north
Dustwallow Marsh, goblins again, but then there were Theramore, being the capital of the people over there, while not officially being recognized as a capital, compared to the horde camp, which while in similar size to the stranglethorn one, is dwarfed by Theramore.

I wish they would make the factions different in other than just looks, we always follow the same storyline, if its not neutral quest we just each have our own version.

[Thiron]

I don't care that much about neutral city, but...
Sanctuary please! Why in the world can Shrines be attacked?!
The only safe place in Pandaria is your farm. And guards everywhere are so weak they could just be removed and make no difference.

[TheWindWalker]

No, the neutral cities was a bad idea the first time around. Having the alliance and the horde side by side in the same city made it feel like they were on the same faction. The alliance and the horde are supposed to be at war, a feeling that is lost if you share the expansions main city.

During Burning Crusade, other than for gameplay mechanics, Horde and Alliance were all but Allied the entire expansion. The only "war" elements I'm aware of were small skirmishes involving PVP battlegrounds. They literally stared across at each other in some zones intentionally keeping local enemy resistance squashed "because we need [the other guys] to survive so we can do our job as well."

Hell, the only time the Horde and Alliance were even at war during Wrath was when they had the completely out-of-nowhere airship battle in ICC. Like seriously, who shoots down air support when you're about to specifically face He Who Ends All Life who nearly everyone in your faction is willing to die to make sure he's stopped?

The war officially resumed when Garrosh got "into office" and went bazonkers.

I don't care that much about neutral city, but...
Sanctuary please! Why in the world can Shrines be attacked?!
The only safe place in Pandaria is your farm. And guards everywhere are so weak they could just be removed and make no difference.

That's one of the reasons I will never play on a PVP server, again. They serve no purpose other than to get you ganked and brag about how "at least I've got the balls to be on a PVP server." If there isn't a faction leader to kill, your "logoff area" shouldn't be somewhere you can logon and die during the loading screen.

[Deleted]

yes, at least I would have a chance to see a Hordie on Silvermoon that way.

[GKLeatherCraft]

I really like the way the MoP capitals worked, They were small, had everything you needed, Myself being an engineer didn't need to port away for AH, And it's close enough to the enemy capital you get some good brawls

[Deleted]

I really liked doing the more chilled out activities in the game - like buying and selling, meeting group members, professions - in a neutral city. It felt more peaceful. The faction-exclusive districts were important though, since you wouldn't want to see the opposite faction EVERYWHERE. Dalaran was a fantastic city and pulled the sanctuary vibe off very well.

I don't mind the Shrines, but I won't miss them after MoP. They struck me as kind of bland, claustrophobic, and left much to be desired IMO. All of the NPC's felt packed together, whereas Dalaran had a shop for every different thing - be it profession, a specific type of vendor, or a type of gear. The Shrines in general didn't give off a "capital" vibe for me.

I also believe that when Pandaria is outdated content, and it'll be used primarily for just levelling between 85-90 in the next expansion, that the Shrine will be practically empty. I mean, You can only get into it at level 87 anyway - so it'll be a good choice of a home only for about three levels. I'm sure there are people out there who love the place, and that's fine obviously, but I personally won't be seeing much of it post-MoP.

[Waalt]

If and only if they can make it big (huge!) and open like Shattrath. Dalaran felt cramped

[Aeula]

Yes, Kul'trias please. I'd love to see the proudmoore's arguing over kul'trias neutrality.

[Deleted]

I don't care that much about neutral city, but...
Sanctuary please! Why in the world can Shrines be attacked?!
The only safe place in Pandaria is your farm. And guards everywhere are so weak they could just be removed and make no difference.

i think sanctuary kinda implies neutral, maby thats just me

[Northem]

No, the neutral cities was a bad idea the first time around. Having the alliance and the horde side by side in the same city made it feel like they were on the same faction. The alliance and the horde are supposed to be at war, a feeling that is lost if you share the expansions main city.

This exactly.

Also, it just so happens that the only two cities that have been neutral (Dalaran and Shattrath) have been Alliance cities neutralized ...

If you love so much the neutral cities, I propose that this time it is a city of the Horde which become a Sanctuary, such can be Silvermoon, which currently does not have much activity.

