How an expansion could break from "you're the hero mould"

[Xilurm]

I like being the hero of the story.

I do not want to be "just an adventurer".

After playing FFXIV I always find it weird when people say this. You are never going to be the hero of the story in WoW. Not unless they hire better writers and change the entire way the story is being told. Because as of right now your character exists one minute and doesn't the next.

[FelPlague]

After playing FFXIV I always find it weird when people say this. You are never going to be the hero of the story in WoW. Not unless they hire better writers and change the entire way the story is being told. Because as of right now your character exists one minute and doesn't the next.

Yeah people say we are "the hero' but then i play swtor where you literally ARE.
like in wow you are A HERO but you are not THE hero. which is good.
Being THE HERO makes you super special
Being A HERO makes you just an adventurer who well, has taken on many enemies over their years, cause well we have...
Swtor you literally become the emperor of the universe, like what the ffffff

I prefered when i was a super famous bounty hunter who just kileld a lot of high value targets, like i am in wow, i am a "famous warlock who killed lots of powerful enemies"
I am not the literal leader of the alliance, or the leader of azeroth, i am just a powerful warlock.

[Seranthor]

Nope, you didn't even read my post.

If that is not in fact what you said in your post, why dont you make it crystal clear for the rest of us that got that very same idea about your OP after reading it more than a dozen times.

[Byleth]

After playing FFXIV I always find it weird when people say this. You are never going to be the hero of the story in WoW. Not unless they hire better writers and change the entire way the story is being told. Because as of right now your character exists one minute and doesn't the next.

I stand by my comment. And I have played FFXIV extensively, it's a different game.

[Mysterymask]

Well they could release the anime beach episode expansion? I mean then you wouldn't be the hero but the fan service

[Schattenlied]

I get where you're coming from but there's no reason we can't be fighting old god/lich king type threats and still not be "the hero".

See, thing is you say this "you're the hero" bit started in TBC but, it didn't... It didn't start until MoP with the cloak questline... Lorewise, and in game, before then the player character was just treated like an adventurer... and lorewise armies brought low those major threats, no "hero" brought down C'thun, an army did. They were armies that we were a part of, but we weren't "the hero", we were just one of the unnumbered and unnamed who stepped up as part of that army to take down the threat.

That's what we need to go back to.

[Razion]

I'd rather see an expansion where players had the choice to join factions like the Burning Legion/Scourge or other good factions. That would break the Hero mold quite a bit, getting an option to quest as and play as the bad guys or good guys for that expansion. We're getting Covenants in SL, which is kind of similar, but it's not really hitting that itch as much.

[aceperson]

or they could just stop calling us champion and hero... blizz has lore characters they could use yet they keep using us. we should be a supplement to the story. not the main driving force.

[glowpipe]

This is simple. Let us stay in shadowlands for a long ass time. We percieve time normaly down there. Being in this otherworldly place drains our powers and strength and when we get back out of shadowlands when the expansion is over. We are weak and forgotten since we have been away for so long. World has completely changed and lesser tribes of stuff has taken over. Now we have a new adventure ahead of us! Kobold dungeon to stop a threat towards eastern kingdoms candle supply. Stop a faction of evil brewing quilboars up to no good. Retake stormwind, which was taken over by defias brotherhood while we were gone. Raid to retake the city. Hogger world boss etc. Shit like this

Im so sick and tired of constantly fighting for dear life against some cosmic threat and you know that you will always win. Its the same shit over and over! No more killing a raid of bandits because you HAVE to or the world implodes. But rather go kill a bunch of hoodlums because you want to!

[kasuke06]

honestly? FFXIV does both stories, but it's done by defining your character very specifically. you're an adventurer, but you're also the strongest fighter in this group that commonly saves the world or helps to settle disputes, but the trick is you're the fighter. If you have do anything more complex than "beat/magic somebody's god into a fine paste" you either need another person in the story, or there's an entire quest about figuring how you specifically go about doing it.

But they're very different stories, and this is because at this point they're both very different power fantasies. In wow you're THE hero, the sole competent person alive, always moving from one crisis to the next effectively a super hero. In FFXIV, you're a hero, able to rival gods in raw power, but still just one man/woman/potato at the end of the day and you need help, rest, and friends to get you through.

[Heladys]

You can not be the hero all you want. Just sit over there on your couch and don't log into the game. Enjoy.

[cparle87]

Did we play the same pre-BC?

At the end of a raid, it was always players vs. the big bad. It was players that face off against Onyxia, Ragnaros, Nefarian, C'Thun, and the entire citadel of Naxxramas. NPC heroes? Where? If anything they got themselves into trouble and we had to bail them out.

In lore it was simply "faceless heroes of the Horde or Alliance" who downed certain things. I remember they announced a bit ago which faction fought who. Like the Archimonde fight would be described as "Velen, Illidan, and the order hall leaders."

[Adoxe]

please never post another idea again

[cparle87]

I get where you're coming from but there's no reason we can't be fighting old god/lich king type threats and still not be "the hero".

