When the latest hearthstone expansion Forged in the Barrens released, and now United in Stormwind, it kept me thinking about stories in WoW and their engagement. I imagine this topic may have already been discussed, however I want to add some ideas on how the WoW Dev team could create more immersion and engagement in the story.
So these HS expansions coincided with book of heroes and more importantly book of mercenaries. The mercenaries introduced a cast of original characters for both horde and alliance with some degree of fleshed out back stories and motives for their coming adventures. What appeals to me about these characters are the “low level” type of story, its grounded in the world we know, some have relatable motivations, and are very endearing.
But I think what is most important is that they are joined together by a continuing narrative.
It makes me consider how in WoW, I kind of care about larger narratives with the big name characters or events, but I feel the immersion in my own character is lost. Much of it has to come from my own head cannon or creative writing I do for fun. I wish the game focused on the story of my character in the world.
For example, I would love of have a “caravan” of characters that follow me from expansion to expansion maybe some come and go, but their stories continue with my own adventures. I haven’t played SWOTOR, but from what I understand there is a cast of characters that follows you around the story. I would like to imagine that the cast that can join you would be characters that had big parts to play on either the horde or alliance side of the story. For exmaple, if Yrel was never played to be used for a particular narrative she could have joined you. Or certain characters from our each of our respective order halls.
I also imagine this sort of feature would require a sort of “head quarters” which could add even more immersion and RPG features to the game were more cast driven narrative could happen.
This is a topic that has long been in my mind regarding WoW’s narrative immersion.
Can WoW do this type of story telling? I feel its an element of RPG games that is largely missing in WoW. I’ll add more of thoughts in time. I would love a discussion about why it could or could not work, or if its even a good idea, or your own ideas and experiences with this games narrative and immersion.
I would push back on the caravan idea somewhat, but to answer this question - yes, it can, and it once effectively did. WoW’s best writing work has been and still is wrapped up in individual questlines and in environmental design. These have you engaging with the smaller parts of the world and the people in them, learning more about who those people are, and making decisions that (hopefully) are in line with what your character is and should be. These questlines also can provide narratives about characters whose arcs are actually allowed to end.
The problem turns up when Blizzard forgets that it’s writing an MMO and decides that everyone would rather witness their story about their characters doing massive things to the world that the player really can’t change.
The problem turns up when Blizzard forgets that it’s writing an MMO and decides that everyone would rather witness their story about their characters doing massive things to the world that the player really can’t change.
I agree and understand why these types of stories are told, like I’m helping khadgar and although he needs my help he is the star which is fine for THAT story. But yes, I want to see some smaller narratives driven by our characters story.
I do agree that the smaller quest lines or even single quests are often able to invoke more emotion or immersion:
Legend of Stalvan, Wolvar vs Gurloc, Fiona’s caravan, Runas the shamed, BFA: Settle the score; just to name a few quests that fit the bill for me at least.
But I still feel a lack of immersion in my own characters story within the world. And I do think a cast of characters that join you and continue a multi expansion adventures along side you will do much to help develop that sort of story and characterization for your own PC and the cast. I think it should be optional but it would go far in regards to player immersion in the story IMO.
That is … Small characters?
Time to talk nonsense.
A conditional novice priestess from Teldrassil, to whom the player delivered the cookbook, accompanies the hero.
Get rid of the thought of the shattered naaru!
From time to time she will receive letters about situations from home, one way or another suitable for the location. Kill bears for skins, because you need materials for your sister, but there are no bears in Teldrassil, and Darkshore is infested with the Twilight’s Hammer. The skins will be sent via the post office box.
Later, the Priestess will report that …
Demon … Stupid wedding story with a bear dress. And how to continue it? Delicacies of the current location? Lack of materials for decorating a gift? An aphrodisiac for a shy husband? Are we collecting specific pain relievers, since a difficult birth is possible? Helmet S.E.L.F.I. because your parents want to insert your portrait as a family friend? Sudden death of one of the spouses, collecting a stone for the grave?
What nonsense! Quests from the mailbox! Who will read these stories at all, people do not even read ordinary pieces of paper issued on assignment. Besides, this story has nothing to do with the Priestess. Mda…
Don’t think about the shattered naaru. I shouldn’t try to repeat that story.
Edit.
A. The story of the player’s character. Oops, it’s embarrassing.
This is something that I have a draft open for that I will… one day finish - but I think the key to this is emergent storytelling, rather than a “push” system of narrative delivery. To get into the idea somewhat - have you ever gone into a battleground and told your friend some riveting tale about how it went? That’s a story - and to the extent that the visual and systemic elements in the game make you feel that it’s not you playing an avatar but you as the character you’ve selected doing those things, that’s how you get immersion into that story.
Otherwise, we do run into either the problem of railroading a story, which I feel is the wrong move for an MMO due to the 194 possible combinations of who your character can be (and that’s being simplistic) or the combinational overload that fully catering to such a customized system would require.
You can definitely expand some more in emergent story telling. I would be interested in how it could be incorporated into future story telling for WoW.
The example you stated is a different form of immersion. I would not classify it as the type of immersion I’m hoping for or I suppose a better wording would be investment. Sure I have recounted the 24 hour long slogs of AV in vanilla as a battlefield hardened paladin to my buddies at that time, or recently finishing off horde with void torrent being very satisfying element of the game but it is not narratively satisfying in regards to story immersion.
