Conquest of the Horde

Warning: This is a huge wall. Do NOT reply if you have NOT read it all.

The following post is divided into two main parts. First part deals with general talk on events while the second is dedicated to specific examples I have encountered throughout my journeys on CotH. Feel free to consider this post whatever you want to from helpful information to vengeful drama, I don't really care. I will also accept any action taken against me from the outcome of this post, anything really.. subtle comments against me, insults, all the way to receiving an undeserved ban.

1. General Talk
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who initiated roleplay through the use of events no matter their size. I enjoy the one hour walks from the Barrens, through the Thousand Needles all the way into Feralas as much as I enjoy the days, weeks, even months events. Congratulations for anyone who pushed these ideas.

Here are a few major ones (even if I took part in them or not):

* Invasion of the Barrens
I regret the fact that I know little of this event. So little that I've given it this blurry name. If I'm right, Walluce is the person who's dwarf took his time to place a few posters around the cities and gather at least half the server for the event from both Alliance and Horde sides. I was an OOC overseer at one of the conflicts in the event but I have not been involved in it ICly. Nevertheless, congratulations are in order. *claps excitedly*

* Shipwrecked!
I believe Hogral is the mastermind of the Shipwrecked event I took part in. I know this was a player driven thing but your work in planning it and the smaller events throughout the major one are fully appreciated at least by me. I am happy to say that, against all odds, I was there during 2 of the 3 days of it and even though I had little character development, I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you very much for the experience. *smiles happily*

* The Angel of Pyrewood
I've been reading pages and pages of posts with so much interest that I have not had in months. You guys really aced that idea generally speaking. I cross my fingers in the hopes of bringing you luck for you all deserve it. I hope I'm not wrong but I think Diethe was the one with the idea here. Congrats to you as well, you are a great roleplayer and I can honestly say that some of my best CotH moments are related to Commander Agares of the Kul Tiras Special Forces. *cheers*

* Stromgarde: Reclaiming the Old Kingdom
Mere words cannot express how I feel towards this event. If I had to pick one word to describe it, I would pick "reverence". Tales is one of the few people from whom I have learned a lot about roleplay by simply involving myself in various roleplaying sessions with him, events or not. For that, I thank you very much. I am sure everyone who knows about it and who has roleplayed with Tales can confirm my feelings as well. I regret the fact that I'm not involved in the event ICly but I have enough involvments as it is and due to my poor connection and RL issues I would not be able to be a trustworthy person considering it and thus I have decided to stay away. *salutes*

* Trouble in Elwynn (The Forgotten Shadow)
Oh the beloved Shadow. I never thought I would ditch my main character Maya and join the side of the very people who butchered her. The Forgotten Shadow has brought me the best experiences on CotH ever, there is no doubt about that. Vrahn is the mastermind here, great roleplaying on your part, wishing you luck with the other ideas you have in mind. I would also like to thank you for another thing. Through your roleplaying ideas I've had the chance to ICly meet the grunts I've put my eye on for a long time but never had the chance to. *bows respectfully*

* Ratchet: The Scourge's foothold in the Barrens
I have little to say about this event. It's fairly new and I have had a very limited part in it. I'm not entirely sure who's behind the idea.. I'm thinking Kaghuros. Anyway, you have brough hope for Barrens roleplay, a place where I think the Orcs feel like home. Many have already expressed their gratitude and I would like you guys to know I'm one to be counted among these. Good luck with the future of this event. *applauds*


2. Specific Examples

* Stromgarde: Reclaiming the Old Kingdom
As much as I love this event and as much as I respect you, Tales, I'm going to have to throw in a few pointers here. Before I do that, keep in mind that I am completely aware of the IC and RL resources you have given to make this possible. So if you have anything to push my following pointers away with, do NOT tell me that I don't appreciate what you have done.
I will leave aside a couple disputable issues (like the fact that you managed to/will manage to drive away a considerable force and fierce foes with little IC resources) and I will get straight to the point.

According to the following post (Posters: Stromgarde Offensive), one can safely assume that you have ICly convinced Stormwind to send its armies to your aid.
Stormwind has enough problems of its own right now. I'll name a few for you:

- The Defias Brotherhood
They basically hold most major key-points of the Kingdom from transportation all the way resources. The farms, the vineyards, the mines, the ferries, almost everything that allows Stormwind to continue its existance.

