Breakfast Topic: Most evil quest in the game
Here's an interesting question: what's the most morally evil quest in the game? There was a quick discussion about the Stanley the Dog quest in Hillsbrad (where you poison and then kill a neutral dog), and it got me thinking: are there any quests in game where you really had a problem with what your character was doing? What's the most evil thing your character has done?Of course, the definition of evil in this case isn't quite written in stone -- what your character thinks is OK to do may not be what you think is OK to do. My undead Rogue took a lot of pleasure in killing Stanley, even if I would be horrified to hear about someone doing the same thing in real life. But in the same vein, while I was fully convinced in character that setting off that Mana Bomb in Outland was the right thing for my character to do, personally, I thought the kill count was a little shocking. At what point does my hero become a mass murderer?
A few other WoW Insider writers mentioned the Cenarius' Legacy and the other Undead Plague quests to be a little too evil for their tastes. Are there any other quests in the game where your character is asked to do something morally questionable?
Filed under: Undead, Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Quests
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 7)
souvlaki Jul 8th 2008 8:24AM
Taking candles away from poor kobolds! That's evil!
souvlaki Jul 8th 2008 8:28AM
And searching for berries in talbuk poo! I'm supposed to be a hero!! :P
thebitterfig Jul 8th 2008 8:52AM
i'd much rather slaughter every child in the alliance orphanage than kill the dog. i'd poison the wells in stormwind and kill every man, woman, and child in the city. they are either soldiers of the alliance, their supporters, or likely to grow up into paladins, mages and such (little timmy who sells the cats: future BM hunter, for sure). i'm just killing future enemies of the horde.
but what has the dog ever done to anyone?
Matthew Rossi Jul 8th 2008 10:00AM
It's an Alliance dog. It may grow up to bite a member of the Horde, best slaughter it now before those canines wedge themselves into dead, decaying flesh.
In other words, once you've justified the slaughter of people who've never done you any harm just on the outside chance that they might, why get queasy over how many legs they walk on?
torrents Jul 8th 2008 4:21PM
wow i mean yes i felt bad killing stanly but other then that
no quest have bothered me. i mean come on its a game but you have to admit blizzard has proven that they can give you feelings for a game character that isnt yours.
Fedya Jul 8th 2008 8:36AM
Poising Dragonmaw peons (The Slow Death) after beating them with booterang.
bmiller Jul 8th 2008 8:46AM
I always thought the "Kill Princess" quest in Elwyn seemed to be more about jealousy than revenge over some eaten vegetables. It's just the way some folk are.
Makoto99 Jul 8th 2008 8:40AM
In blood elf noobie lands, there's that quest where you have to trick the dwarf to the top of the building, then assassinate him and lop his head off.
Just me, but I personally don't see how Cenarius' Legacy is any more "evil" than any of the other "go whip the heck out of some random race I don't like, player!"
KJP Jul 8th 2008 8:40AM
How about going up and killing all those Mag'har in northern Hellfire ( http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=9424 ), only to find out later they had nothing to do with the murder you're avenging?
Lausia Jul 8th 2008 8:42AM
I've never killed the eleks in nagrand for their "ivory tusks" on any of my 4 70s, and I won't do it on the two lowbies coming up in level. Some of the things in game are too parallel to real life events that are horrific, and if I gain nothing but rep for doing some of them, I'll find a different way to gain rep.
Frank Jul 8th 2008 11:26AM
as an elekk rider, i am with you 100%.
Cryptseath Jul 8th 2008 8:46AM
I don't know about evil, but the worst quest for me was the Pamela quest in WPL.
ninjasuperspy Jul 8th 2008 8:46AM
ANYTHING the Forsaken ask me to do is by definition Evil. I'm not looking forward to leading my BElf through Wrath. It'll be another exercise in nose holding as I poison and torture my way though a continent at the behest of a bunch of zombies. I mean look at all of them: the New Plague quests, the one where you poison the Tauren in Undercity, and the one where the guy wants you to warn Thrall and you poison him (the "Truth Serum" or whatever). I'm really surprised that somebody doesn't mention this to Thrall. Something like "Hey, I found Hellscream's kid and I taught him what it means to be an orc. How about you listen to me when I tell you that the Forsaken are mostly evil."
The Alliance isn't much better, though. I mean look at Westfall; the People's Militia won't even talk to you unless you kill over one hundred people. At least the Defias are bad dudes though.
Strabo Jul 8th 2008 9:04AM
Are the Defias such bad dudes? They were cheated out of their payment for rebuilding Stormwind and had to resort in stealing and looting. I'm sure they enjoy it now, but still, it's not as if its completely their fault. It's Onyxia's.
Matt Jul 8th 2008 9:35AM
Actually, I'd say it's far from clear that the Defias are "bad dudes". If you look at the history of the organization, they come out looking pretty noble, while the SW nobility looks like the bad guys...
Pucelle Jul 8th 2008 9:37AM
The Defias are burning people out of hearth and home, people who never hurt them [except by virtue of being technically allied with Stormwind - but since Stormwind refuses to send aid, that's a pretty flimsy alliance]. Farmers. For no apparent reason than the enjoyment of looting.
The Defias got screwed over by not being paid for their work, but I don't think that justifies what they end up doing to Westfall.
Incidentally, I really hate it when people say, well, humans are evil, look what they did to the Defias! I'm sorry - by almost anyone's standards, reneging on a business deal is not as evil as capturing and torturing an ally, which the blood elves [Scryer] do to a draenei [Aldor], with whom they are technically allied under Na'aru supervision. Humans aren't perfect, but it'd be a stretch to call them evil.
ninjasuperspy Jul 8th 2008 9:48AM
I'm with Pucelle on this one. The Stormwind nobility is a bunch of jerks, yes. I pulled a prank on one of them involving a robot in drag though, so that's sorted. The Defias started out as a noble Robin Hood sort of organization, but what they are on about now (looting/burning out Westfall) is evil. I'm still a bit squeamish about the whole "I don't trust you, go kill 30 people. Now 30 more." thing. Frontier justice is what it is though, and those people did hit me with fireballs.
I'd forgotten about the Hellfire quest where the jerk Zombie in Falcon's Watch asks me to try and forcefully de-evolve a Draenei. Thanks for reminding me. Another reason to despise the Forsaken and to consider going back to the Alliance come Wrath. I'm just waiting for the "Go bring me 30 Tuskarr infants, I need to make a new lounge chair" quest I'll inevitably get as soon as I set foot on Northrend.
I appreciate the Meritocratic bent to the Horde, how they are building themselves up from nothing. How they are by and large a collection of outcasts and misfits trying to forge a coherent society. I just don't trust Zombies and they aren't really giving me any reason to trust them in the first place.
Cambro Jul 8th 2008 10:51AM
My main's RP storyline is he grew up in Westfall and had his family farm burned to the ground by the group that would eventually become the Defias, because he wouldn't pay them "protection money". I thought this would be a fitting angle to take because, while Van Cleef et al were wronged and went off on their own, as a new "organization" they would have had a very hard time getting their actions against Stormwind off the ground. Enter the local crime organizations. "If you agree to help us pay back Stormwind for what they've done to us, we'll help you out on your various 'business ventures'." You take some bitter stonemasons wanting revenge, put them with petty but organized thugs, and bam you've got the Defias. :-D
Could happen...
Wired220 Jul 8th 2008 8:49AM
i agree with rzzr also...
Devilsaur in un'goro i love it when you get stomped to death out of the blue....
sphingx Jul 8th 2008 8:52AM
Westfall stew. I mean... killing murloc just for eyes to make stew? >.>
Well there's the one where you poison the Aldor soup too...