It's like I said the part of my post that you didn't quote. An MMO (or games in general really) is the wrong place for you to feel threatened as the player because you literally cannot be killed based on gameplay mechanics; you can't have someone put days and even months of /played time into a character only to have them killed and need to start over. Its because of this that he unfortunately can't show his power very often without blizzard having to make the decision to off one of the major lore characters, as they are the only ones that can feel any long-term effects.

I agree, its possible to have a powerful army and a weak general. But this isn't a normal army; this is one that has every member being mind-controlled by the general. Any act by THIS army can be attributed 100% to Arthas.

Let's look arguably at the two most famous science fiction/fantasy trilogies of our time: The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (yes its a trilogy, Episode I, II, III didn't happen). In Star Wars, the Emperor is never seen until the final scene of the final movie, and even there he doesn't demonstrate his power very much. Vader is seen much more, but even he doesn't demonstrate his power often, its just the aura of badassery that he gives off which makes you feel threatened. In the case of LotR, Sauron is literally NEVER seen, he never demonstrates his power.

With beings of great power, you can't have them using all of that power often. If they are as strong as you are told, every major character on the opposing side would pretty much be dead. The Lich King is no different.

Another vague source of dissatisfaction is how little the Tournament dailies seemed to impact the Scourge. You have a bunch of tourney related quests (the stuff to "rank up"), then Hrothgar Landing dailies and more tourney related stuff (feed the animal!). For Scourge you have the cleanse 6 fallen, then the stuff at the Cult of the Damned camp. A camp, I will note, that only is present to counter the Argent Tourney.

So all we've done is run around ignoring the Scourge for the Tourney, then defending the Tourney when the Scourge sends Cultists to encroach. How is this actively working against Arthas? The Tourney would be far more meaningful with Crusader Pinnacle style dailies. Something which shows the expansion of the Tourney and contraction of Scourge.

A new phase for people who have done ToC. Zone out of ToC and have the place trashed - NPCs that are not vendors/daily-quest related are dead. The useless west end of the coliseum (where they queue up the things for you to kill) could be heavily damaged with rubble all around. Nothing that would impact repeat content, but enough to see that we were foolish to participate in the Tourney rather than focus further on Arthas.

Hindsight (being 20/20), they could have made some area of Northrend neutral/friendly. Then done reverse Isle of Quel'danas with it. Rather than build it up over weeks/months, have Arthas overrun it. Dailies could change as you became more desperate to defend the area. Or just make something like this part of the leveling experience - it phases into worse and worse after you return from each quest. "I know we sent you after those food supplies, but while you were gone Arthas killed and raised 80% of the population... we really don't need that much food now. Uh, would you now please destroy these undead? I'll give you <shiny>."

Or imagine Zul'drak designed as if we got there a few days earlier. Scourge to the west and encroaching. Have the quests phase into God-draining and post apocalyptic Zul'drak we were provided. Yes, their technology may not have been present when they designed, I can understand there may have been limitations. Simply saying watching such destruction rather than wandering in post-destruction could have had more meaningful impact to us. Seeing the Trolls fighting a hopeless battle and descending into cannibalizing their loa Gods in effort just to slow the defeat, much less claim victory.

Honestly, some people seem like they won't be happy unless they're playing Warhammer 40K where there is zero hope, you WILL be eaten/tortured to death/bombed from orbit because 5 people on your planet worship demons and THEN your soul WILL get tortured, raped and eaten as well.

The variety and number of horrible things that have happened to NPC's against the Scourge in Northrend is pretty far up there.

But we're basically undefeated against his army. We arrive after it has won a victory (like, say, the destruction of Wintergarde, or Drakuru's efforts, or most of Icecrown), and then kick its arse. It's the general trend across Northrend.

Part of the problem is the nature of the game; it's not dynamic (or wasn't until phasing), which means the easiest way to design an area is to have the zone full of bad guys which you slowly and methodically murder from one side to the other.

What I'd like to see is something of the reverse; a zone where we are pushed back and eventually retreat. Think Hyjal, or the final escape of HoR, or the quest in Zul'drak where you organise the retreat of an Argent Crusade company.

If it was technical issues that caused AN to be removed, maybe Blizzard will be using Deepholme as a test to see if they can do underground zones? If the new zones in the expansion are on their own server, it would be easily isolated from the other zones in the Eastern Kingdoms and enable Blizzard to see how things work out with it.

Though if the issue was the zones being on top of each other, this is just a work around, as Deepholme would be more like the center of a wheel instead of a layered set up from what we know so far.

Well, Deepholme is another plane, and it isn't tied to Azeroth's geography or topography - or even rules of physics (which are sketchy to begin with, granted). The elemental planes' only order is between each other. From top to bottom: Skywall, Abyssal Maw/Deepholme (it is also the sea floor) and Firelands (which is indeed underground)

According to Deepholm - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft and Elemental Plane - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

So, above Deepholme, you'll either see Skywall or some "dark matter" (not space, but a Nether barrier of sorts, as that's where the planes are located) that gives the impression of being underground.

