Howdy, CotH. It's, uh, it's me.
So, 'storylines'. I put it in quotes to differentiate it from our player/guild/GM-run storylines. Rather, I'm talking about the phenomenon that was pretty dang rare until the onset of Cataclysm. Quest storylines! (this is a link)
I haven't actually played proper WoW for years, having never got past The Burning Crusade's content (and it took me like three years to level that far anyway), so I'm in the same boat as a lot of people (I'm assuming) in that they haven't seen the changes that are revolutionising the questing scene. There's no better time to quest!
Technical improvements aside (except phasing - that ties into this), I'm actually focusing on the way they're structured now - they tell a story that, for most of them, connects between zones pretty succinctly. Vanilla had quests chains, and quests that connected zones too, but it missed a sense of continuity and consequence that's only recently (more like 2010, god I'm so behind in the times) been added.
For example, Westfall's now a pretty expansive murder mystery saga, and Redridge has been utterly redesigned into a weird homage to Rambo that has some of the most insane and great quests ever. Dumb? Maybe. The point still stands that there's sense that things happen, ICly, in a chain now.
There's been occasional talk about following Cataclysm's story slowly, but I think that's been more in the sense of player-run things, a-la the Twilight Answer and Twilight Highlands and other things of the purple shade.
What I'm thinking about, instead, is some way to tackle this. CotH's got a stance of sticking by gameplay, and I think now the gameplay reflects the story - things are no longer happening simultaneously, they get solved in a long chain. We could thin it down into smaller veins, but something as simple as a "Horde" and "Alliance" timeline, ticking down where we're at in each, would be the kind of thing that gives players a sense that things are happening in the world.
I'm not sure how hard it is to do these things with our kinda-borked core. It could be as simple as a lot of news posts, player-run events meant to emulate or work alongside the story in the OOC ones, but I feel that we should definitely make an effort to work our way along all this.
Something like Elwynn - Westfall - Redridge to start off small. There's no reason that the Blackrock Orcs should be parading around, fangy-grins adorned, months after the Cataclysm, for example - and I know CappnRob's event chain Restoring Northshire tackles this, which is blooba-looby!
If we took stuff like that, made it cohesive and applied it to the Horde as well, then chugged it along to start unraveling the issues and mysteries of the Cataclysm, that'd be beyond great. With things like this, there are tons (four) of benefits in my mind.
There is, however, a downside (this is not a link) that's been making people mighty recalcitrant - tampering with the server OOCly. I've got my own stance, but I agree that it's going to get super messy if we go through all these zones and do things to them.
However, I think this is where we don't have to stick completely to gameplay. For minor event chains, like ousting Kobolds or Gnolls, there's no real impetus to scour them of mobs or phase locations (not even sure if that's possible with our core) unless it's a place people truly desire to RP in (and honestly, let's face it - mines rarely see RP. You can just get phased in situations like this). The way of tackling this is simple - in the quest chains, these threats are seen as THREATS. Potentially nation-and-civilisation-ending. Those Ettins aren't just going to sit that scratching their butts, and the Blackrock Orcs are amassing to smack Stormwind.
When they're defeated, they're not deleted - just cowed into the hidey-holes. They'd still be there, and the OOC map can be representative of the ones that are still there, like the fact that not every mine in Elwynn is infested with Kobolds.
I'm not intending this to be a something-for-nothing outcome in my favor, should the discussion about this not turn into people branding pitchforks at me - I'd be willing to draw up two comprehensive CotH-ified Cataclysm storylines for the Alliance and Horde to make it less of a confusing deal.
But this is, for now, just a discussion thread. So... Uh, discuss. And don't hurt me!
^this is not a link
^neither is this or this <
So, 'storylines'. I put it in quotes to differentiate it from our player/guild/GM-run storylines. Rather, I'm talking about the phenomenon that was pretty dang rare until the onset of Cataclysm. Quest storylines! (this is a link)
I haven't actually played proper WoW for years, having never got past The Burning Crusade's content (and it took me like three years to level that far anyway), so I'm in the same boat as a lot of people (I'm assuming) in that they haven't seen the changes that are revolutionising the questing scene. There's no better time to quest!
Technical improvements aside (except phasing - that ties into this), I'm actually focusing on the way they're structured now - they tell a story that, for most of them, connects between zones pretty succinctly. Vanilla had quests chains, and quests that connected zones too, but it missed a sense of continuity and consequence that's only recently (more like 2010, god I'm so behind in the times) been added.
For example, Westfall's now a pretty expansive murder mystery saga, and Redridge has been utterly redesigned into a weird homage to Rambo that has some of the most insane and great quests ever. Dumb? Maybe. The point still stands that there's sense that things happen, ICly, in a chain now.
There's been occasional talk about following Cataclysm's story slowly, but I think that's been more in the sense of player-run things, a-la the Twilight Answer and Twilight Highlands and other things of the purple shade.
What I'm thinking about, instead, is some way to tackle this. CotH's got a stance of sticking by gameplay, and I think now the gameplay reflects the story - things are no longer happening simultaneously, they get solved in a long chain. We could thin it down into smaller veins, but something as simple as a "Horde" and "Alliance" timeline, ticking down where we're at in each, would be the kind of thing that gives players a sense that things are happening in the world.
I'm not sure how hard it is to do these things with our kinda-borked core. It could be as simple as a lot of news posts, player-run events meant to emulate or work alongside the story in the OOC ones, but I feel that we should definitely make an effort to work our way along all this.
