The Dangers of World Walking
I've talked before about my difficulties in dealing with multiverses conceptually. I always keep coming back to "well, how does any of this actually matter when there are worlds out there in which things are already the way I want?" Why struggle to beat Sauron, Thanos, or Lord Evildude when you can go to a world in which it's already done?
This is still a hangup for me in Gossamer and Shadows. I ended up making a character who's smart enough to look at the big picture, which might have been a mistake. While argues you should make a character who views their own world as "prime," I have trouble holding to that view as long as character can conceptualize that worlds might actually be equal. For better or worse, I also ended up with a character who has lost pretty much anyone she knew in her home world. That's liberating in a way, but it also leaves a lingering specter of not exactly wanting to go back, and facing the tempation to find an alternate world where such people might be alive and things different, but knowing it's not where she came from. There are some interesting aspects and implications to that, but they do not come out very well in a roleplaying game, especially when the PCs are still fairly new to one another and don't have a whole lot in common beyond Stair-walking.
She's taken up another character's world as something of a cause or pet project, but is frustrated by technical and logistical limitations. Of course, when presented with "we have better new tech, but the enemy can detect it too easily," she responds with, "so why don't we go out on the Stair and find a power source that isn't readily detectable to bring back and use?" Meta-thinking, yo. Infrequency of play is biting us in the ass, and I have yet to see the group really gel, but that's off-topic.
Part of why I bring this all up is I'm having the same issue with WoW: Warlords of Draenor. Other pluses and minuses aside, the multiversal aspect of the expansion sticks in my craw and gets in the way of enjoyment at times. I keep asking "Why am I here again?"
I don't read the books, though I have a very basic understanding of what went down at Garrosh's trial. And I missed the Timeless Isle. So maybe I'm missing something, but as I understand it, the set up for the expansion is:
Garrosh is defeated at the end of Mists of Pandarian and put on trial rather than executed. He ends up escaping with assistance of a rogue dragon of the Bronze (time-related) Dragonflight and a time-device of some kind. Garrosh flees to... the past of an alternate Draenor. This does not invalidate the "prime" timeline, but it does give him a world where he can go and prevent the orcs from consuming and being corrupted by the blood of a demon en masse. Draenor is not destroyed into the remnant of a world floating in the Nether as happened to the prime version of Outland. He goes on to inspire those orcs with his knowledge of future tech to unite many tribes into the Iron Horde and creates a Dark Portal with which to invade Azeroth "Prime." In the pre-expansion event, Iron Horde invaders come through the Dark Portal trying to establish a foothold.
Okay... just from that setup, there are so many questions of how the time travel and alternate worlds work. How much time has actually passed since Garrosh arrived on Draenor? How many alternate worlds are there? Why is everything so different (seems a lot more than his influence)? Is there anything that actually makes the "prime" worlds prime, or is it a matter of perspective? Why did Garrosh's Portal come to Azeroth Prime and not an alternate Azeroth? I haven't really seen any of that answered solidly in-game, and that's so much that it bugs me.
Then we go through with Khadgar and a few others, tear through the assembled Iron Horde force (seriously - like a dozen heros go through and have a kill count easily in the hundreds after the first round of quests). We destroy the Dark Portal on the Draenor side, halting the invasion, then veer around and set up an outpost. For some reason.
We're not trapped, because Khadgar opens a portal back to Stormwind to bring more supplies through to set up the outpost. I could sort of see the argument that we don't want the Iron Horde to make another invasion attempt and thus we need to stay to spank them badly, but I didn't see said anywhere. Heck, if Khadgar back make these portals back to our Azeroth, why does anyone need a Dark Portal in the first place? Why aren't we dealing with invasions from multiple worlds all the time? I don't know...
I don't mind helping out the local draenei and the arakkoa and such, but I keep coming back to wondering why we're so committed to a world that isn't our own? Other than the player's garrison, there are a few not-insignificant settlements that Azeroth Prime forces have set up seen along the way. And anytime I see a big milestone in the story, for good or ill, it's tempered by the thought: "... but this isn't my world so it doesn't matter so much anyway." So even when I adhere to 's viewpoint on the matter, it only serves to water down any impact or feeling of consequence to what happens.
