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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 6 of 9)
Zanathos Feb 2nd 2010 7:39PM
While the quest names were apparently written by sixth graders, they're generally good for a chuckle and there's certainly no actions you take completing the quest that involve anything out of the ordinary for WoW. Methinks you've overthinking this.
scherbaddie Feb 2nd 2010 10:22PM
Sorry, I didn't even notice. Maybe I'm just not pre-occupied with that sort of thing (except.. I actually am and _still_ didn't notice).
I was given a horn, and it made noise when i blew it, nothign suss there. Who refers to their penis a horn anyway?
Then I saw a dull looking helm - not knob, not sure where you got that from - and killed some blobs for oil to polish it. I don't think about sex when polishing my cutlery either, though I probably will now.
Justin Feb 2nd 2010 9:18AM
This is definitely one of the more interesting things I've seen come out of WotLK. Back in Classic and BC, there weren't any big quests like this because there wasn't any reason for them. You go in, you do what's right, you save the people.
But then you get to Northrend. You get there, bright and brimming with energy, ready to take on the Scourge. You're not expecting it to be much different than your previous fights. Taking down criminals terrorizing the inhabitants of a zone (Defias). Killing the children of Deathwing (UBRS and BWL). Going up against the Burning Legion to protect Azeroth.
And then in Northrend, you get off the boat. Woah, cool, Valgarde. We've already got a strong foothold. This is gonna be just as simple as it was in... wait, those guys outside... they're not the Scourge? We have to fight them too... because they worship Arthas. Okay. I can do this, not a problem... wait, they're our ANCESTORS? Hmm... well, they ARE trying to kill me....
Later in Howling Fjord: Wait, you want me to kill OUR GUYS because they've gone nuts? Because of this stuff they're mining? That YOU told them to mine? Well, they did attack me first....
Progress a bit further into Northrend: So now I have to kill these blue dragons... because they're concerned that our magic use could bring the Burning Legion back... again. Like it has twice(?) before. Well, I suppose we're doing the right thing, they do seem to be going kinda nuts here... but they do have a point....
And then you get to Icecrown. Where you're faced with the converted heroes. Perhaps some of them are even Hordies that YOU killed. And you're fighting alongside Death Knights... against Death Knights. And you're forced to face the consequences of your actions. Big Roy. Converted Heroes. It's not as simple as "They're the bad guys because (They tried to destroy us and they'll do it again without hesitation/They're disregarding the Naaru and Draenei's requests because they care more about the profit/They're frikkin' EVIL DRAGONS BENT ON WORLD DOMINATION)". The world that's always been more or less black and white has suddenly become a VERY uniform gray. You're forced to torture and kill beings who, at worst, were doing what they believed was right, and at best, were really on your side or are working towards the same end goal you are (Destruction of the Lich King).
It's a very vivid way of showing that Northrend is different. That it changes everyone. You see it in the NPCs. The farther you progress into Northrend, the darker they become. You see it in the gear. Paladin gear, especially. It used to be bright and vibrant... and now, it's subdued, almost mournful. And we see heroes of the light, who have been fighting for years, be killed and rise again as members of the very Scourge they were fighting to destroy. In Northrend, the Light is much dimmer. The Plauge, which could be cleansed when it affected those in the rest of the world (Scourge Invasion)... it's stronger in Northrend. It can't be cleansed, not by the most powerful beings in existence.
And while normally I'd apologize for the wall of text with a comment that size, but right now... it's definitely something worth thinking about.
jrizutko Feb 2nd 2010 10:52AM
The artistic themes of Northrend model the types of moral quandaries that Arthas went through on his path to corruption. They are supposed to make people who pay attention uncomfortable. Its not an accident. Blizzard is asking you to think about the story that you are engaging in.
jrizutko Feb 2nd 2010 10:56AM
Just to clarify, I am agreeing with Justin.
MightyBurebista Feb 2nd 2010 2:06PM
Your comment made me think, particularly the section about the Paladin armor. You see, when I saw tier 10, I was hollering all over the place "It looks like shit! SKULLS on PALADIN armor? Are we bloody Warlocks?!", but now that I reflect upon your hypothesis...it might be that Blizzard had the concept of mourning in mind when the designed the Lightsworn set instead of just being uninspired and throwing in the seemingly stupid concept of skull motifs on Paladin armor just for kicks.
brian Feb 2nd 2010 4:02PM
This sort of malaise that falls over those in Northrend as time passes has lead me to believe that the plague may not be merely a disease, or mainly meant to raise the dead. The plague is also in the environment itself, an embodiment of suffering, and dispair, meant to sap your will, strip you of your honor and inherent good, and reshape you into something that can be corrupted or simply used.
