WoW Rest Stop

Have you ever had a moment when you had do to something?  This "something" didn't make sense to you but suddenly you had an urge to do it and before you knew it you jumped into the deep end of the pool without looking?  This desire can be little things that don't mean much to grand designs meant to change the world.

I had something like this happen to me last week when I was reading a lore article about the World of Warcraft.  I can't remember the exact article but something in it started bugging me and soon I started thinking about the current Alliance / Horde strategy in the World of Warcraft (again ... I know it sounds a bit crazy but I did warn you).  My main complaint was that neither side has a strategy that makes sense.  A good example is the Horde base in the Badlands.  There isn't another Horde base within 3 territories but there it is in the Badland, nestled in the northwest corner of the map.  That got me to wondering -- how does this base get supplies and why hasn't the alliance taken it?  If you look at a WoW map you see inconsistencies like that everywhere.  I do realize this is just a game but it is about war and in war logistics are often more important than armies.  This inconsistency is especially true in Cataclysm but primarily focused on the Alliance side.

In Cataclysm there are 3 main offenses occurring, 1) the Horde advance into Ashenvale, 2) the Undead advance Alterac/Arathi, and 3) the Alliance advance into the Barrens.  Let's look at these individually:

• Orc Horde - Advanced into Ashenvale to take territory so they had a better source of supplies for their Orgrimmar nearby -- Makes sense.
• Undead Horde - Advanced into Alterac/Arathi for a better source of supplies and possibly to control the entire northern half of the Eastern Kingdoms - Makes sense.
• Alliance -  Advance into the Barrens to support the Night Elves who were being attacked in Ashenvale from the North Barrens.  The only close Alliance base is Theramore but it is only a seaport with little control of the interior.  It has no good way to feed itself let alone support an invading army.  The Alliance army marched from this point, through the swamp, north through the Barrens to eventually link with the night elves in Stonetalon.  From a military standpoint the advance is impressive but the army is grossly overextended and it wouldn't take a huge effort by the Horde cut off these troops from their line of supply forcing the Alliance to either retreat or surrender when the supplies ran out. - This strategy makes no sense.

The Alliance are in a stalemate in the Barrens.  What happens next?  The Horde advance has been stopped as well but the Undead are virtually unopposed in the North.  Any general looking at the map would know he would have to change his strategy or lose all their forces in the Northern part of the Eastern Kingdoms.

The question is what would Varian do?  A good general doesn't make a rash decisions so I envisioned a meeting with all his top generals to plan the next step of the war.  That's where the blog post from a few days ago originated.  I first looked at the logistics/industry/population for each side then studied the geography.  I  picture the flow of men and material from the home front to the war front and also considered the motivations for each side.  I don't want to say too much because I plan to complete the story and I don't want to give too much away.  Suffice it to say that I'm bringing in about 20 characters and giving each of them my own take on their personality then letting my imagination run wild.

So going back to my initial question - have you ever had a moment when you just had to do something?  I had that happen to me last week and it was to write the next chapter of the Warcraft story.  I know it is highly unlikely that anyone but me will ever read it but it is just something I have to do.  I have to say I am finding the process a lot of fun.  I must warn anyone that does attempt to read it that it will be very rough.  I'm writing the story freely in my head and responding in the moment how I think the characters would respond.  I'm sure there will be parts that will need a rewrite if it were ever to make complete sense as random thoughts rarely interconnect perfectly.  For now that isn't the point as I need to hear the discussion in my head so I can write this story ... and like when I read any story I'm really looking forward to see how it ends.