Do people still care about the Alliance?

[Talen]

If it did, I didn't exactly notice it (again, I play both factions). Classic, TBC and Wrath just feel like a continuation of the Night Elf and Human campaigns from Warcraft 3, in my opinion.

Vanilla had the Alliance go up against Onyxia. It's a pity Rend and Nefarion weren't given the same level of depth. That should have been done in Cataclysm instead of removing the story. Alliance had a definite edge here...the Horde story was present but not as well developed.

In TBC...the Alliance went to Outland. Draenei lore kinda got shelved as the race largely went neutral - probably because they was the likely original intent. There were strong BElf and Orc stories. NElfs got shoved in via the (again neutral) Cenarion Expedition. Illidan and the Naga were there with their own story. The big winners here were the BElfs with plenty of story involving them and KT, followed by the Orcs who got little things like Garrosh and Thrall returning home. The big Alliance story was....any help?

In LK...both sides had strong stories. The Alliance had an edge here IMO because Blizzard played up Arthas more than NZ. Even then, a big complaint here was how the HElfs got more story, more development than the other Alliance races combined. A lot of "Alliance" lore was actually AC or KT lore. It was stupid, but it was still AC lore. Lots of development for the Forsaken, BElfs again got some development through the Sunreavers, Garrosh and his impact on Orckind as well and we got to explore the origins of Dwarves/Gnomes and Humans. In terms of balance, LK probably wins out with the Alliance getting a slight edge due to Arthas instead of NZ.

In Cata and MoP....no question. Massive development and progression of Horde storylines. The Alliance is depicted poorly to make the Horde look good, Alliance lore was cut, Alliance stories shoehorned into Horde stories irrespective of how nonsensical such systems were. There is a distinct lack of quality and direction with the Alliance and the overall tone is dismal. Things picked up in MoP, but even then, massive problems exist.

Moving into WoD? We are seeing - YET AGAIN - a strong Orc centric story. We are also getting a Draenei story - but one which doesn't progress or advance the characters we know, nor does it progress or advance any of the stories OUR Draenei are involved with. We don't get to see their progress in the Hinterlandx, or their work with the Broken. We don't see them fight the Legion. We don't get to see them deal with the issue of Argus or see them repair the Exodar or build up Forest Song.

Regardless of whether you think C, TBC and LK were continuations of the WC3 campaigns -and they were - as far as story and progression and development of the actual factions is concerned, the Alliance need a boost. There hasn't really been an Alliance centric story since Vanilla. The Horde has had three - the BElfs, Orcs and Forsaken have all had a fair degree of development and progression. As have the Trolls (albeit, sporadically) and while the Goblins haven't had much development, their story came to a natural end with Azshara, with threads that can be picked up anytime and they have a place, role and presence within the Horde.

Alliance lore is generic, bland, underdeveloped (if at all) and written more to progress the Horde story than it is to progress their own.

EJL

[Fayolynn]

Alliance lore is generic, bland, underdeveloped (if at all) and written more to progress the Horde story than it is to progress their own.

This, and sadly Blizzard seems to have zero desire to change it. :-\

[Tech Priest Bojangles]

Alliance lore is generic, bland, underdeveloped (if at all) and written more to progress the Horde story than it is to progress their own.

Yeah pretty much, man.
I mean on one hand, Alliance is mostly generic fantasy races. Every fantasy game has dwarves and elves in it but Blizzard is pretty creative and is more than capable of making them stand out but they don't. It just seems like they don't give a shit anymore. Any attention that Blizzard gives the Alliance usually turns out terrible.

[LTCrystallite]

I'd love the alliance if (as stated above) MAH WRITERS WHERE YOU AT GEEZ

Seriously though, the only race I don't really like (lore wise) are humans, but those reasons might not be obvious. The Defias brotherhood story, where Van Cleef and his masons were re-building Stormwind and SW officials refused to pay them, causing them to become desperate (no money, no food or commodities) and become pirates who ravaged Westfall! I was like "Wow...Stormwind humans are jerks. So are Alterac humans... jeez, they've mostly been jerks throughout all of warcraft".

I love every other race, and it's SAD SAD SAD GEEZ to see Alliance story go unprogressed.

[MatadorMedia]

Wrath of the Lich King was the last great Alliance story. I thought we'd have helped Malfurion in the Emerald Dream/Nightmare by now but it looks like he accomplished that on his own. There isn't really anything else going on with the Alliance except that the Dwarven King is frozen in stone. Jaina has potential to be interesting now that she's been driven a little mad after the atomic bomb blew up her city.

[Evelyn]

Who?

/10 char

[Gimlix]

I prefer Alliance over horde anyday, onlything i don't like about alliance is the models, but let's hope they fix that in WoD!

[fifa14coinsben]

You even see this type of thing spill over into Hearthstone, 4 Orcs in a list of 9 Heroes? Thrall, Gul'dan, Rexxar, Garrosh. Where's Velen? Where's Hemet Nesingwary? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, the promo artwork did feature an Orc surrounded by Orc women beating a Gnome.

[Thallidomaniac]

Truth be told however, if they removed the Horde entirely from the game tomorrow, my experience would only improve, provided the reason for their removal was complete, and utter annihilation.

That unfortunately would probably be seen as the biggest "Jumping the Shark" moment ever, even exceeding massive failures such as the Mass Effect 3 ending. On the other hand, if the Alliance were to be removed in that manner, people would be cheering and celebrating as if Blizzard were even more gods than they have been, even exceeding the fame of Lord GabeN. Also, if the Alliance were to be removed, the financial crisis that started in 2008 would end completely, North Korea would implode on itself and Korea would be once again united, the Palestine/Israel violence would end, and maybe the East Asian countries would actually love each other for once.

That's why we can't have nice things at all.

[Koreche]

Yes people care about the alliance, that is why you see people complain about horde favoritism every time blizzard does anything.

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

Ofcourse I care. Now if only Blizzard would care too...

[Invictus9001]

V<snip> So there you have it. Madmen and -women, slaves, people with questionable loyalties, and a capital lying in ruins and smoke. That's the Horde as of today. Not very compelling if you as me.

I think Samuel L. Jackson said it best, when asked if he preferred to play a hero or a villain.. he said (LOOSELY paraphrased) "The bad guy - more fun, fewer rules." By extension of that theme, the "villain" will usually be more compelling story-wise than most heroes ever hope to be. By further extension, since the Horde is made into "villains" by some, and the Alliance as heroes by those same individuals.. you have the circle complete.

I noticed you left out Velen... It's true. He's pretty damn invisible.

Truth be told, that was not intentional.. but still worked out the same as if it was

[Meraxes BE]

They need to move the story of the Alliance on essentially, have them move a little from their position of the always honorable and decent in response to the constant aggression of the Horde. Utilize the Worgen more (seems to be happening in WoD), get the Night Elves off of their knees, give the Draenei some heroes (the Hand of the Prophet as well as the Rengari Enclave already sound promising) in WoD to get behind.

[Mental Surge]

It's a shame Blizzard is so biased. Although I do play the Horde and the Forsaken are my favorite race, I prefer the Alliance over the Horde and the Draenei are my second favorite race. I really hope the Draenei actually get the spotlight they deserve in this expansion.