Is “being wrong” just Thrall’s “thing” now?

[Omedon]

So it kinda hit me this morning after spending a week soaking in reactions to the crossroads cinematic, that there might be a real super downer on the horizon. I want to consider Blizzard above this sort of thing, but my ability to “trust” on this front is just shredded.

Thrall makes the “assumption” that Thunder Bluff will be Sylvanas’ next target. I’d noticed in taking in so many takes and reactions that I wasn’t the only one blinking at that with a notable sense of “what?... oh... ok then.”

Which brings me to my point.

Either Thrall is right and they were using that cinematic to telegraph the next step in the story... or, in the midst of the same arc of self doubt and “I am always wrong” kind of vibe, he is... critically wrong again.

A further extrapolation I’ve seen to the second option there is the idea that, as inferred in Before the Storm, the thunder bluff assumption is potentially a fake-out to clear the way to invade stormwind... while the heroic PC and NPC populace stands holding the bag in thunder bluff.

So, on this axis: which is it, good reader? Story device to show the way, or a Vince Russo swerve that intentionally paints a vastly unheroic agreement with Thrall’s critical self-analysis? He’s either right or “being wrong” is just Thrall’s thing now.

[Motso]

So, to clarify; Thrall is either wrong, or not. By your definition. Thrall has long since been beyond the rights and wrongs of the HvA animosity.
Your post amounts to "Either THRALL is once again a main player, or he is a doofus"
Fucking sick of random posters that think they are quality writers or storytellers.
None of you are.

[Amaterasu65]

So you're assuming they are going to use the same tactic for the 3d time after War of Thorns and BoD? Doubt it.

[Kraddark]

Can you imagine how dumb it would be for the Alliance to fall for the same fakeout military strategy 3 times in a row? These people need to google warfare and steal plot points from real world battles.

[RoKPaNda]

Well, Thrall has been constantly wrong about pretty much every decision he made since Wrath with one shining moment in Cataclysm. I don't expect him to suddenly be a decent character again after 10 years of being sappy/cowardly/weak/wrong. Thrall's story is one of the ones that has been butchered the most by WoW.

So, to clarify; Thrall is either wrong, or not. By your definition. Thrall has long since been beyond the rights and wrongs of the HvA animosity.
Your post amounts to "Either THRALL is once again a main player, or he is a doofus"
Fucking sick of random posters that think they are quality writers or storytellers.
None of you are.

Neither are any of the writers at Blizzard tbh. Blizzard makes fun games, but their writing really leaves something to be desired.

[Oneirophobia]

So you're assuming they are going to use the same tactic for the 3d time after War of Thorns and BoD? Doubt it.

I’m never playing the alliance again if we fall for this crap a third time. Why do we have a mostly sheltered teenager running our military when we’ve got practically a dozen ancient beings with thousands of years of military experience under their belt? Reeeee blizzard.

Whatever my Zandalari troll has awesome pectorals.

[Amaterasu65]

I’m never playing the alliance again if we fall for this crap a third time. Why do we have a mostly sheltered teenager running our military when we’ve got practically a dozen ancient beings with thousands of years of military experience under their belt? Reeeee blizzard.

Whatever my Zandalari troll has awesome pectorals.

Well, I doubt Stormwind will be touched at all, especially with Silvermoon siding with the Alliance on the fight against Sylvanas. An attack from Orgrimmar to Thunderbluff is a more logical approach but I still hope no major city is going to be the main stage of the fight. I hope for a reverse SoO situation, where we do start from a major city (Thunderbluff) but because of X plot the latter half of the raid will take place in a different place. Still rooting for Nyalotha.

[avitush]

I’m never playing the alliance again if we fall for this crap a third time. Why do we have a mostly sheltered teenager running our military when we’ve got practically a dozen ancient beings with thousands of years of military experience under their belt? Reeeee blizzard.

Yeah, this has been bothering me since Anduin became High King. Even setting aside the fact that some of those ancient beings have been fighting in wars and leading their people since before Anduin's family line even existed...there are other humans who'd be more qualified than Anduin for the job. At most, maybe he's fine as King of Stormwind. But he shouldn't be High King of the Alliance.

