Malfurion m.i.a again?

[Florena]

Thrall was never as powerful himself as any of the aspects. As a shaman he was just able to channel Neltharian's earth type powers for the dragon soul.

[Sj]

Maybe it's the ridiculous appearance they came up with for Malfurion that makes him less likeable? Even Jesus Thrall with his fancy red beads and ragged robe looks more heroic than bird-antler-paw man. I really need to read that short story about tyrande again .

A lot of people don't Malfurion for more reasons than just how ridiculous he looks. Don't forget about how loved Illidan was, and how Malfurion took a royal crap on him (whether or not he was justified for doing so is a discussion for another time). Malfurion has also come across as a holier-than-thou prick since his reintroduction into the waking world; his "Mary-Sue" rivals Thrall's in my opinion.

[Florena]

Yet it seem that not so many alliance players are hot about Malfurion, i often read the us battlenet story forum and out of the many threads here no one is asking for a more screen time for malfurion; it seem kinda strange when peoples ask for any damn no one when such an important lore figure still mia.
Actually Malfurion counterpart is Thrall, in both how they behave and how important they are in lore, hamuul is just the horde connection with the cenarion circle much like nobudo is the alliance one with the earth ring; also in the horde society shamans are probably more important than druids and in alliance is the other way around.

Except Hamuul gets equal screen time as Malfurian in Hyjal/Firelands and Nobundo may as well not exist. Also I think a large reason people are disinfranchised with Malfurion is that he never even acknowledges that his people are being attacked by the orcs. And they put him in Darnassus to just...stand there...when Tyrande is being attacked.

[Zulkhan]

Else would have thought him to be quite interested in this new continent, more so the vale since it's very akin to that small unsignificant pool under Nordrassil.

I guess they "atoned" that with the expedition of night elves present in Krasarang Wilds, which its goal is excatly to find the Vale. Not surprising that the tauren on the other side have the same goal, even if no elf or tauren there is a druid.

- - - Updated - - -

Thrall was never as powerful himself as any of the aspects. As a shaman he was just able to channel Neltharian's earth type powers for the dragon soul.

I don't think Thrall put any kind of personal power for the use of the Dragon Soul, he was just a mortal and not a dragon, so he could use it where no Aspect would have been able to do the same. He was chosen mostly for the adamant trust he has been able to earn by the Dragon Aspects.

- - - Updated - - -

Also I think a large reason people are disinfranchised with Malfurion is that he never even acknowledges that his people are being attacked by the orcs. And they put him in Darnassus to just...stand there...when Tyrande is being attacked.

Precisely. Maybe is just the game or the lore a bit tricky, but the overall sensation is that.

[Destinas]

Malfurion, in the books, is an extremely powerful mortal. He literally summon a spirit bomb in Stormrage (well, not literally). He can channel the energies of Azeroth and the Emerald Dream at the same time, and even Ysera has commented on his abilities (hinting he was stronger than her). This doesn't fit well into the A vs H storyline. Last expansion, Malfurion did neutral things. This fit well due to the context. Likewise, the Horde has Thrall. He uses similar energies as Malfurion to fuel his abilities. He also used magic far beyond the capabilities of other mortals. Due to his connection with the spirits and the elements, he was able to become a replacement for Neltharion as the Earth Warder.

The difference is, Thrall was already very much a Horde character. We, as players, don't usually say "Hey, there's that Neutral orc guy". We know him as Thrall, former warchief of the Horde. Malfurion, technically, is a part of the Alliance. He participates in dealings with the Alliance leaders, and he is a leader with Tyrande for the Night Elves. Moreso, Malfurion is known for neutrality. I personally see him as an Alliance character, however Blizzard sees him as a "world character". He's too big and has too much responsibility in lore to truly wreak havoc on enemies in the name of the Alliance. It's up to him and his disciples to protect the Emerald Dream now. It's up to him to protect his people. So on, so forth. Thrall has a family, and has no true position in the Horde's leadership (however, he is still regarded highly within the Horde).

It wouldn't be fair to have Malfurion be important to the Alliance, and then still give orders to Horde players for quests. I mean, the Druids of the Flame began because Malfurion didn't help his people against the Horde, and instead worked with them at Hyjal. He is arguably more powerful than Thrall as well, which wouldn't be fair either.

Next time we see Malfurion, it'll be a problem the Alliance and Horde have to deal with together. He won't participate in the war, unless Blizz took the opportunity to do something drastic with Tyrande, thus activating Malfurion's, uh, Avatar State? I'm sure he'd be more of an Alliance hero then.

[JStormrage]

Alliances don't necessarily mean leaders being 100% involved, right now the night elves have a lot of wounds to heal after the mass defection to druids of the Flame and lost of their previous faction leader.

