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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast 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 2 of 5)
Tuberon Jan 22nd 2011 8:45AM
On my alts, I'll do just about anything, but on my pally main...
I cringe at quests like the torture one in wrath, having to sit and think of ways I could justify doing it in the name of the Light... I used to walk into stormwind keep to meet highlord fordring, and kneel, I refuse to do such for Wrynn. Every time I'm in WPL I must stop and pay respects to Uther. I leap into packs of undead with zeal, more than any other enemy in the game.
On an alt, I may stand and watch a hordie die from a mob/pack they aren't able to handle, but on the paladin, I feel the need to assist them. Even on PVP realms.
I've been playing games like this for a long time, and though I don't make it a core to my gameplay, the RP element will always be around to some degree.
Aloysius Jan 22nd 2011 10:33AM
I think you mean Highlord Bolvar Fordragon. Tirion Fordring was in epl back then.
flint Jan 22nd 2011 8:49AM
Nah, I don't RP. I'll kill animals on my druid or pick flowers on my DK. Occasionally, I'll imagine my character's reaction to something, but it never influences my choices in the games, and I never actually do it in /say or anything.
shadcroly Jan 22nd 2011 12:59PM
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/comics?keywords=&view#/comic-2008-12-cherabim-winner
Death Knights picking flowers kills the mood of any expansion...
Kurtis Jan 22nd 2011 4:37PM
My DK - hulking Tauren wearing all black and with a big glowy sword - runs around picking flowers and digging up pretty rocks.
Xantenise Jan 22nd 2011 8:54AM
I always do them IC. I always do them regardless of whether my characters would or not, and just suspend my disbelief there.
My undead warlock used to be such a bitter woman, who was more loyal to Thrall than Sylvanas. She was a tough-as-nails bitch, incredibly blunt, and hated showing emotion.
But when the Wrathgate happened? She was screaming*. I'd never known her to utterly break down like that. She almost lunged at Sylvanas in the throne room later. Betrayal or not, because of the Wrathgate, she forsook the Forsaken once and for all. After she found out about what's going on in Silverpine now, that's only driven her further away from them. Oh, and she's not happy about Garrosh, either.
Another thing that was really fun was my priest in Vashj'ir. It was the first time I'd done it, so I did it totally in-character. Helping them survive and leading up to helping their rescue made me feel like I was acting out a novel and Martin was the main character. I remember feeling his dismay at the naga army, how it sank in (pun not intended) that they were in a dangerous world when the naga attacked a camp while he was away, and after, in spite of all that, how much he loved the underwater world and wanted to keep helping out.
One last thing that really stuck with me was my troll druid, who's about forty but always felt young in spirit and scoffed the idea that she was "too old" to do anything or learn something new. I was doing the post-Shattering quests for the first time levelling her. She thought the goblins in Azshara were crazy - she loved them. She chatted back to the orcs in the caravan on the way from Ashenvale to Stonetalon. It was all happy and stuff, being a part of Hellscream's army, doing her bit...
Then the disaster at Cliffwalker Post happened. She's never been the same since. She walked away from that disillusioned in the Horde, feeling old for the first time in her life for having witnessed something so dreadful - it aged her years - and very quiet. She appears back to normal now, but she's not. Not really. She's just had this quietness about her ever since.
(* Okay, I know that she wasn't *actually* screaming or about to lunge at Sylvanas, but go with me here!)
StClair Jan 22nd 2011 6:37PM
This was a great post. Thumbs up for you.
Ilimra Jan 22nd 2011 8:57AM
Some quests just make you do things that are completely out of character
http://bloodandthunder.smackjeeves.com/comics/1065001/on-conflicts-of-interest/
Nipah Jan 22nd 2011 8:13PM
AHAHAHA.
Thank you for that link.
I now have something to read for the next... however long it takes to pour through the rest of the content there.
Tony Romo Jan 22nd 2011 9:01AM
As a Horde player, I refuse to do any Venomspite quests in Dragonblight. I did it once when I leveled a warrior through there, but it really just sucked to me to do it, so from then on, I've moved to another zone I'm on-level for or I dungeon until I can leave. There's just something about Venomspite that irks me more than any other Forsaken movements in the game to the point where I make sure I never do those quests, achievements be damned.
