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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Most evil quest in the game
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 8th 2008 at 8:00AM
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
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 7)
Wulf Jul 8th 2008 12:14PM
"I dunno, trying to steal lumber for Ashenvale, especially when it's not needed? Forced Devolving of a draenei into a broken? Getting skulls of innocent civilians in Hillsbrad? Prevention of a draenei vindicator from purifying a fel tainted area? Ripping out the hearts of a faithful couple for your succubus?
That seems pretty antagonistic to me."
For each one of those theres something just as bad done by the Alliance. The Ally version of the succubus quest effectively requires desecrating a grave. Or what about the Alliance trying to massacre the Frostwolves and drive them out of their homes simply because they're in the way of some greed-driven mining operation? Or what about slaughtering Mag'har out of nothing but a prejudiced assumption?
You really think Alliance are the good guys? Please! What makes Warcraft good factions and bad factions, the morals and actions of individuals is what counts.an interesting story is that there aren't any specific
twh Jul 8th 2008 12:29PM
@Hili;
I've read through a lot of Horde quests and it seems to me that all they're trying to do is take and grab all the land they can, that includes Alliance lands, without regard to who owned it already.
Also, I never said the Alliance was without its own problems. I'm just saying that Horde often try to justify wholesale slaughter a lot more than the Alliance do. I mean, go back to the examples I listed earlier, would protagonists of any personal integrity try to justify killing people that would rather spend their days trying to make ends meat?
The orcs were put into internment camps, yes, but that was a courtesy the orcs NEVER EVER would have given humanity had they won the second war. They would have just killed them all, and it seems like a common theme among the "Reformed" Horde as of late.
@Wulf;
Alterac Valley was never truly orc lands in the first place. Considering that Alterac is more technically Dwarven/Human lands, I'd say Stormpike has more claim to the land than the Frostwolf do. Besides, now that Outland is more or less freed from the Legion, they may as well head back and stay there.
You missed the part where I noted that the quest giver, who has you killing Mag'Har actually feels remorse for their actions. Nowhere do I see a Horde actually realizing that what they are doing maybe wrong, because maybe they're so choked on their on hubris that maybe they fail to see the big picture.
The only thing I hate more than the Horde are Horde Apologists.
Nizari Jul 8th 2008 12:39PM
twh:
How is the Warsong Clan cutting down trees in ashenvale any different than the Stormpike dwarves invading Alterac Valley and murdering the frostwolf simply for some resources? Or how about the fact that the Draenei are bigoted against members of their own race for being shamans? Or how about the fact that the Night Elves and Dwarves are working together to undermine and destroy the Blood Elves' efforts to rebuild their country?
As far as I'm concerned, the difference between the Horde and the Alliance is that when the Horde do something unsavory, they don't try to justify or deny it, they accept what they're doing. The Alliance try to wrap up everything they do as automatically justified because they're the "good guys." I think this is why so many figures in Alliance history have been done in or corrupted by their own hubris.
twh Jul 8th 2008 12:45PM
@Nizari:
to the contrary; the Horde justify almost everything antagonistic they do to the Alliance.
The orcs feel justified in taking lands from the Night Elves and killing humans because they were put in internment camps.
The BElves feel justified in going against the people that saved their sorry hides in the previous war and torturing a N'aaru because they felt they were abandoned, when they left the Alliance of their own accord.
Most importantly, the xenophobia of the Forsaken are the excuse to kill EVERYTHING that lives and breathes.
And again, never once did I say that the Alliance was without its problems. The troubles in Westfall, Duskwood, and Redridge are proof enough of the bureaucracy that's hurting Stormwind.
Wulf Jul 8th 2008 12:59PM
I'm not a big fan of Alliance Apologists, or indeed anyone who says that Allies = Good, Horde = Evil, because its just a ridiculous statement. I'm not saying the Horde have never done anything wrong, but to say that there are clear cut goodies and baddies in the Warcraft universe is ridiculous. There have been atrocities and acts of benevolence on both sides, you have to move beyond such petty stereotypes.
