Beyond Redemption
Posted November 25, 2008 at 06:26 PM by Warpy
Tags blood elves, ebon blade, forsaken, good vs. evil, warlocks
One problem we've seen with warlocks heading in to Wrath of the Lich King is the lack of New Stuff: ideas which would transform warlock playstyle and make warlocks more fun, like the improvements to warrior tanking or the pet talent trees for hunters. It's still too early to tell whether the lack of New Stuff for Warlocks is due to diabolical brain damage suffered by the developers as part of an infernal plot or to a simple lack of creativity and inspiration on their part.
So where is Blizzard's apparently limited supply of creativity and inspiration going?
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
The new theme that took over Outland and Northrend has been that of redemption. It's central to every major storyline from patch 2.4 to the present. It's really the only major theme being developed currently aside from the increasingly overwhelming battle-between-good-and-evil motif which has always been important to the World of Warcraft, but has been constantly undermined by ironic elements like the war between the Horde and the Alliance.
Three major storylines have recently involved:
I haven't started my death knight yet, so I'm not going to comment on their storyline. They are however, only being redeemed in the eyes of others. It's hard to sincerely repent for evil deeds you've committed while under someone else's total control. So they're pitiable, but pretty straightforward, and, from the sound of things, lots of fun.
I started a blood elf priest last December, and he was lots of fun for 19 levels. Every NPC in the blood elf starting area was either boring or a complete bastard, and the paladins were among the nastiest of them. As the priest trainers explained, blood elves don't work for the Light; It works for us!
Silvermoon City was downright creepy, full of harassed citizens and evil robot sentries spouting totalitarian platitudes. The bazaar was the stage for a grisly scene between protesters against the new regime (Lyria Skystrider and Priest Ennas) and Priest Kath'mar, who uses Mind Control to make dissent simply... go away! One of my ugliest discoveries was the paladin power source, M'uru. It was an ugly scene, basically these elves were vampirizing an angel to give themselves apparently divine powers!
All of this changed with patch 2.4. M'uru was taken away and the Blood Elves were abandoned by the bad guy who'd started corrupting them in the first place: Kael'thas. Lady Liadren promised to work with A'dal and to raise her blood knights to be good little paladins. So the Blood Elves go from shallow, nasty, and amusing to shallow, self-righteous, and probably rather dull. I will have to log on to my priest to check what has become of them.
Everyone who's played Horde, especially as far as the Beggar's Haunt quest lines knows that the Forsaken are up to no good. They start as neutral with the rest of their faction unlike every other race (except the unlovable blood elves). The Horde is an alliance of convenience. The orcs and trolls have enough in common that they can share a capitol, and they look up to the Tauren, but all three of those groups know better than to trust their allies from the Eastern Continent.
I leveled a Forsaken mage and alchemist to level 48 just before the Burning Crusade was released, and did lots of Apothecary quests. There was no secret about what we were working on, a plague to finish the remaining survivors of the Scourge, the humans of the Eastern Kingdoms. Presumably, the rest of the Horde didn't care because their population centers are in Kalimdor.
The Forsaken aren't self-centered jerks like most of the Blood Elves. They're a dying race, by their own choice. Unlike the Scourge, they can't and won't recruit more people of any type into undeath. They practice all kinds of magic, but not necromancy, never ever.
At the same time, they're not immortal. The plague of undeath even kills them eventually. At level 7, Horde get a grim little quest called The Chill of Death in Brill that involves helping one of the Forsaken prepare for her coming slow death which is even more moving in some ways than the Wrathgate cinematic. The Forsaken are a desperate bunch. The petty judgments of the living and the unending squabble between good and evil should hold little interest for them.
However, the Wrathgate quest sequence results in a bit of tidying up of some of the questionable elements of the Undercity, conforming the remaining Forsaken and their queen a bit more to Horde norms. What good does it do them, as game settings leave them untrusted, and as their story just isn't going to have a happy ending? I'm kind of glad the new Alliance leader (King Wrynn) is too short-sighted to see how easy it would be for the Alliance to make common cause with the Horde now, makes things a bit more interesting.
Blizzard can't do a mass redemption of warlocks; we have no home city and no leader (though Kissybear is Our Hero). Even within a faction or a race, warlocks don't form a single group and have no common origin. Some learned demonology from the Burning Legion (like the orc shamans corrupted by Gul'dan), others from their own research (especially gnomes). There are different levels and kinds of corruption even among warlock NPCs. If all the stories from here on out are going to be about redemption and a straightforward battle between good and evil, we are a fly in the creative ointment.
It's not necessarily much fun to be on the other side of the developers' overpowering vision. Look at what happened to paladins. If all the stories are about paladins (and I don't recall Bolvar Fordragon being a paladin before Wrathgate!), they need to be more versatile and important! Great fun, while it lasts.... What's the point of new toys if you don't get to keep them?
There are other stories out there to be told about characters who are other than knights in shining armor, who are involved in battles where good and evil are a bit hard to distinguish, and might in fact not even be exactly involved.
So where is Blizzard's apparently limited supply of creativity and inspiration going?
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
The new theme that took over Outland and Northrend has been that of redemption. It's central to every major storyline from patch 2.4 to the present. It's really the only major theme being developed currently aside from the increasingly overwhelming battle-between-good-and-evil motif which has always been important to the World of Warcraft, but has been constantly undermined by ironic elements like the war between the Horde and the Alliance.
Three major storylines have recently involved:
- The Death Knights and the Ebon Blade faction
- Lady Liadren and her Blood Knights
- The Forsaken and the Royal Apothecary Society
I haven't started my death knight yet, so I'm not going to comment on their storyline. They are however, only being redeemed in the eyes of others. It's hard to sincerely repent for evil deeds you've committed while under someone else's total control. So they're pitiable, but pretty straightforward, and, from the sound of things, lots of fun.
I started a blood elf priest last December, and he was lots of fun for 19 levels. Every NPC in the blood elf starting area was either boring or a complete bastard, and the paladins were among the nastiest of them. As the priest trainers explained, blood elves don't work for the Light; It works for us!
Silvermoon City was downright creepy, full of harassed citizens and evil robot sentries spouting totalitarian platitudes. The bazaar was the stage for a grisly scene between protesters against the new regime (Lyria Skystrider and Priest Ennas) and Priest Kath'mar, who uses Mind Control to make dissent simply... go away! One of my ugliest discoveries was the paladin power source, M'uru. It was an ugly scene, basically these elves were vampirizing an angel to give themselves apparently divine powers!
All of this changed with patch 2.4. M'uru was taken away and the Blood Elves were abandoned by the bad guy who'd started corrupting them in the first place: Kael'thas. Lady Liadren promised to work with A'dal and to raise her blood knights to be good little paladins. So the Blood Elves go from shallow, nasty, and amusing to shallow, self-righteous, and probably rather dull. I will have to log on to my priest to check what has become of them.
Everyone who's played Horde, especially as far as the Beggar's Haunt quest lines knows that the Forsaken are up to no good. They start as neutral with the rest of their faction unlike every other race (except the unlovable blood elves). The Horde is an alliance of convenience. The orcs and trolls have enough in common that they can share a capitol, and they look up to the Tauren, but all three of those groups know better than to trust their allies from the Eastern Continent.
I leveled a Forsaken mage and alchemist to level 48 just before the Burning Crusade was released, and did lots of Apothecary quests. There was no secret about what we were working on, a plague to finish the remaining survivors of the Scourge, the humans of the Eastern Kingdoms. Presumably, the rest of the Horde didn't care because their population centers are in Kalimdor.
The Forsaken aren't self-centered jerks like most of the Blood Elves. They're a dying race, by their own choice. Unlike the Scourge, they can't and won't recruit more people of any type into undeath. They practice all kinds of magic, but not necromancy, never ever.
At the same time, they're not immortal. The plague of undeath even kills them eventually. At level 7, Horde get a grim little quest called The Chill of Death in Brill that involves helping one of the Forsaken prepare for her coming slow death which is even more moving in some ways than the Wrathgate cinematic. The Forsaken are a desperate bunch. The petty judgments of the living and the unending squabble between good and evil should hold little interest for them.
However, the Wrathgate quest sequence results in a bit of tidying up of some of the questionable elements of the Undercity, conforming the remaining Forsaken and their queen a bit more to Horde norms. What good does it do them, as game settings leave them untrusted, and as their story just isn't going to have a happy ending? I'm kind of glad the new Alliance leader (King Wrynn) is too short-sighted to see how easy it would be for the Alliance to make common cause with the Horde now, makes things a bit more interesting.
Blizzard can't do a mass redemption of warlocks; we have no home city and no leader (though Kissybear is Our Hero). Even within a faction or a race, warlocks don't form a single group and have no common origin. Some learned demonology from the Burning Legion (like the orc shamans corrupted by Gul'dan), others from their own research (especially gnomes). There are different levels and kinds of corruption even among warlock NPCs. If all the stories from here on out are going to be about redemption and a straightforward battle between good and evil, we are a fly in the creative ointment.
It's not necessarily much fun to be on the other side of the developers' overpowering vision. Look at what happened to paladins. If all the stories are about paladins (and I don't recall Bolvar Fordragon being a paladin before Wrathgate!), they need to be more versatile and important! Great fun, while it lasts.... What's the point of new toys if you don't get to keep them?
There are other stories out there to be told about characters who are other than knights in shining armor, who are involved in battles where good and evil are a bit hard to distinguish, and might in fact not even be exactly involved.
Total Comments 4
Comments
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From my understanding of Blood Elf Lore from playing WCIII and sticking with the race on my Warlock they are a race that have been betrayed, and have a certain tragedy about them.
Kael'thas turned out to be a bad egg, but I don't blame him after his people taught the Alliance how to wield more powerful magic to aid their cause (being self centered jerks :P), and then were subsequently sold out to die at the hands of the scourge by the stuck up Grand Marshall Garithos.
In desperation they harnessed dangerous power. They accepted help from the Naga, then made a pilgrimage to Outland, blinkered to how corrupt Kael was becoming in his desire to save his people from extintion since being left to fend for themselves after everything they did for the Alliance.
The arrogance, stubborness and pride they are assocaiated with was all they had, and in real life this happens to people too, who need to have a lot of belief in the abscence of much else.
There was an accord with the races of Azeroth when Archimode was defeated at Hyjal, and as soon as the dust settled the Humans attacked small Orc settlements in Kalimdor. King Wrynn is just as shortsighted as any despot and nothing has changed there.
Warcraft lore has the Human Alliance as imperialistic facists, and lets face it; we have human ego and weakness to thank for Arthas the Lich King. All recent Horde lore seems to stem from a simple matter of survival in the face of this. Perhaps reflecting IRL humanity's failings.Posted November 26, 2008 at 02:35 PM by Vaell
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My perception of the Blood Elves was based on the NPC dialogue in the starting zones. I actually enjoyed their bad attitudes far more than their insipid counterparts in the Teldrassil and Darkshore.
The top leaders like Theron made very little impression on me, so they must be rather dull. I will have to go back and check on them; if Priest Kath'Mar has become as dreary as Lady Liadran, I shall have to level my Alliance warlock and kill them all! 
By the Ghostlands, the Blood Elf and Forsaken NPCs are all-business all the time, and the players are rather like the Alliance players, most of them nice people. This may be why I abandoned poor Alinovanth.
It's sort of interesting that the Alliance leaders are considerably bigger jerks than the NPCs around them. As soon as dwarves/gnomes get to level 10, they get to find out what a mess King Magni is making in Ironforge and it gets worse every time you complete a quest for him. Fandral Staghelm is a bitter, arrogant wretch; you don't even have to turn in a quest to get an obnoxious dialog from him. Varian Wrynn is pretty tame by comparison, but it doesn't make him more likable. The High Tinker and the Prophet are more typical of the NPCs around them.Posted November 26, 2008 at 05:02 PM by Warpy
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I originally started as Horde, as a Tauren hunter, and ended up falling in love with the Tauren species, and noticed that the majority of the Horde NPC's in Vanilla wow(save for the scourge), were pretty much on the up and up. Yes there were definetly bad apples in the crew who were more malovent than nice, but they were few and far between. After playing for a while, i decided i'd try the alliance, and since i don't really like any of the alliance races, but wanted to be a lock ,i figured i'd be a human. I know Warcraft has always been about good or evil, The Horde's always supposed to have been evil, and the Alliance Good. Playing as alliance however I do not see it one bit. I see the Alliance as the true bringers of doom upon Azeroth, from the human plans of global conquest, to the dwarves incesent need to find and dig up (which looks like strip mining btw) every where they go. I don't know as much of the lore as i'd like to, though i'm learning more every day, I do see how the Alliance totally disregarded the High Elves, and left them for dead. I totally understand their perspective. They gave so much of themselves just to be cast aside like a child throws a toy away that she's bored with. For the Light my ***. I'm glad they captured that angel and tormented him. I'd be happy if they captured Adai.(sp?) far be it for me to cast judgement, but i'd almost rather see the Horde prevail in the end, because they're willing to get things accomplished. By no means is this the Horde from WC1, however i do see them as a much stronger alliance in terms of personalities. I respect Cairne, and Thrall, and to a degree even Sylvanas. The alliance leaders i don't. and how the Dwarven king hasnt slaughtered that runt bastard yet i don't know.
Warpy, thank you kindly for the great blog you've posted, it's definetly something to chew over. (My degree is in Philosophy, so i love this kind of stuff)Posted November 26, 2008 at 09:26 PM by Mollytov
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Hey Warpy!
I didn't have experience playing any previous versions of Warcraft, but I have to say I was extremely happy with the return of King Varian Wrynn. I was quite frustrated with hearing how diplomatic humans were for being a young race and yet our king is missing and his kid was in the Keep and never seemed to age so to a degree I felt leaderless (not that Fordragon wasn't a good guardian, because he was). At any rate, I was a bit jealous of the other races, with the exception of gnomes, having legendary leaders in their home cities.
Anyway, I really enjoyed your post. Good to know other people think about this kind of stuff. The storylines in WoW are just great, and I love the books I bought to read outside the game and then I get to see the major players in game.
I'm especially excited by the zone Dragonblight because I love the epic feeling of the dragon aspects bring to the game.
I know my comments aren't exactly as cerebral as your original post and the comments of others, but I just thought I'd add my two cents about how much I enjoy the lore and the storylines also.Posted December 03, 2008 at 11:21 AM by Adlib
