Thrall to return as Warchief and give up Shamanism?

[Wolfheart9]

I have to giggle at the 'anti-thrall' group being blamed in some posts, when it was simply bad storytelling to cram him down our throats for expansion after expansion, even if you were Alliance. 'Lets make up a fake title to give to him so he seems even MORE important!' 'Lets interrupt the blessing of the world tree for his wedding!' 'Yay you beat Deathwing! Now lets make the focal point that Thrall is having a kid!' Blargh. I liked Thrall in WC3 through Lich King. After that, just far too much.

I somehow doubt he'll come back as the Warchief. Kinda feels like his story in the limelight should stay done with, and I'd like to see other races beyond orcs have their story told.

[Joeygiggles]

For anyone who says Thrall is being written out because Metzen is retiring..https://twitter.com/ChrisMetzen/stat...64770996912128

[RedNight at MMOC]

I did not consider Thrall could return to his Warrior training and become a "more traditional" Warchief - I thought he would seek balance and inner peace and turn to the ways of the Monk. However anything can happen since Thrall's voice actor retired.

For anyone who says Thrall is being written out because Metzen is retiring..https://twitter.com/ChrisMetzen/stat...64770996912128

Never mind then...

Is it even possible to give up shamanism?

It is for characters, not for players.

[Thetruth1400]

Thrall needs to just fade into obscurity at this point. He's had his time in the sun, done more than any mortal shaman should have been able to, and come out of it clean on the other end. He was a Mary Sue, and that kind of writing is cheap and played out. So yes, the elements should forsake him to the point of not returning, but no, he should have nothing to do with the Horde anymore. He failed the Horde, leaving them in their time of need with a clearly failure of a replacement leader. As he no longer has any power, he'd be a weak leader at best. There are plenty more deserving Orcs in game that can and should lead the people.

Couple all that with Metzen leaving Blizzard and there really is no reason to keep Thrall around considering he is the voice of Thrall (and pretty much half the other WoW characters).

[Aucald]

I actually agree Monk would be a good fit for a non-Shamanic Thrall, I could see Thrall extrapolating his Warrior training and his Enhancement Shaman knowledge into a Windwalker type of spec - plus he's got the beads and the mental attitude for it already.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I think Thrall SHOULD return eventually but these forums have a hate boner for him so he likely won't. Shame, since he's not nearly as bad as people make him out to be.

[Sesto]

I have to giggle at the 'anti-thrall' group being blamed in some posts, when it was simply bad storytelling to cram him down our throats for expansion after expansion, even if you were Alliance. 'Lets make up a fake title to give to him so he seems even MORE important!' 'Lets interrupt the blessing of the world tree for his wedding!' 'Yay you beat Deathwing! Now lets make the focal point that Thrall is having a kid!' Blargh. I liked Thrall in WC3 through Lich King. After that, just far too much.

I somehow doubt he'll come back as the Warchief. Kinda feels like his story in the limelight should stay done with, and I'd like to see other races beyond orcs have their story told.

I don't think anyone can deny he had far too prominent a role in the story. But he's still the founder of the Horde as it is today - just completely writing him out of the story is a bit much.

Thrall could have easily returned as Warchief of the Horde, and Sylvanas could have still had her prominent role in Legion. Instead they went Sylvanas being Warchief, which really makes no sense from an in-universe perspective.

[Wolfheart9]

I don't think anyone can deny he had far too prominent a role in the story. But he's still the founder of the Horde as it is today - just completely writing him out of the story is a bit much.

Thrall could have easily returned as Warchief of the Horde, and Sylvanas could have still had her prominent role in Legion. Instead they went Sylvanas being Warchief, which really makes no sense from an in-universe perspective.

Making him disappear I don't think is good, but no longer being warchief and instead being say.. an adviser to them. Sylvanas being warchief I agree makes no sense, and I still think that the "loa" that told Vuljin to do it was a demon, but we'll see.

Either way you spin it, I'd like more lore and focus on non human, non orc races for a bit.

[Pull My Finger]

It would've made sense for him to come back for Legion. With Vol'jin dead, and Azeroth being attacked by the Legion, it'd only be natural for Thrall to realize the Horde needs him. He led the Horde against the Legion before, so it'd be a nice way for him to return.

But Blizzard didn't bring him back and instead went with Sylvanas, probably because of the backlash they got from Thrall in Cata. So I doubt we'll ever see Thrall as Warchief again.

I actually think it would have been too early now, but I feel that the latest events might be setting something in motion. I think it would have been a wasted opportunity right now, but there is great potential for a great Thrall comeback story in the future. It needs to ripen yet.

[Draeth]

How about the position of Warchief not continuing to behave like a game of musical chairs and we have one be successful for more than ten minutes?

