Why is Arthas the only lore figure that Blizzard has refused to bring back?

[steelballfc]

OT: Never say never. After what Blizzard has done with Illidan, I wouldn't be surprised of anything.

don't give them ideas

[Qualia]

Instead of spending so much time on a stupid Illidan redemption story, or another fight with fucking Archimonde because demons never die or whatever, why not make something fresh?

Instead of another Ragnaros fight why not just go, he's fucking dead mate, next character, let's focus on making that one interesting instead of circlejerking the same people over and over.

It's simple - it takes a lot of time and effort to build a fresh antagonist to the level of current antagonists. Most of the major villains so far - Sargeras, the Burning Legion (Archi, KJ, etc.), the Old Gods, Lich King, Deathwing, Garrosh, etc. - have years of story, reference, character developments or build up. A completely new villain (with less than an expansion length of history / build up) will just feel either lackluster, or came out from nowhere. They need time and resources to get people used to & hype up new antagonists, and both of those are limited (at the moment, those are being used for the void lords / forces of the void, but it's just the beginning). While you might complain about fighting the "old" villains more than once, I believe - within next 2-3 content patches - most people would still be more interested in fighting against KJ again than a random currently unknown Void Lord (and the Void Lords aren't completely fresh either, they inherited parts of Old Gods' lore and hype).

[Highwhale]

Well back in early WoD or MoP no one knew what Illidan will comes back and now we have Legion. Everything can happen considering what main lore brain aka Metzen left Blizzard.

Arthas's comes back can really fit Void/Shadowlands expansion.

[Mirishka]

to be fair ragnaros came back, kaelthas came back... ragnaros in firelands and kaelthas in magisters terrace but yeah...

They came back from being defeated, not killed. There hasn't been a peep from either since Firelands/MgT.

- - - Updated - - -

Well back in early WoD or MoP no one knew what Illidan will comes back and now we have Legion. Everything can happen considering what main lore brain aka Metzen left Blizzard.

Arthas's comes back can really fit Void/Shadowlands expansion.

Arthas is dead and gone. Outside of 'shadows' and memories of him like we see in the DK Artifact chains, he won't be returning. As for Illidan, they've been talking for 5 or so years about wanting to redeem that character. The Well of Eternity dungeon was kind of the first step toward that.

[Choda]

They should totally bring back Archimonde, I miss that guy.

[Mehrunes]

It's simple - it takes a lot of time and effort to build a fresh antagonist to the level of current antagonists. Most of the major villains so far - Sargeras, the Burning Legion (Archi, KJ, etc.), the Old Gods, Lich King, Deathwing, Garrosh, etc. - have years of story, reference, character developments or build up. A completely new villain (with less than an expansion length of history / build up) will just feel either lackluster, or came out from nowhere. They need time and resources to get people used to & hype up new antagonists, and both of those are limited (at the moment, those are being used for the void lords / forces of the void, but it's just the beginning). While you might complain about fighting the "old" villains more than once, I believe - within next 2-3 content patches - most people would still be more interested in fighting against KJ again than a random currently unknown Void Lord (and the Void Lords aren't completely fresh either, they inherited parts of Old Gods' lore and hype).

In relation to the second part of this post, it's nice to have variety and have some recurring villains alongside those that just drop dead when we look at them funny. Without that everything would feel like Scooby Doo villain of the week. And it gives the game some continuity, as well as makes it more believable and immersive.

[Deleted]

This must be a troll topic.

[steelballfc]

They should totally bring back Archimonde, I miss that guy.

* my voice echo from far away *
nooooooo

[Deleted]

It's simple - it takes a lot of time and effort to build a fresh antagonist to the level of current antagonists. Most of the major villains so far - Sargeras, the Burning Legion (Archi, KJ, etc.), the Old Gods, Lich King, Deathwing, Garrosh, etc. - have years of story, reference, character developments or build up. A completely new villain (with less than an expansion length of history / build up) will just feel either lackluster, or came out from nowhere. They need time and resources to get people used to & hype up new antagonists, and both of those are limited (at the moment, those are being used for the void lords / forces of the void, but it's just the beginning). While you might complain about fighting the "old" villains more than once, I believe - within next 2-3 content patches - most people would still be more interested in fighting against KJ again than a random currently unknown Void Lord (and the Void Lords aren't completely fresh either, they inherited parts of Old Gods' lore and hype).

This is how I assume Trump would write a forum post, a yuge wall of text.

I'm only joking.

You know who is a great fucking villain that came out of nowhere? Lei Shen. It's possible to make great villains from scratch, Blizzard just doesn't sometimes.

And honestly who can blame them, I'm sure reusing something costs a lot less than creating something new, making their profits higher.

They're a business after all.

[FelPlague]

They came back from being defeated, not killed. There hasn't been a peep from either since Firelands/MgT.

- - - Updated - - -



Arthas is dead and gone. Outside of 'shadows' and memories of him like we see in the DK Artifact chains, he won't be returning. As for Illidan, they've been talking for 5 or so years about wanting to redeem that character. The Well of Eternity dungeon was kind of the first step toward that.

kalethas was killed... he was 100% killed, but came back to life through fel magic...

[Aquamonkey]

kalethas was killed... he was 100% killed, but came back to life through fel magic...

Nope.

"...pick up this sphere from the still-twitching remains of Kael'thas Sunstrider."

