I think you're massively undervaluing the power and guile of Azshara. She wouldn't be so easily manipulated, especially after the whole Sundering fiasco. Her pride also wouldn't allow it. I love it that she's basically 'fuck you, you need me. Otherwise let me die and kindly fuck off.'

If you want examples of his corrupting skillz though, look no further than Deathwing. He basically wiped out the aspects twice using him as a pawn.

BTW, it should be noted that at this point, N'Zoth is pissing up squid ink with how close Sargeras came to invading Azeroth.

 

No, I get that. The problem is not "it would have worked". It's "N'Zoth is supposed to be the subtle one". N'Zoth's whole schtick, canonically, has been to slowly twist and corrupt his chosen victims/hosts/associates/etc, until they are the very doom of everything they've ever loved. He's the one who whispers a quiet word and shatters worlds. To give a relevant example, Lord Stormsong is his normal MO; poke and prod and twist until nothing of the original remains.

Yet in the Azshara video, he presents himself as your standard thug. He doesn't try to tempt Azshara with salvation, he doesn't whisper promises of vengeance, he doesn't try to offer succor after her entire world was torn down around her, etc. He just walks right in and goes "I am a god mortal. Serve me or die.".

It seems wildly out of character for him to be that direct, especially with Azshara, who is easily his most important (potential at the time) asset, and judging by that behavior, he's likely to be similarly direct in his future dealings that we'll see. Which translates to seriously undermining the main thing that gives him menace and a sense of threat.

It would have been vastly better if he showed up and promised her eternal life and assistance in her vengeance against the lowborn and the Legion, who together cost her everything, only for Azshara to call bullshit on that and give a counter offer which is essentially what she says in the video.

 

Hah, I think you got the total opposite of what you were supposed to in that video...

Sargeras just got done promising her all those things and screwing her over. He's been watching her for 'thousands of years' etc, and she's not an idiot. I'd have been right here complaining like you if he'd shown up with a silver tongue, haha.

Honestly, the most exciting thing I got from that trailer is that Azshara is no one's lackey. She a 'Baws'. I fully expect N'Zoth to be betrayed and Azshara to be a big bad for far longer than the next raid, longer than the Hentai Monster who's tasted her 'essence' (lol btw).

I expect both are playing the 'long game' for their own purposes, and I expect Azshara to come out on top - though I desperately hope the Black Empire comes back. Imagine logging into a WoW with red, ominous skies and gigantic tentacles waving in the distance - SO cool.

 

To be honest, I'm expecting that, or something very similar, to be the next expansion, as part of the Void Lords stuff that I'm seeing coming down the pipe.

 

Also Azshara always appreciated the flat out power more than the subtle works. That’s why she went all “magnificent” when she saw Nzoth in all his glory.

She thought of Sargeras the same way yet he failed her.

 

I'm honestly kind of tired of these massive embodiments of evil whispering sweet lies and working behind the scenes. It's getting old. Put a face to the evil, give her motivation and charisma, then have her crush these 'whoo whoo scary' squids into dust. That's the kind of villain I want.

I want Azshara betraying N'Zoth and ruling over the re-birthed Black Empire.

And I want Bolvar there ready to hand her her ass.

 

Not gonna lie, when I first read this, I nodded and totally agreed, but when I started thinking about it, I realized that that hasn't been a thing since Wrath. Yog'Saron was the last time we had a major enemy who did the subtle faceless thing.

 

... Sargeras

 

At what point was Sargeras at all subtle? He was about as up-front and direct as it's physically possible to be; Gul'dan had the chance and opened the door, then all the demons showed up and started murdering all the bitches, all the way from the word go.

I mean, I guess you could argue that "the Legion needs to figure out how to summon him to Azeroth" is him working behind the scenes, but considering that all of his minions are all incredibly upfront about what they're doing and why, and are operating entirely openly, I can't really buy that.

Do you mean the Nightborne and Ellisande's "Welp, we can't stop them, so I guess we'll offer to help and hope they don't murder us when they're done" gambit? Cuz that wasn't any lies or manipulations; it was Ellisande making a desperate gamble, or at worst exactly what N'Zoth tried to do to Azshara in the Warbringers video.

 

Sargeras literally works behind the scenes and whispers lies to everyone, what are you talking about? He did it with the Draenai, Azshara, and many, many more through KJ and the Nathrezim...

