Spoilers: Why is the Alliance story so weak in BFA compared to the Horde?

[Friendlyimmolation]

exactly! So there is bound to come more

Don’t you see? Blizzard won’t even bother to finish, it’s at its final product!

/s

[Pucek]

Don’t you see? Blizzard won’t even bother to finish, it’s at its final product!

/s

Not saying they won't but have you seen Alliance intro into Twilight Highlands?

[etheldald]

It's all very alpha right now...

we know that is alpha, but why we can't give feedback about it? if there is a time to make it better now is the best time.

and also i don't agree with the people saying that legion was a alliance xpac, sure we got some alliance characters but most of them were acting neutral, so they are not alliance.
alliance themed xpac would have been not letting the horde back in dalaran and alliance alone stop the legion.

khadgar,turalyon,alleria,even maiev, they all have been neutral, it's not the alliance fault that the horde doesn't have neutral figures.
even veressa was being neutral at some point How is that alliance themed?

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

we know that is alpha, but why we can't give feedback about it? if there is a time to make it better now is the best time.

and also i don't agree with the people saying that legion was a alliance xpac, sure we got some alliance characters but most of them were acting neutral, so they are not alliance.
alliance themed xpac would have been not letting the horde back in dalaran and alliance alone stop the legion.

khadgar,turalyon,alleria,even maiev, they all have been neutral, it's not the alliance fault that the horde doesn't have neutral figures.
even veressa was being neutral at some point How is that alliance themed?

True.. I guess you have a point!

[Warmage]

Wasn't sure where to put this but I thought is a nice video to share : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHTQKEXtvPY
It talks about the current development situation of BfA, effort put into each faction and the overall feeling that creates.

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

Wasn't sure where to put this but I thought is a nice video to share : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHTQKEXtvPY
It talks about the current development situation of BfA, effort put into each faction and the overall feeling that creates.

It's a good discussion.

I'm very happy with my lightforged. And... I enjoy playing a void elf priest.
But, I'm not happy with the dark irons and the lack of other allied-race news

[Kwento]

we know that is alpha, but why we can't give feedback about it? if there is a time to make it better now is the best time.

and also i don't agree with the people saying that legion was a alliance xpac, sure we got some alliance characters but most of them were acting neutral, so they are not alliance.
alliance themed xpac would have been not letting the horde back in dalaran and alliance alone stop the legion.

khadgar,turalyon,alleria,even maiev, they all have been neutral, it's not the alliance fault that the horde doesn't have neutral figures.
even veressa was being neutral at some point How is that alliance themed?

The same way WoD and Cata Thrall was Horde themed, I think.

[Kieldon]

So far I prefer all the Alliance allied races rather than the Horde ones. The navy and pirate theme of Kul Tiras also suits me more than a troll empire. Also Azshara and possibly N'zoth are making their appearence in Kul Tiras so that a huge plus from me.

Yet I understand that people think it will again be Horde focused. I fear that aswell.

But it's still alpha.

[Zulkhan]

Truly the greatest spies

Bitch please, they got nothing on the super-secret organization of Tauren Rogues.

The best spies are the Tauren spies.

''But we've never seen nor heard of a network of Tauren sp-''

EXACTLY.

Damn, looks I've been beaten on that joke already!

Can't say I'm suprised, it was that tasty.

[KrakHed]

You know, there's something I have to say about the Alliance story being so weak in BFA. After careful consideration, I don't believe that's true. The Alliance is getting deeply personal stories for Jaina and Anduin. Jaina who stood by as her father was killed, and likely needs to redeem herself in the eyes of Kul Tiras, and Anduin having to step up to the plate as High King. With a few unnerving whispers as to what role the Boy King has to play in upcoming events.

In short, Kul Tiras's own story may be weak, but the Alliance story has many strong notes to play out.

The Horde is actually handicapped by Warchief Sylvanas. The Zandalar story stands strong without her, and would likely be crippled if Sylvanas herself got any more involved. It succeeds by not being a Horde story, but more a Troll story. There's hardly any Orc or Tauren involvement anywhere on the island. Forsaken influence is kept fairly minimal.

