YEY Let's raid another HORDE capital (spoilers).

[Deleted]

Zul did not turn Dazar'alor into a mess despite attacking it in full force and with a giant abomination, and you expect the Alliance to somehow surpass the destruction brought by the mad prophet? Please. Maybe if they bring Lady Alleria Windrunner and her explosive void powers along with them, but I doubt that. Alleria has ulterior motives, and she is focused solely on Silvermoon, not Dazar'alor.

Besides, you will confront Jaina Proudmoore, one of Warcraft's most iconic, popular, multi-layered and developed characters, while we, the Alliance players, will confront Rasta-whatever, whom nobody even cared about before this expansion. I would much rather confront Nathanos or Rexxar instead of Rasta-whatever.

Do you have anything new to say? You've said this 10 times already. And I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked 10 times. Why do you think it's better to wound someone thats like 30 year old disney princess then to kill a king that's been ruling over hundereds of years and is the leader of the mightiest empire? You're the most biased person on this forum tbh. Also it's Rastakhan (I know you made a bad joke but I had to)

[Aucald]

1. Lol who gives a fuck? Oh noes, he didn't send his entire army to help a foregin power, the bastard!

Hakkar being summoned to Zandalar was what first sparked the blood plague that led to the death of the majority of the populace of Zandalar. Hakkar's second summoning, about 1,500 years before the opening the Dark Portal and First War, was only halted by a joint-effort between the Gurubashi and Zandalari against Hakkar and his Atal'ai priests. Needless to say - any attempt to bring him forth is bad news for the Zandalari.

2. Zul'Drak was a lost cause, what the fuck did you want him to do? Send Zandalari to die to the Scourge?

Perhaps a token force to actually attempt to halt the destruction and desecration of the Loa there, the highest of crimes for the Zandalari? Anything more than just watching the indiscriminate slaughter of their gods would've been nice, really.

3. He didn't do this. Zul did it on his own.

Zul invoked the name of Rastakhan to do so, which (assuming Rastakhan didn't give him the authority to do) Rastakhan did absolutely nothing about when Zul returned to Zandalar in failure.

4. Entirely Zul yet again.

He went with Rastakhan's blessing, and then proceeded to screw it up and explicitly defy Rastakhan's orders, and was (again) completely unpunished for it. Zul's failures and losses don't help Rastakhan's case in the slightest.

5. You mean... a c-c-complacent king with a-a-a... character arc? Le gasp! Not a perfect all-knowing Mary Sue like his daughter? A character that realized his mistakes and tried to fix them? Shit character, tbh.

A "character arc" implies change, growth, or development. From our standpoint, Rastakhan began in indolent laziness and now he is likely to die in the same fashion. If you consider failure and ineptitude a metric for a "good" character then yes, I suppose Rastakhan is going well - that's not really a position I share in, though. Rastakhan has done nothing to fix his failings, he simply acknowledged them (far too late), which led to his near-death and the death of his own patron Loa, which required a bargain with Bwonsamdi that he roped his own daughter into unknowingly to try to make up for his failings. Again, not saying Talanji is a great character either, but so far she's doing much better than Rastakhan for the entirety of his known career.

[Mixxy]

Do you have anything new to say? You've said this 10 times already. And I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked 10 times. Why do you think it's better to wound someone thats like 30 year old disney princess then to kill a king that's been ruling over hundereds of years and is the leader of the mightiest empire? You're the most biased person on this forum tbh. Also it's Rastakhan (I know you made a bad joke but I had to)

Because the fight against Jaina is a fight against an iconic, demigod-level character that has been with the franchise for almost two decades. A character that many players have known for most of their life, and grew up with. And it's a fight that's been getting built up for several expansions now.

While the fight against Rasta-whatever is an encounter with a Literal Who that many players had never even heard of until just a few months ago. A character who's had very little impact on the story of either faction until a month ago. And a character who has canonically failed at more or less everything he's ever set out to do.
A character who's defining accomplishments consist of "Did nothing," "Got his patron Loa killed," "Doomed his bloodline to be eternally bound to Bwonsamdi," and "Failed to stop the most obviously-traitorous adviser since Jafar."

He couldn't even kill Zul permanently. And that's when he's literally surging with the power of death.

[Terongor]

Zul did not turn Dazar'alor into a mess despite attacking it in full force and with a giant abomination, and you expect the Alliance to somehow surpass the destruction brought by the mad prophet? Please. Maybe if they bring Lady Alleria Windrunner and her explosive void powers along with them, but I doubt that. Alleria has ulterior motives, and she is focused solely on Silvermoon, not Dazar'alor.

