Vol'jin IS Dead!

[Darth-Piekus]

That something is completely irrelevant to the Legion and doesn't provide anything to the cause. Even Voljin did something that was relevant to the matter of the Rebellion of the Horde against Garrosh and then later to the Iron Horde.

[Gadzooks]

To be brutally fair and what i already said in this thread this whole thing stinks of something that the devs was planning to do but was quietly canned so they just shrug there shoulders and say yeah hes dead oh and expect to see his ghost 'Maybe in the future' to give us some words of advice or some shit that is meaningless now.

I see it more as Metzen had plans for Vol'jin, but when he stepped down, whoever was in charge of story after that changed the story, and it didn't include him as warchief. Whoever wrote the current Sylvanas story arc is the person who probably killed off Vol'jin.

[Friendlyimmolation]

That something is completely irrelevant to the Legion and doesn't provide anything to the cause. Even Voljin did something that was relevant to the matter of the Rebellion of the Horde against Garrosh and then later to the Iron Horde.

Sylvanas sends the Horde to get the Aegis, thats as much as Voljin already did in WoD.

[Zulkhan]

I think my favorite part was him accurately pointing out that the Horde got an extra cinematic in 7.0 to shut up all the whining fucking babies on the forums that there was only an Alliance cinematic in 7.2.

As a wise man once said, "irony explodes".

But seriously, Horde got an extra cinematic yet the Broken Shore one was 70% Alliance to begin with. Just go and tell that this expansion is mostly about Anduin and his great drama about his dad and be king and whatever rather than coming up with shitty excuses.

They didn't earn Vol'jin's death.

That's pretty well put.

OT: Blizzard isn't exactly made of strongly professional people but when it comes to trolling no one beats them. Translation, if they don't want you to know something they'll deflect questions by outright lying and contradicting themselves in the meanwhile. "There are only 6 Sha guys". Yep. "Grommash is the final boss of WoD". Yup.

You can't trust them either way. They may have mastondotic plans in mind as much as having a whole lot of nothing, which leaves us with the "wait and see" option alone.

[Al Gorefiend]

I'm glad Warcraft lore established clearly that being dead means you're no longer relevant to the story and you can no longer have any form of influence on the world any longer.

Oh wait

[delus]

Ion is so full of hot air i'm surprised he can speak sometimes. Yes Ion, we know he is dead. Blizzard earlier said that his story isn't over. What I want to see is how it ends. Is he coming back as a spirit? etc.

Yeah, that's the impression that I get from Ion as well. Although the wording he used in his initial statement was "Vol'jin's still dead". That is strange wording that makes me think they don't intend for him to stay dead.

[Wildberry]

It felt unsatisfying.

You want to see unsatisfying? Try stomaching going from Garrosh's Horde to Vol'jin's. Good riddance.

I see that some people are happy about it, but it's more becuase of their spite against the character rather than honest concern over the story quality.

Oh boy.

If those people would be by tiny bit objective they'd have issues that his entire build up was completely pointless and therefore those were wasted resources, and on what exactly? There was no point in his death, he had to be written against his character to be offed like that. Not to mention we had quite a lot of lore fails regarding Broken Shore itself and afterwards(which plenty of people pointed out throrough the months of feedback, me included).

What buildup? Even you admit that he had very little screentime or relevance. His biggest claim to fame is being a member of the "Remember the time this guy said a paragraph in WCIII?"-club.

Please don't pretend that we witnessed Blizzard throwing away years of hard work, and effort, because that's simply not the case.

Oh, and finally, in what world was Vol'jin's death out of character? He's one of the most incompetent characters in the Warcraft Universe and has an abysmal track record. He either fails, gets carried by someone else, or accomplishes some feat which becomes underwhelming when contextualized.

You really don't seem to be being objective here at all. I'm getting the impression that you liked Vol'jin and just felt his death was underwhelming.

Now Horde is completely broken and has no revelence in entire expansion. But you're happy because character you hated is dead, even if his only fault was that he didn't had enough development/ screentime to show what he is capable of. (And all he had to do was to appear couple of times and do something that had good effect.)

