How would factions look now if WoW was not an MMO?

[Splub]

I think that had they not made WoW and continued what Wc3 was doing, the factions would be this.

Horde - Orcs, Theramore Humans, Tauren, Trolls. (Night Elves and Goblins being added in an expansion)

I don't think there would be an Alliance, personally I believe had they made a WC4 they would have had the Scourge wipe out the rest of the human kingdoms in the Eastern Kingdoms sadly, as the series was clearly trying to move away from that type of story. There would be a 2nd faction however but they would be very different.

Illidari - Forsaken, Blood Elves, Naga, Draenei (Dwarves and I don't know maybe Nerubian being added in an expansion.)

Had they made WoW after WC4 as in wrapping up the Lich King and probably the Kil'Jaeden story I could see and would like these as the two factions.

[Jokubas]

I don't think there would be an Alliance, personally I believe had they made a WC4 they would have had the Scourge wipe out the rest of the human kingdoms in the Eastern Kingdoms sadly

That wouldn't have even needed to be in Warcraft IV. Warcraft III felt like it already presumed those areas were gone, otherwise the flight to Kalimdor would have been unnecessary. Fleeing south and crossing the Thandol Span would have been a perfect bottle neck. I also vaguely recall that the armies that arrived on Kalimdor were divided up by kingdom just as orcs were clans, implying that was what was left of any of them. I don't remember, but I feel like Kul Tiras was implied to be ruined too, otherwise Daelin would have had no reason to come all that way to harass the orcs in Kalimdor.

This thread is more proof to me that the factions are what's holding back Warcraft's story the most. That's not to say that the Alliance and Horde can't exist, but the players shouldn't be assumed to be on them. For the most part this can be represented by making no more faction specific quests (existing ones are fine for the timeline's sake), allowing grouping between all players (which has the added bonus of increasing the pool of players for all content), and re-imagining PvP as a whole as wargames.

It's a shame how much they've pigeonholed the story for this so far, but it's not too late to recover. They could do some sort of political Cataclysm. Have Sylvanas finally make her move, officially renouncing the Horde to kill all living. Have some Forsaken forsake her to explain why some would still be doing heroic quests. At the same time, something else could happen that keeps Stormwind busy, making Gilneas feel abandoned by them. Azshara rises up to get revenge on the night elves, who now find themselves without the Eastern Kingdoms to aid them. The trolls, whose home was destroyed by a naga, decide to help the night elves against such a threat. Between the trouble in Kalimdor and Sylvanas' machinations, the blood elves get isolated from the rest of the Horde. And so on.

I involved a lot of things here, but the point is, you can break apart the factions in a fairly logical political way. After that, you can go back to having the interactions be logical instead of tied to the gameplay. Sylvanas could get ousted and replaced with someone like Calia, who may be friendly with her neighbors but not actively allied. The blood elves could end up refreshing ties with them or some ally who protected them from Sylvanas. The tauren could finally decide that the orcs have been too unpredictable for them and pull back from the conflicts. Etc. etc. All of these races still have every reason to be playable and fight whatever Legion or Scourge or Old God that comes at us, but the connection would be on the terms of individual people and individual nations, not immutable super-coalitions.

[Splub]

That wouldn't have even needed to be in Warcraft IV. Warcraft III felt like it already presumed those areas were gone, otherwise the flight to Kalimdor would have been unnecessary. Fleeing south and crossing the Thandol Span would have been a perfect bottle neck. I also vaguely recall that the armies that arrived on Kalimdor were divided up by kingdom just as orcs were clans, implying that was what was left of any of them. I don't remember, but I feel like Kul Tiras was implied to be ruined too, otherwise Daelin would have had no reason to come all that way to harass the orcs in Kalimdor.

This thread is more proof to me that the factions are what's holding back Warcraft's story the most. That's not to say that the Alliance and Horde can't exist, but the players shouldn't be assumed to be on them. For the most part this can be represented by making no more faction specific quests (existing ones are fine for the timeline's sake), allowing grouping between all players (which has the added bonus of increasing the pool of players for all content), and re-imagining PvP as a whole as wargames.

I do agree Jokubas that the faction stuff is holding the series back, especially the war thing, it just made the community toxic. You could get a lot more lore on the races if for example in this zone you got a Tauren town instead of a "Horde" town.