Besides, you will confront Jaina Proudmoore, one of Warcraft's most iconic, popular, multi-layered and developed characters, while we, the Alliance players, will confront Rasta-whatever, whom nobody even cared about before this expansion. I would much rather confront Nathanos or Rexxar instead of Rasta-whatever.

Rastakhan has being talked and refered to since vanilla. With heavy reference in cata and mop. While alleria was who cared until the end part of the legion.

All in all big part of troll fanbase wanted to see rastakhan since vanilla while nobody cared about the rest of proudmoore family except Jaina.

Well would only be fair that for rastakhans death alleria dies.

[Dravec]

Hakkar being summoned to Zandalar was what first sparked the blood plague that led to the death of the majority of the populace of Zandalar. Hakkar's second summoning, about 1,500 years before the opening the Dark Portal and First War, was only halted by a joint-effort between the Gurubashi and Zandalari against Hakkar and his Atal'ai priests. Needless to say - any attempt to bring him forth is bad news for the Zandalari.



Perhaps a token force to actually attempt to halt the destruction and desecration of the Loa there, the highest of crimes for the Zandalari? Anything more than just watching the indiscriminate slaughter of their gods would've been nice, really.



Zul invoked the name of Rastakhan to do so, which (assuming Rastakhan didn't give him the authority to do) Rastakhan did absolutely nothing about when Zul returned to Zandalar in failure.



He went with Rastakhan's blessing, and then proceeded to screw it up and explicitly defy Rastakhan's orders, and was (again) completely unpunished for it. Zul's failures and losses don't help Rastakhan's case in the slightest.



A "character arc" implies change, growth, or development. From our standpoint, Rastakhan began in indolent laziness and now he is likely to die in the same fashion. If you consider failure and ineptitude a metric for a "good" character then yes, I suppose Rastakhan is going well - that's not really a position I share in, though. Rastakhan has done nothing to fix his failings, he simply acknowledged them (far too late), which led to his near-death and the death of his own patron Loa, which required a bargain with Bwonsamdi that he roped his own daughter into unknowingly to try to make up for his failings. Again, not saying Talanji is a great character either, but so far she's doing much better than Rastakhan for the entirety of his known career.

1. Rastakhan isn't going to save the Gurubashi from doing the same fuck up twice. He has no reason to, no obligation to do it, especially when the Gurubashi were/are hostile towards the Zandalari.

2. Do you know how far away Northrend is from Zandalar? He isn't going to send an army to its inevitable death for a crumbling kingdom. It's not hard to figure out that he's recieved news about what exactly happened in Zul'Drak, and deemed it impossible to salvage. The few he did sent were there to punish the Drakkari that survived the Scourge for sacrificing the Loa. Literally the only reason we even went into Gundrak. Again, he isn't going to send away his forces to help a foreign kingdom an entire ocean away and leave Zandalar defenseless and fully-knowing that there isn't a guarantee that they can even stop the Scourge.

3. Lol what? Zul and Rastakhan were at odds since before Cataclysm. Do you not remember the whole vision in MoP where Zul told Rastakhan that the Cataclysm is going to sink Zandalar and they need to leave, and Rastakhan told him to fuck off? That's why Zul left, because he believed Rastakhan was going to doom the Zandalari that followed him.

4. No, he didn't. It's been said that Zul resurrecting Lei Shen was entirely his doing, and Rastakhan had nothing to do with it. Stop making up shit to make Rastakhan look like Joffrey.

5. Rastakhan did undergo change, derp. He went from being a lazy, complacent king to actively and personally retake his kingdom. Did you already forget about him leading the charge onto Dazar'alor with all the Loa? Or how he was personally at the Blood Gate? Or how he personally fought Zul and "killed" him? How he blames himself for growing lax and letting his kingdom fall into disarray? S E L F R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y? That's a character arc. Talanji is a bland ass "stronk wahmen" trope to a T, and is essentially female Anduin. No one with any concept of good story telling should be happy she's going to be forced onto us just like Yrel, Anduin, and Sylvanas were.

[Aucald]

1. Rastakhan isn't going to save the Gurubashi from doing the same fuck up twice. He has no reason to, no obligation to do it, especially when the Gurubashi were/are hostile towards the Zandalari.

Rastakhan is the leader of the Zandalari and rules all of Troll-kind - the resurgence of Hakkar the Soulflayer would be a *bad* thing for everyone.

