A few random thoughts based on the article and the previous comments...

a) I did enjoy Arthas, even though I knew in advance what would happen, kinda, from playing WCIII. I do believe the reason all that stuff is in there is probably something Blizz asked for when they hired Golden. After all, even though they can put in their own ideas to a degree, Blizz and especially Metzen give them the framework.
Also, let's not forget that some people have not played WCIII, I know quite a few who didn't, so they didn't know Arthas' story and how he turned into the LK.
I think she actually did a good job taking those missions from the game and turning them into a story by trying to add details like Invincible.

Re: "Shattering not having a real ending, not wrapped up"... I agree to a certain degree, but I took that as a "OK, now here is your setting, now get into game and continue seeing or even writing the story in game". The Shattering (the event) left everything in turmoil, a shaken world full of questions, lots of crazy stuff happening, and I felt that the novel did a good job as a prelude. I read it before Cataclysm came out, and after reading it, I was looking forward to "join" the characters in the book by making my way to all the parts of Azeroth to see what was up, kinda =)

b) Knaak...this is just my opinion, but: its not that I hate him or anything, but to me, his books, apart from WOTA, reads like "Ok, what franchise I am writing for today? OK, WOW it is, let's see, I have to put in this guy and that story, kk, let's do it so I can get to that other book for that other franchise I have to write this month".
I never get the feeling he is "into" the game world of WC and WOW the way Golden is, and I do think that that is actually a factor to some readers, because I like to read something written by someone who actually knows the franchise from playing it and being a fan, to a degree
WOTA I did like, "Stormrage" I tried to get through about 3 times. It didnt hold my attention at all, it just seemed so confused sometimes, droning on and on. Also, regarding him being a "better writer", he does use certain phrases so incredibly often it starts to kinda become ridiculous. And some of those phrases are right on the level with "It was a dark, rainy night...". And even though it means beating a dead horse, stuff like the intelligent raptors and people teaming up with them reminded me of a cheap 1920's pulp story. No one expects Hemingway or Shakespeare from a WOW-novel, but some of the conversations and plot ideas in those books are almost embarrassing. Just my opinion though.

c) I do agree that people should be able to figure out the storyline from the game alone, and be able to refer to the book for details and more immersion. Sure, a lot of people don't care about lore at all, and that's fine, but I have talked to quite a few people who never understood why Moira is in the throne-room, didn't know exactly what happened to Magni, how it all was connected to those tablet-quests we did etc.
I do agree that you shouldn't have to read the novels or a summary on wowwiki to get into all that.
On that note, I also find it confusing how, after all that happened, the whole Moira-storyline seems to have died a sudden death. They opened Old IF now so you can visit Magni, you see Moira standing there, that's it. I thought it would lead to political turmoil, something players would to a certain degree be involved in or have to deal with, but nothing.
Then again, who knows what is up next, story-wise

d) Regarding Stratholme... it's interesting that people bring up the comparison to dictatorships. Then again, I always thought that Arthas' decision was tough, but necessary. He knew that those people would turn into monsters which would be much harder, maybe even impossible to overcome, so there could have been a huge danger for the surrounding area.
Should he have waited for the Dal mages to come up with a solution? Maybe, but who says they could have found one. Also, there was no time left.
To me, it always seemed to be a situation where you had to make a decision very quickly, and to the characters involved, it was still all very mysterious and scary.
I think this whole "dilemma" fits into Blizz's tendency to steer away from any kind of "black/white"-thinking - no one truly is perfect, everyone has flaws, and some use very questionable methods. Even if you're a shiny hero, you might have to do things that aren't totally "knight in white armour-like".
Think of the torturing-quest in BT... we had no choice, really...if you skipped that part because you didnt wanna do it, you'd miss a huge chunk of follow-up quests and storyline, plus, I think, access to some important stuff regarding Coldarra and the Nexus.

Or how about little things like the "Soften her up a bit"-thing at the Shrine of Avianna?

I like these "twists", because they're not totally predictably "black/white", but add some interesting questions and thoughts about morale. Weird, I know, I just like to think through stuff like that even though its in a video-game.

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