TBC had Illidan and Wrath had Lich King (Arthas). Both of them are probably the most significant lore figures in the entire game, and most popular too. Who exactly does Classic have?
People whining about layers.
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I was trying to think of something clever, but now that I think about it that’s a good question.
Who is the big baddy of Classic?
Thats the exact reason - there was no main story plot - the ‘world of warcraft’ was the game.
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Kel’thuzad, Nefarian/Onyxia, Balnazzar, C’thun
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Kel’Thuzad doesnt really count since he is one of LK’s underlings
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Nefarian, is the cause of all the trouble in Blackrock mountain. and Onxyia in Stormwind.
When Zg comes, Hakkar is trying to reenter the world, ala Sunken temple quests.
AQ comes C’thun becomes the alpha bad guy.
Then Kelthuzad in Naxx
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WoW used characters and concepts from the books and the old games, and it mostly used those characters to let the player interact with the world.
The stories themselves were primitive, but in the long term, they’d lead into larger resolutions such as dungeons and raids.
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the best lore in classic was actually never written, its created by the players, when u get ganked by some people… u see one of them the next day and u get revenge… thats the best kind of lore an mmo can have… or even seeing people another day that u did quests with randomly days before… unwritten lore is the best… each realm is legit creating its own lore
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Pretty sure Illidan trumps random rogue Cooldudesixnine that kept ganking me
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Classic lore isn’t about a big foe in particular, it is about making the world feel like it exists and is moving. As you move from region to region you start to learn more about what is happening to the world without focusing on a main enemy. Then as you proggress you learn more about the deepest secrets, like Onyxia’s trying to destroy the human kingdom from within. Nefarian preparing his forces… and all that. So don’t focus on a main big theme, just the small stories of each region. That is what made WoW special for me. The focus on the small things and slowly developing into big stuff.
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You don’t need a big baddie to make a compelling game. I’d rather have an expansion focus on a dimension of mindless, kill-crazy enemies that you have to defend yourself tooth and nail against than have another cliched story of “Oh noes, we got another big baddie here. One that is even more POWERFUL than the last. Oh noes. What r we gunna doos guyz? Oh, wait a minute. Lets team up and kill him, and then learn absolutely nothing the next week and start being dumb by attacking each other for shallow and frivolous reasons.”
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Classic has a lot, sure it didn’t feel as focused on a core antagonist like the following expansions but it also had to set the stage for the entire world. To this end classic had to represent the core antagonist factions: Twilight Hammer, Black Dragonflight, Elementals, Burning Legion, The Scourge, Troll Tribes, Old Gods, Emerald Nightmare, The Titans, but it had to do it in a way that left each of those factions open ended to build upon with future expansions. I feel this is where WoW Classic succeeded because it didn’t hinge entirely upon a single conflict, we had a huge world and a war on multiple fronts against many enemies and classic lets us engage with all of them in questing, dungeons, and raids (or at least raid bosses).
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Each other.
The Defias. I just can’t seem to get away from those guys.
If your qualifications are raid bosses i guess not many. Overall, most from wc 3 are there. Thrall voljin cairne sylvanas elves, burning legion, scourge.
If you’re in the fantasy books, there are some series which follow the same pattern as Warcraft. Lawrence watt-evans tends to create very large believable worlds and focus his specific stories on relatively small incidents happening in those worlds. Terry Pratchett is similar although he does tend to have Larger than Life characters.
No one big baddie. Lots of baddies in different places.
… ganking is terrible lore.
I would say Onyxia to be honest. Her influence is felt from level one if you’re a human (the defias was indirectly her responsibility) and the base game, patch 1.1, culminates with adventurers outing her and eventually defeating her.
Classic wow is an epic tale of a nobody who rose up to become a dragonslayer. The rest of the patches and bosses are just expanded content.