[Thelxi]

I don't think the elves (blood and night) would have picked factions, other than that pretty similar to what it is now.

[Lynneiah]

That wouldn't have even needed to be in Warcraft IV. Warcraft III felt like it already presumed those areas were gone, otherwise the flight to Kalimdor would have been unnecessary. Fleeing south and crossing the Thandol Span would have been a perfect bottle neck. I also vaguely recall that the armies that arrived on Kalimdor were divided up by kingdom just as orcs were clans, implying that was what was left of any of them. I don't remember, but I feel like Kul Tiras was implied to be ruined too, otherwise Daelin would have had no reason to come all that way to harass the orcs in Kalimdor.

Jaina only traveled to Kalimdor at the behest of Medivh, who she sensed was incredibly powerful, and she seemed to genuinely believe he knew the future. Otherwise there's not really a reason to assume people didn't flee south.
It was also implied that by the end of TFT, the Scourge had all but lost its grasp on Lordaeron, what with the civil war with the Forsaken ending in a Forsaken victory. We don't know at all if the Scourge was even capable of moving further south without first regrouping in Northrend.

[Deleted]

Horde: Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, Goblins
Alliance: Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, High Elves

Other:
Forsaken / Blood Elves faction
Night Elves on their own
Draenei and Worgen either with Night Elves or Alliance.

[Ciddy]

Well, I do think humans/dwarves/gnomes would still be pretty tight. Humans and dwarves have traditionally been pretty friendly with each other for the most part, and they have their main cities connected by a tram. And the gnomes owe the dwarves a debt after the dwarves took them in + helped them after shit hit the fan in Gnomeregan. So I think those three would still be pretty close to each other.

Horde side, I think the orcs/trolls/tauren would still be very friendly with each other, assuming we're talking about a timeline where Garrosh doesn't come along and try to fuck all that up.

I think goblins would still be full neutral and working for the highest bidder (even if that happens to be someone like the Lich King).

Night elves would kinda keep to themselves and be a bit more neutral, but I think they'd favor the alliance side more if it really came down to that. Their relationship with orcs has never been that great. Worgen would be more friendly to the night elves. Same with draenei, I think.

Forsaken would pretty much be its own faction, not particularly liked by any of the others, but the others would be content to let them be as long as they didn't get too far out of line.

I think the horde/alliance races would be a little bit more friendly with each other than they are right now. It'd be like when Thrall was still in charge, where they had a sort of loose alliance and weren't particularly best friends, but they tolerated each other and even engaged in trade.

[Deleted]

Stand-alone Factions;

Forsaken (because kill 'em all attitude doesn't fit in an alliance)
Blood Elves (xenophobic, sorta mad)

Horde;

Orcs/Trolls

Alliance;

Humans/Dwarves/Worgen

Merchant Fleet;

Goblins/Gnomes

Neutral;

Draenei/Night Elves/Tauren/Pandaren

[ravenmoon]

IF there wasn't a wow, there'd not really be a horde or an alliance.

think about it... WoW was specifically made to give you an explorable environment to experience the universe of warcraft, it wasn't made as story vehicle engine, in fact it is for nostalgia reasons that you would have two factions in it, because the first 3 games are dominated by that.

The faction conflict expectedly comes to an end in quite the grand finale, with a new threat, an epic global conflict that changes everything and potentially sets a whole new canvass. The conflict between the horde and the alliance is ended as tehy for the firs titme team up, and shed blood for one another in the light of the bigger and more powerful threat.. it makes no sense for them to then fall back into arch enemies over cows or trees after shedding blood for one another - not with the orcs' powerful sense of honour, the humans who never forget those who shed blood for them and the night elves who pull eveyrone together to fight a more powerful threat as they did 10,000 years ago.

Face it, was was just to experience from a first person point of view in many way s the pre WC3 conclusion scenario.

The best setting for the game would actually be during the events of WC3 - or just before which would probbabl mean no night elves, but that's the only time the conflict between wow's horde and alliance makes any sense.


New WoW, would actually have new enemies. It would be Humans, Orcs, Night elves against the Legion and the Illidari of Naga, Blood elves & Draenei THe story would then take you to Argus and eventually teh Burning Citadel to end the demons, forming new allies along the way.

