I mean, you say that like it's a surprise or something.
The whole brushing aside of a fairly important plot detail, while very on the nose for general Blizzard storytelling (how long has that fucking sword been stuck in Silithus?) was usually done by just ignoring the fuck out of it rather than calling attention to it.
E: Also, referencing the rumors that this is Danuser's first opportunity at telling 'his' story because he was stymied by the bad-touch devs who were subsequently sent packing.
Shittylands was absolutely shat out of the writing team's collective ass after zero buildup. You will never convince me it wasn't a pitched IP Actiblizz rejected as too WoW-like but happily cribbed notes from in an effort to soft-reboot the franchise with new (shittier) lore.
I disagree on that. I think that Shadowlands was meant to be Danuser's magnum opus and trying to reframe Warcraft into 'his' narrative, with Sylvanas taking center stage. It was a really terrible attempt at trying to build up a long, developed plotline (all this secrecy and shit going on with Sylvanas since like....Legion? if not earlier and continuing through like 3 expansions.)
The problem is that Danuser is a wretched writer suffering from delusions of grandeur and should not be a narrative lead. I also think it stems from the general issue of them trying to figure out what the fuck to do with "The Void." You've already done nameless horrors a la Cthulu Mythos with the Old Gods. You've done your Blood War-expy with the Burning Legion. In terms of cosmic, space-faring big baddies, there's not many more directions you can go in.
So they tried to create a new general big bad that would be used as a jumping off point, using metaphysics/the afterlife as the general plot device.
Only, as explained previously, Danuser is a shite writer.
That said, yeah, it's insulting that they can't show jack shit about what went on during our Big Damn Heroes' collective absence in Bad Tripsville, or that they thought the unleashing of a new Scourge with no Helm to control them was a story unworthy of telling.
It's just incredibly, incredibly lazy storytelling. One of the cardinal sins when it comes to writing is that you don't have interesting, or potentially interesting, shit happen off screen. It's a classic case of "Show, don't tell."
If time jumped ahead and we're basically hitting the reset button for obvious reasons (Shadowlands was deep-fried dog shit), weave that shit into your story organically. Don't have an awkward throwaway line because all it's going to do is get autists like Bellular and that Red Shirt Dude worked up.
Here's a real simple way to do that (going off the assumption that someone like Alexstrasza or some other NPC said something like "Oh, yeah, while you were out, we got rid of the Forsaken."):
Intro quests to Dragonflight have your character hopping aboard an airship or sailing ship that's en route to Northrend. 7th Legion dudes who are on the way to basically do 'containment' or 'mopping up duties' of the errant Forsaken. You talk with them, pick their brain and have some...
storytelling in a simple quest that helps set the stage for the upcoming expansion narrative. You then disembark as the airship stops to refuel and connect with Brann (or whoever it is that's in this expansion) and continue on. It gives this sense of pulpy exploration/adventure that I think Dragonflight is meant to be brushing up against, gives a slight bit of worldbuilding (the Forsaken having rabies is something that's beneath a more distinguished hero like you, but it's being handled, resources are tight due to Sylvanas' cock-up so you're having to hitch a ride, etc.) and is just better than Danuser shitting out whatever he shits out.
This would show a literal shift in how they're handling WoW (by having a non-collect 15 bear Danuses quest) making the world feel a little more lived-in and not have people go 'wait, what the fuck?' when a throwaway line comes up.
(Although it still doesn't address the (stupid, in my mind, but it's there, so...) "there must always be a Lich Kang" crap said at the end of Wrath, but that's a whole other issue.))
