World of Warcraft/Tropes I-P: Difference between revisions

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* [[I Am Very British]]: Since ''Cataclysm'' brought out the Worgen race, you can spend a lot of time in Gilneas. There are two basic accents to be heard - the Aristocrats all use Received Pronunciation and sound like a bunch of snobs, while everybody else (including you) talks like they're choking on a cockney - although an occasional version is Manchestrian. Men and women alike wear rather badly treated bowler hats and top-hats, and so can you, since they're also quest rewards.

** Awilo in Dalaran really loves serving up gnome!

** Also many/most/really any Troll tribe except the Darkspears (and Revantusk) practice cannibalism.

** Worgen, being basically werewolves, don't seem to shy away from taking bites out of their opponents, sentient or not (This has no affect on gameplay, unlike forsaken, it's just the set up for some "I like my meat rare/bleeding" jokes several npcs, and the players, make).

** In Uldaman, [[Lost Vikings|three Dwarves]] are in a holdout position against the Troggs, an item that might appear at their camp is a cookbook suggesting they've been eating the Troggs they killed. Uldaman is a Titan installation, and an artifact there reveals that {{spoiler|Dwarves and Troggs are decendants of the Earthen.}}

** Jez Goodgrub in Winterspring warns you not to accidentally get too close to his cooking fire by mentioning a previous member of your race who fell in ... and was delicious.

** An NPC at the new Darkmoon Isle but not at the Faire itself sells items of food heavily implied to be made from each playable race.

** A dragon has apparently impaled itself in the scenery of Blade's Edge Mountains in Outland.

** {{spoiler|Deathwing}} eventually does it to himself in an averted [[Bad Future]].

* [[I Need You Stronger]]: The basis of the Lich King's plan in Northrend. It works pretty well, too. {{spoiler|At least, until Tirion Fordring calls upon the power of [[Deus Ex Machina]] and destroys Frostmourne.}}

* [[Inevitable Tournament]]: The Argent Tournament, and, on a lesser scale, the Ring of Blood in Nagrand, the Amphitheater of Anguish in Zul'Drak, and the Crucible of Carnage in the Twilight Highlands.

* [[Infinity-1 Sword|Infinity Minus One Equipment]]: Heirloom gear and weapons, see [[Purposefully Overpowered]] below. The whole point of Heirloom equipment was to help players level up new characters, by creating high-class equipment that levels up with the user, so they don't have to waste time acquiring ever newer [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Equipment]].

* [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Weapon]]: All the Legendary weapons are this, for their given expansion/patch - and most of them are [[Guide Dang It|fiendishly difficult]] to acquire, save the rare few which simply drop from a boss. The ''easiest'' ones to get that aren't boss drops can require several thousand gold on the Auction House to gain the materials - and they tend to be weapons designed for level top-level content. The two Legendaries in ''Wrath of the Lich King'' could take months of farming raids to get all the needed items to ''start'' making them, coupled with sometimes counterintuitive requirements during intensive boss battles to forge them. [[Bragging Rights Reward|And they then become outclassed]].

* [[In the Local Tongue]]: This is one of the male draenei's jokes:

{{quote| We did not realize, but in the Naaru language, Exodar means "defective elekk turd."}}

** Lo'Gosh, one half of King Varian Wrynn was enslaved by orcs and fought in the Crimson Ring.

** The Naga ended up on both sides of this. The Bloodwash Naga enslaved the Rockpool Murlocs and had some of them fight for their amusement. Also, the Riplash Naga and the nearby Tuskarr were defeated by the Kvaldir, and those not sacrificed to Leviroth were forced to fight each other.

** Overlord Agmar has one particular moment that solidifies him as a jerk. When you bring him {{spoiler|the letter of a dead troll mage [[Fake Defector]] in Malygos' army who was forced to work for him so that his sister and her family wouldn't be killed}}, he initially threatens to kill you if you waste his time, then laughs at the letter, [[Fantastic Racism|suggesting that trolls are not to be trusted]]. He concedes that Deino is a good troll, and offers to not tell her that {{spoiler|you killed her brother}}, albeit while [[Blackmail|saying that he "own(s) you" now]].

** [[General Ripper|Conquerer Krena]] takes the cake on this, her first act is to outright say you're nothing to her, regardless of your past accomplishments. A few more quests down she [[Kick the Dog|orders a troll's legs broken for using bear instead of wolf hides to fulfill an order that was physically impossible to fulfill in the given timeframe.]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|And has two blood elven eye candies who serve no other purpose.]] Your accomplishments even under her command and undermining her more ruthless orders eventually leads her to challenge you in a fight to the death in the arena, with significantly nicer sister aiding you, [[And There Was Much Rejoicing|the change in leadership when said sister took her place was appreciated by everyone in the hold.]]