[EbaumsTipster]

Sylvanas being clever is not really a thing that's clear to most characters in universe, so it's a logical conclusion that she's insane and retarded considering her track record in the war (teldrassil, obsessing over derek, sending a boat to nazjatar) has provided NO results (so far).

Her plans seem to be insanely long term with results MAYBE coming up in 8.2.5/8.3 but so far she must look like a crazy failure to any lore figure.

[Oneirophobia]

Well, I doubt Stormwind will be touched at all, especially with Silvermoon siding with the Alliance on the fight against Sylvanas. An attack from Orgrimmar to Thunderbluff is a more logical approach but I still hope no major city is going to be the main stage of the fight. I hope for a reverse SoO situation, where we do start from a major city (Thunderbluff) but because of X plot the latter half of the raid will take place in a different place. Still rooting for Nyalotha.

I kind of want Nyalotha to be its own expansion (or at least zone) rather than a one-off in a raid, but there will no doubt be involvement of some sort sooner or later.

[Wilfire]

Thrall's principal fault is that he was raised by humans. As such he keeps projecting human values (a.k.a. human potential) onto his Horde compatriots. He thinks that Vol'jin is a wise revolutionary. But Vol'jin is actually just a superstitious savage who hands over the Horde to an undead warlord because "da spirits" told him to. Thrall thinks that Garrosh is a strongheaded, brash young leader that the Horde needs to lead it in dire times. But Garrosh is actually just an orc and has only one thing in mind (like all orcs do): genocide under the ruse of being honorable.

Thrall thinks that the Horde is a coalition of green humans, blue humans, pointy-eared humans, dead humans, furry humans etc. But it's not. It a band of marauding warmongers. It needs a strong hand to steer it in the right direction. But Thrall refuses to be that strong hand even though he is the only one who can do it. He prefers to delegate power to idealized versions of his friends. That's why he will never be right.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

If a character pulls something out of their ass that hasn't happened yet, expect it to be a blatant tease of the next patch.

[Powerogue]

I don't think they'd foreshadow that twice in a row and not go that direction. Jaina's remark "Sylvanas will kill you for this, and may not stop with you" on reflection was likely also foreshadowing.

The only "being wrong" that's Thrall's thing is him admitting to making a lot of mistakes. Which is good, we can have humble, depowered, but still cool Thrall rather than Green Jesus.

[Motso]

Well, Thrall has been constantly wrong about pretty much every decision he made since Wrath with one shining moment in Cataclysm. I don't expect him to suddenly be a decent character again after 10 years of being sappy/cowardly/weak/wrong. Thrall's story is one of the ones that has been butchered the most by WoW.



Neither are any of the writers at Blizzard tbh. Blizzard makes fun games, but their writing really leaves something to be desired.

Yeah fair cop I was a tad more hostile than I should have been there.

[Phasma]

"Welcome to Orgrimmar!" Thrall, we're in Desolace, come on man.

[Kyphael]

Well it's not hard to be judgmental when the person currently occupying the seat of power you once possessed is a warmongering monster.

[azkhane]

Horde have no naval force remaining, the last ones are impaled in nazjatar so a attack on sw is not gonna happen, the only target in reach for sylvanas is thunder bluff, so this time thrall is correct

[Muajin76]

I think Thrall's story needs better writing than what they are giving him. That's just me.
Could be that the spirits just don't care to talk to him anymore or he's going through a major mid-life crisis

[Irian]

No, I think overanalyzing a story far more than Blizzard ever intended it too is the playerbase's thing.

Modern WoW doesn't get really deep or complex. It tries to pretend to be complex, but the actual story beats and themes are incredibly one-note and simple. Thrall said that because either that's going to happen or the game wants you to also believe that's going to happen.

There's really not anything more to it than that and Blizzard doesn't expect players to consider it super deeply. If you're ever at the point where you're focusing on the deep inner-workings of these characters, stop yourself and realize that Blizzard is writing this story in such a simplistic way that nobody could possibly misunderstand it.

[Kagehiro]

I recommend listening to Chris Metzen's appearance on the frogpants podcast. A lot of Thrall's overall arc, apparently, have some pretty direct connections to then-current happenings in Metzen's personal life.