The development of a character in World of Warcraft is not well received by the fans. A great hero from the past behaves quite differently.
In World of Warcraft, the latest Patch 11.1.7 went live this past Wednesday, bringing with it the 1-Button Assistant as well as a new campaign centered around the Highlands of Arathi. In it, we encounter some notable characters from the Warcraft universe, such as Danath Trollbane.
He undergoes a development that many players feel is too quick. His 180° turnaround makes some declare, “This feels really, really bad.”
Who is this about? This is about Danath Trollbane (actually “Danath Dungalion”). He is a legendary character from the lore of World of Warcraft, having been one of the most important characters in Warcraft I and II. He is considered a fervent enemy of the Horde. He led one of the internment camps and risked his life to prevent the Orcs from leaving their dying world to protect Azeroth from them.
In more recent times (Battle for Azeroth), he returned to the Arathi Highlands and reclaimed Stromgarde and parts of the land for the Alliance. He is basically the king of Arathi.
What bothers the fans? In the latest questline, Danath is noticeably milder and has some lines that cast him in a strange light. The entire questline revolves around an emerging conflict between the Alliance and the Horde, yet ultimately everyone is tired of war.
Danath seems to have turned around 180°, which many criticize. Specific_Frame8537 writes:
Just the first few lines of the quest:
“The sons of Lothar have always stood for tolerance and mercy.”
“Dude, Danath, you led internment camps.”
“Did the writers even play the games?”
Many are reminded of Sylvanas’s trajectory, who quickly went from a beloved character to one of the most disliked.
Others also find the message conveyed in the quests questionable, as one reading from MetalBawx comes to this conclusion regarding peace with the Mag’har:
The story mentions the internment camps but does not explain why they even happened, as if the authors hope we forget what we saw in [Warcraft I and II] or even Warlords of Draenor, that it only took a little of the Legion to turn the Orcs into monsters.
The message is confusing: rewarding invaders is good if it brings peace.
Many also feel that the conflict is handled very stupidly and have the impression that behind the quest there is more a moral sermon than a well-thought-out story, as Aelexe emphasizes:
This just feels like the latest episode of “War is bad, conflict is bad, racism is bad” without any nuance. Once again, we beat up the latest villain and absolutely nothing is done to address the origins of the conflict. […]
None of them acknowledge that the last time we were here in the Arathi Highlands, one of them ordered me to kill the other.
Particularly popular is SincubusSilvertongue’s wish for a few more elements found in real-world conflicts:
I hate this kind of peace in stories. This is one of the few times they should bring in some elements from the real world. A peace through politics, common benefits, and a respectable share of stubbornness would have worked well here. […] I want there to be peacemakers, antagonists, people seeking their personal benefit, changing opinions, things significant enough to discuss, and real diplomacy. […] All we have now are monotonous, predictable stories, with monotonous and predictable characters.
Many are dissatisfied with the story of World of Warcraft in this patch and would have preferred a different handling of this conflict. The concern is great that such rather weak narratives could also appear in the next expansion Midnight.
However, one should also realize that this is merely a smaller patch meant to tell a side story. Nevertheless, the dissatisfaction in the community is clearly noticeable. Sometimes stories are not only monotonous in WoW but also plain “fails”: We have the 5 biggest story fails from WoW here for you.
