I keep seeing this picture in my mind when ever I see Sylvanas Windrunner when I log into World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth.  As Fran has said, it is certainly a love/hate relationship.   Just before Sylvanas burns the World Tree she looks at another of her many victims and says “This is War” to which the Night Elf in question replies “This isn’t War, this is hate.”  There is no denying it however; the latest WoW expansion called “Battle for Azeroth” seems to be the fastest selling expansion in the history of WoW.  As we discuss on the No Prisoners, No Mercy Show 213,  Maybe there is some overarching meaning for the event of which we are not aware.

Still, this isn’t the first time I have come fact to virtual face with a leader of the Horde whom I despised.  He might not have marched troops into Teldrassil to slaughter civilians but Garrosh Hellscream was a “real piece of work” as granddad used to say.  At one point I went back to WoW after quite an absence, as I and many other people do, and thought I would try out one of the new race/class combinations.  I “rolled up” a Pandaren monk and merrily leveled her up until she got out of the starting zone.  When I went to Ogrimmar, expecting to see Thrall, there sitting on the throne was Garrosh Hellscream.   The character was so upsetting that I threw down my virtual sword and deleted the character.   In the end Thrall kicks Garrosh Hellscream  to the curb and Vol’jin takes the high seat in Ogrimmar.

Perhaps in the end the way I feel about WoW can be said by paraphrasing Winston Churchill, World of Warcraft is the worst type of game except for all those other those other types that have been tried from time to time.  WoW set the bar, and set it too high if you ask some.  The world is full of imitators but none of the others seem to measure up.