2. Do you know how far away Northrend is from Zandalar? He isn't going to send an army to its inevitable death for a crumbling kingdom. It's not hard to figure out that he's recieved news about what exactly happened in Zul'Drak, and deemed it impossible to salvage. The few he did sent were there to punish the Drakkari that survived the Scourge for sacrificing the Loa. Literally the only reason we even went into Gundrak. Again, he isn't going to send away his forces to help a foreign kingdom an entire ocean away and leave Zandalar defenseless and fully-knowing that there isn't a guarantee that they can even stop the Scourge.

There were there to observe the fall of the Drakkari and their gods. Tol'mar (one of the Zandalari chroniclers) literally says that his job is only to observe, but that he can't abide the death of the Loa (specifially Akali), which is why he sends the player and their group into Gundrak for vengeance. A small force to try to safeguard the Loa, such as they managed with Har'koa (though only with outside help once more) would've been far preferable.

3. Lol what? Zul and Rastakhan were at odds since before Cataclysm. Do you not remember the whole vision in MoP where Zul told Rastakhan that the Cataclysm is going to sink Zandalar and they need to leave, and Rastakhan told him to fuck off? That's why Zul left, because he believed Rastakhan was going to doom the Zandalari that followed him.

Rastakhan didn't tell him to "fuck off," he gave him a ship and told him to search for signs of the disaster he prophesied, though he did want him gone as he was tired of Zul's doomsaying. Zul then went on to try to resurrect the Troll empire of old (again, using Rastakhan's name as a rallying cry), and was stopped by the Horde and Alliance.

4. No, he didn't. It's been said that Zul resurrecting Lei Shen was entirely his doing, and Rastakhan had nothing to do with it. Stop making up shit to make Rastakhan look like Joffrey.

Zul resurrecting Lei Shen and allying with the Mogu was his own doing - but he had lease from Rastakhan to find a new land and secure it with zero oversight. Rastakhan essentially wrote Zul an almost completely blank check, and when the one restriction he did provide to Zul (e.g. don't bring the Mogu with you) was violated he didn't punish, restrict, or otherwise censure Zul at all. For all intents and purposes he handed Zul the keys to the kingdom and let him go nuts.

5. Rastakhan did undergo change, derp. He went from being a lazy, complacent king to actively and personally retake his kingdom. Did you already forget about him leading the charge onto Dazar'alor with all the Loa? Or how he was personally at the Blood Gate? Or how he personally fought Zul and "killed" him? How he blames himself for growing lax and letting his kingdom fall into disarray? S E L F R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y? That's a character arc. Talanji is a bland ass "stronk wahmen" trope to a T, and is essentially female Anduin. No one with any concept of good story telling should be happy she's going to be forced onto us just like Yrel, Anduin, and Sylvanas were.

Not really - he only actually acted when it was too late - which essentially cost him his life, his patron Loa, the final seal holding back G'huun, and nearly his entire kingdom. The Blood Trolls brought to fight to him directly, a fact that he recognized (again) too late, seeing that Talanji and Rokhan were right and that his indolence had put his entire realm in jeopardy. Even Rezan upbraids him for his passivity, referring to him as "prey" which is a pretty damning indictment from the patron Loa of hunters and predators.

I'm not myself enamored of Talanji (I think she lacks texture and depth), but at least she spirit and most importantly actual leadership when the Zandalari need it most. I don't have any issues with her being a woman - and I hope that as the plot is unveiled in BfA she gets a bit more time to actual develop complex traits and a personality to go with her potential.

[Deleted]

Because the fight against Jaina is a fight against an iconic, demigod-level character that has been with the franchise for almost two decades. A character that many players have known for most of their life, and grew up with. And it's a fight that's been getting built up for several expansions now.

While the fight against Rasta-whatever is an encounter with a Literal Who that many players had never even heard of until just a few months ago. A character who's had very little impact on the story of either faction until a month ago. And a character who has canonically failed at more or less everything he's ever set out to do.
A character who's defining accomplishments consist of "Did nothing," "Got his patron Loa killed," "Doomed his bloodline to be eternally bound to Bwonsamdi," and "Failed to stop the most obviously-traitorous adviser since Jafar."

He couldn't even kill Zul permanently. And that's when he's literally surging with the power of death.

I still disagree but cant believe people are mad that they get to kill another horde leader while we just spit on 2 alliance leaders.We should be mad.Not you!

