Zooval; Does Anyone Care?

Lore Story Forum
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More than anything else, Zooval is what makes me lose hope for future installments.

This character was a completely clean slate. No baggage, no expectations, no foreknowledge of his personality, motivations, past or goals. An entirely fresh character this story team could make into whatever they want.

And what did they come up with?

Well, imho, the least interesting villain I have ever seen in this game.

His personality is pretty much non existent. His original look was at least sort of distinct but now he just looks like an anime Draugr. His army is so uninteresting I feel like they’re trying to literally bore me to death.

He honestly feels like a place holder generic fantasy villain they were going to touch up, then never did.

And the kicker is this expansion had a fabulous villain in Sire Denathrius. That guy managed to be so instantly hateable because his evil was relatable. He’s basically just a corrupt politician. Everyone from every corner of this Earth knows what that’s like and it inspires instant rage. But also he managed to be extremely charming and classy at the same time. Captured that manipulator’s ability to completely screw you, then somehow make you feel like you’re overreacting when you lash out over it.

So yeah he was basically Azshara for her, but it was working.

But he’s sorted out almost immediately and now we’re stuck with this dullard.

I thought they were going to use Sylvanas to correct his personality deficiency. Say whatever you want about her, girl can talk ish with the best of them.

But that’s out the window now. And all he’s got is a more boring than usual Anduin.

Does anyone actually want to thwart him? Because honest to God I just want to change the channel anytime he’s on.

65 Likes
2

Nzoth>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>zooval

14 Likes
3

I miss N’Zoth. At least he seemed personally invested in screweing you over. Filling your screen with eyeballs and giving your toon the brain scramblies.

19 Likes
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X2

Even the powered up model. Instead of God Emperor of Deaths they want with the MOST BASIC boring aesthetic of all the Eternal Ones. He looks like a giant Torghast add, not the primordial king of death.

His personality is lackluster and lukewarm.

50 Likes
5

I like Zovaal, I just wish that we knew more about him and his goals. Too much of this expansion has focused on Sylvanas and not enough on him and his relationship with us.

2 Likes
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I’d rather have Denathrius as the big bad

7 Likes
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I cannot endure more narrative pivots that forcibly retcons already reveal lore.

8 Likes
8

I don’t hate Zooval. But in the same way I don’t hate the clerk at my corner store. I certainly see the guy a lot but I don’t know enough about him to feel one way or the other.

10 Likes
9

I’m guessing you’re unsubscribing for the light expansion.

1 Like
10

Zovaal? No, but I’m pretty pumped to actually be seeing First One stuff so soon, and he’ll be the harbinger of it. I thought for sure they’d bank that for another expansion, but we’ll likely see it next patch. I’m shocked at how well they’ve piqued my curiosity with them over just one expansion.

3 Likes
11

It’s just diet Tolkien’s Sauron with diet Milton’s Lucifer

I was briefly excited for this expansion because:

  • Bastion was named “Babylon zone” and the Archon is just copy pasta of Ishtar’s depictions from antiquity Babylon
  • Primus was translated as “Prelate” and had Roman motifs but spooky
  • Winter Queen is aggressively Irish

So I was expecting Zovaal to be based off of:

  • Nergal + Ereshkigal (Babylonian)
  • Oberon but Unseelie (Irish/English)
  • Hades + Pluto (Greek and Roman)
  • Tolkien’s Morgoth

in terms of personality or motivations or attitude.

Instead we got… well I don’t know what we got.

They already have the Light not be All Good since a few xpacs ago so

8 Likes
12

I admire your optimism. I have none because as this game only ever ratches up the stakes I’m sure it’s going to turn out actually they were preceded by an even greater power.

Just like the Titans and the Old Gods. And at a certain point I can’t care anymore. For all the world I just want to go kill bears for a local farmer again. I’m so sick of this cosmic cacophony.

We’ve gone from the Legion wanting to burn reality to the Void wanting to eat it to Zooval wanting to delete it.

And I think back to BFA and how invested I was in the Kul Tiran narrative about all these corrupt aristocrats. And how refreshing that felt. Because they were stakes I understood.

17 Likes
13

I’m curious if they will actually try to do “darkness is good actually” with the Void despite it just being pure eldritch horror that was so heroically used as a weapon against evil as Umbric… gave people a fate worse than death by sending them into the void instead of just killing them.

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I’m sure they’re basically alright once you get to know them. They were just hungry afterall.

2 Likes
15

Hey, to each their own, I guess. But I liked Dragonball in my youth, and I vehemently hate the current pop culture that acts like it’s wrong to enjoy stories like that that feature constant escalation. Like people hating pineapple on pizza, sometimes people just jump on the hate bandwagon because its cool.

I’m down for balls to the wall, universe ending cosmology, and while other people are free to dislike it, I’ll never let the internet bully me into thinking that “DBZ escalation” is trashy or lesser-than. Rant off, sorry.

1 Like
16

Not yet.

This patch doesn’t make me interested in his character anymore than I have (or haven’t?).

They’ll have to go big on his personal development to get me invested in him beyond seeing him as a loot piñata.

17

In an ideal world:

  • Each cosmic force Pantheon has One Big Bad, and all these 6 Big Bads are tied to One Dark First One
  • There are heroes, at least ONE (1) on BOTH the Alliance and Horde PER COSMIC FORCE that had been developed over the years
  • There are FOUR (4) organizations PER COSMIC FORCE on Azeroth, 1 Alliance, 1 Horde, 1 Neutral, 1 Evil
  • Each playable race is tied to at least TWO (2) Cosmic Forces

so example, Void:

  • Void Pantheon Big Bad is WoW’s equivalent of idk Shub-Niggurath, the mother of Azeroth’s Old Gods
  • Alliance Shadow Hero = Alleria, Horde Shadow Hero = Natalie Seline
  • Alliance Void Group = Tidesages (KT), Horde Void Group = Cult of Forgotten Shadow (Forsaken), 1 Neutral = Priest Order aka Conclave, 1 Evil = Twilight’s Hammer
  • Alliance Shadow Races = Void Elves, Kul Tirans; Horde Shadow Races = Forsaken, Trolls

and repeat for each cosmic force + The Elements

1 Like
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The thing is, DBZ rarely bothered to make things more deadly by virtue of being older. These cyborgs and this bioweapon are deadlier than a Galactic Space Emperor who single handedly blew up planets.

How? Idk he’s from the future or something. Now do you want to ask questions or see some crazy fights?

And if Blizz was that bold faced about it I’d be having a better time. But they want to pretend actually this story was in the making for years and it’s all been carefully planned.

And that’s as dishonest as it is stupid. Because if they were just upfront about making this up hastily before the deadline Id accept it as fun shlock. But as they demand to be taken seriously, I can’t.

12 Likes
19

Stuff that doesn’t take itself seriously is more fun, at least in this kind of setting. WoW’s never been the vehicle through which Ultra Serious Narratives can easily be told, no matter how much they’re styling themselves as Serious Artists.

I have to say though that “Zooval” makes me chuckle every time I read it. Might be the best part of the character so far.

9 Likes
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Assuming you’re talking about shirtless Zovaal to armored Zovaal and not the pre-release concept art, I think his new look is an upgrade, if only because of how bad it used to be.