Best WoW Villain of the Decade

[Chonar]

Thunder King holds a special, lightning-charged spot in my heart.
Garrosh just because of the long and winding path of cause and effect he took us through, from TBC to WOTLK all the way to Pandaria.
Gul'dan for being an extension of that and the character development "AU Gul'dan" got to set him apart from "MU Gul'dan"

My vote is for a lesser villain in the story that we only got to see during the quest chains in Shadowmoon Valley and (I think) some in Talador during WoD. Soulbinder Nyami, who ultimately appears as a boss in Auchindoun.
<snip>

She certainly took me off guard, and at first I thought "eh just another SURPRISE! heel turn".
But then I played an alt through and I realized just how cleverly written she was.

[MrLachyG]

He also left out villains like Halion (RS), Neferian (Blackwing decent), Cho'gall & Sinestra (Bastion of Twilight), Al'akir (Throne of the four winds), Grand Empress Shek'zeer (HoF), The sha of Fear (ToES), Mar'gok (Highmaul), Xavius (EN), Heyla (ToV), G'huun (Uldir), Rastakhan (for alliance) and Jaina (for horde) in BoD and Uu'nat in CoS.

Honestly I would've included the sha of pride as well. Considering his history.

Like what kind of poll is this :P.

lol I did feel bad about leaving those out but I figured people would mention them in the comments. Which you did!

[Pakheth]

Elisande.

Elisande for the Suramar questline and her resolve to "protect" her people from the Legion.

[Bigbazz]

If you’re gonna argue technicalities the decade didn’t actually start til 2011. So you’re wrong.

By that logic the decade isn't over then, and if we really go all in on this line of thought we can exclude Cataclysm because

1. Cata released in 2010, which by your measure is not part of the current decade

and

2. Despite Dragon Soul launching in 2011 we're apparently basing our views on when the expansion launched, not when the villain became a raid boss... So Death Wing is also excluded?



Of course I completely disagree with you, it's called the 2010's for a reason.. I guess the year 2000 was part of the 90s by your account too?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s

You're welcome.

[TheFirstOnes]

This ain't a tough question to answer. Gul'dan. With literal fucking ease.

[Bodakane]

Mudmug. We have yet to see his whole plan.

[Samsara]

Honestly? Thunder King, Elisande and Azshara, here's why.

Thunder King, in his first life, the guy played all his cards well, his aim was conquest and domination, and he DID, he defeated an august celestial and brought an entire continent to its knees, stole the power of a titan and made ra-den the freaking master his personal battery, he was defeated only by a literal doomsday machine and it's been said that he himself could kick the lich king's (the OG lich king) ass. When he came back, his character stayed the same, he was still the badass warlord who didn't care who he was fighting with, he just kicked ass. The fact that Throne of Thunder and especially Twin Consorts and his own fight were amazing certainly helps.

Elisande, she wasnt really AGAINST us, she just wanted to protect her people from certain annihilation, she looked at all possible futures and was tricked into seeing only doom. Although suramar denounced Azshara's choices and alliances at the war of the ancients, she was forces to make the same exact choice, she was massively powerful with the nightwell at her disposal, but instead of wiping out the army at her doorstep, she froze it, perhaps she had lingering hope, that the legion could actually be stopped. WHen she was defeated, her echo aided in the fight, she was a hopeless wreck, and when we defeated her she realized that the legion could be defeated.

Azshara, the freaking vainglorious, I actually liked her character arc so far, she fucked up and recognized it "this was not the deal I made!" when everything went to shit, she learned quickly, trust no one but herself, so when she made a deal with N'zoth, she had her own agenda. What I like about her that many wont realize is that she has been for 10,000 years, in league with N'zoth and he could'nt mind control her, all her minions were completely fanatic to N'zoth, but she wasnt, even deathwing was made completely insane due to n'zoth's influence, but this Azshara? no, her mind was still her own and she planned to betray nzoth, her most recent mistake was probably pissing us off a little bit too much, but she recognized this and is confident that we will beat n'zoth as well.

[Kyphael]

Yeah his end was satisfying, but if we can have Sylvanas kicking around for 3 expansions we could have had Gul'dan. Nothing said they had to rush out Legion immediately after WoD. Or that Gul'dan couldn't have stuck around until Tomb of Sargeras. Heck he made more sense there than in Suramar.

I don't know if it's his writing that's the difference here so much as it is the fact that his power made sense at least. With Sylvanas everything she does feels like an ass pull after she's been around this long. With Gul'dan everything he did was things we'd seen Warlocks (player or otherwise) do before.

