Project Lore

The absolute number one reason why I play World of Warcraft is for the universe.  I've always loved stories, from the "Slugger" baseball story my grandfather often recited to me as a child to Dune.  A good story has always roped me in, no matter its length.  WoW has come a long way in its story telling in these fives year, in design and execution.  Initially, the quests were spread all over the world, causing many players to abandon them halfway through the chain.  Blizzard, in the second and third go around, consolidated these chains to span single, or perhaps adjacent zones only, which lead to a rise in completion.

Storywise, Blizzard has recanted a lot of its previous lore, up to and including Wrath of the Lich King.  But the writers have expanded on previous ideas, or sneaked in other storylines as well.  Some of these were planned, Ulduar and Ahn'Qiraj, others, like Sunwell Plateau, were out of the necessity for additional content.

Metzen and his crew continue to intrigue me, but I have two main beefs with Blizzard's execution of storytelling in WoW, which actually extends to most MMOGs. The first idea, branching storylines, was lightly touched on in the Useless WoW Leaders post, and brought up a second time in ProjectLorians Super Happy Fun Hour: Dave Edition audio podcast.  Wrath of the Lich King was designed to focus on the Lich King, to throw us in his path on numerous occasions and cement him as the bad guy, and it achieved that.  Outside of a few Ulduar lore questlines in select zones there was little besides the Lich King or his forces.  What I'd like to see are more side missions like Bridenbrad's tale - hopefully without the real-life tragedy attached.  The questline is one of the most memorable in the game due to its excellent writing, and the use of known NPCs that we hadn't heard from lately.

The other issue that needs addressing is orphaned storylines.  These are the quest chains that start, but the story is never completed.  The tale of The Missing Diplomat and Ashbringer are the most famous, and they finally had their day.  There are many more epic tales that have been left dangling that I'd much prefer tackling than another "Kill 10 foozles" quest.  Even if I have to travel a little to do so.

Who Needs A Body? For reasons unknown I was meet with a good amount of playtime this weekend.  Rather then ponder on my good fortunes I set out to plow through level 73 (accomplished) on my priest in an effort to have her join the raiding ranks before Cataclysm is released.  With most of the quests in Dragonblight accomplished on my dagger lover I went about my business rushing through quests, burning down numerous mobs and getting ganked.  Then I ran into Orik Trueheart and his eye-catching T2 (recolored) Paladin set. Trueheart is a dwarf on a mission.  He was sent to the Forgotten Shore in Dragonblight to free the souls of those that Arthas betrayed.  In case you forgot, upon hearing that his father had ordered Arthas' troops returned to Lordaeron, the crown prince had the fleets boats burned to their frames.  The actions have been retold numerous times, most recently in the novel, so the setup isn't exactly new.  But we've always followed Arthas' journey into Frostmourne Cavern after that.  Turns out that the men Arthas stranded on the chilly shores eventually died to the Scourge around them and were cursed to defend the landing forever.  That's where Trueheart comes in. Trueheart's questline, one that offers a whopping amount of quick, easy and local experience, has players once again leave their bodies to converse with the dead.  After learning their plight, we realize that the souls have been trapped because they forgot how they came to be.  Naturally it's up to us to release them.  Upon finding a use for the unusual emblem residing in the snow we are graced with a scripted cinematic that brings numerous other names into play.  If you haven't played Warcraft III or read Arthas' novel, then the line is a good place to witness Arthas' descent into madness. This Random Emblem Caught Me Off Guard Until... Sick of reliving old lore and wishing Blizzard would introduce more original backstory?  Stop crying and do it anyways.  Upon completion of the Arthas nostalgia I was given the opportunity to crush some Scarlet Onslaught faces.  Seeing as decimating the ranks of the Scarlet followers, Crusade or otherwise, is a favored pastime of mine, I couldn't say no.  Zelig, Trueheart's "bra", and his compadres of the 7th Legion, sent me off to collect information, curb overpopulation and brush up on my reading comprehension.  How could one pass up XP and nostalgic murder?  Little did I know that my face melting would lead me back to ancient lore.  The scripted culmination with Muradin in the Frostmourne Cavern is both new, and highly interesting.  It also offers sick loot too boot. I was privy to the information given in the cinematic, I just can't believe that I missed such a long questline the first time around.  According to my buddy, the chain continues, becoming far more complex than a little Spock-style retconning.  If it stay on the same level of awesomeness then I will definitely have more for you.  Approaching a year from releases Wrath of the Lich King continues to impress me with its quest design, presentation and integration. These Alliance restricted quests make me wonder, what the heck is the Horde revisting?

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