Patch 9.2 PTR - Main Campaign Chapter 7

[Stoy]

Patch 9.2 Campaign "Secrets of the First Ones"

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

Patch 9.2 PTR - Main Campaign Chapter 7
Today we are previewing the seventh chapter in the main story campaign for patch 9.2 on the PTR. Be aware that this could change before it goes live. *SPOILERS AHEAD*

Chapter 7 - Starting Over

• The chapter begins with Bolvar telling you that Pelagos stopped by earlier to give a report and said that the oracle's preparations are complete, and you are urgently needed at Exile's Hollow.
• You arrive to find Firim in the middle of a conversation with Saezurah. He wants reassurance that she believes their task if possible, and she responds by saying that this land IS possibility. Now that you have arrived, it's time to create a new Arbiter. Without one, the very purpose of the Shadowlands has been compromised. Souls flood the Maw with no direction. Zereth Mortis would ordinarily craft a new being to take the Arbiter's place, but the Jailer's forces have disrupted the land to the point where this is no longer possible.
• In talking to Saezurah, she speaks of a symphony of creation needing voices joined in chorus. One, we possess. The other, we do not. The vessel seeks a soul. One that slumbers in the Crypts of the Eternal. Only with both will the Arbiter sing again. Pelagos notes that the crypts are overrun with Mawsworn, and Kleia assures him that the covenants will help.
• She flies off to talk to the Kyrian and suggests you ask Firim if he can enlist the help of the Enlightened. He doesn't believe his compatriots in Haven would dare tread on such hallowed ground, but has you awaken a nearby giant automa named Kbato to help instead. Pelagos and you then head out to talk to the Venthyr, Necrolords, and Night Fae. As you travel, Pelagos reflects on the importance of the role of the Arbiter within the Shadowlands.
• The covenants are of course all willing to help, and everyone reconvenes at the Deserted Overlook.
• To push through the Mawsworn, you must slay two dominated oracles, rescue automa scryers, and return motivated automa to Firim. After this, the forces you collect charge on the crypts while you ride Kbato into battle to clear the way.
• Inside, you escort Saezurah to the center of the Crypts of the Eternal. You then must use containment spheres to seal breaches by ancient tampered souls while also killing corrupted automa and dreadlord invaders. With everything in place, you bring Firim and his scryers to the center area as Saezurah places the empty vessel.
• You start the ritual, but a dreadlord interrupts it saying that they have waited a long time for this moment, the moment the Banished One's gambit made manifest. A world-soul twisted by death. A maul with which to crush the Arbiter...and now it shall take the vessel! Argus will be Eternal. He corrupts the vessel with the spirit of Argus, and you are forced to defeat it. During the fight Argus will trap your friends in soul conduits that need to be destroyed.
• With Argus defeated, he falls over...wondering if it is finally over. Saezurah says there is a pause, devoid of breath. A melody lingers on. The cycle awaits a new voice. You examine the vessel and some of the scryers as everyone seems frustrated by the Oracles's continuous riddles.
• It seems that we have failed, but Pelagos says there is still a way. He decides to offer up his soul to become the new Arbiter. Pelagos explains that he has yet to ascend, and this might be the reason for it. Kleia says he doesn't have to do this, but he is happy with his choice and his new purpose. Kleia gets emotional and embraces him saying that she doesn't want to let him go. He assures her that their souls are bound as one, and they will never be apart. Saezurah says this new voice, a worthy soul pure and unburdened, is enough. She channels the ritual into Pelagos, and he touches the vessel, transforming into the new Arbiter.
• Kleia wonders if it is still him ,and he says he is the same, just so much more. His path is clear, and he will take his place in Oribos. Kleia tells him to go in service, and they will meet him there. The pattern is made whole, yet Zereth Mortis is still in trouble. You take Firim's portal back to Exile's Hollow. Kleia relents that she thought Pelagos was making a horrible sacrifice, but now sees that he was giving all of the Shadowlands hope. She suggests we go and see him in Oribos. After so long, he has ascended higher than any of them.
• You request a meeting with him from Tal-Anara, and teleport in as Pelagos is telling Kleia to give his apologies to Adrestes that he could not become an acolyte. She thinks he will understand, and Pelagos then thanks you for helping him find his path. He can now direct the flow of souls to the afterlives they deserve, but tells you the Jailer must be defeated. Everyone has faith that you will succeed. Finishing this quest grants you the legendary belt that has your covenant legendary ability on it. You can wear this with another legendary, giving you the ability to wear two at once.
• You return to Bolvar and fill him in on everything that happened.

[Edward Wu]

#NotMyWarcraft

[Niwes]

yeah, another million lame cheap shit quests, i have to repeat with 2 other chars. same shit, different patch.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Seems like an... underwhelming end to Argus' world-soul. Or underwhelming cameo; whatever it is intended to be.

[Sorshen]

Why are they doing Argus dirty like that? Why even insert him in this stuff? It's pretty stupid.
And why is (maybe) the least qualified npc we encounter in the campaign getting this responsibility?

[ExtremelyCrusty]

Pretty boring

[Daten]

This quest grants you the legendary belt that has your covenant legendary ability on it, what is the alternative reward if you have already crafted your covenant waist piece?

[dope_danny]

Godspeed character who outside of the kyrian covenant people speak to like twice in quests back in 2020. You will be remembered for several seconds.