[Dravec]

Rastakhan is the leader of the Zandalari and rules all of Troll-kind - the resurgence of Hakkar the Soulflayer would be a *bad* thing for everyone.



There were there to observe the fall of the Drakkari and their gods. Tol'mar (one of the Zandalari chroniclers) literally says that his job is only to observe, but that he can't abide the death of the Loa (specifially Akali), which is why he sends the player and their group into Gundrak for vengeance. A small force to try to safeguard the Loa, such as they managed with Har'koa (though only with outside help once more) would've been far preferable.



Rastakhan didn't tell him to "fuck off," he gave him a ship and told him to search for signs of the disaster he prophesied, though he did want him gone as he was tired of Zul's doomsaying. Zul then went on to try to resurrect the Troll empire of old (again, using Rastakhan's name as a rallying cry), and was stopped by the Horde and Alliance.



Zul resurrecting Lei Shen and allying with the Mogu was his own doing - but he had lease from Rastakhan to find a new land and secure it with zero oversight. Rastakhan essentially wrote Zul an almost completely blank check, and when the one restriction he did provide to Zul (e.g. don't bring the Mogu with you) was violated he didn't punish, restrict, or otherwise censure Zul at all. For all intents and purposes he handed Zul the keys to the kingdom and let him go nuts.



Not really - he only actually acted when it was too late - which essentially cost him his life, his patron Loa, the final seal holding back G'huun, and nearly his entire kingdom. The Blood Trolls brought to fight to him directly, a fact that he recognized (again) too late, seeing that Talanji and Rokhan were right and that his indolence had put his entire realm in jeopardy. Even Rezan upbraids him for his passivity, referring to him as "prey" which is a pretty damning indictment from the patron Loa of hunters and predators.

I'm not myself enamored of Talanji (I think she lacks texture and depth), but at least she spirit and most importantly actual leadership when the Zandalari need it most. I don't have any issues with her being a woman - and I hope that as the plot is unveiled in BfA she gets a bit more time to actual develop complex traits and a personality to go with her potential.

1. Hakkar isn't a threat to Zandalar from EK. And he did send envoys that got the Horde to take care of it, he didn't sit on his ass and do nothing.

2. There to observe only? So that's why they had an entire questline of you going around and killing blasphemous Drakkari and sent you into Gundrak to punish their leaders? Yeah, that's not true. There to record what happened to Zul'Drak then dealt with the heathen Drakkari.

3. Giving him a boat and telling him to leave is saying "fuck off", I'm not sure what else could possibly qualify. Zul didn't do anything in Rastakhan's name, he was doing it on his own accord. You can do all of the 4.1 quests and Rastakhan was never brought up as a major factor.

4. Rastakhan had nothing to do with Lei Shen. You clearly don't understand the level of influence Zul has. Zul might as well have been a second king, his reputation was just as high (if not higher) than Rastakhan himself. They were also good friends for a long time, and there is nothing wrong about a highly regarded political figure taking troops. Zandalar was also never in danger of sinking, so Rastakhan most likely chalked up Zul's actions to paranoia and a little bit of guilt for being wrong. Zul and Rastakhan have both been around a long time, and it would take more than one squabble to break their friendship.

5. What the fuck do you mean "not really"? Not really what? That he underwent a character arc? I don't think you know what that means if you think Rastakhan remained the fucking same. Going by your logic Cairne Bloodhoof was also a crap leader and a massive failure, since his entire story is him and his tribe getting their asses kicked by Quillboar and Centaur, having to rely on the Orcs to survive, and then dying to Garrosh.

[omeomorfismo]

Not to say that Talanji is a good character, but I'm a bit confused as to the popularity of Rastakhan. In the history of the Warcraft universe Rastakhan has basically shown little else but indolence and delegation, he hasn't been active in the affairs of Azeroth and when has (directly or by proxy) it's been a disaster for him and Zandalar. So far, Rastakhan has been at the helm of the following:

1.) Sending Molthor and his group to Yojamba to "confront" Hakkar, which basically meant enlisting the Horde and Alliance to do it for them while they sat back and awarded trinkets.

2.) Sending a few Chroniclers to Drakkari lands to record the Drakkari slaughter of their own patron Loa, apparently with standing orders not to interfere.

3.) Sending Zul as an emissary to the other tribes to whip them into a fervor against the Horde and Alliance, which is beaten down by the Horde and Alliance before it can even really begin.