The Horde wasn't going to have much relevance this expansion anyway. There aren't terribly many threads that we can capitalize upon. Even assuming they threw us every bone that existed, tailored the story perfectly so that we were represented whenever possible, cheated neutral characters and Alliance characters out of representation, etc. The Horde's story this expansion would have been carried by Undead, Blood Elves, Tauren and, to a lesser extent, Orcs. Vol'jin wasn't going to make much of an impact even if everything went perfectly for us. He'd have made practically no impact with the version of Legion that we're actually playing.

Oh and "what he is capable of," lol. Losing a handful of islands to a rogue witch doctor? Requiring diving intervention (the same thing it took to kill the Lich King) to triumph over said witch doctor, ignoring orders from his superiors, threatening treason, etc.?

You're more happy about it than proper story delivery, lore consistency and writing that makes sense.

We haven't had proper story delivery since WCIII. Consistency and commonsensical writing have been dead for over a decade in this franchise. These things didn't just disappear after Vol'jin died.

That's sad really.

What's sad is your complete lack of a proper, compelling argument.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm enjoying it a lot. All those that hated Voljin and complained that he did nothing and is useless are left with the worst and most useless Warchief in history that literally does nothing and her whole faction is absent. Not even Voljin was that useless.

I was at the point where I'd have taken a time-frozen preteen Anduin over Vol'jin. Sylvanas, while not an Orc, is leagues ahead of bruddamon.

[MikeBogina]

With Ion saying 'Vol'jin is dead, what update do you want?' I guess that truly is the end of Vol'jins story.

"Death be a doorway, an' time a window; I'll be back!"

Death doesn't mean the end for every character, sometimes it's a stepping stone to something greater.

[Aucald]

I've always maintained it's important to remember that Vol'jin served Bwonsamdi and was one of his favored, and that Bwonsamdi is the Loa spirit who seems to oversee death and the afterlife. If Bwonsamdi wanted Vol'jin to return to the land of the living for some reason I don't think it would be too much of an effort for him to arrange that - though it would have to be a good reason as the Loa of Death seems to be very reticent to give up his charges. His possessiveness and stubborn nature seem to be defining traits.

[Mehrunes]

That something is completely irrelevant to the Legion and doesn't provide anything to the cause. Even Voljin did something that was relevant to the matter of the Rebellion of the Horde against Garrosh and then later to the Iron Horde.

Uh huh. Which is why she sends the player after the Aegis and leaves almost all her forces behind to help you with that task, while she only took one ship in her hunt for Eyir. Once again, you don't even know the basics.

As a wise man once said, "irony explodes".

Wasn't that implosion?

But seriously, Horde got an extra cinematic yet the Broken Shore one was 70% Alliance to begin with. Just go and tell that this expansion is mostly about Anduin and his great drama about his dad and be king and whatever rather than coming up with shitty excuses.

What's next, you'll ask him to fly or be consistent (though his inconsistency in Gen-OT matters is even funnier lately)?

That's pretty well put.

OT: Blizzard isn't exactly made of strongly professional people but when it comes to trolling no one beats them. Translation, if they don't want you to know something they'll deflect questions by outright lying and contradicting themselves in the meanwhile. "There are only 6 Sha guys". Yep. "Grommash is the final boss of WoD". Yup.

You can't trust them either way. They may have mastondotic plans in mind as much as having a whole lot of nothing, which leaves us with the "wait and see" option alone.

Blasphemy. Blizzard is the bestest story-teller ever. The quality of their writing is without equal. Atone for this sinful language or perish at the judgment of Blizzard's prophet, Kerrilldank.

[Radaney]

Trolls have definitely never turned into spirits and contributed to the game.

[Arrashi]

I've always maintained it's important to remember that Vol'jin served Bwonsamdi and was one of his favored, and that Bwonsamdi is the Loa spirit who seems to oversee death and the afterlife. If Bwonsamdi wanted Vol'jin to return to the land of the living for some reason I don't think it would be too much of an effort for him to arrange that - though it would have to be a good reason as the Loa of Death seems to be very reticent to give up his charges. His possessiveness and stubborn nature seem to be defining traits.