* [[Jet Pack]]: Everyone gets one to mess around with prior to the gunship battle in Icecrown Citadel. (Oh, and use them in the actual battle too.) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBZUXhSbOA Druid bear form + jet pack = comedy gold]

* [[Jiggle Physics]]: All the females have plenty of jiggle to an ample bust, but the female Tauren and Trolls have it particuarly bad - their idle animation has them stand there breathing, while their massive boobs bounce up and down like they're busy on a trampoline.

* [[Jungle Japes]]: Feralas, Un'Goro Crater, Stranglethorn Vale and Sholazar Basin.

* [[Kansas City Shuffle]]: {{spoiler|In the Badlands, the red dragon Rheastrasza purifies a black dragon egg, hoping to spawn a new breed of good black dragons. She blows her cover when she's talking to you, and now has to smuggle the egg out of the region. After having you kill some of the evil black dragons in the area, ending with the egg's mother, she goes to retrieve it, only to be cornered by [[Big Bad|Deathwing]], who destroys her and the egg. When players go to the cave where she was killed, they find a note saying that she swapped the egg with one of her own, knowing that the only way to save the egg was if the black dragons thought it was destroyed.}}

* [[Killer Gorilla]]: Gorillas usually appear as aggressive enemies in [[Jungle Japes|tropical areas such as Stranglethorn Vale, Feralas, Un'Goro Crater or Sholazar Basin]]. Particularly notable ones are [[Expy|King Mukla]], [[King Kong|a giant gorilla living on an island, holding a woman captive]], and a robotic ape [[Congo|called A-ME, communicating in sign language]]. Some of them [[Donkey Kong|drop barrels on death]].

* [[Kill Sat]]: The [[Precursors|Titans]] left 4 in orbit around Azeroth as defenses after they left. Each is named for one of the 4 Keepers of Ulduar.

* [[Last Chance Hit Point]]:

** Protection Paladin's Ardent Defender will allow them to survive a hit that would otherwise kill them, and instead heal them for 15% of their health.

* [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others]]: The quest leading you to Rhea involves a package containing compressed blasting powder, a tempered mithril bomb casing, and some safety goggles; being Goblins, the safety goggles were the hardest thing to find.

* [[Last Second Chance]]: The "Heart of Arthas" quest chain is basically Fordring trying to determine if there's anything redeemable left in the Lich King. {{spoiler|To the surprise of few, there ''isn't''. This gives Fordring and the Argent Crusade renewed determination to defeat the Scourge.}}

** Several Wrath of the Lich King questlines spoil events from Warcraft III, especially from the human and undead campaigns. If you stand in the Ruins of Lordaeron long enough, you can hear the scene in which Arthas kills his father.

* [[Lawful Stupid]]: Chances are that you'll feel this way at some point for some of the quests you undertake when following orders.

** When players defeat Maloriak in Blackwing Descent on Heroic mode, Nefarian (boss of the Blackwing raids and infamous [[Genre Savvy]] [[Troll]]) congratulates them and temporarily grants a vanity title of the sort rewarded for completing difficult achievements. The title is "<Name>, Slayer of Stupid, Incompetent, and Disappointing Minions."

* [[Leave No Survivors]]: Lord-Commander Arete makes it clear that he won't rest until the Scarlet Onslaught is destroyed. It's not because Arete is a monster, but the Scarlet Onslaught is a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|zealous anti-undead organization]] who [[Van Helsing Hate Crimes|doesn't distinguish between the Scourge and other undead]], that the Forsaken Death Knight sees no other option but to [[Kill'Em All]].

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: The Scarlet Crusade and Blood Elves (before patch 2.4 gave them some redemption, anyway).

* [[Limit Break]]: Rage acts like this, to an extent - built by dealing and taking damage, and allowing the use of powerful attacks.

* [[Loophole Abuse]]: A lot:

** If you attacked players in neutral towns, the guards would slaughter you both, no matter who started it or if they fought back. Cue rogues and hunters griefing by stabbing or shooting a player, then throwing aggro off of them as the guards slaughter the poor victim.

** Some classes have other resources: Death Knights (runes), Rogues (combo points), Warlocks(soul shards), Druids(combo points in cat form, solar and lunar energy for balance druids), and Paladins (holy power). There are also various proc effects that work as resources, such as Maelstrom Weapon stacks for enhancement shaman.

