Breakfast Topic: How does your character react to quest storylines?
by Stephen Pomeroy 
Jan 22nd 2011 at 8:00AM
Imagine this scenario: You play on a non-RP PvE or PvP server. You come across a quest such as The Art of Persuasion that brings out some sort of reaction in you. A while later, you're leveling a different character and come across the same quest. Is your reaction the same, or does the toon you're playing affect your reaction? Do you react at all?
For me, my character colors my reactions to the quest. The Art of Persuasion made me cringe on my druid, hunter and paladin, but I absolutely reveled in it on my warlock and death knight. The Nesingwary quests, D.E.H.T.A. quests, and even whole zones can make me elated or squirm. Now that Cataclysm has hit, it has only gotten worse. I could barely stay in my seat questing in Hyjal, I was so involved in the quests. I made snarky comments in /say to NPCs, I refused some quests I found distasteful, and I reacted like I think my druid would have to the events around me. Even at the end, after the final quest, I felt like I have many times at the end of a large campaign in a traditional tabletop RPG: I felt accomplished. My character had done something.
Granted, I come from a long background of roleplaying. From tabletop games to LARPs, I've played one character or another for over a decade, so it's second nature to create and act out a new persona. I don't play on an RP realm because I generally don't agree with where many WoW RPers take things, but I do enjoy getting to know my character as more than just my avatar in Azeroth. No matter how hard I try to keep him quiet, my character will eventually get a few words in.
Does RP get into your gaming, no matter what? Can you withstand a character's call to live and not just be?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Wildharp Jan 22nd 2011 8:08AM
RP server or now, it's called an mmoRPg for a reason :-D And yes, I do get completely and utterly involved in quest storylines. I hated that torturing quest, for example. And loved the nearby rescue-the-murloc-babies one (I took several screenshots along the way of those cute little "hrrrrrllll...."s following me around, lol).
I love the Cataclysm zones because they all feel so finished in themselves - like you say, it leaves you with a sense of accomplishment.
:-)
Cowy Jan 22nd 2011 5:47PM
I recall the cry out outrage over "The Art of Persuasion" when people first encountered it in WOTLK... and I honestly was baffled.
You have a problem with torturing someone? Are you that clueless about the game environment and what you do in this game!?!?
Let me see if I am hearing you right...
You are willing to walk under corpses hanging from trees, pass by abominations with their guts hanging out, pass and not even ponder charcoal that is oddly human shaped and still smoldering, commit mass genocide, stab, shock, and blow up every human or creature your quest asks you to for a pathetic amount of gold... and yet torturing someone (who will live) bothers you?
I would not be surprised in the least to hear that some of you had no idea that there are Gallows (you know, the things with nooses that hang people)... with blood stains outside very major hubs like Gadgetzan and Rachet.
Ugh. Well... ok... I suppose it makes sense, if you RP an idiot...but otherwise, just no.
Wildharp Jan 22nd 2011 6:03PM
Sigh. It would be great if you kept your judgements to yourself. The question was how we reacted to certain storylines. I gave an example of one that made me go "ouch". I didn't say it was the only one, nor did I cry out in protest that the game is bad and so forth.
I just answered a question honestly. Get off my back, will ya?
Nipah Jan 22nd 2011 8:04PM
Like the article states, I change my opinion on quests depending on the state of my character...
Forsaken Rogue? Kill kill kill, and reap the rewards of the bounties.
Troll Shaman? Kill kill kill, and hope that it doesn't offend the elements.
... ok, so maybe all of my characters are a bit mercenary at heart... That doesn't mean I didn't love the little murloc babies as well... And I did feel a bit evil when I was tasked to "borrow" some wolvar cubs back in Dragonblight. But what can I say? They were paying well, and it made them like me more. That fishing pole and penguin aren't going to earn themselves.
obarthelemy Jan 22nd 2011 11:16PM
I agree with you. Strangely, though I don't mind killing baddies, I did mind torturing them... and I did love rescuing babies, even murloc-ish ones.
Mostly, I find the quest lines not very interesting. I'd rather read a book, watch a movie, those usually offer a better plot, better told.
Rafinius Jan 26th 2011 3:04PM
I had kind of an opposite experience. When I was playing my Forsaken Warlock, I hated the scare the Murloc children quest. My character would have been much more happy to cook a nice baby Murloc soup and sacrifice their souls to the highest bidder..
Entaro Jan 22nd 2011 8:09AM
RPing always leaks in somehow. My Druid felt very involved in Hyjal, especially when we got to interact with Cenarius and Malfurion. He had a fanboygasm. During the "Defeat Ragnaros" quest I couldn't help but /say some stuff during the fight.
I recall my warrior doing a quest in The Barrens where he had to torture some information out of someone. Refusing to do something cruel, my warrior used the "Tickle" option. I smiled at the "You are a nice person" buff.
Cerrena Jan 22nd 2011 8:34AM
I love it when Blizzard gives you a choice to do something distasteful or choose a "nicer" option. It gives some room to react as your character would. I hit another quest like this on my undead hunter where she was given a choice of pulling people out of the ground or bashing their heads in.
transrelativity Jan 22nd 2011 9:25AM
I appreciated the quest in Hyjal where you could either choose to kill the harpy or show her mercy, but I feel like these quests are a minority in WoW, and it disappoints me that there's little choice about your character's path. Sure, you can decide not to do a particular quest, but that was a lot easier in Vanilla when not everything was a chain. Don't get me wrong, I like the flow of the new streamlined quest design, but it's frustrating that you often can't progress in the game without doing every quest.
