What about the people who never did that? My random warlock alt never helped defeat the Lich King, Illidan, or Deathwing, so why is he being hailed as some amazing hero? What about a guy who who leveled his character strictly through PvP -- what did he do to deserve such renown that is capable of garnering praise from heroes like Thrall or Khadgar?
One of the major appeals of MMORPGs is that you can be anybody you want to be (to a limited extent). But this new mindset that Blizzard has alienates certain players, suggesting that they aren't as great as they should be or that they aren't playing their character the right way.
For example: I remember a dialogue back in Wrath, where two NPCs are talking about rumours that even some Hands of A'dal and a Scarab Lord are participating in the Northrend campaign (paraphrasing here). To those that have those titles, it's a nice little mention and might elicit a response of "hey, that's me!". To those that don't have those titles, it might be something different like "hey, that's my guildmate!" or "hey, that's the guy I saw in Stormwind!". Whatever the case, it makes the world feel alive. Like you are one of the many heroes all standing together to defeat the Lich King.
On the other hand, if Blizzard redid Wrath using the mindset they seem to have for WoD, Bolvar would probably have some voiced dialogue about how amazing you are and that they're glad to have the Hero of Outland here, even if the only thing you did in Outland was grind Talbuks for 2 years. It just isn't necessary, and is forcing a role upon many people.
is this the first time we went to battle with them? well okay, khadgar got involved just nowadays, but we were helping thrall throughout cata, we repelled the other faction at vashjir/krasarang, both of which would be good enough reason for our rise in the military and plenty of other stuff, like theramore etc... even if you didnt raid, we did plenty of stuff and somewhere along the way we went from freelancers to actually high ranked military leader, I have zero issues with it
Wait seriously are people bitching about NPCs calling them Commander? people will seriously bitch about anything it's sad.
Really glad Blizzard stopped listening to players like that.
No. Before now, there was little saying that every single player character was one of these lore "adventurers" who assisted with all those things. If you helped defeat Garrosh or helped defeat the Lich King -- sure, that would put you in the category. But that doesn't mean every single person who has played the game and has leveled to max level (through pet battles, gathering professions, or questing...) is technically one of the adventurers who assisted in defeating the Lich King/Garrosh/etc.
Being part of the greatest fighting force Azeroth has ever known could mean a multitude of things, and doesn't necessarily force a role upon you. Obviously you must be strong if you made it to the Lich King.Actually in WotLK you were treated rather heroically as well. Lore-wise you were one of the greatest heroes your faction could muster to send to the Argent Tournament and - as Arthas comments - you and your companions are the "greatest fighting force this world has ever known".
Are we really going to pretend that before WoD you were just seen as faceless nobodies by all the NPCs?
The difference between WoD and other examples is the context. Yes, you get called one of the greatest heroes your faction could muster during Wrath because if you're in ICC, theoretically you must have fought your way through the Argent Tournament and the other challenges Northrend had to offer. Maybe in reality you are being carried by your guild and never did any of that, but a margin of error like that is small and acceptable enough that it is okay.
For a similar example: Wrathion calls us amazing heroes or whatever, but that's because we are breaking into places like the legendary Mogu'Shan vaults or the Throne of Thunder. It's acceptable, and expected, given the context.
With WoD, though, it's different. Khadgar calls us amazing heroes who saved Azeroth many times because... we showed up. Thrall calls us trusted allies... because we showed up. That's it. It's like we are supposed to fill in the blanks and assume that our characters saved a princess when we weren't looking, or got drunk with Thrall one night. There is no real context to it at all.
Commander > Heroes
The story progresses as if your character has done it all (if not all, then certainly most). It doesn't care that your character hasn't stood against the Lich King or that you never even seen Illidan, the story will treat you as a veteran across many fields of battle stretching over each expansion all the way back to Vanilla. Even if you personally levelled to 100 without even killing a single living being.
There are certainly not thousands of nameless adventures running around, I'd reckon a couple dozen at most, with your character being the only one leading the initial charge into Draenor. The Warlock green fire quest sheds light on this matter as well.
Don't like it? Too bad then.
I think it's pretty cool, but then I feel like if I'm a commander then everything should be listening to me...and they don't lol
The very same character that fought his/her way through ICC.. The very same character that Wrathion called a Hero.. is the VERY SAME CHARACTER that "just showed up" as you put it. Thats us. Thats how the story tells it.
Just because its a new expansion, doesnt mean that our past victories no longer happened. Always have been. Since our character first stepped up and fought C'thun, Illidan, LK, etc. We are heroes. Just because its a new expansion, doesnt mean we're suddenly nobodies that tripped into a portal on accident.
The character that you boosted prior to WoD, from a story stand point, is the same character that defeated Illidan and the LK and Deathwing.