War between Azeroth and Outland, could ensue, the Humans and night elves helping the orcs to claim back their ancesstral lands from the invading Blood elves and naga who oust the legion there.

Furthermore, we would not have DRaenei as we know it, they'd all be what we now call broken. Taht's not to say we won't meet a friendly group of Eredar who would join us against the Legion, I'm sure. Dwarves/Gnomes/Tauren/Trolls/Eredar/Panderan/Worgen/Goblin/High elves - all side races that would join one of the factions.

It could be that the traditional horde still stuck to themselves.. in which you'd have Orcs, darkspears, tauren, ogres .. Humans would be with dwarves , gnomes and High elves. Night elves would be given new allies, likely Panderan, Eredar and Worgen or swap Eredar and Worgen for Cenarians and Furbolgs if blizzard allowed us to play 4-legged half-Nelf/stag people... Blood elves, Naga and DRaenei would add Goblins to their repertoire.

but the horde and alliance would not be enemies even though sometimes they may bicker. The scourge would have been wiped out in an expansion. The Forsaken likely a neutral race that everyone could have undead versions of themselves would be slightly modified models , led by the BAnshee queen who has her agenda, but htey are treated wtih suspicion, some factions like the Illidari being a bit more welcoming of them,

[Lynneiah]

If there wasn't a WoW, there would probably have been a Warcraft IV, which would still have factions, because (unlike MMO's) factions are actually a thing an RTS requires. If Starcraft didn't have Terran, Zerg, and Protoss, but rather the same army carbon-copied three times with a different coat of paint, it would not nearly be as interesting.

[ravenmoon]

you didn't read what I said just now did you. I know it's long, but, there shouldn't be a horde and alliance conflict AT ALL after WC3.

I'm not saying there shoudln't be conflict, but, the board game has changed. Conflict should now be with the Illidari and the Burning legion.

I would have it as horde and alliance separate but allied groups at war with the Illidari. Night elves neutral to horde and alliance, at war with the Illidari. ALL factions - horde, alliance, night elves, forsaken and Illidari - at war with the burning legion.

Warcraft moves on from orcs vs humans - which was the focus for the first two games, it is in this nostalgia that wow should have been set in, here the horde and teh alliance are very much enemies., even in WC3 they are still fighting ab it, but that's not the main focus. It's not an all out war.

[Verterdegete]

The faction conflict expectedly comes to an end in quite the grand finale, with a new threat, an epic global conflict that changes everything and potentially sets a whole new canvass. The conflict between the horde and the alliance is ended as tehy for the firs titme team up, and shed blood for one another in the light of the bigger and more powerful threat.. it makes no sense for them to then fall back into arch enemies over cows or trees after shedding blood for one another - not with the orcs' powerful sense of honour, the humans who never forget those who shed blood for them and the night elves who pull eveyrone together to fight a more powerful threat as they did 10,000 years ago.

Yeah, just like The West and USSR. Before WW2 they were mortal enemies. Then the Nazis came, and they had to unite and fight together for the greater good. And after the war they all continued to be best friend forever, because they shed blood together and all. Total harmony.



















Oh wait....

[Alexanderjac]

Necessary spacing is necessary.

[Octavius]

The factions aren't like this because it's an MMO, they're like this because they decided on enforcing two factions as part of the game mechanics. The Alliance and Horde would be able to be much more fluid if we weren't assumed to be their most loyal servants, which is something other MMOs have let happen.

Right after Warcraft III, the factions would look something like this:
Sentinels: Night elves
Horde: Orcs, jungle trolls, tauren, ogres
Western Alliance: Lordaeron refugees (Humans, dwarves, and high elves in Theramore)
Eastern Alliance: Stormwind humans, Ironforge dwarves, gnomes
Illidari: Naga, blood elves, and draenei (on Outland)
Forsaken: Undead remnants (in Lordaeron and the surrounding areas)

Over time, those alliances would shift a bit if we assume similar threats (while keeping the original concepts).

When the Eastern Alliance finds out what happened during the Third War, they'd probably reestablish contact with the Western Alliance. Most people would probably leave Theramore for the more stable lands in the east, merging the two Alliances while leaving Theramore as little more than an outpost. The Horde, a handful of refugees themselves at this point, would probably keep mostly to themselves and simply try to solidify their holdings. The night elven Sentinels, shown to be a powerful force in Warcraft III, would probably remain xenophobic at first, but entertain diplomacy with the people who saved the world at Hyjal. Leaving us with essentially the same list I made before with the difference being a single Alliance.

