I'm actually tired of having all the villains be the creations or minions of the Old Gods/Burning Legion/Scourge.

Let's have some new villains please!

I think MoP will be an excellent oportunity to add new lore to World of Warcraft instead of just finishing what the RTS games started.

The odds are rather low that the Sha will not be at all related to the Old Gods, which we've discovered to be intrinsic with Azeroth's existence.

While the idea of a "new" evil sounds cool, if it doesn't relate to the overall WoW story arc then the whole xpac will feel like a side show. Like that one episode of an action show that introduces some incredible evil that's defeated in 30 mins and never spoken of again.

There's already the Legion and the Old Gods as the primary evil forces, plus a handful of various subsidiaries wreaking havoc. To introduce a third independent evil would just make things more complicated.

Of course there are other, more novel ways to tie a new malevolent force to the overall story plot, Blizzard just has to find them

I don't know what you mean by a "novel approach to villainy", but if you're hoping for something utterly new that isn't derivative of anything, I suspect you'll be disappointed. Imo, evil works best when the audience can mentally cross-reference it with something they already know. You can put a new spin on it, or add unfamiliar aspects to it such as the Aqir with the Old Gods, but to be effective I believe it must hearken to something known.

The Lovecraftian conception of evil is really one of the coolest that there is, anyway. I think WoW players get a little spoiled with it since it comes up so much (or they don't read quest text), but it really taps into something primal: fear of the dark, of the unknown, and of the uncontrollable. H. P. Lovecraft certainly brought an original imagination to this idea, but he hardly invented it. Very similar language appears in Poe before him (e.g. The Masque of the Red Death), and in Hawthorne before that (e.g. Young Goodman Brown). Given that the other main force of evil in WoW is the Burning Legion, a revision of the Abrahamic theological idea of demons, I'll take the Old God stuff every time. It's just more interesting, and so much more EVIL. Where the Burning Legion is dangerous in a military, "they want to conquer you and are super powerful but you can fight them" way, Old Gods are dangerous in an insidious, "they will make you kill your friends and betray those who trust you, just to watch you do it. You might not even be able to fight back" way. This is, of course, a matter of opinion. YMMV.

"Like that one episode of an action show that introduces some incredible evil that's defeated in 30 mins and never spoken of again."

Better than fighting The Penguin and The Joker over and over and over again, eh?

@Pazuzu

Wouldn't it be nice if the Sha were constructs summoned by the Mogu in their effort to retake Pandaria. We know nothing about the lore here, but the Mogu appear to be fallen Titan constructs. Why not allow the Sha to be some sort of construct/curse they created to drive others off of the continent in order to 'keep the peace.' I already fully anticipate 'the Mantids are servants of the Old Gods, oh noes' to be the story of their section of the continent, and it seems that the Zandalari have been swayed that way as well (what else could give Jin-Do the power to enslave Hakkar?).

In Burning Crusade the chief villain was Illidan, who was supplanted by Kael and his mad alliance with Kil'Jaeden. The Old Gods were mentioned in the Arcatraz - and it was implied there that even the Legion is their creation (or at best pretenders to their throne... you know... of evil). In Lich King, a Demon made construct (the disembodied Ner'Zhul) claimed his independence by becoming the erstwhile God of Death, and Ulduar made it seem that he might also have been pondering a crazy alliance with the Old Gods - or at least Yogg Saron. Then in Cataclysm we know that the primary foe has been N'Zoth manipulating Deathwing - who in turn was commanding Cho'Gall, Nefarian, Sinestra, Ragnaros, and Al'Akir - and Ashzara - who now possesses Neptulon and possibly control over the domain of water.

What I am getting at here is that the Old Gods are implied everywhere - in the Twisting Nether (BC), in Northrend (WotLK), and the Twilights Hammer (Cata) - yet put in only token appearances. I guess what I am after is a storyline that might not be influenced so directly by them. I accept that they will always be a presence and be an ultimate big bad down the road, but Pandaria seems to be giving them plenty of space to do dire things. Couldn't we get something not Old God related with the Sha?

I would also accept a story in which they ACTUALLY DO THINGS aside from whispering. It might be nice to learn more of their secrets rather than killing the things that do and have gone mad before we can learn anything at all. WoW's halflife is probably coming (if it has not already passed), and while seven years has been great it might be nice to get some answers now instead of more riddles. Otherwise I hope they take a back seat for a while and let us get some new experiences under our belt for the next round.

I think a better question is this: Can the Villain PLEASE be someone who was not once good and is now corrupted.

How about someone who is just plain evil and always was?

I agree with Matthew about that too. However, we already know the Mogu are fallen Titan constructs...

"Is everyone sticking to their "Beta won't start until May" theory?"

Nope. I had Beta pegged for April 3rd. ;)

Beta starts next week with MOP released in early June.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK!

Tinfoil theory: The Sha are the force in the universe, good and bad. So while recognized as an evil force by the Naaru, and the Sha refer to the Naaru as evil, maybe the conflict comes from this...?

I like the idea of a new villainous faction with a different agenda than the Burning Legion. I know we won't be seeing a big bad this expansion, but Deathwing, Lich King, Arthas, Illidan have been around lore-wise for years and years. At least have the Burning Legion create a new monstrosity. Their tactics are getting a bit old.

Perhaps we glean some inspiration from the brand spanking new race, Pandarians. What would be the worst threat to Pandas? Bamboo devouring nanites. /shrug Worked for Stargate SG-1.

I'm with Coco here, The main boss of the expansion should be henchman and the story expanded upon in X5

@Galdwynn

According to Blizzcon there will be multiple big bads in this game. Apparently we can expect multiple story archs with multiple ultimate ends ala Vanilla: C'Thun in Silithus, Ragnaros in southern EK, Naxx in EP, etc... What they meant was there will be no big bad on the box art, instead the big bads will emerge from the stories (the Mogu, the Sha, the Mantid, the Zandalari).

@Elmo

I wish I could agree, but the last expansion was exactly that and it has been somewhat anticlimactic. Deathwing's defeat seems like less than a setback given that the Twilight Hammer, Zandalari, Ashzara, and N'Zoth still lurk out there somewhere. In fact, by one argument, Cataclysm was nothing but a middling expansion because no story was wrapped up: only temporarily stalled.

@matthew

Warcraft villains that were always evil?

Gul'dan. BAM.

That's all I've got and he's already dead anyway. At least there was one!