Breakfast Topic: We're doing what now?
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 31st 2009 at 8:00AM
But I always had a terrible time understanding why I was running Maraudon. Okay, there's some centaurs, and they're... bad? I guess? And then there's one of Cenarius' two sons buried here, and he and an earth elemental named Princess Theadras had sex which, okay, I guess that's bad? And we're going to kill her for having centaur babies with him, and... there's a pretty decent set of plate legs in there? The instance itself isn't poorly designed, mind you, and there's a nice lore element when you bring Zaetar's seed to his brother Remulos in Moonglade, but in terms of why your characters run Maraudon at all, well, it's really hard to come up with anything like a compelling reason. Unless you're a tauren, I guess. Tauren don't need a reason to kill a bunch of centaurs. They just need to be told where they are.
This is always my biggest problem with Zangarmarsh and Coilfang: why are the naga stealing all the water? Just to have it? How does this benefit Vashj or Illidan? I don't really understand that part of the plan. I'm sure someone, somewhere explains it, but I guess I missed that part. (Dread Lord Ziebart hastens to mention that she does have a throwaway line basically saying 'Dudes need water, so we're gonna have all the water and then y'all will have to do what we say' but it conveniently ignores places like Nagrand and Terrokar.)
So now I turn to you, Breakfast Topic readers. What instance or quest most made you say "huh, why is this even happening" and why?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Instances, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Rin Dec 31st 2009 8:09AM
I was thinking this the other day about Auchini(sp?) Crypts, actually. I thought to myself, this being the 8 BILLIONTH time I ran it, thanks dungoen finder, "This place is pretty cool. I bet there's a really cool story behind this place. Too bad NO ONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS."
Drakkenfyre Dec 31st 2009 8:23AM
If you do the quests, you will know.
Knob Dec 31st 2009 8:32AM
Why don't you enlighten the rest of us then? You know, the ones that did every quest and still don't understand why one section contains Ethereals while another contains the Shadow Council and another contains Arakkoa. Each seemingly having nothing to do with one another and exist solely as loot-pinatas. Where's the overarching story as to why these different groups exist there in the first place?
Kylenne Dec 31st 2009 8:36AM
Auchindoun itself was a Draenei temple city of the dead that was considered a very holy site. At one point it got overrun by the Shadow Council who practiced their variety of bad mojo there and ended up summoning an elemental lord that destroyed the joint. So now it's kind of a magical hot spot and all the instances there represent the various factions that are fighting for control of the place.
The story behind Crypts specifically is the priests there are traitors who serve the Legion, and they're raising the dead there to serve them. The ethereals are in Mana Tombs because the explosion that destroyed Auchindoun tore a rift in the Nether that drew them there, and they're ransacking the place for magic shinies. SLabs is where the remnants of the Shadow Council are trying to control the elemental Murmur and take over the place again. And Sethekk is filled with crazy bird dudes using the energy of the place to practice bad mojo.
Drakkenfyre Dec 31st 2009 8:43AM
http://www.wowwiki.com/Auchindoun
Read that.
If you do all the quests involved in the instances, you will get the overall picture of why they are there. They don't have to be connected to be there. There is no real connection between the Arakkoa and the Ethereals being there, but the instances are big enuf to support multiple factions. To give a slightly flawed example, in Gnomer you have four forces. Irridiated Gnomes who think you are Troggs, and thus attack you. Troggs, which are aligned with Thermplugg, Dark Iron Dwarves, which are aligned with Thermaplugg, and Thermaplugg himself. Now while three of the four fit the instance, they are not together. The Gnomes only attack you because they were irridiated, and are trying to defend their city.
Each wing has a different faction in it for a different reason. Each of the reasons make sense. They don't all have to mesh together.
Kylenne Dec 31st 2009 8:52AM
@Drakkenfyre: It's really no different than the classic D&D settings, where you have giant ancient ruins and various groups of people picking through them with their own agendas. Myth Drannor in old school Forgotten Realms comes to mind.
Auchindoun actually has some damned interesting history behind it, it's one of the more interesting places in BC, IMO, and goes a long way toward dispelling that widely held misconception that the Draenei are just boring white hats.
zweitblom Dec 31st 2009 9:21AM
"...SLabs..."
You did that on purpose now, didn't you? No, I will NOT say that it SHOULD be called Slab, since it's a labyrinth, and not laboratories. No, I will not do that, I am over it.
Jafari Dec 31st 2009 10:16AM
always been "slabs" to me... I actually forgot it wasn't a laboratory until I read your comment...
I think I have been calling it "Shadow Labs" in real life since halfway through BC.
