Argent Crusade in Pandaria

I am not sure what happened. Maybe Tirion didn't hear the world wide news that there was a new continent discovered the size of Northrend or maybe he is to busy planning the Argent retirement ball. But for some reason the Argent Crusade don't set a single foot on Pandaria. People have come up with some theories for the argent crusades absence but I think they are easily debunked. Just to mention a few "reasons" why the Argent crusade isn't in Pandaria:



-They took a lot of casualties during the Northrend campaign and lack manpower.

-They have to keep a close eye on Sylvanas and have to deal with the remnants of the Scourge.

-They don't want to get involved in the Alliance-Horde war.

-Other neutral factions aren't present in Pandaria as well.



First of all: We are aware how devastating the scourge war was but every faction took heavy casualties and its not like the Argent crusade is reduced to a mere hundred men. In fact they hold several settlements and three major cities at this moment. Hearthglen (during cata), Tyr's hand and Stratholm (post cata, although I do not know if the Crusade took these last two cities on Freedom, but they sure can take it at anytime.). Conquering and controlling these cities take a lot of manpower and the Argent crusade surly isn't lacking those.



What's Sylvanas doing...? For as far we know they haven't been doing anything super sinister. Yes there was the battle of Andorhal but that was an Alliance-Horde battle which the Argent Crusade stays out of it. The forsaken have also attacked a few farms in the Western Plaguelands and practically undo the cenarion circles work but those farms were under control of the Alliance and not the Argent Crusade, thus again the Argent Crusade don't really have a reason to intervene. After all: Just attacking the forsaken is attacking the Horde and the Argent crusade don't want to have the horde as an enemy.

Aside from peeking through a spyglass into Sylvanas her private room, what about the Scourge? What remains in the Plaguelands are well remnants, small in number and lacking proper leadership. The Argent Crusade doesn't need to use all their resources to keep these lesser Scourge from taking over Azeroth.



So what about the Alliance-Horde war? Yes, Pandaria will feel the effect of this war but its not like Pandaria will be under fully Alliance and/or Horde control. In fact most of it remains neutral with the Pandaren controlling it. This may also be quite shocking to some of you but the majority of the Pandaria pandaren want to be independent from the Alliance and horde. With this in mind the Argent Crusade should have an easy time setting up a small settlement.



All that remains are the other neutral factions. Why aren't they on Pandaria? They either miss the manpower or a clear goal to be there. For a few examples: The earthen ring isn't going to be needed to calm down raging elementals like during cata (Alementals don't count since they don't even come out the brewery.). I highly doubt the Steamwheedle Quartel will ever go there until they smelled gold. And the only reason why the Cenarion Circle (or another expedition) will go is to study the exotic lifeforms of Pandaria. <del><small>(The druids really need to stop their name changing, I'm done with their rep grinds.)</small></del>



So why should the Argent crusade go to Pandaria?



We have to keep in mind that the Argent Crusade is a branch of the Argent Dawn which goal is to "protect Azeroth from agencies that seek to destroy it". These include organization like the Burning Legion and the Twilights Hammer aside from the Scourge. You know what else is an agency that seek to destroy Azeroth?



[url="http://w11.zetaboards.com/WoW_Freedom/topic/11332913/1/#new"><s></s>The Sha



I don't expect the Argent crusade to rush to Pandaria like the Alliance and Horde but I expect them to do something after the first major Sha infestation. Like sending a small army, build a garrison, at the very least send some scouts and envoys to make contacts and get familiar with the land. But they can't just sit idle as the world around them burn like hell.



But if they do that I'll be expecting an invitation to their Argent retirement ball.

The biggest reason as to why the Crusade isn't interfering with Pandaria is most likely because of the Alliance-Horde war that will rage across the continent. They have sworn to remain neutral and given that most of the conflict that takes place across Pandaria comes to be because one of the factions. The Sha arrives mostly because of what the Horde and the Alliance brings to the otherwise relatively peaceful continent. To send a massive force to fight this would be idiotic for a faction who prides themselves in neutrality. They are also focusing on restoring the Plaguelands and while for some reason Freedom refuses to do the Risen events there's still some threats which means that they cannot send away everything they got.



As for the cities you mentioned, Hearthglen is obviously captured. Tyr's Hand was captured for the Argent Crusade but I think we lost it..? Or it was retconned and given back to the Scarlets. I'm not really sure, that city goes back and forth a thousand times over. You have to ask the staff about that one. Stratholme is also a little bit confusing because we can't do the Risen storyline. I'm not sure if it'll happen in the future or not but again, you need to ask the staff about that.



Also, if you have an Argent character you are still more than free to partake in the war across Pandaria as long as you remain neutral. You just won't have a massive army supporting you. The Argent Templars walks around Azeroth smiting evil so it should be easy to come up with a reason as to why your character joins in to fight the Sha.

I think something to remember is the Argent Crusade is not very big compared to the two main factions. Plaguelands may be mostly recovered but it also needs to hold those lands afterwards as well. I think a player-operated Argent Vanguard might be interesting, maybe, for dealing with the Sha, but where we are now in the lore the Sha aren't a big deal yet I think. Hm.

One must keep in mind that Argent Crusade primarily deals against threats of the Legion and the Scourge and other affiliated things. The Sha are a threat, sure, but they are very much so a localized threat to Pandaria, where as the Scourge and the Legion threaten the world.



Another thing is that there are very few outside factions who get involved in the Pandaria storyline. Namely, only the Horde and the Alliance get involved with lesser involvement from the Horde-aligned Sunreavers and the Alliance-aligned Kirin Tor (which happens after the events of 5.1: Landfall).



But you don't really see anything else major. No Argents, no Sha'tar, Shattered Sun, Ebon Blade, etc etc. The reason for it is because Pandaria's discovery is a direct result of the Horde-Alliance War and the fact that the continent is due to become a Warzone would deter a lot of the smaller, neutral factions from going there in force.



However! This does not mean that your neutral characters cannot go! You can take your Argents, Ebon Knights, and so on to Pandaria. Just be aware that, like with all things, you wont really be able to attend faction-specific events, due to your neutrality.



I hope this helps!