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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Terrible things
by Allison Robert 
Feb 2nd 2010 at 8:00AM
That made us think about all the stuff we do in-game that kind of makes us...well, bad guys, for lack of a better term, and we started wondering -- what's the worst thing that player characters have done (or been asked to do)? Setting Teron Gorefiend loose has to rank pretty high up there. Then there's that torture quest out in Borean Tundra, which squicks people to this day. While we're on the subject of Borean Tundra, nobody particularly liked thinking about a daily quest offered in Coldarra, or the ugly results of Horde questing in Howling Fjord. If you wanted to look at the whole "player evil" thing from a larger perspective, you can even make a case that player-generated PvP is, within the context of WoW's lore, one of the more significant contributions to faction antagonism and war.
So what's the worst thing that your character has done -- or, failing that, the thing that you still feel the worst about? I've already got my pick.
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 9)
Symas Feb 2nd 2010 9:03AM
Mine's from long ago, I guess I became more hardhearted since then.
Tharnariun's Hope in Darkshore
Find and kill the Den Mother
Killing the mother was bad enough but there was no way to do it without killing the cubs too. I justified it by thinking it was best as the cubs would have come to a bad end without their mother.
MightyBurebista Feb 2nd 2010 1:41PM
Argh, yeah I mentioned it before reading your post. I guess I had it easier being a bored high-level Pally doing low-level Darnassus quests for shits and giggles, so I had the liberty of just casting Exorcism on the bear mother and hauling ass hen the poor cubs came growling after me.
I figured "they're bears so they're strong, thus they'll survive" :(
Raithvin Feb 2nd 2010 9:05AM
None of them, it's just a game, killing things/torturing them is just a means to an end
I suspect most of you are level 80, take a look at your kill count, feel bad about being level 80 now? I sure dont. Granted I would never kill/torture anyone in real life but that just adds to my point, I wasnt torturing somone, or commiting genocide, I was questing to level 80.
It's very nice to see some people feel uncomfortable about it, clearly I'm just of a different mindset.
Dave Feb 2nd 2010 9:08AM
The Frenzyheart Tribe in Sholazar Basin had me torment baby gorillas until their screams of suffering finally alerted their mother, at which point I killed their mother.
This was reason enough for me to align myself with the Oracles.
Valorum Feb 2nd 2010 9:09AM
I hated killing animals for Zenn Foulhoof. What is a satyr doing in Teldrassil anyway?
I felt better turning him into a frog, though....
vinniedcleaner Feb 2nd 2010 9:10AM
"...you can even make a case that player-generated PvP is, within the context of WoW's lore, one of the more significant contributions to faction antagonism and war."
Which is why DISHONORABLE combat (ie the ganking and the griefing) should carry a penalty in the form of a debuff which will give an opposing faction player (that is at or below your gear/character level) the ability to loot your corpse for a substantial amount of gold.
Vladeon Feb 2nd 2010 10:35AM
They should make it that if you gank a lower level character that's 10 levels or more below you, that you get a debuff that lowers your level to that of the character you ganked for an hour. So if you ganked a lvl 50 character and you're level 80, you should be set back to lvl 50 for an hour, that should put a cap on the dishonorable ganking that occurs.
missemilyblack Feb 5th 2010 2:29AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they punish you for ganking way back in the day? I remember reading in the WoW handbook the first day I got the game that if you ganked people you would lose honor or reputation or something like that, and I was extremely confused the first few days whenever I got ganked. I could only wonder why they would be hurting themselves for no reason... then I found out that this 'dishonor' has been taken out of the game.
MightyBurebista Feb 2nd 2010 1:51PM
No, the solution is not to play on a PvP server. I've come to the point where I expect high-level Horde "PvP masterz" to come and raze an Alliance settlement just to start some shit (although high-level Alliance rarely come running), so if I see "Rebel Camp is under attack!" over and over again, I'll gallop there and see a lv60 Troll DK killing everyone, I'll kill on sight. I don't care if I'm lv80, he brought it upon himself.