See, thing is you say this "you're the hero" bit started in TBC but, it didn't... It didn't start until MoP with the cloak questline... Lorewise, and in game, before then the player character was just treated like an adventurer... and lorewise armies brought low those major threats, no "hero" brought down C'thun, an army did. They were armies that we were a part of, but we weren't "the hero", we were just one of the unnumbered and unnamed who stepped up as part of that army to take down the threat.

That's what we need to go back to.

Not quite. Even in Wrath there's mentions of the player characters. Two guys at Wintergarde (sp?) Keep in Dragonblight are feeling lost. And one of them comes up with good news that a "group of heroes, blessed as the Hands of A'dal" have been deployed to help them and even "our honorable Scarab Lord."

[Schattenlied]

Not quite. Even in Wrath there's mentions of the player characters. Two guys at Wintergarde (sp?) Keep in Dragonblight are feeling lost. And one of them comes up with good news that a "group of heroes, blessed as the Hands of A'dal" have been deployed to help them and even "our honorable Scarab Lord."

Yes, group of heroes, and even our scarab lord.

Notice how they aren't the same person, how there's many of them? The "Hands of A'dal" are literally all the people who were part of the armies who handled the BT and Hyjal events... There was not one person, like there is now with the Champion of Azeroth crap... And the Scarab Lord in lore was basically just the first one through the gate into AQ, they didn't do anything super special lorewise.

Being noticed for events you partook in in the past is one thing, being the champion of the entire planet and the most important person in the world is quite another... Before we were one of many, now we're just 'The One'

[Varitok]

I thought with the whole "gift of n'zoth" thing and Xal'atath, we'd do something really bad and end up "disgraced" in our faction so we have to start back at the bottom again. But turns out it was literally nothing.

A transmog ruining eye on my head for 6 months. What do you even get for keeping it?

[Your Mommy]

My solutions to 'reset' the players power\recognitions would simply be to have a sizeable time-jump forward where all are accomplishments are unheard of or irrelevant and we're back to adventuring days. Extra points for new planet\dimension (hell, have Azeroth blow up!).

I don't know how defeating Elemental Lords, Powerful Dragons, Old Gods, The Scourge, The Legion, The Scourge again, Deathwing, Old Gods again, The Legion from another dimension, The Legion again and Old Gods once more can ever be irrelevant as long as Azerothian people still exist.

[cparle87]

Yes, group of heroes, and even our scarab lord.

Notice how they aren't the same person, how there's many of them? The "Hands of A'dal" are literally all the people who were part of the armies who handled the BT and Hyjal events... There was not one person, like there is now with the Champion of Azeroth crap... And the Scarab Lord in lore was basically just the first one through the gate into AQ, they didn't do anything super special lorewise.

Being noticed for events you partook in in the past is one thing, being the champion of the entire planet and the most important person in the world is quite another... Before we were one of many, now we're just 'The One'

Last expansion we were collectively the order hall leaders. Does that count?

[kbludoh]

I will agree that the story needs to be at least toned down somewhat in regards of putting you on the pedestal and having you be 'the only reason why Azeroth has not been blown up to pieces yet'. Being a powerful hero is fine. But the way WoW's story has been handled recently completely ruins the other established characters in Lore just to give space to you. Most of the main storyline feels 'snowflakey' and undeserved.

As people said before, you were a faceless hero amidst the army that helped take down the villains. You are strong, you are the hero, but not the protagonist of WoW's universe. Now, the cast literally becomes your support as you are the only person who can yield the Heart of Azeroth to heal its wounds before it self-destructs, laser beams an old God to oblivion while Wrathion just uses the dagger to gape the wound so you go in.

In Warlords things were beginning to realy turn bad, but at least you were a commander, a driving force in conquering space within Draenor. But there were some dumb situations, like how Khadgar keeps pretty much rubbing in your face all the time that he needs you to do x, y or z. Legion became an even worst offender, with iconic weapons being handed over to you (honestly, Thrall handing Doomhammer over to you was pathetic), leadership of long-withstanding factions such as the Earthen Ring, becoming a living warrior who ascends to Valhala WHILE STILL BEING ALIVE.

I think the most fun I've had this expansion was Vol'dun's questline. The pleasantries and the praising is all gone. You were captured and bound to become a slave, and you have to go through scrap and dirt to raise up and help the people there. I think that zone's storyline encompasses what Classic/TBC questing felt like: you are important, pivotal even for the storytelling, but the driving force is someone else. I feel like this kind of storytelling should go everywhere, not specifically to a single zone.

[Apellosine]

Yeah people say we are "the hero' but then i play swtor where you literally ARE.
like in wow you are A HERO but you are not THE hero. which is good.
Being THE HERO makes you super special
Being A HERO makes you just an adventurer who well, has taken on many enemies over their years, cause well we have...
Swtor you literally become the emperor of the universe, like what the ffffff

I prefered when i was a super famous bounty hunter who just kileld a lot of high value targets, like i am in wow, i am a "famous warlock who killed lots of powerful enemies"
I am not the literal leader of the alliance, or the leader of azeroth, i am just a powerful warlock.

During Legion this literally happened though, Illidan himself tapped my Demon Hunter to lead the Illiari, my paladin became the leader of the Silver Hand and my Monk was the Grandmaster of the monks of Azeroth.