Putting the War back in World of Warcraft
by Robin Torres 
Aug 24th 2007 at 4:30PM
Lagerosi asked on the general forums if The Frozen Throne was in fact the end of the war between the Alliance and the Horde. Jheric clarified our current faction status well:What exists now is essentially a cold war, with the two factions fighting in proxy areas such as Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin, much like the way the U.S. and U.S.S.R. would send weapons and 'advisers' to small countries in Africa and Asia.
With the transition from active warfare has come shifting allegiances, such as the Blood Elves joining the Horde after falling out with the Alliance (pretty much all the fault of one Alliance general), and Dalaran electing for neutrality.
CM Nethaera agreed:
This is a pretty good explanation right here (minus the real world references.) It's been an "uneasy peace". Everyone is still a bit froggy and there are some downright open hostilities still very prevalent in Azeroth. There are of course some pockets of 'let's work together to get rid of these very bad/evil/destructive folks here first" but that doesn't mean that everyone has become best friends forever.
Things could easily cool down more or heat up more with everyone refocusing on the old wounds that Arthas has left bare.
So, if we are at peace, then why punt Gnomes? Why pick factions? Why isn't it called World of Uneasy-Peacecraft?
Nethaera is being kind of cagey here with her reference to WotLK possibly either cooling down or heating up the hostilities, but Chris Metzen was very clear at BlizzCon about what Northrend will mean to this "uneasy peace".
At the WoW Lore and Quests Panel, Metzen said that though the exact inciting event(s) leading up to the expansion are not finalized, Arthas will "tip his hat" and "badger" both factions forcing both the Alliance and Horde to send representatives to deal with the Scourge problem.
Old scars only serve as a reminder...
According to Metzen, the conflict between Alliance and Horde will escalate in Northrend -- it will be "front and center".
I am very excited about the end of our official ceasefire. I play on a PvP server because I like the added excitement of the faction conflict and getting ganked by a Human Warlock doesn't make me feel like there is just an "uneasy peace".
Do you want to see more War in WoW? Do you look wistfully back to the days of Orcs vs. Humans? Or do you think the factions should band together to fight the common foe of the Lich King?
Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Expansions, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dracula Jones Aug 24th 2007 4:38PM
To be honest, this is why I don't get PVP from a lore standpoint. Alliance and Horde are not at war. PVP is just provoking it. Wouldn't Thrall be pretty pissed off if he found out you ganked that human after all he's worked for?
Of course, I understand PVP from a gameplay standpoint, but I don't think they've adequately explained why a human would be killed on site in Orgrimmar. I guess there's no "subdue and restrain" option.
The Aldor-Scryer thing is even worse. They're both actively struggling for the exact same goals. Shouldn't they all love me for killing followers of the Legion no matter what symbols I bring back? No wonder there's never peace in that retarded universe.
Genixx Aug 24th 2007 4:46PM
if there is no war then why cant i walk into any city without fear of getting killed? if i wanted a PVE game id role it or go play LOTRO or DDO. bring back the war-craft! if the factions are supposed to be working together to defeat XYZ ...then why dont we get to raid together? :) i think it should be either faction for themselves. whoever stops the baddy at the end ..gets the goods. :)
Pål Aug 24th 2007 4:47PM
If you've been to the inn in Area 52 you'd know that the argument between them is not about the end, but the means to it. Also, if you think about how the Scryers came to Shattrath and what they did before then it'd make sense, at least from a psychological point of view, for the Aldors to not be very friendly to the Scryers and jump on any excuse for open hostilities between them.
Tridus Aug 24th 2007 4:46PM
They ended the war back in Warcraft 3, people were obviously not paying attention. I mean seriously, go play Warcraft 3. Orcs and Humans band together, then join up with the Elves at Hyjal.
Thats it. War's over folks.
Personally I want to know where the raft is in warcRAFT? We should be running around doing tons of naval combat!
WP Aug 24th 2007 4:50PM
3, u would like to see some naval game play as well. that could be fun.
Fabbyfubz Aug 24th 2007 4:50PM
Add something to the lore in a new patch wehre they do go to war or something, and then have rewards for raiding main cities or something like that.
Dave Aug 24th 2007 5:13PM
I've never seen the benefit of world PVP anyway.
