Breakfast Topic: When you were there
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 24th 2009 at 8:00AM
It really occurred to me on a visit to Darnassus, in fact, to turn in the quest "A Cautious Return" that I should be able to do more than just hand the dude a note. I mean, I killed Illidan! I've kicked Kil'Jaeden's butt back down the Sunwell myself! I went back in time and fought Archimonde. (By the way, Tyrande, thanks for the slow fall item and all.) Lore wise, I've pretty much seen everything at this point and soon, I'll be running off to fight Arthas. You'd think I could say "hey, take it easy" to that Sentinel for the poor guy.
When you think about all our characters have seen (even new characters leveled from 1 to 80 with this expansion have traveled to an alien world and then to a frozen wasteland stuffed with titan relics and undead like the worst pizza crust ever) these are some really experienced folks (hence that bar on your interface, I guess) and I find myself wondering what kind of stories they'd tell. So now I ask you, what stories would your character tell? What lore moments were the ones you think he or she would be more moved by, impressed by, or pleased to have been a part of? For that matter, which ones were the best for you as a player?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Features, The Burning Crusade, Lore, Bosses, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Yvels Dec 24th 2009 8:10AM
Scourge invasion festparty.
Hades Dec 24th 2009 1:52PM
"He's seen a ridiculous amount of things."
"He's seen a ridiculous number of things."
^fixed.
love the article by the way... good stuff
Docp Dec 24th 2009 8:13AM
I've fought with demons, elementals, machines and beasts, I've conquered every peak and searched every depth, I've killed immortals and saved the weak but despite all this, when a rogue pops up behind me I still can't do anything but stand their limply as I get stabbed to death.
I wish I knew how to PVP.
Docp Dec 24th 2009 8:15AM
*there
WTB edit button =(
plantllover420 Dec 24th 2009 8:29AM
good for you...some of us havent even been able to ever get into any raids besides ZG ZA and BWL i would love to be able to do every raid in the game but people and guilds on my server (Cenaris) seem to be pricks who are never willing to take in someone without experience so basicly im never going to even try to do ICC or any raid because people are aholes in WoW.....well i help ANYONE who asks for my help i have even given out more free 16 slot bags then i can remember
Tyrnas Dec 24th 2009 10:51AM
Friend, this is WotLK, and more importantly, patch 3.3. We are in the age of pugging everything, and that is good.
Calm down, farm some heroics, and do some research on sites like wow insider, tankspot, and elitist jerks, and you'll be raiding in no time.
If that is too much to ask, then perhaps raiding simply isn't for you. Yes, raiding is vastly easier now than it was, but the basic requirements of L2P are still there. You not being able to get into raids reflects more on yourself and your time spent preparing for them than for your server as a whole. Servers are large places, friend.
Gimmlette Dec 24th 2009 11:53AM
Not every server has people on it willing to drag people through all content. Or the population that wants to see all content is so small that the ability to support a viable guild seeing and doing what you want to see and do is impossible. Don't want the headaches or running a guild, remember this, as Cataclysm draws closer, the number of people who want to see Classic/BC/Wrath material as it is now will grow. If you're patient, you should start to see pugs for all the raids you've missed.
Or, if you aren't patient, maybe you need to look outside your own server for like minded people. There is a desire amongst some people who have just come to the game, or came to it in BC, to see the old instances. Any number of guilds have formed who are dedicated to seeing all this material. With the ability to cap XP gains, you can find guilds interested only in classic or only in classic and BC content. But maybe none exist on your server. Have you asked, politely, in the server forum? Maybe there is a guild but you don't know about it. Spectacular Death (A) on Llane is one of the oldest guilds doing all WOW content from ZG through first tentative steps into ICC. (It was spectacularly bad, I can assure you.) We aren't the only one and it may take some digging to find one.
Tyrnas is right in that your chances of getting into a guild or pug to see what you want to see are much better if you know your class and have done homework on the bosses in the raid you want to run. If you do your homework, have you thought of organizing a pug yourself? They are madding, frustrating, patience-trying, exhilarating entities but by running the event, you get to see what you want.