Something like Elwynn - Westfall - Redridge to start off small. There's no reason that the Blackrock Orcs should be parading around, fangy-grins adorned, months after the Cataclysm, for example - and I know CappnRob's event chain Restoring Northshire tackles this, which is blooba-looby!
If we took stuff like that, made it cohesive and applied it to the Horde as well, then chugged it along to start unraveling the issues and mysteries of the Cataclysm, that'd be beyond great. With things like this, there are tons (four) of benefits in my mind.
- In the larger event chains (see: Northshire Abbey) it frees up space to RP, where people normally would feel uncomfortable playing because they're four meters from a GRR BLACKROCK RAIDER
- It gives players the sense of a continuously changing world, and a range of reactions therein. Perhaps Orlamthiel the Night Elf is super grumpy that the Forest Heart was poisoned, or something as small as Frank celebrating the threat of Ettins in Redridge finally subsiding.
- It allows events - lots of events, not all of them needing to be GM run. From as trivial as a supply run to a town, to attacks on baddy fortresses, it caters to all player types.
- When Mists of Pandaria comes around, we won't have to explain ICly why Northshire's been infested with Blackrock Orcs for an entire year, and why the Valley of Trials has been the camping ground for Theramore Marines for equally as long. At that point you'd start inviting the guys over for a cookout, not fight them.
There is, however, a downside (this is not a link) that's been making people mighty recalcitrant - tampering with the server OOCly. I've got my own stance, but I agree that it's going to get super messy if we go through all these zones and do things to them.
However, I think this is where we don't have to stick completely to gameplay. For minor event chains, like ousting Kobolds or Gnolls, there's no real impetus to scour them of mobs or phase locations (not even sure if that's possible with our core) unless it's a place people truly desire to RP in (and honestly, let's face it - mines rarely see RP. You can just get phased in situations like this). The way of tackling this is simple - in the quest chains, these threats are seen as THREATS. Potentially nation-and-civilisation-ending. Those Ettins aren't just going to sit that scratching their butts, and the Blackrock Orcs are amassing to smack Stormwind.
When they're defeated, they're not deleted - just cowed into the hidey-holes. They'd still be there, and the OOC map can be representative of the ones that are still there, like the fact that not every mine in Elwynn is infested with Kobolds.
I'm not intending this to be a something-for-nothing outcome in my favor, should the discussion about this not turn into people branding pitchforks at me - I'd be willing to draw up two comprehensive CotH-ified Cataclysm storylines for the Alliance and Horde to make it less of a confusing deal.
But this is, for now, just a discussion thread. So... Uh, discuss. And don't hurt me!
^this is not a link
^neither is this or this <
The Gallery Of Things What Are Happening In The World
'War in the Highlands' - Twilight Highlands, @Zenethen
'Scarlet, Sanguine and Silver Eastern Plaguelands, @Krilari
'Rain on the mountains' Khaz Modan, @Franksta96
'Sands of Peril' Uldum, @Reigen
'The Call to Hyjal' Hyjal, @ImagenAshyun
'Hope in the Dust' Blasted Lands, @C0rzilla
Inactive/Completed Storylines
'Restoring Stormwind' - Elwynn Forest @CappnRob
'Coldridge Valley' - Dun Morogh, @CappnRob
'Fearing and Loathing in Westfall' - Westfall, Westfall @CappnRob
'Scarlet Tears' - Tirisfal, @Lendri @Sol
'Vermilion Redoubt' - Twilight Highlands, @Kage
'A Warden's Defensive' Darkshore, @Dug
'The Old Elf and the Sea'† - Vash'jr, @Krilari
'Wolf Hunt'† - Duskwood, @C0rzilla
'The Defias Brotherhood'† - Elwynn Forest/Westfall, @Mathias
'The Far Wolf Path'† - Northern Barrens, @DuskWolf
'Battle for Tol Barad' - Tol Barad, @Thoradin
† May only have coincidental connections to 'zone' storylines, might need to research up on them.
'War in the Highlands' - Twilight Highlands, @Zenethen
'Scarlet, Sanguine and Silver Eastern Plaguelands, @Krilari
'Rain on the mountains' Khaz Modan, @Franksta96
'Sands of Peril' Uldum, @Reigen
'The Call to Hyjal' Hyjal, @ImagenAshyun
'Hope in the Dust' Blasted Lands, @C0rzilla
Inactive/Completed Storylines
'Restoring Stormwind' - Elwynn Forest @CappnRob
'Coldridge Valley' - Dun Morogh, @CappnRob
'Fearing and Loathing in Westfall' - Westfall, Westfall @CappnRob
'Scarlet Tears' - Tirisfal, @Lendri @Sol
'Vermilion Redoubt' - Twilight Highlands, @Kage
'A Warden's Defensive' Darkshore, @Dug
'The Old Elf and the Sea'† - Vash'jr, @Krilari
'Wolf Hunt'† - Duskwood, @C0rzilla
'The Defias Brotherhood'† - Elwynn Forest/Westfall, @Mathias
'The Far Wolf Path'† - Northern Barrens, @DuskWolf
'Battle for Tol Barad' - Tol Barad, @Thoradin
† May only have coincidental connections to 'zone' storylines, might need to research up on them.
PM me or post in the thread if you have a storyline, too!