As to Azjol...we have instances based on the underground formula (and nerubian too), I don't see how any technical issues could've prevented Blizzard from adding that content.

Bit of a difference between using instancing and real world though. I think the main thing (that Deepholme really won't need to worry about due to mountains above it) is the varied terrain that would of been above Azjol-Nerub and the issues that it could cause if a certain area of terrain wasn't raised, if it went into multiple zones etc. I also doubt we will see the planes separated like how they were explained in the RPG books since it seemed implied that they were brought into the real world now and so the things that used to exist no longer do to any large degree. We will likely see a giant hole in the middle of the zones ceiling where Deathwing went through which we will use. Instancing each of the new zones would just ruin some of the feeling and immersion of the expansion with the flying and the only one that should be instanced is the Sunken City.

I can understand why a zone being gradually destroyed rather than built as we assault the Lich King would be a cool, but I believe Blizzard is saving that trick for Cataclysm. They're already stretching the 5 year old game engine to the limit, and pretty soon, graphics and technical innovations alone won't be enough to save the game, so saving some new design ideas for later isn't something I blame them for. It'll have a lot less impact if we get that in Cataclysm and people start saying "Cool, that's just like Icecrown Glacier"

Also, there's the good, old common sense that reminds me... The Lich King has been on Northrend for a very long time; he's been building a lot. We're new comers, of course anything we build will be more noticeable to us and not so noticeable in terms of the Lich King's designs. I suppose he could destroy more, just to spite us, but then again, he does seem to be mocking us at every turn.

Actually, I understood the Lore was he sat on the throne and sorta marinated in the armour for years. Clash of personalities, and so on. His big push, both building and offensives, has started recently. That's why Alliance and Horde ignored him and pursued active threats.

Well, yeah, of course he stood on his throne and marinated. But the death knights didn't train themselves, the Drakkari trolls didn't just kill their gods because they decided atheism is the new trend, and generally, the more self aware of his minions probably had standing orders to tidy up Northerend while waiting for guests... We know he's been expecting us, cause he wouldn't have sent us skeleton delivered invitations to our home adresses in Azeroth...

I have a theory about the Lich King’s connection to Yogg-Saron.

Yogg-Saron is the ‘Old God of Death’ yet there isn’t a single reanimated undead in Ulduar or even any existing examples of his ability to master death. Instead, the aspect he most embodies is insanity, a being that has lost its mind. It appears that he has been robbed of his power over death. The very same being the Titans would not destroy (because it would rend the world) has been bleeding all over the place and subsequently slaughtered for epics. Why has the world not been harmed? I believe it is because the power that remains integral to this world’s existence is no longer Yogg-Saron’s. A river of blood flows underground from Ulduar to the foundations of Icecrown Citadel. I believe that the Lich King is a vessel for the stolen powers of Yogg-Saron.

The Titans imprisoned the old gods in Azeroth, because they could not be surgically removed without grievously harming the world. One of those Titans was the progenitor of the Burning Legion, and one of his lieutenants, Kil’Jeaden, created the Lich King. It was a last resort, since the Legion had failed to conquer Azeroth but knew of the existence of Yogg-Saron, being ruled by a Titan who once belonged to the Pantheon. The Lich King was created as a prison for a soul who would be tormented for all eternity for his betrayal of the Legion. Notice how they did not bestow the power of the Lich King on one of their own. It was not an honor – it was a wholly unpleasant experience, a nightmare to be forced to contain the power of death and it stripped that soul of its identity, existing merely as a living container. It would also serve the terrible purpose of guaranteeing harm to Azeroth and preserving the taint of the legion for all time.

Kil’Jeaden stripped Ner’zhul of his body, encased his life force in ice and steel and cemented him in place as a means to control the stolen godhood of death. As the Legion struggled to hold off the assault on Outland, The Lich King took measures to secure his release, procuring a physical form (Arthas) and shedding himself of the icy prison. After Kil’jeaden’s banishment, the Lich King was free to exercise his power unrestrained.

Thus, there is another reason the Lich King cannot simply be destroyed. For the very same reason the Titans would not destroy Yogg-Saron, in addition to stemming a tide of mindless zombies from washing over the world, there MUST be a God of Death, who exists now as the Lich King. Yogg-Saron even says so in one of his visions: “He will learn... no king rules forever; only death is eternal!”

The Lich King is founded upon the faint life force of Ner’zhul, carried by a body that once belonged to Arthas and imbued with the power of an old god. So what composes his will? Frostmourne, a weapon conceived by a race so evil that its mere nature was responsible for the corruption of the Titan Sargeras. The Nathrezim crafted the weapon to wield the power of death. Icecrown Citadel is designed in the likeness of Frostmourne. Destroy the weapon, and all that remains are relics and tortured souls – but the power must pass on.