- Westfall and The People's Militia
"Stormwind withdrew its troops, leaving the people defenseless. I mustered the People's Militia in the wake of Stormwind's abandonment to save what remains of this land." Gryan Stoutmantle of The People's Militia.
It was founded because the general notice in the area was that "Stormwind has abandoned Westfall". Westfall is important to Stormwind's economy. They may have farms in Elwynn but the soil ain't as fertile as in this land. Their previous involvment suggests this quite clearly and they would not abandon it.

- Duskwood and The Night Watch
"If I did not know Magistrate Solomon personally, I would say the man has gone mad. Send the Night Watch to Lakeshire because Stormwind refuses aid?" Lord Ello Ebonlocke, Mayor of Darkshire.
The Night Watch Militia is an independent policing organization created to defend Darkshire from the dangers plaguing Duskwood since Stormwind pulled all of their troops away. I'm sure they didn't pull the troops away only to send them to Stromgarde later saying "Ah the hell with Duskwood".

- Redridge
"Magistrate Solomon is a noble leader. His words carry great weight with me. I shall seek the counsel of the King and make the situation clear to him. Assure the good judge that he has the Stormwind Army's support. Reinforcements will be sent as soon as word is given from His Majesty." General Marcus Jonathan, High Commander of Stormwind's Defense.
Obviously they would not abandon Redridge either.

I know most of these events are based on the old "the king acts oddly" and Onixya events but those are in the past now and I see no aid given to any of these lands therefor we will assume the situation is the same.

- Trusting King Varian Wrynn
Some of the men in the army are obviously not sheep. They think for their own and might doubt the King's orders after what happened lately. While some will obey them nevertheless I doubt all will do it and they might even resort to leaving the army, thus considerably affecting the numbers.

Don't get this the wrong way but the fact that you state your character could convince Stormwind to send its armies is at least arrogant.

* A Challenge from Hemet Nesingwary Jr.
Congrats Kaghuros, even if this was mainly a forum thing that involved writing up stories and the like, I still enjoyed the idea. I got nothing against you, the idea was simple and briliant. However I do have something against the players that were involved in it... or should I say, that weren't involved in it.

To make myself clear: The forests of Ashenvale may be a contested territory but they have been in the care of the Night Elves for a long time. They are spread around and watching and helping defend it as best as they can. When a large number of human/dwarves/<insert race here> hunters roamed through the woods killing the animals.. nobody reacted! There were enough elves online at the time, I checked myself to make sure about it. I even tried to stir up some commotion here, I had my druid ask around Stormwind hoping to find an answer to the recent influx of humans/dwarves etc in Ashenvale.
It's funny how some people would answer to this with: "But my Elf had no idea about what happened, he/she was away." But if their character is in Badlands and the Scourge invade the Barrens, they suddenly somehow know about it. *shifty eyes*


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Let it be clear that I am writing this post in the hopes of discussing and eventually fixing these issues NOT trashing the ideas around; my arguments are valid enough. Just like dealing with unwanted fire: first you prevent it and then when it happens anyway, you deal with it. I have already done this once on the forums and it was taken wrongly, don't do it now too.

Sorry about the wall, thank you for taking your time to read it and please... discuss! :mrgreen:


Edit:
I'll reveal another thing to you even though I thought this was implied. This thread also serves as one of the means to filter the people who actually care to read the whole thing and post replies based on well-thought valid arguments from the people who watch the "Recent Forum Posts" waiting for a new opportunity to subconsciously prove their own shortcomings.
By all means, please... keep the hate private messages coming. You're doing me a favor. :mrgreen:

I agree with a lot of this. Even though bending the rules is sometimes needed to progress a large event and get some good RP going, remember that the rules are there for a reason. The fact that we follow lore pretty strictly here is what sets us apart from servers like Azshara and RebelWoW, and most of us enjoy the fact that we follow lore (I know I do).

Still, I have to say that there are cases when lore can be bent a bit. Blizzard hasn't said anything about Varian's reaction to the situations in Westfall, Duskwood, and Lakeshire, so it is impossible to know what he would do about Stromgarde in this case, and if it helps the storyline progress then we might as well make him give us troops, rather than create impossibilities like taking over a city with 40-50 random people, some of whom aren't even fighters.