[Krusty Klown Kollege]

I love when my game is about hugging and feelings with recycled content that adds nothing instead of actual storytelling.

[Menz]

I can't believe how they ruined the game.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I mean at least it does tie everything together.. it's wonky, uneven, barely holding together, but I guess it's better than keeping a bunch of plotholes open like usual. Though why a titan soul goes into the shadowlands itself is as much of a new one as can be, after all the other titans immediately used argus essence and you'd figure they would realize if somone just goes and grabs part of a world soul (a state which they were in themselves minutes before). Ah, whatever. Worst part is that the story barely works if you met Pelagos as a Kyrian before, but loses even more if you played one of the 3 other covenants. Practically 3/4 of the playerbase not being "in the know" is just a bad quota for such a major plot point.

Edit: I personally just can't get over the horrible art style. We went from relatively majestic designs of the arbiter in the lower beings to blocky polygons in the superior beeings directly made by the (at least current) ultimate progenitors. Imho that is the wrong way to subvert the progenitor race tropes. It just makes them look lame when their creations can create more intricate designs than themselves.

[Nynax]

Fucking SIGH. This entire things reads like bad fanfic. Look, I'm LGBT and love representation in media, but diminishing Argus to a cheap McGuffin and shoehorning a boring character into the Arbiter's role because Blizzard wants woke cred for highlighting a trans character comes across as cynical and calculating rather than authentic.

Given the Arbiters job as a soul funnel for all of the dead...it really made more sense as an automaton rather than a conscious souled being. Making it a dude that can take the time to talk to us has me like "you sure you can afford to be distracted?"

[Cosmic Janitor]

Given the Arbiters job as a soul funnel for all of the dead...it really made more sense as an automaton rather than a conscious souled being. Making it a dude that can take the time to talk to us has me like "you sure you can afford to be distracted?"

After funneling the souls of the entire cosmos into turbo hell unabaited - even insisting that has to be the way, 'cause reasons - for months if not years by this point, I doubt it matters if he keeps the lucky ones right now waiting for a moment longer.

[catalystical]

Well at least we now have Adam Warlock.

[Veluren]

Pelagos is transgender???

Yeah, he mentions being female in a past life and never quite feeling comfortable but the Kyrian body makes you adequately reflect your soul - basically a fantasy metaphor for dysphoria and gender affirmation processes.

I agree with some of the others. I'm on the LGBTQ+ spectrum too but this really feels like them doing it for a "Diversity Win" in the most cynical way possible. It also smells of them swerving the plot from originally intending it to be Sylvanas and backing down after realizing people REALLY wouldn't like going full-force with Kerrigan 2.0, so they picked a character of an LGBTQ+ analogue to throw in there, despite Pelagos being super minor.

[Enter Name Here]

so after uldir leaving 1 of 2 factions being clueless about why you're going there they leave 3/4 covenants in a "who tf is this guy" position? why not just 3d-print a new arbiter?

[Mic_128]

Have they revealed yet what the reason was behind The Jailer's decision to turn against their creators, that started everything?

Though why a titan soul goes into the shadowlands itself is as much of a new one as can be, after all the other titans immediately used argus essence and you'd figure they would realize if somone just goes and grabs part of a world soul (a state which they were in themselves minutes before).

Well, the quote about that was unused, so technically isn't canon, but also the quote was "The last glimmer of Argus's power," after which it would be safe to assume he died. His soul, tormented and twisted and seemed in death for eons seemed to have corrupted him, much in the way that Illidan and others were corrupted into demons and don't go to their usual afterlife. Instead of going back to whatever plane of Law that they come from (Still haven't seen where that's said, I have to admit) he went to the Shadowlands, home of the Dead.

[Tarba]

Yeah, he mentions being female in a past life and never quite feeling comfortable but the Kyrian body makes you adequately reflect your soul - basically a fantasy metaphor for dysphoria and gender affirmation processes.

I agree with some of the others. I'm on the LGBTQ+ spectrum too but this really feels like them doing it for a "Diversity Win" in the most cynical way possible. It also smells of them swerving the plot from originally intending it to be Sylvanas and backing down after realizing people REALLY wouldn't like going full-force with Kerrigan 2.0, so they picked a character of an LGBTQ+ analogue to throw in there, despite Pelagos being super minor.

The funniest part is how their transgender character is not happy and complete after becoming what he thought he was. And he had to become something else entirely.
I can't say if the people behind that are just stupid or did it on purpose.

[Dundebuns]

Fucking SIGH. This entire things reads like bad fanfic. Look, I'm LGBT and love representation in media, but diminishing Argus to a cheap McGuffin and shoehorning a boring character into the Arbiter's role because Blizzard wants woke cred for highlighting a trans character comes across as cynical and calculating rather than authentic.

I echo this sentiment. The only thing worse than no representation, is representation that is part of a box ticking exercise.

We are going to see this with the new LotR adaptation by Amazon. Sure, let's have multiple real world races represented in the show, but if you're going to do it you have to do it within the confines of the lore you are showcasing. Want an elf portrayed by a PoC? Cool! But instead casting one elf like this, why not make ALL of the Lothlorien elves played by PoC, showing that this sub-section of elf-kind are distinguished this way, because in the books different groups of the same race of creatures split themselves out like this.

[Varodoc]

The Golden One has claimed the Vacant throne (of the Arbiter).

Now, his Crown of Light (forged by the Primus from the remnants of the Helm of Domination) will bring only Darkness.