This is still a hangup for me in Gossamer and Shadows. I ended up making a character who's smart enough to look at the big picture, which might have been a mistake. While argues you should make a character who views their own world as "prime," I have trouble holding to that view as long as character can conceptualize that worlds might actually be equal. For better or worse, I also ended up with a character who has lost pretty much anyone she knew in her home world. That's liberating in a way, but it also leaves a lingering specter of not exactly wanting to go back, and facing the tempation to find an alternate world where such people might be alive and things different, but knowing it's not where she came from. There are some interesting aspects and implications to that, but they do not come out very well in a roleplaying game, especially when the PCs are still fairly new to one another and don't have a whole lot in common beyond Stair-walking.
She's taken up another character's world as something of a cause or pet project, but is frustrated by technical and logistical limitations. Of course, when presented with "we have better new tech, but the enemy can detect it too easily," she responds with, "so why don't we go out on the Stair and find a power source that isn't readily detectable to bring back and use?" Meta-thinking, yo. Infrequency of play is biting us in the ass, and I have yet to see the group really gel, but that's off-topic.
Part of why I bring this all up is I'm having the same issue with WoW: Warlords of Draenor. Other pluses and minuses aside, the multiversal aspect of the expansion sticks in my craw and gets in the way of enjoyment at times. I keep asking "Why am I here again?"
I don't read the books, though I have a very basic understanding of what went down at Garrosh's trial. And I missed the Timeless Isle. So maybe I'm missing something, but as I understand it, the set up for the expansion is:
Garrosh is defeated at the end of Mists of Pandarian and put on trial rather than executed. He ends up escaping with assistance of a rogue dragon of the Bronze (time-related) Dragonflight and a time-device of some kind. Garrosh flees to... the past of an alternate Draenor. This does not invalidate the "prime" timeline, but it does give him a world where he can go and prevent the orcs from consuming and being corrupted by the blood of a demon en masse. Draenor is not destroyed into the remnant of a world floating in the Nether as happened to the prime version of Outland. He goes on to inspire those orcs with his knowledge of future tech to unite many tribes into the Iron Horde and creates a Dark Portal with which to invade Azeroth "Prime." In the pre-expansion event, Iron Horde invaders come through the Dark Portal trying to establish a foothold.
Okay... just from that setup, there are so many questions of how the time travel and alternate worlds work. How much time has actually passed since Garrosh arrived on Draenor? How many alternate worlds are there? Why is everything so different (seems a lot more than his influence)? Is there anything that actually makes the "prime" worlds prime, or is it a matter of perspective? Why did Garrosh's Portal come to Azeroth Prime and not an alternate Azeroth? I haven't really seen any of that answered solidly in-game, and that's so much that it bugs me.
Then we go through with Khadgar and a few others, tear through the assembled Iron Horde force (seriously - like a dozen heros go through and have a kill count easily in the hundreds after the first round of quests). We destroy the Dark Portal on the Draenor side, halting the invasion, then veer around and set up an outpost. For some reason.
We're not trapped, because Khadgar opens a portal back to Stormwind to bring more supplies through to set up the outpost. I could sort of see the argument that we don't want the Iron Horde to make another invasion attempt and thus we need to stay to spank them badly, but I didn't see said anywhere. Heck, if Khadgar back make these portals back to our Azeroth, why does anyone need a Dark Portal in the first place? Why aren't we dealing with invasions from multiple worlds all the time? I don't know...
I don't mind helping out the local draenei and the arakkoa and such, but I keep coming back to wondering why we're so committed to a world that isn't our own? Other than the player's garrison, there are a few not-insignificant settlements that Azeroth Prime forces have set up seen along the way. And anytime I see a big milestone in the story, for good or ill, it's tempered by the thought: "... but this isn't my world so it doesn't matter so much anyway." So even when I adhere to 's viewpoint on the matter, it only serves to water down any impact or feeling of consequence to what happens.