Perhaps the plague comes in two parts. First, it saps your will, your hope, your very mind. When the light itself has drained out of you, and you may even be wanting your end, the second part kicks in, and after the death you had begun to long for, you are raised, your will no longer your own. The final act done, you have surrendered your will, just as the plague drove you to do from the start.
With that in mind, those hard decisions in Northrend become something more, don't they?
Zanathos Feb 2nd 2010 7:51PM
Great post, though funny you mentioned the defias as an example of a clean cut morality. While it's definitely clear that they're terrorizing the people of Westfall and need to be put down, the Deadmines and Stockades quests reveal that the Defias are the party who was wronged by the kingdom of stormwind first, and the nobles of Stormwind should share some of the blame for the state of westfall. It's not to the point where you should be wondering if you're doing the right thing, but there's certainly shades of grey there as well.
Chrissie Feb 2nd 2010 9:26AM
To the poster above: I would hope we all know we're playing a video game and doing "bad things" in said game to gain XP does not equal harming people in real life; nonetheless people, especially roleplayers, develop an image and a story to their character in their minds and are then a bit in a pinch when the game forces them to choose between XP/loot and acting consistent with their character.
I also agree with the poster on the first page who said it would be cool if there was a way to choose, or a "path" to take. For example, every night elf missteps in the newbie area when they help out that satyr and are then forced to make amends. Yet, I've done the same thing on 4 or more characters because it'd be stupid to skip the quest.
Also, all 4 of my 70+ characters are Alliance, and my highest level Horde is 36, in part because of this reason. I only play Blood Elves anyway, but the quests in Hillsbrad were so horrible I willingly fled to STV as soon as I was barely high enough level, in spite of that place being pure hell on a PvP server. I hate the Forsaken, I hate their quests, and I don't want anything to do with them on any of my characters (Sylvanas is cool though, so I guess they can stick around :P ).
I agree about the death knight starting area - it gives you a nice glimpse into just what being a death knight means, but it also means that there is no hope of redemption for those characters. If I were writing a novel about my death knight character, it would have her fighting for redemption until she dies in battle, because it is not possible to live with what one did while controlled by the Scourge (and yeah, I know that feeds into the stereotypical emo DK. Bite me.)
I'm actually having trouble coming up with examples of my own because I've always, even pre-dungeon tool, preferred pugging instances over questing.
I also agree with whoever brought up PvP, which is part of the reason I've always hated it and only engaged in it when either forced on the defensive or being in need of welfare gear upgrades during my active raiding time in BC. Coming from a text roleplaying game with much stricter standards with regards to staying in character and roleplaying, I saw absolutely no reason why any of my characters would ever attack Horde characters. Orcs? Sure, I'm a night elf and pissed about Ashenvale, but Jaina's approach of trying to get along makes much more sense. Tauren? Practically believe in the same deity, we're groovy. Trolls? More or less indifferent to them, but a) enough of their blood has been shed in Quel'Thalas and b) no reason to piss off the former two by attacking their allies. Blood elves? Sure we disapprove of the demonic taint and of the havoc their ancestors wrought, but they're still brothers/sisters, somehow. Forsaken? Hate them, but see Trolls and Blood Elves, and their predicament isn't really their fault, anyway. Hell, the majority of them was probably Alliance while alive.
The previous comments are also making me think that I really shouldn't bother leveling my horde characters.
Elofax Feb 2nd 2010 10:27AM
On the other hand, it could also be equally argued that from an rp standpoint, 21st-century American views of ethics and morality shouldn't necessarily apply to characters living in a pseudo-medieval fantasy world (with a few elements of steampunk). My CHARACTER had no more problem with the torture quest than he has with slaughtering a huge host of beings that threaten the well-being of his homeland, whether they be malevolent or merely misguided beyond reasoning. As a roleplayer, I would hope that people would take advantage of the opportunity to explore what it would be like to have a very different set of values than we actually possess in real life. Doing so helps us stretch and grow and realize that not everybody in the world thinks exactly like we do, makes us question some of our beliefs, and often confirms many of them when we see unpleasant consequences arising from certain actions that arise from holding a different set of values (as the reaction of so many on this thread demonstrates).