He did it over and over again and conquered countless worlds like that, amassing the bulk of the Burning Legion by doing so. That's... his thing.

I'm confused.

We didn't even know what he looked like until recently...

If your beef is that he's not as 'corrupty' as the Old Gods, that's not the point I was making. He's a big bad that has no character and is more an embodiment of evil. That's what I want less of.

 

That's fair. I'm with you on that much; putting a face to the name makes the story much more engaging, and I'd definitely prefer to see more of that.

 

After about 20 random heroic dungeons, I finally got a 330 Weapon drop.

A single tear rolled down my cheek.

 

Who is this sudden Ellisande character? It was my screen name for ages, before I started hearing it in WoW. Used to be my name on here as well, as some of you should remember.

Also, Fury is really fun to play.

 

Grand Magistrix Elisande of Suramar, ruler of the Nightborne. She used the Eye of Aman’thul to erect the barrier around Suramar during the Legion invasion to protect her city then sold it to legion after 10k years of isolation on the condition of keeping her people safe. Which was a bit of a moot point considering.

Edit: Tbh I’d recently read the War of the Ancients series before I started playing Legion, so I was very confused by the Suramar stuff for a while.

 

Can Horde players tell me wtf is up with the Nightborne?

I thought it was just a random faction of them that joined the Horde, but when doing a 7th Legion quest in Zul, one of the dying Nightborne apologises to Occuleth for failing.

I beg your fucking pardon. You ungrateful cunts would be zombies if it weren't for me. Is Thalyssra just going to kill me on sight now after everything I've done? That ungrateful cunt.

Valtrois I'll buy. Never liked that bitch.

I literally bandages Thalyssra's wounds though.

REEEEEE

BTW, finished the War Campaign. I retract my complaints...

Spoiler

We kill the fuck out of that Blood Prince and I got Shandris as a follower!

Shandris is everything I wish Tyrande was. So awesome.

 

The TL;DR there is that during the Argus bit, Lady Liadrin and Silgrin got to talking on the Vindicaar and became good friends, and this snowballed into the Blood Elves inviting Thalyssra and company to Silvermoon for a banquet. Alleria showed up and asked to see the Sunwell, which the Blood Elves allowed, only for her presence to trigger a Void invasion through the Sunwell that they and the player character put down, before Alleria is banned from ever setting foot in Silvermoon again, as her presence is just too dangerous.

After that, Thalyssra, who had been thoroughly disillusioned on the Alliance by Tyrande's hostility and disregard toward the former Highborne (y'know, those responsible for the original Legion invasion) and was by this point a close personal friend of Liadrin, decided that the Nightborne were to formally join the Horde.

 

I ran out of stuff to do in the game, so I'm levelling an alt. Did every mythic, have drained every WQ on the map every day, have done every quest I could find without having to download an addon to point me to more, did enough island expeditions for the weekly reward. Reps are slowly crawling towards exalted.

Trying to figure out what I wanted my next 120 to be took a bit of thinking. I was thinking maybe my warrior, but then I realized that it's actually still at level 100, not 110, so that would take longer than I want to level, so I decided to go with my shaman. Relearning everything with it was quite difficult, and even 5 levels later, I still don't really get it. A lot of button mashing. Anyways, levelling going pretty fast. I've got warmode on for 10% more xp (and have only gotten ganked 4-5 times), the 5% XP gem, and full rested. I also started with the legion invasion quests, which each one gave 10% of a level for no effort. I'll sit in an inn again, and I think another full rested will take me all the way to 120, which is nice. In the mean time, I'll probably start levelling my druid as well.

 

Sigh.

Wish I could roll back the clock and let them burn.

 

It's Tyrande's fault, really. If she wasn't such a flaming bitch the Nightborne might be neutral. I don't blame Alleria, the void invasion obviously wasn't intended at all, but Tyrande's attitude isn't exactly a source of her power.

Also their racials suck for anyone not a Mage or Warlock. Alliance got a way better deal with Void Elf pseudo berserk there.

 

To be fair, the Nightborne are the survivors of the people responsible for the original Legion invasion, and when they were found, they had already sold themselves to the Legion for the second time.

Tyrande had plenty of reason to not be terribly fond of them.