[Florena]

His role hasn't really been that intrusive or overblown post cata imo. At least not as Alliance.

As Alliance in MoP you don't see him until SoO where all he does is fail to beat Garrosh and then almost but not quite execute him. No big deal.

In WoD we see him here and there but our only interaction with him is when he shows up to kill Garrosh. A bit frustrating but fitting enough for him to be the one to end his miatake I guess.

And in Legion we barely see him on the broken isles and only shamen interact with him really.

To say he's been shoved down our throats for several expansions is a bit hyperbolic. He was shoved down our throats in Cata and now we see him now and then but he's never the focus for long if at all.

[Deleted]

Thrall will obviously become a demon hunter.

this opens the door for orcs to be DH in future xpacs.

[Deleted]

Its time for new Orc characters, Metzen retiring and so should Thrall (his kids are the future not him anymore)

[Deleted]

Looks like no one seems to know the real-world reason Thrall's fading into the background: Chris Metzen, his voice actor requested it.

Could be. But it makes no sense to simply forget about these characters. They need to show up once in a while with all the unfolding events. But that wouldn't be possible without Metzen voicing him. Dying would fix this, but it doesn't feel right to me either.

Besides, the reason Garrosh was made evil was because they couldn't have 2 Orcs fulfilling the same role. Now that perhaps Thrall is leaving it wouldn't have made sense to throw Garrosh away so soon. It might've been better to keep Garrosh as a good guy and Warchief and let Thrall leave/die instead.

But here we are, Garrosh is history. If Thrall is indeed leaving, then what? We can't simply let the Orc faction die out. Saurfang is awesome and all but he's no leader material. Military commader, sure, but not faction leader. Who else can take Thrall's role?

All I can think of is Grommash? Or perhaps Thrall's son at a later point?

[Trassk]

Its time for new Orc characters, Metzen retiring and so should Thrall (his kids are the future not him anymore)

haven't you been observing how blizzard just isn't invested in creating new and interesting characters, more interested in killing off beloved characters instead and hyping up the player character as the only hero of the game?

[Matt0193]

haven't you been observing how blizzard just isn't invested in creating new and interesting characters, more interested in killing off beloved characters instead and hyping up the player character as the only hero of the game?

Most of that is their over-reliance on tried and true WC3 names. Shandris has done more for the Night Elves in-game than Tyrande, yet Tyrande has the character development. Are there even any Orcs beside Lord Go'el the Glorious? What about Humans? Outside of Jaina and Khadgar, there aren't any other Humans who are immediately accessible other than Danath Trollbane and Genn Greymane from WC2/3 eras. Forsaken; Sylvanas and to a lesser extent Nathanos. With the deaths of Vol'jin and Zul'jin, are there any notable Trolls who could be brought in to the Horde without resorting to the Zandalari? It's the same for every faction.

It's a problem that's slowly been threatening to bite them in the ass, and with them killing off a number of characters at the Broken Shore it's only hastened the problem. So the only thing they can do is either make the PC their tier, which I'm personally fine with, or they have to rush out character development and try to make the characters interesting. And look how poorly that went in WoD. We were supposed to have a new inspiring figure in the form of Yrel, yet the extremely sped up rate of development was painfully obvious. She goes from a cleric/anchorite into a Paladin, into a Commander, into a General and then finally into an Exarch in the space of 5 zones. Now imagine if they had to try and do that for half a dozen characters? It'd be a colossal shitfest.

They've needed to develop secondary characters for years, notably they started it with Nazgrim/Taylor and then shot that one dead with MoP. They could've done a lot more with Garrosh, they started with early Cata stuff but then decided nope, he's out with MoP as well. It's the same for the Alliance; instead of developing a secondary cast they stuck with Varian/Jaina and ignored development across the board.

The only quick solution they could do is make us faction-leader tier and build those secondary characters up in Legion, for which the groundwork has been set with the Class Halls. Ignoring the fact that we're the Leaders, there are little character developments starting to take place and hopefully they actively try to work on that, otherwise it's only going to get worse with each passing expansion.

[AlmightyGerkin]

Thrall wont return as Warchief he has finally being pushed to the sidelines and letting the other shamans take over. Funny how he stepped down to raise his family and Metzen did the same thing. Plus he lost his doomhammer to some felguard and elements hate him, so no more Thrall. Time for Sylvanas and Greymane to take the spotlight.

[Deleted]

Thrall wont return as Warchief he has finally being pushed to the sidelines and letting the other shamans take over. Funny how he stepped down to raise his family and Metzen did the same thing.

That is because Thrall is Metzen's 'Mary Sue' Character. This has been well known for many years now, and it is not suprising at all to see Thrall following the same path that Metzen has taken.

[AlmightyGerkin]

It was foreshadowed by Thrall for Metzen retiring.