Doesn't It Seem like Magic Is a Bit OP in Wow Lore?

[Arrashi]

Some magical schools have some drawbacks, though not all.

Its never really ever mentioned in the game, outside of books or as some side stories.

Hell look at garrosh, he used heart of old god and bam - 0 consequences. Literally no drawbacks. It didn't even gave him diabetes.

[Combatbutler]

Its never really ever mentioned in the game, outside of books or as some side stories.

Hell look at garrosh, he used heart of old god and bam - 0 consequences. Literally no drawbacks. It didn't even gave him diabetes.

Take arcane for example there are longterm consequences if you use it for a long period of time, you become addicted to it.
Fel magic corrupts everything around it and causes mutation until the caster turns into a demon at some point.
Some zandalari magic requires sacrifice
Druism drains life from nature, possibly killing all life in the perimeter.
Elements can deny shamans
etc.

The only school that comes to mind which is extremely easy accessible and has no real drawbacks is the light, shocking I know.

[Kikiyodragon]

Basically that. In warcraft all magic seems to follow "It just works" scheme, doing what is needed when its needed. In vast majority of uniwerses magic is limited by:
- Magic being violatile and dangerous, posing threat to user and surrounding.
That blood elf that was trying to destroy the mine in Talador would have probably killed herself in the process.* I'm sure there are other instances of magic posing a threat to its user in Warcraft, other than corrupting them.
- People gifted enough to even practice magic are incredibly rare. A good example is conan or witcher uniwerses.
I like to think of this as attending a community college versus attending something big like Harvard. Lots of people can do the prior, but few can do the latter. That all said, this is a high magic series rather than a low magic series.
- People who are gifted enough to practice magic are usually massive pricks.
"People who have lots of money are usually massive pricks." It can be applied to a lot of things.
- Risk of mutation.
The nagas were mutated as a result of magic, ultimately. Blood elves can also mutate from using it too much, see wretched. Fel magic corrupts everything.
- Risk of exploding.
I'll give you this one, but I will say that "risk of exploding" is more of a goblin/gnome technology thing in Warcraft, rather than a magic thing.
- Mages not being trusted and marginalised or even hunted.
Mages aren't really hunted or untrusted in Warcraft, but warlocks, another magic using group, are.
- Deals with the devil.
See the eredar split, i.e. Archimonde and Kil'jaeden literally make a deal with Sargeras. Groups have also made deals with Archimonde and Kil'jaeden, and others too. See Socrethar's story.
- Magic taking a long and tedious rituals that are easy to interrup and require alot of preparation.
Play through The Black Morass, a dungeon all about helping Medivh open the Dark Portal. Also, play through the Tanaan intro quests again. The part where Khadgar blows up the dam? "You guys go make a diversion while I carry out this plan." There's also a few random little quests throughout the world that resemble this. "Defend me while I do the thing."

And many, many more.

I do agree that magic is very powerful in the Warcraft series, despite my countering most of your points.

*I have to leave for some IRL stuff, else I would have put more thought into the first point. This is the only thing that came to mind quickly.

[Arrashi]

I do agree that magic is very powerful in the Warcraft series, despite my countering most of your points.

*I have to leave for some IRL stuff, else I would have put more thought into the first point. This is the only thing that came to mind quickly.

Long casting spells should take days, not few moments so you need to draw attention.
Also, nagas and eredar aren't volatile mutations i was talking about. Try berserk and warhammer for actual examples.
Something like these guys:


And that elf killed herself not because magic is dangerous, but because she was utterly incompetent moron. Chances are she would kill herself making those baskets her master was talking about.

Oh and by mages being pricks i mean "lets add this to city's water supply and watch results" kind of dicks.

[Zulkhan]

Hell look at garrosh, he used heart of old god and bam - 0 consequences. Literally no drawbacks. It didn't even gave him diabetes.

Not really, Garrosh was visibly losing his mind the more juice he kept sucking.

Just compare his initial quotes with the last ones: your typical Nazi-Orc at the beginning, at the end he was crazy like your worst Twilight Hammer's nutcase.

[Arrashi]

Not really, Garrosh was visibly losing his mind the more juice he kept sucking.

Just compare his initial quotes with the last ones: your typical Nazi-Orc at the beginning, at the end he was crazy like your worst Twilight Hammer's nutcase.

Not really, he was as pretensional as ever. I could argue that you are right because in war crimes he turned into Bane (it was extremely painful) and tried to crash this trial with no survivors. Him talking about rivers of blood and mountains of skulls was a pathetic attempt to make himself comparable to warhammer Khornate champions (you know, actually badass guys) but it failed. And in WoD he is more than fine.

[Lodreh]

So... it feels like the world's best warrior would just die like a punk to the most novice of magic-users.

Yeah... that's what happens when you go against a freaking Mage man! You literally have the ability to warp reality to suit your whims... yeah he's going to beat the muscle guy with a hunk of steel every time. It's the fundamental flaw with accepting Magic. Once you break the laws of the universe then everything short of that will fail.

[slime]

not as OP as those goblin nick-nacks.

[Deleted]

Magic is pretty powerful but most of the Spellcasters and Magic-Users need Prep-Time for the really powerful ones to complete. But yeah, if you actually "read" the Spells Warlocks (for example) have - its pretty clear they are pretty powerful. But every school has its drawbacks the sooner or later. The Holy Light for example just works if you are utterly devoted to the cause you believe in - well, or if you can draw out the "Holy" out of Naaru ofc, Warlocks/Forsaken Priest Chaos and Shadow Magic corrupts you utterly after a while (even though Forsaken Priests can become almost like Archons in terms of power, everyone else would just die).
and so on

[Aquamonkey]

The only school that comes to mind which is extremely easy accessible and has no real drawbacks is the light, shocking I know.

Unless you're undead.

[Combatbutler]

Unless you're undead.

Okay lets say it has no real drawbacks for the living.

[Arrashi]

Okay lets say it has no real drawbacks for the living.

How about being turned into holier-than-thou mary sue ? That is a big drawback for the living.

[Zulkhan]

Not really, he was as pretensional as ever

His quotes literally change from the amount of power he sucks.

When he uses the non-empowered version of the Bladestorm-like thing: "The power...flows through me!"

The empowered one: "I'll crush your world, and everything on it!"

let me think, last time I heard something pretty much identical? Yeah, Deathwing. And let's not forget "I'll destroy everything you had ever loved!" in Heroic-phase or his growing obsession in Azeroth being his world, when he started the fight saying he was conquering Azeroth for the "True Horde".

Him talking about rivers of blood and mountains of skulls was Blizzard pathetic attempt to make himself comparable to warhammer Khornate champions (you know, actually badass guys) but it failed.

Well, Blizzard always tries. "Their" orcs wouldn't even exist if they didn't take them directly from Warhammer.

"Meat for the meat god!" says a random guy in the Barn. Yeah, they always try.

And in WoD he is more than fine.

It seems the destruction of the Heart left no consequences indeed. If he remained a blu-ish purple blob, however, hardly he was going to be much "fine".

[Deathgoose]

So...Garrosh fights Thrall and I don't think it's a spoiler at this point to say Thrall ends up summoning a big stone hand to grab Garrosh and then shocks him to death with lightning...basically using his shaman powers to win. In a straight up physical contest...to me...it seemed like Garrosh was winning.

I don't know why this part keeps getting brought up again and again. Garrosh is a Warrior. Thrall is a Shaman. Of course he was winning in a pure, straight up physical contest, because that is what Warriors excel at: Pure, straight up physical shit.

You don't see a Warrior dualing an Enhancement Shaman and say: "Oh yeah, but you can't use Shocks/Heals/anything that doesn't have the word "Strike" at the end of it, because then it would be magic and that wouldn't be fair". Not unless he wanted to get laughed at.

Beyond that, it isn't like Thrall was just some random Shaman that just learned how to summon his first totem. We can roll our eyes all we want at how over-played it is, but he's the 'World Shaman', and unlike SoO, his connection to the elements wasn't suppressed.

Garrosh stood little chance unless Thrall chose to handicap himself by not using his full potential.

[Combatbutler]

How about being turned into holier-than-thou mary sue ? That is a big drawback for the living.

Well the scarlets seemed to manage.

[Karrosene]

Well the events in the current lore are really accentuating its power. I never really thought about it or noticed it much until now.

And I wouldn't say it's always been this powerful. Back to the Garrosh fight, Thrall used his shamanistic powers in his first fight with Garrosh all the way back in WotLK, to no real avail. They only allowed him to go even with Garrosh. You might say "well that was before Thrall became the World Shaman!" but Garrosh's skills as a warrior should have increased in that time as well. Yet this time when Thrall pulls out the shaman magic Garrosh is immediately destroyed by it. That, to me, shows magic is getting more OP.

Well ya but magic is always more powerful than sword and axe. The thing its is it takes 3 months or so to train with steel to fight ata basic level. It takes years for mages.

[Arpin]

Yes, magic is strong. But magic is NOT automatically stronger than physical power. It's all about the individuals. A warrior will kill a mage, if the warrior is better. If the mage is better, the the mage wins. It's all about the individuals.

Oh yeah, and Sargeras is a warrior.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, a good rogue always wins against someone without heavy armor. Because surprise.

[Combatbutler]

Yes, magic is strong. But magic is NOT automatically stronger than physical power. It's all about the individuals. A warrior will kill a mage, if the warrior is better. If the mage is better, the the mage wins. It's all about the individuals.

Magic grants far more power than a sword though, your average caster will be better than your average swordsman and at the top you only have those left, who wield some kind of power, be it Thrall, Malfurion, Tyrande, Jaina, Arthas, Illidan etc. these are the ones who tend to shape the world, those without it like Garrosh may do so as well but hardly themselves, but rather the armies under their command.

Anduin Lothar said something very interesting

"An ostler has a mood and he kicks the dog. A mage has his moods and a town disappears."

Oh yeah, and Sargeras is a warrior.

Sargeras is hardly a warrior, he uses a sword, that doesn't make him any more a warrior than Anasterian or Arthas. Sargeras is the most powerful warlock in existence, he is the one who granted Kil'jeaden and Archimonde power and taught them about fel magic.

[Deleted]

It's magic. It's meant to be incomprehensibly powerful. In fact, mages and warlocks in-game should be as powerful.

Don't all heroes/classes use magic in lore? Even if it is enchanted weapons to counter real time magic.

[G3istly]

Don't all heroes/classes use magic in lore? Even if it is enchanted weapons to counter real time magic.

Yes, I'm sure warriors and rogues run around flinging spells all day.