Not sure what to rebut specifically here. I'm going to take a few stabs at the Dark Portal and Iron Horde and purpose for a player's continued existence in Draenor. First of all, while the player is doing tasks to weaken and then turn off the Dark Portal, you are constantly being told your forces are dwindling and the front line is going to fall, thus why Khadgar, the PC and Thrall (With the random assortment of named NPCs) falls back to try to come around the side. When the Dark Portal is finally destroyed (Well, some of it's support is, likely the Iron Horde is just going to rebuild it) the reason the PC and some of the NPCs flee to the "Starter zone" for your faction is because you've liberated draenei slaves (Alliance) or Thrall seeks allies (Horde). As for Khadgar's portal and the remaining in Draenor? Real fuzzy. It can be extrapolated the idea is to get Garrosh to bring him to ultimate justice and dismantle the Iron Horde so it won't threaten the "prime" Azeroth. It think it was also made mention that the reason we aren't assaulted from infinite alternate timelines was the -why- the Bronze Dragonflight existed; to "guard the timeways". But then the Dragonflights gave up their Titan granted powers at the end of Cata. That sort of left the timeways open to abuse. This is a lot of speculation, sadly, as I have not read the books either. Why isn't alternate-Draenor messed up? The orcs never drink Gul'Dan's fel Kool-Aid. Apparently that pact with the demons makes them even more unstoppable killing machines where they attempt to genocide the draenei as well as bring the Burning Legion in to set up shop. No fel taint means they don't wipe out the numbers of Draenei which are keeping the current Burning Legion forces in check (also with the Iron Horde being interested in Azeroth instead of demonic dabblings, the draenei are able to remain "stable")
ReplyDeleteAll reasonable summarization and speculation, though as you say yourself, there's an awful lot of fuzziness there, still. If the Iron Horde is actually less destructive than its Legion-backed counterpart, one would think it might actually pose less of a threat. I suppose, though, you could argue we're showing up just as they're becoming a major threat. The issue of timing and parallels between worlds bugs me a lot. From my limited understanding, Garrosh had some head start on us, building up the Iron Horde, but judging from the state of the arakkoa, we seem to have arrived earlier than the "present" (unless Garrosh's interference somehow changed their development as well. The OCD part of my brain really wants to sort all that out, but can't for what appears to be a lack of information. And... I'm all for helping the locals. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying alternate worlds should be ignored, but I think the fact that they are alternate means there's some risk-assessment that should happen. In WoD, the Alliance (and presumably the Horde) seems to have invested very heavily in the campaign on alt-Draenor. I guess they might have that luxury if things are peaceful on Azeroth, but that's another thing that hasn't really been conveyed very well. So much happened on and around the Pandaria campaign that I'm not totally convinced Garrosh's defeat would defuse things enough to focus all our energy on a new enemy that, frankly, doesn't come across as nearly as threatening as the Burning Legion, the Lich King, or Deathwing. Heh. Having just watched an anime series to conclusion, I can't help but think it might be "healthy" for the factions of Azeroth to be able to turn toward an outside enemy and a land of new resources, in the sense that it eases pressure for them to be fighting each other, but again - that's just not clearly conveyed in any fashion, which is something WoW has always had a problem with.
ReplyDeleteFirst is this: http://i.imgur.com/7lkJCVi.png basically Garrosh goes back, makes Iron Horde, wrecks face until Khadgar and heroes go in shortly after Iron Horde is made, but before it's ultimate rise to power where it's a really big threat, destroy the Dark Portal causing the shenanigans. As for Horde vs. Alliance tensions? Ashran. Alli (Via Harrison Jones) have potentially uncovered an artifact of power. Given how Garroh used Mogu/Dark Heart bad stuff, the Horde are skirmishing against the Alliance over it.
ReplyDeleteTimeline: Useful. It also makes my head hurt. So we went back in time, too? Just not as far. So now we're dealing with at least two alternate Draenors - one that invaded Azeroth Prime and one that we're questing in through WoD? Ow.
ReplyDeleteExcept if we're successful (Which we will be because expansions) the Iron Horde never get to that invasion point. So really the bottom red line should be dashed, since we've gone back to interrupt that reality from happening.
ReplyDeleteBut... if it works that way, and we can prevent the invasion, then doesn't that prevent us from going back to prevent the invasion - paradox! Really, did we somehow go back before the Iron Horde invaded? 'cause it looked an awful lot like we went through when they were invading (with that whole army in front of the Portal and all that we steamrolled through.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's why it's alternate time line to prevent paradox, however this was likely made before the specific cinematic and events were solidly in place in the launch version. Indeed, playing now seems like we're going back at the point of invasion, so the Iron Horde's been doing things for years already
ReplyDelete