I found that stationing myself along the road they were fleeing down and only fighting those that stopped to fight me was the least twitchy way to do that quest.

Also a good way to get five Scarlet Crusade civilians together to kick my deathknight ass for me.

But the DK quests do a VERY good job letting you see what you're fighting in Northrend. And remember, you're not an independent being at the point where you do them... you're a tool of the Lich King. So the DK quests don't really bother me in the same way.

The torture quests I dislike, especially with the issues of waterboarding and Guantanomo in the real world. Blizz lost some of my respect when they put these in.

"I personally think it's a little unsettling that Blizzard is prompting people to play out the murder of woman and children while they plead for mercy."

I've done some questionable quests unthinkingly in the past. But if THAT was my task I just wouldn't do it.

The DK-kill-citizens quests are something that I'm very glad Blizzard put into the game, even though they were terribly disturbing. Gives you a new appreciation for how terrible you once were and an appreciation for what you have to do to get redemption, if redemption was even possible. I actually kept some of the useless rags and items I picked up off of the civilians I murdered and will keep them in the bank for as long as I'm in the game. Just a memento of what I had done.

But disturbing quests are nothing new. I haven't made it to Northrend yet but there are two in the old world that still stick with me. The whole Timbermaw reputation grind is disturbing if you actually think about it. The Timbermaw tribe forces you into their service by telling you that unless you go out and commit genocide on their enemies, the Timbermaw will do their best to kill you. They try to smooth this over by telling you what terrible bad guys the other tribes are, but you have no idea if they're telling the truth or not.

And then I recently rolled a Forsaken because I had never played one before. Got a quest to steal pumpkins from the Scarlet Crusade, which seemed like a harmless enough prank. Took them to the apothecary, who put a potion in one and told me to feed it to a Scarlet Crusade prisoner in the basement. The prisoner was terribly happy to get the pumpkin since he hadn't been fed since he was captured, but then almost immediately started screaming in pain and terror as his body rots from the inside out, and he becomes a short-lived zombie. That was disturbing enough that I quit the character, even though I have no sympathy for anything in the Scarlet Crusade.

I LOVE the DK starting quests. I spent over half an hour just killing the civilians and dumping their skulls in the pot to get more healing pots. It was awesome.

@pandaba

Very good comments. IRL I too can find my past detestable (no I haven't killed any peasants). Reminders of my past make me ever more grateful for my redemption purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross.