Datamined race intros shows Blizz set on whitewashing Horde.

[Acidbaron]

I don't see anything really wrong with this as that is how the write the majority of the races, you are not part of one of the rebel factions inside the race you play.

You are the good guy or gal, the hero.

[Saltysquidoon]

You are the good guy or gal, the hero.

The Forsaken care little for their allies: to them the Horde is merely a tool that may further their dark schemes.

Convinced that the primitive races of the Horde can help them achieve victory over their enemies, the Forsaken have entered an alliance of convenience. Harboring no true loyalty for their new allies, they will go to any lengths to ensure their dark plans come to fruition. As one of the Forsaken, you must eliminate any who pose a threat to the new order – human, undead, or otherwise.

To this end, Sylvanas has bolstered her defenses within the Tirisfal Glades and readied her undead forces for any contingency. As one of the Forsaken, you must use your cunning and viciousness to slay any who would pose a threat to Sylvanas's rule be they human, undead, or otherwise.

The forsaken truly are the goodest boys.

[Super Dickmann]

The forsaken truly are the goodest boys.

We don't talk about that, Comrade. This is Year Zero and in Year Zero the Forsaken strive tirelessly to protect the living. Unless you'd like to talk to the nice men at the camps.

[Yarathir]

*gnaws on skull of night elf child*

"I am fighting with honor to survive in a world that wants to put me and my fellow underdogs down. I am protecting the living."

[Saltysquidoon]

On that note are they going to remove cannibalise? Hard to protect the living while you eat them.

[Yarathir]

On that note are they going to remove cannibalise? Hard to protect the living while you eat them.

Don't worry. It has already been fixed.

[ophion1990]

The Darkspear one was the one that surprised me the most. They renounce the savagery of the other tribes, even ignoring how it paints other troll tribes as evil when they definitely haven't all been the aggressor, it also ignores that there are 2 other troll tribes in the Horde and they recently allied with an entire empire, which houses diplomats from countless other tribes as well.

Either way, this is the third time they make the Horde turn over a new leaf, just wait an expansion or 2 and we might be back to having the Horde burn villages.

[Alixie]

It's crazy, man. Think about Danath Trollbane, his whole family is named after killing another race. Imagine if you had a dude in Germany called Hans Jewkiller.

Almost like naming your fraction capital after a mass murdering orcish warlord.

[Varodoc]

Lol at this reddit post. Pretty spot on:

[Yarathir]

Lol at this reddit post. Pretty spot on:

Whahahaha. Perfect.

[Malix Farwin]

Blizzard writing in a nutshell. If you are gonna go this route, why even have factions to begin with.

[dope_danny]

I was wondering, considering this looks like another damage control/cleaning house expansion pack, how they would try and walk back the "are we the baddies?" asks the nazi in the SS uniform as he flammenwuffers innocent people nature of the modern horde but man. Remember back in the day all the literal neckbeards getting their sportsteam mentality on screeching about "alliance carebares"? This is going to lead to some funny rants.

[Super Dickmann]

Lol at this reddit post. Pretty spot on:

A masterpiece. I can't decide whether Calia Mercy or Sadfang Reinhardt are my favorite.

[Friendlyimmolation]

"Showed up..." Yeah, that's all they did, after a genocidal invasion, murdering their guards in prison and then chopping down the sacred forest of the NE...

Maybe the night elves just shouldn't have done anything about it, just like how the Trolls should have just let their land be taken.

[Eosia]

Those are in the BfA pre-event which is not available anymore. The new player starting zone also don't mention these. They also removed Battle for Lordaeron, and changed the text to why people go to Kul'Tiras. So practically a new player will know nothing about these events.

Of course pre-expansion events get removed. But the thing you're also missing is that this is not tied to a specific time if you really think about it. BFA is what a brand new player has to do one time and then never touch it again if they do not want to. The only reason they have to do it this one time was that they actually managed to thread Sylvanas' arc through the whole of BfA this time rather than it ending almost first-thing in Legion with "To Be Continued..... Soon™" so they will need some context.

One of the things mentioned by a Dev in the past was acknowledging the Cata time-warp issue. Pre-scaling, you leveled 1-60 during Cata, then you go back in time about 4 years for Burning Crusade to level to 70, then move forward 2 years to go to Northrend for leveling to 80. Once you hit 80 you are now back in the time period you started at level 1 and progress from there.

These intros are probably mean to be timeless since, 2-3 expansions from now the need to make brand new players do BfA will be replaced with them doing Shadowlands or its sequel instead.

[kasuke06]

At least you can respect the ones that say "I wanted to play an evil character and enjoy it." The ones that make no sense want to run babies through wood chippers, but don't you dare call them or the Horde evil.

I especially love the "oh well the alliance is bad too!" guys.

They threw the orcs in internment camps!... after the orcs waged a war of genocide and came pretty damn close to winning, nearly adding a second race to their "we single handedly committed genocide" count.

One guy made them fight each other for fun!... High King Varian Wrynn would like a word.

Name something terrible the alliance did to the horde unprovoked guys.

[Aucald]

There is a degree in which a "good" alignment is somewhat forced on the PC in WoW. Evil-aligned characters probably aren't going to care to stop Illidan in TBC, they'd probably join Arthas in WotLK, they might not care about Deathwing in Cata, or the Sha/Garrosh in MoP, etc. etc. We are automatically cast in the heroic vein - playing the game is basically being on the side of right against outside context villains.

While I don't necessarily agree with the intros I think the fact that they're not really talking about the races in their entirety as opposed to the individual PC being created has been pretty glossed over. I mean I soft-RP my Forsaken Warlock as pretty chaotic evil, but he still worked to stop the Lich King back in WotLK as a matter of course - and, in that capacity, he did indeed fight to protect the living.

[Soon-TM]

The funniest part is how nonsensical (even more than now, that is) those descriptions are going to look the next time they jump on the Horde with the villain bat

[omeomorfismo]

There is a degree in which a "good" alignment is somewhat forced on the PC in WoW. Evil-aligned characters probably aren't going to care to stop Illidan in TBC, they'd probably join Arthas in WotLK, they might not care about Deathwing in Cata, or the Sha/Garrosh in MoP, etc. etc. We are automatically cast in the heroic vein - playing the game is basically being on the side of right against outside context villains.

While I don't necessarily agree with the intros I think the fact that they're not really talking about the races in their entirety as opposed to the individual PC being created has been pretty glossed over. I mean I soft-RP my Forsaken Warlock as pretty chaotic evil, but he still worked to stop the Lich King back in WotLK as a matter of course - and, in that capacity, he did indeed fight to protect the living.

when you present a race as group that would slaughter everyone standing in their path its pretty easy to justify "joining" the winning side. ignoring tbc that is a inconclusive story, all other menaces could be see as beating the bigger wolfs in the setting. until the horde is divided on the 2 continents its pretty easy to justify the not belligerency between living horde and the forsaken. the fact that forsakens are thirsty of vengeance against lk isnt the same of protecting the living, the outcomes are the same, sure, but not even once was mentioned or hinted any bond with the living (ok maybe sylvanas with the belves), and it should never be

[Dapower]

This is why the game is now like the equivalent of angry birds in writing.

- - - Updated - - -

Blizzard writing in a nutshell. If you are gonna go this route, why even have factions to begin with.

yeah, it could've been a Us vs Dangers from the beginning... why can't they hire better writers I mean... jeezuz christ do these writers actually have anything in the background? what's next like they introduce reproduction and family to the game so your charactar has to give birth and we will have a Drama tab for achievements?