It should be the players on the front lines saving the world. And getting all the credit for doing such
Having big name characters being the worlds savior works way better in single player games and books. In MMOs it just takes agency away from the players and many have a hard time being invested in the story when another character is just going to get all the credit anyway
Hm. Come to think of it, I wonder if the story could hit two birds with one stone by having major NPC characters get wounded in story content (showing the strength of the enemy) and survive but have to take a few expacs to recover (allowing other characters to cycle in).
Like if Jaina was visibly injured after her raid boss appearance in BfA, and her absence was noted in later stories (“Why doesn’t Jaina portal an army in/out?” “She wants to help, but she’s unable to maintain such a powerful spell at the moment.” - could have been a better reason for her not to portal Varian out back in Legion) but has to be replaced with another character (Maybe Umbric steps in as the PCs portal jockey for a while, to build up the PCs interactions with him, etc) for a few expansions until Jaina is healed enough to return.
Or if major NPCs can get Tirion-like appearances in the final boss fight, but their actions are more about buffing/aiding the players, and the major character narratively suffer injuries from the fight.
Especially now that the game has that staggering-injured animation from BfA, plus the wonderful advancements in smooth character movements in cinematics from DF, I think it’d be fun to show the major characters striving, suffering, and persevering more, plus giving an in-game, visible to players story reason why that main character won’t be there to solve the problems themselves in the next story. (Please, no more ‘that’s not the story we want to tell’ as the only explanation!)
I like this idea a lot! I like characters like Anduin, Jaina and Thrall well enough but they’re all three getting a bit over used. Anduin deserves some me time to focus on his recovery, and characters like Jaina need to take a back seat from time to time. I love you girl, but you hog anything arcane related and you aren’t nearly as fun as Khadgar. Rommath deserves his time in the sun!
Anduin had every bone in his body broken and he sprung back into action by the end of the expansion. They even gave him magic bones that tell him when something’s wrong.
I don’t think that’s going to work for getting these overused characters out of the story.
Nobody wearing that much lip balm is capable of murder.
My view? They need to have Anduin use the Void again, like in MoP, otherwise he’ll always be a bore.
Speaking of which. I been away form (RL problems) WoW for the past 4 months is it true she was let go?
Yes, likely just due to Microsoft gutting their acquisitions but I’ve seen (fully unsubstantiated) rumors that she and Danuser butted heads with Metzen over the story direction and thats why they got let go.
It feels like the players are only playing therapist since Shadowlands. No longer a hero.
Oh good to know. Despite The Shattering being my favorite books cant say im sad shes gone.
Agreed. Him using Mind Control on Sully was a strong moment. It showed that he has agency and is willing to do anything to achieve his goals. Even if it means mind controlling someone for a few seconds.
Hell this action even had consequences soon afterwards. As he was found by the horde and captured.
You should get a panda-remix character to do the ‘Landfall’ achievement — You can buy a sea cult set for priests when you do so 
Very Tidesage themed 
I read someone post on twitter something to the effect that Anduin should retire and give up rule of Stormwind. That once he gets better decides to be some sort of wandering healer.
Which I personally think is wrong. If anything I think the opposite of what happens to Thrall would be interesting. That Anduin would want something like that. That he would like to be a full time priest but realize he will do more good in the world leading Stormwind and will actually SACRIFICE his happiness for the greater good.
Siddhanduin Wrynntama
Can someone give a summary of the story? I’m really not interested in having to endure Anduin being a mopey sadsack. Was hoping to find good info in this thread but most of it is arguing about the validity of trauma for a fictional character.
Anduin is wandering the world due to being depressed over Shadowlands (mood), stops in Kul’tiras, gets a job as a millhand, meets a friendly local who reaches out to him, friendly local dies because Anduin can’t heal him, Anduin goes ax crazy on the pirates who killed his friend, Anduin leaves Kul’tiras.
that boy ain’t right
Sounds like fertile grounds for Xal’atath to show him how the Light cares little for Goodness which will cause him to have a meltdown especially if the Hallowfall Entity turns out to be as Evil as Xal’atath is.
Learning that Morality has no Cosmic Force backing it will have a severe effect on Anduin’s mind.
Because “Real Men” aren’t supposed to feel. they’re supposed to grit their teeth and start kicking butt.
Acknowledging someone’s PTSD means that you have to acknowledge that you too have a breaking point…someone who is safe behind a monitor, a keyboard, or just a television set may forget.
Having PSTD doesn’t make him a bad character, its just that I don’t think that wandering the world hitchhiker style and going doomslayer on random pirates while entirely avoiding your support structures is a healthy way of dealing with it.