Draka is a stupid choice to try to make important in Shadowlands

[Raziel1258]

a bit unrelated and kind of a spoiler, you learn of this pretty early in Maldraxxus, but why the hell did they put Krexus in the loading screen AND made a cinematic model for him, just to kill him off in the middle of the zone? What the fuck was that?

Well you sort of have sire Denathrius on loading screen and he will be dead in few weeks (from gameplay perspective) and lorewise next patch

[Dalheim]

She was a frostwolf Orc. They were all dedicated to war at that time of the Horde.

They werent part of the Horde when she died. They were exiled once they arrived on Azeroth and lived fairly peacefully within the Alterac Valley.

[Thage]

Wasn't there a rumor that they planned the role for Garona, and only went for Draka when they realized Garona isn't dead?

That was probably me, and it's entirely conjecture on my end based on a gut feeling supported by Draka's sudden switch from warrior to a rogue/scout/spymaster archetype.

edit: Also, I don't mind Draka as their choice, I do mind that they just drop her in our laps a certified multiclassed badass, having already gone through her retraining and being Krexus's Number Two, apparent sole survivor of the House of Eyes. It would have made a more compelling arc for her to have been someone lower-ranked who survived and joined Krexus to continue her training and seek vengeance/justice for her House, coming into her own and growing/developing as a character. There's not a whole lot of room for her to develop as a person or to build her skills up when she's already one of the top dogs in Maldraxxus who is the supposed lynchpin of how to save the Necrolords.

[Arrashi]

That was probably me, and it's entirely conjecture on my end based on a gut feeling supported by Draka's sudden switch from warrior to a rogue/scout/spymaster archetype.

Honestly if garona just died after choking with pretzel the story would be much better.

[Eosia]

They werent part of the Horde when she died. They were exiled once they arrived on Azeroth and lived fairly peacefully within the Alterac Valley.

But that was a sliver of her life. Keep in mind the Arbiter sees a soul's entire existence and judges based on that. The other thing to note is that she died defending her son.

[Thage]

Probably meant Cairne. I don't think Maldraxxus would be where Varian ended up. He wasn't dedicated to war and combat. He was just a warrior that lead his people in a time of war.

You don't need to be dedicated to war to end up in Maldraxxus, only that you feel most fulfilled in battle. The Frostwolves loved a good fight as much as anyone else, and given what little we know of Draka from Rise of the Horde, she would feel most fulfilled in battle as a form of self-affirmation, that she grew out of the sickly child she once was.

[Maljinwo]

a bit unrelated and kind of a spoiler, you learn of this pretty early in Maldraxxus, but why the hell did they put Krexus in the loading screen AND made a cinematic model for him, just to kill him off in the middle of the zone? What the fuck was that?

Because they need to show off how dependable and stronk she is by throwing other people under the bus

[Shedaar]

For all we know Krexus might still come back
I treat Draka not as Draka but as a female Maldraxxi NPC quest giver

[Lord Pebbleton]

I haven't met her yet, but I sincerely hope she isn't voiced by the lady that does EVERY SINGLE female orc voice for once.

[Beuargh]

Because the identity and fate of the Primus is a mystery plot-point of Shadowlands, and the loading screen needed a marquee and powerful person to stand in for the Primus due to his missing status - Krexus is the most powerful protagonist NPC in Maldraxxus, and so seemingly fit the bill.

Krexus was "bested" by Vyraz. talking about the most powerfull protagonist NPC in Maldraxxus....

[Aucald]

Krexus was "bested" by Vyraz. talking about the most powerfull protagonist NPC in Maldraxxus....

Krexus was assassinated by Vyraz, someone he trusted that betrayed him - but Krexus was chosen as Margrave and the Necrolords are a pretty strict meritocracy, so the only way Vyraz could attempt to take over would be by underhanded means.

[Orby]

Should have put Lady Vashj in her place, the chemistry between my character and her obtains way more emotion and interest, with having actual met before in life, so there is a sense of fixation and tension there. Draka on the other hand is known for being Thralls dead mom. They couldn't even make her interesting in WoD. :P

Respect the attempt though but all through my playthrough of Maldraxxis I couldn't tell you much about her other than "me orc, me grrr". I can tell you more about that absent minded alchemist I helped over Draka lol. :P

Guess we'll see how far she establishes herself though as the expansion goes on.

[Al Gorefiend]

Because Thrall is back, everyone already knows about his father so it's a good time to explore his mother's character as well.

Also because if they didn't use Draka then every prominent lore figure in Shadowlands would be a human or an elf.

Always laughed how Blizzard acknowledged "orc-fatigue" in MoP-WoD to an elf-only hero class, 2 new elf races, sylvanas the dead elf vs tyrande the alive elf as we visit such locations as Suramar and Zin-Azshari one after the other.