To address specific points, Alterac Valley was never really anyones, it was a snowy rather desolate place that the Frostwolf moved to because they objected to the corrupted Horde and didn't want to be warring against Humans. They certainly didn't hurt, or even inconvenience anyone by moving there. Compare that to a bunch of greedy Dwarves who show up, decide they want to plunder some resources, and then declare war when the local inhabitants object to this.
The remorse issue: I'm not sure it really absolves the person of guilt. They sent someone off to kill Mag'har saying "Oh they never liked us, so go kill them off". The fact that he felt bad later doesn't make such a callous act any better.
Whilst I agree that certain Horde quests are very questionable, the point stands that these are perpetrated by a few particular individuals, it boils down to a few vengeful Forsaken and a manipulative Blood Elf. It hardly constitutes Horde = Evil. I'll agree that there are evil people within the Horde, but obviously the same goes for the Alliance. Its just that for the Alliance these things are more obvious in the lore than in the actions of quest givers.
You say that the Horde would never have put humans into internment camps. Perhaps thats true, given the Horde were daemonically corrupted pawns at the time. However, what you wouldn't see is the New Horde putting humans into camps. Thrall and co were quite happy to keep the peace until a human showed up and decided to mess everything up by butchering people again.
In short - open your mind up a bit. There's good and bad folks to be found all across Azeroth, they're not neatly grouped into factions like some people want to believe.
Wulf Jul 8th 2008 1:08PM
Argh - more stuff whilst i was typing! I'd just like to deal with this statement:
"The orcs feel justified in taking lands from the Night Elves and killing humans because they were put in internment camps."
I just laughed at this. You're completely putting words into the Horde's mouth. There's no lore that I've ever seen that the Orcs used the fact that they were put in camps as an excuse for anything, most certainly not for their issue with the Night Elves.
Ashenvale is a territory dispute, the Orcs didn't even know the Elves existed when they started, and it led to a very messy political situation. Where you *can* fault the Warsong is that they haven't pulled out of the area since. What you can't say is your above statement because its ridiculous.
You seem rather hooked on this idea that the Orcs go around using the Internment Camps as some kind of justification for their actions, but can you please back this up with some kind of evidence? If you actually look at the lore, the Orcs never sought retribution for their incarceration. Thrall's army stormed camps and freed Orcs, but once they were free and had dealt with Blackmoore, they moved on. No big retribution, no counter attack against the Alliance, they went off to find themselves a homeland.
Nizari Jul 8th 2008 1:15PM
I have never seen anything in a quest or NPC's flavor text justifying the orc presence in Ashenvale because of the internment camps. In fact, there's an escort quest there that's pretty much "Hey you! Let's go slaughter a night elf outpost! It'll be fun!" No justification, no "They looked at us the wrong way, we can kill them now."
The Blood Elves enslaved M'uru because they were magic addicts, not because of anything the Alliance did. The Alliance abandoning them during the third war was a reason they left the Alliance, although I really doubt that the Alliance was unhappy that they left. Furthermore, M'uru is gone from SMC now and the Blood Knights have become true followers of the Light, so it's kind of a mute point now.
The Forsaken may be full of hatred and xenophobia, but they never pull some "We hate people, so that makes poisoning these people okay" BS in their quests.
Also: saying that humans/dwarves probably lived in Alterac Valley at one point in time means they're justified to slaughter the Frostwolf living there now, who killed no one when they claimed the land and were not part of the armies trying to wipe out the Alliance, is epically weak. Would you buy it if the Blood Elves claimed that they should be the rulers of Ashenvale because the Queen they followed at one point in time was the leader of the area?
Hili Jul 8th 2008 1:27PM
"would protagonists of any personal integrity try to justify killing people that would rather spend their days trying to make ends meat?"
That seems to describe to me exactly what the Alliance does to the Horde.
But what it boils down to is perspective. Horde is baddy to the Alliiance, and Alliance is baddy to the Horde. Tis just the way its gonna be. Neither is inherenlty evil but actions of both will be portrayed as such by both factions because both factions contain radicals who can see nothing but monsters that need to be eradicated.