In short, we have the reverse of the Alliance's issue. The Horde story is a pathetic wreck, but the Zandalar story is great.

[Zulkhan]

You know, there's something I have to say about the Alliance story being so weak in BFA. After careful consideration, I don't believe that's true. The Alliance is getting deeply personal stories for Jaina and Anduin. Jaina who stood by as her father was killed, and likely needs to redeem herself in the eyes of Kul Tiras, and Anduin having to step up to the plate as High King. With a few unnerving whispers as to what role the Boy King has to play in upcoming events.

In short, Kul Tiras's own story may be weak, but the Alliance story has many strong notes to play out.

The Horde is actually handicapped by Warchief Sylvanas. The Zandalar story stands strong without her, and would likely be crippled if Sylvanas herself got any more involved. It succeeds by not being a Horde story, but more a Troll story. There's hardly any Orc or Tauren involvement anywhere on the island. Forsaken influence is kept fairly minimal.

In short, we have the reverse of the Alliance's issue. The Horde story is a pathetic wreck, but the Zandalar story is great.

That's pretty much why we need Thrall and Vol'jin doing something in BfA: the first for being the original founder of the New Horde and the late brother of the second, where Vol'jin should serve as fudamental link between the Horde and the Troll story.

If that's going to happen as it should, maybe even Sylvanas may find a way to fit in without looking awkward or forced. We shouldn't forget that is the Loa's guidance that convinced Vol'jin to give the reins of the Horde to her.

About Kul'Tiras, I think that place should receive the Pandaria treatment: add a good portion of new lore yet somehow connected with previously established lore. That's how Pandaria felt relevant despite most of its lore initially feeling like it belonged a completely different set entirely.

[KrakHed]

That's pretty much why we need Thrall and Vol'jin doing something in BfA: the first for being the original founder of the New Horde and the late brother of the second, where Vol'jin should serve as fudamental link between the Horde and the Troll story.

If that's going to happen as it should, maybe even Sylvanas may find a way to fit in without looking awkward or forced. We shouldn't forget that is the Loa's guidance that convinced Vol'jin to give the reins of the Horde to her.

About Kul'Tiras, I think that place should receive the Pandaria treatment: add a good portion of new lore yet somehow connected with previously established lore. That's how Pandaria felt relevant despite most of its lore initially feeling like it belonged a completely different set entirely.

Well, as much as people have claimed that Bwonsamdi outright hates the undead, he actually made use of them in his very first appearance during the Zalazane's Fall event. Bwonsamdi's a Loa getting plenty of attention this expansion, and who stands out from all the others by being a Troll rather than an animal. The one who also seems to be winning more than any other, because I'm sure all the chaos is just feeding him soul after soul. And not weak ones either.

But as for Kul Tiras? I think I agree with your general assessment. Mostly by expressing what's disappointed me so far. With the Drust story, I was hoping to get a better picture of early human cultures. Especially if the Drust were humans never conquered by the Arathi. Since there actually seems to be Druids on Kul Tiras for some reason, that just leaves me even more disappointed with just how shallow their lore is at the moment.

Hell, they could use them to give us some more Shadowlands lore while they're at it, with a kind of Celtic Otherworld theme. There are a lot of cool things that could be done with Witches, Drust, and Druids, but it just doesn't look like they're being done. Give the Alliance as cool an introduction to all that fun stuff as the Zandalar.

Also, that mention of Kul Tiran slavers hopefully shouldn't just be on Zandalar. I've been wondering where the Quillboar came from, and that'd at least be a plausible explanation for their presence on Kul Tiras. It'd certainly be a more interesting plot for whatever Quillboar problem they have in Stormsong.