Oh, I agree whole-heartedly, Gul'dan is easily one of, if not Blizzard's best written villains, right up there with The Lich King and Lei-Shen, and I wish we had gotten him longer, but maybe it was for the best. Maybe if they kept him alive, they would have ruined him like they do so many of their characters. He left his stamp in the lore and the poll results show that. If anything, he should have been the final boss of WoD, because he deserved that, still survived and go on to do what he did in Legion.

- - - Updated - - -

Buahaha, Archimonde's such a loser. Touted as so powerful and all he's known for is getting blown up by wisps in main universe, then stumbling out the Dark Portal at the end of WoD and landing on his face. Guy doesn't have a single vote. Poll also shows what people thought of Argus.

[MrLachyG]

By that logic the decade isn't over then, and if we really go all in on this line of thought we can exclude Cataclysm because

1. Cata released in 2010, which by your measure is not part of the current decade

and

2. Despite Dragon Soul launching in 2011 we're apparently basing our views on when the expansion launched, not when the villain became a raid boss... So Death Wing is also excluded?



Of course I completely disagree with you, it's called the 2010's for a reason.. I guess the year 2000 was part of the 90s by your account too?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s

You're welcome.

was there a year 0? no there wasn't. hence the first 10 years were the years 1-10. the 2nd decade started from 11. as for your remark about Cata; yes you are right - it released at the very end of 2010. but the raids which included Ragnaros and Deathwing did not release in 2010; they came in 2011. so they are included for that reason

[Ludvig]

legion's / bfa's class design

[Aresk]

Xavius. Guy basically turned a dragon aspect and two wild gods into his servants. No one else we fought did anything quite as impressive as that.

[Doffen]

Elisande.

Elisande for the Suramar questline and her resolve to "protect" her people from the Legion.

Yeah, shame she isn't in the poll. How to write an elf villain? Look to Elisande. Arrogant, superior, cunning, smug and awesome transmog.

[Jester Joe]

I was going to say Lei Shen at first, but the thread did change my mind. For all of what WoD did, Guldan was great.

From the moment you free him, to the moment Illidan disenchants him.

And the voice actor nailed it, I can still hear his "Drrrink!" that he says to Kilrogg during WoD.

[Micronetic]

As a Villain, Garrosh.

We saw him rise and fall. We saw how hatred took hold of him and how his failures haunt the Horde for years to come

Garrosh did nothing wrong! Leave him alone

Xavius. Guy basically turned a dragon aspect and two wild gods into his servants. No one else we fought did anything quite as impressive as that.

Totally forgot about this bad guy, you're right!

[Gestopft]

I was going to say Lei Shen at first, but the thread did change my mind. For all of what WoD did, Guldan was great.

From the moment you free him, to the moment Illidan disenchants him.

And the voice actor nailed it, I can still hear his "Drrrink!" that he says to Kilrogg during WoD.

I agree with Gul'dan (as a second pick to Azshara for me). And I think Lei Shen is below because his arc just isn't as long. One of my favorite boss moments is still the increasingly frustrated Lei Shen screaming DIEEEEE!!!!!! at us.

[Raamm]

It's definitely me. I genocided the black dragons, elementals, old gods, orcs, some ogres, more orcs, demons, mechagnomes, naga and just yesterday I killed off an entire sentient crab species in Naz'jatar while looking for a "Barnacled Bag".

I am the danger!

[MrLachyG]

It's definitely me. I genocided the black dragons, elementals, old gods, orcs, some ogres, more orcs, demons, mechagnomes, naga and just yesterday I killed off an entire sentient crab species in Naz'jatar while looking for a "Barnacled Bag".

I am the danger!

you're a monster! lol

[gutnbrg]

fck garrosh and fck guldan, the only true answer can be Deathwing...

[Alanar]

Xavius. Guy basically turned a dragon aspect and two wild gods into his servants. No one else we fought did anything quite as impressive as that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YaRPJjOrI4

Hes been such a badass ever since.

Elisande had a good story and I had hopes for her sticking around.

I would have voted Azshara if her story and nazjatar wasn't so underwhelming.

[Bigbazz]

was there a year 0? no there wasn't. hence the first 10 years were the years 1-10. the 2nd decade started from 11. as for your remark about Cata; yes you are right - it released at the very end of 2010. but the raids which included Ragnaros and Deathwing did not release in 2010; they came in 2011. so they are included for that reason

So it's confirmed you think the year 2000 was part of the 90s, someone born in December 2000 in your eyes is a 90s kid and the Beatles disbanded in the 60s. Your logic is a bit nonsensical, because you're deciding that based on something from 2000 years ago we should ignore how decades are actually defined in the real world.

It also means based on your logic this thread should either

A - Still include 2010 (because it's the ten years between 2010-2020, aka the period of 2010 to the end of 2019).
B - Not take place until next year, because the next decade is still over a year away.

Your own logic (that I disagree with) still defeats your own argument by itself.