** Bosses often have their own unique resources, which may charge over time until being released in a single attack (The Conclave of Wind's Energy, Deathbringer Saurfang's Blood Power, {{spoiler|Fandral Staghelm}}'s Energy), or slowly be spent until being recharged in a "recharging" phase (Rajh's Solar Energy, Beth'tilac's Energy, Alysrazor's Energy)

* [[Marathon Level]]: Taken to an extreme in many classic dungeons and raids, but toned down significantly with each expansion. Blizzard discovered that dungeon/raid participation among the player base improved dramatically as the requirement to spend multiple hours in them at a time (or per week, for raids) was reduced.

* [[Marshmallow Hell]]: A quest giver (specifically, a dryad) in Mount Hyjal is described as doing this to the player prior to giving out a quest.

* [[Monster Modesty]]: Several creatures. The skeletal mobs in particular.

* [[Monster Sob Story]]: Murlocs are found in almost any zone with water in it, and cause no end of trouble; until players reach the Blasted Lands, and find an entire Murloc village [[Always a Bigger Fish|enslaved by the Naga]]; and no matter what players do, [[Perpetually Static|they cannot be saved]].

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Although it's constantly possible in an open-world game like this, it's especially noticeable in the standard Forsaken zone progression. Silverpines is a dramatic and dark war story in which the tragic plight that is the heart of the Forsaken's problems are explored... and then your character enters Hillsbrad Foothills, and things suddenly become a knockabout comedic parody.

** Within Hillsbrad's own quests, there's one notable instance of this. Meeting Orkus, he's proven himself an incompetant blowhard throughout the entire quest chain. Then while on Purgation Isle, he begins telling you things about his life, like how he met his frost wyrm mount, Horde politics, and at one point, says you're his first real friend. {{spoiler|Then he takes on three level ?? Alliance "players" and tells you to get on his mount and fly away, leaving him to fend for himself. You fly a short distance before the wyrm u-turns and picks him back up. Before reaching Tarren Mill, he asks you to take his mount somewhere cold to live before dying of his injuries. When you land, the NPC's in Tarren Mill honor him as a fallen hero and his death is treated as genuinely sad.}}

* [[Mordor]]: There are several, but the most obvious is Icecrown, which takes its design ''directly'' from the film version of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and contains an area called Mor'drethar. The difference being where Mordor is mainly covered in fire and lava, Icecrown is mainly, well, icy.

* [[More Than Mind Control]]: Features regularly in [[Mind Control]] scenarios, and combined quite frequently with [[Evil Feels Good]].

* [[Mr. Exposition]]: {{spoiler|Uther serves this purpose in the Halls of Reflection.}}

** In ''Cataclysm'', there's a quest in Silverpine which is essentially you riding horseback next to Sylvanas while she tells you the history of Lordaeron and how the Forsaken came to be. It lasts for a good 2-3 minutes and plays out all in a cutscene.

* [[Mundane Utility]]: The Tahret Dynasty Mallet was "crafted by the titans, blessed by the sun-kings and who knows what else", and you're going to use it to smash pygmys. [[Lampshade Hanging|The item's description says it all.]]

{{quote| '''Tahret Dynasty Mallet''': This artifact is beautifully crafted. You suspect it was intended for an activity more dignified than this one.}}

* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: Stalvan Mistmantle not only kills his student, but also, her lover.

* [[The Mutiny]]: Players take part in a few of these. It's how Tony Two-Tusk got his own pirate crew, and how Warchief Mor'ghor, a Fel Orc who makes Warchief Garrosh Hellscream look like a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], meets his end.

** Unholy Death Knight PC's get a minion who has one, of the [[Noun Verber]] variety. However, as the names are re-randomized every time you summon the minion, this has the potential for hilarity.

** Some races have these. The Faceless Ones and the Dreadlords come to mind.

* [[Names to Trust Immediately]]: A few. One notable example in lore is Uther Lightbringer, the very first paladin.

* [[Nemean Skinning]]

** Turalyon and Alleria, since the Second War.

** A lot of old world [[NP Cs]] after the Cataclysm.

* [[New World Tease]]: Sort of: In the final chamber of the Blood Furnace, you can look straight down through the floor and catch a glimpse of Magtheridon's Lair. And in Magister's Terrace, there is a scrying orb that you can click to get a glimpse of the Sunwell Plateau.

* [[Nice Hat]]: Many hats in the game, but the tophats that the citizens of Gilneas wear takes the cake.

** Arthas plays with this, as a necromancer he wants to kill the mightiest warriors in Azeroth, and raise them as part of his undead army; so unlike other cases of this trope where the killer doesn't feel the victim is worth the time or effort to kill, he spends a lot of time and effort looking for the strongest warriors, and using challenges to make them [[I Need You Stronger|as strong as possible]] before killing them.