In any case, I never engage in raiding Tauren or Orc farms and hamlets in the Barrens for sick kicks, they're just civilians. As far as Forsaken NPC's that I know are involved in quests based on killing Alliance, I'll go out of my way to kill them even if they're 30 levels below me. :P
Mikee Feb 2nd 2010 2:08PM
If you don't like PvP, don't play on a PvP server.
It really is that simple.
MightyBurebista Feb 2nd 2010 2:52PM
I should probably mention that I only play on PvE servers, just in case some people were getting the idea that ganking, ganking everywhere is a commonplace occurrence on my server. :/
Hob Feb 2nd 2010 4:51PM
@vinniedcleaner
The penalty for DISHONORABLE PvP combat is, you don't get any honor. The same way the "penalty" for killing grey mobs is, you don't get any experience.
vinniedcleaner Feb 2nd 2010 6:34PM
But you do get honor if you gank someone in your level range that you hopelessly outgear. The key thing with gankers/griefers is that they aren't doing it for the honor, they are doing it just to be ganker/griefers. So preventing them from gaining honor is not a consequence. However, if after ganking/griefing someone, they find themselves vulnerable. it might make them think twice about ruining someone else's enjoyment of the game.
merentha Feb 2nd 2010 9:10AM
The Hodir rep dailies.
It's less "something horrible I had to do in the game" and more "something I had to do in the game that made me really uncomfortable." But the Hodir dailies, the "polishing the knob" and "blowing the horn" and the rest of the bj joke quest names -- I get that for guys it's probably just a matter of "haha, blowjob jokes are funny!" and that's fine, for them. But as a woman, it's always made me feel uncomfortable and a bit icky. Not so much because blowjob jokes aren't funny, because hey, I have a sense of humor, too -- but because these are rep quests that you *have* to do repeatedly, if you want access to the high-end shoulder enchants, so there's an element of coercion there that just makes me really unhappy.
Rialyn Feb 2nd 2010 9:46AM
It's not just you as a female. Being a male, I too didn't care much for that. Of course, I am well past age 21, both physically and mentally.
Its sad, when they could have done better with that. For me, it lessened my enjoyment of the game.
DonJuanito Feb 2nd 2010 10:07AM
Wow - i've been doing those for a year i guess and never even considered that subtext. In my defense, i'm the guy that clicks through the walls of text for quests in an effort to get them done as i really don't care about the Lore of this game (well not as much as i should).
Frank Feb 2nd 2010 10:07AM
I must be one of the immature masses they put that stuff in for, I found them very funny. I like crude humor that if you can get it there is no harm in but if your young and don't already know the offensive stuff there is no damage done.
Mighty Feb 2nd 2010 10:15AM
I agree, it made me somewhat sad to see blizz going for that kind of gimmick. I had no intention of polishing anyones anything in a game like wow. Its more something i'm trying to escape the constant focus on from irl media, so having a "MUST HAVE" faction with dailys like these were really irritating for me.
Probably getting to old for jokes like that i guess. Just dont seem as funny to push sexjokes on people as it used to do 15 years ago.
In terms of torture/killing/evil etc etc.. Actually a very good question. I feel wow dont really have any option for good/bad compared to many other games and that the quests are more to tell a story then actually being a good/bad person for doing them.
The mobs respawn, no harm done :-p
jrizutko Feb 2nd 2010 10:36AM
The premise that you HAVE to do the crudely named dailies to get Hodir Rep is completely false. You can use either Relics of Ulduar or Triumph badges to advance your rep very quickly. You could also just do the quests "Hot and Cold" and "Spy hunter" without getting all uncomfortable. Lastly you can find and turn in everfrost chips.
Or you know, you could admit to yourself that none of the quests actually involve the suggested innuendo. They're just lame puns.
Botono Feb 2nd 2010 7:53PM
You gotta go down to go up.
http://www.amazon.com/You-Gotta-Go-Down-Up/dp/B001R9LO4O