The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how — but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

As I said last week, Cataclysm’s astonishing 1 to 60 revamp was inspired by how quests worked in Wrath of the Lich King, and I don’t think it can be disputed that the 1 to 60 game is about as good as it could possibly be right now. Leveling even without heirlooms has gone a long way from the old “Kill X boars” or “Collect X parts of boars” quests we old grumpy cusses remember. Zones like Darkshore, Azshara, Westfall, Stonetalon, and the Plaguelands have seen significant improvements in quest flow and story, be you Horde or Alliance. Dungeons have most of their quests available to you as you zone in (an improvement patch 4.3 will add to many Outland and Northrend dungeons as well), and in general each zone has strong, unified quest changes that give them a unique feel.

Listing every quest chain and change to every zone would be impossible. Whether it’s the Badlands with the varied storylines or Feralas and its quest to deal with the legacy of the Dragons of Nightmare, leveling quests became much more about you, the player, as you level through them. However, at the same time, they do much to reveal the changes the Cataclysm brought to the world of Azeroth and the growing conflict between the Horde and the Alliance, as well as internal conflicts between them.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: The Story of Us — quests in WoW, part 4

Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore, Cataclysm

Know Your Lore: The Story of Us — quests in WoW, part 4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how — but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

The full questing experience in Wrath of the Lich King was vast. Levels 70 to 80, with quests for every zone, instance, and even raid instance, was quite possibly the most complicated total questing experience ever designed for World of Warcraft. Add in the death knight starting experience and the patches that each brought in new content, and you’re looking at a real achievement in quest design. Wrath of the Lich King was indisputably the crucible in which Cataclysm’s 1-to-60 quest redesign was forged, and it absolutely gave the lie to the misguided idea that the quest design team was somehow coasting on the achievements of the game’s original launch.

We talked last week about how questing in Wrath worked up to the “first act” of the Wrathgate and Battle for Undercity, and then we looked at Ulduar and how it managed to integrate a very divergent lore element into the expansion. This week, we’ll discuss the Lich King in more detail and how he functioned as a device to get the players involved.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: The Story of Us — Quests in WoW, part 3

Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore, Wrath of the Lich King

Know Your Lore: The Story of Us — Quests in WoW, part 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how — but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Wrath of the Lich King is where the current paradigm for quests in World of Warcraft took full shape. Whether you played Horde or Alliance, you got to experience the events of Wrath from an entirely new perspective than questing had ever managed before. Even though there were still (and always probably will be) quests asking players to gather random amounts of (as an example) meat for stews or cannonballs, these quests were supplementary in nature.

The big-draw quests were elaborate chains that revealed lore about the world and the threat that it was now under. The Lich King’s attacks on Orgrimmar and Stormwind during the events leading up to the expansion were bait in a subtle trap aimed at bringing players to Northrend. That’s right: The Lich King attacked your cities entirely to get you sent to him. You. The player characters were the front and center reasons for everything. The Lich King desired nothing less than the finest heroes the Horde and Alliance had to offer, and that’s exactly who they sent.

How did questing reflect this?

Continue reading Know Your Lore: The Story of Us — Quests in WoW, part 2

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Know your Lore, Wrath of the Lich King

Know Your Lore: The Story of Us — Quests in WoW, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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