It’s no secret that quite a few players see Baine as kind of lame. I think a big reason for this is that he is typically depicted as a victim, as someone we have to rescue. It’s hard to be impressed by the damsel in distress, you know?
And then we hear about this AU Baine who tore Garrosh apart with his bare hands, and pretty much every Horde player said, “Give us that guy.”
And Blizzard should. If Baine is that badass, show us. Have him do something ridiculously impressive.
I think it’s already too late for that.
I mean the pre-event with the scourge invasion would be an ideal time to let Baine go ‘all out’ against large numbers of mindless undead. Show him leading from the front or … something to show that he is at least a capable fighter.
Baine reminds me of WH40k Vulkan.
Pulling his punches despite great personal strength far, far beyond the point where it would be justified. Even winds up captured by a psychopath.
…wonder if Baine is a perpetual.
He had a decent showing in Mulgore during a quest chain, against some Grimtotem. Basically goes “It took the Crone’s treachery and the fury of Hellscream to kill my father, what chance do you have?” And then proceeds to stomp them.
Baine Bloodhoof says: It took a coward’s poison and the fury of Hellscream to bring my father down.
Baine Bloodhoof says: WHAT CHANCE HAVE YOU?
Baine knocks back the non-elite Grimtotems, killing them instantly, also knocking back Orno then finish him shortly after.
Orno Grimtotem says: This isn’t over, Baine…
Orno dies.
Baine Bloodhoof says: It is for you.
From the quest “War Dance”. Seems like it’s just gone downhill since then.
Kind of?
Accurate.
Vulkan isn’t a traitor.
And then he sent his testi…horn to Anduin…
It’s a nice quest chain but it came out close to 10 years ago, and is basically only experienced by Tauren players who go through the quest chains of Mulgore. Which is an ever shrinking number due to most of the Mulgore Quest chains not being that much different from the Vanilla ones, and exp gains being such that most people don’t go through the entire Mulgore zone before heading out.
Once Shadowlands hits, I don’t think any new players will ever even see that quest.
What if we paired him with a Grimtotem female.
She could give us the balance in fierceness that Baine lacks.
I dunno. I remember how quickly fans changed their tune on Jaina, for example, when Blizzard had her become more militant. It’s like when a wrestler does a heel/face turn and suddenly the fans that booed him for years are naming their kids after him.
If you show Baine doing something unequivocally badass and specifically for the Horde, possibly while yelling, “For the Horde!” I bet you could change a lot of opinions about him.
Including mine. I’m kind of shallow.
Right?
A little emotional catharsis goes a very long way. I remember when Rodgers first showed up at the start of MoP, and despite spouting off things that were factually incorrect, it was like a glass of cool water to a starving man in a desert for an Alliance experience that had been dominated by defeatism and failure through Cata questing.
Similarly with Sylvanas’s “For the Horde” moment. In that moment. Before she made it awkward.
We’ll deconstruct everything down to a useless slurry on these forums soon enough, but a bit of pro-wrestler shouting and flag waving gets some milage.
I LOLed, but then wept a little inside.
Because I loved that moment when the trailer first dropped. Her battlecry, the way Saurfang rallied, the Alliance countercharge, the two sides impacting head-on…it was just what most of us wanted in a faction war.
And then we got BfA. And apparently Sylvanas was faking. And so was Saurfang. And Anduin didn’t really mean it, either.
There were talks of Baine’s involvement in Mulgore’s defense during Cataclysm and the potential Barrens Warfront during BFA.
Blizzard followed through on neither of them. I don’t know if it’s born from a fear of making Baine too aggressive in a narrative where they want to push for peace, or Blizzard just doesn’t know what the hell to do with the tauren. Personally, I think the idea that characters like Anduin and Baine can’t be vying for peace while simultaneously being willing to participate in the war is stupid. The two shouldn’t be so mutually exclusive.
For comparison, I cheered when she said “The Horde is Nothing!” and then got very confused when I was later told that this was supposed to be ???a bad thing to say???
In fairness to Baine, it’s pretty clear that the whole reason he is even involved in BFA is because he knows the Allaince is planning a war of extermination after what happened to Teldrassil.
I’d bet narritively if the Alliance responded with wanting Sylvanas’ head and the return of the NE lands in exchange for not doing so, that every leader but Gallywix would have agreed hands down.
It’s too late. The Anduinification has spread too far. Baine…Must…Be…Purged.
Baine should have been the unapologetic Pro-Horde but also Pro-Peace counterpart to Anduin which would have played well with their notorious friendship and would have given some drama to the narrative.
I really think Blizzard doesn’t know how to write the Horde characters with teeth anymore. The ending Horde cinematic of BfA with all of the super-best-friends standing in a circle reminds me of the Carebears. Not the pejorative PvP term. The actual literal show from the 80s.
The solution is simple to me.
Just bring Cairne back in Shadowlands and have him lead the Tauren again.
Exactly. Nobody cares that Baine wants peace. Nobody cares that Baine is friends with Jaina/Anduin.
What ticks players off is that’s all his character is these days outside of some of the Highmountain stuff. He can’t even be mad when his damn people are getting slaughtered by his fwends.
No thanks, I’ve seen what happen when blizzard gets their hands on universally beloved characters Eyes Saurfang up and down
Whoever wrote Saurfang in BFA didn’t understand what drew players to him in Vanilla and why Wrath made him such a good character.