As far as Kaghuros's Nesingwary event, I completely agree that more Night Elves should have gone to Ashenvale and tried to stop the hunters. Partly because it agrees with lore, and partly because it would have generated even more RP through the event, and in the end that is the goal of our events here.

In all honesty, I was going to make this post before I noticed the Stromgarde thingie. Kaghuros' event on the hunters employed by Nesingwary Jr. was actually the main reason for this post but then I saw that one too and decided to fill in.

You're right about the Strom thingie. We are pretty much clueless about Varian's thoughts on the nearby lands. I took the current lore gap to fill ours with what's already going on in the world, which was one view... I'm glad you don't agree with me here because we definitelly need as many thoughts on this as possible.

What I did mean to say about the break (for lack of a better word) in the Strom lore.. thing.. is that the event was going well. You guys were all happy down there with it, nobody from the outside complained about anything so why further it with the Stormwind thingie? I know the Sovereignty is not an army and thus you need more people but instead of pushing the Stormwind armies idea you could have had some fairer alternatives.

1. Thinking it beforehand. You knew an event of this size would require a great ammount of people. I'm not saying this is the case, but it sure sounds like you jumped into the event hoping to fill in these details later if needed.

2. Gather other guilds? Hire mercenaries? <insert other similar ideas here>

Alot of valid thoughts and concerns. I must say, I don't think any of 'em are wrong in any way. It's more about us being restricted, as you say. We don't have the resources to go all-lore and totally realistic in every and all events. It wouldn't work out at all.

Well it wasn't me that got Stormwind involved it was a GM and it was through a lot of Roleplay, and I kinda wish you had PMed me because there I can explain it simply. The Poster is an IC morale booster posters are made to inspire the people as for how it happened no one but people involved were there would actually know how Stormwind was convinced to assist so I thought if a citizen saw that poster he would be like "How the hell did he do that?" I just removed it because it's easier then explaining what I was thinking but honestly it was 5AM when I wrote that and I didn't think it would offend anyone cause it was just some random citizens opinion.

As for why Stormwind is helping it is quite simple:

Varian Wyrnn cares about one thing right now fighting the horde and after two months of trying to get Stormwind on our side (OOC days) we managed to find a way. Stromgarde gives Stormwind a Strategic advantage against the horde in the Eastern Kingdom. For one it means another human city near the borders of Horde Territory. It also means that Hammerfall is now completely outnumbered in the Highlands. Stormwind will station a regiment of men in Stromgarde as part of a treaty that Stormwind would be give a small part of the city to do what they wanted with.

Another key advantage is Thoridins wall and I wasn't going to reveal this because I was planning something special but whatever by blocking Thoridins wall you stop all access to Hammerfall by supply caravans thus attacking the horde without actually attacking them. Icly Stormwind who was convinced by Dale (Mikain and a member of the Stormwind Military) thinks this is a great idea and has decided to help.

Since Dale is not known to the public I thought a citizen would be like "He got help from Stormwind!" since the posters are being posted by the Sovereignty... but I removed it to cause unneeded drama. I hope that clears everything up and if you have anymore questions feel free to post them.

Note: I never meant to state my character did anything of the sort and have corrected the issue.

Edit: Painkiller I don't take this in a bad way and why did you let Maya die. I'm sad we never got to continue roleplaying.

Is this a question?

No no no, it wasn't an offense at all. I just felt it was a little unneeded push over the edge. Your reasons may be valid enough and now that the King's back on the throne, he's bound to do something with the army as opposed to keeping them inside Stormwind but what I did there was to mention a few more logical choices of the King's army. In the end it's really your decision.
I do appologise for making you reveal some information you weren't planning to though.

As for Maya's death, I didn't really leave her to die. Even though it wouldn't have been possible without Vrahn's imagination and excellent writing skills (cheers xD) it was my choice.. no outside influence at all. I'm sorry we couln't continue as well but I felt that she didn't turn out to be the character I was aiming for. I really enjoyed roleplaying her at the beginning but then I just found it to be a good time to spend my free time. Then my mentality turned into "Alright sure, I'll roleplay her, others might use her for the stories." Eventually I began to dislike playing her and thus decided to stop playing her altogether. In the end it's all about having fun and I wasn't doing that anymore.

