"What's a Blood Knight?" (Rant)

[Sigxy]

So I know this is something really small - but consider it the "straw that broke the camel's back."

Blood Knights are one of those figures I've always liked. I have always digged the Paladin theme in any RPG - but these guys? They had a fun twist to it.



They were a twisted version of Paladins. They weren't the type that would wait for the enemy to come to them, then risk their lives to defend the weak. No, they went over to the enemy and they got rid of them -before- they could be a threat to their people (at least, this is the impression I always got from them). They didn't have to worship the Light, they used the Naaru to force the Light into service - hence, "the true masters of the Light." They weren't "faithful" to the Light either, nor 'put your faith in the Light!' figures. They were faithful to -Silvermoon-. Their -people-. After the Sunwell was restored, they drew it from there.

They also had their Blood magic which was a nice twist. These guys may be arrogant and see themselves above the citizen and guards - but guess what? They used magic to make them powerful enough as the cost of their own health (Seal & Judgement of Blood - which later the Alliance tried to snatch with "Martyr" but didn't even last an expansion). They were truly dedicated to protect Quel'Thalas with their lives.

Of course, this was in the 'old' life of World of Warcraft. We've seen now that they have become rather generic paladins - especially with Liadrin that I swear spouts out "For the Light!" more than any Alliance Paladin (by the way, apart from boring Turalyon(poor guy), do you guys have any notable paladin at all?)

And now, today, the 'petty' thing that made me want to write this. In case you haven't spot it yet (as Alliance, you haven't), Liadrin appears from time to time from the Silvermoon portal in the portal room of Orgrimmar. She literally says "Blood Knights, form rank!" in order to take them on a patrol - and they're not even Blood Knights, they're just regular Silvermoon Guardians you see protect Silvermoon! Sure, they're named "Silvermoon Soldier" but they don't even have a blood knight tabard.



So, yeah. Paladins have just drifted away from being anything special past Wrath of the Lich King and now, Blood Knights just seem to be disappearing all together. Given how this is an MMO"RPG", I value atmosphere (guess that's my fault in this case) and these things are just piling up. ;_:

Do you guys have some of these moments with something else in WoW that you felt was amazing but over time, Blizzard just made it all washed out to take away all the flavor it had?

[Arrashi]

A palette swap for "Generic human paladin". That being said, they lost all their flavor long ago, its just that liadrin in WoD/Legion was final nail in coffin.

[Maljinwo]

That's the good thing about Zandalari Prelates, they are so removed from human culture and looks that they can have their independent belief system

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Then taking the flavour away from classes was one of Th e worse parts of cata and then just shoving all the pally into the silver hand in legion when they don’t fit at all was moronic.

- - - Updated - - -

That's the good thing about Zandalari Prelates, they are so removed from human culture and looks that they can have their independent belief system

That’s the bad thing about prelates they will never get spell animations or armour sets to match there faith. I was a huge fan of troll Pallys but even time I see one with the human spell effects I wish they didn’t happen.

[Maljinwo]

That’s the bad thing about prelates they will never get spell animations or armour sets to match there faith. I was a huge fan of troll Pallys but even time I see one with the human spell effects I wish they didn’t happen.

Sunwalkers and Vindicators have the same issues, not having anything to do with the Sun or the Naaru, respectively.
That's Blizzard's fault. Just as having every shaman having ghost wolf companions (Though luckily, we get raptors that fit trolls)

If Blizzard wasn't as lazy, spells could be customized for each race.
Zandalari Avenging Wrath could easily use Pterrordax wings instead of angelic ones, for example

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Sunwalkers and Vindicators have the same issues, not having anything to do with the Sun or the Naaru, respectively.
That's Blizzard's fault. Just as having every shaman having ghost wolf companions (Though luckily, we get raptors that fit trolls)

If Blizzard wasn't as lazy, spells could be customized for each race.
Zandalari Avenging Wrath could easily use Pterrordax wings instead of angelic ones, for example

Sun walkers are just as bad if not worse as they are just sun Druids. Vindicators id say are a bit better as they directly use the light like humans but id also say they should have never have lost the pre wrath spell effects for the awful every thing is a human hammer we have now.

Over all as a massive pally fan it’s sooooo disappointing to have all the different faiths stripped down to human hammers.

[Sigxy]

I can understand in some cases that you might not want to swap visuals on spells on all kinds of paladins as it can get confusing for some people... but honestly, with how Blizzard is feeling overall with the game "quantity over quality" and taking away what made groups and factions unique, at least having -something- would be nice to give paladins of certain races their own 'feel' to them.

[Super Dickmann]

Much like the race they're a class in, since the end of TBC they're humans with pointy ears, who have lost all of their defining points and are in the wrong faction.

[Combatbutler]

Much like the race they're a class in, since the end of TBC they're humans with pointy ears, who have lost all of their defining points and are in the wrong faction.

Blood knights got butchered, but to say the elves lost their sinister side is wrong, some of their most messed up shit was done after bc.

[Syegfryed]

edgy paladins

[Combatbutler]

edgy paladins

Not anymore, now they are goody two shoes without any personality whatsoever, I mean just do an Arathi battle and fight Liadrin, god I hope she bites the dust soon.