%99 of the time it's never two people looking for a fair fight, it's just ganking or being ganked. That's not PVP. Yes, it's players killing other players, but that's just not what PVP is.
Maybe, if WoW is your only "PVP" experience, it's something significant. Other games have done it better, other games will continue to do it better, and WoW's "PVP" is an afterthought meant to appease the people who just won't play "carebear" games.
it's unrewarding, there's no risk involved and it's really just pointless PVP. Kill a thousand lowbies in STV and you still get nothing. Get killed a thousand times, and you lose nothing. Ooh. You're basically just doing it for the huge wood you get when you kill someone who couldn't even hurt you in return. Awesome. Way to prove that you're awesome.
Most high levels avoid fights from other high level characters. As soon as the 70 comes in and stops the ganker at Nessingwary's camp, the ganker tends to go away. Shocking, isn't it? Most people don't want a fair fight.
There's no fear from dying in PVP. What do you lose? Durability? Nope. Money? Zip. Reputation? Faction? Standing? Respect? Anything at all tangible whatsoever aside from maybe a few minutes of your time? Nothing. Nothing at all. You don't even get a mark on your character sheet saying you'd been killed one more time.
*yawn*
Give me a real pvp experience, or I'm not going to care. If Blizzard isn't taking it seriously, I don't see any incentive to take it seriously myself. I feel sorry for people who think that WoW's world PVP is exciting or even interesting. It's not, and it's not even close.
Epiny Aug 24th 2007 5:24PM
@7
That's your opinion. You have a right to it. However you CAN NOT making sweeping statements and generalizations. All PVP is gankers, it takes no skill, they just farm low levels. Yes those people do exist but you make it sound like everyone is like that.
No MMO PvP will ever be a "fair" fight unless instanced. Guess what? War isn't fair. You want to out number the enemy, sneak up on them, and club them in the head. That's what War is about. It's more realistic then you give it credit.
I want to see more large scale battles. The size of AV but fighting over the same objective. They wont ever have capital city raids due to lag issues. Atleast not any current city. The servers and programing wasn't designed to handle it.
Vincent Avatar Aug 24th 2007 5:48PM
War...
War never changes.
kpurdy_ Aug 24th 2007 5:51PM
PvP is really why i started playing wow. i had pretty high hopes that there was going to be some new war going on and that there would be a real sense of battle when you were running around the world. sadly it has still yet to happen but i think the outland world objectives was a definite step in the right direction. halaa especially because there's incentive to actually capture and defend the city.
i'm really looking forward to the new zone in northrend that's all about pvp and destructible buildings. so hopefully that will get some more organized world pvp going.
Medros Aug 24th 2007 6:00PM
*blinks repeatedly* I released an editorial on my guild's site about a topic related to the demands for more war in Warcraft not even 4 days ago. Read my thoughts http://www.shadowwalkersguild.com/boards/showthread.php?t=3278.
Doug Aug 24th 2007 6:13PM
Personally, I'd love to see a more inclusive PVP, one in which players can take on the roles of the officers and would span multiple level ranges and have to armies fighting over a single objective.
It could work in brackets where each side would have only a handful of level 70s as the generals, and then several level 60-69s as the officers, followed by some 50-59s as company commanders, then 40-49 as the calavary, and then 20-39 as the general foot soldiers. With increasing numbers of each as you go down so that you could eventually have 80-100 players on a side, all fighting against each other. Especially with the introduction of seige weapons and destructible buildings this type of PVP could be amazingly fun if people got into it and were organized. Imagine 2 huge guilds fighting against each other to conquer a town or keep.
In a way it's similar to what PVP raiding tries to be, only in an organized, instanced situation. Sure there are reasons why it would be difficult to pull off, but it would be a way to really escalate the idea of war and conflict and provide a way for players of all levels to work together and feel valuable.
Johan Forn Aug 24th 2007 6:27PM
''do you look wistfully back to the days of Orcs vs. Humans?''
Potverdomme, yes. They've been doing their utmost to wipe away the human presence in WoW. Its annoying. Loraeron is clear. Stromgarde has been wiped away afterwards, just 'before' WoW. Gilneas 'locked' itself away. Kul Tiras nation is invisible. To add, Dalaran, strong member of alliance and at war with Horde, is suddenly neutral!?