In the skeem of Warcraft Horde started out as baddies. But both the orcs and blood elves have come through with a redemption story. The Forsaken is merely trying to remain in existence while the alliance lumps them in with the scourge rather than trying to help find a cure. And the Tauren aren't evil at all. They are an inherently good race which is only allied to the Horde out of honor because Thrall and the rest of the Horde helped save the Tauren in their homeland from the centaurs.
So the bad guy depends on your perspective obviously, and thus poses the question, "Can't we all just get along?"
Of course not, though. Cause the rivalry adds a lot of fun to the game.
twh Jul 8th 2008 1:29PM
@Wulf, again, where did I say that the Alliance were the good guys? My opinion on the matter is that the quests that are being discussed, are more or less based in the Horde because the Horde has the misfortune of housing the unsavory characters that wouldn't blink twice about killing someone that wouldn't fight back. And you know what they say about a few bad apples, it's just that the Horde has more of them, considering all the quests which has the player in open combat with Alliance civilians and people.
Regarding Alterac;
Depending on which side you adhere to, the other side attacked first. The Dwarves were looking for artifacts which held links to their ancestry, nor resources. They were in the valley, minding their own business (since one assumes that Alterac's a rather large place), then the Frostwolf dogs got all territorial and attacked, ruining all hopes of diplomatic resolution.
Regarding Sedai (The slain draenei in HP):
It was an angry Broken, who was once a draenei, but turned into that because of the orcs, that wants vengeance, but that ultimately leads to showing that it was Sedai who was trying to ease the tensions, but was killed by Fel Orcs. I remembered wrong, it seems.
Considering that there's a fair number of quests in the Horde faction which lead you to 'questionable' actions, it brings me back to the first paragraph. The Horde has the unfortunate luck to be grouped with more unsavory characters.
Considering that the Horde is under no real threat from the Alliance, and that there are more than enough citizens in the Horde that would have no problem killing every member of the Alliance, I doubt the Warchief would be able to restrain them all. After all, there's only so much a "King on the Hill" can do to keep his people in line.
If you're referring to Daelin Proudmoore, I agree with you on that, however, considering what the Horde is doing now, I'm having a hard time distinguishing them from the Old Horde.
I know that blanket statements are misleading, however, when the majority of quests that places you with blood on your hands, it's hard trying to say that you're doing something heroic when you're poisoning dogs, frogs, and people for someone's personal radical idea of revenge.
And again, since people seem to only selectively note my arguments: nowhere did I say that the Alliance were the good guys. There's the internal strife in the Night Elf society between Tyrande and Staghelm, the politics of the Dwarven Senate with regards to the Dark Iron Dwarves, the Gnomeragan refugees, and the burdens the Draenei have carried since they left Argus.
Damon Jul 8th 2008 5:30PM
I wasn't going to reply in this reply-chain seeing as it got so long, but when someone mentioned that the warsong where "Cutting down lumber even though they didn't need it." i kinda felt it was necessary.
Let's look at the events that led to the warsong gulch conflict.
Thrall: Go cut down some trees, we need them to put roofs over the heads of our families.
Grom: Well, i'd rather be chopping people's heads off but your the boss.
Night elves: They're cutting down our precious trees that cenarius can regrow instantly! KILL THEM ALL!
Grom: WTF? Oh, you going DOWN.
Night elves: We where pwned! But we have the moral high ground because our ears are pointier and everyone loves us!
Grom: Yeah, whatever. Now where are those shredders?
I fail to see how the horde are the bad guys in this situation. It's not like we can cut down trees in the barrens or anything.
ZekeGrimsblade Jul 8th 2008 11:56PM
I too resent that the horde are placed as the "Bad guys". Now the Horde Players, some of them aren't worth much more then the stuff you dig the berries out of. But I really resented the Crystal Quest where you had to use a crystal to kill a Nexus thing in the Starting zone of Outlands. They start out saying that the bloodelves don't use magic, it uses them. Well, having played as a blood elf, I resented that, knowing how the BE's felt about those that could not control their addiction to magic.
anuriel Jul 8th 2008 10:29AM
One word, umpi.
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=2230
Patyn Jul 8th 2008 10:52AM
Ever since becoming exalted with Ogri'la, any quest that has me going in and killing the ogres in BEM has become kinda difficult. There's a lot of guilt piled on you when the ogres fall and say "Queen send me to Ogri'la?"
