I’m failing to see how either of those characters are Mary-Sues. Calia is just bland, Alliance coded, and ill-suited to the Faction she has been thrust upon. Aggra is just a quintessential mag’har (Outland) shaman.
Metzen is here to try to make it look hype and ideally try to make it feel more Warcraft. Optimistically, because blizzard already cares so little about consistency, A LOT of decisions could simply be changed by the same rule of cool logic used to overturn what existed in the first place and get us back to somewhere interesting.
But he can’t like, magically fix dumb decisions like Night Elves tolerating Darkfallen, the Void Elves place in the Alliance or whatnot, because they ended up tying it into mechanics of customization and player races. For the same reason why if Jaina wouldn’t have attacked the Sunreavers, some other decision would come up in the writing to keep the belves Horde lol.
Lets be honest, even the whole power balance issue is only an issue to us because we want the world to be consistent. They don’t, so they don’t care, because blizzard does not perceive armies or characters by powers in any defining concrete way, they perceive them as “what is convenient to this moment” and such.
IN ALL FAIRNESS, Thrall always has the narrative excuse that shamans dont work in lore like they do in-game and that even he gets told no pretty often when he requests the Elements for something.
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That’s fair.
Calia:
Because Calia was presented as a big character to be a part of the Forsaken’s lore, yet as many players have pointed out — Doesn’t really carry all to much weight in her story and had a rather lack-luster introduction … And like you said yourself, Alliance coded – Putting her flawlessly into the Horde as an apparent Forsaken lead-figure just feels out of place.
Aggra:
Because she lacks much nuance and flaws …
People tend to think those are bad traits for interesting characters to have, but in all honesty they make characters relatable by how they either surpass those flaws, carry on with them or learn from them to become greater or use them as a lesson to do extraordinary feats.
I mean it’s consistent in the regard that the Alliance tend to have strong characters / races in several major cosmic playing fields, whereas the Horde have little to none in the same comparison – for several expansions in a row …
The whole “What’s convenient in this moment” – just seems to be “All the time, always” lately.
When an opportunity that’s convenient arrives to present the contrast & balance the scales a bit – Unless it’s a villain, they simply skip it or go hand the reins over to an Alliance theme, race or character to have yet again 
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Still not seeing how any of that = Mary Sue. Calia has done virtually nothing beyond be a go-between for Gilneas and us/Voss. Aggra could be if mishandled, but she hasn’t done anything yet.
Honestly not sure I would classify too many characters in WoW as a Mary Sue, apart from Jaina at her worst (like the Siege of Lordaeron).
You contradicted yourself there, by stating they’re not a Mary Sue then detailed precisely HOW they’re a Mary sue…
A ‘Mary Sue’ is generally a description given to a type of fictional female character who is usually portrayed as a one who is typically & unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses.
Hence my statement:
Anyway, I’d say they each both fit the term rather well 
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Nothing I said describes a Mary Sue. Neither of them have exhibited any behavior that rises to the level of unflawed, perfect characters who cannot be challenged because of how flawless and perfect they are.
Calia, with great effort, conjured a light shield to walk through the blight. Then she talked to Genn and Tess. She is an ill-conceived character, little more than a contrived plotpoint in a larger narrative that was probably largely abandoned. Aggra has only ever been shown to be a good mom and competent shaman.
I’m pretty sure Calia was absolutely meant to be that but got shelved after the Forsaken gag reflex kicked in. I worry that Aggra could become that going forward, because I think some element of the characterization is being written to spite the Old Guard instead of trying to tell the best story they can.
I am very aware of the fact that the background lore says these things. Malfurion in the totality of lore could take over the world not with flashy big lightning bolts but just killing people while sleeping across the globe because that’s how he killed Xavius the first time, and he had specialized senses to at least fight back against Malfurion lol.
The overpowered characters and races would be a problem if anyone but Jaina actually used their powers. She gets the best treatment, and even she still gets forced into plot stupidity when it’s convenient, like sending the entire fleet of Kul Tiras after Nathanos like single ship when she herself could just fly in and freeze it rofl.
I agree that it is an issue. But it’s an issue we don’t feel the meaningful effects of usually because WoW doesn’t write consistency in that cabinet and every character could do anything desired by plot with no answer. Cata has the most hilarious examples of this, like that Orc Caravan Driver who can kill an Ancient just by throwing his axe at him LMAO.
Alliance players have the frustration of having overpowered characters hamstrung because they’re too OP and otherwise have nothing going on in their worldbuilding outside of them because the faction exists to be reactionary and half of their roster will go neutral if blizz wants it for their story. Horde has the problem of reflecting more of the occasional nuance actually found in classic and having a community who has two wildly different fantasies and trying to appeal to both, so they’re constantly swung between simultaneously being the underdogs and the invaders when you REALLY CANT BE BOTH LMAO.
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I honestly think that had more to do with the devs than any supposed fanbase camps.
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Might be RPer community bias, there are genuinely so many people who actually just cannot help but try to go crazy on the violent side of the Horde and are only upset that they don’t look justified in doing it, not that they did it.
It’s why Horde communities seem to always break apart on MG lmao. Some are just glorified neutrals, others are just Garrosh again.
Horde always gives me proper sword and sorcery vibes.
I don’t think you’re going to fix the culture until all of kalimdor gets an overhaul though.
Tauren are perpetually neglected, and while the darkspear did get some genuine love with their heritage quest; I wouldn’t mind if the zandalari added onto the harbor in Azshara to create an actual harborage.
Even in the current time it’s still feels like the horde is orc centered, When in reality, it really should be a mixed unit army that is struggling to incorporate and depend upon each other’s tactics in wartime, And struggling to maintain diplomatic pacts during peacetime.
We very much are still the orcish horde, despite being six races in now.
… I really want a clarified fate on the bloodtotem too.
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No I absolutely hate the idea of Strath as a hub, absolutely not.
I want a barber in SMC, I want Midnight to be world of elfcraft as was promised, not “one side gets elf content, the other gets MHP who will overshadow the elves anyway by endgame”.
IMO the coastal villages (Goldenmist, Windrunner and Shalandis) might make sense as hubs for questing in the southern forest if they sacrifice Tranquilien in story
Also and I will always say this, people who took “reunite the scattered elven tribes of Azeroth” to mean we’re carving spheres of influence in Quel’thalas and treating the local elves as client states are not only missing the point but going so far against it that I don’t think they actually like the blood or high elves so much as the memory of the memory of the factions.
One side already owns and holds Quel’Thalas … It’s the Horde.
Additionally, giving half of it — or a major significant stronghold within it, over to the Alliance can still give rise a MHP or more likely some other Alliance character (Cough - Alleria / Vereesa - Cough) to overshadow everyone & everything else by endgame anyway.
- Honestly would NOT be surprised if Blizzard showcases the story with the Alliance in such a way that they push the Horde elf characters out the way like the obnoxious fat kid on their way to the buffet table; with the Horde only getting minor story elements “See, they’re involved! Stop complaining!” and then give all the best rising moments, shine & glory over to the Alliance elven heroes.
Such is the reason as to why a lot of Horde and Blood Elf players – whilst naturally holding excitement and gratitude that the game is seeing a reprisal of Quel’Thalas — are ultimately rather worried about the coming expansion of Midnight …
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It’s the blood elves, actually, Quel’thalas isn’t an orcish client state and will do what it wants.
There will not be split hubs in Midnight.
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I mean, there have been two seperate instances where the blood elves have mused about rejoining the Alliance because a warchief had to war, so…
Really, it’s only a matter of time.
Faction loyalties of the blood elves have always been about what was expedient for the goal of survival.
Reunification of the scattered elven tribes of Azeroth means no split hubs, no “MHP and friends” for the alliance side, and no carving out spheres of influence like this was the late Qing.
The main hub will likely be SMC, if not it will be another major town in Eversong Forest.
It’s grotesquely disingenuous to state that Quel’Thalas — along with Silvermoon – isn’t Horde territory at this point in time.
Stating otherwise is just some hardcore headcanon of denial & copium.
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I am coping significantly less than the handful of people who interpret “reunification of the scattered elven tribes of Azeroth” as meaning we’re going to have spheres of influence to keep the factions segregated in Quel’thalas. It’s a profoundly ridiculous position to take.
Also if anything the tacit unification of Suramar and Quel’thalas and the effective formation of joint organizations over much of the broken isles in the islands lorebook shows an emboldened diplomatic position where the elves are capable of working for their interests beyond the factions
Like I’m not even talking about Bel’ameth-like Silvermoon in terms of “let alliance in” but in terms of feeling that the factions are a straightjacket and having some groups be able to function in a way that transcends the factions is unequivocally good actually.
At this very moment, sure.
But we’re not discussing right now. We’re discussing the time when a whole expansion is taking place in that region. We’re talking about a time we already know involves some Unity Elf Party shenanigans, where all the every elf from both sides of the faction divide gets together to help.
In that scenario, Quel’thelas isn’t going to be “Horde territory” because we’re all invited to come and kill 100 void boars to help reclaim the area. In that scenario, Quel’thelas is clearly going to be “elf territory” that the Horde and Alliance are helping to clear, under the guidance of our local elf allies.
That’s just the expansion we’re getting, not one where we’re dividied again.