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silriven · 2 years ago

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A bit of complaining about how Wrathion is written in the 10.1 PTR

So let's start at the beginning. I hear that's a great place to start.

Wrathion from the MMORPG World of Warcraft is a rogue (/rōɡ/):

Free from the constraints of a conscience, these mercenaries rely on brutal and efficient tactics. Lethal assassins and masters of stealth...Rogues often initiate combat with a surprise attack from the shadow. (...) Rogues must take special care when selecting targets...and they must be conscious of when to hide or flee if a battle turns against them.

- Official class guide for Rogue on the World of Warcraft website

Here are some examples of other characters from World of Warcraft who fall under the category of "rogue":

Mathias Shaw: Stormwind’s Spymaster and leader of the intelligence service, S1:7.

Vanessa VanCleef: Successor to her father, Edwin VanCleef, as head of the Defias Brotherhood and member of the Uncrowned.

Valeera Sanguinar: Advisor and bodyguard to the House of Wrynn, Shadow of the Uncrowned.

Lilian Voss: A Champion of the Uncrowned and member of the Forsaken’s Desolate Council. She is perhaps best known for assassinating prominent members of the Scarlet Crusade, including her own father.

You might recognize these characters as ruthless tacticians who employ subterfuge to accomplish their goals, noble or otherwise, and to protect the things that matter to them.

Wrathion himself has done this, many times in the past, to varying degrees of success. He even has his own network of loyal spies and bodyguards who he will often send into areas of interest to collect information that helps him formulate his strategies and schemes. So how does Wrathion, a character who has spent just about his entire life working the long game from the shadows, decide to approach dangerous situations in Dragonflight.

(Text screenshots are taken from Portergauge’s two-part walkthrough of the 10.1 PTR campaign, which you can read here and here. His follow up thread on the campaign is here.)

Sabellian says: Whelp! Stop your showboating! Fall in line and listen to my strategy!

Wrathion says: Your endless whining about a strategy will not win you the throne!

"Strategies are slowing us down. I especially don't need to have one in order to pursue this contested position as leader to a flight of wary dragons during this fragile period of growth in our tumultuous history."

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder says: Do not underestimate the Incarnates. Fair skies and strong winds to you all.

Ebyssian says: I must recruit Emberthal to our quest. Wait for me at the entrance.

Wrathion says: Why? Surely we four are more than enough.

"Why bother recruiting a useful ally. Its not like that's ever helped me in the past. Three dragons and a mortal should be '''more than enough''' to take on another Primal Incarnate when I know from first-hand experience that I alone was catastrophically outmatched against the first one."

Sabellian: I will not tolerate Ebyssian’s dawdling any longer. These incarnates grow stronger every second, as does my impatience. Wrathion and I are in agreement. You may choose to waste your time in wait for our slow-winged sibling, but we would much rather you join us.

"I will proceed with this mission without the older brother that I actually trust and am fond of in favor of the one I have a strained and tenuous relationship with and whose approach to strategy I often find ridiculous."

Sabellian says: Keep low. We have not been spotted--

Wrathion says: I usually prefer the stealthy approach as well, but now is the time to let dragons be dragons! Remind these weaklings who they are dealing with!”

"I usually prefer the stealthy approach as well...BUT...."

It's honestly worse that they even bring this up because it means someone, somewhere, remembered that it's out of character for Wrathion to act this way and they went ahead with it anyways, for little reason.

Also, where is all of this bravado about the innate strength of dragons coming from. Wrathion will fall back on that as an intimidation tactic now and then ("You do realize I am a dragon, yes? That I can breathe fire? Just making sure.") but he isn't one to flippantly overestimate his strengths and ignore his weaknesses when assessing danger. His existence as a dragon has always been fragile. That's why he has bodyguards. That's why he works closely with mortals. That's why he'll seek council from characters like Medivh. That's why he didn't try to fight the Burning Legion with just himself and maybe three other guys. That's why he didn't charge headfirst into Ny'alotha on his own and spent the entire patch training the Horde and the Alliance on how to battle the Void.

Sabellian says: Father!--Wait...Father. Yes. I knew that relic back there looked familiar.

Wrathion says: Are you walking away from me? Two can play at that game! If you need me, <player>, seek me over there.

"You're not walking away from me. I'M walking away from YOU!"

What even is this dialogue. One of the reasons why the Sabellian vs Wrathion thing is so grating is that it's not even clever banter that they're exchanging.

Wrathion says: Before we start...I know my relationship with Sabellian is certainly strained, but our behavior back there was out of line. I think it is this place. Something out there is testing my mental defenses. Worming its way through my mind and keeping my teeth on edge. I will speak to Sabellian about the outburst in my own time. Things are never simple with him. You both have my apologies.

So something that Portergauge covered in his recap thread about this patch that I agree with is that WoW, the game, does not do subtlety well. Putting aside whether or not Wrathion can be influenced by the old gods' whispers, this concept is never conveyed well.