What do you think? A renewed Silvermoon as the next neutral city!

Enough of marginalizing the Alliance and extolling the Horde!

[Deleted]

This exactly.

Also, it just so happens that the only two cities that have been neutral (Dalaran and Shattrath) have been Alliance cities neutralized ...

If you love so much the neutral cities, I propose that this time it is a city of the Horde which become a Sanctuary, such can be Silvermoon, which currently does not have much activity.

What do you think? A renewed Silvermoon as the next neutral city!

Enough of marginalizing the Alliance and extolling the Horde!

I bet people want something new, not just renewed Slivermoon.

[Aeula]

This exactly.

Also, it just so happens that the only two cities that have been neutral (Dalaran and Shattrath) have been Alliance cities neutralized ...

If you love so much the neutral cities, I propose that this time it is a city of the Horde which become a Sanctuary, such can be Silvermoon, which currently does not have much activity.

What do you think? A renewed Silvermoon as the next neutral city!

Enough of marginalizing the Alliance and extolling the Horde!

Silvermoon ? No that would make no sence and would fuck up roleplay (more than it already is) there due to the language barriers between factions.
Not to mention it's already in game, the neutral city would need to be new, also shattrath never belonged to the alliance, it belonged to the draenei and the naaru and was lost before they joined the alliance.

[Benomatic]

Stromgarde for the alliance and horde can have their own version

[Lovestar]

It seems that neutral cities, like neutral races, look and feel better because the devs can focus all their time on one great thing rather than half their time on two "adequate" things.

The Shrines just have that "Dental waiting lounge" feel to them... pretty, well-decorated, some amusing stuff to look at while you wait, but absolutely no real soul or appeal. Same with Cata's "Look! It's STORMWIND! Because you didn't see enough Stormwind the last 5 years!"

I'm not sure why the devs started second-guessing themselves so much and trying to aim for these weird high-concept goals, instead of "Hey, that sounds fun!", but hub cities is another area that has nosedived since WOTLK. I wish they would stop overthinking it so much.

[Dristereau]

Yes please. I do miss Dalaran Mammoth trains and actually seeing Hordies.

[Deleted]

No, I wouldn't like a neutral city, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to have new cities. Just have separate cities for Alliance and Horde. For example, Kul Tiras and Undermine...

[The Penguin]

I don't care, honestly, my dream expansion removes factions all together. PvP lore can just be skirmishes or practice or something.

Amen. Factions are hands down retarded these days. End the wars and PVP lore can be I don't know.. "War Games"? Tournaments like in Medieval days of old?

That being said.. if the War MUST continue, here's how I'd see it done.

Yes, Kul'trias please. I'd love to see the proudmoore's arguing over kul'trias neutrality.

Kul'Tiras names Jaina a traitor and has her hung. Like they snatch and execute her before either side can react. I mean, she DID allow the Horde to kill their Sovereign leader, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore.

[jahasafrat]

If they can make it big and cool like Dalaran, instead of big and crappy like Shattrath... sure.

I agree. I hated, and still hate, Shattrath. It didn't really even feel like a city to me, way too spread out and the infrastructure didn't make any sense.

Dalaran, on the other hand, I love. It's not huge but it still gives the impression and atmosphere of a (fantasy genre) city.

[MerinPally]

I quite miss the neutral cities. Smaller ones like Dalaran, I genuinely loved that place. Shattrath was nice too but so big, so much wasted space. The Lower City was horrible to get around on a ground mount and the upper part was just so... empty.

[Aliessil]

I'm kinda divided on this one. On the one hand Alliance have just invaded the Horde's capital, so tensions should be running high and a neutral city makes no sense.

On the other hand, Alliance have just helped the Trolls, Tauren, etc depose an evil dictator - co-operative attitudes are prevalent, we've built some trust, etc.

It really depends on how Blizzard handle the story I guess.

[edit] Thinking about it my preference would be for no neutral cities. I'd rather they stopped being lazy and added the relevant transport and vendor options to ALL of the cities, not just SW / Org (so that we can use e.g. Thunder Bluff or Ironforge as our home, and still access the portals, PvP vendors, etc).