He’s a big guy.
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Wouldn’t be the first time blizzard has ruined a character that fans of a certain race or faction liked.
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To be clear, I never got the train of thought that Baine is some terrible character that’s godawful, and my first real interaction with him, outside of WC3 of course, was his moment in Mulgore’s questing when he stomps a bunch of Grimtotem effortlessly in this moment of anger - so I’m a bit biased on my conclusions of him because I largely enjoy Baine.
But, effectively he has the same issue that Lor’themar gets at (a lot of) times, or really any faction leader that Blizzard don’t want to specifically shine a light on - he’s largely irrelevant. And that’s worse for a character like Baine who’s supposed to, in a good writing setting, be a stalwart defender of not only his people but justice on a whole. It’s cool and all that he says he’s for the right thing, no matter who it be for or against, but it doesn’t hit to the fullest extent when we don’t see him actively show that through actions or battle.
And I mean, Blizz tried to do that a bit in BFA with him releasing Proudmoore, but it sort of felt like a too little too late kind of thing seeing as how Sylvanas had already burned down the Night Elf civilization over at Teldrassil to thunderous applause. I’ve been of the mind that on top of releasing Derek, he shouldn’t have just let himself be arrested, and outwardly called for Mak’gora on Sylvanas. Either she accepts and lets him live to keep up appearances of sorts, then arresting him - or she declines because it’s “a silly orc tradition” or something, and he fights off his would be captors for as long as he could before being defeated. Something that shows he’s willing to back up his intentions with his own fight.
To be honest, I truly don’t think he actually needs much. This forum just overblows certain things, at least imo, and Baine is certainly one of them.
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I dunno, I felt kinda done with him even before BFA. Any “badass” moments they try with him now are just going to come off like a Lilian Voss-esque character whiplash effect. I don’t care what they do; I’ll never be happy seeing him on-screen.
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This x1000. I always get a little unreasonably annoyed when he is brought front and center. Look at the Vulpera recruitment quest…it’s like Blizzard takes perverse joy in making him as whiny and insufferable as possible. They know what they’re doing.
Also as a long-time Forsaken player the forced “help Baine murder Forsaken and Dark Rangers to save Jaina’s brother” basically ruined the character for all time for me, I will never like him after that. He disgusts me on a personal level. Even if Sylvanas was wrong, they should have written that entire scenario differently.
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Agreed.
They had the full expansion to try and do something interesting with him, but didn’t. They had him in Zandalar from the beginning (standing by the quest zone map), and all he did was give out a single quest. He did nothing in BoD up until the funeral. Finally, once he’s released, he stays in Thunder Bluff instead of confronting Sylvanas in Orgrimmar. (The cherry on top of all of this is his first Horde leader moments being a prop in Anduin’s cinematic and getting outplayed by Kiro in the Vulpera scenario).
The absence in Org is particularly egregious. I’m inclined to believe that it’s because they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) render a tauren for their cinematic, but it’s still pretty damning that he wasn’t present for even the questing portion of it. He should have been there, but simply wasn’t.
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I’m in this boat. He’d have to murder Anduin for me to believe he’s anything other than Anduin’s puppet, regardless of whatever (never, ever alliance. baine would never lay a hand against them.) enemies he tears apart with his impressive strength.
I’ve never thought Baine wasn’t able to do amazing feats. My issue is how he sold his people out for Anduin during Cataclysm.
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Oh now I know what I want for Christmas! 
I can’t wait to see how Baine reacts when Derek finally kills Jaina. Maybe he will do something fierce then.
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And everyone told me I was wrong when I said that trailer wasn’t canon.
Ah, another thread berating Baine for being a model Horde citizen.
How new and original. 
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You’re more of a Model Horde Citizen, than Baine could ever be, Since you’re at least willing to kill your enemies/ rivals
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I suppose, but at that point he’d basically be a brand-new character wearing Baine’s skin.
Then again, that’s what they did with Lillian Voss, and people seem to love nuVoss, so maybe you’re right.
In my defense, I’ve always loved Voss.
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Big Baller…
Mulgore hasn’t been touched by the Alliance. Only thing I remember is a Dwarf dig site but the dwarves were all killed.
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Not for lack of trying. Cata had the Alliance sieging Mulgore, and they wiped out both Tauren towns just outside of Mulgore.
Plus weren’t the Grimtotem attacking Mulgore backed by the Alliance?
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My memory is fuzzy, as I thought the alliance were stopped in the barrens just outside of mulgore, with the great gate going up after taurajo (baine Built The Wall). i also thought the grimtotem tried to receive backing from garrosh, who denied it once he found out that his victory over cairne had not been fair. in fact i thought jaina helped baine?
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But who could forget his unforgettable role in the 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth intro. Where he has that iconic line, “…”.
Truly a dynamic character.
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The Alliance(specifically Jaina) has probably done more to keep Thunderbluff under Baine’s control then the Horde proper. Dont forget Jaina gave him the funds needed to retake TB.
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Seriously. I got the distinct feeling Blizzard didn’t want me to play the rebel storyline on a Forsaken toon.
Whole thing just felt surreal, especially the Derek Proudmoore boat quest. Taking the free will of an undead is the highest crime in Forsaken society, with True Death being the punishment.
So all these Forsaken were just cool with that? Finding out the Banshee Queen violated the only thing they consider sacred caused them no feelings of doubt or internal conflict? You’d think even a completely evil, utterly self serving Forsaken would at least go,
“Hmm. Well if she’ll do that to him, what’s stopping her from doing it to me?”
And what really grinds my gears is Slyvanas had enlisted the San’Layn. Easily could’ve been them on that boat. Them being thumbs up for that makes sense they’re Scourge. Plus you wouldn’t have the asinine tone where Baine will rant about honor but do nothing if you kill unarmed, cowering Forsaken deckhands begging for their lives.
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