Lol

[Eazy]

She's Rey of WoW(but less Mary Sue).

Trying to be cool and awesome, but no one gives a shit about her.

[Sonicstorm]

Maby she was put there to chain a story with her son... Thrall...
You know... Developing more the story... Helping him regaining his powers back...

[Fistfighter]

Why would Thralls presence in SL need to be justified?

He is one of the highest ranking hordes if not the highest ranking orc alive. He has been an off/on main character in warcraft since wc3. We have seen him and his parents in movie. His accomplishments are the stuff of legend.

Why are people acting like he is a has been? Isnt it just to justify you hating on wow lore?

Because Thrall already had about 12 full storyarch conclusions. The character is already completly dried of any potential, each time they drag him out of literal retirement just to have a familiar name on the roster. The dude retired like 6 times already, just let him be, he cannot do anything interesting anymore, he's done it all already.

[DemonHunter18]

Draka calling us mortals smh.

[Claymore]

Maby she was put there to chain a story with her son... Thrall...
You know... Developing more the story... Helping him regaining his powers back...

Thrall already got to meet his mother once. I think you're probably right, that's there INTENTION for her, but I also think that it is... well, problematic and a tad irresponsible, on top of just being a waste of potential.

First off, Draka is a nobody. She was a nobody in OUR universe (in Rise of the Horde, she's not even some particularly noteworthy warrior), and she was equally unimportant in the Alternate timeline. That doesn't make her "bad", but she's ultimately not important, and in an expansion where were are delving into the literal afterlife of Warcraft, we should ONLY be interacting with People of Great Interest.

Orgrim, Grom, Broxidar, Lothar -- there are countless choices that would've been EXCITING choices to see! And yet somehow, Draka is the ONLY one that makes the cut? And again, given that she magically became a Rogue in the animated short, I also believe she was intended to be Garona.

The "problematic" part is that Thrall, who has already lived a pretty full life and dealt with so many trials and met so many people, the idea that it's going to take his mother -- who was NEVER a part of his life -- to "fix him" is kind of a shitty message, imo. It's the same problem I had with Jaina's storyline in BFA; I think it was great seeing how vulnerable Jaina was around her mother, but I think it would've been much more meaningful for Jaina to have to deal with the fact her mother doesn't love her, rather than "oh Jaina just has to win her over, and everything's peachy!".

Just my two cents.

[Dalheim]

I haven't met her yet, but I sincerely hope she isn't voiced by the lady that does EVERY SINGLE female orc voice for once.

Draka is voiced by Lenore Andriel - who voiced her in Warlords of Draenor.

She's not voiced by Lani Minella, who voices Zaela and other female orcs in general.

[TheVaryag]

Honestly, this is just so, so baffling to me. Draka has fuck-all to do with anything or anyone. Nobody cares about Draka, nobody WANTS to get to know her. She is utterly meaningless and unimportant to the lore.

Trying to make her into some major player in the Lore is just a dumb move.

My personal pick would have been having the Four Horsemen be our "guides" into each of the four new Covenants, as that seems a lot more thematically appropriate. But hey, aside from looking super weird and blue, seeing Uther again could be exciting. A good Maldraxxus counterpoint to that, in my opinion, would've been Alexandros Mograine. He would've had far more to offer the story, and brings a reputation with him all the same.

Or hell, if they really wanted an Orc, why not Orgrim Doomhammer? Hell, his name is practically a perfect fit for a "Necrolord". I could also see Grom Hellscream (which admittedly, I'd be excited for, if only to hear his WoD VA pick the mantle back up).

Draka is just SUCH a weird choice, I can't possibly imagine what they hope to achieve, other than some forced "mother-son moments" with Thrall at some point.

Eh... I dunno. Just seems like a wasted opportunity, and I have zero interest in "learning more about her plight".

Still waiting for Blizz to explain why she ain't a skeleton or big buff dudet like the other Necrolords, and where's Durotan. Isn't she curious about that too, what -did- they tell her of Durotan's fate? Or even Go'el, does she feel the need to rebel and runaway from the Shadowlands to find her son? Can she even do that and survive without being outside of the Shadowlands for too long? Or maybe she can and just needs to feed on anima like a weird Death Knight... THAT would be interesting to find out.

But for that, we'd need actually good writers for Blizzard. And until their "Gameplay first, Story second" mantra ends, we can't do shiz about it story SHOULD BE FIRST, with the rest of the games elements surrounding it like a sun. You build the game around the story and it can grow naturally, but nobody told Blizzard and clearly Steve Deneuser or Chris Metzen never heard of World building or story telling beyond their lil' Blizzard bubble.