In terms of actual feats of power, Malfurion from my understanding had no equal. Lately, however, he seems to be only a shell of who he was? At what point did Malfurion get as weak as he currently is?
I don’t see why you think Malfurion has been portrayed as weak at all.
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Character power doesn’t really seem to matter, it’s more like whatever they want to fit the current narrative. So he could still be OP, but in the case of darkshore he had to be nerfed for him to go against Nathanos. Same with Tyrande.
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Well, he’s a lot weaker now than he was in the novels.
Power levels for the entire cast fluctuate wildly depending on what Blizzard wants to happen in the story. It’s always been true for everyone.
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I like this artist’s explanation that Malfurion is basically a senile old archdruid wandering around, not completely aware of his surroundings, and occasionally performing godlike miracles of druidic magic.
http://makanidotdot.tumblr.com/post/179735540251/malfurion-in-my-jainatyrande-shipper-mind-is-just
http://makanidotdot.tumblr.com/post/180201619086/oblivious-senile-malfurion-was-a-wonderful
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Malfurion is not the god you seem to think he is. He didn’t blow up Archimonde, he asked a whole crapton of wisps to detonate Nordrassil by using the Horn of Cenarius, and they selflessly agreed, destroying themselves in the process.
Malfurion was taken down by the mere shade of Xavius.
Maybe your problem is your recollection of what he was and is.
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Back in Vanilla I had a Human Priestess like this. RP’d her as old and senile. Every now and then she’d wander out of the Cathedral of Light and end up following people into some dungeon, just randomly healing people and tossing Power Word: Fortitude on them.
I think the one that got the most laughs was when we were doing Sunken Temple.
“Oh dear… the plumbing in here seems to be ruined. So much water all over the floor. We should really get some Gnomes in here. They love pipes.”
“This reminds me of the time I was in Lordaeron during the Second War. It rained so hard you couldn’t step anywhere without being neck deep in water.” (My friend playing an elderly Paladin who was her friend pointed out she fell into the moat, and that it was a sunny day)
“Now don’t you take that tone with me! I know Uther, and he will give you such a sermon!” (To a Green Dragon, still not sure who or what she thought it was)
“Oh how delightful! The high elves are here for the sermon.” (The large room with seats that had the troll bosses. Just walked right up to the boss and started talking about the Virtue of Respect)
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I’ve never seen any evidence that Malfurion is all that powerful - just evidence that some people thought he was powerful, which is a different thing.
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The World of Warcraft Manual quotes him as “a prophet and savior to his people, greatest druid ever to live, and one of the most powerful beings in history.” Not to mention that as the first mortal druid on Azeroth, he bears a lot of weight in terms of his feats.
However, in terms of OP’s question? Well, since he hasn’t really posted any examples himself, I’ll try to piece together what I think he means.
Two of the latest instances of Malfurion’s involvement are his capture by Xavius and his defeat by Saurfang. Now, Xavius was able to overtake Malfurion because:
A) Malfurion is deeply connected to the Dream, and at the time, Xavius had his mitts deep in that pool. He had basically made all of Malfurion’s assets his own.
B) Cenarius had just been fully corrupted, and possibly lost. As Malfurion’s Shan’do and friend of 10,000 years, this was a devastating blow to him.
Keeping these two things in mind (and as a sidenote, realizing that the whiny “Where are you Tyrande!?” Malfurion was an illusion of Xavius, and the cocky “So says the shadow of Xavius” Malfurion is the real one), let’s look at what he did immediately upon being freed; he drilled directly down into the deeper parts of the Nightmare, and then purified a Wild God of the Nightmare’s influence - neither of which are small feats.
Now in the War of Thorns, Malfurion is taken down from behind by Saurfang’s axe. But up until this, Malfurion proves to be more or less untouchable. It’s only when he faces Sylvanas in combat that Malfurion’s head is turned, leaving him open to a strike from behind.
Sylvanas is a seasoned Ranger-General with thousands of years of experience under her belt, now enhanced by whatever boons being personally raised by Arthas grants her. Saurfang is perhaps one of the greatest warriors of all time, having commanded both the Alliance and Horde in Ahn’Qiraj, most of the Horde in Northrend, and being granted access to the Halls of Valor by Odyn. Both of these characters are powerhouses in their own right, so it would make sense that they would at least be able to hold a candle to Malfurion.
Now look at the scenario. Malfurion and Sylvanas are fighting one on one, and Malfurion is winning. He’s sustained some damage, but he’s got Sylvanas hurting bad and ensnared in roots. Concentrating on her, Saurfang absolutely had an opportunity to strike him down, which he did. What Malfurion fell to was simple, but understandable and deadly.
Is Malfurion weak now? No, I don’t think so. He’s still the same druid who held a storm together in Darkshore and dragged Ragnaros from the Firelands to face death. He’s just meeting some tough competition.
In closing:
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Is the manual non canon?
Power level doesn’t matter when you have to balance things. In my opinion Malfurion should already be dead.
Sometime between Cataclysm and Legion.
I think it’s just he’s portryal in the game. However in Stormrage he pulled of some pretty impressive feats. It painted the picture that he is extremely powerfull. I don’t think he’s been shown the same way in game. Most time you see him he’s in bear form.
The copy I found says, Malfurion Stormrage -The greatest druid ever to live, and arguably one of the most powerful beings in history, Malfurion Stormrage stands as both prophet and savior to his people.
Minor quibble, unless there are different copies.
Why would it be?
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Is it better to have a “nerfed” Malfurion, or an OP super Malfurion they can never use who sits AFK for 10 years while the NEs die?
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Wasn’t it a part of that whole rpg purge?
Well you assume they aren’t going to retool the entire WoW narrative to be about Malfurion, whose just a druid for fun, and his misadventures trying to forestall boredom now that he wins every fight in a single vine-choke.
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I assumed they meant the World of Warcraft: Game Manual, which was the Vanilla manual. Unless they were referencing an RPG manual, then maybe.
The thing is in game events and in the short novel good war don’t match. In game sylvanas doesn’t look like she is winning, she is low but says she had him. In the good war, she actually owns malfurion not just ones either, she countered him over and over and chased him around. She event sent Malfurion flying, which is what surfang heard when he threw the axe.
Word of advice, don’t read to much into the power level of a character. Blizzard does what they want, Thrall was meant to be an OP shaman but blizzard found way to weaken him in mop and wod. When arguably horde needed him the most.
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