As for the orcs, they've been given a strong presence. thank goodness.
Congratulations. The original game is destroyed.
Armath Aug 24th 2007 9:28PM
I am SO tired of the "more PVP" topic!
Do I want more horde/alliance conflict in WoW? No.
Do I want more PvP action in WoW? Again, no.
Do I want my PVE server to be more like the PVP servers? Say it with me now - NO!
You want PVP? Great! That's why there are PVP servers, and why there are PVP areas on NON-pvp servers. In my opinion, there's too much PVP in the game as it is. If blizzard want's to add it, that's fine, but don't *force* people into it.
What they should do, though, to accomodate all the QQing from the PVPers who can't seem to get enough conflict is to create hardcore PVP servers, where one death is all you get! Sure, they could make it a little bit harder for people to really die, but if you want it to be really like WAR, you get one life to live.
Juliah Aug 24th 2007 9:29PM
I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'm looking forward to the days when the PvPers leave for Warhammer. I don't care at all for PvP. I respect that some do, but it isn't my thing, and I'm really sick of seeing my PvE game nerfed because of PvPers.
Heavenstrash Aug 24th 2007 10:55PM
'According to Metzen, the conflict between Alliance and Horde will escalate in Northrend -- it will be "front and center".'
This is the same exact load of crap they said LAST blizzcon about TBC when someone asked if we'd have cross-faction raids; That the alliance and horde will have reason to hate each other even MORE.
Whatever happened to that?
Feh, whatever, hoping for decent PVP in this game is a waste of time. Next Xpac we're gonna get a lousy 1 new BG with siege weapons... Who cares. Bring on Warhammer already.
CrpyTech Aug 24th 2007 11:10PM
WarHammer will have pvp as a means for lvling. If it is anything like it sounds like it's going to be I'm leaving WoW and never looking back. I never kill someone who doesn't give me honor and feel sad for those who do. WoW's lore was screwed when they added the drain-I.It doesn't matter now, just remember, you red, you dead. Pvp servers make leveling much more exciting, always looking over your shoulder waiting for someone to attack. Sometimes it is frustrating when a ?? kills you, but other than STV that hasn't happened much to me.
Baluki Aug 25th 2007 2:09AM
I just don't see any reason for there to be an escalation of the war. The Horde races just want to be left alone, and are actively working to keep the peace. The humans and night elves are the ones who are constantly trying to eliminate the Horde. The Dwarves and Gnomes seem content to do their own thing, and the Gnomes have their own problems besides. The Draenei know why the Orcs nearly eradicated them, and it doesn't make sense that they would actively engage them.
It kinda seems to me that more and more, there are more than just 2 factions in this game. There's Good Horde (Orcs, Tauren, Trolls), Bad Horde (Blood Elves, Undead), Good Alliance (Dwarves, Gnomes, Draenei), and Bad Alliance (Humans, Night Elves). Maybe we'll see a split some day.
FlupKe Aug 25th 2007 6:55AM
I love world PvP. I don't mind getting ganked if I have some very good world PvP experience, such as city/fort takeovers (guild based, if my guild takes it over, it's my guild's city !), no lag with 200 people fighting at the same time (not like on hillsbrad, at least the last time I saw such a thing).
But right now, all I see is getting ganked at lvl25 by 2 lvl70 with arena gear, and those f**king arenas. Arenas are NOT a MMO feature. This is a FPS/RTS feature !
I'm very angry with the arenas, because I don't play 15$ a month to have this kind of gameplay. If I want to do 2v2 or 5v5, I go play quake 3, it's the same, and it's free. I want some bloody 50vs50. I want epic PvP, not some stupid deathmatch, which has nothing to do with a war or the lore !
I want bounty hunting (for the big pvp players and gankers), that would be a fun way to gain money !
CrpyTech Aug 25th 2007 6:49AM
@18
I play an undead lock, and I know exactly what you mean, but, I would still kill every human on site. So maybe there would be a three way split? Isn't it interesting that undead or alive the humans stand alone? Maybe a bit too much like RL, at least from "our" perspective. lol.