WoW has tried a couple of times lately to use magical reasoning to explain or excuse a character's behavior and the way its handled is so unsatisfying because it's often muddled with other emotional reasons why a character might be acting that way.

So is Wrathion behaving brashly because he's being influenced by the old gods' whispers or is is it because he's under a lot of pressure and Sabellian has thrown him off balance and it's making him get sloppy? Or is it both, because it’s not like he acts any smarter or kinder when he’s in an area where the whispers aren’t so strong.

And where is this all going, what is the plan here? Is this just how Wrathion is going to be written from now on? Is he starting down a dark road that will lead to his own demise or is he going to make a come back? Following through on in-game plot threads is also something that WoW, the game, has a track record of leaving hanging at the end of a patch or an expansion (the night elves' narrative in BfA comes to mind, Sylvanas' loyalist campaign is another) so it's hard for me to be optimistic that this is leading somewhere or will have a satisfying conclusion for him.

And I have to mention that the LAST time WoW tried doing something subtle where specifically old god corruption caused someone to act out of character, that wasn't the audience's takeaway. It was: "Hell yeah, Anduin's manning up! He is Varian's son after all!"

This time it'll be: "Wrathion's an idiot and an inconsiderate asshole."

There isn't enough of Wrathion acting as his cunning, competent self in this patch to counterbalance all of the times when he's acting thoughtlessly, rude, stubborn, and self-centered. They take the time to find this balance with Sabellian. They do not with Wrathion.

I've been trying to keep my expectations reasonable (i.e. low), but when I first heard about the 10.0 storyline to pick an Aspect of the black dragonflight, I really did not expect it to turn into this extended exercise in not only why Wrathion would be a terrible Aspect but also why he's actually kind of a terrible and annoying individual, too. It's not enjoyable seeing him reduced to being just this foil for why Sabellian and Ebyssian would make better leaders.

Wrathion says: He defeated us as if we were nothing.

Sabellian says: He is surprisingly stealthy. I am sure we can devise an effective strategy if we are not distracted by...

Ebyssian says: The whispers...

Sabellian says: Yes. They distracted us at key moments. They are quieter when I use my visage.

And for all the talk of old god whispers, it's never brought up that this subject is Wrathion's bread and butter. He spent Legion researching how to suppress them, to the success of devising methods that would shield Ebyssian and the Horde/Alliance champions from them.

Ebyssian himself doesn't think to bring this up. He never once goes: "Hey, Sabellian, have you tried this neat potion of Wrathion's that will quiet those whispers? It's the only reason why I can even leave the protection of Highmountain in the first place."

Or: "Hmm, Wrathion, your potion doesn't seem to be working as well down here. Maybe that means something." As a bonus, this would also offer Wrathion an opportunity to show concern for Ebyssian's well-being and/or Sabellian’s or something. I don’t know. There's any number of ways this could've been brought up.

Ebyssian: Our assault will not be successful without the stealth and cunning of Wrathion and his Blacktalon agents. We must convince him to help us. Thankfully, I know in his heart he will not deny someone in need--especially if they flatter him.

This is just kind of horrible coming from Ebyssian, of ALL CHAR--

EBYSSIAN.

REMEMBER WHEN WRATHION SPENT *YEARS* PROTECTING AND WATCHING OUT FOR YOU FROM AFAR WITHOUT HAVING MET YOU *ONCE* FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN YOU ARE HIS BROTHER???

Besides when has anyone in the history of Warcraft *flattered* Wrathion for his help. He is almost universally loathed and has always taken action for the good of Azeroth IN SPITE OF THIS. (Please post here if you can remember a time. I would genuinely love to know.)

Wrathion and Sabellian are still arguing about who deserves to become the aspect and continue their father’s legacy. Ebyssian scolds them for acting like whelps over a legacy of fear, control, and lies rather than starting a new legacy, one that benefits the dragons in their flight rather than empowers themselves. Ebyssian and Emberthal then walk away, leaving Wrathion and Sabellian confused and thinking.

I get that this is placeholder text but in the midst of all of this, this in particular is just...disappointing. Wrathion's entire shtick, the core of his character, is supposed to be about forging a new legacy for his dragonflight outside the shadow cast by Deathwing.

Of course legacy is something that Sabellian and Ebyssian have to contend with too but that it's coming at the expense of Wrathion's character arc, in this way, as something he needs to learn...again...is a big let down.

I don't know how to wrap this up. I guess sorry I got a bit sarcastic in places and that this was very ranty and not very constructive. I had a lot of thoughts about the 10.1 PTR and I just wanted to get them all out in one place and off my chest.

In conclusion: Wrathion is a divisive character in the fanbase and I was kind of looking forward to seeing him shine in Dragonflight. So far he's doing the opposite. If this is just temporary then I don’t see a light at the end of this tunnel, either, this might be the only big patch where the black dragonflight gets center focus. I’d still say that I enjoyed the short story but I don't really see what I originally liked about this character in the game itself.

#dragonflight spoilers #dragonflight ptr spoilers #silriven: ruminations

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