To be fair, its also worth remembering that all those loas, celestials and even wild gods proved time after time they feel no pity for their followers and won't hesitate to abandon them.

[Kufell]

You want to see unsatisfying? Try stomaching going from Garrosh's Horde to Vol'jin's. Good riddance.

That was easy. Garrosh was a terrible warchief for the modern Horde.

What buildup? Even you admit that he had very little screentime or relevance. His biggest claim to fame is being a member of the "Remember the time this guy said a paragraph in WCIII?"-club.

C'mon Wildberry, even you're better than that. Denying there was any build-up for Vol'jin at all is just ignorant. You might disagree that the build-up was sufficient in your eyes to make him a worthy Warchief, but build-up was there. Vol'jin got a lot of screen-time between Cataclysm and Legion onwards, more than most other secondary Horde leader.

Oh, and finally, in what world was Vol'jin's death out of character? He's one of the most incompetent characters in the Warcraft Universe and has an abysmal track record. He either fails, gets carried by someone else, or accomplishes some feat which becomes underwhelming when contextualized.

Eh? Not sure where you're going here. Off the top of my head, here's what I recall Vol'jin's major involvements being.
01) Fighting to help found Thrall's Horde in Durotar.
02) Serving as one of Thrall's chief advisers up until Thrall's departure in Cataclysm.
03) Reclaiming Echo Isles from Zalazane after Master Gadrin and new player characters had failed for years.
04) Lead the campaign against the Gurubashi in Cataclysm.
05) Almost got killed by Garrosh's assassin's in MoP.
06) Lead the charge against the Zandalari and Mogu forces and defeating them in Pandaria.
07) Lead the rebellion against Garrosh.
08) Was made Warchief by Thrall due to his leadership in the Rebellion, his shared beliefs with Thrall, and his experience advising the Horde.
09) Spent near the entirety of WoD being a background character purely leading the Horde.
10) Died from fel-poisoning after getting wounded on the Broken Shore.

I'm really not sure where you get major incompetence from. As by back-ground major character standards, he's done quite a bit.

You really don't seem to be being objective here at all. I'm getting the impression that you liked Vol'jin and just felt his death was underwhelming.

It was pretty underwhelming for a major character and leader of a faction to die in such a way, with no other developed character of his race to point to as his successor as leader to the Trolls.

Oh and "what he is capable of," lol. Losing a handful of islands to a rogue witch doctor? Requiring diving intervention (the same thing it took to kill the Lich King) to triumph over said witch doctor,

A powerful Witch Doctor who had managed to turn much of the Darkspear into Mind-Slaves, which Master Gadrin and the player characters had failed at killing for years. And had crafted defensive magic that could not by-passed by anything but a Loa. Prior to this the Darkspear had given up a lot of their darker rituals in order to better incorporate themselves with the rest of the Horde. They had fallen out of favor with the Loa due to this, but during the events of Reclaiming Echo Isles they found need to return to their roots and did so, regaining their connection with Bwonsamdi and gaining access to what was needed to finally dismantle Zalazane's grip on the Echo Isles.

ignoring orders from his superiors, threatening treason, etc.?

Garrosh had already proven himself an incompetent Modern-Warchief who had little care for the non-Orc races of the Horde. He had no diplomacy and was an overrated battle-commander due to being too short-sighted, pushing the Horde too hard for too long and causing it greater harm. He owes pretty much all his success to Saurfang to keeping him in line during the campaign in Northrend as well as to the fact he has a famous daddy.

As for treason.. Well, treason only for those who rebel and fail.

We haven't had proper story delivery since WCIII. Consistency and common-sensical writing have been dead for over a decade in this franchise. These things didn't just disappear after Vol'jin died.

Yet you use this fact to be-little Vol'jin when he isn't the only background character that suffers due to this.

[Mormolyce]

But he's a Troll so it'll grow back, right? His... everything?

[Aucald]

To be fair, its also worth remembering that all those loas, celestials and even wild gods proved time after time they feel no pity for their followers and won't hesitate to abandon them.

It's a case-by-case basis, would seem; and the degree to which they will intercede depends on both their moods and the closeness of the one petitioning them. Bwonsamdi has aided Vol'jin twice now - first in the liberation of the Echo Isles by assisting the Darkspear forces and being the one who actually killed Zalazane (in an exceedingly messy fashion). In "Shadows of the Horde" he responds to Vol'jin's entreaties and even returns to him his Troll essence which Bwonsamdi had kept for "safekeeping", allowing him to finally heal from the wounds dealt to him by Rak'gor's poisoned weapons.

That's not to say Bwonsamdi would see fit to intercede a third time - only that the proverbial door is open.

[Wildberry]

That was easy. Garrosh was a terrible warchief for the modern Horde.

Yes, the "modern" Horde. Who actually wants to be a member of the league of multicultural pacifists?

C'mon Wildberry, even you're better than that. Denying there was any build-up for Vol'jin at all is just ignorant. You might disagree that the build-up was sufficient in your eyes to make him a worthy Warchief, but build-up was there. Vol'jin got a lot of screen-time between Cataclysm and Legion onwards, more than most other secondary Horde leader.

Okay, let's look at this screen time and what it really counts for:

01) Fighting to help found Thrall's Horde in Durotar.
02) Serving as one of Thrall's chief advisers up until Thrall's departure in Cataclysm.
03) Reclaiming Echo Isles from Zalazane after Master Gadrin and new player characters had failed for years.
04) Lead the campaign against the Gurubashi in Cataclysm.
05) Almost got killed by Garrosh's assassin's in MoP.
06) Lead the charge against the Zandalari and Mogu forces and defeating them in Pandaria.
07) Lead the rebellion against Garrosh.
08) Was made Warchief by Thrall due to his leadership in the Rebellion, his shared beliefs with Thrall, and his experience advising the Horde.
09) Spent near the entirety of WoD being a background character purely leading the Horde.
10) Died from fel-poisoning after getting wounded on the Broken Shore.

1) You mean turning Rexxar, Rokhan and Chen into Wyverns? Because that was his accomplishment. He wasn't at the Battle of Mt. Hyjal, nor did he participate in the first siege of Theramore. He didn't even give Rokhan the orders to accompany Chen, that was Thrall.
2) And aside from spending years to reclaim a handful of islands, what did he do there exactly? Direct siege weaponry outside of Undercity? So impressive.
3) Stop trying to deflect Vol'jin's failures onto Gadrin. Both Garrosh's dialogue in the Cataclysm pre-expansion event, and the "Zalazane's Fall" announcement, allude to Vol'jin having had a hand in these years-long string of failures. Furthermore, he did this - taking the Echo Isles back from a single Witch Doctor - whilst requiring aid from the entirety of the Horde and relying on divine intervention. The same sort of "miracle" that was needed to defeat the Lich King. Are we seriously going to pretend that this isn't pathetic?
4) You mean the one where he was aided by High Elves, Blood Elves and Goblins? I'm sure it's a Herculean task to fight against two city-states that had come under siege and fallen less than a decade prior. Especially when you're fortunate enough to have attended their initial meeting, and thus, have some idea of their plans.
5) How in the fuck is almost getting killed a noteworthy accomplishment?
6) He lead the charge against the Zandalari and Mogu? I think you're conflating the entirety of those conflicts with the very narrow snippet that Vol'jin participated in. Did Vol'jin sack the Throne of Thunder? Push the Zandalari out of the Isle of Thunder for good, etc.? No, we can credit the Shado-Pan, Blood Elves and Jaina's forces with that.
7) Yes, a rebellion that would have failed without Alliance aid. A rebellion that really didn't form so much because of his own diplomatic prowess, but because of every other race's dislike for Garrosh's style of leadership. The dialogue between Vol'jin and Baine in 5.3 even suggests this, by mentioning the fact that neither Lor'themar nor Sylvanas require much of an excuse to take up arms against Garrosh.
8) Yes, being made Warchief for having ideological similarities with a previous Warchief is totally supposed to redeem this character.
9) Being a background character is supposed to be impressive when you're Warchief?
10) How in the fuck is actually getting killed an accomplishment?

It was pretty underwhelming for a major character and leader of a faction to die in such a way, with no other developed character of his race to point to as his successor as leader to the Trolls.

It fit with his massive incompetence. It's a good thing for the Horde, thematically, that he's gone. Trolls aren't the only race to suffer from their leader being built up at expense of all else. And after the boat that the Orcs were in for a bit, I have no sympathy.

A powerful Witch Doctor who had managed to turn much of the Darkspear into Mind-Slaves, which Master Gadrin and the player characters had failed at killing for years. And had crafted defensive magic that could not by-passed by anything but a Loa. Prior to this the Darkspear had given up a lot of their darker rituals in order to better incorporate themselves with the rest of the Horde. They had fallen out of favor with the Loa due to this, but during the events of Reclaiming Echo Isles they found need to return to their roots and did so, regaining their connection with Bwonsamdi and gaining access to what was needed to finally dismantle Zalazane's grip on the Echo Isles.

Zalazane was powerful, but not Be-able-to-sit-unharmed-at-the-doorstep-of-a-hegemonic-geopolitical-power-and-require-the-same-thing-that-killed-the-Lich-King-to-kill-me-powerful. You're again, trying to deflect Vol'jin's awful record onto Gadrin, nobody's buying it. Zalazane's barrier wasn't "unpassable by anything but the Loa," it couldn't be passed by the living. Perhaps Vol'jin should have utilized those Forsaken he begged for help?

Garrosh had already proven himself an incompetent Modern-Warchief who had little care for the non-Orc races of the Horde. He had no diplomacy and was an overrated battle-commander due to being too short-sighted, pushing the Horde too hard for too long and causing it greater harm. He owes pretty much all his success to Saurfang to keeping him in line during the campaign in Northrend as well as to the fact he has a famous daddy.

Yeah, no, sorry. I get that Garrosh hurt your feelings, but you're actually, objectively, wrong. The intro of The Shattering, has Cairne, a staunch critic of Garrosh's, praise his military accomplishments a number of times.

With regard to Saurfang, the Orc who supposedly carried Garrosh through the Northrend Campaign, no. In the "Letter From Saurfang," we see Varok's concern over Garrosh. Garrosh's tactics and strategies had led to great success in Northrend; however, Saurfang is worried that those victories are giving Garrosh justification for his "savage tactics" and "methods." He's clearly uncomfortable by the fact that Garrosh is having success with tactics he disagrees with.

The implication is, Garrosh is having success without getting Varok's stamp of approval.

Please, next time, take the time to actually read the lore, rather than skim over a few lines of in-game dialogue.

As for treason.. Well, treason only for those who rebel and fail.

Nope, that's cutesy, relativist bullshit and you know it. He threatened treason before starting a rebellion in Cataclysm. He actually became a traitor in MoP. You disliking the guy he was rebelling against doesn't mean he's not the definition of a traitor.

[Aucald]

I think you're being a bit less than charitable to Vol'jin, as from your signature I would assume you have a deep dislike of the character. I agree that within the story he was often a background character and mismanaged when he did take the occasional limelight - but the entirety of his career within the game isn't a complete wash.

1) You mean turning Rexxar, Rokhan and Chen into Wyverns? Because that was his accomplishment. He wasn't at the Battle of Mt. Hyjal, nor did he participate in the first siege of Theramore. He didn't even give Rokhan the orders to accompany Chen, that was Thrall.

His Darkspear troops were still part and parcel of the Horde at that point - Headhunters, Berserkers, and Witch Doctors all serving vital functions. He didn't get the option to be a Hero NPC like Thrall, Cairne, or Rexxar unfortunately. But then neither did such luminaries as Saurfang, Reghar, or Lor'themar.

2) And aside from spending years to reclaim a handful of islands, what did he do there exactly? Direct siege weaponry outside of Undercity? So impressive.

He was part of the Warchief's inner council, well-respected and valued. Direct appearances aren't always necessary to underscore value - though admittedly they certainly help speed things along on that score. As with all of Thrall's council the successes of the Horde also belong, in part, to Vol'jin.

3) Stop trying to deflect Vol'jin's failures onto Gadrin. Both Garrosh's dialogue in the Cataclysm pre-expansion event, and the "Zalazane's Fall" announcement, allude to Vol'jin having had a hand in these years-long string of failures. Furthermore, he did this - taking the Echo Isles back from a single Witch Doctor - whilst requiring aid from the entirety of the Horde and relying on divine intervention. The same sort of "miracle" that was needed to defeat the Lich King. Are we seriously going to pretend that this isn't pathetic?

The threat of Zalazane was serious enough that a coalition force was needed - outside of quibbling about the direction of the story (it was admittedly an odd turn I thought, as well) I don't think it's fair to turn it around and make it a blanket criticism. Vol'jin's relative power or prestige isn't really material to what went down, and Warcraft is full of villains who have achieved the power to go from nobody to nightmare as the plot demands of them. The static nature of quests in-game and the idea of "levels" are largely a contrivance made from separation of gameplay and story. It wasn't X years of "failure" because that part of the story didn't advance, it was frozen in place until it was revisited later on.

4) You mean the one where he was aided by High Elves, Blood Elves and Goblins? I'm sure it's a Herculean task to fight against two city-states that had come under siege and fallen less than a decade prior. Especially when you're fortunate enough to have attended their initial meeting, and thus, have some idea of their plans.

I don't really see how that is a net negative, or how it changes the scenario overly. Warcraft in general has always been a game of armies facing armies, or at least groups vs. other groups. As the head of the operation to head off the Zandalari threat Vol'jin is still the leading NPC deserving the credit (with assists going out to Vereesa and Halduron for their support in Zul'Aman).

5) How in the fuck is almost getting killed a noteworthy accomplishment?

Less "getting killed" and more surviving a deadly assassination attempt, overcoming mortal wounds, and going on to lead an insurrection against the tyrant that ordered it.

6) He lead the charge against the Zandalari and Mogu? I think you're conflating the entirety of those conflicts with the very narrow snippet that Vol'jin participated in. Did Vol'jin sack the Throne of Thunder? Push the Zandalari out of the Isle of Thunder for good, etc.? No, we can credit the Shado-Pan, Blood Elves and Jaina's forces with that.

He led the defense that saved an unprepared and badly-exposed Zouchin village from a Zandalari sack. He went on to infiltrate the Zandalari war-machine in Pandaria, gaining critical intelligence about both their and the Mogu's battle plans that led into the Isle of Thunder campaign. He extracted himself from their fortified compound and left a trail of the dead and dying in his wake. I actually wish a lot of the "Shadows of the Horde" action set-pieces had in-game counterparts, even if they were only in cinematic form. It would do a lot of restore some of the prestige Vol'jin is missing.

7) Yes, a rebellion that would have failed without Alliance aid. A rebellion that really didn't form so much because of his own diplomatic prowess, but because of every other race's dislike for Garrosh's style of leadership. The dialogue between Vol'jin and Baine in 5.3 even suggests this, by mentioning the fact that neither Lor'themar nor Sylvanas require much of an excuse to take up arms against Garrosh.

Again, gaining material support is not tantamount to failure - it is not as if Vol'jin and his small Siame-Quashi elite could carry on the insurrection themselves. Vol'jin spearheaded the rebellion by gathering to himself all those Horde leaders who had a beef with Garrosh's racism and tyranny, and extended a tenuous olive branch to the Alliance who had as much to gain from Garrosh's downfall as he and his Horde allies did. All in all it was quite a coup, and Thrall himself recognized that Vol'jin embodied the essence of what it meant to be of the Horde.

8) Yes, being made Warchief for having ideological similarities with a previous Warchief is totally supposed to redeem this character.

As per the above Thrall recognized that Vol'jin clearly embodied the essence of the Horde (disparate peoples who come together by circumstance to forge a greater force dedicated to their mutual defense and respecting their different cultures). Thrall no longer felt fit to lead, rightly seeing that it was by his hand that the insurrection Vol'jin led was ultimately required. Garrosh's vision of the Horde was solely his own - built on conquest and violent expansion. It wasn't even an Orcish vision at the end of it, though it may have started as such - hubris and humiliation drove Garrosh into a dark place where he was ultimately alone with mad dreams of domination.

9) Being a background character is supposed to be impressive when you're Warchief?

Eh, it is what it is. I don't blame Vol'jin the character for that as much as I would the devs for letting it persist. There were plenty of times Vol'jin could've been shown visually doing heroics, killing things, and all those things that made other Horde leaders great characters. For whatever reason it just never happened for him - even in WoD, the only expansion where he fully served a tenure as Warchief, he didn't do anything but narrate a Garrison cutscene. It just doesn't feel like his fault to me at the end of the day, but YMMV as the saying goes.

[Zulkhan]

Wasn't that implosion?

You insinuated an awful doubt in my mind now.

[Kufell]

Yes, the "modern" Horde. Who actually wants to be a member of the league of multicultural pacifists?

I know you don't, but you seem to be one of very few who care so much.

1) You mean turning Rexxar, Rokhan and Chen into Wyverns? Because that was his accomplishment. He wasn't at the Battle of Mt. Hyjal, nor did he participate in the first siege of Theramore. He didn't even give Rokhan the orders to accompany Chen, that was Thrall.
2) And aside from spending years to reclaim a handful of islands, what did he do there exactly? Direct siege weaponry outside of Undercity? So impressive.

You seem to conflate "He wasn't present in X" with "He was clearly doing nothing of importance.", however as there is no lore stating exactly what he was doing during the events of WC3 you listed I can't give examples, but I think to make it sound like he was doing absolutely nothing to be dishonest. From his time spent as strategic adviser to Thrall following the founding of Orgrimmar, I think it's pretty clear what he was doing despite it not being directly shown, and that would of been advising Thrall and helping keep the inner-workings of the Horde going.

3) Stop trying to deflect Vol'jin's failures onto Gadrin. Both Garrosh's dialogue in the Cataclysm pre-expansion event, and the "Zalazane's Fall" announcement, allude to Vol'jin having had a hand in these years-long string of failures. Furthermore, he did this - taking the Echo Isles back from a single Witch Doctor - whilst requiring aid from the entirety of the Horde and relying on divine intervention. The same sort of "miracle" that was needed to defeat the Lich King. Are we seriously going to pretend that this isn't pathetic?

I don't recall Garrosh bringing up Vol'jin having a hand in the failed attempts at reclaiming the Echo Isles, and looking at what text I can find for the Zalazane's Fall event it makes no mention that Vol'Jin had any direct hand in these prior attempts either. Closest to it being "Despite these setbacks and his preoccupation with advising Thrall on Horde-related matters, Vol'jin has spent considerable time formulating a strategy to recapture the Echo Isles. Now he believes that the time to strike at Zalazane has come" but that doesn't verify the point you're making.

4) You mean the one where he was aided by High Elves, Blood Elves and Goblins? I'm sure it's a Herculean task to fight against two city-states that had come under siege and fallen less than a decade prior. Especially when you're fortunate enough to have attended their initial meeting, and thus, have some idea of their plans.

I didn't include Zul'Aman in my example as Vol'jin wasn't there, he was in Stranglethorn. However yes, the Goblins did aid in Zul'Gurub. And yes, we did also attack Zul'Gurub earlier, with the aid of the Zandalari. At this point however we were fighting what remained of the Gurubashi as well as the Zandalari helping them.

5) How in the fuck is almost getting killed a noteworthy accomplishment?

I didn't use the word accomplishment for this list.

6) He lead the charge against the Zandalari and Mogu? I think you're conflating the entirety of those conflicts with the very narrow snippet that Vol'jin participated in. Did Vol'jin sack the Throne of Thunder? Push the Zandalari out of the Isle of Thunder for good, etc.? No, we can credit the Shado-Pan, Blood Elves and Jaina's forces with that.

I should of been more specific, but I was in a rush, so I apologize for that. He lead the charge against the Zandalari and Mogu during their assault on the Shado-Pan monastery during the events of 'Shadows of the Horde', where they were out-numbered and still managed to defeat them.

7) Yes, a rebellion that would have failed without Alliance aid. A rebellion that really didn't form so much because of his own diplomatic prowess, but because of every other race's dislike for Garrosh's style of leadership. The dialogue between Vol'jin and Baine in 5.3 even suggests this, by mentioning the fact that neither Lor'themar nor Sylvanas require much of an excuse to take up arms against Garrosh.

May of indeed failed without the Alliance, and indeed some faction leaders required little encouragement to come help, but Vol'jin still spearheaded the campaign.

8) Yes, being made Warchief for having ideological similarities with a previous Warchief is totally supposed to redeem this character.

Ideologies, and his years spent serving the Horde as Thrall's direct Strategic Advisor.

9) Being a background character is supposed to be impressive when you're Warchief?
10) How in the fuck is actually getting killed an accomplishment?

Again putting words in my mouth. I was stating notable things Vol'jin did, not necessarily impressive feats or accomplishments, just a summary.

You're again, trying to deflect Vol'jin's awful record onto Gadrin, nobody's buying it. Zalazane's barrier wasn't "unpassable by anything but the Loa," it couldn't be passed by the living. Perhaps Vol'jin should have utilized those Forsaken he begged for help?

I have to concede on my wrong description of the barrier as I didn't fact check due to being in a rush. However; Zalazane is still a powerful which doctor, not some random rogue witch doctor as you seem to like to make out. Whilst it is possible that the Forsaken could of penetrated the shield also, there's no way to tell those Forsaken would of been capable of taking him down through the barrier on their own and at the very least wouldn't of been as effective as rekindling their connection with Bwonsamdi

Yeah, no, sorry. I get that Garrosh hurt your feelings, but you're actually, objectively, wrong. The intro of The Shattering, has Cairne, a staunch critic of Garrosh's, praise his military accomplishments a number of times.

Cute. But I actually did like Garrosh, you realise it is possible to like a character and believe they are bad at something? But in regards to Cairne, is he praising what he witnessed or what he heard? Genuine question as I don't actually recall, it's been a while since I read that book. Either way it was an accomplishment for Garrosh, despite his poor tactics he did still win.

With regard to Saurfang, the Orc who supposedly carried Garrosh through the Northrend Campaign, no. In the "Letter From Saurfang," we see Varok's concern over Garrosh. Garrosh's tactics and strategies had led to great success in Northrend; however, Saurfang is worried that those victories are giving Garrosh justification for his "savage tactics" and "methods." He's clearly uncomfortable by the fact that Garrosh is having success with tactics he disagrees with.

The implication is, Garrosh is having success without getting Varok's stamp of approval.

Please, next time, take the time to actually read the lore, rather than skim over a few lines of in-game dialogue.

Again I will concede as I seem to have misremembered some text from Warcrimes. However I believe your own quote does touch upon one of my points in that "Saurfang is worried that those victories are giving Garrosh justification for his savage tactics and methods.", Garrosh was a poor tactician when it came to combat, relying mostly on brute strength, despite the fact the Horde was beginning to crumble around him due to these tactics, which were also beginning to be not quite as successful as they were in Northrend.

Nope, that's cutesy, relativist bullshit and you know it. He threatened treason before starting a rebellion in Cataclysm. He actually became a traitor in MoP.

After Garrosh had started showing his true colours.

You disliking the guy he was rebelling against doesn't mean he's not the definition of a traitor.

Again, sorry, but I like Garrosh. Just don't think he was a good Warchief to the modern-Horde, nor a good leader in battle. I also believe Sylvanas to be a poor warchief, but that also doesn't mean I dislike her.

[Zulkhan]

I didn't include Zul'Aman in my example as Vol'jin wasn't there

On the contrary, he was the only one inside. Halduron and Vereesa were nowhere to be seen within the instance.