"The sphere... Strange. Did you know that he lived? Yes. It is here - in the sphere itself. Maimed for certain. He calls to a higher power now. No, not Illidan."

"Kael'thas Sunstrider yells: Your monkeys failed to finish the job, naaru. Beaten but alive... The same mistake was not made when we took command of your vessel."

[Mgann-Morzz]

There's nothing left to do with him, his story's over. Illidan was only brought back because even Blizzard's story people themselves were unsatisfied with how they handled him in TBC (as they should be since his role in TBC was kind a giant mess)

[Goldielocks]

Why have Bolvar as the Lich King if Arthas was going to eventually return? Arthas is dead and gone.

Besides, Bolvar seems a lot different now than how he was before putting on the Helm of Domination. It's likely he'll be acting as the enemy if it came to it.

[Jastall]

Because his story is over, and not bringing back iconic villains is much, much preferable to ''merely a setback!'' stupidity that devalues everything about their story.

[Qualia]

This is how I assume Trump would write a forum post, a yuge wall of text.

I'm only joking.

You know who is a great fucking villain that came out of nowhere? Lei Shen. It's possible to make great villains from scratch, Blizzard just doesn't sometimes.

And honestly who can blame them, I'm sure reusing something costs a lot less than creating something new, making their profits higher.

They're a business after all.

Sorry that I prefer properly articulated post over splitting it into different lines consist of one or two sentences each. After all, I'm not trying to write a poem here.

Great villain? Lei Shen? You must be joking again. Lei Shen is a good villain, but that's all about it. He was no where as hyped or well known as the major villains / end bosses. Most people killed him because Blizzard pop'd him up as a boss, not because they feel "Wow, we finally get to face him, I can't wait!". In fact, either Kosak or Muffinus (can't remember which) admitted that they should have given Lei Shen more development (and Lei Shen / Mogu already got almost 3/4 of an expansion worth of development). That's probably why he ended up as a mid-expansion boss, not the ultimate one and why they gave us extra bits about him in Chronicle. If you are just asking for a villain that end up as a boss, and not *the boss(es)* of an expansion, we already had plenty of those. However, I believe that's not what you wanted, am I wrong?

You aren't incorrect that profit was reason. However, I'd like you to see it from a player perspective as well. I'd rather fighting KJ again than waiting another 3-4 months for the expansion because they had to think of a new villain from scratch, draft a new story for him, plan advertisements (short stories, novels, movies, etc.). Farming and selling M HFC for a year was as boring as it could get. Thankfully, they decided to slowly introduce the new villains (the force of the Void) into the story over multiple expansions, but that means we'd have to wait for that long before a villain is "ripe" enough for picking.

[Xilurm]

No king rules forever.

He was a King for 5 years. That's less than most kings, so that line would be much better if Arthas was the Lich King for hundreds or thousands of years.

[tikcol]

Just the fact that so many come back is bad enough. The WoW lore is completely destroyed by this issue. Every character comes back sooner or later.

[Zulkhan]

This is how I assume Trump would write a forum post, a yuge wall of text.

I don't think you ever saw a true wall of text if you believe it to be one.

[FelPlague]

Nope.

"...pick up this sphere from the still-twitching remains of Kael'thas Sunstrider."

"The sphere... Strange. Did you know that he lived? Yes. It is here - in the sphere itself. Maimed for certain. He calls to a higher power now. No, not Illidan."

"Kael'thas Sunstrider yells: Your monkeys failed to finish the job, naaru. Beaten but alive... The same mistake was not made when we took command of your vessel."

oh, kk ty for clarifying that for me

[SoundOfGuns]

Because other than other characters, he isn't just dead, he's dead-dead. We know through the lore he is residing in what equates to hell, there is no AU version of Arthas, whatever bit of him that resided in frostmourne is (has) been destroyed/defeated. He ain't coming back, and even if they did what does he bring? He's a fallen paladin turned deathknight that became the lich king, take those three things away and you have a whiny brat of a person that was too self-absorbed to care about doing the right thing (He just did what HE thought was the right thing, even when others told him otherwise....even with proof!!)

Basically, we'd end up with Azeroth's version of Kanye....

No. ...Im tempted to just leave it at that.

Arthas wasn't whiny and wasn't a brat either. I know thats how people generally like to perceive everyone in the entire universe in this game wehn they are young, so i can see why you would think that. Stratholme was kind of the breaking point and till then no mistake he made was damning. That boy was arrogant but he was also pretty capable and pretty skilled for his age and was good friends with most of his Teachers, which is the only issue i have with him from a lore-perspective. Paragon of virtue besides bing a bit full of him self and eeeveryone loves him. Especially the Dread-Lo- Jaina. Not sure what you are talking about with that "others told him otherwise despite proof"-thing... In Stratholme the scourge was growing and the question was to either slay them before they turn into ghouls or let Mal'Ganis do that quicker... There was no proof that it would not turn out that way... and indeed he was actually right. From that point on the whole Arrogant and Brat thing is meaningless to begin with since he is already in Ner'Zhuls trap and theeere we go...

But i do agree he is dead-dead. Don't compare him to Kanye tho. Especially not with Illidan wandering around. If anyone is WoW's Kanye its Illidan Stormrage.

p.s: Call me a fanboy if you please for actually liking a character enough to not have him compared to f*cking Kanye West.