Rise of the Zandalari

Though Naushan no longer be trolls, this was an interesting read (and good to know for upcoming 4.1):
http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/04/03/know-your-lore-rise-of-the-zandalari/#continued

RACE CHANGE BACK TO TROLL FFS.

The reasoning for it seems like a bit of a stretch.

Kind of like the original ZA, with Zul'jin suddenly going bad. It's too convenient and didnt have any build up. I mean I could understand if this was hinted at while you're questing through any of the new zones but having done new-STV, you're even helped by some trolls aligned with Zandalar and they don't hint at all that they think this is the right way forward. It also doesn't add up considering there are Zandalari in Zul'drak in Northrend outside Gundrak who talk about trolls not learning from the past and continuing to make the mistake of using the power of the gods - exactly the behaviour they plan on doing in ZA.

So yes, like I said, it's such a huge stretch.

Doesn't matter what the lore is. This is just going to end one way: more dead trolls and plundered troll dungeons. We've been down this path before!

Lore matters

Huh? Lore? Wassat? -walks away-

Epics matter.

They shouldn't be epics, they should be 354 blues.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MATTER, you're all philistines and mongrels.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/04/03/know-your-lore-rise-of-the-zandalari/#continued

Doesn't really make the shitty reasoning for this any better, but it does give insight into the whole history thing if you're not the sort who reads the in-game books / quest text.

You know, if you're the kind of person who's a girl, is always swearing and plays a terrible useless class like a paladin ^_^

Was thinking about this last night at work because otherwise my brain will just suffer from no use... There would have been a few valid ways of actually making a story out of this.

1) Old Gods. You can blame old gods for pretty much fucking everything, and if somehow the cataclysm opened up a previously locked away old god precariously close to the zandalar island, you could blame the change of heart on this.

2) Extremist faction within the Zandalar. It's hinted in the official notes about how there's a new prophet who refers to himself as Zul, so this might actually be expanded upon in the quests (though I doubt it) and having such a figure could nicely tie in to a whole "extremist troll power" party who wants to see the world conquered in the name of troll kind. It'd also explain more as to why the alliance is willing to help stop it, as at the moment it doesn't really effect the alliance very much. Only the horde has outposts located nearby to the troll areas affected, they'd be the ones suffering most. But if the world is at peril, then yeah, it's understandable. It'd also mean they could salvage the Zandalari, who I kind of like, rather than have us just wipe them out. I'd rather we don't end up killing MORE trolls to no real end.

3) This is what they seem to be going with. All that time we were helping them, we were indirectly helping them control the situation for their own gain. The gurubashi were a threat to them, the amani could have been seen as a power they wanted to harness while the drakkari had attained a level of power that wasn't really considered - they'd killed/dominated their own gods. They learned from all this and have gone around our backs and learnt the best parts of each in order to strengthen their dominion. The only problem is, none of this is in any way hinted at which makes it poor storytelling. It's pure speculation until it becomes canon, and there's no way you could do it without making it really shit. It also doesn't make sense they've waited so bloody long to bother, although from the standpoint of "Oh look, trolls are dying out and the alliance/horde has never been weaker" it does make sense opportunistically. But again, the Zandalari don't seem to act on opportunity, they're too divorced from everybody else - much like Gilneas was up until the Forsaken actually started attacking them.

I suppose the more interesting story is how Vol'jin somehow manages to go behind Garrosh's back about it, to the extent of recruiting alliance. It just doesn't seem plausible that Garrosh wouldn't know or that it wouldn't be addressed at all. If they just wanted a new troll instance, they wouldn't have bothered involving Vol'jin and instead would have given us another Harrison Jones side-quest. Of course, it's also questionable as to why Vol'jin doesn't just side with the trolls - Orgrimmar isn't exactly home anymore, fuck, even the cooking daily has us STEAL from the trolls. Trolls should just become an independent faction :<

Tl;dr: Nothing that would interest anybody.

Krenjin for Zandalari President 2011.

Symitri wrote:

I suppose the more interesting story is how Vol'jin somehow manages to go behind Garrosh's back about it, to the extent of recruiting alliance. It just doesn't seem plausible that Garrosh wouldn't know or that it wouldn't be addressed at all. If they just wanted a new troll instance, they wouldn't have bothered involving Vol'jin and instead would have given us another Harrison Jones side-quest. Of course, it's also questionable as to why Vol'jin doesn't just side with the trolls - Orgrimmar isn't exactly home anymore, fuck, even the cooking daily has us STEAL from the trolls. Trolls should just become an independent faction :<

Unless you are a troll ... then you steal from the Goblins.

Kumbaya!

the difference is... goblins aren't people.