EZ Dec 31st 2009 11:43AM
oh man i miss auchindoun. those dungeons were fkin hard, and even when outgearing that place you could still wipe. dam i miss the possibility of death in a 5man.
sheeping, and sapping, and stunning, and interrupting, and killing skull first.
good times, good times.
Ctmcstomperq Dec 31st 2009 8:09AM
Joy for you...wait, you are one of the mouth breathers! AWAY WITH YOU!
tehshiznit Dec 31st 2009 8:13AM
@Xoriah, congrtz, you care about coming 1st in a nonexistent race.
Mine was easily the new lvl 80 Onyxia. She used to have a massive plotline, which imo was one of the best in classic wow, but since 3.2.2, she's been basically benine in her lair. Sure the loot was good, but otherwise sh'es just had all the fun taken out of her encounter.
Docp Dec 31st 2009 8:28AM
Blizzard actually said that Onyxia was a "Full Fun, Zero Lore" thing they did to celebrate 5 years of wow. For lore the old lore still stands, Onyxia has not been ressed, she is not more powerful, you exposed her when she was standing next to Bolvar and not she's dead, then you went to outlands.
Greta Dec 31st 2009 8:11AM
I never understood the quest to save Bronzebeard's daughter in BRD when you are horde. Oh no the Alliance will be destabilized if Magni dies? Ok. My forsaken toon can deal with that eventuality.
tehshiznit Dec 31st 2009 8:19AM
It's so that Thrall can try to establish a time of peace with the Alliance. Naturally it doesnt work. Ofc under Garrosh, that will all change, but isnt BRM geting revamped anyways?
Nathanyel Dec 31st 2009 10:10AM
The Horde quest around Moira doesn't need to be changed, as you said, the attempts fail anyway.
But at least these were attempts, visible already in Classic WoW, to settle some of the conflicts between A and H. There wouldn't be a true peace for many years, of course, so battlegrounds would still make sense. But in general, the relations went slightly upwards.
Completely different to nowadays' reaction to player whining that there isn't enough hate er war in the universe dubbed Warcraft after its first game's lurid title - nothing against that, you just don't have to take it that literally.
Warcraft isn't a totally medieval universe with all that xenophobic and/or religion-motivated shit that happened during RL mankind's middle ages. The general philosophy and world view is far further developed than that. Sure, the first game had a simple "us against them, good vs. evil" theme. But already the second one differentiated, explained the Orcs' reason to invade Azeroth and that they were influenced, and finally, Warcraft 3 showed a "good" Horde. But some people still are in the first game's thinking patterns.
I just think an escalation of the current cold war doesn't serve any purpose at all (except caving to above whiners) while there are bigger threats.
Fnord Dec 31st 2009 11:13AM
Nathanyel's not really being fair to the antagonists of the mediaeval era, but I otherwise agree. Under present circumstances, the ongoing Alliance/Horde hostilities have a hard time NOT looking puerile and counterproductive. Cool as the Wrathgate event was, even it didn't do much to make continued fighting really plausible.
If this is going to continue, Cataclysm will probably need to introduce some casus belli FAR more fundamental & compelling than Garrosh's diaper rash, Varian's bad memories, or Horde lumberjacks.
roguebait Dec 31st 2009 8:13AM
Mara is definately high on the "WTF, why?" list, if for any other reason than I hate that place so hard and have gotten dumped into it countless times in the new LFD.
The other one I don't really get is Dire Maul. Continuing the theme of evil satyrs and...ogres? I don't know. Apparently there was some kick-ass knowledge burried within? I think the only time I ever went in there was to heal for a friend's dreadsteed quest, Waaaay back in the day.
Alanid Dec 31st 2009 8:16AM
I went there a few times, one for the pally mount, and the others I can't remember why.
Cyrus Dec 31st 2009 11:43AM
High elves meddled with powers they could not comprehend, and got burned for it. In Dire Maul East and West, we're there to clean up their messes and stop the survivors from playing around with demons any more. In Dire Maul North, we're there to beat up and rob the ogres, who have stuff worth robbing because they stole it all from the high elves. So basically, Dire Maul East and West is a preview of Black Temple, while Dire Maul North is a preview of Mana Tombs.
Alanid Dec 31st 2009 8:14AM
Same deal with the naga in Zangarmarsh, I was like so let me get this straight... you want all the water... and to get it your going to evaporate it all? That makes sense. Also I never really understood the "rebellion" against Kurzen in Stranglethorn, or why it was called the second rebellion.
I never ran Maraudon till the most recent Lunar Festival for the Elder title. I never even knew it existed for most of my time playing vanilla, and I've played since the game was released in the UK so... yeah. To be honest I never understood Desolace... period.