Page 1 of 3
1
2
3
LastLast
  1. #1

    What are player characters as far as lore goes?

    So I was thinking. What are our player characters supposed to be?

    Just extremely powerful people? I doubt this is the case. This matter has come up a few times over bfa and directly noted.
    Azeroth picked us as champion. Is it just due to strength?
    Zul wondered why it is that player character is always found right in middle all these great events.
    N'zoth was pretty set up on corrupting player character.

    In SL, while i'm not entirely sure about the storyline, isnt player character the only being that can go in and out of the maw?

    Why is it that, lore wise, we are the ones who basically fought against gods and won. Things like actual titan, Argus. Old gods, so far all of them?

    If those events when story character directly noted this oddity did not exist, I'd have still gone "because we are the players" and it had no story meaning other than "we are the heroes". Yet, those points exist there. I feel like it ties player character existence to lore. So what are we?

    My guess would be that player is avatar of azeroth or something. Thats why we were picked as champion. Thats why we have greater power than apparently basically anyone else. Perhaps the maw thing is tied to titans too.

    Yet all this is speculation on my part. What do you people think?

  2. #2
    We're lots of things! We're the champions of Azeroth, weed whackers, commanders of mighty Armies, heroes who defeated world ending calamaities, toilet cleaners, nathano's boot lickers, best of the best of our respective classes (DW, there's still stronger NPCs)

  3. #3
    Epic! Whitedragon's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Little Scales Daycare
    Posts
    1,513
    My personal view on it is that the "Hero's" are a somewhat small group of say 300-3000 people, made up of all races who might not actually be multi representational in the story. What I mean by this is say a hero might be present for 1-2 major events, a handful of minor ones, and then go wonder off for some time or die. For an example maybe the Paladin Highlord in legion didn't actually claim all 3 artifact weapons for himself, instead it was split between 3 heroes, each one maybe attending 1-2 raids, 2-3 dungeons, 1-2 zones (or section of the zones), and some other minor event's along the way. In addition to the 3 artifact holders their where probably 40-100 champion level "hero" Paladins (somewhat represented in game by named NPCs and generic stand ins) who also attended the broken isles campaigning and did some of the side event's, and where there to support the Highlord level "heroes" in raids, dungeons, pvp, ect.

    If we do it like this, it is a lot easier to explain power levels in general, with the continuing story of our personal toon being more for game play purposes. We can say well maybe the warlock who killed Deathwing went on for some time, but he retired or died in battle. Later a new warlock rose up, and ruled the black harvest, thoug tragicly he later gave his life at the battle for UC or disappeared mysteriously, leaving an opening for a new destruction warlock hero. It also helps explain why some factions end up joining one side over the other when we explain the Suramar campaigning was Completed by a bloodelf (With the help of other heroes along the way), and your personal play through of the zone was more of a rough story told to you about the Hero plus your a bit of your imagination.

    If we did truly fully concentrate the story onto 1-20 people then we really should have some god level characters by now, far surpassing any of the mortal NPCs in the game and probably being on par with the grater threats (Rag, Titan keeper, ect) by now.
    Last edited by Whitedragon; 2020-09-13 at 03:47 AM.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Aucald View Post
    Having the authority to do a thing doesn't make it just, moral, or even correct.

  5. #5
    The Insane Thage's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground
    Posts
    19,105
    The player character is an AFGNCAAP stand-in for the numerous adventurers who form strike teams to handle most problems. I wouldn't expect a twist like FFXIV's where we're a particularly strong soul-shard of a particularly strong Ascian. Our character just happens to have cultivated a habit of being in the right place, at the right time, to have grabbed the attention of many faction leaders, making us their go-to fixer/enforcer/sympathetic ear.
    Be seeing you guys on Bloodsail Buccaneers NA!



  6. #6
    Moderator Aucald's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Epic Premium
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Philadelphia, PA-US
    Posts
    45,579
    In my view the player character is touched by indescribable power, imbued with an indomitable spirit and nigh limitless potential through the imprint of the World-Soul of Azeroth.
    "We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Thage View Post
    The player character is an AFGNCAAP stand-in for the numerous adventurers who form strike teams to handle most problems. I wouldn't expect a twist like FFXIV's where we're a particularly strong soul-shard of a particularly strong Ascian. Our character just happens to have cultivated a habit of being in the right place, at the right time, to have grabbed the attention of many faction leaders, making us their go-to fixer/enforcer/sympathetic ear.
    I feel like we are getting to the soul-shard given the whole maw-walker thing

  8. #8
    This might seem weird but in the Halo series, halo 3 specifically, the opening scene is Cortana talking about why Master Chief stood out from the rest of the spartans. And after listing all the qualities he shared with almost any other spartan, she said he had one thing they didn't have, that was luck.

    So imo the players have that distinct factor, luck. And you can translate that as um, plot armor what not but the players are just that. They have this instinct Luck factor, and sure slightly more powerful the others, but it's not really a power thing per say.

  9. #9
    We are somewhere between a living god and the designated shit shoveler. Depending on the convenience to the current plot we may arbitrarily lean towards one end of the spectrum or the other.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kangodo View Post
    Does the CIA pay you for your bullshit or are you just bootlicking in your free time?
    Quote Originally Posted by Mirishka View Post
    I'm quite tired of people who dislike something/disagree with something while attacking/insulting anyone that disagrees. Its as if at some point, people forgot how opinions work.