MusedMoose Jan 22nd 2011 9:10AM
I'm a roleplayer at heart, like I've said here before, so sometimes the quests really do affect my characters. My draenei shadow priest, for example, did the John J. Keeshan quests in Redridge Mountains - y'know, the extended Rambo parody/homage. ^_^ Before that questline, I'd mostly thought of her as a younger draenei who left the Exodar behind to study the shadow, as it was something she couldn't learn about among her own kind, but after going through that whole series of quests? She still wears the item you get at the end (won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't done it) and now tends to approach things from a bit more of the "crazy military" mindset. To her, while the Light is a way of life... the shadow is just a weapon. One she's good with.
MaienM Jan 22nd 2011 9:21AM
I don't really RP at all (although I've considered it, I have several RL friends/family members on my server and am reluctant to switch to another). But yeah, I do have this. I LOVED the torture quest on my DK. I also loved the killing all those farmers and villagers in the starting quests of DKs. You know, the guys who beg and plea to let them live, talking about their children and such. Serving the lich king had it's good points (getting resurrected being one of them). On my druid... well, not so much.
MusedMoose Jan 22nd 2011 9:24AM
Heh. Thanks to the opening area, my DK has a serious hatred for the Scarlet Crusade. She made it a point to get the achievement for that set of dungeons, and ran the Armory (I think that's the one) until she got the tabard, so she could wear it as a trophy.
Pity it only took two runs, but what can you do?
Pam Jan 22nd 2011 9:25AM
I used to /slap Marcia in Dalaran when she would give me the "fly out to a single iceberg off Borean with the other 9000 people to try to get a bloated fish". I was never so glad when they changed it to be fished up from any area out in the Frozen Sea.
Before they took my tree form, Applebough and I used to have several conversations in /say.
One of our Spriests loves to /sneak from every single raid boss we are attempting. I always root her in place.
ilyena Jan 25th 2011 7:23AM
I felt guilty on my priest during that quest in Stonetalon where that general frames those tauren, and we end up having to kill him. When i reported it to the overlord I totally didn't expect them to kill everyone and destroy the grove. Even when Garrosh came I still felt guilty for those deaths.
Dortamur Jan 22nd 2011 9:44AM
I can't help but channel a part of my character's personality when I play, and Cataclysm has got the most emotional reactions out of me, with the characters and the stories woven.
My new gnome priest was enjoying the Thousand Needles quests up until the point a gnome wanted me to start a war over oil. Though I may slay every critter I see, it just felt so wrong, to my character - especially being given by a fellow gnome.
I'm sure the same quest-line for my smarmy self-serving rogue would be just fine.
Aruhgulah Jan 22nd 2011 10:16AM
I'm on an RP server; I love RP, but I'm very casual about it. My dwarf pally refused the Art of Persuasion and a couple rep gains, because they were so abhorrent -- but my Megalomaniacal Evil Warlock Babe Out To Conquer The World totally loved AoP.
Similarly, she's has been having a field day in Twilight Highlands with the Wildhammer. The lead-in quests in Stormwind with the young Prince Anduin had her snarking back at the boy and telling him off at several points (much to the amusement of others nearby) -- and the transition with Flintlocke & Doc Schweitzer were just too awesome to resist RP in /say right back at them. And the DAILIES...wow. It's to the point I've been so caught up in helping my dwarf's "cousins" that I've been defending their shaman (by healing him) -- and having to force myself to just walk away, so I'm not screwing up Horde players' dailies.
But man, don't get me started on Therazane. She started telling off Stonemother at one point -- after risking life and limb to help her folks out, the Big Fat Stone Wench DARES to cop an attitude with me?? -- and I didn't realize another player was standing there, too. The other player thought I was talking to HER, not Stonemother, and I spent a good 10 minutes apologizing to that player in whispers for being a crazy RP'er whose toon couldn't keep her mouth shut.
Kurtis Jan 22nd 2011 12:01PM
There's a quest in the Therazane chain where you're sent to talk to some other NPC for further directions regarding how to complete the quest. Except that I was still unfriendly with them, so he wouldn't even talk to me. I berated him verbally for a bit (didn't help his friendliness at all) and made a rude gesture as I walked away. Eventually figured out how to do the quest without his help...
MH Knights Jan 22nd 2011 10:20AM
I could never do any quests for the Forsaken. My BE hunter is disgusted with all the crimes against life they have committed. She worked hard to drive the Scorge from the Plague Lands and restore them to their natural state. Now the Forsaken are trying to re-plague the area. Lets not even get into the anger and revulsion at what the Forsaken have done to Hillsbrad Fields and Southshore.
Aruhgulah Jan 25th 2011 1:15PM
MH, run a starting Worgen and play that questline through. You'll go from rage to pure, all-out righteous FURY.