The reason why I point out these things is simple. I remember reading a post where Cressy once said something along the lines of "An excellent roleplayer vouches for a great roleplayer. The great roleplayer vouches for a good one. The good one vouches for an OK one..." and you can see where this is going. These gaps, no matter their size encourage others to say "Well if -that- idea got approved I won't see why mine won't either."

Edit:
We'll still continue roleplaying though, no doubt about that. I'll probably have another alliance character involved around your ideas soon.. and don't forget I was at Stromgarde's walls with Tommy when we rescued Charles. I believe you were there as well on Adalric. I wouldn't count on that being the last time we met.
Also, might I suggest ralying the peasants in Arathi? Now that the Syndicate no longer affords to keep their men threatening the villages, they might consider revenge instead of simply going back to working the fields.

*added a small note at the bottom of the first post*

Painkillah Wrote:* Ratchet: The Scourge's foothold in the Barrens
I have little to say about this event. It's fairly new and I have had a very limited part in it. I'm not entirely sure who's behind the idea.. I'm thinking Kaghuros. Anyway, you have brough hope for Barrens roleplay, a place where I think the Orcs feel like home. Many have already expressed their gratitude and I would like you guys to know I'm one to be counted among these. Good luck with the future of this event. *applauds*

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Quote:who's behind the idea.. I'm thinking Kaghuros. Anyway, you have brough hope for Barrens roleplay, a place

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Quote:I'm thinking Kaghuros.

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(╬ ಠ益ಠ)

Kidding, haha.

(This post was for the lulz.)

In the future, please refer from posting like that, it's really confusing.
I did mention I do not know for sure who's doing it. I haven't been on lately that much and I'm not kept "in the loop" with who's planning the ideas, who's doing the in-game spawning of creatures and whatnot. I do know you posted it on the forums and that's all. Let me know if I need to modify that post but... not this way. In words. English words.

Actually to be back on topic, I covered the things you brought up about Stormwind, and lost my net before finishing them. Darkshire has a batch load more Night Watch and I was going to add more to Lakeshire and the like. Thanks for the reminder.

Oh well, that sounds like a lot of in-game spawning work. You guys don't really have to do that. I'd say a simple post somewhere saying that the king ordered reinforcements to these lands should do well enough. Perhaps even on the Server Lore section of the wiki.

wiki Wrote:Highlights:
-Plague has ravaged the world's population. Even a few month's later, with all of the battles in Northrend, the world is still relatively low on people.
-The Argent Dawn and the Silver Hand have combined to create the Argent Crusade.
-The Knights of the Ebon Blade have been grudgingly accepted as help for the coming battles, though over the course of time have shown their worth.
-The armies of the Alliance and Horde have been beaten back at the Wrathgate. The Undercity has been taken over and retaken back.
-WAR! The Alliance has declared war on the Horde, and as such, they are restricting their forces to staying on the mainlands until further notice. The Horde as well is doing the same.
-King Varian Wrynn finally decided to get his *** off the throne and look into other people's problems. Thus, the Night Watch, The People's Militia and the residents of the nearby Redridge Mountains have received hope along with the reinforcements sent to aid with their troubles.

xD

Well, something must have happened in Westfall at least, seeing as the People´s Militia is now a part of the Stormwind army with a base up in Northrend, lead by none other than Greymantle himself.

You mean Stoutmantle. xD
Good thing you mentioned it. I noticed this as well while riding through the Grizzly Hills. I approach the camp and I suddenly get the "Westfall Brigade Encampment discovered" message in the chatbox. Needless to say I was all "What the...? Where did these guys come from? What's their connection with Westfall? What's Stoutmantle doing here?"
I did a quick research to learn that The People's Militia became this expedition and that Stourmantle was promoted in order to lead this. Talk about lore gaps... helloooooo! Fighting the Scourge is all dandy and respected but what about your own homelands? "No, forget my beloved Westfall where I grew up. Forget about the threats on our door and forget that we were the last line of defense in Stormwind's absence. We'll just catch a ride to Northrend and hope for the best. /cackle"

Well I'm definitelly glad that you guys will fix up this gap. *cheers*
:mrgreen:

I´d assume that Blizzard counts Westfall as "cleared", Van Cleff is supposedly dead and I guess that Blizz simply went with the Defias being vanquished or somesuch.

For the record, I loled.

*cough*

Annnd back on topic.