My thought exactly.

Well, don't forget you missing the part where the gigantic dragon you were just fighting is dead. That was the climax. Watching this without doing the raid is like reading the very last page of a new book.

Damn Thrall always steals my killing blows.

But in all seriousness, sort of weak. I dislike the fact that major lore characters get credit for killing Deathwing; why can't the players be recognized? Why must a lore character always be front and center? And don't tell me it's for story purposes; I know of at least one MMO that uses story and puts the players first. Rhymes with "more."

Thrall is our general in this expansion. Like it or not, he has been leading the charge against Deathwing. At no point in the story of WoW are players put in a position where we are doing something because it's our idea. We are soldiers in a war and that's never who gets the ultimate pat on the back.

Also, this was pre-rendered with the in-game engine. Doing what you're suggested means we get something like the mid-quest cinematics that only use standard animations and look horribly stilted.

Missed the whole "The Champion's that helped us here today, ensured the survival of our world" bit did we?

Alexstrasza: We must go now. Our planet needs us.

(All of the Aspects died on the way to their home planet)

Bionic's right: everything "we" do is because someone else told us to do it. The players don't organize these raids, the lore characters do. Think it's something that's required in an MMO? See http://www.ethblue.com/acpaper/page2.htm

The developers simply put a mob in the game that would release an ultimate evil. The lore characters did nothing to promote either side until one server proved that they would not destroy it, and since it was a pvp zone, actively stopped other players from doing the same. Even though it was ultimately destroyed, the players who defended it essentially became lore characters- they had organized themselves, and the game developers rewarded their efforts by placing an in-game pillar with their names on it.

WoW will never get to see this though, and neither will other theme park games. As long as the developers are guiding the story and forcing things to occur (i.e. Death Wing will die even if no one on your server raids), it's not a possibility. We can complain, but it's like saying our orange doesn't taste appley enough ;(

@DeathPaladin, all I could think of after your:

Alexstrasza: We must go now. Our planet needs us.

(All of the Aspects died on the way to their home planet)

was:

Their plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan.
It spun in. There were no survivors.

Man, Poochi reference FtFW.