Halls of Reflection is Stupid

Finally got a chance to run through all three of the new dungeons, see all the plot and stuff, and first let me say the premise, and the first two dungeons are totally fine and pretty cool. I especially like the suppression room in Pit of Saron, how the ice crashing gives a sense of urgency and all that. But the Halls of Reflection is bed-wettingly stupid.

Firstly, we're brought in to it with a mountain of dialogue from the ghost of Uther, about how the last refuges of humanity in Arthas are holding back the LK from facerolling all of Azeroth. What? In his whole character progression, for three goddamned games nonetheless, Arthas never once acted even hesitant to throw away his humanity, and now you're telling us he isn't completely corrupt? What about Tyrion's quest where he blatantly states with his magical paladin powers that there is no "Arthas" left in the Lich King? My theory: some nine-year-old kid from the Make-A-Wish foundation won the prize, and his wish was to write HoR dialogue for Blizzard.

Secondly, doing the dungeon is like pulling especially boring teeth. When doing the first part, the waves of adds, you have to LoS them in a corner, making my camera cry. What, so half of the most epic and climactic battle in 5-man WotLK takes place in a walk-in closet? The bosses are fine, if same-y in theme and appearance. I would complain about how HoR has no interesting mechanics, and is really just a gear check, but when it comes to something that will be pug'd a lot, I guess simple is better.

Now, the final fight, the other suppression room (notice how the whole dungeon is just 2 suppression rooms stapled together with bad storytelling?) is you running away from the big bad spooky LK. Surprisingly, I am OK with that in theory, but theories are strange creatures that often fall apart like wet cardboard when implemented. His very slow gait is ponderous; is that Sylvanas/Jaina slowing him down with majickz, or is he just that lazy? The real problem is the ice walls; they're so clearly scripted to break right as the pull ends, it breaks a sense of causality. Which went on extended vacation the second Sylvanas started shooting arrows at an ice wall to break it, but I digress. They should break at a certain time, or maybe if you finish a pull early you can help break them down. That would make for a much more real sense of immediacy.

My final complaint: you don't kill the Lich King at the end. Really, he should have died right there. What if, instead of Arthas getting shot at by the airship and running back to his couch, you got IN the airship, and battled him with cannons in a glorious vehicle combat extravaganza, blowing Arthas to kingdom come. But who is the final boss of ICC, you ask? Ner'zhul, duh. Arthas might die from acute cannon-in-chest syndrome, but the real spirit of the Lich King must be re-bound to the Frozen Throne or some such. Hell yes, son!.

Blizzard seems to be allergic to the unexpected; Ulduar aside, this has been an extremely by-the-numbers expansion in terms of theme and plot. Nothing really surprising has happened, unless you count Arthas being surprisingly pussy. I pray to all-powerful Atheismo that there's SOME twist deep in ICC to save WotLK from amounting to more than an amateur's first Dungeons and Dragons plot.