I hope I understood your point I don’t what to misunderstand what you were trying to explain.
I guess another way to explain would be to talk about how mass effect made me care about commander shepherd (The PC in WoW) by how I affected the lives of my crew members (The Cast of NPC’s that will follow me expac to expac). And in turn, some fell in love, did favors, sacrificed, or were treacherous to the commander and enhanced the current or over arching story adding to the investment I had towards commander shepherd and his crew. I feel the same could happen in WoW.
I understand your misgivings about how choices or story lines could be limited or “railroaded” as you said but it would be an ever developing feature I think. And to be honest I would not mind the limited nature of it since in the end it is the dev teams story to make. If they have me small choices of change here and there I would be okay with it.
The thing is, it wouldnt take much away from the MMO experience too, it could simply be an additional optional feature not to mention how heavily monetized it could be with a housing (head quarters) element.
Ill give another example. In BFA, instead of that travesty of the 3.0 mission table I would have preffered the “HQ” to be the ship and the crew mates be my cast of characters with on going narratives whether small or big throughout the over arching narrative of the BFA story. I would love to learn more about falstad and go personal missions with him IN the game.
Hopefully those examples gives you a better idea of what I had in mind.
I would like to hear other reasons why you dont think it would work though.
I might be getting a little wrapped up in that, to be fair - and a lot of that comes from having been served universal stories in this game that are actively against the character that I want to play.
… Maybe if you selected the characters that you get to keep in your “caravan”? Added a layer of customization to it?
I have to admit, I did not entirely follow your idea well. I’m sorry.
What you’re trying to tell me is that the story of the PC from quests is ridiculous? To some extend, yes I agree. That is why I think a story driven by a cast of NPC’s that follow you. I don’t want the scattered random quests to go way either. I just want on going NPC cast quests to help investment in my own story if that is possible with WoW’s story telling.
I definitely share your thoughts universal stories. For example, I could not imagine what kind of head cannon I would have to do conjour to get through the war of thorns as a horde druid. That is not the story I would want forced into a cast driven narrative.
IF something such as a NPC cast driven narrative were to be added, I would help certain options were added:
Various back grounds for your PC ( Although could be optional) because this could affect how some NPC’s react to you.
Select NPC cast. Maybe 5 are presented and 3 join.
Some of the cast could be major characters to help drive overall expac story.
Just some ideas. And yes I think some should be allowed to be completed customized in a character creation screen if you so wish.
And there could be set “NPC” story lines that you choose to have for them. I even considered, that the NPC cast could be supplemented by your own alts that you’ve made. So for your current character your alts could be some of the supporting cast, but when you play an Alt its a blank slate for their story. Just more ways to add to the investment and immersion of your own characters story in the world.
WoW can do many things even with the limited tools there are.
For example, in Classic there is a quest in Feralas The Giant Guardian. The stone giant asks to esort the blind elf. So you take the bell and can pick whatever path, control the pacing, have as many or few breaks as you need, plan ahead the route and which enemies are easier to do. Yet later on we got a bunch of terrible escort quests that did not learn anything from it. Etc.
If you take a look at the Thrall panel you’ll notice that while the devs are passionate and do care, they care about their own preferred characters and narrative lines. After the panel my main thought was that the devs do not even consider the player experience as a factor in the story. Why should I even care about some vague prophesy from a book when it kill-steals the frag I wanted to get? Or maybe not a frag, but to convince Garrosh to pick another path and go on adventure together? Yet this did not even seemingly crossed the minds of the narrators, that the stories they do care about might not be the things that the players are interested in.
So, can the story as a concept be focused on the world, or smaller storyline, be a window for the player to explore the world, or have the player impacting the event? Sure.
With the current narrative team? I’m afraid we would need it to be replaced before there is a chance for good storylines.
I wouldn’t say so. Guilds fulfill the community aspect of the MMORPG genre as well as the group play. I wouldnt say guilds do anything to further player narrative aside from allowing you to do content that would other wise be impossible alone.
If an RP guild can do something for PC individual narratives, that wouldn’t be the norm nor a feature of the game.
That’s a good example. I don’t recall that quest from my time in vanilla but it sounds like they forgot about that sort of player agency.
Yes judging from that panel it seems that the PC own narrative isn’t always or often never taken into consideration per say.
It kind of does come as a shock to consider after all this time, your actual character, aside from play time, headcannon, and player experience does not exactly have a narrative of its own thats built up.
This is also subjective though, everyones investment in their own character comes in different ways. I prefer it to come from the world and story Im interacting in.
Agreed. Smaller scale story lines or simply ones that are grounded in the world and have some sort of payoff tend to resonate more.
I imagine the dev team is focused on trying to tell a grand story, and they just can’t seem to consider small narratives as a way to enhance the story.
For example. During the bastion questline, we visit a farmer in lakeshire and it shows how the scourge is over running the place and what not. Well I want to continue it, even if its not with that particular farmer. Maybe it doesn’t fit narrative because we are suppose to be in the shadowlands canonically, but it certainly is interesting to me to know whats going on there or even darkshire.