  10. #10
    The Unstoppable Force Arrashi's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Land of human potential (and non-toxic masculinity)
    Posts
    23,003
    Quote Originally Posted by Mehrunes View Post
    We are somewhere between a living god and the designated shit shoveler. Depending on the convenience to the current plot we may arbitrarily lean towards one end of the spectrum or the other.
    Fun fact - thats exactly what anduin is according to one of new books.

  11. #11
    When did the shift happen?

    Going from a normal adventurer exploring the world to being the omgsaviouroftheplanet, mega-super-duper-allmighty-champion, supreme leader and embodiement of god.

    It's really off-putting now.

  12. #12
    The Insane Thage's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground
    Posts
    19,105
    Quote Originally Posted by NED funded View Post
    I feel like we are getting to the soul-shard given the whole maw-walker thing
    I mean, and this is pure conjecture, that's probably more a matter of nurture than nature. Allow me to explain: knowing the effect the Well of Eternity had on the dark trolls that lived near it (they evolved into kaldorei) and on mages in its vicinity (the Highborne of eld were capable of far more than the modern Highborne who were cut off in Eldre'Thalas prior to the Shattering, and Rhonin saw a significant jump up in power near the Well during the War of the Ancients novel series), I assume there is a residual effect that has touched the mortals inhabiting Azeroth over time, and something kicked it into high gear after the Third War. The simplest explanation is that detonating Nordrassil sent particles scattering all throughout the planet. And now, with Azerite literally everywhere, that residual effect suffusing the planet was cranked up to 11.

    Of course, the people who benefit most from this are the ones who are constantly fighting and growing in power; Ol' Emma in Stormwind probably doesn't notice much difference in the last half-decade, but the adventurers sure have.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Ragnarohk View Post
    When did the shift happen?
    Around the time we hit level 60 in Vanilla, we started gaining the personal attention of world leaders and major neutral factions as a problem-solver. Our exploits in Outland and Northrend only solidified that reputation, and by the Hour of Twilight we were well-established heroes.

    Going from a normal adventurer exploring the world to being the omgsaviouroftheplanet, mega-super-duper-allmighty-champion, supreme leader and embodiement of god.

    It's really off-putting now.
    If it helps, they're taking steps away from "The PC is the protagonist" in Shadowlands and moving the narrative back toward "The PC is a protagonist." There are multiple Maw-walkers, and it's explicitly going to take a concerted effort on a massive scale from the Maw-walkers helping the Covenants to fix what's gone to shit in the Shadowlands.
    Last edited by Thage; 2020-09-14 at 07:14 PM. Reason: Clarification
    Be seeing you guys on Bloodsail Buccaneers NA!



  13. #13
    Herald of the Titans TigTone's Avatar
    3+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Location
    Westfall
    Posts
    2,747
    I like to think our player characters are blessed by being born way above average in term of genetics and latent talent in magic and so on.

  14. #14
    They're like the other Greeks in the legend of 300.
    The legend speaks only about 300 Spartans holding off the Syrians. It doesn't even mention the other 15,000 Greeks from other kingdoms.

    Lorewise, the story is that Jaina, Thalyssra and Lor'themar singlehandedly defeated Azshara. The players are like...some guys that brought Jaina lunch.

  15. #15
    Blizzard is the supreme creator God. Players characters are just avatars of Blizzard's customers. Normally things wouldn't be as messed up as they are but Blizzard keeps nudging things in a certain direction to make cosmic events play out earlier than they should to keep its customers entertained. Character that are attuned to the workings of fate (Elisande, Zul) can sense that something is off about player characters but can't quite put their finger on it. Probably because they can't even imagine that they are pawns in a cosmic theme park. N'Zoth probably knew though.

  16. #16
    The Lightbringer Littleraven's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,352
    Even though they don't really lean into it much since the story isn't a required part of the game...I have always seen the player characters are chosen champions of Azeroth. Especially after BFA where we literally got imbued with her power.

    Before that we were still champions of her but not in the literal sense. More so in just that we became more powerful over time and gained renown with the factions and their leaders for our feats.

  17. #17
    Imo....we're the pawns and useful tools to make the story characters look better, we put in the work so they can take the glory, in terms of lore we're just the throw away units that die in an rts.

  18. #18
    Invincible, generic, faceless heroes who always save the day or defeat evil with the power of friendship and unity. We're like mary-sue protagonists that simply succeed without setback or actual struggle or any kind of character development (unless you RP, but that's not part of the game lore). We just win by simply existing. Hard to write it any different in an MMO, though. Needless to say, it's not really worth thinking about.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Ragnarohk View Post
    When did the shift happen?

    Going from a normal adventurer exploring the world to being the omgsaviouroftheplanet, mega-super-duper-allmighty-champion, supreme leader and embodiement of god.

    It's really off-putting now.
    Come on dude, the player character has always been that. You defeat C'thun in classic wow where the player characters were arguably at their weakest...

  20. #20
    The Unstoppable Force Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    7+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Land of moose and goose.
    Posts
    24,560
    Quote Originally Posted by Bennett View Post
    Players as individuals don't exist. Players as a whole are just random adventurers/ champions etc
    This. There is no one or even 13 champions who do every thing there are a bunch of different adventures who do different things around the world and we just get to fill there shoes when we do content. In all likely hood the actual champion of Azeroth has never done most if not all of the less flashy quest and all of the poop quest were done by Little jimmy The poop shoveler.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •