New Warchief on September 10th

[Tyrannica]

Jaina used to be smart. She was able to see what the Horde truly was, made from races that couldn't survive because no one would let them.

She was actually one of the most interesting character before she went crazy. Now, she's just a Sylvanas clone, fueled by revenge.

I like Sylvanas. I don't like clones.

i think exactly the other way arround and she is not a clone, sylvanas is a hunter, jaina is a mage....quite a difference. ;>

Jaina was horribly annoying when she was still the 2 good shoes she used to be, still got headaches from it.

[Biomega]

Jumping from one extreme to the other with Jaina doesn't exactly help the character. She's very two-dimensional and terribly unexciting. Sylvanas by comparison has a lot of complexity, and remains quite inscrutable in her motives. No surprise, then, that Blizzard has refrained from giving her any time in the spotlight; she doesn't fit the mental capacity and world view of a 10-year old and is consequently unfit to play a defining role in the game.

[Celista]

Jumping from one extreme to the other with Jaina doesn't exactly help the character. She's very two-dimensional and terribly unexciting.

I agree with you, Sylvanas is one of my favorite characters in the game due to the fact that she has a lot of depth and well told character development. BUT, Jaina is a lot like many people in the real world, who views things in black and white. Viewing morality as falling within more of a gray area is not something that many individuals are capable of on a cognitive level...Jaina's character reflects this.

[Avar ize]

I already miss Garrosh

[Tyrannica]

Jumping from one extreme to the other with Jaina doesn't exactly help the character. She's very two-dimensional and terribly unexciting. Sylvanas by comparison has a lot of complexity, and remains quite inscrutable in her motives. No surprise, then, that Blizzard has refrained from giving her any time in the spotlight; she doesn't fit the mental capacity and world view of a 10-year old and is consequently unfit to play a defining role in the game.

yes from one sterotype to the other, thats blizzard. But still prefere her less annyoing, thats really all i care about wow. The story can't be helped due to the mmo mechanics and dictate. Blood Elves cannot rejoin the alliance, there can't be ever peace with the horde and alliance and so on. Though, technically it might be possible for the blood elves to rejoin the alliance just let former be players decide which race they want to play for free. But i guess blizzard is too scared to try this out.

[Yakshamash]

anyone else thinks the reason whhy Varian backed down was because he realized just him+jaina would get pwned by the five (or six?) horde leaders? srsly where are the other ally leaders?

Ask Blizzard Story department.

[Tyrannica]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEylX2LJ8c4

who wants that Jaina back? I guess almost no one remembers how she acted in wc3, frozen throne in the horde campaign, she even betrayed her own father to help the horde.

she finally got sanity, thats a good thing, why compare her with sylvanas? Just cause both are female and had a crash with Arthas?

I see it this way: the legacy of (wicked) arthas lives on in both of them.

[Biomega]

yes from one sterotype to the other, thats blizzard. But still prefere her less annyoing, thats really all i care about wow. The story can't be helped due to the mmo mechanics and dictate. Blood Elves cannot rejoin the alliance, there can't be ever peace with the horde and alliance and so on. Though, technically it might be possible for the blood elves to rejoin the alliance just let former be players decide which race they want to play for free. But i guess blizzard is too scared to try this out.

It wouldn't be hard to do, just split off an Alliance loyalist faction. Pandas already gave us a precedent for it. Go the other way, too, and send militaristic Draenei to the Horde, all in preparation for the Legion invasion next xpac...

Boundless possibilities, but Blizzard will obviously go with the softest route. Yay -_-

[Crashdummy]

We do know how he will lead. He helped Thrall found the Horde, he has the exact same ideologies as Thrall, plus he led the rebellion. Thrall does not want to be Warchief. He's found his calling as a shaman, and he's got Aggra and the baby to worry about.

I have no idea who told you the Horde wouldn't follow a non-Orc leader. Maybe the Orcs wouldn't follow a non-Orc leader, but there aren't nearly as many Orcs now as there were before the siege. Most of them sided with Garrosh and were killed, remember? So yes, they will gladly follow a non-Orc leader.

You wont know how someone handles power untill he gets it.

And Blizzard said people wouldnt follow a non-orc, in the novels they wrote and that are cannon.

[Deleted]

"I speak for the Horde"
That moment is too epic. Really. And Varian did the right thing.

[Grubjuice]

where in the skull of a troll do the roots of their tusks go?

[Laorenshu]

You wont know how someone handles power untill he gets it.

And Blizzard said people wouldnt follow a non-orc, in the novels they wrote and that are cannon.

Yes you do, because like I already said, Vol'jin is blue Thrall with tusks.

The ORCS (not the Horde) wouldn't follow a non-Orc leader. There aren't many Orcs left.

Vol'jin is the absolute most logical choice.

[Biomega]

Vol'jin is the absolute most logical choice.

He was an OBVIOUS choice. Obvious is not good for story telling. Obvious is boring. People won't talk about this moment as something epic, but as something OBVIOUS. Great move -_-

[Laorenshu]

He was an OBVIOUS choice. Obvious is not good for story telling. Obvious is boring. People won't talk about this moment as something epic, but as something OBVIOUS. Great move -_-

There were only three choices that would've made any sense at all, and all three would've been obvious.

But you're right, they probably should've just said Magatha for Warchief, just for the surprise factor.

[Grubjuice]

He was an OBVIOUS choice. Obvious is not good for story telling. Obvious is boring. People won't talk about this moment as something epic, but as something OBVIOUS. Great move -_-

illogical narrative is not good story telling either!

[Nehezbegar]

I will accept only Rexxar as a Warchief of The Horde

[Kufell]

where in the skull of a troll do the roots of their tusks go?

I think it's supposed to root to the upper jaw, but half the time Blizzard seem to show it as being connected to the lower jaw.

He was an OBVIOUS choice. Obvious is not good for story telling. Obvious is boring. People won't talk about this moment as something epic, but as something OBVIOUS. Great move -_-

I don't mind them going with the obvious choice, as it was obvious because it made the most sense, even before they built him up in the story of MoP, thus I disagree with Kosak's "Vol'jin not being obvious when they announced it would be a surprise". The Trolls were one of the first races to join Thralls Horde, and Vol'jin served as advisor to Thrall for many years. He's the most qualified and is a good friend to Thrall.

[Count Zero]

Well ... depending on what we see in the Horde cinematic, I near exactly predicted the ending of SoO nearly two months ago

[Biomega]

There were only three choices that would've made any sense at all, and all three would've been obvious.

illogical narrative is not good story telling either!

No other choice was obvious. Sense and logic are not always clear-cut in narration; in fact, doing something that's not obvious and seemingly illogical can set the theme for the following narrative quite effectively.

I'm not talking about something outlandish like Gamon or Magatha or something silly like that; but a vacuum of power at the top of the Horde should attract many a plan. Vol'jiin could have been chosen, for example - and decline. It would fit his character much better, I think, to refuse a position of power. From there you could have gone any number of different ways, from a continuation of civil war to a quick grab for power, anything really that keep the momentum going. We've been building up to this point for two patches and an entire expansion, the resolution should be EPIC, not obvious.

What if Sylvanas had stepped up, essentially spitting in Varian's face? The Alliance would be highly concerned, the rest of the Horde anxious but hoping to regain strength quickly. It would have been controversial to be sure, but it would have been unexpected and still "logical" - after all, Sylvanas has been in Garrosh's face since Cataclysm and quietly working her machinations. The Forsaken are now one of the, if not THE most formidable force within the Horde - not to mention the strongest faction, after the weakening of the Orcs and Orgrimmar itself.

How about Lor'themar? He's been vying for peace with the Alliance, and has a personal history with Jaina, who is rapidly becoming the main opponent of leniency towards the Horde from the side of the Alliance. After a weakening civil war, the Horde could do well with some time to consolidate, and Lor'themar could buy that time for them. In addition, he and his people are ancient and powerful, and with the Scourge defeated they can now look to the future and towards rebuilding their civilization. Maneuvering themselves into a more powerful position within the Horde would help them in that goal, and also build up a more sensible force to counteract the Forsaken faction. Not to mention that with a Legion-themed expansion on the Horizon and the (hopefully) accompanying overhaul of Silvermoon and the Blood Elves in general, there would be a lot of space to develop things further.

Those are the main two variants I could come up with after 5 minutes of thinking, I'm sure you could spin more of that with little effort, all of it more interesting than Vol'jin. I suppose that complexity is not well-suited for this game. We move from one platitude to the next, and hope things work out somehow because there's an epic hat in there somewhere. Not a problem endemic to WoW either, just a result of the general downward trend of dumbing down games and their narratives to a bland mush that hopefully doesn't upset anyone.

[Grocalis]

I still don't understand why people are upset about it being obvious. You don't just throw curve balls and have Gamon be Warchief. It's more interesting when you build up the character over time rather then just dump him in. That is one of the reasons Varian failed for so long until he finally earned some credibility over countless expansions and books.

The comment about it being "unexpected" was back when everyone and their dog felt it was Thrall, before Vol'jin got a lot of development, a new model, and his own novel even. At the time he WAS unexpected, because no one thought it could be anyone other then Thrall.