Finally, and I think this might be a controversial opinion, but I think the Old God stuff on Zandalar is handled better than what's on Kul Tiras so far. Just look at Zul. He's not babbling nonsense syllables. He's not growing tentacles. He's not wearing a squid on his head. He's not cartoonishly insane. If he's been corrupted, it's by visions of a future he desires to bring to fruition and futures he wishes to avoid. The Blood Trolls are closer to the standard insane fare we'd expect, but they don't rely on the traditional Old God aesthetic for everything either. Dazar's quotes also seem to tie G'huun into their most ancient history, and the references to Blood magic and Loa subjugation as the "old ways" actually gives the impression that G'huun might have actually been their old god from before they sided with the Loa. So in the end, it's less a story of magic insanity corruption and more a story of their cultural values, stagnation, and regression.

I'm going to have to see Stormsong Valley before finalizing my opinion of their Old God content, but so far I'm seeing babbling in nonsense syllables, people growing tentacles, direct mindcontrol, blithering insanity, and all sorts of things that are about as subtle as an airhorn blasting in your ear. G'huun has enough individual flavor that you wouldn't realize it was Old God related until you had already gotten at least halfway through the zone.

Zul is corrupt in the cool way. He's just morally bankrupt and exploiting people's selfish desires for his own political gains. Why can't corruption just be that? Being a corrupt person serving a dark god because they believe that's the best path to get what they want, and not oozing mutagen.

[Terongor]

we know that is alpha, but why we can't give feedback about it? if there is a time to make it better now is the best time.

and also i don't agree with the people saying that legion was a alliance xpac, sure we got some alliance characters but most of them were acting neutral, so they are not alliance.
alliance themed xpac would have been not letting the horde back in dalaran and alliance alone stop the legion.

khadgar,turalyon,alleria,even maiev, they all have been neutral, it's not the alliance fault that the horde doesn't have neutral figures.
even veressa was being neutral at some point How is that alliance themed?

Same could said about, Thrall during cata and still Alliance complained about Thrall during cata. Also Alliance still have had more focus on Legion like the Anduin questline which ended on that cutscene on the broken shore and Alliance getting huge nugget of AP which was relevant at that time.

Also Alliance got alot better questline in vanilla to open onyxias lair raid which was more interesting that the horde version. Also Alliance got a lot more coherent story in MoP 6.1 on krasarang wilds. Also Alliance lost like its first leader on Varian. Horde have lost Cairne, Vol'jin and Garrosh (Varimathras kind of, if you count losing Bolvar or Katrana)

[Andonais]

Uldir is the first raid so that will be pushed more heavily I think alliance will deal more with Azshara with Tyrande/Malfurion perhaps.

[therealbowser]

Remember horde players complaining about heavily alliance-skewed story in Legion and lack of development of any major horde characters and plotlines? Remember the alliance players taunting back and arguing that it was "well deserved" after "two horde-centric expansions in a row" prior to it?

I do.

The hypocrisy and entitlement of the alliance playerbase never ceases to amuse me.

Yeah, those darn Alliance being salty that for three straight expansions the story was heavily Horde focused. How dare they.

PS: It never ceases to amuse me when players use "[faction] playerbase" to describe a stereotype of players, when in reality most people play both factions.

[slime]

Because it is going to finish strong. The alliance will be the likely "victors" of BfA.

[Osiria]

It's kinda what happens when you're a developer and think basing an entire faction on the sole plot of a kid turning king hero in the middle of a crisis, when you got far more competent and experient leaders, is a good idea.

Writers are pretty short-sighted when it comes to the Alliance. Night Elves have been paying the price heavily thanks to that. Just check what Thalyssra spills in that conversation with Liardrin: that's literally what the devs think of the Alliance, not just what a Horde character thinks of them.

[cparle87]

While these zones may possibly be unfinished, the questlines are fully implemented. I’d consider it more, they want opinions and feedback on these zones than wanting us to sit on our hands and wait for the true finished product.

It's not like they haven't erased entire zone's storylines and redone them from scratch in beta before (Jade Forest says hi).

[Orby]

I haven't played it yet so i don't know...

[shoc]

The Alliance story not yet being implemented to the same degree as the Horde one might have something to do with it.

The Alliance story has a lot of promise. Tons of N'zoth content while the Horde deal with shitty G'huun content.