
Originally Posted by
Ramz
Yep, exactly. The reason why Dark Irons are my favorite faction in Alliance is because they have their own style, they're not goody two shoes and can get their hands dirty, but they're still pragmatic and not over the top evil. There is lots of interesting ways you can use them and they have a distinctive identity that sets them apart from the rest. If used well they could be the top dog on blue team.
What makes characters great are their motivations to do something, even if they're antagonistic. The reason why after so many years people still venerate Zul'Jin was because of his easy to understand motives which are hard not to respect, same as Van Cleefs and people of Westfall. Characters don't have to be ridiculously powerful to be likeable and impactful. The reson why Zekhan took community by storm (no pun intended) wasn't because he was "badass" but because he was relatable, he was new, he was fresh, and there was something very endearing about him (ofc it had to be ruined with later story, because instead of making him a Darkspear champion, he is now constant sidekick to some bigger hero).
And as you said, Alliance needs to have a story OUTSIDE of the Horde. They have to have their own agenda and aims to fullfill, and what would make it even more interesting - if each subfaction had different aims that would be conflicting at times. It would be refreshing to see certain faction say "no we won't take part of this campaign, I see no benefit in it, we will do something else instead". And then next patch, new content and you see that for example worgen made some experition or campaign on their own, without Alliance aid.
2 years ago I wrote a concept on how to get rid of Anduin- Humans of Stormwind were participating in each campaign, sending troops left and right, but what do they get in return? People in Westfall are still super poor, and it felt that Anduin cared more for Horde than he did over his own people (and I'mnot talking about whole alliance, but just human population of Stormwind), what he did for his own people? Any track record? And this is when things could get interesting. He could be challenged by the nobles and due to political machinations he could lose the throne, not because of the Horde, but because his own people had enough of him. He could still return but it would shake things up.
With humans returning to their own business Dwarves could step up, as they remain to be the military superpower, they could have a completely different approach to the leadership than Stormwind did.
Just an example. I think it would be very interesting and I'd love to be a part of this kind of story. You don't need world-ending threats to have compelling stories.
I would also love a content "build your capital" where for example through content patches players gather resources and contribute to building a city.
Both nelves and undeads could have it, and it would give them a feeling of accomplishment that their dailies and other activities made something meaningful to grow.