Really, there's no reason for any of these groups to form permanent alliances or harass each other, especially considering the more important threats that lingered or would be coming. Nations can ally without having to literally join together.

If I did have them act more desperately and join more fully together, this is how I think it would go down:

With their natural allies returning to their realms while new threats begin to harass their borders, the night elf Sentinels contact their old friends, the tauren, and decide to ally with the Horde. By the time the Battle of Mount Hyjal happened, they realized that Grom's killing of Cenarius was not the norm, and they otherwise have a lot in common with this shamanistic Horde. It's a shaky alliance at first, but they all very much care about the world they live on.

Meanwhile, with the Scourge being an ever-present threat and the Lordaeron refugees now backed by several strong kingdoms, they decide to retake their homeland. When they arrive, they find the Forsaken. After initial skirmishes, they realize that these people are not under the sway of the Scourge. Many are wary, but the reunion with family and friends they thought dead is powerful. The Forsaken join the Alliance and together they rebuild Lordaeron as a shining beacon of the tenacity of the human spirit.

For the most part, I think these factions could have stayed solid throughout the expansions.
Horde: Orcs, jungle trolls, tauren, ogres, night elves
Alliance: Humans, high elves, dwarves, gnomes, undead
Illidari: Naga, blood elves, and draenei (on Outland)

When Burning Crusade happens, blood elves and draenei are already accounted for. This expansion would happen entirely differently. The Illidari races would open up as playable (no factions in gameplay, but it would still be the best time to add them). Instead of being about taking down an inexplicably insane Illidan and his traitorous "allies", because those are playable races, it would be about stopping the Burning Legion's Burning Crusade.

When Wrath of the Lich King happens, living Nerubian remnants would join the Illidari, who have now come back to Azeroth as a respected nation. When the Cataclysm happens, the Bilgewater Cartel would still join the Horde, and the Worgen would still join the Alliance. The Forsaken wouldn't attack them this time, but the Greymane Wall would still break, opening them back up to their old friends. In Mists of Pandaria, the Pandaren wouldn't need to join anyone. If they did choose an ally, I'd pick the Horde. Not because Chen helped with the founding of Orgrimmar, but because they were once friends with the likes of the tauren and night elves, who are both Horde in this version.

If Warlords of Draenor happens this time, it wouldn't be because Garrosh led the Horde to ruin before being captured. The addition of the night elves would have insured that if Garrosh gained power, a civil war would have started much earlier. At this point, Garrosh would either have been ousted, or the Horde would have fully split.

"True" Horde: Orcs, trolls, ogres
Nature Horde: Night elves, tauren, pandaren

This would cause some complications, however. Thrall would definitely see that "Nature Horde" as much more what he wanted his people to be, so to be completely realistic some of the races would be scattered across both. In fact, characters like Maiev might even side with Garrosh's Horde if he saw purity and destroying night elven lands as less important considering other factors.

Well, I could probably go on forever with this, so I'll stop for now. I'd love to talk about this from other perspectives as well. I ignored Onyxia for the most part here. It's possible she could have turned the Eastern Alliance into manipulated antagonists until she was ousted, leading the Western Alliance to instead ally with the Horde as the Warcraft III hero faction. If I took our known history at face value until certain points, different things could have happened. Sylvanas probably would have taken credit for the Wrathgate attack and been kicked from the Horde had the factions not been enforced, and the blood elves certainly would have completed their talks with Varian in Mists of Pandaria.

I pretty much like this way. I don't know about Nelves, who can be a sort of elder race who guides the others through perils in time of need. But with this distribution, wow could've been much better and my god, INTERESTING (and not absurd).
Another thing: the illidan thing=pathetic. He just goes crazy for no reason and disintegrates a wholly made faction, very interesting in the frozen throne, which could've played a pivotal role during various TRUE crises (aka northrend campaign). And illidan met a pathetic end. Could've be more.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Biggest thing is the Forsaken would have been booted from the Horde long ago, and BElves may have gone Neutral or full Alliance in MoP.