4.) Sending Zul off to try to claim a new homeland for the Zandalari as theirs was damaged in the Cataclysm. Instead, Zul tries to ally with the Mogu and pits himself against the Horde and Alliance again, loses, and returns home in shame.

5.) Completely ignores the Blood Troll threat from Nazmir until his own daughter finally disobeys his orders not to interfere (orders which, on the face of it, make no sense) and goes to the Horde for aid with what is actually a crisis situation.

We don't really know what Rastakhan has done pre-WoW, but the history we do know pretty much paints him as a failure in the role of leader. The fact that he doesn't see Zul's very obvious coup in the offing doesn't help matters.

he is fundamentaly a troll varian not plagued by lawful good human potential.
both tricked by their nobility and with their religious caste infiltrated by old gods and some other minor difference like rastakhan actually a competent administrator and varian a good father figure (?).
so a horde relatable varian xD

[Every Pwny]

I still disagree but cant believe people are mad that they get to kill another horde leader while we just spit on 2 alliance leaders.We should be mad.Not you!

Rastakahn isn't a horde leader, him and the Zandalari aren't part of the horde. They only join the horde after the raid. The obvious leader of the Zandalari was always going to be Talanji and she was set up that way from the beginning.

[therealbowser]

Horde wiped out Teldrissal. Alliance takes out Rastakhan.

Fair's fair. You don't always get to win, sorry Hordies. Don't worry though, Blizzard will remedy it by giving the Alliance some grave loss in the near future.

On topic, I feel bad he's gone. I really liked the character.

[Mehrunes]

We don't really know what Rastakhan has done pre-WoW, but the history we do know pretty much paints him as a failure in the role of leader. The fact that he doesn't see Zul's very obvious coup in the offing doesn't help matters.

Which is particularly hilarious if you do Vol'dun before Zuldazar. During the second major step of Zuldazar questline where you do things for Yazma and at the end of it report to one of Rastakhan's guards, she comments on how Yazma, Zul and Jakra'zet are acting erratically. Yeah, no shit Jakra'zet is acting erratically, he sacrificed himself to resurrect a major C'thrax. And Zul and Yazma were implicated together with him in Zuldazar.

Well I mean at least they're not burning it down, genociding an entire race, blighting it or dropping a nuke on it.

Plus you get to replace that terrible zandalari king rando with princess tangerine who's actually not a backwards shithead like her dad.
So if anything this whole siege will benefit the horde more than the alliance who leave with 2 major(not some random troll shmuck) characters mortally wounded. Alliance aren't allowed to have full victories.

Meanwhile in the real world, neither of these two Alliance characters is actually mortally wounded. From other news, Alliance posters still need to hyperbolize the shit out of everything in order to construct the narrative of ever-encroaching Horde bias, effectively ironically being the best argument against it being a thing.

[Aucald]

1. Hakkar isn't a threat to Zandalar from EK. And he did send envoys that got the Horde to take care of it, he didn't sit on his ass and do nothing.

Hakkar is a grave threat from *anywhere*, and we know from multiple encounters that he's not above holding a fatal grudge. After having been driven back to wherever he comes from twice in the history of the Trolls, his trajectory after fattening up on the Gurubashi is pretty easy to guess. What Rastakhan sent to Zul'Gurub for a threat of that magnitude isn't really what one would expect from the God-King of the Trolls.

2. There to observe only? So that's why they had an entire questline of you going around and killing blasphemous Drakkari and sent you into Gundrak to punish their leaders? Yeah, that's not true. There to record what happened to Zul'Drak then dealt with the heathen Drakkari.

That is what the NPC's themselves say in the quests, yes. They intercede only with outside aid (not unlike Zul'Gurub back in Classic), and then only when all but two of the Loa has been sacrificed by the Drakkari (Har'koa and Akali). Sseratus, Rhunok, Mam'toth, and Quetz'lun are all pretty much DOA in the Zul'Drak questlines.

3. Giving him a boat and telling him to leave is saying "fuck off", I'm not sure what else could possibly qualify. Zul didn't do anything in Rastakhan's name, he was doing it on his own accord. You can do all of the 4.1 quests and Rastakhan was never brought up as a major factor.

Rastakhan's name and authority is invoked by the Zandalari in "Shadows of the Horde," specifically when Vol'jin is discussing the gathering with Khal'ak (who was in attendance and observed Vol'jin with interest) it is referred to as "King Rastakhan's gathering." Rastakhan also gave Zul a ship (a whole fleet of them from what we see at Pandaria) as well as a mission with a mandate - that's a pretty far cry from "fuck off" (which I would see as a veritable exile).

4. Rastakhan had nothing to do with Lei Shen. You clearly don't understand the level of influence Zul has. Zul might as well have been a second king, his reputation was just as high (if not higher) than Rastakhan himself. They were also good friends for a long time, and there is nothing wrong about a highly regarded political figure taking troops. Zandalar was also never in danger of sinking, so Rastakhan most likely chalked up Zul's actions to paranoia and a little bit of guilt for being wrong. Zul and Rastakhan have both been around a long time, and it would take more than one squabble to break their friendship.

I'm not claiming that he did - I'm saying Zul had zero oversight or boundaries, which is unusual for someone who had been sent from Zandalar for being annoying with doomsaying and possibly gathering political power for himself. Everything we've seen of Zul from Cataclysm and onward paints a picture of a scheming, ambitious, and altogether untrustworthy person. Given that Zul returns from Pandaria with the idea of killing and replacing Rastakhan with an enthralled King Dazar seems to belie that Rastakhan and Zul were ever really friends. Not to mention the Zul basically becomes the toady of G'huun and raises the Blood Troll threat to the level that they can then go on to nearly sack Zuldazar. If they ever had a friendship it is likely to have long passed by the wayside.

5. What the fuck do you mean "not really"? Not really what? That he underwent a character arc? I don't think you know what that means if you think Rastakhan remained the fucking same. Going by your logic Cairne Bloodhoof was also a crap leader and a massive failure, since his entire story is him and his tribe getting their asses kicked by Quillboar and Centaur, having to rely on the Orcs to survive, and then dying to Garrosh.

I mean he didn't really undergo a character arc in any meaningful way. Yes, he becomes aware that his indolence is going to cost him his kingdom, but he does so in the very last chapter of his long life. That's not an "arc," it's a narrative plummet off a high cliff. Even in those last few days Rastakhan still manages to yoke himself and his progeny into the service of Bwonsamdi (another questionable alliance on his part), which seems to indicate he learned nothing of import from his dealings with Zul. Cairne, on the other hand, was always a survivor and fought to ensure that his people would survive and thrive in hostile lands. Meeting Thrall, helping found Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff (the first stationary home of the Mulgore Tauren in generations) as well as all the events that led up to his unfortunate demise *are* his character arc. He does things, moves his own story forward, and ultimately changes the lot of the Tauren people for the better as they're no longer hunted by their once mortal enemies across the plains of Kalimdor.

That's really the primary difference between an active character like Cairne and a passive one like Rastakhan - one character acts while the other is simply acted upon.

[ReD-EyeD]

Well, Horde already attacked an Alliance city, Teldrassil, before.
It was quite successful if you ask me. Their turn now.

[Aucald]

he is fundamentaly a troll varian not plagued by lawful good human potential.
both tricked by their nobility and with their religious caste infiltrated by old gods and some other minor difference like rastakhan actually a competent administrator and varian a good father figure (?).
so a horde relatable varian xD

There are a number of parallels between Varian and Rastakhan, sure - and that's not always a good thing in and of itself. Varian at least comes to grip with his own problem and manages to sacrifice himself in a towering blaze of glory. Rastakhan's story doesn't quite end up so well on a storytelling standpoint, though I suppose there's more to be seen in 8.1.

[Deleted]

There are a number of parallels between Varian and Rastakhan, sure - and that's not always a good thing in and of itself. Varian at least comes to grip with his own problem and manages to sacrifice himself in a towering blaze of glory. Rastakhan's story doesn't quite end up so well on a storytelling standpoint, though I suppose there's more to be seen in 8.1.

And people have the nerve to call this "Horde favoritism", when we constantly get prominent Horde characters either butchered before they got killed like Garrosh, or killed before they can accomplish something meaningful while in the spotlight like Vol'jin. Now, we have another prominent Troll lore character butchered in a tragic way - just in time to recognise his errors, too late to do change the outcome beside great sacrifices. While characters like Varian and Jaina get tons of on-screen moment, character development which neglects or even pardons all bad things done by these characters, etc.

We have a 2nd evil warchief now, have a 2nd raid in a Horde city (Zuldazar is a Horde city, because it's our sanctuary goddammit!), but all this if of course Horde favoritism. And then the Alliance has the guts to whine about being "not victorious". Fuck off. You will get to kill another Troll leader, while your incompetent Night Elf leadership got to survive, which directly lead to the burning of Teldrassil.