And to answer the topic:
The first time I saw Onyxia in the Stormwind Keep. What a long quest chain and I was told I wasn't completely done, either. My raid leader, on purpose, did not tell the group what was going to happen when we followed Marshal Windsor into the keep. I knew, after we killed the dragonkin guards, that this would be my all-time favorite lore moment.
skyman4321 Dec 24th 2009 8:14AM
Dear Blizzard,
I have enjoyed the dangerous, surprisingly hospitable, dark regions of alien worlds, where I have fought a multitude of horrific demons. I had one helluva time fighting zombies and friends in the world's biggest snowball-fight, but could we possibly have something like... oh I don't know, an expansion that's fun for the characters?! We've run through so much shit,
been beat the living crap out of, and had to do some pretty disturbing stuff. So can there be an x-pac where we don't have to fight some stupidly overpowered guy, and maybe just chill?
Sincerely,
Bloodflayme
P.S. Blowing up the mess is one way to do it... But are you fixing Azeroth for us, or to fix your old mistakes... *cough, cough* horrible itemization *cough* http://www.wowhead.com/?item=13260 says it all.
Tom Dec 24th 2009 8:44AM
Wouldn't fixing their past mistakes be the same thing as fixing Azeroth for us?
And the itemization is much better than it used to be. Compare the new Robes of Arugal to the old ones.
Liam Dec 24th 2009 8:23AM
My characters story would be how he survived the Wrathgate and also managed to take back a whole city alongside Thrall and Sylvanas :D and yeh, pretty soon how he helped take down the Lich King :P
Mortalcoil Dec 24th 2009 8:29AM
rescuing the tauren princess on the island in STV (what does a gorilla do with taurens anyway?)
Guildenstern Dec 24th 2009 8:35AM
It's the same thing that's been happening to me since FFXI and now happens to me here-- you might be wearing armor worth more than the lives of most NPCs and their families and have slain ancient evils, but in your hometown you will always be a scrub that gets bossed around by gate guards.
You can't even kill them for giving you lip.
Tyrrax Dec 24th 2009 10:28AM
Even as far back as Lord of the Rings you had uber armor. Gandalf stated that Bilbo's mithril armor was worth more than The Shire.
Aproposcrouse Dec 24th 2009 8:39AM
My priest's most memorable event would probably be walking into Molten Core with thirty-nine other stalwart comrades as an under-experienced healer (level 58) and working his way to finally vanquish Ragnaros as an experienced adventurer (level 60). Of course, you know your guild is hard up for healers when they take in a level 58 to heal. But it was still an epic experience to be included at a lower level and gave me that extra push to blast through the last two levels so I could be ready to down Ragnaros on the following raid.
Candina@WH Dec 24th 2009 8:42AM
That is the problem with a fixed world MMO. You advance, the world doesn't. You, Me, my idiot brother could all Kick vanilla Thralls A$$ now. Ragnaros? Didn't a pally solo him the other day?
When my Orc Shaman hangs up the totems, what lasting good will he have done? Sure, I participated in the killing of some old gods, some evil titans, some extra-azerothian demons, some massive elemental baddies, etc. But they are still there.
I, when all is said and done, was just a set back....
Ringo Flinthammer Dec 24th 2009 10:46AM
Thrall hasn't remained static, other than his wardrobe.
Chris Dec 24th 2009 8:46AM
The most moving quest I've seen in this game was back in my Alliance days on Llane. Delivering Sully Balloo's letter (http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=637) to his widow was a real surprise - I didn't realize how powerful the storytelling could be in this game.
Docp Dec 24th 2009 9:46AM
The reason that quest packs a higher than normal emotional punch is because the letter is real. The letter, its author and its intended recipient are references to a letter written by Union Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah, shortly before the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. (from wowwiki) it's just been reworded to fit Azeroth.
Unfortunately due to the unusual starting location I don't think many people will have seen that letter and done that quest line.
Doberbane Dec 24th 2009 10:12AM
If you want to see a cool Star Wars lightsaber fight set to the reading of the Sullivan letter, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMXpokrfblM "Art of the Saber."
julian Dec 24th 2009 12:46PM
Thanks Chris for directing me to that quest, I had no idea about it before. Great story telling like you said, thanks again.