I think the real issue is that the need to finish the series in one book overwhelmed the plot lines. The number of channelers is one issue but the total absence of the Aiel clans backed by their Wiseones was another glaring omission. Amys got a couple of brief mentions and Aviendha played a more significant role as did Rhuarc and Gaul but that was it. 

As another poster has mentioned there was no psychological focus. It was just Trollocs charging over and over again. There was no mention of what happened in Gareth Brynes mind when his thread to Siuan snapped is one example.

Nynaeve was reduced to a spectator role keeping Alanna alive with some herbs and her bare hands. Alanna disappears earlier in the tale and then just appears at the final battle half dead and is kept alive by a woman who cannot use the one power and who lacked any tools or medicines to keep Alanna alive. There was no story line devoted to Alanna's capture and what she went through and no reaction from Rand when she was fatally wounded (in the hours leading up to her death) despite the fact he was bonded to her. 

The over all story is good and the ending was excellent. However the MOL is victim to the decision to finish everything in one book even though the story had grown to big for that IMHO.

Wamphryi,

 

WOT has always been character based, but that's what lends the battle scenes such impact. Even the messy ones, like the battle with the Seanchan outside Illian.

 

It's why I like the series so much (world-building, character, coherent battle sequences rendered breathless by multiple POVs).

 

It's also why I had trouble with the Last Battle; felt like an arcade game to me at times. I had no idea how forces were deployed, and there were always thousands of Trollocs just roaring about. I needed more of the Two Rivers battle tone for sure.

Agreed. A little arcade. 

Having said that it is a major accomplishment to have what is essentially a battle spanning several hundred pages. Personally I think Sanderson was a little hampered in having to complete so many threads in one book. Yet the need to actually complete the story meant this book had to be the final. 

 

Battle scenes have never been the WOT's strongest feature. This has really shown up in the MOL as the MOL is essentially one giant battle scene on a scale I have never read personally. 

 

I always thought of the Trolloc's as being over hyped from the outset. They are promoted as creatures of such size and ferocity but more often than not killed off at a much greater rate than the human forces opposing them. Another aspect to Trolloc's I struggled with was that fact that they were made from people and so to have millions of Trolloc's there must be an equivalent loss to a population in the making. There was no mention of female Trolloc's or Trolloc young. I think it would have made more sense to have a lot less Trolloc's that killed four or five men to every Trolloc. 

 

The WOT is a fantastic story but I would never read it for the battle scenes. Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden and Simon Scarrow have written battles that make a person feel like they are there. Yet the WOT is about so much more and RJ and BS have done so very well with the other components of the story. 

.

 

They were originally people, well part people. Due to the creation process they aren't anymore and are outside the soul pool. Female trollocs are mentioned briefly as breeding factories.

Ah I never saw the mention of female Trollocs. That explains that then. 

Battle scenes have never been the WOT's strongest feature. This has really shown up in the MOL as the MOL is essentially one giant battle scene on a scale I have never read personally. 

I always thought of the Trolloc's as being over hyped from the outset. They are promoted as creatures of such size and ferocity but more often than not killed off at a much greater rate than the human forces opposing them. Another aspect to Trolloc's I struggled with was that fact that they were made from people and so to have millions of Trolloc's there must be an equivalent loss to a population in the making. There was no mention of female Trolloc's or Trolloc young. I think it would have made more sense to have a lot less Trolloc's that killed four or five men to every Trolloc. 

The WOT is a fantastic story but I would never read it for the battle scenes. Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden and Simon Scarrow have written battles that make a person feel like they are there. Yet the WOT is about so much more and RJ and BS have done so very well with the other components of the story.