Why is Azshara a mid-expansion boss?

[Deathknightish]

I may have missed some leak, which I hope I have because I'm disappointed.

Why is Azshara a simple mid-tier boss? A lore figure, competing with Deathwing and the Lich King, who has in one way or another been teased in nearly every expansion, and even vanilla, becomes just another boss in the way for the ultimate villain.

So we kill her, but not before she manages to release N'zoth, and then what? 14 years of teases flushed down the drain?

[erifwodahs]

KJ was a mid-expansion boss too.. because we had a TITAN to fight, so if we Fight Azhara now, I would think you can expect something big coming.

[Ogarash]

Well we didn't kill Jaina. It may very well be that we simply beat her for the time being and she regroups and fights us with N'Zoth himself. I mean really, Yogg-Saron was a mid-expansion boss when he should clearly, lorewise, be more powerful than the Lich King.

[Super Dickmann]

Because she's interrupting us while we're finding out what the Horde is really about. If she'd waited until the end of our Mists retread, she might have had more to her.

Then again, maybe not. KJ got shafted in the same way, with all of 10 mins of screen time in a mid-expansion raid. At least Azshara gets a whole zone to herself.

[VanishingAct]

With the state of WoW writing these days...
Perhaps whats best is managing to contain N'zoths corruption or something and shes merely defeated or makes an escape or something, who fucking knows at this point lol.

[Varodoc]

Like has already been said, the main villain of the Warcraft franchise who caused the three great wars was also killed unceremoniously in a middle tier patch, so if you wanted to complain about "important villains dying too early", you are two years late.

[Ophenia]

Consider this Azshara non-cannon. The real Azshara probably died a few years/millenia ago, the thing we'll face now is a stupid puppet who thinks that somehow pulling Nazjatar out of the water is a great way to fight non-aquatic enemies, that sure won't open the doors to her Palace for everyone to visit nonono

[Hitei]

With the state of WoW writing these days...
Perhaps whats best is managing to contain N'zoths corruption or something and shes merely defeated or makes an escape or something, who fucking knows at this point lol.

"These days"
So I guess we're just pretending Malygos/Illidan/Anub'arak (1)/Murozond/Neptulon/C'thun/Yogg didn't happen? You act like important people dying in dungeons or mid tiers is something new.

[Krille]

Consider this Azshara non-cannon. The real Azshara probably died a few years/millenia ago, the thing we'll face now is a stupid puppet who thinks that somehow pulling Nazjatar out of the water is a great way to fight non-aquatic enemies, that sure won't open the doors to her Palace for everyone to visit nonono

Because her palace is a trap There you go, solved.

[Raugnaut]

Well, isn't Azshara technically the end boss of the third raid tier for this expansion?

8.0 - Uldir, first tier.
8.1 - BoDA, second tier.
8.2 - Palace of Eternity (PoE?), third tier.
8.3 - ???

[Krille]

Well, isn't Azshara technically the end boss of the third raid tier for this expansion?

8.0 - Uldir, first tier.
8.1 - BoDA, second tier.
8.2 - Palace of Eternity (PoE?), third tier.
8.3 - ???

Unrelated, but i think the most commonly used abbreviation for the new raid is AP Azsharas Palace. Also yes it's the 3rd tier. I think we all know who will be the last boss of next tier.

[StillMcfuu]

KJ was a mid-expansion boss too.. because we had a TITAN to fight, so if we Fight Azhara now, I would think you can expect something big coming.

KillahJ got his final boss jollies out in TBC when Illidan jobbed for him. Now it was his turn to job for Sargeras.

[Arrashi]

She is too bland to be final boss of expansion.

[Adoxe]

Always thought of her as a mid expansion boss, even when I hyped up the possibilities of Nazjatar expansion, I always figured N'zoth would be the final boss of anything Azshara is involved in. As powerful and cool as she is, she's not above N'zoth and the two kinda go hand in hand.

- - - Updated - - -

Consider this Azshara non-cannon. The real Azshara probably died a few years/millenia ago, the thing we'll face now is a stupid puppet who thinks that somehow pulling Nazjatar out of the water is a great way to fight non-aquatic enemies, that sure won't open the doors to her Palace for everyone to visit nonono

Azshara's plan in fucking Cataclysm was literally to steal Neptulon's trident so that she could raise Nazjatar to the surface. Not to mention that Nazjatar is not out of water, it's still under sea level, and that she has a plan as to why she's keeping us alive and not collapsing the wall to drown us, which is explained in-game during the 8.2 quests and raid. The fuck are you talking about?

[Kisuke42]

I would love if Azshara had a bigger arc but at this point she might turn into Guldan where she appears as a mid-boss from time to time with the old gods behind her just like Guldan was hanging around with the legion behind him.

[Tarba]

I may have missed some leak, which I hope I have because I'm disappointed.

Why is Azshara a simple mid-tier boss? A lore figure, competing with Deathwing and the Lich King, who has in one way or another been teased in nearly every expansion, and even vanilla, becomes just another boss in the way for the ultimate villain.

So we kill her, but not before she manages to release N'zoth, and then what? 14 years of teases flushed down the drain?

Well sargeras ended up being a bland cinematic.

[A Chozo]

Because they feel she's not Final Main Antagonist material, and judging by her relationship with N'Zoth, she totally isn't.

He is the real boss, and final bosses of last expansion patches' raids are usually the Main Antagonists of the expansions.

[grexly75]

Well rumors around that are that the next xpac may be Old God / Black Empire centered having Azshara being the last boss of this xpac does not make sense..

[Super Dickmann]

Because her palace is a trap There you go, solved.

There is such a thing as being too clever by half. Azshara had 10k years and naga are immortal (to age). She could've done nothing but had her henchmen fuck for 10k years and by the point BFA rolled around she would've been able to take over the world by just spamming them.

Or hell, never you mind, just seal the sea above the falling ships and steal the Heart. Then again, sitting on her ass waiting for things to resolve themselves is pretty in character for her.

[Flurryfang]

I may have missed some leak, which I hope I have because I'm disappointed.

Why is Azshara a simple mid-tier boss? A lore figure, competing with Deathwing and the Lich King, who has in one way or another been teased in nearly every expansion, and even vanilla, becomes just another boss in the way for the ultimate villain.

So we kill her, but not before she manages to release N'zoth, and then what? 14 years of teases flushed down the drain?

Because her theme has been dilluted for a very long time.

You are right, she is a big character in the WoW universe, which is also why we have been fighting her since Cata, with her nearly having a pressence in every expansion since, especially in Legion. She has had her time in the spotlight here and there for a long time, which is also why people know her so well.

As i have many times before in a lot of threads about Azshara, she as a villian can't hold up an entire expansion on her own, because her "expansion" have slowly been fed to us over the years, with Naga dungeons being put here and there, and with a good pressence of naga in many raids. Having an entire faction of her theme would quickly be boring, atleast without a major rework of her theme, with new colors, new enemies and new architecture, but then you might aswell create a new faction instead really.

I think her being a core character in BFA, with her major experience being in the patch before the final "boss" matches well, just like Ragnaros did in Cata with Firelands. Its also a good time to actually focus on her as a character, giving her absolute focus for a single patch, instead of just dripfeeding her core story over an entire expansion.