This is particularly true in the Cataclysm zones; it's not like you need every scrap of XP to level, but in many cases you won't have access to certain reputation vendors or daily quests that are pretty crucial in the endgame unless you complete every story quest.
rmt1 Jan 22nd 2011 8:13AM
I adore playing malicious and sinister quests on my warlock, because thats what he would do. Whereas, I reluctantly grind my way through the same quests on my druid for example. Unless you are pretty boring, its hard not to get involved.
Noyou Jan 22nd 2011 12:59PM
Not to pick on you but I do find it ironic you say "not to be boring" and you are sinister and malicious on your Warlock. Isn't that awfully tired and stereotypical? Just reminds me of people who use drinking as an excuse to act differently than they normally would :p carry on :)
Luna Jan 22nd 2011 8:12AM
I get into it all the time. All my characters have their own voice and mindset. For example, my Death Knight only knows war and killing, so she doesn't care about killing 50 animals and slaughtering 20 humanoids. Whereas my hunter, is very intune with nature, doesn't enjoy killing innocents, but knows that if they are plagued or causing too much trouble, they must be dealt with.
I think its really cool that a game can instill such emotion in people and can get, in some cases, such strong reactions from the quest lines and stories.
Metalupis Jan 22nd 2011 8:17AM
My long time main is a human rogue and I was actually cheering when I got to the quests in Twilight Highlands that you get from Mathias Shaw, He has always felt to me like a character that really should get more use then he does and I was glad to see him out and about.
Scomparsa Jan 22nd 2011 2:17PM
Same for me on my Orc rogue doing quests from Garona Halforcen, it was awesome!
clumsyninja007 Jan 22nd 2011 8:22AM
When I was leveling on my Paladin, I would always try and do what I felt was righteous, what HE would do. I remember doing that Art of Persuasion quest, and it hurt me. I had my paladin /saying things telling the guy that if he just talked he wouldn't have to do it.
Then, later, when leveling my mage, I was happy to do it. And in the harpy quest in Hyjal, my pally let her live and my mage killed her. I love questing :)
Fletcher Jan 22nd 2011 8:24AM
Most/all of my characters have their own personalities even if not all of them have their own backstories. I'll often plan out where I'm leveling them to put them through places that suit - my night elf spriest was leveled largely in Kalimdor, in night elven zones, whereas my worgen went south to quest in Westfall, Redridge, Darkshire et al, and my goblin aimed for goblin-centric zones.
Gendou Jan 22nd 2011 8:32AM
Some of my characters are on RP realms, but for the most part, I will do quests regardless of how my character would feel. This is primarily due to the fact that my main RP character is actually my wife's characters's non-combat pet. So none of the questing I do is actually in-character. While I'm out questing through Outland and Northrend out-of-character, my character is back at an inn - usually sleeping.
Granted, I do think of how my characters would react to certain quests. But generally questing efficiency trumps my RP soul. A sad state of affairs, that.
Ilya Jan 22nd 2011 8:35AM
RPing never really used to make its way into questing with me. I play on an RP server, but sometimes, I just... NEED to be out of character; to me, quests and instances are one such occasion. I'm not a heavy-RP kinda guy, by any right; I do RP, though, and I love to RP.
With Cata's release, however (or more accurately, Patch 4.0.3a), came my NE mage. And with HER came a multitude of in-character decisions and reactions. When she was sent to Maestra's Post, she'd been told in the quest text that it was under attack. When she saw the MAGNITUDE of the attack, however... well, let's just say she killed a couple dozen more Horde Invaders than was necessary.
Also, a friend and I used to run Wrath heroics all the time (pre-Cata), and every so often, he'd begin a very, VERY brief RP session, centered around a 'captain's log' method of speech. I, being the smartass I tend to be, would fire off a couple responses, and everyone in the group - even the ones who scoffed that we were from an RP server - would laugh at some of the exchanges. It helped brighten the mood (provided there were no asshats in our random, of course, lest they were to take offense to a couple of people actually ENJOYING themselves somehow [asshat being defined as 'elitist' or 'gogogo' people who had zero tolerance for anything but getting through the heroic as fast as possible]).
Nipah Jan 22nd 2011 8:09PM
To hijack your comment a little:
A well placed, sarcastic/snarky comment will almost always loosed a group right up... or at least, this is what I've found.
Nothing like explaining what "Butt pulling" means (as a hunter/ranged character, it is when you back up for a bit more range, only to stick your butt into the closest group of mobs accidentally) to lighten up the mundane #12653 run through [dungeon].
I'll usually do little things, like scold my pet as a Hunter (Stop chasing the critte- *CRUNCH*... bad dog.), or ghostwolf dance on my Shaman, to help lighten the mood otherwise.
Craig Jan 22nd 2011 10:07AM
Apparently I don't immerse myself in the game enough. No torturing a dude in borean tundra never felt right nor did the torture of the scarlet guy in dk starter area "feel" right/ok. However I play the game as an escape and relaxation tool do some quests bother me...yes...but at the end of the day will I not do them because I think my night elf mage has morals and ethics...no...i'll be your annoying causal friend who does it simply to level because that's how I play.