* [[Obvious Beta]]: A more mild example. The game was playable but there were still a lot of bugs and issues with balancing, and in some cases, the developers intentionally left things as an [[Obvious Beta]] so that they can go rework it or add more stuff in a later patch. Some of these include:

*** The initial raid dungeons were bugged; partly because they weren't completely tested. The first guild that killed Vashj had her instantly respawn and kill the raid. It was also possible to kill Arthas by throwing bombs at him, which resets the outer ring and thus makes the Valkyr unable to drop people off in Phase 2. When players are able to ignore the Valkyr, they have more freedom to position Defiles appropriately, and can spend more time [[DP Sing]] the boss, making Phase 2 shorter and easier.

** Silithus was an [[Obvious Beta]] ''zone''. The zone was left unfinished at launch with minimal quests leading into the zone and by patch 1.8, it was actually finished. (Heck, before 1.8, you couldn't even go through ''half the zone''!)

** And because the game is controlled by a server, it doesn't always wait for the "offscreen" part; at its most extreme, a new enemy can respawn the instant the first one is killed, right on top of the first one's corpse.

* [[Oh Crap]]: The Goblin captain and navigator of Trade Prince Gallywix's ship are arguing over who got them lost in a thick fog, but when they get out of the fog, they end up in the middle of an Alliance-Horde naval battle.

{{quote| '''Spirit of Tony Two-Tusk''': They say I have a bad reputation as a pirate, but you don't see me sailing around indiscrimanately killing people just to make a profit. Oh, wait...}}

* [[Olympus Mons]]: Subdue the freaking ''Raven God'' and use him for [[Mundane Utility|a ride]]?

* [[Only One Female Mold]]: This has been a consistent complaint. The alpha builds, while rough, often had the females look like counterparts to the males of their race, but when it came time for final builds (after receiving many complaints about ugliness) it was like the developers threw up their hands and said "Screw it, let's make them barbie dolls with bad teeth".

* [[Only Sane Man]]: At various times, Thrall, Jaina, Tirion Fordring, Cairne, Varok Saurfang, or Anduin Wrynn.

* [[Our Angels Are Different]]: The Naaru, which are basically extremely powerful, [[Lawful Good]] shards of light.

** [[Starfish Aliens|And an alien race.]]

* [[Our Orcs Are Different]]: They started out as the stereotypical evil [[The Incredible Hulk|ORC SMASH]] kind, but were retconned into being [[Noble Savage|noble savages]] with a shamanistic-hunter-warrior culture.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: The Darkfallen, Blood Elves that Arthas turned after Kael's failed excursion with Illidan against Arthas, are vampires, though they seem to feed off of energy as much as blood.

** Also the Nathrezim, demons who follow some vampiric rules like having the ability to summon a swarm of bats or a "vampiric aura".

** The Blood Elves could be seen as a sort of energy vampire, and the Wretched and Felblood Elves do drink demon blood.

** In Borean Tundra, a D.E.H.T.A. Druid became "king" of the Murlocs by wearing a Murloc disguise suit. On closer inspection, you can see a zipper in the back.

** In Loch Modan, a very blatantly drunk dwarf makes a "costume" for you so you can sneak up on a diplomat and throw murloc pee on him (it's a long story). It basically consists of holding a potted plant in front of yourself. It is ''amazingly effective.''

* [[Patchwork Map]]

* [[Pet the Dog]]: If you beat [[Tragic Monster]] Deathbringer Saurfang as an Alliance race, Varian gets one when he orders Muradin to stand aside to let his (Orc) father collect his body.

** Legendary Weapons. While not so game-breakingly powerful that you can curbstomp anything you come accross with them, the amount of time and effort you put into getting them pays off significantly with higher stats than you'd find on any equivilant item of that raid tier. Each weapon usually also has a special passive effect that adds to its already amazing strength.

** Death Knights were very strong compared to other classes on the launch of ''Wrath of the Lich King'', especially in their starting zone.

** Turalyon and Alleria Windrunner. Originally the pair were supposed to appear in The Burning Crusade expansion, but two expansions later they have yet to make an appearance. Despite their son wandering around Honor Hold having visions of Turalyon's apparent death, [[Word of God]] says the pair are "stuck in a portal world".

* [[Pyrrhic Victory]]: Silverpine Forest in Cataclysm. {{spoiler|The Alliance forces retreat to Gilneas, but have otherwise suffered fairly small losses. The Forsaken, on the other hand, have been severely weakened; their forces have been devastated by Worgen raiding parties, a group of newly raised Forsaken rebel and seize control of Shadowfang Keep, and Sylvanas is given a harsh reminder of her own mortality.}}