[bufferunderrun]

Malfurion, in the books, is an extremely powerful mortal. He literally summon a spirit bomb in Stormrage (well, not literally). He can channel the energies of Azeroth and the Emerald Dream at the same time, and even Ysera has commented on his abilities (hinting he was stronger than her). This doesn't fit well into the A vs H storyline. Last expansion, Malfurion did neutral things. This fit well due to the context. Likewise, the Horde has Thrall. He uses similar energies as Malfurion to fuel his abilities. He also used magic far beyond the capabilities of other mortals. Due to his connection with the spirits and the elements, he was able to become a replacement for Neltharion as the Earth Warder.

The difference is, Thrall was already very much a Horde character. We, as players, don't usually say "Hey, there's that Neutral orc guy". We know him as Thrall, former warchief of the Horde. Malfurion, technically, is a part of the Alliance. He participates in dealings with the Alliance leaders, and he is a leader with Tyrande for the Night Elves. Moreso, Malfurion is known for neutrality. I personally see him as an Alliance character, however Blizzard sees him as a "world character". He's too big and has too much responsibility in lore to truly wreak havoc on enemies in the name of the Alliance. It's up to him and his disciples to protect the Emerald Dream now. It's up to him to protect his people. So on, so forth. Thrall has a family, and has no true position in the Horde's leadership (however, he is still regarded highly within the Horde).

It wouldn't be fair to have Malfurion be important to the Alliance, and then still give orders to Horde players for quests. I mean, the Druids of the Flame began because Malfurion didn't help his people against the Horde, and instead worked with them at Hyjal. He is arguably more powerful than Thrall as well, which wouldn't be fair either.

Next time we see Malfurion, it'll be a problem the Alliance and Horde have to deal with together. He won't participate in the war, unless Blizz took the opportunity to do something drastic with Tyrande, thus activating Malfurion's, uh, Avatar State? I'm sure he'd be more of an Alliance hero then.

I think that many peoples have problem regarding malfurion has an alliance hero because blizzard keep him out of the screen for far too long; last time we see him in action prior cata was during the rts at that time the nelfs weren't a part of the alliance in fact they were a third separate faction, when wow was released the nelfs (and the forsakens for the horde) were integrated inside the faction and the cenarion circle was designed a neutral separate faction but malfurion wasn't here, with time peoples got accustomed to this .
In the end everything is blizzard fault to not have handled him properly, Malfurion should have been there from day one and should have been a central character in the whole alliance storyline in Burning Crusade, wtf we fight illidan and malfurion wasn't here another big ass demon try to enter the world and he wasn't here, BC was a big missing chance to introduce him properly to the playerbase as an Alliance hero after the rts.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Except Hamuul gets equal screen time as Malfurian in Hyjal/Firelands and Nobundo may as well not exist. Also I think a large reason people are disinfranchised with Malfurion is that he never even acknowledges that his people are being attacked by the orcs. And they put him in Darnassus to just...stand there...when Tyrande is being attacked.

WoW is a themepark at best and of course he just stands there, city raids are not canon and it would be unfair if someone like him attacked the players as well. If the players could kill him it would be even more of a lore disservice.

Also Thrall was channeling "earth power" into the frickin dragon soul with the other apects. Even if he says he can only channel earth magic, he still does the job an aspect here in that regard. I see no reason to downplay this, they even showed his deep connection with the earth later when he goes in his "spirit walk" (sorry don't know the appropriate term) where he finds Magni's presence in the earth and even detects pandaria. Add to this his strong involvment at the Maelstrom, nah they tried everything to make him powerful. There is also the moment in Tides of War when he stops the focusing iris powered tital-elemental wave of Jaina...
As I said though, they established this weird power limiter for shamans that is nothing but a cheap plot device when it comes down to it. The whole elements thing is so vage that his power is one time off the charts and another day he has problems doing anything worthwhile.

[JudgePayne]

IMO the reason why Malfurion is not shown is not because of this sense of neutrality but because of his power levels.

Malf and Velen were two lore characters whose power is supposedly huge. People mention thrall as being on par with them but I personally disagree. Garrosh fought thrall and both sides where giving it their all and garrosh was getting good blows in against Thrall.

Malfurion is one of the oldest characters alive today with huge amounts of experience in both combat and tactics.
He is the leader of the Cenarion Circle, a leader of the Night Elves and a general in the Army of the green Dragons under Cenarius. His power has been shown in the original warcraft games and books. Even in the game he single handedly stopped the giant twister which would have otherwise leveled much of northern Kalimdor. (Thrall had the earthen ring below the malestrom aiding him in sealing the rift for comparison)

Velen is the oldest character in Azeroth and as such has thousands of years of leadership under his belt. His race was known for their powerful magical ability so much so that the Dark Titan searched them out and offered Velen, Archimonde and kil'Jaden places as leaders in his new army. If the leader of the burning legion is willing to offer you a spot as a general in his army you must have some serious power. He was not done a lot since being introduced in the game but power wise we know he has the ability to see the future ( blizzard play this one down as people ask all the time " how come Velen doesn't just tell the alliance where the horde will strike etc" ), We have also seen Velen purify the sunwell and heal Anduinn after Garrosh attacked.