Candina@WH Jul 8th 2008 10:45AM
Yep. A lot of the Horde quests can be considered 'evil'.
Which, as a horde player, is probably part of the attraction. Why do we watch slasher flicks? Read the news? etc. Playing the Horde is a darker brand of fantasy.
The alliance quests, in broad strokes, are more geared toward 'high' fantasy. Different attraction.
The most evil done in the game is done in the name of PVP. That is where 'role' playing drops out of the equation and You are at the mercy of your own moral compasss. You can role play an evil person if you wish. But who thinks killing someone, tea bagging their corpse and then camping them is less true evil than following a pre-defined story line?
Fugmug Jul 8th 2008 10:48AM
The most evil thing I have ever done is something I do quite regularly.
I obtain a Bash'ir Phasing Device, and hover over Bash'ir Landing and look for any Alliance below who are working on the "Maintaining the Aunwell Portal" quest. I let them kill the varying Spell Thieves to obtain their own device, and I especially love it when they have to kill many of them to get the device to drop.
Once I see the Alliance phase out of view, I drop down, use my own device, and wait for them to pull a mana wyrm.
I then proceed to mana dump on them, killing them, thus losing their phase status, forcing them to collect the device all over again when they rez.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Fug
Badger Jul 8th 2008 11:26AM
The subject of this post is: "Most Evil Quest in the Game"
The subject of this post is not: "How to Be a Total Bastard"
... Although, if I were to aspire to be such a Bastard, I would erect a shrine in your honor, Sir.
Xerrus Jul 8th 2008 11:21AM
I thought the beginning quests of "kill x of this beast y" in the starting areas were evil enough. That turned my wife off to the whole game. Then, as someone penned earlier, the Nesingway family quests, aka "let's decimate all animal life on Azeroth and beyond". I haven't done any of the rep quests in Outlands that recquire you to kill beasts and refuse to do so.
Jackalope Jul 8th 2008 10:59AM
A lot of the "dirty fighting" the horde does is fair game - they're fighting for the right to not be exterminated, or enslaved (depending on which race they are, and which race conquers them) - This includes the playing of the centaur tribes against each other, and the horde's 'manifest destiny' attitude to the absolute ownership of kalimdor. (The centaur and quilboar are total douchebags anyway, they'd kill everyone else if they were strong enough) Heck, even a lil bit of poisoning isn't always bad.
But, the 'evil' quests, in my opinion, are how the undead have this cruel streak in everything they do, with the killing of a pet just to torment the owner, and the desire to make as many people, combatant or not, suffer, and the eventual planning for the eventual genocide of the human race, or possibly even planning for the genocide of life itself - they're practically as evil as the Lich King could ever want them to be!
And the orcs are spiteful and distrusting of the blood elves, while everyone's like I LOVE YOU, UNDEAD PEOPLE - while the blood elves are on the path to redemption from the sunwell's reignition by M'uru, and the undead are only sinking into more depravity, with the new plague almost finished.
I'm afraid that the forsaken are going to turn the horde back into the stereotypical, savage, evil, villains! The interesting part of the conflict is neither side is evil - yet the undead need to show a few more redeeming features if they don't want to drag the entire horde down with them. (They had a nice start with that with the undead sympathizing with the blood elves, and sylvanas's lament when you give her the amulet, but..) - Perhaps, if we're lucky, WOTLK will help the undead become a little bit less evil.
Theungry Jul 8th 2008 11:01AM
I could never play a human because one of the very first quests was "go kill some wolves for no good reason."
npm Jul 8th 2008 11:26AM
I just did the Warlock quest where your Warlockian Overlord tells you someone is asking too many questions about "The Slaughtered Lamb" in Stormwind. He has you go collect a couple of herbs and bring them back. Apparently the nosy noble enjoys his drink and you go deliver him this deadly concoction. He drinks it down and dies right in front of you. The reward is a pointy wizard hat. Which I was thrilled to get.
I thoroughly enjoyed it!
My character is a sweet gnome with pink pigtails. I like to think of her as "Death wrapped in cotton candy".