Isn't that kind of the point.
In most fantasies and RPGs orcs are portrayed as a crude, ill-tempered, and dense race.

Honestly, who wants to play as an orc when they are portrayed like that...

I dunno. Thats the whole reason I decided to play as Horde. Thrall completely goes against the Orc Archetypes that are common place in the Fantasy genre and even the portrayal from WC1 and WC2.

While I wouldn't think Thrall is perfect. He's actually portrayed as Wise and even caring of his people as opposed to how Blackhand and Doomhammer were portrayed, and I think it's because of who he is that draws people in, Roleplayer or not. After all, if it wasn't set up to the backdrop of a society trying to free itself from demonic taint and attempt to live in peace, hardly anyone would want to play the relative bad guys instead of allowing moral ambiguity.

jet242:

"Honestly, who wants to play as an orc when they are portrayed like that..."

Well, I would. The Horde was so much more fun when it was chaotic and barbaric. It would be like if Command & Conquer 4 came out, and NOD was good and noble instead of the bad guys. Not cool anymore. I'll never get these new Warcraft players who started with Warcrat III and only know the "shamanistic" orcs.

Got it in a nutshell there Rithik. Thrall is the whole reason I chose an Orc character to play, and he embodies what is so compelling about the Orcs as a race. They aren't anything like "green humans", they're far more interesting and compelling. Who cares about a city of blonde humans doing their token good deeds when you have the Orcs involved in a noble and difficult struggle toward redemption and the reclamation of their lost heritage? Thrall is so compelling because he's the guy trying to pull together a lost people, rebuild something out of all the waste and destruction that's been caused. He isn't without flaws, but his intentions are extremely admirable.