>>96174513
>I actually liked the Scourge itself until Shadowlands but my problem with it is how weak it was and that it was never a real threat.
Fair. I think them being fairly weak makes sense, though, since they were meant to soften Azeroth up for the Burning Legion.
WotLK is where I felt it started to get butchered, though. Shadowlands was just the coup de grace.

>>96174794
>Like there was never any reason to say this in the first place
Picrel is their debut. They're the ending of an easter egg tower defense mission. MoP is when they actually became a serious race, and even then people were drawn in by the memes.