These two characters are just too powerful for the storyline and would tip the balance in the alliane favour way to much.

[DesoPL]

I guess, in MoP events Malfurion was busy with recovering the Hyjal after the Ragnaros incursions. Remember Hyjal storyline and Rage Of Firelands? Otherwise other reason, why he don't show up in MoP, is maybe Blizzard got other plans for him? Are we going to Nazjatar? Who knows.

[Eucep]

I guess they "atoned" that with the expedition of night elves present in Krasarang Wilds, which its goal is excatly to find the Vale. Not surprising that the tauren on the other side have the same goal, even if no elf or tauren there is a druid.

In the Vale pre to this patch they had an 'ancient' of Lore at the shrine to learn from the Vale, which I found amusing.

[Zulkhan]

The difference is, Thrall was already very much a Horde character. We, as players, don't usually say "Hey, there's that Neutral orc guy". We know him as Thrall, former warchief of the Horde. Malfurion, technically, is a part of the Alliance. He participates in dealings with the Alliance leaders, and he is a leader with Tyrande for the Night Elves. Moreso, Malfurion is known for neutrality. I personally see him as an Alliance character, however Blizzard sees him as a "world character". He's too big and has too much responsibility in lore to truly wreak havoc on enemies in the name of the Alliance. It's up to him and his disciples to protect the Emerald Dream now. It's up to him to protect his people. So on, so forth. Thrall has a family, and has no true position in the Horde's leadership (however, he is still regarded highly within the Horde).

It's worth mention that the main reason for which Thrall is involved in Mists of Pandaria and Malfurion not (let alone the blatant relationship with Garrosh) is because Malfurion, as an Alliance co-leader, would have been directly involved in an Alliance vs Horde conflict, since the enemy to fight was the Garrosh's Horde.

On the contrary, Thrall was involved indeed in the expansion, but obviously not in a Horde vs Alliance conflict, he didn't fight the Alliance, he just helped the Horde rebellion against a Horde corrupt government, something in which, tecnichally, he didn't betray his neutrality in a true sense, since he was involved in Horde matters but never against the Alliance.

People mention thrall as being on par with them but I personally disagree. Garrosh fought thrall and both sides where giving it their all and garrosh was getting good blows in against Thrall.

Thrall had his elemental powers drastically cut down, and Garrosh had an undeniably advantage in a melee confrontation with Xal'atoh in hand. Yeah, he called for a lighthing jolt to free himself, but his later "melee approach" with Garrosh confirmed his inability to fully channel his powers.

[JudgePayne]

Thrall had his elemental powers drastically cut down, and Garrosh had an undeniably advantage in a melee confrontation with Xal'atoh in hand. Yeah, he called for a lighthing jolt to free himself, but his later "melee approach" with Garrosh confirmed his inability to fully channel his powers.

Correct, but lets take Thrall who is the most powerful shaman on Azeroth. Thrall has done great things but his newest victory was the defeat of deathwing, lets look at this in detail. He stood in as a replacement for the earth warden, the other aspects put their power into the dragon soul and thrall merely unleashed the power the aspects gave to force deathwing down. During the fight with deathwing the aspects come to our aid not thrall. During the cataclysm thrall is above the maelstrom attemping to close the rift but he is not alone, he has the entire earthen ring working with him either in Azeroth or in deepholm. Prior to this lore wise even his greatest feat was aiding Grom in the killing of Mannoroth. He also aided in the defense against archimonde with the rest of the horde.

Malfurion's history is a lot longer and as such I will put in bullet points
- He was the first Night elf druid and is the current Archdruid and leader of the Cenarion Circle.
- Defeated the nightmare Lord in the emerald dream
- Held back the buring legion twice
- First time fighting along side Tyrande and Illidan to stop Lady Azhara and her plans
- Second time calling upon the wisps to converge and stop Archimonde
- Aiding in the defeat of the scourge

Chris Metzen commented that Malfurion Stormrage is his personal favorite character in the Warcraft lore
http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comm...ideo_interview

I like Thrall but there is a no contest that a fully powered Malfurion vs a fully powered Thrall results in a Malfurion victory.

