That’s why I said bootleg Thanos, meaning inferior to the original, and not Thanos ripoff, copy and pasted.
We are entering the final chapter of the story and all we know about Zovaal is that he’s evil and that he was originally the Arbiter but we don’t even know to what extent that means.
I can only wonder if Blizzard thinks they’ve got a “lore bomb” up their sleeve like the Titan Argus for Shadowlands, but here’s the thing - that worked because we were hyped for Sargeras so the switch-a-roo worked. We aren’t invested in Zovaal enough at this point. They’ve really done a poor job hyping him up.
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I don’t know when Blizzard decided what in terms of the story arc, but character development takes time. I’m not sure any time would’ve felt sufficient when compared with how long we’ve dealt with the Legion and the Old Gods. Killing off a decade’s worth of antagonism and trying to shift gears is quite the tall task.
They basically gave him that intention in end game, which is why I think infinity war is far superior. They destroyed and interesting villain with an interesting goal.
It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t have both. We didn’t really get any antagonists that would could engage with or relate to in Cataclysm, and I say that as someone who legitimately enjoyed that expansion more than most others.
At the very least, if they were going to give us that primal beast to conquer, at least reveal his downward spiral in the story, whether we experience it during the course of the expansion, or if it’s revealed during some sort of flashbacks or through interactions with someone that was close to him and witnessed his de-evolution.
IIRC, we were supposed to get a storyline where he was more composed, but he fought Alex and got wounded and went berserk over it, but I don’t know if they didn’t want to emasculate him, felt that would be too repetitive compared to WOTLK (Wrathgate and Arthas “licking his wounds” the entire expansion), or some other reason, but it definitely seems like something got lost by having him not show up in his own expansion.
Personally, I’ve always found it a bit odd that the bad guy seems to rarely show up in their own story in many of these expansions. I think that’s why Gul’dan and Garrosh resonated with players so much - we interacted with them on some level and built up to their fights, they weren’t just skulking in the Shadows. The same could actually be said about Denatharius - we actually appear in his court, try to win his favor, learn he has betrayed us and tries to kill us. Zovaal has basically not interfaced with us at all, he’s way, WAY too distant when he really shouldn’t be. Sargeras could pull that off because he had two decades worth of lore behind him, but it doesn’t work for Zovaal.
“Worked for Disney, will work for us” i suppose.
Happens when you write material based on market research and not by passion for the art.
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Now the only thing I want in this world is a villain with a squeeky falsetto voice. Perhaps an evil chipmunk, former resident of Darnassus, burnt and disfigured from the fires…
(Hire me now for the full story!)
If you think about it, Thanos was just a bootleg Voldemort.
Everything* is derivative, the MCU isn’t that original.
*not everything. But most pop culture.
Well done sir!
As for the OP, the concept of an expansion without some central evil to fight against would be chalked up as “Blizzard has no more story to tell” by the playerbase.
Rohkthok would rather have Blizzard sell to Disney than sell it to WB or other companies.
At least Rohkthok will enjoy Warcraft Cinematic Universe, which Blizzard should just do at this point.
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They wish they were Thanos. Have you seen one of them having their own personal helicopter?
Going back to last expansion with N’Zoth, another world ender, let me explain just how they got that wrong. So he’s basically H.P. Lovecrafts elder god Azathoth, and the thing about Azathoth is that if he is ever summoned, like ever our world will end. The Call of Cthulhu game often had you chasing down his cultists in order to stop those shenanigans from occurring. Putting something like that in the world and then having you fight it is just about the stupidest thing imaginable. The entire point of something that intensely alien is that mortals can’t comprehend it let alone affect it in any way.
And the Thanos thing, it was done before him, but I feel like they drew from him specifically just like I feel the burning tree was after that GoT Red Wedding Dollar. I wish WoW would just be WoW instead of “this other thing is really popular, let’s shoehorn in something like that!”
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Exactly. Thanatos was the god of death in ancient Greece. I guess removing one syllable makes the Disney villian original?
It’s weird that people think that there’s much original in superhero stuff. Heck, they don’t even try to hide it. If you take a few hours/days of your life to read up on Greek myths, you’ll know where 90% of the Marvel stuff came from.
Corporate entertainment counts on you being unread and uneducated. Either be quiet like good little boys and girls and get spoon-fed your medicine, or maybe pick up a book every once in a while.
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Gotta get the factions motivated to save the planet they live on and stop fighting amongst ourselves. Because everyone knows it would get boring if the Big Bad was always the other faction.
Same, my friend. 
I would gladly do this over what’s happening in Shadowlands. 
Loch Modan is one of my favorite places in WoW and the first that really gave me a sense of awe. I’d love to see it restored. Constantly ignoring the obvious problems at home is never a good thing even when you’re the Champion.
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What was that line?
“I’ve planned so many steps ahead, not even the developers know my true goals! Muahahahah!!”
The Jailer doesn’t necessarily want us dead. He made his intentions clear enough that even sylvanas was like hey we never discussed this part nope no sir. He wants us all in chains, on our knees, subservient to him alone. He wants to eradicate free will.
Should the ant know the thoughts of the exterminator?
This is 100% spot-on!
(On a side note, I really need to get that game)
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