Luci Feb 2nd 2010 9:25AM
The one where you have to choose b/t frenzyheart or oracles is pretty tough. "A Hero's Burden" I believe. Just letting one die.
Killing poor puppy Stanley.
DK quests. Particularly that your mount is a horse you brought to the slaughter and the one where you have to kill an npc you knew in life.
I primarily play alliance, but I have a couple of horde toons and decided I wanted a forsaken horse back in BC for my blood elf. I found all of the forsaken quests to be just awful. BLAH kill everyone. BLAH poison everyone. The first one I ran across, I had to poison a draenei at Falcon Watch in Hellfire. I love draenei and despised the quest. I never finished the rep grind and when I play horde again I will never play a forsaken that is for sure. I love the tauren and can't stand that they are part of the horde. Though don't flame me, I understand that the individual horde races all differ from one another more dramatically than those of the alliance and that the horde is held together through different motives.
I also HATE Undercity. The screaming humans in cages always really bothered me.
If Garrosh kills Cairne that is going to be the worst thing ever.
Dragundam Feb 2nd 2010 9:28AM
No one thought the dying orc out in Icecrown asking you to kill the already dying Alliance soldiers that they most retardedly ganked in the middle of a Scourge battle was full of shit? ...Awkward sentence is awkward. XP Anyway, I did it once, and felt terrible about it, doubly so because I was also on the Crusader Bridenbrad questline. Never again. And then follow up was a pvp daily doing the same thing? What the hell.
As for that Neural Needler quest? Now that was fun. I picked up an extra needler (yes, they do sell them upstairs from where you poke the dude repeatedly) then got all pouty because I couldn't use it on anyone else. Damn you, Blizzard for getting my hopes up...
And I basically don't do any Apothecary Society/Undercity/Forsaken quests since they feel like they have to constantly screw over and kill everyone for no damn reason.
visitingl337n00b Feb 2nd 2010 9:38AM
Stealing Wolvar puppies is so wrong that it makes me laugh out loud at how ludicrous what I'm doing is. What's even more ridiculous is doing it on a rogue: sap the mom and steal her kids while she watched helplessly. Really?
There are a couple of quests that I really wish had some sort of principled option to them. Like torturing the sorcerer in the Tundra. I do these things because I'm playing a game and I want to see the quests and get my achievements for doing the quests, but it really makes me wish that I could just refuse to do it and then go on with the followups. I don't mind missing the rewards for the quest, it's the rest of the chain I want to do. I think this one bugs me in particular because it reinforces the completely wrongheaded real-life idea that a lot of people have the torture is useful in dire circumstances even if it is wrong. Torture is not only morally wrong, but also not a reliable way to get accurate information.
gn33101 Feb 2nd 2010 11:30AM
"Stealing Wolvar puppies is so wrong that it makes me laugh out loud at how ludicrous what I'm doing is. What's even more ridiculous is doing it on a rogue: sap the mom and steal her kids while she watched helplessly. Really? "
You got it easy, the rest of us have to KILL the mothers and then steal the squealing children.
Samuel Feb 2nd 2010 9:43AM
"Have you noticed our caps? They've got SKULLS on them! Are we the baddies?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QSLuHVD1M0
I started to think that the Horde were really "the baddies" when my tree-hugging Tauren was directed to deliberately pollute the river in Hellfire that I had been trying to cleanse as Alliance.
Namy Feb 2nd 2010 1:16PM
Lol! I love that sketch ; )
STARF Feb 2nd 2010 9:44AM
The worst thing i have done, and still do from time to time, is click a spell way up in the air on my mount, not thinking that my shaman or dk doesn't have flight form...
ChasW Feb 2nd 2010 9:46AM
I can't believe anyone hasn't mentioned the daily in Ice Crown where you raise the Scarlet Onslaught as scourge. Yeah, they're bad and I don't feel bad about killing them. But, raising them as scourge? That's just messed up.
P.Ribas Feb 2nd 2010 9:52AM
Stealing Wolvar puppies. : (
STARF Feb 2nd 2010 9:46AM
and killing multitudes of peasants, and critters. I tried holding up a squirrel for ransom in Dal one day, needless to say i didn't get my 1million gold...