[Zulkhan]

Correct, but lets take Thrall who is the most powerful shaman on Azeroth. Thrall has done great things but his newest victory was the defeat of deathwing, lets look at this in detail. He stood in as a replacement for the earth warden, the other aspects put their power into the dragon soul and thrall merely unleashed the power the aspects gave to force deathwing down. During the fight with deathwing the aspects come to our aid not thrall. During the cataclysm thrall is above the maelstrom attemping to close the rift but he is not alone, he has the entire earthen ring working with him either in Azeroth or in deepholm. Prior to this lore wise even his greatest feat was aiding Grom in the killing of Mannoroth. He also aided in the defense against archimonde with the rest of the horde.

Malfurion's history is a lot longer and as such I will put in bullet points
- He was the first Night elf druid and is the current Archdruid and leader of the Cenarion Circle.
- Defeated the nightmare Lord in the emerald dream
- Held back the buring legion twice
- First time fighting along side Tyrande and Illidan to stop Lady Azhara and her plans
- Second time calling upon the wisps to converge and stop Archimonde
- Aiding in the defeat of the scourge

Chris Metzen commented that Malfurion Stormrage is his personal favorite character in the Warcraft lore
http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comm...ideo_interview

I like Thrall but there is a no contest that a fully powered Malfurion vs a fully powered Thrall results in a Malfurion victory.

Well I didn't say they are perfectly equal in powers, there is a reason if Thrall call him "Master Stormrage". I just pointed out that regardless Thrall is still extremely powerful and would have been a pretty overpowered figure in the Siege, reason for which the Dark Shaman were instrumental for drastically "tone him down".

[Yakshamash]

It's better they never show him up again or let him be killed.

[Jokubas]

I really feel like Malfurion was supposed to be more of a counterpart for Thrall throughout Cataclysm, but something was cut. It would explain both why Thrall seemed to explode in importance and power, why Thrall started having heal-the-land druid-seeming plots over elemental shaman stuff, and why Malfurion was really important in Hyjal and the Molten Front before vanishing until we meet his past self at the very end.

My theory is still that Azshara and the naga were supposed to be dual villains along with Deathwing (like the MMO-Champion leak initially reported), and Malfurion was going to be her nemesis (while Thrall took on Deathwing). Darkshore still has Furion and Azshara confronting each other. But the Vashj'ir plot lines drop off, and both Azshara and Malfurion disappear until their past selves mysteriously reappear in an eleventh hour dungeon establishing the origin of their conflict (which only had a token appearance in a low level zone).

I really hope they start using him again, and using him properly. He should not be okay with what the Horde did in Ashenvale. Last time they did that, his mentor, Cenarius, was killed. The night elves were much more aggressive in Warcraft III, and it would be nice if they stopped acting like the druids are all pacifists.

[thesmall001]

He's pretty neutral, if he shows up again i hope it's so Illidan can rip his cock off with his glaives

his glaives

...

thesmall001's glaives

Better.

[bufferunderrun]

I really feel like Malfurion was supposed to be more of a counterpart for Thrall throughout Cataclysm, but something was cut. It would explain both why Thrall seemed to explode in importance and power, why Thrall started having heal-the-land druid-seeming plots over elemental shaman stuff, and why Malfurion was really important in Hyjal and the Molten Front before vanishing until we meet his past self at the very end.

My theory is still that Azshara and the naga were supposed to be dual villains along with Deathwing (like the MMO-Champion leak initially reported), and Malfurion was going to be her nemesis (while Thrall took on Deathwing). Darkshore still has Furion and Azshara confronting each other. But the Vashj'ir plot lines drop off, and both Azshara and Malfurion disappear until their past selves mysteriously reappear in an eleventh hour dungeon establishing the origin of their conflict (which only had a token appearance in a low level zone).

I really hope they start using him again, and using him properly. He should not be okay with what the Horde did in Ashenvale. Last time they did that, his mentor, Cenarius, was killed. The night elves were much more aggressive in Warcraft III, and it would be nice if they stopped acting like the druids are all pacifists.

Quote, i think that when they removed the abissal maw raid that part of the story was removed, and malfurion role was cut; btw blizzard do a big error not putting him into DS; maybe if he took a role in ds today we will have you warchief back without all that green jesus stuff going on.

[JudgePayne]

I still believe the reason why his role was cut short in cata was to allow for a bigger role against the naga and their fish queen. He will play a vital role in the war on Azhara and her masters.

[Wildmoon]

Malfurion should have never been put into AvH in the first place. It put him in really awkward situation. His power level is in level of legend of the past like Medivh and Aegwyn. Freaking Medivh called Malfurion "Shan'do" in WC3.

Thrall holding DS and channel the Aspects's power is actually not really that impressive considering that Malfurion used DS to shut down the WoE itself with only help from Illidan. He did that when he was a "young scholar".

One could say he is Azeroth's favored child.