Thursday, August 26, 2010

More than a boss

We've been at this Wrath thing for a while now. Some of us have been hitting the various dungeons of NR for the better part of 92 weeks now. We've memorized the layouts and the mob packs. We've learned (and, in many cases, subsequently forgotten) all of the boss strats. The loading splashes induce an instant flood of all this information to our brains.

Sometimes, in our boredom, we do silly things like run with them 5 dps. Just because we can.

But what about some of the things we've never paid attention to? For instance, I had a sudden dawning of realization during a Nexus run earlier this week.

We had just downed Ormorok and we were passing out loot when, for some reason, his full name caught my eye. Ormorok the Tree Shaper.

Digest that for a moment. Tree Shaper.

Have you looked around the area where we fight him?


Oh, look. Trees.

All the trees through that area...all glowing white, with their crystalline leaves and decorative etchings. Ormorok made those. Probably with his bare hands. And they're probably not the only trees in Northrend (or even all of Azeroth) that's he's responsible for having made.

He's not a brute. He's an artist. And his work is amazing. But he got dragged down by Malygos's insanity and now we have to waltz in there in kill him.

Kinda made me feel sad for a moment.

What other bosses that we breeze by so casually are more than a little tragic?

Keristrasza is an easy one. If you've quested out in Coldarra, you know her story. And her speech when she enrages ("Finish it! Finish it! Kill me, or I swear by the Dragonqueen you'll never see daylight again!") as she's still fighting you... She can't help herself. She knows it.

Loken is in there, I think. Yeah, he's gone mad. But so have all the other Keepers, and we manage to free them from their insanity rather than kill them. Loken's been the head Watcher for longer than we can comprehend. And we just cut him down.

I feel like putting the Maiden of Grief on this list. Not because we know much about her or because she's a significant individual. It's just that the conflict of emotion in her dying line actually kinda says a lot. "I hope you all rot! I never...wanted...this." There's so much anger in the first part and so much sadness in the second.

Skarvald and Dalronn have obviously been...erm...together for while. They're Wrath's version of Dalliah and Soccothrates (if you remember them from The Arcatraz). There's obvious animosity, but when one dies, he still comes back and hangs on long enough for them to both be dead.

...

Okay, maybe I'm reaching for that one. But still.

What others should be on this list. Who else do we kill that has a little more depth than the pixels on our screen?
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