Just A Taste... A Small Taste...

"No Regrets?" Silk asked Garion that evening as they rode toward the sharply rising peaks outlined against the glittering stars ahead.

"Regrets about what?"

"Giving up command." Silk had been watching him curiously ever since the setting sun signaled the resumption of their journey.

"No," Garion replied, not quite sure what the little man meant. "Why should there be?"

"It's a very important thing for a man to learn about himself, Garion," Silk told him seriously. "Power can be very sweet for some men, and you never know how a man is going to handle it until you give him the chance to try."

"I don't know why you went to all the trouble. It's not too likely that I'm going to be put in charge of things very often."

"You never know, Garion. You never know."

--Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings, pg. 50.

I've been noodling around Icecrown Glacier in Northrend, because the progression across the continent has taken me there. 

And when you get to the point where the only places left to explore are Sholazar Basin and Icecrown Glacier, you go to where the quests point you first.* I mean, I suppose I could have gone to Sholazar Basin just because, and it's not like I haven't done that before, but my memory of that place is pretty much "meh". Icecrown is where the expansion comes to an end, and it only makes sense that all the drama points you in that direction. 

But the further I've quested into Northrend, the more the "subtle" changes to questlines and quest texts become overt.

We've gone from this...

...through this...

...to this.

Yes, even OG Cardwyn got that first quest above, which I found particularly amusing since she had never visited Outland at that point.**

When your quest text starts sounding like the theme from Cheers, you know you've veered heavily into celebrity territory. 

I imagine a substantial portion of the player base either doesn't care or likes this change from Vanilla/TBC, especially given that Blizz went all in on this story slant in future expacs. But to me, it simply rings hollow. You're basically doing what you're told to do, and because you can follow orders you're a Champion of Azeroth? I mean, I do what I'm asked to do all the time at work (or at home), and never once has that ever translated into anything other than "Meets Expectations" on my performance review. If I want to get a better review, I have to go above and beyond following the basic instructions.

It might be a limitation of the state of Wrath Classic that Blizz can't break out of questing format, but I suspect that Blizz simply moved in the direction of making Reputation and the story line more overtly about you, and how powerful you are. Like Garion, we have been granted some power, and while we're really really really limited --story wise-- how we can use it, it's undeniable that first comment you get when you pass by an NPC when you're Exalted with their faction can be... intoxicating.

Much better than being "dragon dinner", I suppose.

I guess the thing that bugs me about all this is that I'm being fêted by these factions (and the quest text) without me feeling like I've really done anything that important. When you reach Exalted with a faction they lavish praise on you, such as Wyrmrest Accord in the graphic above, but they'll do that even before I entered into the Oculus for the first time, much less The Eye of Eternity or The Obsidian Sanctum. While I can understand the dragonkin being happy to see me after The Nexus War was brought to an end, but before, when I spent most of my time grinding rep by running instances?*** Come on; I know better. You could make a pretty big argument that I spent just as much --if not more-- time dealing with The Sons of Hodir ("Hodor!") via in-game quests than three other factions combined (Wyrmrest Accord, Argent Crusade, and Ebon Blade), and I'm only up to Honored with Big Blue Nation.****

In the end it's all a simulation --and not a very complex one at that-- and I shouldn't expect anything more than what I'm getting. But still, it irks me that this wasn't what I remembered about Wrath. I remembered interesting stories and fun instances and --unfortunately-- guild blow ups due to the difficulty raiding. Now, years later, I can see where WoW began moving in a narrative direction that didn't appeal to me. The instances are still there, and I've countered the raiding issues with being recruited into a 10s team that is focused on fun and not speeding through progression. And I still have my friends. It's just that the focus on the player --in the manner presented in Wrath Classic-- no longer appeals to me. It becomes less about you the person and more about you the wielder of great power. And in that sense you are merely a tool for others, something I never even thought about at the time. 

Circling back to the quote I use to kick this post off, is this taste of power and influence sweet? For others it might be, but for me, it feels... Tainted. Something feels off about it. Perhaps that's part of the influence of Arthas himself, and how he allowed his fatal flaw of revenge --and the pursuit of power for revenge-- to corrupt him into The Lich King he is today. Will we find this taste of power and influence so sweet that we are, in turn, corrupted as well? And if we are, how can we see it without others to point it out to us?

*Yes, I'm quite aware there's seed quests for both Sholazar Basin and Icecrown at the landing platform in Dalaran, but I've ignored them in favor of quests from out in the field. If nothing else, the overall lack of quests out Northrend proper that send a player to Sholazar reinforce my opinion that Sholazar Basin was merely tacked on because Blizz felt obligated to have a place where Hemet Nesingwary would end up. At least as far as the Mists expansion, Hemet is considered too important a side character to not have some quest hub and chain assigned to him and his crew. If that held true all the way through Shadowlands, I'm not exactly sure I want to know how they pulled that off with Hemet in the Afterlife.

**She has since had to go there because the Enchanting trainer wouldn't give her Outland's Enchanting, whereas Tailoring had no issues with giving her Outland's Tailoring ability. I'm inclined to think it a "feature", not a bug. And Blizz would likely give me a weird look if I told them I skipped Outland and leveled to 70 strictly in the Old World.

***A very 'meta' way of gaining rep, but hey, that's how you do it in Wrath Classic.

****Sorry, University of Kentucky Wildcats, those overly large giants are more impressive than coach John Calipari's plausible deniability about recruiting basketball players.