Este sitio hace uso intenso de JavaScript.
Por favor habilita JavaScript en tu navegador.
Moderna
RPP
11.0.2
RPP
11.0.5
Beta
Can the Alliance and Horde Survive the War Within?
The War Within
Publicado
26/05/2024 a las 02:20
por
DiscordianKitty
The Alliance and Horde have been at peace for some time - with both players working together in cross-faction guilds, and characters learning to fight side by side for the same cause. But what does this mean for faction identity?
Warning: War WIthin Alpha Spoilers Ahead
All In This Together
Ever since the signing of the armistice that marked the end of the Fourth War, the Alliance and Horde have enjoyed a tentative peace. Alliance members were invited to the wedding of Horde leaders, and have been seen in Horde capital cities. Horde members helped the Alliance establish Bel'ameth and secure Gilneas. The Dragonflight Expedition was cross-faction, and cross-faction friendships between Alliance and Horde NPCs could be witnessed throughout Dragonflight.
With cross-faction guilds allowing Alliance and Horde players to tackle end-game content together, and an increasing number of cross-faction races, the Earthen even introducing the first Horde dwarves, this peace between the factions seems to be here to stay, with a narrative driven somewhat by necessity: it no longer makes sense to divide
World of Warcraft
's player base by faction.
Of course, the problem with this is the risk of faction identity being lost completely - a worry that has only grown with the recent alpha build.
During the max-level campaign, Alleria says the following,
Where once there was discord, there is now unity of purpose. No longer Oathsworn or Unbound, just as we can no longer be Horde or Alliance. We are all in this together as one.
It's important to note that, as with anything we see on the alpha, this is a very early version of what will become the final text and could still easily be changed. Nothing on the alpha is even remotely set in stone. With that in mind, let's unpack Alleria's statement.
After this quest, Alleria goes on to work together with Lilian Voss, a prominent Horde character, showing that she is willing to practice what she preaches. The Alliance and Horde are working together to face Xal'atath, who represents the forces of the Void, and who threatens the world of Azeroth itself. The threat to our world is larger than the threat we pose to each other.
This theme - of the Alliance and Horde working together to face a bigger, potentially world-ending threat, is nearly as old as the theme of the war between the Alliance and Horde. It's a major part of the story of
Warcraft III
, but it is also a recurring theme in
World of Warcraft
expansions. Our recent return to
Mists of Pandaria
with Remix is an excellent example of this - an expansion that opens with a heavy focus on the faction war has some of the most important and iconic moments of the factions learning to set aside their differences in order to face a bigger problem.
However, it's always been clear that the two factions still very much exist. The Alliance and Horde can and have still maintained their identity even while working together, presumably because they are defined by more than just their war with each other. After all, a country doesn't have to be at war to have a rich cultural identity. Why would a faction?
Alleria could simply mean that, in the fight against the bigger threat, it's important not to focus on our differences - the fact that we're Alliance and Horde - and to instead focus on defending what we all care about: Azeroth. Focus on the World, not the Warcraft. This direction also seems to be in-keeping with
Velen's prophecy
- where all the races of Azeroth - both Alliance and Horde - will fight together under one army against the darkness. But even Velen's prophecy becomes more worrying with Alleria's words. If "we can no longer be Horde or Alliance", but we are led by Anduin Wrynn, then doesn't that just translate to the Horde being absorbed by the Alliance? Even Lilian Voss being the go-to Horde character that the Alliance often work with in a show of how open-minded they're becoming seems to forget that, for a very long time, Lilian was by her own choice not a member of the Forsaken or the Horde. Horde identity especially feels like it's at risk of slowly being eroded away.
Alleria and Turalyon's Faction Confusion
While considering Alleria's words, it's also worth considering Alleria herself, and where she's coming from.
Alleria is a veteran of the Second War. She and Turalyon fought the old Horde, when orcs were invading monsters driven by bloodlust. When they left Azeroth, the Elves of Quel'Thalas were members of the Alliance. By the time they returned, the Blood Elves had long since joined the Horde - a Horde that has changed so much since Turalyon and Alleria fought against it, it's nearly unrecognizable.
Both Alleria and Turalyon have shown themselves quite able to see past the factions when it comes to the Blood Elves.
Both visited Silvermoon City
before the events of the
War Within
, and their son, Arator, lives there now. They may even still think of Quel'Thalas as basically Alliance, and they might not be the only ones. Again,
Mists of Pandaria
Remix reminds us that the Blood Elves have considered deflecting from the Horde to rejoin the Alliance before.
On the other hand, in the War Within, Turalyon at least still clearly feels a certain amount of mistrust towards orcs - and by extension the Horde. During a questline where he works with an orc, he talks about "Horde savages" and makes the comment that "training means more than beating your recruits senseless, orc". Of course, Turalyon learns to work even with Horde orcs. In the same way that Alleria's words are probably more about working together than abandoning our identities, the point of this quest text is likely less about trying show Turalyon hates orcs - and more about trying to illustrate how a the lasting peace between the factions is being built in-game.
Personally, I don't believe the Alliance and Horde need to be at war with each other for these factions to have meaningful and strong identities. I don't even believe that Alliance and Horde cities need to be resolutely locked to their factions - I'd love to see an
orc tourist in Stormwind
. But I also don't want to see faction identity eroded away by well-meaning platitudes about working together. If the war between the factions is well and truly over, then surely now is the time to explore faction identity even further? To ask the question - what is it that defines these factions, if not their conflict with each other?
When Orc and Tauren priest NPCs were first added to
Orgrimmar on the PTR back in early
Dragonflight
, they felt very much like placeholders, human priests with orc skins - especially when compared to the "Star Sailor" Draenei rogues. Sure enough, they were
reworked for a later patch
, with identities that had taken into consideration the context of their history, their culture, and their values. These are the things that define the Alliance and the Horde, rather than simple hatred for each other. It would be good to see in-game members of the factions themselves remember that.
Obtiene Wowhead
Premium
USD $2
Un mes
Disfruta de una experiencia libre de publicidad, desbloquea características premium y dale tu soporte al sitio!
Mostrar 0 comentarios
Ocultar 0 comentarios
Inicia sesión para publicar un comentario
Comentarios en Inglés (171)
Escribir un Comentario
No has iniciado sesión. Por favor
entra a tu cuenta
o
registra una cuenta
para añadir tu comentario.
Publicación anterior
Publicación siguiente