DARKNESS CANNOT ABIDE WITHIN THE LIGHT

[Super Dickmann]

Blood knights got butchered, but to say the elves lost their sinister side is wrong, some of their most messed up shit was done after bc.

Only in terms of fridge logic. We had stuff like making the Horde mana bomb, the kobold thing in Stonetalon, or draining the blood of Torga to power their anima golems, but none of this is ever mentioned and all their characters who are in focus could have all their lines be given by a human or tauren with either no change or actual improvement.

[Combatbutler]

Only in terms of fridge logic. We had stuff like making the Horde mana bomb, the kobold thing in Stonetalon, or draining the blood of Torga to power their anima golems, but none of this has any story reflection and all their characters who are in focus could have all their lines be given by a human or tauren with either no change or actual improvement.

They skin people and bury skulls, to troll the explorers league, set ni'jels point ablaze, entirely ignored Tharan zhu grabbing some of the most sinister stuff the thunder king created, the anima golems, acknowledged they would be committing genocide on the isle of thunder and still went on with it etc.

The real problem is Liadrin and the focus she gets, otherwise whenever you work for their organizations they all still have a ruthless edge to them.

[Evaddon]

Ah yes, I loved the Blood knight lore and its still apart of it. Butafter Kael'thas stole the Naaru they changed, restoring the Sunwell the order changed,the whole Sunwell Plateau event was to dictate and solidify that change...

[Vladier]

"Old" World of Warcraft? The Blood Knights went through their redemption in the same expansion that they appeared in, and their entire plotline was contained in only two patches - the one they debuted in, and the one they had their redemption in. And the Naaru they supposedly stole their powers from actually sacrificed themselves willingly so that they could be redeemed, so they aren't true masters of anything.

In other words, they never had any atmosphere. It was always the plan for them to be redeemed.

[Super Dickmann]

@Vladier

That's true, but as is the habit in Warcraft, the version of themselves they were supposed to overcome to become better people and the circumstances around it happened to be magnitudes more interesting than either their 'redemption' or what they became as a result of it.

@Combatbulter

I agree in principle in that this could be used to maintain the blood elven atmosphere even after TBC both set up and then destroyed most of their major points, but it lacks the narrative focus to get there. Liadrin is not the sole problem here, Halduron and Lor'themar himself have many of the same problems, especially Lor'themar in BFA as contrasted with Mists Lor'themar, where in one case he tries to switch sides covertly for his own people and then builds his own powerbase, whereas in the other he rebels without his people's support in order to save some guy he's never shared a word of dialogue with.

[Combatbutler]

I agree in principle in that this could be used to maintain the blood elven atmosphere even after TBC both set up and then destroyed most of their major points, but it lacks the narrative focus to get there. Liadrin is not the sole problem here, Halduron and Lor'themar himself have many of the same problems, especially Lor'themar in BFA as contrasted with Mists Lor'themar, where in one case he tries to switch sides covertly for his own people and then builds his own powerbase, whereas in the other he rebels without his people's support in order to save some guy he's never shared a word of dialogue with.

Nobody got out well in BFA and Halduron was the one who said they were committing genocide, but that it had to be done.

[Sigxy]

Much like the race they're a class in, since the end of TBC they're humans with pointy ears, who have lost all of their defining points and are in the wrong faction.

Yeah, I feel they don't really portray them as a 'vengeful' race as I feel they should be. When you greet them or say goodbye they say things such as "We will have justice!" "Victory lies ahead!" "Our enemies will fall!" "The reckoning is at hand!" "Death to all who oppose us!"

I just don't get that feeling from them anymore.

"Old" World of Warcraft? The Blood Knights went through their redemption in the same expansion that they appeared in, and their entire plotline was contained in only two patches - the one they debuted in, and the one they had their redemption in. And the Naaru they supposedly stole their powers from actually sacrificed themselves willingly so that they could be redeemed, so they aren't true masters of anything.

In other words, they never had any atmosphere. It was always the plan for them to be redeemed.

See, I don't agree with this fully. Yeah, they had a bit of a 'redemption' thing going on - but they weren't all out followers of the Light as they are shown as nowadays. Back then, sure, they stopped draining it from M'uru and began to wield the light from the Sunwell directly - but you could still show them as these darker versions of paladins. Unlike now.

edgy paladins

And I loved it. <3

[Rozz]

They were neutered of everything interesting? Yes.

But are they a race wrongly under a human interpretation of the light? No. HEs adopted the light to a near identical way that humans did and joined their light-based organizations. Blood Knights only behaved the way they did due to a sense of betrayal. Once that wound was healed, there was no narrative reason for them to keep rebelling against a system the majority never hated. So it's more like they reset back to boring human faith, rather than being turned into something else. While I agree the total reversion is lame, I'm not surprised it happened. At least they added some grit back, by fostering gentrified voodoo (blood magic).

Imo, HEs were always pretty generic and boring. They were just prettier, richer, arrogant humans. Arthas was the best thing that ever happened to their narrative, because it gave them an identity and a reason to be a part of the story.

[DazManianDevil]

Huh, reading this thread reminded me that when you made a Blood Elf Paladin back in the day you siphoned energy from a chained up Naaru, with much mustache twirling.
God I miss that quest chain now

"We are the TRUE Masters of the Light, we Bind it to our will; huehuehuehuehue" (Not actual translation, pls no flame)